Striving to be the person my dog thinks I am.

Mike Richter is a Santa Barbara, California-based designer and kit manufacturer of innovative, high performance model sailplanes.  I’m at the stage where I’m striving to make things simpler, rather than more complicated, and it looks like Mike’s design philosophy is to take the simplest possible approach to building and flying.  When I saw Mike’s Alula design with its cleverly swept forward wing, I was sold.  I’ve never noticed it before, but the forward sweep on the wing is precisely the way raptors configure their wings in soaring flight – check out the logo, above.  What’s not to love about that?

I received one of the earlier kits, having put my name on the waiting list fairly early on.  It arrived a month or two ago, and for not a lot of great reasons, it has taken this long to get it out of the box and assembled.  Although there’s very little work to do, it was when I was working through the building steps it occurred to me a blog documenting the flight testing and subsequent flights would be useful for me and others.  Other Alula builders – or just those interested in the subject material in general – are welcomed and encouraged to participate with comments, which can be entered in response to any post.  It’s worth noting I’m not affiliated with Dream-Flight in any way, other than being a paying customer — and a fan.

To kick things off with this first, introductory post, what I won’t do is try and document my steps in building the Alula.  Suffice to say the kit is extremely well engineered, and Mike’s building instructions are very complete.  So long as you follow them to the letter, you will do just fine.  I made the mistake of skipping a step or two toward the end, and I ended up paying for it.  More on that in the next post, where I document my first attempts to fly the Alula.  ‘Til then, check out Mike’s Alula Uplift on YouTube.

One of the applications for photographic images acquired during Low Altitude Area Survey (LAAS) is Google Earth (GE).  The tool used to configure the GE platform is known as Keyhole Markup Language (KML), and  has numerous elements used to achieve different types of functionality.  The specific element used to overlay an image onto the GE terrain is <GroundOverlay> and it’s worthwhile reviewing how it is used, as it will dictate the type of data that needs to be collected by the vehicle when it’s in the air.

Note: No attempt will be made here to explain the intracies of KML — that is covered in lots of detail elsewhere, and the rest of this document assumes reasonable familiarity with it.The <LatLonBox> tag of the <GroundOverlay> element is used to drape an image onto the GE terrain.  It contains five of its own tags; <north>, <south>, <east>, <west> and <rotation>.  <north> and <south> are expressed in decimal degrees of latitude, and <east> and <west> are expressed in degrees longitude.  By convention, values north of the equator are considered positive, and south of the equator are considered negative.  Similarly, values west of the Prime Meridian are negative, and east are considered positive.  Finally, the <rotation> tag is expressed in decimal degrees from north in a counterclockwise direction.  An example a fully populated <LatLonBox> tag is as follows;

<LatLonBox>
	<north>48.25475939255556</north>
 	<south>48.25207367852141</south>
 	<east>-90.86591508839973</east>
	<west>-90.8714285289695</west>
	<rotation>39.37878630116985</rotation>
</LatLonBox>

The diagram at the top of this article illustrates the relationship of this tag information to the vehicle in the air.  Sufficient information has to be gathered during flight which can directly be employed in the population of the tag, or used as a basis for the calculation of values which, when combined with other known values and assumptions, can be used to populate the tag.

It’s assumed that the latitude and longitude of the vehicle can be precisely obtained using an inexpensive WAAS-enable Global Positioning System (GPS) device.  Previous posts describe the importance of keeping the camera oriented so that it is pointing precisely plumb (straight down).  Assuming this can be achieved, the vertical line from the camera to the terrain forms the adjacent side of a right triangle.  There are small, solid-state devices  capable of reporting altitude to a precision of one or two percent, so it’s reasonable to assume altitude above ground level (AGL) can also be obtained.  This is the length of the adjacent side of the right triangle.  Taking rotation out of the equation temporarily, the only other information required is the angle of view of the camera being used.  By taking half the angle of view, and combining it with latitude & longitude and AGL, this is the information necessary to calculate values for <north>, <south>, <east>, <west> using standard, garden-variety trigonometry (see SOHCAHTOA).

This is not fundamentally changed by the the presence (or absence) of information to populate the <rotation> tag.  In fact, if it could be assumed the vehicle was always headed precisely north, the <rotation> tag could be populated with zero, and otherwise ignored entirely.  However, it is assumed it will be easier to collect the heading — probably from the same GPS device that captured latitude & longitude — than to attempt to keep the aircraft pointed due north during image acquisition.  The only other thing that’s worth mentioning is the values collected in the air needed to be precisely correlated with respect to time.  It only makes sense that the lat/long, altitude and heading need to be recorded contemporaneously if they are going to be used as a basis for calculations.

Summary   The values required to prepare a syntactically correct GE <LatLonBox> tag are 1) altitude above ground level, 2) heading of the aircraft, and 3) latitude, and longitude of the vehicle, all at the time the picture is taken.

While the task of creating a suitable platform for aerial survey may seem like a daunting one, breaking the project into stages and getting each part to function properly before moving on to the next is perhaps the best way to tackle this.  To have a useful platform to create a series of images over a specified area, there are certain points that I envision being required to get the data as accurately and as fast as possible.  These are as follows:

1. The camera mount - In order to capture accurate images of terrain below that can later be montaged onto a platform such as Google Earth (GE),  it is required that the lens of the camera be pointing directly downwards at the moment the picture is taken.   This will be the topic of this post, so I will come back to this later.
2. Constant altitude - To create a seamless montage of photographs, the aircraft will have to be kept at a constant and known altitude.  To accomplish this, a commercial altitude-hold unit would be required, and they are available at a reasonable cost, depending on the unit one selects.
3. Guidance - To capture images of the area of interest, it is required that the aircraft be guided to the exact point where it needs to take the photograph.  The only way I can see this being done with any reliability, is with a commercial waypoint navigation system.  A pre-determined route can be set that the plane will follow so that at specified intervals, a photograph will be taken.  While commercial units have the ability to follow a specified course, I have yet to comprehend how the shutter can be triggered at a pre-determined point in the flight, and this will be the challenge.  If one does not require automated take-off and landing capabilities, commercial waypoint navigation systems are relatively inexpensive to acquire.

Following these steps, a capable UAV can be created, with the task of image processing to follow.  This process will be a whole new topic that can be addressed at a later stage in the project, but with accurately geo-coded images, should be possible.

A good place to start will be creating the camera mount.  This can be fitted to any standard radio controlled aircraft to test,  and images can be analyzed to determine their quality and accuracy before proceeding.  To stabilize the camera, I propose using the FMA Copilot infrared stability system.  While this product is commonly used for levelling a model aircraft in pitch and roll, it should also work for levelling a camera on a gimballed mount.  With the camera mounted pointing downwards on a plate, the copilot can be fastened to the underside of the plate and connected to servos to control the attitude of the camera mount.  This will keep the lens of the camera perpendicular to the surface of the earth.  I have done some preliminary drafting work on such a mount, so rather than try to explain it, you can perhaps get a better idea of what I am planning by looking at the attached pictures.

The first picture shows the main structure of the mount, with three carbon fibre plates and a number of aluminium blocks for pivots.  The second image shows the camera, servos, copilot, and control rods in place.  Overall height of the mount is roughly 3.5″, so mounted to the bottom of an aircraft will not cause significant ground clearance problems.

Camera Mount - image one

Camera Mount - image two

This drawing is still in its early stages, so I will post new screenshots as I make progress on the design and construction.

It’s been a week now since I walked away from my regular, nine-to-five job and started the hunt for the new, new thing.  Actually, it was a 7 am to 4.45 job, which means nigh on a ten hour day, including lunch making somebody else rich.  But who’s counting.

My new day now includes a train ride from downtown to Calgary Technologies (CT)  and back.  It’s a surprisingly good time to think about what’s ahead of you for the day, and what’s behind you at the end of it.  Most of this post was written during those rides.

My working space at CT is a study carrol.  The last time I sat in one of these for any length of time was in Sedgewick Library at UBC while pursuing an undergrad degree.  All I can remember of that experience was  it was a good place to nap.  But my new carrol is a great place to work — it really does eliminate all distractions, and you can focus on the work, without the sense of isolation you get working in a full cubicle, or heaven forbid, the home office.

Just as quickly and as unexpectedly as the melancholia came, it departed.  I think I just needed some tangible affirmation that I wasn’t totally in the wilderness.  A day or two at CT, surrounded by people who were in various stages of the same boat, provided that. 

In the past, I had been fairly quick to blow off the value of ‘networking’, but even after a short time, it’s really hard to imagine doing the same thing out of the back bedroom.  Just hearing the sound of other peoples’ voices seems to reinforce the idea I’m not in this alone.  And when those voices are talking software and start-ups, so much the better.

An old friend of mine came to visit yesterday — my first visitor in the new digs — and I found myself genuinely excited to tell him what I was up to — I haven’t felt that way about work for a very, very long time.  It feels like I’ve been away on a long, strange trip, and I’m finally back home.

Details of the actual work being pursued can be found on www.intellog.com/blog, and I’ll make no attempt to repeat that here.  This is more of a macroscopic view of trying to get the entire enterprise off the ground.  But I can say this — the work  I have undertaken is going better that I had any right to expect.  I hope to have an early prototype available shortly, which will help tremendously in the fund raising process.

So, in summary (for now), if you’re an entrepreneur and you’re feeling a little like I was last week, don’t worry, the feeling passes quickly once you get down to doing the things you need to do.

Today, I had the opportunity to attend the Financing Your Vision seminar at Calgary Technologies.  This is the one-day seminar that covers all of the financing options available to entrepreneurs –   covered by speakers with direct and relevant experience in their respective fields.  It seems to be aimed primarily at high tech entrepreneurs, but the discussion is certainly not limited to this type of company — anybody who is seeking financial partners for their new start up venture would be a candidate to attend.

The session is put together and facilitated by Kerri Knull, Manager of the Calgary Innovation Centre, which is based at Calgary Technologies.  It’s a very well-organized event.  Comfortable, but not overly lavish.  Most importantly, Kerri exercises polite, but firm control over the agenda so the schedule is respected and each speaker is marched through on time.  The speakers seem to appreciate it, and the attendees as well.  Kerri also makes a direct contribution to the agenda in her own segment, putting the day in overall framework.

The guest speakers in our session included  Revett Eldred, Al Saurette, Corey Keith, Greg McLean, Mike Scarth and Wayne Powell, all drawn from the local entrepreneurial community.   I have read a ton of material on this subject, but there is nothing like hearing from, and being able to talk with people who have really been there and done the kinds of things you are contemplating taking on yourself.  They cover the full range of options from bootstrapping, angel investment, venture capital, bank financing and even a short section on  one government sponsored program (SR&ED) aimed at start up companies.

For me, the session put my own efforts in context.  It also enabled the sequencing of the steps to get where I’m going from here.  I may not know all of the things that I have got to do to fully realize my objectives, but I have a clear sense of what’s next.  I also now know that there are certain stages of the process for which I’m not ready.  That’s useful information, in itself.

If you’re in the bootstrap phase, which best describes where I’m at currently, you’re giving every penny one last squeeze as it heads the door — it’s your money after all.  The $250/300 fee for the seminar is well worth it, and I would highly recommend the investment of your money, and likely more precious, your time.

If you have any specific questions about this seminar, I would recommend you get in touch with Kerri, whose email address can be found on the CIC site.  By all means, if you have any questions for a previous attendee, please leave a comment, below, and I’ll do my best to answer as promptly as I can.

One additional comment; for all would-be entrepreneurs who are currently labouring away at the soul-crushing work of the mothership, you owe it yourself to spend a day amongst your own kind.  If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll feel like an entirely different person, and walk away with a renewed feeling that you really can do this.