RE: [Paparazzi-devel] Problems getting an overview of Paparazzi

[Cédric Marzer]

Well, as in any project the most important thing to do is to define the goal 
well.
The goal is very different if you are a student, if you are a hobbyist or if 
you are a professional.
If you are a student, you probably want to learn something (okay first thing 
you want a good grade ;-) )
So the goal is not to have a flyable UAV but to learn something.
Probably just learning to decode the ppm with a microcontroller and drive a few 
servos accordingly would be the first step.
The second step would be to add the thermopiles and try to make the first 
flights.
The third step would be to add some kind of telemetry.
The fourth step would be to add a gps parser that sends the postion to the 
ground.
The fifth step would be to use the gps to go to a waypoint.
I think reasonable to say that each step would require a semester of work for a 
group of motivated student.
FYI it took me about 2 years working during my free time with the help of a 
very skilled friend to achieve it. In comparison, it took me about 3 months to 
make my paparazzi UAV fly (including soldering the tiny board).


-----Message d'origine-----
De : address@hidden [mailto:address@hidden De la part de Gareth Roberts
Envoyé : mercredi, 17. novembre 2010 12:38
À : address@hidden
Objet : Re: [Paparazzi-devel] Problems getting an overview of Paparazzi

Hi Cédric,

I know it's possible for a skilling programmer or someone with some  
experience to build a simple autopilot, I've just seen so many  
overenthusiastic undergrads who are sure they can build both the UAV and  
the autopilot and make it work better than paparazzi, and months down the  
line find it to be more difficult than they first thought.
This seems to be a field where NIH (Not Invented Here) is rife!

Cheers
--G