An open holiday letter for the end of 2009

Friday, December 25. 2009
Dear friends, family, and all those who make up a part of my life,

Today I write an open letter to all of you, reflecting on what has been a dynamic year in 2009. Of course many will be quick to point out its downsides, but despite this, the year has also represented, what I believe anyway, to be progress on many fronts that may not yet be apparent. But, no matter what the year has meant to you, one thing is clear - we have all supported each other through its progress, and our lives are not the same without each other. This has been a year of growth for me, not only in my career as I approach the finish line of my Ph.D. studies, but also in my personal relationships and interactions with all of you.

There may be some of you reading this that I only speak to in passing, or perhaps we only have the chance to connect once or twice a year, perhaps even less. There are others that are a part of my daily life - you support me in everything I do, and I try to return the favor - my day and my life wouldn't be the same without you. There's my family, without whose support I would not be where I am. There are those of you who fall inbetween, but are still just as critical to me and my life. And there are those friends that I have lost - either through a fault of my own, through loss of contact, or through some misunderstanding - for you, my door and heart are always open, should you want to put past issues behind us.

For all, I wish 2010 to be a happy one, in whatever journeys you will take. We have a lot of growing to do as human beings, and as humankind and society. But thankfully, I have had all of you in my life to make my personal growth all that it has been, and I hope that I can do so as well as we all continue our walk through life. Best wishes,

-Adrian
Posted by Adrian Lauf in Thoughts at 14:11 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Autopilot working - an eye in the sky

Wednesday, December 02. 2009
After months of tweaking, working, test flights, and more tweaking, I have a working autopilot system on the new Alpha! Well, this actually happened over 3 weeks ago, but regardless, it is a major step forward. Below is actual video footage of the onboard down-throw camera. This is the actual flight that I will use for data in my simulations. You can clearly see the houses in good detail, yet with enough altitude to make the flight patterns feasible.

The autopilot itself works flawlessly. Its first full-auto flight was at Cane Ridge. Funny story, I had an engine flameout and didn't even notice it. With 6 other birds in the air (almost all internal-combustion), and 3 of them orange-colored Alphas, I lost track of the plane as it kept drifting downward, under autopilot control. I was filming its flight as it happened. Fortunately, the AP realized that the plane was below its security altitude, and maintained level flight, right before it landed in a patch of tall grass. The plane was too low for me to do anything as I realized that there was trouble. No damage, and all was fine. After a few more dead-stick landings, I realized that the engine's low-speed needle valve was not properly tuned. All is now well, and it flies beautifully.

Now that I have my test-case data, I will hopefully add a second aircraft, which may be sponsored by Hobby Lobby. I will also be adding bi-directional 802.15.4 radios for proper air-to-ground and possibly air-to-air communications. It's a bit annoying to have to connect a serial cable to the plane every time I want to take off. But, it works beautifully. Enjoy the video below!

Posted by Adrian Lauf at 01:25 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)
(Page 1 of 1, totaling 2 entries)