UFO Project

[rpollack]

Excellent! I expect that UFO sightings are about to spike

[pyronaught]

I eventually hope to sell these as a kit, so then once a bunch of them are in the hands of the general public then I'm pretty sure there will be a surge in "sightings"

[pyronaught]

Some recent sightings

test_flight1.jpg (435.92 KiB) Viewed 10050 times

test_flight2.jpg (304.24 KiB) Viewed 10050 times

test_flight3.jpg (281.76 KiB) Viewed 10050 times

[jereywolf]

This is so cool!

[lem]

Yeah, I like that middle picture. Very nice project.

[insta]

If it doesn't make the warbly UFO sound while its flying around the entire project is worthless, just sayin'.

[pyronaught]

Real UFOs are actually completely silent. This one of course sounds like a swarm of bees.

[insta]

Then by logical extension, real UFOs are worthless projects too.


It is a cool project i'm just being a goober

[Dale Reed]

FWIW, I have a design for an MP3 player using an STA013$ MP3 decoder, so you can add whatever sound you want to it. Be aware that GOOD speakers can be a bit heavy, so you may have to upsize the whole thing. Uses a Freescale 9S08QE32, SDCard socket, WM8727 (IIRC) stereo D/A, and a TDA7056 (IIRC) audio amp that belts out 3 watts or so of audio. (Upsize again for the batteries to drive it!) That should get the warble sound out over the sound of the props.

Oh, and nice project!

[pyronaught]

I actually don't want any sound, I'm trying to stay consistent with the real phenomenon. I will use any leftover lifting capacity to make the light system as bright as possible, then fly higher to keep the sound out of range. Currently I'm only at 60-80 lumen output for 20 minute duration with 3W LEDs. I could upgrade to 4W LEDs and get to 330 lumens pretty easily. For reference, car headlights put out between 1000 and 3000 lumens (with HID lights being at the high end). I think using large diffusors can create the illusion of larger lights using less power though.