The third generation of the OpenRelief Airframe is now available. It includes substantial improvements from the second generation airframe released in 2013 and many improvements to the third generation “beta tests” released in 2014.

The third generation OpenRelief Airframe

The key changes are:

• Updated design to reflect build improvements
• Change to IAM/IPT file format
• Clearer Bill of Materials

The airframe is simpler, tougher and more repairable than before. For example, it includes a completely redesigned tail and wheel section to address weaknesses discovered during the build process.

You can view the project page here:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/open-source-airframe/

You can download the design package from here:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/documents/CTOL-UAV-3.zip

Please feel free to use, share, adapt and remix. It is released under the TAPR Open Hardware License.

Today we are proud to announce that the OpenRelief Project has become part of the Dronecode initiative. We are joining Arsov RC Technology, Erle Robotics, Event 38 Unmanned Systems, Parrot, Team Black Sheep, Walkera, Open Source Robotics Foundation, Team Tiltrotor, The Autonomous Systems, Control, and Optimization Laboratory (ASCO) at Johns Hopkins, Uplift Aeronautics in promoting open, sharable and adaptable drone technology on shared platforms.

Dronecode is a nonprofit organization developing a common, shared open source platform for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) facilitated by the Linux Foundation. 3DRobotics and Yuneec International Co. Ltd. are Platinum, founding members of Dronecode, which includes the APM/ArduPilot open source UAV platform, and PX4, an independent, open-source, open-hardware autopilot project. More than 1,200 developers are working on Dronecode with more than 150 code commits a day on some projects. Under the neutral guidance of Dronecode, other qualified parties and developers are encouraged to participate in the development and direction of the software.

Find out more here:
Dronecode press release welcoming OpenRelief and others

The third beta of the new OpenRelief Airframe is now available. This release is relatively minor and is intended as an incremental roll-out of our new design files. It includes the new bulkhead DXF and DWG files along with some illustrative images of this component’s build process.

You can download the design package from here:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/documents/CTOL-UAV-3beta3.zip

The new OpenRelief Airframe

There are some pending updates. These can be split into two parts:

1. Improving understanding of how to review the current design files
2. Expanding the design package to make assembly of the current testing airframe in Australia available to everyone

Regarding point (1), please expect one or two incremental updates to fix issues with the current Bill of Materials and so on. If you download the files and spot confusion points or errors please flag them to help improve this phase.

Regarding point (2), IPT and IAM files will be integrated to allow build of the airframe as recently shipped to Alan. As always, the designs go out under the TAPR Open Hardware License. We are aware not everyone has Autodesk Inventor and we will gradually work with everyone in the community to ensure the designs become more open and accessible over time. However, releasing our actual build files will help ensure that at least some universities and designers can independently build and test the system.

Work has progressed on developing the third generation Open Source Airframe. Edward Strickland recently shared these pictures from the prototype build in the UK. The first test flights are provisionally scheduled for September in Australia under the watchful eye of Alan Hart.

Version 3 prototype

Our student developers

The article

The Oldham Evening Chronicle has just published a story covering local college students building the OpenRelief airframe. Lead by Edward Strickland, our main airframe designer, these students are rapidly prototyping the third generation OpenRelief airframe.

Their refinements include a dramatically simpler, tougher tail, a new wing and an improved landing gear. When complete, their work will be put through its paces in Australia, and will provide the foundation for the active deployment versions of OpenRelief drone technology.

Third generation tail

The second beta of the third generation OpenRelief Airframe is now available:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/documents/CTOL-UAV-3.0.0beta2.zip

This includes the completed tail mount and tail planes. The only remaining item for the rear is the tail wheel/drag.

The next few releases will cover an improved front fuselage, a new landing gear and a new wing.

This has a longer support within the tube to support the tail plane and stop vibration. It also features a more symmetric design for future ease-of-use.

One issue we had during the first build was warping of the ply. It sprung up and stopped the laser cutter, tripping it out. We sorted this but are considering acrylic with relief holes to reduce weight as a recommended material in the future (acrylic is 30% denser than ply).

Third generation tail

The first beta of the third generation Open Source Airframe is now available here:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/documents/CTOL-UAV-3.0.0beta1.zip

This generation is intended to be cheaper, lighter and easier to build than previous versions.

Ed and his team at Oldham college are fixing on a 6 foot long airframe with a 7 foot wingspan for now, though the slightly larger wing may introduce some speed and drag issues compared to the second generation airframe. Not to worry. The wings and tail will be modular to allow alternative surfaces to suit different power units.

As noted by Ed, the major changes in the first beta focus on a dramatically simpler tail (three parts instead of five):
” – Part count is reduced from 5 to 3 parts.
– Sandwich is supported to the edge preventing “clamping” of tail planes.
– Reduced bolt holes as glue is sufficient
– Tailplane flexing is reduced as forward bolt holes are now better supported.
– CAD format in dwg format and pdf format, notice layers within pdf top left hand corner.
In general, it has less parts, is stronger and has more symmetry.”

Comments and suggestions for improvements to the tail most welcome.

In the next betas you can expect to see an improved front fuselage, a new landing gear and a new wing.

Second Generation Open Source Airframe

The 2.0.3 version of the Open Source Airframe has now been released. This is just a refinement to the design package distribution, though it’s smaller and easier to parse. Enjoy.

== Version 2.0.3 ==

27/06/2013

– Updated the Bill of Materials to better match file names
– Removed unnecessary files
(dropped from 8.5 MB to 5.5 MB)
– Reordered the Props folder to make it simple
– Combined the Front and Rear Fuselage folders to make it simple

Download the CAD schematics and the bill of materials here:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/documents/CTOL-UAV-2.0.3.zip

Drone Manager Overview

I’ve pulled together the threads on our vision and drone management software to provide a summary on the website:
http://www.opendawn.com/openrelief/labs/

My trigger was that there has recently been some awesome code released by the CanberraUAV team, and I wanted to review where we had been as a prelude to exploring (and promoting) their work. I think it’s useful to catch breath like this. The Labs page will provide that opportunity, and hopefully allow us to sync and contribute.

For your reference, the CanberraUAV work, some really nice vision stuff, can be found here:
http://www.diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/demonstration-of-canberrauav-image-search-algorithm

Well done to Tridge, Chris and everyone on the team.