IDETEC Unmanned Systems Reports Success with MicroPilot Autopilot Solution
IDETEC successfully integrates and flies its sUAS Stardust with MP2128g2 autopilot. The agriculture-mapping UAS flew at over 4000 meters for 48 minutes.
September 15, 2013 – MP2128g2, a professional unmanned aerial systems (UAS) autopilot, successfully directed flight of an agriculture-mapping UAS at above 4000 meters, earlier this month. The UAS autopilot company, headquartered in Stony Mountain, Manitoba, Canada, released its MP2128g2 earlier this year.
The sUAS Stardust is a product of IDETEC Unmanned Systems, based in Chile. IDETEC’s Stardust is used primarily for precision agriculture, orthomosaic imaging, and 3D Mapping. The UAS’s payload options include thermal IR, RGB visual range, multispectral NIR, and HD video cameras. Electrically powered, the system has an endurance of 90 minutes.
During the UAS’s design phase, IDETEC chose MP2128g2 autopilot for its reliability and flexibility. The MP2128g2 is equipped with twenty input/output pins, which can be configured as digital in/out, pulse-width modulation (PWM) in/out, or serial in/out. MP2128g2 weighs 24 grams, including its GPS receiver, and measures ten by four centimeters. The autopilot also comes with a 150-mips RISC processor.
The Stardust flight completed successfully, despite windy conditions. The UAS faced 30-kilometer-per-hour wind and maintained 65-kilometer-per-hour cruise speed. The Stardust took off at 4030 meters and maintained a cruising altitude of 4330 meters during its 48-minute flight.
“The performance was excellent,” reports Juan Francisco Sainz V., IDETEC CEO. “We are very satisfied with the system’s navigation functionality, even in windy conditions.”
About MicroPilot
With 850 clients in over 70 countries, MicroPilot is the world leader in miniature autopilots for UAVs and MAVs. MicroPilot is the first UAV autopilot manufacturer to bring to market a sub 30 gram autopilot, triple redundant autopilot, and full-function general purpose autopilot. MicroPilot offers a family of lightweight UAV autopilots that can fly fixed-wing, transitional, helicopter, and Multi Rotor UAVs. MicroPilot also provides complementary products such as the XTENDERmp SDK, trueHWIL, payloads, and catapults.
