Slashdot Mirror
Pilot a Plane with a PDA?
An anonymous reader writes "This whitepaper describes how engineers at IBM's Pervasive Computing Advanced Technology Laboratory created a Linux-based, intelligent, remote control system for a model airplane as a way to showcase gateway server technology. The onboard computer controls various navigational equipment and interfaces to a wireless access point and PDA. The user can control the plane through handheld wireless technology. A 3-dimensional virtual flight environment tracks the plane's flight and provides a gps-based autopilot function. The environment is based on LandSAT maps and gives the user a virtual view of the flight from the cockpit of the plane, which can be augmented by real-time updates from an onboard camera. The article briefly introduces "gateway server" concepts, describes the embedded hardware and software architecture, explains how the IBM developers implemented the control systems, and includes lots of cool photos."
"I have had the iQue 3600 for over a week and have taken several trips with it ranging from a few miles to over 300 miles long. In most cases, the iQue 3600 can be relied on to give you correct directions to your destination. However the map database does occasionally show its quirks. On at least two occasions, I was advised to take a particular road but the displayed name was incorrect even though the actual direction to the destination was, as it turned out later, correct." - Amazon
--Your Friendly Neighborhood Product Placement Troll
So the maximum range is going to be ~1000 feet but ~300 feet is closer to reality.
Oh yeah... "What's The Fucking Point?"
It's fun for the inventor. I could ask what the fucking point of TV, but the answer is its fun for the person watching it. At least with the PDA thing, the person is building and creating something.
Real Time Tools has been making PDA software for pilots for some time now. IBM is just sprucing it up a little :-)
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.