I developed, manufactured and marketed the first low cost autopilot for UAVs. This new product was introduced in a series of articles in Radio Controlled Models magazine in 1999 entitled Teaching a Computer to Fly. After successfully bringing this new product into production and establishing a market base, I sold the company and retired. Unfortunately, the new management of the company did not understand the technology that they had purchased and consequently the company bit the dust in less than two years. Because I find this technology fascinating, I re-acquired the manufacturing rights to the autopilot that you see above with the idea of re-entering the marketplace. However, some poor business choices resulted in a lot of wasted time and effort. A detailed business plan is available if there is any genuine interest.

You can view the details of the product here: Autopilot.

The UAV shown on the home page is a 2.5 meter tactical unit that featured a fixed camera in the nose. The airframe was manufactured for me by RnR Products in California and sold for $5,000 (airframe only). The conceptual UAV shown on this page is a newer 3 meter version that uses a very innovative and inexpensive camera gimbals controlled by the autopilot operator. This newer version also features improved, faster field assembly and lower manufacturing costs. The entire package could be manufactured at a cost of goods sold for less than $5,000 including, airframe, autopilot, 2 axis gimbals, engine, servos, GPS, RF link and Ground Control Station.

Details of the airframe are here: Airframe

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