The stock skyfun platform is pretty good, but as a lot of people have pointed out, the power system is barely enough for our needs by the time you add a few goodies on.

There is lots of info on the web about motor upgrades for the Skyfun but most of the motor upgrades published on the net are all about speed. I wanted my Skyfun to have enough power to lift all the extra weight, but then to be able to settle down to a slow and efficient cruise speed to maximise the…

OK, OK, technically this is the second  flight..  First flight is here: http://youtu.be/0yKjbtFW-u4  ; I just like the second video better.

The vertical instability was caused by me not having the throttle curve set right on the Transmitter; by default it is just a straight line from 0 to 100.…

The PPM Encoder team has been working on a new servo input to ppm firmware for the PhoneDrone board and any future boards using the ATmega32u2 chip.

Since there has been reports of problems with the old APM firmware (…

For those of you with 3D printers, here's a file on Thingiverse that will let you print out a tricopter tail motor mount. The description is in Japanese so I can't tell you much more than that!…

All working great. Thanks to Alpo Hassinen for help  camera stabilization…

The CanberraUAV team has submitted its deliverable 1 report for the outback…

This is cool! Now to think about what we might do with it.

Digi International (NASDAQ: DGII) today introduced the XBee® Wi-Fi, an embedded module that enables industry leading low power, serial-to-Wi-Fi networking in the popular XBee form factor.  Because of the XBee’s common footprint and application programming interface (API), customers can now create a…

UPDATE:

Please note that the initialization of Gyros was requested to move to the Arming function. This had the unintended consequence of making the Ground Station report erroneous attitude until the unit is armed at least once. This is changed already in the next version 2.0.39 which is still in development.…

This week I made improvements to the MTP2 and took it for some general flight maneuvers to get a better feel for its abilities, its turning into quite the platform! Don't forget, my end goal is to FPV and then drone this airplane to fly across the United States.



It's flight path was much more stable and direct, the control inputs were not as sensitive, and overall performance was improved.



I made the following improvements this…

Have had this flying as a prototype for a while using open pilots copter control, now using APM.

She weighs 3.8 kg, with a bit over 10 kg thrust

Control is done with 5 motor channels , the front motors are operated as one, and control pitch, the left and right middles motors are controlled as left and right pairs, so that two more channels, and control roll, and finally the rear motors are operated individually (channels 4 and 5) for pitch and yaw…

A new home for hackers and makers in Oklahoma City.

The space has been cleaned and the walls have been painted. Soon the doors will open on a new makers space. OHM Space is an Oklahoma nonprofit corporation that seeks to create a safe, entertaining space in Oklahoma City where everyone can learn, create and…

Jim St Leger from Intel's embeded group in Arizona gave a speech to the Intel staff about why the Maker movement is so important and why it's so unfortunate that Intel isn't participating. DIY Drones gets a nice…

This is a 1/10th scale model of what is eventually intended to be a 90m autonomous airship that can generate its own hydrogen (for buoyancy and fuel) from rainwater. It's mostly an art project now, but the vision is inspiring. Arduino-powered, of course. That reminds me that we have to design Blimpduino 2 later this…

Forbes reports on the latest from this team, who uses the original Ardupilot as an autopilot:

 …

UNITE a group of leading HALE vendors in the UAV pantheon including AeroVironment, Aurora Flight Sciences…

I've created an I2C digital signal sonar module to avoid the noise problems I have been having with the current analog signal sonar module.

Why?

Seeing all the problems we are having with noisy sonar data got me thinking

Where does the noise come from? Is it:

• RF noise…

Have just seen the following article on The Register:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/07/28/sintered_aircraft/

Ok, so it is a touch pricey (£5000), but not so long ago, 3D printing was silly expensive. Then came RepRap and the others.

More information from New Scientist:…

So I know this isn't exactly "DIY Drone-ish" as far subject matter, but I thought the interview was pretty interesting as Greg's approch to designing and testing new concepts and his RC Super Hero were so unique that it deserved to be shared. 

Greg runs the YouTube channel "BornTaFly" and sells his models and PDF plans through…