IDK if I had that video before (probably)

but it's still one of the best short intros to aerodynamics and how airplanes work

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oy3jXu_DmY

#rctestflight - "Can a Solid Wood Airplane Actually Fly?"

I like to imagine someone somewhere using all those videos from #rctestflight for reference, when designing a large, non-rc #hovercraft or #groundeffect vehicle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxhJ9T_VkEc

sadly there don't seem to be any passenger/cargo-planes of that kind around anymore.

Autonomous Ground Effect Vehicle Demonstrator Aims To Speed Up Maritime Shipping

Ground effect vehicles, or ekranoplans, have the advantage of being more efficient than normal aircraft and faster than boats, but so far haven't been developed beyond experimental prototypes. Fortunately, this doesn't stop companies from trying, which has led to a collaboration between [ThinkFlight] and [rctestflight] to create a small-scale demonstrator for the Flying Ship Company.

The Flying Ship Company wants to use unmanned electric ekranoplans as high-speed marine cargo carriers that can use existing maritime infrastructure for loading and unloading. For the scale model, [rctestflight] was responsible for the electronics and software, while [ThinkFlight] built the airframe. As with his previous ekranoplan build, [ThinkFlight] designed it in XFLR5, cut the parts from foam using a CNC hot wire cutter (which we still want a better look at), and laminated it with Kevlar for strength. One of the challenges of ground effect vehicles is that the center of pressure will shift rearward as they leave a ground effect, causing them to pitch up. To maintain control when moving into and out of ground effect, these crafts often use a large vertical stabilizer high up on the tail, out of ground effect.

A major feature of this demonstrator is automatic altitude control using a LIDAR sensor mounted on the bottom. This was developed by [rctestflight] using a [simple foam board ekranoplan](https://hackaday.com/2021/04/29/rc-ekranoplan-uses-lidar-to-fly-in-ground-effect/#more-474188) and [Think Flighs]'s previous airframe, with some custom code added to ArduPilot. It works very well on smooth, calm water, but waves introduce a lot of noise into the LIDAR data. It looks like they were able to overcome this challenge, and completed several successful test flights in calm and rough conditions.

The final product looks good, flies smoothly, and is easy to control since the pilot doesn't need to worry about pitch or throttle control. It remains to be seen if The Flying Boat will overcome the challenges required to turn it into a successful commercial craft, and we will be following the project closely.

#transportationhacks #ardupilot #ekranoplan #groundeffect #lidar #rctestflight #thinkflight

Solar Powered Autonomous Tugboat For Rescuing Autonomous Vessels

[rctestflight] has built several autonomous boats, and with missions becoming longer and more challenging, he bought an inflatable kayak to serve as a dedicated rescue vessel. Instead of relying on outdated manual paddling, he built an autonomous solar-powered tugboat.

♪ "Rum, treasure, ArduRover, Pixhawk 4 and so much solar, break of dawn till the day is over, the ship will surely go…" ♪

The tugboat uses a pair of molded fiberglass hulls in a catamaran configuration. The wide platform allows a pair of 100W solar panels to be mounted on top. It was [rctestflight]'s first time molding anything out of fiberglass, so there was quite a bit of trial and error going on. The mold was 3D printed in sections, aligned with dowel pins, and glued together. After the epoxy had cured, the mold halves could be split apart for easier removal of the hull.

As with most of [rctestflights] autonomous vehicles, control is handled by a Pixhawk 4 running ArduPilot/ArduRover. A pair of 76 mm brass propellers powered by brushless motors provide propulsion and differential steering. The motors get power from six LiFePO4 batteries, which charge from the solar panels via MPPT charge controllers. The hulls are covered with plywood decks with removable hatches and inspection windows. After a bit of tuning, he took the boat for a few test runs, the longest being 5.1 km with himself in tow in the kayak. At less than 5 km/h (3 mph) it's no speedboat, but certainly looks like a relaxing ride. Many of [rctestflight]'s previous vessels were airboats to avoid getting underwater propellers tangled in weeds. It was less of an issue this time since he could just haul the tugboat close to the kayak and clear the propellers.

[rctestflights] are always entertaining and educational to watch, and this one certainly sets the standard for sea-shanty soundtracks at 13:32 in part two.

#dronehacks #transportationhacks #ardupilot #autonomousboat #drone #rctestflight