Latest Activity

ULI SURATOS replied to Craig Elder's discussion APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
"thanks, here are the logs I could get hope its the right stuff i need."
1 minute ago
Soviet87 commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Here's the page for local DIY Drones fly/meetup groups. Add yours (or make one)!
"Or just Southwest. Not sure why I attached the "ern" to it. lol. Thanks! "
9 minutes ago
Jorge Antonio Saldaña Rosales left a comment for Gary McCray
"Hola que tal Gary sabes el hadware que necesito para hacer mi drone Cooperativo"
11 minutes ago
Jorge Antonio Saldaña Rosales left a comment for Chris Anderson
"Hola Chris sabes como puedo hacer mi dron pero cooperativo que hadware necesito"
13 minutes ago
Soviet87 commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Here's the page for local DIY Drones fly/meetup groups. Add yours (or make one)!
"Southwestern Virginia, Lenowisco-Drones Lenowisco-Drones"
13 minutes ago
Klaus Heinrich replied to Iman Sadeghzadeh's discussion Hobby King Ardupilot in the group ArduPlane User Group
"   Hello friends, what is this part? looks very similar to the original and costs 89.90 dollars             ciao Klaus "
19 minutes ago
Jorge Antonio Saldaña Rosales posted a discussion

Drones Cooperativos

Saben como puedo construir mi Dron cooperativo...?See More
20 minutes ago
Jonathan Arad commented on Burkhard rieck's blog post The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 2
"Why not use LiPos? You could use 4 of these at 1416 grams for 20Ah at 11.1v (also cheaper): http://www.hobbyking.com/hobbyking/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=21370 Interesting project!"
41 minutes ago
Bill Bonney commented on Bill Bonney's blog post How to program Expo on the Throttle channel for Open9x
"Normally you configure the copter to hover about 50% throttle. By using expo you reduce the amount of throttle that is applied for any given stick movement near the 50%. i.e. you need to move the stick more, to increase the throttle. This means you…"
49 minutes ago

3D Robotics
Chris Anderson commented on Chris Anderson's blog post Here's the page for local DIY Drones fly/meetup groups. Add yours (or make one)!
"Soviet: you need to paste a link, too. Thanks!"
55 minutes ago
Soviet87 commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Oh wow. That is insane. Can't believe they would just copy-pasta that. None the less, you get what you pay for. Can't wait to order my first APM this Friday! It is going to be sweet goodness! I had planned on ordering one earlier, but yea.…"
1 hour ago
Bill Bonney commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"@Chris: I get the same issue that I don't see USPS in Canada anymore. I think the store is detecting posting options based on GeoIP and not addresses. That sucks as USPS avoid what I call the FedEx Tax. An extra hidden charge at the destination…"
1 hour ago
Martin replied to Martin's discussion Mission Planner drops connection
"1.2.50 was what I started out with. I installed 1.2.51 the next day because I hoped it would fix the problem. I also tried connecting an APM 1.4 board - exact same behaviour as with APM 2.5; I could flash the firmware and get the parameters, but the…"
1 hour ago
Mike Wilson replied to John Moore's discussion John's Crawler Drone Build Thread in the group ArduRover User Group
"Unfortunately you are probably correct about the GPS. I would still try moving some things around before counting it out. ....Mike."
1 hour ago
Joe replied to Craig Elder's discussion APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
"It is normal for the baro reading to drift during the first few minutes after being powered up, after that it should be fairly steady. 1.2.51 was making it drift wildly long after the baro should have settled."
1 hour ago
Bob Lee commented on Jani Hirvinen's blog post jDrones News: jD-IOBoard v1.0
"Jani Where is the new doc (link) for the new Jd ioboard 1.1? Need pin to see pins assignment for 12 volt and all the changes between version 1 &1.1 "Also we have new jD-IOBoard v1.1 out. Few nice changes compared to v1.0. Battery input has…"
1 hour ago

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Forum

Drones Cooperativos

Started by Jorge Antonio Saldaña Rosales in Wireless communications 20 minutes ago. 0 Replies

Alexmos and APM

Started by Euan Ramsay in Aerial photography 1 hour ago. 0 Replies

Alt_hold and loiter acting crazy

Started by Frank Thingelstad in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Euan Ramsay 1 hour ago. 11 Replies

Mission planner 1.2.51 problems?

Started by Euan Ramsay in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Euan Ramsay 2 hours ago. 3 Replies

RTF Quad Drone $400 and ARF Helicopters

Started by Carl Campbell in Buy, Sell, Trade. Last reply by Carl Campbell 3 hours ago. 8 Replies

ArduPlane 2.73 released

Started by Andrew Tridgell in ArduPlane 2.x software. Last reply by Alex 4 hours ago. 69 Replies

Arduimu V3- dumb question- RS232?

Started by Michael Pollard in ArduIMU. Last reply by Harry 5 hours ago. 4 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

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 3 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 31 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…

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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 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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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…

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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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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

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

Prince William Panel Talks Use of Unmanned Drone Aircraft

Prince William Panel Talks Use of Unmanned Drone Aircraft

By CONNIE MOSER For Potomac Local News LAKE RIDGE, Va. – A recent Prince William Committee of 100 meeting on Wednesday addressed the topic of small, unmanned aircraft. You may refer to them as drones, but according to a one member on a panel of experts, moderated by Ben Wolfgang, from the Washington Times that term; “drone” is equivalent to a four letter word. Carl Schaefer, Director, Small Unmanned Aircraft System Products, Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., Manassas, VA prefers the acronym; “UAS”. Most residents who at expressed concerns regarding privacy when the FAA declared UAS (Unmanned Aircraft Systems) are ready for prime time. The Federal Government is not running rampant, without oversight regarding UAS, as there are many watchdogs ensuring that no one tramples the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution, according to those who spoke at the meeting. Ben Cline, R-Lexington, a sixth term representative to the Virginia House of Delegates, is one of those watchdogs. Cline is concerned the government not overstep the boundaries set forth in the Constitution. Cline showed a healthy skepticism when an audience member asked, “Why should we trust the government?” Delegate Cline’s response was, “You shouldn’t!” Additional concerns about privacy were addressed by Amie Stepanovich, Director, Domestic Surveillance [...]

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

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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