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Ask Slashdot: Is a Home Drone Feasible?
dargaud writes "I live in an alpine setting and I'd like to be able to remotely view various remote valleys to check for ice formations for winter climbing. I wonder if there are cheap drones that could do that. Requirements would be: GPS guided on a preset route (no remote control necessary, and anyway there's no line of sight), at least 20km autonomy, 1 or 2 cameras on the sides to record valley walls, easy launching and autonomous landing (parachute?) at predefined point, ground detection to avoid crashes (if preset route is wrong or GPS echoes on valley walls as is often the case). Is there anything commercially available cheap enough, or any DIY that doesn't require a year of assembly?"
It sounds like a straight-up cash purchase of a "turn-key drone" is your ticket. Otherwise, I'd recommend some kind of "DIY framework" - a drone platform that's taken care of the aerodynamics, controls and fuel tank and radio controls for you. Then you just tweak it to match your exact need.
My advice: whether, you DIY it or buy it outright.... don't skimp. Walk into this knowing you're probably going to spend twice as much as your initial estimate, if you can budget it. A semi-autonomous LONG RANGE drone is NOT cheap. A 20km bare minimum range puts this project into a semi-professional to professional level. Most "hobbiest" drone projects or commercial products couldn't even spit at the kind of quality and scale needed to perform such a task.
If you decide to buy something... look at commercial surveying drones. They have the range, the quality and the sophisticated integration already taken care of for you.
Do your homework upfront, buy it right the first time, take care of it and maintain it properly and it will give you YEARS of little or no issue service.
The 20 km range excludes cheap electric model aircraft. Also your location requires something with a lot of excess power, due to the disturbed air over mountains.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
Right, it would have to be a fixed wing, quite heavy to carry enough fuel, long range radio with regulatory problems, just for starters. My advice would be, stick to the playground just for now.
Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
This post belonged on 2012-04-01.
There's nothing on Earth that can do what you want.
Your requirements are self-defeating.
I'm a helicopter pilot.
I own 10 R/C helis.
I've flown UAVs.
I only own two R/C fixed-wing aircraft.
One has one camera on it.
Weight is everything. You want a 20Km range and
2 high-def cameras. Those things fly at 160Km/H max.
You're talking 15 minutes "there" and back. Not going to happen today.
*puff the magic dragon*
E
Ah, but Slashdot was his starting point and you just led him to http://diydrones.com/ which he may not have known existed.
This is correct, in that this is the best option. Unfortunately, none of these options will be perfect. OP should be prepared to lose drones because of momentary GPS loss, and should not assume that radio connectivity can be maintained . I can't stress that enough. Even these well-proven options typically required a human-failsafe. In an alpine setting it is easy to imagine that radio connectivity will be lost.
Disclaimer: Not an expert, but have 2 years experience with autonomous vehicles for similar tasks over short time scales (1 day max).
And you've missed an important point: he lives in an alpine setting. That's not the kind of place where the local sheriff will give a fuck about anything short of someone getting shot.
But it kinda brings a stop to the hypothesis Sea level to 10 feet doesn't it...