A newbie's guide to UAVs
What is an amateur UAV?
An Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is an aircraft that has the capability of autonomous flight, without a pilot in control. Amateur UAVs are non-military and non-commercial. They typically fly under “recreational” exceptions to FAA regulations on UAVs, so long as the pilots/programmers keep them within tight limits on altitude and distance. Usually the UAV is controlled manually by Radio Control (RC) at take-off and landing, and switched into GPS-guided autonomous mode only at a safe altitude. (Confused by all the acronyms and unfamiliar terms in UAVs? A glossary is here.)
What do I need to make one?
---1) An RC plane, muticopter (quadcopter/hexacopter/tricopter, etc) or helicopter (see good starter plane options here). You can buy them ready to fly, including autopilot, here.
---2) An autopilot, such as APM 2.5 (see below)
---3) Optional: a useful “payload”, such as a digital camera or video transmission equipment
What does DIY Drones have to offer?
The DIY Drones community has created the world's first "universal autopilot", ArduPilot Mega (APM). It combines sophisticated IMU-based autopilot electronics with free Arduino-based autopilot software that can turn any RC vehicle into a fully-autonomous UAV.
A full setup consists of:
APM 2.5 autopilot: The electronics, including twin processors, gyros, accelerometers, pressure sensors, GPS and more (shown at right). Available from 3D Robotics ($179).- Mission Planner software: Desktop software that lets you manage APM and plan missions, along with being a powerful ground station during flights and helping you analyze mission logs afterwards.
- Autopilot software:
- Arduplane: for any fixed-wing aircraft
- Arducopter: for any rotary-wing aircraft
- ArduRover: for any ground- or water-based vehicle
You can buy Ready-to-Fly UAVs (both planes and multicopters) from uDrones:
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Comment by Vez Khem on March 22, 2012 at 1:44pm -
Hey everyone, can someone let me know how to calculate the total current draw from a brushless motor and ESC? I am having a hard time to decide what type of motor and ESC to buy for my quadcopter. Thanks James for the last post. It was really helpful.
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Comment by james sowell on March 22, 2012 at 1:59pm -
your welcome try this http://www.ecalc.ch/motorcalc_e.htm
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Comment by Vez Khem on March 27, 2012 at 1:02pm
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Hey everyone, where can i find an example of someones quadcopter parts list? Instead of finding seperate parts and trying to put it together, i would like to follow an example and go off of it. I know what parts I need but there are so many different ones i don't know where parts works well with others.
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Comment by Vez Khem on March 27, 2012 at 1:04pm
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Robert, have you tried looking at hoobyking.com? They have kits for RC Jet models and you can purchase all of your components there. Now trying to find the right componets to build a complete right, i can't answer that question. Hope this helps.
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Comment by hongyiwang1990 on May 2, 2012 at 7:41pm
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Great! BTW thanks for pass my applications~thank a lot
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Comment by 924aussie Alan on May 31, 2012 at 12:10am
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I have read then answer about distance being line of sight, what about flight time what would be a norm on the planes and multicopters pictured above ?
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Comment by sowjanya on June 3, 2012 at 7:44am
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i am a starter in this...i have a doubt how does arduino help in flight stabilisation
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Comment by Carlos Martinez on June 29, 2012 at 10:11pm -
hi guys,.I have APM 1.4 with Mega 1280, please help me with tips for load arducopter 2.6 , I remove the Loggin , but my virtual horizont don´t move, just can arm the motor,,,also no gps our tunning capability....
best regards
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Comment by S Davis on August 5, 2012 at 1:21pm
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Does anyone know where I can find a tuning/configuration file for the Dynam Hawk Sky?
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Comment by james sowell on August 6, 2012 at 3:20am
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its a easy star clone should b about the same
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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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