Self Fly Gliders

[Karl Striedieck[_2_]]

http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-hours

[pstrzel]

On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 1:12:25 PM UTC-6, Karl Striedieck wrote:
> http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-hours

Well, there ya go. Soaring has just been automated. Autopilot, let's do a quick 300km triangle today. ;-)

[son_of_flubber]

Automobiles have not stopped people from running races, going for walks, and riding horses.

A robot that scouts for lift when I start to get low sounds good.

I would use this to fly safer and have more fun.

[Muttley]

On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 8:12:25 PM UTC+1, Karl Striedieck wrote:
> http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-hours

The OLC .igc files will soon be exploited to build a thermal source database!!

[Dan Marotta]

I think I'll stay home today and get in a good flight... Why bother to
go to the airport and actually drag my ship out of the hangar?

On 10/18/2016 6:19 PM, pstrzel wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 1:12:25 PM UTC-6, Karl Striedieck wrote:
>> http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-hours
> Well, there ya go. Soaring has just been automated. Autopilot, let's do a quick 300km triangle today. ;-)

--
Dan, 5J

[Tony[_5_]]

Work done by Mark Maughmers students at Penn State. John Bird and Jack Langellan earned an OSTIV diploma for their paper to the 2012 Congress which I believe started this line of work.

John presented at the SSA Convention in Greenville on autonomous Soaring. I was bummed that it was during the same time as my talk so I missed it.

Cool stuff! Maybe we should get them to sniff for us at contests.

[Philip Dwyer[_2_]]

At 19:12 18 October 2016, Karl Striedieck wrote:
>http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-
hours
>

Now that's been done, I wonder if its possible to design a glider that
would work on Mars?

[pstrzel]

On Wednesday, October 19, 2016 at 7:36:55 AM UTC-6, Muttley wrote:
> On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 8:12:25 PM UTC+1, Karl Striedieck wrote:
> > http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-hours
>
> The OLC .igc files will soon be exploited to build a thermal source database!!

Soon? I found this a few years ago:

http://thermal.kk7.ch/

[son_of_flubber]

related http://www.popularmechanics.com/flight/a23426/watch-robot-fly-plane/

[WB]

On Tuesday, October 18, 2016 at 2:12:25 PM UTC-5, Karl Striedieck wrote:
> http://www.popsci.com/new-software-lets-drones-surf-winds-for-hours

Yes! Automated soaring will be SAFER! Anyone against using this technology in sailplanes is anti-safety and wants people to die. I am going to get out ahead of the game and demand that this technology be mandatory for all U.S. contests from 2017 onward.

[Mike the Strike]

"Thermals tend to form in the same place repeatedly, often over tarmac or bare rock which soaks up the sun better than the surrounding terrain. So the researchers gave ALOFT a memory of where it had found a thermal before."

Wow - who would have thought of that - looking for thermals where they've formed before! Maybe we should try that! Oh, that's right, we already do!

Mike

[Tango Eight]

I'd rather be soaring.

T8

[[email protected]]

First flight of the ALOFT glider was probably in 2007 or 2008. Transfering to full scale gliders might already have happened by now... ;-)

Aldo Cernezzi

[aivian]

On Thursday, October 20, 2016 at 7:56:07 AM UTC-4, Tango Eight wrote:
> I'd rather be soaring.
>
> T8

Me too!

As one who helped make this particular sausage (though the mapping work was done by another grad student in the lab), I can assure you that it won't be contending for a world title any time soon -- if you think student pilots are tough to teach, try computers.

That said, it was great fun to have our aircraft flying with Dan and ALOFT and the mapping is a neat capability. We had good maps of the house thermals and their likelihood after a few days' soaring. By the end of the week the plane had places that it "liked" and would go right to them after launch, just like that nice rocky spot I head to at Ridge Soaring...

John Bird