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Fly An R/C Plane With an iPhone
An anonymous reader writes "Ever wished your iPhone could do more than just play some cool games? How about using it as a spread spectrum transmitter to fly your R/C Toys around, complete with using a Linksys router as a receiver?"
Since you have a linux computer on board, you could extend this beyond just real time control. Programmed flight paths? Use a smaller embedded linux computer and add extra gear, maybe cameras and GPS, you could do all sorts of cool stuff (although, now this is starting to sound like a military spy plane... expect a knock on the door from the FBI)
I lost me sig.
Ever since battery technology made high performance, high fly time electrics possible, the indoor/outdoor electric RC genre has exploded.
One of the people who revolutionized this market is a friend of mine who runs wildrc.com. He invented a very durable electric flyer called the IFO. It's made of kite materials - rip stop polyester and carbon fiber rods. Just in the time that the IFO has been in existence, the batteries and motors have evolved so that his original 5 minute flight time has increased to the point where you get bored before the batteries run out - 20 mins to 1/2 hour in some cases.
Lots of people are experimenting with computer controlled flight, and on the high end you have companies like Aerovironment doing military UAVs and solar aircraft.
I remember visiting hobby shops in the 1980s and wishing there were more electric RC airplanes and helicopters, there was maybe one at the time and it had a 4 minute flying time. Everything R/C was also ridiculously expensive, especially the radios.
Now 20+ years later my wishes came true...
Site seems slashdotted, but this might be similar to the DIY iPhone-Controlled R/C Car story from October -- links to this video tutorial about the project.