Firetail UAV System

We mentioned it in passing in an earlier post, but we think that the Firetail UAV System deserves its own post. Since then, Firetail’s creator, Samuel Cowen, has continued to develop this open-source UAV autopilot system, posting regular updates on his blog and sharing his project on the Pololu forum.

Firetail is designed to be installed in any fixed-wing RC airframe and autonomously fly up to 512 waypoints. The system includes software for a ground control station, which allows users to see the location, speed, altitude, and orientation of the aircraft. Users at the station can also upload and download autopilot settings and plan flights using Google Maps.

To test Firetail, he built his own RC aircraft, which uses an Arduino Due to process signals from an RC receiver, and reads data from an AltIMU-10. Depending on how the user sets up the autopilot mode, the Firetail system either flies the craft, or simply allows the user to fly the craft while streaming telemetry data to the ground control station.

You can learn more about the Firetail system on its website.

Related products

	AltIMU-10 v4 Gyro, Accelerometer, Compass, and Altimeter (L3GD20H, LSM303D, and LPS25H Carrier)
	Arduino Due