Patrol the grounds from your bunker with a quadcopter

Ok before I show you this, I need to know if we are on the same side. If we are not on the same side, then don't look.

Because this, is too cool for school baby.

ArduCopter is an easy to set up and easy to fly platform for multirotors and helicopters that goes way beyond the basic RC multicopters on the market today. The project is based on the ArduPilot Mega autopilot created by the DIY Drones community.

Features include:

* Best-of-class RC flight mode, including autolevel and auto altitude control. Includes an awesome "simple flight" mode, which makes ArduCopter one of the easiest multicopter to fly. Don't worry about keeping an eye on your multicopter's orientation--let the computer figure it out! You just push the stick the way you want to go, and the autopilot figures out what that means for whatever orientation the copter is in, using its onboard magnetometer. "Front", "back"...who cares? Just fly!

* "Loiter" anywhere. Just hit the toggle switch and your copter will hold its position using its GPS and altitude sensors.

* Return to launch. Set home to any location and flip a switch to have ArduCopter fly back automatically.

* Do all mission planning via a two-way wireless connection. Waypoints, mode changing, even changing the gains of every control parameter can be done from your laptop, even while the copter is in the air!

Basically, it can fly by GPS.

Or it can fly by radio telemetry.

What that means is you can just tell it what to do with your laptop and it will go do it. That includes going out and testing for gases, radiation, fire, smoke, temperature etc. Movement, heat signature, whatever you want providing you add the proper sensor.

As is, it will house a camera, that can send back real time data or log data on a chip. Like a 32 GB card.

It only has a payload of half a kilo, which makes it not the most capable of drones, but it has superior electronics and software already developed beyond what one person might do by themselves. It was developed by a hobby community.

You can get an 8 bladed octo copter, with a payload of 1 kilo. But it is more expensive.

Now the thing about this is you can build it from a kit if you are handy, or you can buy it assembled and flight tested.

If you go out into a danger zone where people have guns, you might get killed. So maybe the price of about 900 bucks for the deluxe assembled product is worth it if it saves your life.

If you want to make your own quadcopter and increase its payload etc, then you can get just the electronics, for about 600 with the capability to take off and land by itself, as well as just go where you tell it, and do what you tell it to do, then come home.

These are legal to fly in the US, up to 400 feet, as long as they are not flown in a restricted airspace, like a flight path near an airport or military zone.

Check it out here

It is made using the popular Arduino board and uses open source software.

With these boards if you are handy, you could buy the electronics, the autopilot, and install a 4.5 in tablet pc with Android such as this one and increase its capabilities even further by using the Android development kit.

An army of trained robotic assassins, moving in formation, entering buildings, not unlike the Borg, could be yours to command, if you are handy with a few tools and have a small military budget of your own.

that is really cool, especialy if you havea wireless recharging platform, you wont need to even get out of the bunker, and what even more of a plus is that it is audrino and cheap.

reply to post by Rocketman7


Dude, that has to be the sweetest gadget I've seen in a while. I can't believe how cheap it is too. That is something that I'm definitely going to add to my Faraday Cage shielded backup electronics cache. That is unless I'm too tempted to play with it every day! Thanks for the link man, S&F!

Originally posted by definity
that is really cool, especialy if you havea wireless recharging platform, you wont need to even get out of the bunker, and what even more of a plus is that it is audrino and cheap.

I wonder if you could put light weight solar cells on it and just have it sit there at 400 feet during the day, watching everything like a hawk?

You know I am thinking of getting this stuff but you know, probably it will cost a thousand bucks by the time I am finished.

Thats a lot of money. But when you consider how valuable the thing would be if TSHTF, it seems like it might be worth it.

You can get infrared cameras, so that it could patrol at night. The thing is that it will fly by itself, so night flying without lights, makes it covert. And at 400 feet, you can't even hear it. During the day at 400 feet you can't really see it.

So you couldn't shoot it down.

As far as fly time goes, you can get cheap rc high capacity batteries from China. Like this 5 buck or go for the super high capacity like this 5500 mAh

So if a typical battery is 800 mAh then 5500 mAh will be equal to about 7 batteries, but without the added weight.

Originally posted by Q:1984A:1776
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Dude, that has to be the sweetest gadget I've seen in a while. I can't believe how cheap it is too. That is something that I'm definitely going to add to my Faraday Cage shielded backup electronics cache. That is unless I'm too tempted to play with it every day! Thanks for the link man, S&F!

You're welcome. It is something you can use while waiting for the STHTF. And then when it does, you will be ready.

I am thinking of getting a pelican case, and lining it with tin foil, and putting some anti-static foam in there, and that should give you a good EMP proof carrying case for it.

This looks like a lot of fun, and very useful as well.

Looks like I will be buying some new toys.

LOL, uh oh, here we go with more UFO reports...

reply to post by Rocketman7


Thanks for the suggestion, I've looked into static-retardant foam before, but I'm not convinced of it's effectiveness in EM shielding. Do you have any links to demonstrate its permeability (I believe that is the right word)?
At this time, I use the age-old technique of simply burying my equipment 4 feet deep, in a sealed, water/corrosion proof container with enough desiccant to prevent moisture accumulation. Of course, that prevents portability. I'd like to find an alternative that is just as effective as the earth in EM shielding, yet portable. My research has brought me to believe that Faraday Cages have to be grounded. You seem to have done a lot of research on survival situations, and your input would be appreciated.

The whole time I was reading your thread the only thing I could think of was "Cool...Expensive...Expensive."
Actually though, I thought the price would have been much higher than that. It is still expensive, but it is also a very advanced piece of equipment, and because of that I say it would be worth the money.

I didn't know something this sophisticated was available on the market for civilians, considering it is pretty much a drone that could be used in a combat zone. I don't know a lot about the subject, but that was my initial impression.
Thanks for posting this, as it is really cool. Starred and flagged. I am going to see if I can find some videos of it in action on Youtube now.

Originally posted by Q:1984A:1776
reply to post by Rocketman7

 

Thanks for the suggestion, I've looked into static-retardant foam before, but I'm not convinced of it's effectiveness in EM shielding. Do you have any links to demonstrate its permeability (I believe that is the right word)?
At this time, I use the age-old technique of simply burying my equipment 4 feet deep, in a sealed, water/corrosion proof container with enough desiccant to prevent moisture accumulation. Of course, that prevents portability. I'd like to find an alternative that is just as effective as the earth in EM shielding, yet portable. My research has brought me to believe that Faraday Cages have to be grounded. You seem to have done a lot of research on survival situations, and your input would be appreciated.

Right here in ATS we have an expert on EMP who hardens aircraft.

I am afraid I can't find the link now it was a couple months ago and I can't remember what thread it was in.

We were talking about the book One Second After and in that book Airforce One goes down because it wasn't hardened enough.

And so anyway an expert showed up and he gave us the low down on how to protect your equipment and he said, a pelican case lined in tin foil, with anti-static foam to protect it from bumps and it will be fine under almost any circumstances including EMP.

This is what it looks like to fly at 400 feet. This is just someone in an ultralight, but this is the range of view you could get with a camera on a quadcopter flying at 400 feet which is the legal limit you are allowed to go up with one in the USA.

This is what 390 feet looks like approx.

But then you could have a good camera on board with zoom and control it remotely.

IR cameras would require an IR spot light and then you would be only looking at 100 or 200 feet unless you went into the expensive models like security cams.

If you have your own military budget then this pdf document here is a keeper. Lots of pictures.

People spend a lot of money on this stuff but the beauty of the system in this thread, is that it is dirt cheap, and scalable and basically does not require an engineering degree to use or modify.

You see even if you just rigged up a lightweight camcorder with 40 x zoom, thats pretty good zoom and this Panason ic weighs in at just 6.7 oz which is less than half a pound,

And then often these camcorders have digital zoom beyond optical zoom, increasing their capability up to as much as 2000x zoom.

My SONY has 40x optical and 2000x digital zoom. And I can tell you that when you look through that viewfinder, you can cover 3 miles in a couple seconds zooming in and still make out faces at 3 miles.

But that SONY model weights almost a pound and uses a tape. And is not HD.

The Newer models are getting lighter and smaller but the zoom is less.

Still that Panasonic would be more than adequate except you need to have a remote, to use the camera remotely. Then you would have to figure out, how to modify the hand held remote to work the camcorder.

So another option is just to go to a lightweight spy style security cam.
That doesn't record video, it just sends video signals to a receiver. But then you need to increase the range and that means better antennas. So there is a lot to consider.

However, even if, you just made the thing go straight up to 400 feet and not fly a mission anywhere the view would be sufficient to see what is going on around you for miles.

Something else you need to make for your camera so that it is steady while filming is a miniature version of one of these.

This guy made a steady camera mount for 14 bucks that you can run with.

reply to post by Rocketman7

This is something I'd like to get into more, as it is I've been messing around with this copter I've got in a BOL overseas:



Now the limitations are payload but the technology is slowly getting better.
Night-flying is the new one to try and get going.
I like the quadcopter as the flying is ultra-stable and easier set-up.

Electric-drive-train is a must post SITX, easy to recharge and availability of power (from an OTG system).
The only draw-back is lack of endurance compared to liquid fuel-based copters...

Not trying to be a pessimist but reality dictates I mention, in theory it sounds like a cool idea but in real world, forget about it. I own a cctv company in the midwest and I promise there is no camera that is light enough, has stablization, has either wireless remote control or the required analytic software to track objects that would have to be run remotely let alone any type of night vision that would allow you to even notice a group of people from several hundred feet in the dark. Not to mention the potential for losing OPSEC (you'd give yourself away launching or retrieving). Short of building your own UAV, you'd be better off spending your money, time and thought elsewhere. The type of technology you see on COPS or in military footage uses this camera or a variant of FLIR.

www.westmarine.com...

Aside from the obvious, the weight and power requirements aren't workable.

reply to post by ludshed

thermal vision here www.oemcameras.com...
and rather than night vision IR you would use light amplification as it can see further.

The software for tracking people through thermal should not be too hard to code since im a programmer and could probally knock up a basic version, but what si good about the drone it is complely customisable and it uses Audrino and since it uses that it can use google earth as waypoint to travel to and also once it can do that you can track people through thermal and map them on google maps and follow there location. But like you said the noise is a factor as you can probaly hear it hovering and also is power

reply to post by definity


That's just the core you still have to overcome the weight and power requirements of the camera. And then you have to come to terms with the cost, there's a reason they say "call for price". I'll bet that core in your link is $3k. But then you still have to work around the stability and the communications between it and you, and then you have to start all over with a much more expensive camera if you want to be able to make out a person further than 40' up. 320x240 with a 50mm lens isn't going to cut even if it was stationary. You guys can try all you want, there's a reason I make a living and nobody but LE and military have this type of stuff. If anyone can find a way, do it and then call me. I'll put you on the payroll!