Open Source Autopilot boot camp

Twenty four developers from the OpenPilot project are meeting today in Portugal for their first conference. It comes ahead of the open source autopilot groups first hardware release the Copter Control (CC) board.

Software engineers have flown in from Australia and America and several European countries. The team will be polishing code and consuming ale as well as mapping out the path forward for the project.

OpenPilot and Copter Control are next generation Free Software autopilots for small UAVs, including multi-rotor craft, helicopters as well as fixed wing aircraft. they aim to implement the best features of all current enthusiast autopilot systems and combines them into a simple easy to use package. Simplicity does not come with any compromises either, with no hard-coded settings, a complete flight plan scripting language and other next-generation features, OpenPilot is planned to be an extremely capable UAV platform.

Copter Control will stabilize fixed wing and rotary platforms and is compatible with the projects own Pipbee data modem. Allowing the user to track their platforms and command new tasks. The Pipbee can talk to the OpenPilot ground control stations via smartphones using Bluetooth or Wifi connections. GPS and pitot for simple navigation are also supported with the CC board.

The CC board is has flown several platforms, from really small ones

To those that can flip at the flick of a switch

And flying wings.

Expect a sub $100 dollar price and early April release of the Copter Control Board

More information http://www.openpilot.org

Live USTREAM from the event http://www.ustream.tv/channel-popup/openpilot