Philip Rowse, drone and aircraft engineer, speaks to ADP

Interviews
Jun 07
5 min read
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Philip Rowse is an Australian drone and aircraft engineer, he was happy to talk to drone advocate Ian Hudson in an interview for ADP.

Question 1:

For the benefit of people that haven’t heard the name Philip Rowse, you were originally an aircraft engineer that progressed into designing drone flight controllers, you were involved in the development of the Pixhawk 2 which was used in 3DR’s Solo and The Cube flight controller which is a popular and trusted flight controller used for the open source ArduPilot software.

Your Cube flight controller has been used by the likes of Nasa and Boeing, do you feel proud when you hear about new drone projects using your hardware?

Of course! I grew up loving Boeing, loving NASA!
If it ain’t a Boeing, I ain’t going!

Question 2:

Is there any particular drone project using hardware that you’ve designed that you feel especially proud of?

Yes, there are many anti-poaching applications for drones, and I love hearing about these.
It’s also quite thrilling to hear that companies like Matternet safely fly across cities doing deliveries with my gear.

Question 3:

As a proponent of ArduPilot can you explain why you believe it’s the best software to be used with your hardware?

Ardupilot has millions of users, testing, and inspecting every single line of code, the user base is diverse, from large commercial UAS to tiny toys, boats, submarines, helicopters, planes and multicopters, rovers are making a massive impact as well.
All this experience goes into the best flight code available, and it’s all free!

Question 4:

In the early hours of 22nd July 2017 a number of drone users took to Facebook pasting a post with wording from the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) that read “This picture, taken during drone collision testing, shows a larger hobbyist-class drone penetrating an aircraft windscreen” in which a photo of a device which clearly wasn’t a consumer drone was featured, you were one of the first industry experts to cast doubt on what was being claimed.

In following days the wider industry including the Drone Manufacturers Alliance Europe (DMAE) raised similar concerns.

Do you think the UK drone industry has lost some of its credibility on the world stage in allowing the whole drone industry to be attacked with a misleading press photo and science that isn’t open to peer review and has since been thrown into question by research conducted by the FAA?

Absolutely! We need to be wise, flying drones near aircraft is stupid, but using fear to protect commercial interests is evil.

Question 5:

As both a general aviation and drone engineer what’s your view on the risk drones pose in general?

I do not fear a drone hitting a commuter plane. At worst, it will cost millions in damage. but I fear that an impact like this, will cause panic, and do irreversible “hype” damage to general users.

I do fear an impact with a small aircraft or helicopter, just as I fear an impact with my face… However, there are already rules about altitude and proximity to airports and people, enforcement is the only real issue.

Don’t forget the Chinese have also done a rocket sledge test on an impact between a drone and an airliner windscreen, with NO penetration, and unlike the silly Pom test, they posted the evidence openly for everyone to see.

Question 6:

Your home city of Ballarat in Australia recently tried to ban drones with knee-jerk legislation, not even realising it had local drone advocates.

Could you explain what happened and how you managed to educate your local politicians that drones are simply tools that have many potential benefits to society?

It’s quite simple… Local governments are not aviation experts, Ballarat city council realised this, and left the job to CASA.

Question 7:

You were one member of the team that made 3DR’s Solo a reality, a drone that did so many things right, having tricks that haven’t been well implemented in other drones to this day.

Have you any specific fond memories from that time?

Absolutely! The community of Solo users is actually still going strong!
Working with all of the people that made this industry possible, from the old founders that many have forgotten, like Angus Peart (designer of the first STM32 flight board) to the Colin Guinn’s of the world.
Solo proved that anything is possible… But not everything is profitable.

Question 8:

You are now helping Hex to design drone hardware from flight controllers to GPS units and more besides.

Do you have any hardware in the pipeline you’re looking forward to releasing?

Sure, right now we are releasing our new Orange Cube (flight controller), that has a beefed up processor and later this year we will be releasing a tripple redundant, 9 IMU monster for critical unmanned operations.

Question 9:

We’re seeing a number of companies coming up with concepts and prototypes for passenger carrying quadcopter type cars. Imagine if you would that the year is 2025 and you’re heading to a taxi rank and there’s a quadcopter taxi car waiting, but the driver tells you he’s just flashed a firmware update. Do you get in or decide to walk instead?

I would get in an old fashioned helicopter with a human pilot.

Philip Rowse, drone and aircraft engineer, speaks to ADP

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