Latest Activity

Tero Koivunen replied to Iman Sadeghzadeh's discussion Hobby King Ardupilot in the group ArduPlane User Group
"Why not, that product discussion thread in HK is interesting. (I ordered one, I have expensive PX4 and APM1.0 and lost Legacy one) I have bought things from 3dr and diydrones and China, usually ok, some headers missing (3dr) or something but mainly…"
8 minutes ago
Harry replied to Michael Pollard's discussion Arduimu V3- dumb question- RS232?
"I've used this one from sparkfun.  I used it to connect a GPS to an old PDA.  It takes TTL and converts it to RS232 and vice versa.. It plugs into a serial port, which might be a problem on a newer computer.  RS232 Shifter"
9 minutes ago
Richard replied to Richard's discussion Using Flying wings for aerial mapping
"Hi Valerio, a friend of mine has processed some photos using Agisoft Photoscan, he had a trial license. However due to the cost of the processing software, I have not purchased anything yet. I am still in the r & d phase with regards to the…"
19 minutes ago

3D Robotics
Joshua Ott posted a blog post
19 minutes ago
Hugues replied to Fred LeFevre's discussion Arducopter 3Dr or Phantom in the group ArduCopter User Group
"Hello Fred, I started getting interested in drones 6 months ago. I started by purchasing the 3DR quad almost RTF kit. It was fun to assemble and thanks to this site and the wiki, not only had I very good support but also learned at exponential…"
23 minutes ago

Admin
Thomas J Coyle III commented on Burkhard rieck's blog post The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 2
"@Burkhard, Please continue to blog post your progress as it unfolds. Regards, TCIII"
23 minutes ago
Gisela & Joe Noci commented on Gisela & Joe Noci's blog post Video and Datalink Antenna for airborne and ground tracking systems
"Hi Paul, Since we wrote all the autopilot and GCS code, and since the system is totally autonomous during flight, we have data between A/C and ground only to give A/C position at typically every 5 10 seconds, if in basic flight ( with some other…"
23 minutes ago

Admin
Thomas J Coyle III commented on Burkhard rieck's blog post The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 1
"@Burkhard, Nice work. Well thought out and well documented. Regards, TcIII"
26 minutes ago
phire replied to Jeffrey Lamont Brown's discussion APM 2.5 (2.9.1) Gimbal Servo twitch on Ch10 + 11 (50hz), not working on ch 7 + ch 8 (490 hz)
"Thanks to this post I solved my pan/tilt/camera shutter problem, it woks. I was mistaken between Analogic line (A0 to A11) and the outpout line. Can you take a look at my picture and tell me if everything is OK, specially my - and + connection…"
26 minutes ago
Frank Thingelstad replied to Frank Thingelstad's discussion Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy
"btw; the strange behaviour when I enter altitude_hold is in the log attached in the first post. "
27 minutes ago
Drone Savant replied to Randy's discussion AC 2.9.1 vs 2.8.1 GPS accuracy
"there was perhaps a conversation had, although I am not sure it was with me. Is there a note in the datasheet that mentions being able to skirt the 'Max. Navigation update rate' by turning off some of the messages? Like I mentioned above,…"
28 minutes ago
Alex Snyder posted a discussion

First time build and not sure why one motor won't spin

I've almost finished my first quadcopter build except I run into a problem when it comes to the esc calibration... All of the motors respond correctly except for one. The esc for this motor gives off the usual beep when arming it but it won't actually spin like all the others. I was wondering if anyone thought if this might be a connection problem (I checked the signal wire connection and it looks solid), a bad esc or if there is something wrong with the motor itself (I think that's doubtful…See More
29 minutes ago
Burkhard rieck posted blog posts
35 minutes ago
Dave commented on Bill Bonney's blog post How to program Expo on the Throttle channel for Open9x
"How does this help hovering in stabilize mode?"
37 minutes ago

3D Robotics
Craig Elder replied to Randy's discussion AC 2.9.1 vs 2.8.1 GPS accuracy
"Kevin we went through all this last year. LEA-6H is listed as 2 Hz because it can be configured with enough messages such that is not possible to get all of them out at rates above 2 Hz.   You can achieve higher position rates by turning off…"
40 minutes ago
Frank Thingelstad replied to Frank Thingelstad's discussion Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy
"Hmm.. Ok. So it could be the vibrations.. Is there some examples of a normal z accel graph somewhere I can see? Think I need a graph to compare mine with as I try out different antivibration solutions. Right now I actually have a double layer of…"
44 minutes ago

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Forum

Arduimu V3- dumb question- RS232?

Started by Michael Pollard in ArduIMU. Last reply by Harry 9 minutes ago. 2 Replies

Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy

Started by Frank Thingelstad in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Frank Thingelstad 27 minutes ago. 8 Replies

Bigger sized drone project

Started by Marc in My Project. Last reply by Marc 1 hour ago. 1 Reply

Drones in Idaho

Started by Joe Breznai in Regulation 1 hour ago. 0 Replies

Hexacopter Thermal FPV Research Project

Started by Andrew Boos in Video. Last reply by Guy Compton 2 hours ago. 11 Replies

Initial Tri Setup - No Yaw servo response

Started by Geoffrey Budd in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by novrizal herdananto 2 hours ago. 9 Replies

Mission Planner drops connection

Started by Martin in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by thomas Butler 3 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

The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 2

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

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…

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"Super Capacitor" to charge phones in 30 seconds

Posted by Sentinel on May 21, 2013 at 8:58am 0 Comments

Solid-state capacitor uses nano engineering for greater energy storage density and lasts for 10,000 cycles.

Big names interested, as it appears they should be?…

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Video and Datalink Antenna for airborne and ground tracking systems

Posted by Gisela & Joe Noci on May 21, 2013 at 8:52am 4 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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How to program Expo on the Throttle channel for Open9x

Posted by Bill Bonney on May 20, 2013 at 9:00pm 3 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…

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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…

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DroneDeploy: browser-based drone control & fleet management

Posted by John Wiseman on May 20, 2013 at 5:03pm 1 Comment

From TechCrunch:

DroneDeploy is a web-based drone control and management platform. (Let that…

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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

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UAV news from sUAS News

Ar.Drone 2.0 joins the Royal Air Force

Ar.Drone 2.0 joins the Royal Air Force

Parrot is supporting the RAF Rally Championship for 2013 with a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Quadcopter. As serving members of the Royal Air Force the team know a thing or two about aviation, aircraft and drones and they think the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Quadcopter is a magnificent flying machine and perfect for capturing the unique action from the RAF Rally Championship. This started recently when the RAF Rally Team has its pre-season training camp in Rorbacksnas, Sweden. They spent 5 days driving rally cars at full speed around a purposely designed ice stage — the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 was used in the sub-zero conditions to capture unique footage from angles that other cameras just don’t allow. Bookmark It Hide Sites

QuadH2o

QuadH2o

The QuadH2o is a new design in Quadcopter, offering professionals the ability to safely capture aerial and video photography whilst flying over water with peace of mind knowing that the system is safe in the event of a flyaway or power failure. It’s lightweight, streamlined hull enables 10+ minute flight times and great maneuverability, whilst its water resistant, strong and well thought out design delivers a professional ‘over water’ quadcopter suitable for FPV flight and capturing Video/Photography. http://www.quadh2o.com/ Bookmark It Hide Sites

Drones & Agriculture: Unmanned Aircraft May Revolutionize Farming, Experts Say

Drones & Agriculture: Unmanned Aircraft May Revolutionize Farming, Experts Say

By: Tia Ghose, LiveScience Staff Writer SAN MATEO, Calif. — The word “drone” tends to conjure up images of planes that kill terrorists or of creepy surveillance tools. But tiny drone airplanes made of foam may be more useful in rural environments, one researcher says. There, the fliers could revolutionize agriculture, reducing the need for pesticides and improving crop production. Because drones can fly cheaply at a low altitude, they can get highly detailed images of cropland, said Chris Anderson, the CEO of 3D Robotics and former editor-in-chief of Wired, here on Saturday (May 18) at this year’s Maker Faire Bay Area, a two-day celebration of DIY science, technology and engineering. Drone-captured close-ups of fields could help farmers tailor their pesticide treatment and identify subtle differences in soil productivity. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/20/drones-agriculture-unmanned-aircraft-farming_n_3308164.html Bookmark It Hide Sites

Drone aircraft help Grand Forks police fight crime

Drone aircraft help Grand Forks police fight crime

by Dan Gunderson, Minnesota Public Radio GRAND FORKS, N.D. — In the locker room at the University of North Dakota football stadium, a handful of people wait for an early morning rain shower to pass so they can test a small four-rotor helicopter on the football field. As the clouds pass, the crew of university researchers and police snap together the 3-foot-long, 5-pound helicopter in an unmanned aircraft training exercise designed to show how small drones can help fight crime. It’s flown by controls on a tablet-like device that also shows a live video feed from the drone’s on-board camera. Small drones could save police time and money, but privacy advocates worry they might also make it easy for police to spy on people. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2013/05/16/technoogy/drones-police-tool?goback=%2Enmp_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1_*1%2Egde_115534_member_241711045 Bookmark It Hide Sites

X47 B Touch and Go

X47 B Touch and Go

An X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System (UCAS) demonstrator conducts a touch and go landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77), marking the first time any unmanned aircraft has completed a touch and go landing at sea. George H.W. Bush is conducting training operations in the Atlantic Ocean. Next stop, the full stop landing amazing. Last Fridays touch and go comes one week after the first catapult launch from an aircraft carrier and was the first touch and go by a UA at sea. 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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