Re: [Paparazzi-devel] Paparazzi for a powered paraglider? And: Any users near Berlin?

[Marcus Wolschon]

I have a paraglider that still is to be converted to Paparazzi.
Other important projects and some technical dificulties have
set me back so I still did not fly it autonomously but I would
be very interested to hear about your experiences once yours
flies.

Are you using a 2-wire (= speed and climb-rate coupled) or a 4-wire glider?
I reconed that with a paraplane fully autonomous landing should be
possible with an added ultrasonic distance-sensor for the altitude
on the last few meters of flight.

I am currently waiting for a 3D rapid-prototyping machine to arrive
within the next 4 weeks that I will use to machine a new, custom airframe-
body as there are issues fitting my Gumstix (Paparazzi running on Linux)
-computer and the sensors as well as a changed power-supply into
the current airframe.

Paraplanes are prone to react to shifts in wind and are faster then
you may think.Thus I would not recommend to fly without IR-sensors.
Also the slow response time and inaccuracy of cheaper GPS-units
(as opposed to e.g. the expensive -169dBm 24-channel 4Hz -unit I`m
using for OpenStreetMap) and the inability of Paparazzi to automatically
tune the relation of servo-way to the airframe-reaction may make
it hard for you to tune your aircraft without sending it loosing altitude
real fast in a small circle every now and then.

Marcus

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 6:01 PM, Maik Höpfel<address@hidden> wrote:
> Hello community,
>
> I'm a student at Freie Universität Berlin and hoping to build an
> autopilot for a gas engine powered paraglider built by a geography
> professor here. It does seem like the Paparazzi project is the best
> solution, but before I get started, I would like to get your thoughts
> on that. I was planning on only using the GPS, because the drone is
> inherently flight-stable. A few problems come to mind:
>
> - Long "dead times" between pulling a cord and seeing a reaction
> - Slow flying... could that cause problems with determining the heading?
> - harsher conditions (vibration, heat, interference)