I am part of a team making a Radio Controlled Plane and we plan on using RTK GPS receivers for the altitude measurements of the plane. We plan to have one receiver on the plane and another at our base station (laptop) to correct any error from the receiver on the plane. I am wondering if anybody has used an RTK GPS for specifically RC Aircraft as opposed to a UAV or Drone, because I am not trying to incorporate an autopilot system as that defeats the purpose of our RC Plane. I am open for any suggestions.
I am part of a team making a Radio Controlled Plane and we plan on using RTK GPS receivers for the altitude measurements of the plane. We plan to have one receiver on the plane and another at our base station (laptop) to correct any error from the receiver on the plane. I am wondering if anybody has used an RTK GPS for specifically RC Aircraft as opposed to a UAV or Drone, because I am not trying to incorporate an autopilot system as that defeats the purpose of our RC Plane. I am open for any suggestions.
Its a bit vague your post.
Suggestions for what?
What ranges are you working with.?
What Comms do you have with plane?
Digital Comms?
So, we have a Seagull Wireless Dashboard Flight System, made by Eagle Tree Systems, which includes a USB Data Flight Recorder to be placed on the plane. Last years team used a pitot tube to measure the altitude of the plane, and this was connected to the USB Data Flight Recorder on the plane, and the readings were transmitted down to base station. I am unsure if the RTK GPS system (used to measure altitude of the plane) will be able to communicate with the Wireless Dashboard System that we have. I would like to be able to connect the GPS receiver on the plane to the USB Data Flight recorder and have this information transmitted to the rest of the Dashboard Flight System on the ground, but I am not positive if this can work.
I am very new to the RC Airplane world and am looking for any help possible. If there is an alternate system that I could use that would help as well, but I am hoping to be able to use the Seagull Wireless Dashboard Flight System.
So the pitot tube is used to measure airspeed not altitude. there must be a seperate (reference) pressure sensor that you use for altitude. The relationship between pressure and altitude is well defined and if you have a good sensor you will get good readings (temperature compensated of course) What are you hoping to achieve with the RTK that you were not getting from the existing system? This sound like a research data collection project? What is the purpose, then we can work backwards to a solution.
Anything is possible. Putting an arduino in line between the Reach and your existing system can convert the nmea output (at 5 hz) to whatever format you wish or your existing system can ingest.
Yes the pitot tube measures the airspeed which was then converted to altitude using the air pressure at the ground compared to the air pressure in the air. We are planning to use the RTK GPS instead of the pitot tube for the altitude readings.
The purpose of the project is to construct an RC Airplane that will drop payloads from at least 100 feet in the air onto a stationary target on the ground. Per the rules of the competition we must record the altitude throughout the entire flight as well as when the payloads are released to ensure it occurs above 100 feet. The pitot tube has been used in the past for these measurements.
However, we are planning to use the RTK GPS so that we can have both x and y coordinates of the plane and hopefully use these to help us guide the plane over the target. The plane is strictly flown by radio control with no autopilot device, so we would like to get the most help possible in order to align the plane over the target, in which case we believe the RTK GPS will help us out.
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