‘Nother Entry

We recieved a few more applications for the WyoLum 2011 Innovation Grant process.  I don’t know if we will be able have a post for each one, but we will do what we can.

The paparazzi is a completely open source end-to-end solution to unmanned aerial vehicle  piloting.  Unlike other hardware projects I have come accross, this one integrates measurement, filtering, and control into single package.

http://paparazzi.enac.fr/wiki/Main_Page

From their website:

The Paparazzi Project

Paparazzi is a free and open-source hardware and software project intended to create an exceptionally powerful and versatile autopilot system for fixedwing aircrafts as well as multicopters by allowing and encouraging input from the community. The project includes not only the airborne hardware and software, from voltage regulators and GPS receivers to Kalman filtering code, but also a powerful and ever-expanding array of ground hardware and software including modems, antennas, and a highly evolved user-friendly ground control software interface.
All hardware and software is open-source and freely available to anyone under the GNU licencing agreement. Several vendors are currently producing and selling Paparazzi autopilots and popular accessories, making the system easy and affordable to all.
The key feature of the paparazzi autopilot is its unique combination of infrared thermopiles and inertial measurement for attitude sensing, providing a robust and accurate attitude estimate that requires no ground calibration and can recover from any launch attitude.