Latest Activity

Gerd Lobmeyer replied to Gerd Lobmeyer's discussion Now let's start the party: Skya 450 V2 with ArduFlyer 2.5 + u-Blox CN-06
"I am so sorry for my problems R_Lefebvre, but this doesn't work. It seems that nobody have such stupid problems with that. I tried to search infos everywhere, but there is nothing which can tell me what I am doing wrong. Here is my…"
4 minutes ago
Tony K. replied to Tony K.'s discussion APM 2.0 wont power up from ESC's, only USB.
"Doug,  Thanks again.  I wasn't able to read this before I tried my test but luckily it worked.  I removed JP1 and jumped from the output rail to my receiver which was connected to the input and it worked like a charm.…"
6 minutes ago
Jason Wise commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Ive spent $12k US with HKing in the last 4 years, Ive only had 1 issue with there big turnigy powersupply which failed in 5 mins, yeah its a pain as I had to send the unit back at my cost, service support was acceptable and have never had a issue,…"
11 minutes ago
Clint Phillips replied to Ryan Randels's discussion I'll Introduce myself - QAV400 Pilot With a Question!
"Im new to quads but in my opinion your rate P and D for the roll axis is too high, Set it to P = 0.07 and D = 0.004 and I = 0. Work your rate P roll up from there or even leave it if it feels ok, Keep your stab the same because if it wobbles at 0…"
15 minutes ago
Anis Chihi replied to MHefny's discussion Quadcopter Control-Function Layers
"Very Interesting Article, Keep going !!!"
22 minutes ago
Euan Ramsay commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Agreed Christiaan - I already wrote to 3DR about their shipping fees ($50 for shipping to Switzerland too, plus 20chf Swiss handling fee as well!)"
42 minutes ago
Euan Ramsay replied to Petrus Botha's discussion How do you calculate quadcopter lifting capability?
"Err...rather *percentage* draw is 10.2% of max C. Just to be pedantic. I'll shut up now."
46 minutes ago
Kevin posted a photo
55 minutes ago
Christiaan van Vollenstee commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"@Gary I agree, I am in south Africa and the minimum shipping on 3DR is $50 and that's something very light like a APM or GPS, it’s very hard to support that kind of shipping. I agree that FedEx is the best as they bring it to your…"
58 minutes ago
Harald Molle commented on Burkhard rieck's blog post The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 2
"Hi Burckhardt, welcome onboard to the inofficial sea survey team! If you have any questions regarding this topic, feel free to contact me. We have gathered a lot of experience in the last years. It is a pity, that drdepth is recently offline, hope…"
1 hour ago
Kevin posted a discussion

Looking for laser distance meter distributor

Our company is Dobiy Optoelectronics (HK) Limited. We are looking for laser distance meter and laser sensor distributor. If anybody interested in it, please contact me at kevin@doby.com.cn I will send more information for you and give the best offer.See More
1 hour ago
Dean replied to Dean's discussion AlexMos or SimpleBGC problems. Please Help!
"Thanks for the reply. Maybe i have a faulty controller because with it powered on, i still have the gimbal rocking a bit when rolling! Really odd and slightly frustrating. Never played with these brushless gimbals before!"
1 hour ago
Euan Ramsay replied to Petrus Botha's discussion How do you calculate quadcopter lifting capability?
"I'm interested in this calculation, for my own rig: 8Ahr 6S 35/50C = 176watts per hour 3508-29's at 100% with my prop is 310watts, according to t-motors charts. 1240 watts total = 0.14 hours or 8.8 minutes at max…"
1 hour ago

Developer
Michael Oborne replied to Ricardo Pombeiro's discussion Mission Planner Souce Code Compilation Error
"you need to fix the project references. in the project property's point the reference folder to an installed copy of MP."
1 hour ago

Developer
Michael Oborne replied to Rafael's discussion Change colour HUD
"this is not possible currently"
1 hour ago

Developer
Michael Oborne replied to Martin's discussion Mission Planner drops connection
"try updating the device drivers."
1 hour ago

Start a discussion

Click here to start a forum topic below. Remember to select a category!

VIew all discussions

Click here to see all forum topics.

Forum

Quadcopter Control-Function Layers

Started by MHefny in Quadcopters. Last reply by Anis Chihi 22 minutes ago. 2 Replies

How do you calculate quadcopter lifting capability?

Started by Petrus Botha in AeroQuad. Last reply by Euan Ramsay 46 minutes ago. 14 Replies

Mission Planner Souce Code Compilation Error

Started by Ricardo Pombeiro in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Michael Oborne 1 hour ago. 1 Reply

Change colour HUD

Started by Rafael in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Michael Oborne 1 hour ago. 1 Reply

Mission Planner drops connection

Started by Martin in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Michael Oborne 1 hour ago. 4 Replies

Mission planner 1.2.51 problems?

Started by Euan Ramsay in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Michael Oborne 1 hour ago. 4 Replies

Mavlink Data Requesting

Started by Ufuk Irmak in Unassigned category 1 hour ago. 0 Replies

Mavlink communications

Started by Jan Swanepoel in Autopilot software/algorithms. Last reply by Ufuk Irmak 1 hour ago. 12 Replies

Site license

Creative Commons License
All content is free to use under a Creative Commons attribution license.

Videos

  • Add Videos
  • View All

Photos

Loading…
  • Add Photos
  • View All
 

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

Data Bus mbed baseboards: Tindie Fundraiser

Posted by Bot Thoughts on May 21, 2013 at 2:30pm 0 Comments

Data Bus mbed baseboards are now available on Tindie as a fundraiser! I figured maybe some folks wanted to experiment with their own algorithms and want a head start on their 2014 AVC ground vehicle entry.…

Continue

The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 2

Posted by Burkhard rieck on May 21, 2013 at 12:00pm 7 Comments

As I already mentioned on the first page, mygoal was to construct a boat that could drive for at least 4 hours without charging while I could catch some fish :-). To reach that goal, my boat should weigh around 4 kg and the capacity of the batteries should be quite high. After a lot of searching in the internet, I…

Continue

The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 1

Posted by Burkhard rieck on May 21, 2013 at 12:00pm 1 Comment

In this blog I would like to share my experiences with my new project, an autonomous transducer boat, controlled by an Ardupilot. 

After a long time of reading blogs, searching parts online and planning, I started my project. My plans are to…

Continue

APM 2.5 from hobbyking

Posted by Hooks on May 21, 2013 at 11:33am 39 Comments

Hmmm Now hobbyking is selling:

ArduPilot Mega V2.5 Flight Controller USB/GYRO/ACC/MAG/BARO

 

72 USD for the hobbyking APM 2.5…

Continue

Video and Datalink Antenna for airborne and ground tracking systems

Posted by Gisela & Joe Noci on May 21, 2013 at 8:52am 6 Comments

Some developments on 2.4GHz video link and 868MHz datalink antenna systems:

          Measuring the 2.4GHz Antenna SWR

                         The Ground Tracking Antenna…

Continue

ROS, APM and the Kinect

Posted by David Gitz on May 20, 2013 at 10:00pm 3 Comments

For a University Robotics class I completed a project that integrates ROS (Fuerte), an APM and a Kinect Sensor.

For some reason all the text that I had written was lost when I posted this.  I didn't really say anything besides what I didn't already say here:  …

Continue

How to program Expo on the Throttle channel for Open9x

Posted by Bill Bonney on May 20, 2013 at 9:00pm 4 Comments

A member the other day asked how to program expo on the throttle channel to help with hover in stabilize mode. So I made this short video on how to do it.

How to Improve Throttle Response by adding Expo to your RC Transmitter Control from Bill Bonney on Vimeo.

or…

Continue

DIY Drones News - Weekly #1 - Venturing Forward

Posted by Joshua Johnson on May 20, 2013 at 6:00pm 3 Comments

Venturing Forward: The Sky’s Not the Limit for UAV Enthusiasts
By: Kevin Solar of DIYDrones.com (DIY Drones News Journalist)
 

We live in a uniquely dynamic age influenced heavily by technological advances surging in every direction. It’s a time…

Continue
 
 
 

Social Networking

Contests

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.

A list of all T3 contests is here

Advertisement

UAV news from sUAS News

Russia to test drones to monitor wildlife and track poachers

Russia to test drones to monitor wildlife and track poachers

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Officials say they’ll test unmanned aerial vehicles at a nature reserve on Russia’s Pacific coast this summer to monitor wildlife and crack down on poachers. “UAVs are silent and can fly at a very low altitude to produce high-resolution imagery and detect poachers, their boats and vehicles,” Alexandra Filatkina, deputy director for development at the Kronotsky nature reserve on the Kamchatka Peninsula, told RIA Novosti Friday. Images from the drones will not only spot trails left by poachers’ vehicles but can also spot illegal logging sites and waste dumps, she said. Officials said the drones will greatly reduce the cost of aerial monitoring animals like brown bears, reindeer and snow sheep. Last year, the South Kamchatka Federal Reserve spent more than $32,000 on monitoring brown bears alone, officials said. The drones, which weigh about 5 pounds and have a range of 40 miles, will be equipped with inexpensive cameras capable of taking a photograph every two seconds, Filatkina said. The test at Kronosky will determine whether they can be used in other wildlife sanctuaries across Russia, she said. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/05/17/Russia-to-test-drones-to-monitor-wildlife-and-track-poachers/UPI-44531368820052/   Bookmark It Hide Sites

DreamHammer Announces First Commercially Available Software that can control any Drone or Robot

DreamHammer Announces First Commercially Available Software that can control any Drone or Robot

SANTA MONICA, Calif – DreamHammer announced the beta launch of its drone control software.  Called Ballista®, the software is an intelligent control platform that for the first time integrates unrelated unmanned drones and robots from different manufacturers into one system.  Ballista is poised to become the industry standard for drone and robot control software for the multi-billion dollar global unmanned systems industry. “Ballista® is designed to the highest military and safety critical standards but goes beyond military applications to work with all unmanned drones and robots. It is commercial off-the-shelf software, when applied to different industries — for example,transportation, logistics, agriculture, law enforcement, etc. — can be used to link multiple drones into one master system, all controlled by one person,” said Nelson Paez, CEO of DreamHammer.  “A drone could be as simple as a farm tractor or as complicated as an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle or a satellite. It can be anything with a computer interface that is leveraging intelligence, technology and diversified control. ”DreamHammer, which had revenues of $6 million in 2012, has been licensing thesoftware and providing support to defense, intelligence, and homeland securitycustomers as well as their industrial base of manufacturers and integrators inadvance of the general [...]

Rocky Mountain AUVSI “Unmanned Aerial Systems – 2013 Annual Symposium”

Rocky Mountain AUVSI "Unmanned Aerial Systems - 2013 Annual Symposium"

Date: May 30th, 2013 Proposed Agenda (subject to change) 7:30 – 8:30: Registration 8:30 – 8:45: Opening Remarks 8:45 – 9:30: Keynote Speaker 9:30 – 10:30: Break/Expo 10:30 – 11:15: Presentation 11:15 – 12:00p: Presentation 12:00 – 1:30: Lunch/Expo 1:30 – 5:00 Presentation 5:00 – 7:00: Networking/Expo Where: Wings Over The Rockies Air & Space Museum 7711 East Academy Boulevard Denver, CO 80230 Register now for the Rocky Mountain AUVSI 2013 Annual Symposium. Join us and do some networking!  Includes Lunch! There are a limited amount registrations available so please sign up ASAP.  Please follow the link below (pay via PayPal). Admission: $65- AUVSI Member  $95 – Non-Member $145 – Non-Member (includes AUVSI Membership)             Sponsorships: $2,000 – Platinum Corporate (Includes short presentation, primary venue sponsor, name on main banner and advertising.  Includes 3 emplyee registrations.) $1,000 – Diamond Corporate (Sponsorships available for: 1) Registration (Lanyards) 2) Beverages (coffee, juice, water) all day. 3) Lunch 4) Networking event.  All the above includes a booth 2 emplyee registrations and printed advertisement recognition.) $395 – Gold Exhibitor Participant (Includes 2 emplyee admissions, booths space and attendace to all daily activities) http://www.auvsi.org/Rocky_Mountain_Chapter_of_AUVSI/Home/ Bookmark It Hide Sites

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Environmental Monitoring

Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Environmental Monitoring

By Rodolfo Quevenco, IAEA Division of Public Information It’s a sight you don’t often see at the headquarters of the IAEA in Vienna. With a whirr of its 6 rotors and a puff of dust, a remote-controlled vehicle takes off and hovers above the heads of Agency officials and staff, and then flies along a pre-determined path. The cylindrical, clover-shaped aerial vehicle with a mounted camera on board is one of the latest breed of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) – commonly known as “drones” – available today. The demonstration was held as part of a consultancy meeting on the parameters for using UAVs for rapid environmental monitoring held at IAEA headquarters from 14 to 17 May 2013. The consultancy meeting was organized by the IAEA’s Physics Section within the framework of the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety. One of the aims of theAction Plan is to ensure the ongoing protection of people and the environment from ionizing radiation by facilitating the use of available expertise and techniques for environmental monitoring. The meeting was attended by environmental mapping and UAV experts from Germany, Japan, Switzerland and the USA to review and evaluate the current state of detector technology and methods, particularly in [...]

OSU Students Design Storm-Penetrating Drones

OSU Students Design Storm-Penetrating Drones

STILLWATER, Oklahoma - Engineering students at Oklahoma State University have designed storm-penetrating unmanned aircraft. School officials say the drones are designed to fly into thunderstorms, including the super cells that spawn tornadoes and obtain meteorological data vital for weather forecasting. “Oklahoma, along with many regions in the U.S., has to deal with severe weather year-round, but the often violent thunderstorms witnessed in the springtime are particularly worrisome,” said Jamey Jacob, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor who supervised the project. “Better prediction methods can save lives, but this also requires more data about how storms form.” The aircraft were designed by students in the school’s MAE department. The drones will collect information about weather systems that can be used for both immediate forecasts of the storm’s path and strength and for predictive models. Three teams of students, the Barnstormers, the Flying Honey Badgers and the Stormtroopers designed an aircraft with corresponding onboard sensors, ground control, launch and recovery systems that could be deployed from a catapult or unimproved surface, such as a dirt road. The drones are controlled by a pilot on the ground and relay data back to a ground crew. Bookmark It Hide Sites

UAV news from Flight Global

Maritime Heron UAV supports European airspace trial

Europe has advanced a project to prove the feasibility of using satellite communications to enable UAS operations in non-segregated airspace ...

Brazilian navy begins UAS evaluation

The Brazilian navy has begun to evaluate two Israeli-made unmanned air systems for maritime surveillance missions ...

Indian air force to launch micro UAS evaluation

The Indian air force is to evaluate several micro unmanned air systems from around 10 companies in early May ...

VIDEO: Eurocopter demonstrates unmanned EC145

Eurocopter has unveiled an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV), based on its EC145 light twin, which has been in development since September 2011.

Israeli F-16 downs another Hezbollah UAV

An Israeli air force Lockheed Martin F-16 has shot down an unmanned air vehicle launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah militants ...

© 2013   Created by Chris Anderson.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service