UAV Control Device Field Trials

[Sam Worthington]

For the last few years we have been developing the Wing 3D control device.

The upper part pitches, rolls, and moves vertically, and there is yaw control to offer 4-axis joystick features for manual piloting; while the lower part contains a high-end mouse sensor to allow standard precision pointer control for the mission planner.

If can give us any feed back on the use of the Wing as an alternative to the standard twin-stick transmitter then that would be really appreciated.

Many thanks,

Sam

 

[Sam Worthington]

Since I first posted this we took the Wing a stage further and developed the Wing GCS. This is a Ground Control Station so you can plan the mission, pilot the aircraft and analyse the data without having to worry about a separate transmitter, laptop and telemetry system.

Any comments would be really appreciated and we've created a very short (four-question) survey to learn a bit more about the Wing control unit. If you could spare a few minutes that would be great.

 

[Cheshirecat]

the wing is an interesting piece of engineering.
maybe it's me but 112 years of powered aviation has not displaced the joystick (except for Yokes of course) a mouse style controller just does not seem right. I can see the CAD element though. Amazing bit of tech either way.

 

[Sam Worthington]

Thanks for the comment, it's been a lot of work getting this far so it really is appreciated.

I know what you mean about the joystick, and we're not suggesting the Wing will replace it. You can see it being used in this video of flying a quadcopter in a Heli-X simulation. Truth is, we don't know if it's better than a single full-sized joystick or the more common twin-stick arrangement used on small UAVs. The feedback we've got so far is that people do find it very natural to use and was good seeing how quickly professional UAV pilots adapted to it.

The real strength is the combination of mouse functionality with the joystick. For a lot of commercial work like mapping and inspection, there is not a massive requirement for manual flying. What people want is an work-station on site were they can plan the mission, fly the aircraft an analyse the data as it comes in. Having yo use a separate laptop balanced on a sandwich with a twin-stick transmitter hanging around you neck is hardly ideal.

We've created as very short (five question) survey to get an idea of what people think. I'd be really grateful if anyone can spare a few moments to complete it.

We're not saying it's the right solution for all pilots, but in some applications people find the Wing is just what they need.

Sam