Summary
The XCell Tempest is a competition class RC helicopter designed for high-performance aerobatic flight. Our Tempest is powered by an OS 0.91 cu. in. engine. We have outfitted and flown several autonomous helicopter configurations based on the Tempest airframe. The equipment configurations used, and their approximate weight, are listed below.
Tempest 1
January 2004 - December 2006| Equipment | Weight |
| Ground-based vision system | 0 g* |
| Novatel OEM4-G2 Real-time Kinematic GPS | 80 g |
| Novatel L1/L2 GPS Antenna | 230 g |
| 2 OTC Wireless WiSer.IP 802.11b Radios | 200 g |
| Microstrain 3DM-GX1 Orientation Sensor | 100 g |
| 1200-1600 mAh Lithium Polymer Battery | 55 g |
| Mounting hardware and wiring. | 600 g |
| TOTAL | 1.27 kg (2.80 pounds) |
| * Optionally used to augment GPS while helicopter is inverted. This vision system uses GPS data for extrinsic calibration. |
Tempest 2
December 2006 - Present| Equipment | Weight |
| Ground-based vision system | 0 g |
| MaxStream XBee Pro 802.15.4 Serial Radio (Embedded) | < 10 g |
| Microstrain 3DM-GX1 Orientation Sensor | 100 g |
| 1200-1600 mAh Lithium Polymer Battery | 55 g |
| Mounting hardware and wiring. | 200 g |
| TOTAL | 0.36 kg (0.79 pounds) |