2011-07-28

Update

So, I realize posts have been scarce of late. There is one major reason for that: I just bought a 1998 Pontiac Sunfire convertible. On the one hand, that means I am now able to be on my own schedule for transportation. On the other hand, I paid cash for it, and so I am nearing broke for a few weeks here. On the gripping hand, it is a 14-year-old vehicle, and there are a few problems to work on.

As a result, Project Inanna will likely be put on the middle burner (the back burner is too full of other projects... ;-P) for a month or two, until I have budget and time again to work on her.

That being said, I have painted the entirety of the superstructure, and the motors and rudder controls are all mounted--it should not take long to get her running, at least in an RC fashion. I will post pictures of the painting at some point soon.

2011-07-08

Superstructure Complete!

So, I have completed the superstructure! Also below are some images of the newly-designed GPS breakout, and a video of the outdoor lift test I made a week ago.

2011-06-23

Superstructure Progress

So, over the last couple days, I have made quite a lot of progress on the superstructure.

2011-06-18

Controls

Got the first board design done, for the AVR IO slave. Below are pictures and links to the EAGLE files themselves.

2011-06-17

2011-06-14

2011-06-13

Motor Test

So, last night I did a quick motor test using my laptop to send servo data over an FTDI cable to a Boarduino. The Boarduino is using the Servo library to address the ESC.

Video after the jump.

Building Ducts

So, I attempted to make a duct over the weekend. It went poorly.

2011-06-12

Github Repository

Just created a repository for this project on Github, at https://github.com/agmlego/Project-Inanna. All the CAD files and code associated with this project will be uploaded there. The CAD files are licensed under the CERN Open Hardware License, all code produced is licensed under the three-clause BSD license, and all other media is licensed under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA license.

Hardware

On Friday, 2011-06-10, I visited a local hobby shop (Flightline Hobby, fantastic place) and picked up a fair amount of what I need for stages one and two of this project.

2011-06-11

Current Airframe State

To get things started, here is the current state of the airframe I will be using for Project Inanna:

Project Inanna Introduction

Project Inanna is my currently-active project to retrofit autonomous controls and a hybrid-electric power system into a mid-sized gas-powered RC hovercraft I built during high school, 6 years ago (2005-2006).

The current plan is as follows:

  1. Rebuild superstructure with lighter materials and better design, to avoid the issues that plagued the previous generation of this vehicle.
  2. Convert to electric brushless DC motors for lift and thrust.
  3. Enable rudimentary RC functionality using the existing Kraft system.
  4. Enable rudimentary RC functionality using the new autonomous hardware.
  5. Develop software to run the vehicle autonomously.
  6. Develop generator and management circuitry.
  7. Project completed, all documentation released as Open-Source Hardware and Open-Source Software, the latter most likely under a BSD license.
Posts here will be sporadic as I have time, money, and energy to make progress on this project.

The goal is to get to at least stage four by July 21st, 2011. Provided time, money, and a successful final year at school, I may take this vehicle to the Autonomous Vehicle Competition (AVC) sponsored by Sparkfun Electronics (SFE) in Boulder, CO. Should things go well there, and the rules permit it, I may also enter the vehicle into the Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC), held at Oakland University near my folks' place in the Rochester, MI area.