Mayday, automatic parachute deployment - on Kickstarter

The Mayday is a device that automatically decide to eject the parachute when it detect that something has gone wrong. Or in their own words :

"Mayday is a standalone machine learning device that detects when your quadcopter is crashing and can deploy a parachute."

The Mayday is programmable with a switch and can be used with almost any rescue systeme providing it has a servo plug and needs a PWM signal. So everything servo based will work. You can adjust the course of a servo with the switches.

NorthUAV has optimised its system to work with MARS Parachutes so it will even work out of the box with MARS systems.

Mayday can be used completely on its own, just plug the servo cable in the upper plug on the image above and plug a battery in the lower plug.

You may also control the mayday with your flight controller or receiver by connecting a servo cable from a rc receiver to the lower plug (the one with the black/red/white cable on the picture above).

The device is quite simple to use, you don't even need to configure it as it use machine learning to know your normal flight pattern.

Here are the specs of the mayday :

Plastic Case:

• Special lightweight polymer. 
• The Laser cut acrylic top plate is made from a special UV blocking blend called OP3 Acrylite which is stronger and more scratch resistant than glass!

Weight: 

• Around 14.1g

Size: 

• Length 3cm
• Width 3cm
• Height will be between 1cm to 1.2cm

Power:

• Li-Po battery range: 1S, 2S, 3S, 4S (They are working on getting it up to 5S.)
• Voltage range: 3v - 17v (They are working to get it up to 21v.)
• You can easily use it with any RX channel capable of driving a servo.

Sensors:

• High-resolution Altimeter to detect relative altitude
• 3-axis Gyroscope for rotation speed
• 3-axis Accelerometer to detect angle and gravity
• 3-axis Magnetometer to for angle and heading relative to magnetic north.

Mayday is scheduled for shipping next nevember (2015). You can back the project for a chance to get yours starting at 53€ for the earlybird edition (only 2 left at the moment I'm typing this). The standard edition will cost you 67€. The NorthUAV system is also bundled with MARS parachutes and there are some great deals for example Mayday + MARS 58 is 396€ when the MARS 58 on its own is sold at 429€. Meaning tou can get your NothUAV for 23€ instead of 67€.

Visit the Kickstater page if you'd like to know more or back the project