Arctic UAVs: Multiplex EasyStar

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Multiplex EasyStar

I got the Multiplex EasyStar in today. It came in a very large box that had all the parts and some extras that I ordered. The plane is made of ELAPOR foam and has a 54" wingspan. The upgraded brushless motor I ordered for it should add the needed power to lift the plane and its payload. The 2200mah LiPo batteries that should be here in a few days will give it longer flight time over regular NiCad batteries. I am waiting on these batters to get here so I can test everything before I glue the two halves of the plane together. I did glue the tail section together and it is ready to be installed as soon as the rest of the plane is together.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Acronyms and Terms

· APM- Ardupilot Mega board, commonly includes the IMU shield (also refers to the firmware loaded on the board)

· IMU- Internal Measuring Unit, Blue sensor board on top of the APM that contains a pressure sensor, 3axis accelerometer, a x-y gyro, and a z gyro.

· RTL- Return To Launch, a auto mode where the plane will fly to its take off location and loiter.

· Loiter- A mode where the plane will lock onto its current point and circle around it even in wind conditions.

· GCS- Ground Control Station, a program that runs on a computer to display readouts sent from the plane.

· AMP/APMP- Ardupilot Mega Planner, program that is responsible for loading firmware, flight plans, interfacing with Xplane simulator, and has a simple ground station.

· HIL- Hardware In Loop (simulator), a mode where a flight simulator inputs data to the APM which sends outputs to control the plane in the simulator, used for testing autopilot function.