Like a lot of people, I have been fascinated with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for some time. However, the notion that I could actually build a model airplane capable of autonomous flight seemed like little more than a pipe dream. The idea of building such a model is not new, but it has never been within reach of most hobbyists until relatively recently. My first realization that the technology was possible came after reading about Maynard Hill's flight of "The Spirit of Butts' Farm" in 2003. Also known as "TAM-5," this was a gas-powered model airplane that flew under its own guidance across the Atlantic Ocean. "TAM" stands for "Trans-Atlantic Model" and "5" means this flight was the 5th attempt. For all intents and purposes, this was a UAV with an onboard navigation system guided by GPS satellites.

Now, fast forward to 2008. I was thinking about the flight of TAM-5 and decided to do an internet search to see if anyone else was working on autopilots for model airplanes. Wow, where had I been? Not only were there a number of open-source projects going on, but the progress was remarkable. It's too much to write about here, but this is the bottom line--you can now get an autopilot for a model airplane capable of fully autonomous flight with waypoint navigation via GPS guidance for about $350. For another $300 you can have on-board telemetry, and another $300 for live video feed. I don't often talk about the cost of things in my hobby pages because it's a relative thing--what's expensive to me could be a drop in the bucket to someone else. In this case, though, this cost has to be put into perspective. The Desert Hawk, a small foam UAV that the military uses, costs $300,000 for a complete system. Now, this does include six aircraft (the size of a small radio controlled model airplane), a ground station and spare parts. Still, a hobbyist UAV (with very much the same capabilities as the Desert Hawk) at $1,000 is far cry from $300,000. Pretty remarkable.

I decided to turn my UAV project into something more than just buying electronics and sticking them in an ARF. Although I have built model airplanes from plans, I never designed and built one from scratch. So, this time I will. I'm cheating a little in that I am going to make a scale model of an existing design, the RQ-2A Pioneer. This makes life so much easier as the overall shape and many of the details have been decided for me. Maybe I'll come up with my own design some time in the future for another project. In any case, I chose the Pioneer because it has a relatively straight forward airframe that should be easy to design as a model. Also, I just happen to like the utilitarian looks of the Pioneer. After some legwork, I was able to get enough design information on the Pioneer to start my project.

The photo above shows a full-scale Pioneer hanging in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. That photo will have to do until my own Pioneer is finished!