WHERE TO START: Skywalker vs Bixler vs X8 vs Penguin vs others

Posted by Essam on January 12, 2014 at 8:26pm

Hi guys

I am new to this field but have spent many hours reading about how to build a small fixed wings plane/drone. I need it for a farming project to take pictures of fields that are 120 acres...I don't have any experience and I am looking for advise on what airframe to buy. I am thinking of using the arduplane AMP 2.6 on it and hoping to be able to do autopilot with it on regular basis. I would appreciate your inputs.

Thanks

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Replies

  • Dennis Okeefe January 13, 2014 at 5:31am

    your plight interests me since i grew up on a farm in iowa before disappearing into the west as an aerospace engineer after college.  i am sure there are lots of farms that could use these tools.  i have been working putting together a proposal for a search and rescue group in california and as part of that preparation have installed an apm 2.6 system in a Calypso EP glider.  we have been running autonomous mapping missions using gopro's as a training exercise before we move on to multi-rotor vehicles.  the calypso glider makes a nice stable platform for the kind of thing you are looking to do.  if you want to tap into what we have done so far to shorten your learning curve i would be happy to share it with you.  just email me at mktable@toast2.net and i will hook you up with some stuff that will shorten your learning curve.  dennis

  • Josh Welsh January 12, 2014 at 11:49pm

    One thing to keep in mind Essam, 3DR is currently finalizing an RTF kit built on the the 2013 Skywalker (carbon tail), and I believe it will include a landing gear.  This kit is deprecating the Bixler kit currently in the 3dr store.  With that, you could easily mount a downward facing camera to check out your fields.  The timeline is ~1mo from now and the price is around $800 (est).  That kit should easily cover your 120 acres.

    I only mention it because you said you didn't have any experience with the APM and this kit will have a very good config (pids, etc) out of the box as it has been pre-configured with their known-good params.  I am currently building a 2014 Skywalker because they're just known good platforms, and I also fly an X8 (along with a few friends that also fly X7's) with an APM and its been very good as well.


    Hope this helps, and either way - Good luck!

  • Eli Cohen January 12, 2014 at 8:33pm

    What sort of resolution are you looking for? If you can get by with a small camera, your possible aircraft open up significantly. If you need a few pounds of payload, then it becomes a different matter. Are you trying to get an NDVI? Just visible images? 

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