Facebook group Solar RC Airplanes

 

I created a Facebook group called Solar RC Airplanes.  I am hoping to find other people interested in this topic.   If you are and use Facebook please join that group.

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Switching from iNav to Ardupilot for Flight Controller

   We had been using iNav software for the flight controller but have decided to switch to Ardupilot the following reasons:    1) Ardupilot can have a "companion processor" like the Jetson Nano that does vision/AI and decides things like which way to go.   We really want to explore what can be done with AI on a solar powered airplane.   Like can it avoid clouds and stay in the sun more, can it scan the horizon with a telephoto camera looking for boats, can it head for a boat automatically, etc.   This seems fun.    2) Ardupilot can use a companion processor to communicate over cell data network (4G) to a ground station.  With this we could fly all around Anguilla and still have communication between the ground station and the airplane.  So from the ground we can change the mission plan during the flight.    We could decide to go to a particular boat, or decide to come home because the change of rai...
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Stabilized Camera / Pan-Tilt

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  With a "two servo micro gimbal" you can tell iNav to stabilize your camera.  The flight controller already has tilt sensors and a computer, so with the iNav software setup right it can control the servos and stabilize a camera.  You do need to have 2 extra servo outputs on the flight controller.     There are a number of these on Amazon.   If we just search Amazon for "servo gimbal Mini Pan-Tilt mount FPV" there are several for under $25 but you may have to put in your own servos.        You can also 3D print the plastic parts and add your own servos.   This is for a Raspberry Pi or Jetson Nano type camera but should not be hard to get it to hold a DJI Camera. There are also head trackers so that the airplane can point the camera where you turn your head.  This increases the feeling of being on the airplane, so can increase the fun.
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Copper Clad Aluminum Wire

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  Aluminum wire is 61% as conductive a copper and only 30% of the weight .   So for the same amount of conductance it is half the weight.   Since weight is an important thing on a solar airplane, this is interesting.  The first problem is that the layer of oxide on aluminum makes it very hard to solder to.   We need to connect wires together, so this is a problem. There are copper clad aluminum wires .   The core is aluminum but the outside is copper.   This way you get most of the light weight of aluminum but you can still solder to it like copper.   Below is a picture: A bundle of thin strands seem to have a bad reputation for corroding if outdoors.  I am hopeful that a single solid core, about 1.5 mm diameter, would last well enough for me.  However, I am can't find this on Amazon so far. There is a place in China that might work .   There is a useful website for calculating power loss in a wire depending on ...
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