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
...and fly it by waving your PDA around in the air, incidentally looking like a dumbass in the process.
Pretend there is some witty statement here.
Whoa! Sorry about that, I wrote "PULL UP! PULLL UP!" but the PDA kept passing it to the plane as "Bull QD1" "Bull QD1"
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
They've always been called "Palm Pilots", haven't they? What else would you use one for?
...Nothing interesting here. Just move along...
Anyone know what the distance of transmission for the pda's signals to the plane is?
Maybe they have been getting their ideas from The New Yorker Magazine
From your wireless PDA, you could turn on lights, set your VCR, monitor your alarm system, or even fly a plane.
Its 2003 and I can't even control my alarm clock with my computer. It looks like I won't have computer controlled devices at home anytime before 2010. Anyway, this PDA experiment is keeping my hopes alive.
New year Resolution: Don't change sig this year
Now all we need is a "model" bomb to go with the model airplane and wire it through a cell phone instead of Wi-Fi for greater ranger.
Whats the address of RIAA headquarters again?
"Can you hear me NOW !?! HUH?! HUH?! HUH?!"
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.
there'd actually be a reason for them to make you turn your laptops off on takeoff.
The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away
...build remote controlled airplanes for one of the biggest companies in the U.S.!
but what does the pilot do during take-off when all electronic devices have to be shut off?
handheld wireless tecnology. Pulse Code Modulated to boot.
Yeah, I understand that's it's cool that they've been able to do it this way and the technology may have some legitimate applications in the future and I applaud them for having done it.
Just remember, before you rush out to try to build one of these things, that's it's actually a pretty daft way to control a model airplane.
Just because we have a hammer does not mean that everything is a nail. The world is still full of screws and rivets, not to mention the odd bit of glue and welding.
KFG
Translation: New device found. Device: Airbus A310. Do you want to start auto configuration now?
Start/Abort