Personal remotely/unmanned piloted vehicles - Technologies and Uses

This month, we're in for a treat! Bill Bishop will be bringing us up to speed with Unmanned Autonomous Vehicle technology!

The use of personal remote and computer-controlled vehicles has exploded in recent years. Much of this has been enabled by advances in digital radio, power systems, motors, battery and camera technologies. This has allowed prices to drop from thousands of dollars to hundreds, and enabled exciting new applications for these devices.

I'll be demonstrating and discussing different types of UAV's (fixed-wing, rotary-wing, multi-copters), and their control/planning systems. The embedded control systems are based on open-source hardware and software, and include features like automatic takeoff & landing, inertial and visual (flow) stabilization, GPS & magnetometer navigation, telemetry, ground-station control, and (much) more.

Use of these vehicles around the world will be shown, and discussion about their use in the USA will be held (national and state-wise) involving restrictions and concerns( safety, privacy ). A brief plug will be made for a few organizations that are working hard to maintain our (personal) access to radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and national airspace.