Paul René Jørgensen

Crazy me have been thinking about this for some time now. Those who know me know that I’m trying to make a part time business taking photographs from the air using RC model aircrafts. I have a dedicated page for some of the videos I’ve been making at http://paulrene.no/index.php/aerial-photography/. I even set up a page for my business at http://settfraluften.no (Norwegian only).

Anyway; During spring this year I got hold of a Sun Spot development kit and I’ve been playing around with it for a while. When writing a program to control servos using the built in accelerometer the idea struck me that this would be a nice platform for an autopilot. I’ve never worked in this field before so this is all new to me and a bit of a challenge. But if I can pull this of it would be a nice project and maybe something that would inspire others to do the same and improve it.

One of the first things I did was to assemble a list of parts:

• Sun Spot - http://www.sunspotworld.com
• Pressure sensor - MPX5100AP pressure sensor 15-115kPa
• GPS module - GPS-module EM-406a
• Headers - Stiftlist 2×10poler rak Au
• Gyro - MKS 380 Aeroplane Gyro

Along with this I need servos, RC receiver, wires and connectors.

The feature list as I see it just now will include:

• Way point navigation using rudder control
• Altitude hold
• Autopilot enable/disable using separate RC channel (landing gear channel)

I’ll continue to write about this as the project evolves. Stay tuned, this will be fun!