On a sunny day (Sat, 2 Jan 2021 20:41:05 -0000 (UTC)) it happened Martin
Gregorie  wrote in :

>On Sat, 02 Jan 2021 19:45:37 +0000, Jan Panteltje wrote:
>
>> On a sunny day (Sat, 2 Jan 2021 18:05:23 -0000 (UTC)) it happened Martin
>>>No license is needed for free flight if the model weighs less than 250g.
>>
>> I think it is: "Unless it has a camera" (most of those do however).
>>
>Nope. I've never even heard of cameras on Free flight. They're just
>irrelevant because by definition the only control possible on a free
>flight model is an RDT: the whole point is that the model can't be
>controlled after launch because what a contest is about is the art of
>launching into lift and of designing/building trimming the model so it ca
>self-centre in the lift patch it was launched into. Scoring is simple: at
>the end of a competition the winner is the person with the highest total
>flight time.

I have no experience with 'free flight' other than folding paper airplanes....
Cameras weight next to nothing and can record automatically to some
microSDcard...
would be nice to get an aerial view?


>RDT = radio dethermaliser - pushing the button is an irreversable action
>that overrides the onboard timer forcing it to end the flight.
>
>We do carry reverse links though (radio trackers to aid retrieval after a
>flight and some carry a GPS which modulates the tracker to send location
>information back to the model's flyer. Like the tracker, this just makes
>retrieval easier after the flight.

Yes,


>Seems like you might never have seen a free flight model. Look here:
>https://www.gregorie.org/freeflight/index.html

Nice, but being an electronics freak so to speak I want power and control.

But free flight models seem a great way to learn about aerodynamics.
Not much of a competition person here, just experimenting. make my own rules
set my own targets.


>and there'a bit on the Koster timer here:
>https://www.gregorie.org/freeflight/timers/personal.html


Nice, for those days electronics, used the 555 myself in industry...

These days I just program a Microchip PIC controller in asm, set values via
serial link before takeoff,
like for the air text:
 http://panteltje.com/panteltje/quadcopter/hsign.html

HUD display with on screen GPS and power:
 http://panteltje.com/panteltje/quadcopter/hud.html

Auto pilot controlling drone and dropping load:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI_0mjwlvNw

I do not use a solenoid, but an electric motor with a screw that releases some
nuts, this gives more power with heavy loads,
at low peak current.
 
http://panteltje.com/panteltje/quadcopter/H501S_load_releasy_system_mounting_IM
G_6049.JPG
   also note the micro-sdcard for the video...

Precise hands free flight to a few cm.
Better get the GPS stuff right, the first experiments needed fast user
interaction to prevent it
flying through windows etc...
The 'tronics' is basically very simple.
Programming in asm on PIC micros is fun :-) It (the hardware) does what you
tell it to do,

China has demonstrated large groups of drones flying art like formations using
something like this tech:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTQTm7vNbY

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