DIY Drones

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Monroe Lee King Jr. commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking

" DS Money was wasted on other projects because you could buy at some point hardware but before you could finish your project the hardware was unavailable and your stuck with half a working project. Boy you where so unhappy you bought how…"

1 minute ago

3D RoboticsJustin Cunningham commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Hero 3 with interchangeable lens mount

"Josh, I want 3.... haha"

2 minutes ago

Drone Savant commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking

""is 100% pure marketing bluster to drive the number of preorder sales ($$$) and says NOTHING about being targeted for developers." Come on James? Really? Lets tell it like this, shal we? That video came out with THIS…"

4 minutes ago

Kylie Hoffman posted discussions

7 minutes ago

Joe replied to ALK's discussion HELP Mission Planner not working after update!

"Disabling Bluetooth does fix the problem BUT that is ridiculous solution, there must a better way."

13 minutes ago

Dennis Spanogle replied to Dennis Spanogle's discussion Requirements to compile Mission Planner?

"If anyone else out there besides the developer(s) has tried to, or is, using Visual Studio 2012 to compile/build Mission Planner from the current git depository - I could use some help or hints or just some encouragement or comments. Some progress…"

14 minutes ago

3D RoboticsJustin Cunningham commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Thirty Days (#17): 12-rotor close up

"if you were at the maker faire in the bay area and saw it fly, then you would also know what the servo with rubber bands is for! :) I explained it multiple times. ;) if not then, maybe I can explain it one more time. "

16 minutes ago

James Cotton commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking

"DS, your hypocrisy is quite entertaining, and the way you hope if you ignore it that it will go away is more so. Again this is 100% pure marketing bluster to drive the number of preorder sales ($$$) and says NOTHING about being…"

17 minutes ago

Petrus Botha commented on Petrus Botha's album

Flying Wing

"It is standard vinyl, the plane is a foam core, covered with balsa and vinyl coat"

18 minutes ago

Bob Doiron posted a discussion

915 Mhz air module 5v power requirements (mA)?

Does anybody know what the power requirements are for these air radios (915Mhz specifically)?I want to put one in my Turnigy 9x and it's been suggested that the 5V regulator has 60-100mA to spare.Thanks,--Bob See More

21 minutes ago

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Georacer commented on Georacer's blog post Altitude Comparison: barometer vs GPS

"In case it is not known, the BMP085 barometer has an embedded temperature sensor, withing the same die. This is the temperature measurement I was referring to in the post above."

25 minutes ago

Georacer commented on Georacer's blog post Altitude Comparison: barometer vs GPS

"I was not aware of the discrepancy between the two measurement systems. I googled a few links and I 'll take a read. About the extraction of altitude from barometric measurements, all the work is done by the library that I linked to. It does…"

27 minutes ago

Gustav Kuhn replied to Randy's discussion ArduCopter 2.9 / 2.9.1 released

"What quad do you fly? Yes, you have to lift off "briskly", to about 1 meter above ground, goes for conventional RC heli's too. All the air underneath a rotary wing/s aircraft on take off, and near to the ground, does really weird…"

27 minutes ago

Göran Sandström commented on Georacer's blog post Altitude Comparison: barometer vs GPS

"Could weather-data (using a cell-module and gps) and temperature-sensors perhaps be used to correct the barometric measurements?"

30 minutes ago

Quentin Mayberry replied to Craig Elder's discussion APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released

"This may be a daft question, but why do you bother with a magnetic heading when using a gps or inertial, nav as they can navigate with true bearings and not unreliable magnetic ones?"

30 minutes ago

criro1999 replied to AJEsq's discussion Arducopter 3.0 RC2 Crash (Suspected Bug with outputs to ESCs)

"when I did switch from 2.9.1b to 3.0 I did reset&erase the APM and install a clean firmware. This makes all previous settings from 2.9.1b to be lost. Then I did redo all calibrations again, ESC, motors, TX, accel (level) and compass (dance). Not…"

30 minutes ago

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Forum

Arducopter 3.0 RC2 Crash (Suspected Bug with outputs to ESCs)

Started by AJEsq in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by titeuf007 6 seconds ago. 3 Replies 0 Likes

National Geographic Shoot

Started by Kylie Hoffman in Aerial photography 7 minutes ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

National Geographic Shoot

Started by Kylie Hoffman in Miscellaneous 8 minutes ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

National Geographic Shoot

Started by Kylie Hoffman in Job listings 11 minutes ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

HELP Mission Planner not working after update!

Started by ALK in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Joe 13 minutes ago. 9 Replies 0 Likes

Requirements to compile Mission Planner?

Started by Dennis Spanogle in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Dennis Spanogle 14 minutes ago. 3 Replies 0 Likes

915 Mhz air module 5v power requirements (mA)?

Started by Bob Doiron in 3DR Radios 21 minutes ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Developer

ArduCopter 2.9 / 2.9.1 released

Started by Randy in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Gustav Kuhn 27 minutes ago. 3585 Replies 34 Likes

3D Robotics

APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released

Started by Craig Elder in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Quentin Mayberry 30 minutes ago. 807 Replies 9 Likes

Anyone successfully gotten their camera to trigger on waypoint?

Started by Matt Gunn in Aerial photography. Last reply by Hugues 38 minutes ago. 14 Replies 0 Likes

Arducopter spins, doesn't look balanced (Rebuilt after flyaway/crash)

Started by Don Shappelle in Quadcopters. Last reply by Don Shappelle 1 hour ago. 5 Replies 0 Likes

Mission Planner Source Code Help

Started by B. Sargent in APM Mission Planner 1 hour ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Request for log files

Started by Søren Kuula in Miscellaneous 1 hour ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Noob help

Started by Marc Cretten in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Olivier ADLER 2 hours ago. 3 Replies 0 Likes

1-2 Hz oscillations only in wind - stabilize

Started by Josh Potter in Flying/Tuning Mulitcopters 2 hours ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

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Falt-O-Mat Quadrocopter Test Flight with Arducopter 3.0.0 RC2 Lens test 60° Gopro 3 Black Edition

Added by Thomas Kranz 0 Comments 0 Likes

Fun in the Sun - HooperFly 250 TriHub

Added by earthpatrol 0 Comments 0 Likes

On Apache Trail

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Welcome to DIY Drones!

This is the home for everything about amateur Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs). Use the tabs and drop-down menus above to navigate the site. (About us/Site rules)

This community created the Arduino-based ArduPilot, the world's first universal autopilot (planes, multicopters of all sorts and ground rovers). The APM 2.5 autopilot hardware runs a variety of powerful free UAV software systems, including:

ArduPlane, a pro-level UAV system for planes of all types.
ArduCopter, a fully-autonomous multicopter and heli UAV system.

I'm new to all this--where do I start? Are amateur UAVs legal? (yes)

Examples of civilian uses of drones Glossary of confusing terms

Blog Posts

mapping with condor drone and apm 2.5

Posted by jim C. on May 24, 2013 at 8:30am 0 Comments 0 Likes

Because the latter one of condor drone tests went very well in the navigation, I decided to mount the camera aboard the condor photography for mapping and the results appear promising.

…

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3D Robotics

Interesting-sounding drones conference in NYC in October

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 23, 2013 at 10:27pm 2 Comments 3 Likes

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Moderator

Roofs inspection test with VR Brain Pro on GolaKele Frame

Posted by Roberto Navoni on May 23, 2013 at 10:00pm 1 Comment 4 Likes

Dear Friends,

on VirtualRobotix we are working in new advanced platform based on GolaKele Frame and VR Brain Gold and PRO configuration.

This is first example of service where we use the our multicopter for roof inspection.

In the test use also Wookong DJI on other Hexa for doing some comparison on two different kind of…

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Afterflight: A browser-based system for analysis and annotation of video and sensor data from UAVs.

Posted by Aaron Curtis on May 23, 2013 at 9:00pm 3 Comments 3 Likes

Several months ago I started working on a system called Afterflight to organize and browse my tlogs and dataflash logs, sync them with video, and view them along with a map GPS display. It still has a long way to go, but there is a fair amount of working functionality so I figured I'd get it out there…

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Battle Drone Crash Test & DIY Walkthrough

Posted by Marque Cornblatt on May 23, 2013 at 7:23pm 5 Comments 3 Likes

Here is a short video of the design, build and crash testing of the Game of Drone's Battle Quad. It's waterproof, bulletproof, and can fly away from almost any crash.

"Fly 'em hard and put 'em away wet. They're only drones"

http://youtu.be/tjR2nm5tMks

3D Robotics

"Drones: The future of disaster response"

Posted by Joshua Ott on May 23, 2013 at 6:30pm 2 Comments 3 Likes

CNN just posted this story

Here's an excerpt:…

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3D Robotics

Thirty Days (#17): 12-rotor close up

Posted by Joshua Ott on May 23, 2013 at 4:30pm 16 Comments 10 Likes

I had a couple of requests for a still shot of the 12-rotor beast that Joe and Justin cooked up, so here it…

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Altitude Comparison: barometer vs GPS

Posted by Georacer on May 23, 2013 at 3:30pm 6 Comments 1 Like

This might be a common knowledge, but in the last months I haven't seen a similar post. Maybe someone new to barometers might be interested in this data.

The GPS receivers return altitude data, but this is inaccurate. The error margin depends on the satellite constellation geometry…

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Black Box Stories: Mid-Air Crash

Posted by Georacer on May 23, 2013 at 3:10pm 3 Comments 5 Likes

Last Wednesday I went out to the field for some flight tests and gains trimming. Other people where flying their model planes there too. We usually follow a counter-clockwise pattern while flying to avoid collisions. That day I was flying especially slow, so when I took the turn, I did so on the spot and…

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F.A.A.’s Concerns Hold Up Use of Wildfire Drones

Posted by elad o on May 23, 2013 at 2:27pm 7 Comments 1 Like

Maggie Rogers/Alaska Division of Forestry

Greg Walker, the director of the Alaska Center for Unmanned Aerial Systems Integration, preparing a drone for launching.

SAN FRANCISCO — As wildfire season begins in Western landscapes that were covered in smoky haze for weeks at a time last summer, the federal government’s…

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Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The fourth round is an accuracy round for multicopters, which requires contestants to fly a cube. The deadline is April 14th.

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UAV news from sUAS News

Unmanned aircraft can protect crops from locusts

by Gabino Martinez Serrano The world population is growing at a rapid pace. Today we are almost seven billion people and it is estimated that the figure will exceed 10 billion in 15 years. The world’s need for food will double, but the world’s arable land remains the same. Experts say that to increase performance, it is important to plant each crop where it can best develop, increase the yield potential of plant varieties and to reduce adversity posed by pests which have become a real problem. Failure to protect crops from pests would reduce harvests to just over half. Locusts are unique because they undergo a phase change. This means that under certain circumstances related to climate and population density, their behaviour changes and they move, eat and behave as a group, forming gigantic clouds and can travel great distances devouring crops in their path. These pests can affect 20 per cent of the surface of the earth, spreading through Africa, the Near East, and Southwest Asia. More than 65 countries may be at risk of swarms, invasion and reproduction. The last powerful plague occurred in 1988-89, threatening as many as 43 countries, one fifth of the world as [...]

ESCC to use donated unmanned aerial vehicles for science

Ted Shockley MELFA — Launching unmanned aerial vehicles from the Eastern Shore could be a financial plus for the area, and Eastern Shore Community College is positioning itself for an associated educational and training partnership. A link between the two was seen recently when an Aerosonde aerial vehicle donated to the college was unveiled in front of a gathering of staff members and industry experts. “We have something tangible, real, that the students can see,” said College President Linda Thomas-Glover of the unmanned airplane, which from wing to wing was bigger than a typical dining-room table. The particular model was used for years out of Wallops to gather weather data and has flown into hurricanes, said Jon Borcik, a program manager for AAI Corp., which oversees the Aerosonde program. He called it a “coming home mission” for the plane, a fitting place for an aircraft based at Wallops to continue its service. The plane will be used to stimulate an interest in science and also be studied by various college classes. The donation was arraigned by Peter Bale, board chairman for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International and a former program manager for Aerosonde North America at Wallops. At a [...]

Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems Achieves Milestone C Approval

Insitu announced today that RQ-21A reached Milestone C under the Small Tactical Unmanned Aircraft System (STUAS) contract with Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR). The achievement will enable the program to transition from the Engineering, Manufacturing and Development (EMD) phase to a Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) phase and enter initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E). “This milestone represents the dedication and commitment of the entire government and industry team to executing a challenging and fast-paced EMD program,” said Ryan Hartman , Insitu’s senior vice president of Integrator Programs. “I couldn’t be more proud of the Insitu team. Our greatest asset is our engineering talent and this event represents yet another significant engineering achievement for them.” “This milestone and the LRIP decision is a great accomplishment for our NAVAIR and Insitu team. The rapid development, systems engineering and testing has been superb. The sense of urgency and driving force behind our NAVAIR and Insitu team has been, and continues to be, the simple fact that the RQ-21A UAS will be the first organic & dedicated multi-intelligence UAS for U.S. Marine Corps and Navy tactical commanders. The real-time, actionable intelligence and maritime domain awareness coming from multiple sensors off an expeditionary and ship-capable Group [...]

NM drone testing center could soon face competition

Dan Mayfield New Mexico could lose its lead on unmanned aerial vehicle development when the Federal Aviation Administration lays out a new set of rules that allow more airfields to test UAVs, a state leader in the industry said. The Unmanned Aircraft Systems Flight Test Center, an airfield run by New Mexico State University and the FAA, is the only FAA-approved UAS, or drone, flight test center in the nation. The center logs data from about two flights daily of commercial drones, which weigh anywhere from 15 ounces to 600 pounds. But last year the FAA said it will authorize six more sites for drone testing. “As soon as the FAA opens the door, there will be an explosion,” said Dennis “Zak” Zaklan, the director of the UAS FTC. “At this point, nobody knows. It depends on the FAA. It creates competition.” http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/news/2013/05/22/drone-test-center-could-face-competition.html Bookmark It Hide Sites

A degree in drones (or, unmanned aircraft systems)

by Lizzie O’Leary Ben Trapnell says, given the chance, “I absolutely believe that unmanned aircraft systems will have more money invested in them from a civil context than they ever did from a military context.” Trapnell helped found and now teaches at the Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems at the University of North Dakota. The program offers — essentially — a degree in drones. Trapnell says there’s been little development of what unmanned aircraft systems can do outside of law enforcement and first responders “so a lot of the students are working with civil contractors that are providing services for the military.” Some of the program’s students finds jobs that pay them well out of college — starting at $60,000 or $70,000 a year. He says many of the stereotypes around drones and what they’re used for are incorrect. Of his students, “not a single one of them has flown an armed unmanned aircraft” though they do work with military contractors, using drones to gather intelligence for troops on the ground. Trapnell also objects to the use of the “d-word”: “I think the term “drone” creates a lot of hate and discontent in people’s minds. They get afraid of it.” As for a [...]

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Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service

1	Mapping Mission Ride Along
2	APM 2.5 from hobbyking
3	Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy
4	Looking for best laptop screen to see in the sun
5	APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
6	ArduPlane 2.73 released
7	New micro-cameras emulate insects' compound eyes
8	Mechanical Hands From A MakerBot: The Magic Of Robohand (From Makerbot blog news)
9	3 axis Camera Gimble connections.
10	Thirty Days (#17): 12-rotor close up

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