Included below are videos showing some of our test flights, as well as other hardware-related activities as part of this project. We've provided three different file types (with estimates on the file size). Click on the links listed below to either download or watch the videos on-line. Note that there are three different sets of videos: the "small" set (recorded in mpeg1 format) designed for quick downloads or streaming video over the internet (RealPlayer, Windows Media Player and QuickTime should be able to play this file) and a Windows Media Video format. If you are running linux, the latest verision of mplayer should be able to view any of the mpeg videos. If you are using Windows Media Player, you should be able to view the .wmv files without a problem. Otherwise, make sure that you have downloaded the proper codecs and you should be able to view these files. If you have questions or want more info, feel free to contact us using our contact email listed here

May 5th to 11th, 2007

Autonomous Airplane Perch Tests - Part 2

IIn these flight tests, a fixed vertical landing platform was designed and attached to a concrete pole in the middle of the RAVEN flight space to allow the fixed-wing aircraft to land and perch on the pole. This test is similar to the test performed on January 28th, 2007 except in this test the platform was attached to the wall. This test was repeated number of times and a video shows repeating the vehicle take-off, hover and land sequence twice. The videos are from test flights which took place on May 11th, 2007.

Video: wmv (32 Mb), mpeg1 (31 Mb)

April 12th, 2007

Autonomous Airplane Level Flight Testing

In this flight test, the aircraft took off from the vertical landing apparatus and autonomously moved to a location in the northeastern area of the room in the hover configuration. Once the vehicle reached this location, the vehicle was commanded to transition to level flight mode and flew 3 laps around the room. These three laps were completed in about 10 secs (since the vehicle was flying at approx. 6 m/s during the flight). Following the laps, the system commanded the vehicle to transition back to the hover mode and once it stablized itself began its decent to attempt a landing on the vertical landing apparatus. Note that room is approx 8 meters wide. The video is from test flights which took place on April 12th, 2007.

Video: wmv (32 Mb), mpeg1 (32 Mb)

February 28th, 2007

Autonomous Airplane Transition (Hover-Level Flight-Hover) Tests

In this flight test, the operator moved the airplane to a location in the room and the system commanded the vehicle to transition to level flight mode and back to hover mode. This test was done as a precursor to the level flight testing. This transistion capability allows the system to autonomously commande the airplane to a level flight state from a hover (and vise versa). Note that these transistions take less than 2 seconds to complete and both transitions were completed in less than 20 ft (7 m). The video is from test flights which took place on February 28th, 2007.

Video: wmv (17 Mb), mpeg1 (16 Mb)

February 26th, 2007

Autonomous Airplane Ground Take-off to Hover

In this flight test, the airplane was setup in the conventional level flight state and the system commanded the vehicle to take-off to a hover. This ground takeoff to hover conversion occurs in under 25 ft (8 m). The video is from test flights which took place on February 26th, 2007.

Video: wmv (14 Mb), mpeg1 (14 Mb)

January 31st, 2007

ICRA '07 Video Submission

This video submission to the ICRA '07 conference provides an overview of the RAVEN (Real-time Autonomous Vehicle indoor test ENvironment) used in all of the indoor fixed-wing experiments to date. The videos are from test flights which took place before on January 31st, 2007. This video was presented at the ICRA '07 conference, which took place in Rome, Italy on April 10th-14th, 2007.

Video: wmv (71 Mb), mpeg1 (50 Mb)

January 28th, 2007

Autonomous Airplane Perch Tests - Part 1

In this flight test, a portable vertical landing platform was designed and setup in the middle of the RAVEN flight space to allow the fixed-wing aircraft to land and perch on the platform. This test was repeated number of times and this video shows the vehicle landing, taking off, hovering and landing again. The videos are from test flights which took place on January 28th, 2007.

Video: wmv (28 Mb), mpeg1 (27 Mb)

October 2006

Autonomous Prop Hang Tests

The purpose of these flight test was to demonstrate the system's capability to autonomously control a fixed-wing aircraft in a prophang. This was the first time in our laboratory that a fixed-wing aircraft was flown in this configuration. Many subsequent tests were performed in addition to this test. This video was made from a test flight that took place in October 2006.

Video: wmv (35 Mb), mpeg1 (33 Mb)

July 31st, 2006

Airplane Tracking Test

The purpose of this flight test was to demonstrate the platform's capability to track vehicles and display them using the platform's operator interface. In this video we demonstrate the system's capability to acquire the position of an airplane flown by a pilot and display the data using the platform's 3D interface. The videos are from a test flight which took place on July 31st.

Video Links: wmv (25 Mb), mpeg1 (24 Mb), mpeg2 (93 Mb)