Latest Activity

Dennis Spanogle replied to Dennis Spanogle's discussion MP 1.2.51 Log Browse Column Headers Wrong (different PCs same log file)
"Here it is.  Note that this same log works in one PC. I am comparing ALL files in APM Planner folder in both PCs next.  Will let you know what I find.  Seems like an update issue to me. Could re-install MP but would like to know what…"
14 minutes ago

3D Robotics
Chris Anderson commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Hobbyking has now renamed the product HKPilot and edited the text so it is not an exact copy of ours. However, still absolutely no credit given to the creators, and no links to documentation or design files, so now it's just a violation of the…"
15 minutes ago
Matt Gunn commented on Matt Gunn's blog post Mapping Mission Ride Along
"Yes, the gimbal menu was used. In the menu, you need to assign the servo to a channel, and I picked channel 8 on the output. Then in the gimbal type settings in the standard parameters tab, choose GPS point or MAvlink targeting and it will start…"
17 minutes ago
Alex Snyder replied to Alex Snyder's discussion First time build and not sure why one motor won't spin
"Oops... one of the pin headers wasn't connected as solidly as I thought! It's running just fine now"
26 minutes ago
Sam Short commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"@TCIII unfortunately trademarks are jurisdiction dependent, so unless 3DR has a trademark for China, it would be difficult to enforce.  eg.  Apple had to licence the iPhone trademark that someone else owned in a jurisdiction outside the US."
33 minutes ago
Murray Spoelstra commented on Jonathan Hesselbarth's blog post ArduVTOL - Wingcopter - Flight Report Nr.1
"I look forward to future flight reports. Do you intend showing advanced manoeuvres such as stalls and vertical flight in the tilted config like a tailsitter?"
41 minutes ago

Developer
R_Lefebvre replied to Gerd Lobmeyer's discussion Now let's start the party: Skya 450 V2 with ArduFlyer 2.5 + u-Blox CN-06
"I think the problem is that your TX Throttle channel is operating backwards.  It should go to +100% when you move it up, and -100% when you move it down.  This would prevent you from being able to arm.  Well, you could arm, by moving…"
1 hour ago
Dwgsparky commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Ok so APM is open source, me I work on open buy. !! When I have disposable cash to buy my hobby equipment / toys/ RC stuff I want 2 things, value for money and good service. more than that I want to support the businesses that support ME and the…"
1 hour ago
ionut commented on Hex Air Robot's blog post Hex demostrated in San Francisco
"If you remove the plastic frame you can rename it AXE :)"
1 hour ago
Alexsey Novik commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"GPS pins inverted? :D "
1 hour ago
MV Reddy replied to Pham Hoang Anh's discussion How to connect a RFD900 Long Range Telemetry with APM1
"How to connect the ground segment to both antenna tracker and MissionPlanner?"
1 hour ago
12-HAK commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"The market will decide if the product is value for money. If its crap people wont buy it and word spreads very quickly in this sport. 3DR is a great company that has helped the sport but it isn't the only company that can. If another…"
1 hour ago
Alex Snyder replied to Alex Snyder's discussion First time build and not sure why one motor won't spin
"Thanks! I'll be sure to try and post back if anything happens"
1 hour ago
Andy Little posted a discussion

DIY Antenna Tracker

Hi everybody,I've been developing on an Antenna Tracker based around my Ardupilot Mega V1 for the last few months and am just about to start on Mk 2.The tracker is  able to rotate continuosuly in azimuth. I wanted this feature so the tracker can be used for close range flying with low power transmitters.The telemetry on the prototype is acquired from the Ardupilot using Mavlink in exactly the same way as done by Minimosd. Hopefully will also be compatible with PX4 too. The data is then sent…See More
1 hour ago
Hugues commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"@12 HAK, I would agree with your argument at the ONLY condition that these alternate suppliers commit to a minimum level of quality. Otherwise these alternate suppliers are just damaging the image and the credibility of this very good opensource…"
2 hours ago
Hugues commented on Matt Gunn's blog post Mapping Mission Ride Along
"Nice, very nice. Love the gimbal on that plane. Can you explain again how you configured it to stabilize it ? You did not use the Hardware/gimbal menu of mission planner ? You used CH8 instead , how ?"
2 hours ago

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DIY Antenna Tracker

Started by Andy Little in My Project 1 hour ago. 0 Replies

Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy

Started by Frank Thingelstad in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Hugues 2 hours ago. 14 Replies

ArduPlane 2.73 released

Started by Andrew Tridgell in ArduPlane 2.x software. Last reply by Andrew Tridgell 3 hours ago. 70 Replies

Quadcopter Control-Function Layers

Started by MHefny in Quadcopters. Last reply by Anis Chihi 4 hours ago. 2 Replies

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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

VR Copter X6+ VR Direct Drive Gimbal is coming ... the first fly ...

Posted by Roberto Navoni on May 22, 2013 at 3:25am 0 Comments

 

Dear Friends, 

our Flight Teams beta tester star to test a  VR Copter Fly Cam configuration. This is the hexa copter used by our beta tester for doing this video :

 …

Continue

Hex demostrated in San Francisco

Posted by Hex Air Robot on May 22, 2013 at 1:30am 1 Comment

The demo day was held at Autodesk.

At HAXLR8R’s demo day, ten hot hardware startups presented their products after completing a 15-week…

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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.…

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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…

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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…

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APM 2.5 from hobbyking

Posted by Hooks on May 21, 2013 at 11:33am 47 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…

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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:  …

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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.

A list of all T3 contests is here

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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 ...

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