First in the line.

Over the past few years my company has been experimenting with various types of UAV hardware. We have developed six versions of drones using off the shelf air frames and have tested several types of flight controllers.

Each has had its pro's and cons and a lot of data has been collected in the past 24 months. We have built UAV's for customers providing custom built aircraft for everything from professional photography, to forestry fire protection and prevention, and various AG applications.

A very large learning curve was overcome recently with the implantation of a new flight controller for better stability, reliability and performance. That has come on the milestone of our Mark 7 unit. It is the last of the off the shelf air frame UAV's as we head into the 2016 year with an entire line of new UAV's that are configured with several different platform applications in mind.

2016 is quickly approaching and we are excited about the new developments and new hardware that has been designed for our existing customer base as well as future clients and relationships with innovators. We hope to keep this blog updated this new year with information and detailed challenges in hopes the data can be useful to others out there making amazing advancements in UAV technology!

Hey John Birkeland,

I agree. The H-Frame has always been my favorite as well. Over all the air frame configurations we have tried out, the H has always been favorable.

Good to see you Chris! I do want to clarify that I have always been in the mindset of leaving the flight controller design up to the pros such as 3DR. In fact one of our designs for 3D mapping had 3DR at its heart. We started with the APM 2.5 in the initial trials and when we ventured into 3D mapping the Pix offered the best solution in auto navigation and image capture. Later we coupled the LiDar lite in multiplex form for object avoidance in tight areas and the performance was superior. So to answer questions to both Chris and Aldo the answer is simple. "Leave the hardware design to the guys leading the industry!"

That being said, we have tested out several controllers and matched it to many flight designs as well as ground rover units for automated security patrol. In my opinion again the 3DR products delivered the best in this solution.

We have experimented with several off the shelf air frames (As many do) and have done our best to come up with end products solutions for hardware placement, and protective canopy design to deliver the best results for hardware performance. Testing ESC's , and Brush less motors and finding the right mix of components. Much of our work thus far has been R&D in the mass learning curve to find a balance to the aircraft to pilot ratio.

We have had some customers that are very enthusiastic about the possible applications of the technology, but approached it from the newbi side of the scale. We have had workshops and flight training classes set up for anyone that wants to refine their skills as operators and strongly believe that education in the hardware as well as the social and legal boundaries is essential to the growth of the industry.

As Justin Martin pointed out about the M7 air frame it is a quantum air frame. After testing out the DJI frames, the blacksheep, Tarrot frames and many others, when we were asked to make a unit that offered all the safety features of RTL , Low cell safeguards ect, and asked to do it in a shell that looked good. This was our next configuration. The first and last in the line of off the shelf air frames.

The real excitement about the UAV world is the electronics and software coding that brought all of this to the surface. You can look back into the history of the APM and see its humble beginnings in Arduino. We purchased 120 arduino development kits and did a demonstration for a local grade school. We showed them one of the UAV units and what it could do.The possible future applications in search and rescue. The software (Mission planner) and the abilities the APM 2.5 could do. The excitement in the kids watching at the assembly was fantastic!

When we explained that everything they saw the aircraft doing was done by development of a open source platform and we gave every kid in that class a development kit to explore and build, was truly a pleasure.

We have followed the growth in the industry of "Drones" for a few years now, and am a huge fan of all the innovative work many have done thus far. Just watching this forum and seeing the creative things people do and achieve is remarkable. As many here can attest to, we learn from each other, that is a given. I can honestly say I have learned a lot from reading the forums, the challenges and the successes. The shared knowledge from all the passionate enthusiasts in the community and the drive to make it better.

Our mapping and AG drone

Fitted with a 3DR APM 2.5 at the time did very well in livestock counting and swapping out the GOPro with a thermal imaging camera was able to detect hydration leakage for local vineyards.

It has been a fun and exciting few years, so to be able to take our work of testing trying new things with the available technology, finding the correct things to do, and the sometimes incredible wrong things to do has been a learning experience.

I am proud of what my staff have developed over the past year and honestly am excited about the coming year as things are released. I hope they come in handy and prove to be useful tools and additions to existing hardware currently in use. With options of open source files for DIY projects from things we have already done to turn key platforms with full educational support to help in anyway we can.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and interest.

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Comments

3D Robotics

Chris Anderson August 30, 2015 at 7:43am

Aaron, great post and answers. I think you've got exactly the right approach, to package best-of-breed technology with the unique elements that your team can do best.
Aaron Chadd August 30, 2015 at 6:31am

Hey John Birkeland,

I agree. The H-Frame has always been my favorite as well. Over all the air frame configurations we have tried out, the H has always been favorable.

Good to see you Chris! I do want to clarify that I have always been in the mindset of leaving the flight controller design up to the pros such as 3DR. In fact one of our designs for 3D mapping had 3DR at its heart. We started with the APM 2.5 in the initial trials and when we ventured into 3D mapping the Pix offered the best solution in auto navigation and image capture. Later we coupled the LiDar lite in multiplex form for object avoidance in tight areas and the performance was superior. So to answer questions to both Chris and Aldo the answer is simple. "Leave the hardware design to the guys leading the industry!"

That being said, we have tested out several controllers and matched it to many flight designs as well as ground rover units for automated security patrol. In my opinion again the 3DR products delivered the best in this solution.

We have experimented with several off the shelf air frames (As many do) and have done our best to come up with end products solutions for hardware placement, and protective canopy design to deliver the best results for hardware performance. Testing ESC's , and Brush less motors and finding the right mix of components. Much of our work thus far has been R&D in the mass learning curve to find a balance to the aircraft to pilot ratio.

We have had some customers that are very enthusiastic about the possible applications of the technology, but approached it from the newbi side of the scale. We have had workshops and flight training classes set up for anyone that wants to refine their skills as operators and strongly believe that education in the hardware as well as the social and legal boundaries is essential to the growth of the industry.

As Justin Martin pointed out about the M7 air frame it is a quantum air frame. After testing out the DJI frames, the blacksheep, Tarrot frames and many others, when we were asked to make a unit that offered all the safety features of RTL , Low cell safeguards ect, and asked to do it in a shell that looked good. This was our next configuration. The first and last in the line of off the shelf air frames.

The real excitement about the UAV world is the electronics and software coding that brought all of this to the surface. You can look back into the history of the APM and see its humble beginnings in Arduino. We purchased 120 arduino development kits and did a demonstration for a local grade school. We showed them one of the UAV units and what it could do.The possible future applications in search and rescue. The software (Mission planner) and the abilities the APM 2.5 could do. The excitement in the kids watching at the assembly was fantastic!

When we explained that everything they saw the aircraft doing was done by development of a open source platform and we gave every kid in that class a development kit to explore and build, was truly a pleasure.

We have followed the growth in the industry of "Drones" for a few years now, and am a huge fan of all the innovative work many have done thus far. Just watching this forum and seeing the creative things people do and achieve is remarkable. As many here can attest to, we learn from each other, that is a given. I can honestly say I have learned a lot from reading the forums, the challenges and the successes. The shared knowledge from all the passionate enthusiasts in the community and the drive to make it better.

Our mapping and AG drone

Fitted with a 3DR APM 2.5 at the time did very well in livestock counting and swapping out the GOPro with a thermal imaging camera was able to detect hydration leakage for local vineyards.

It has been a fun and exciting few years, so to be able to take our work of testing trying new things with the available technology, finding the correct things to do, and the sometimes incredible wrong things to do has been a learning experience.

I am proud of what my staff have developed over the past year and honestly am excited about the coming year as things are released. I hope they come in handy and prove to be useful tools and additions to existing hardware currently in use. With options of open source files for DIY projects from things we have already done to turn key platforms with full educational support to help in anyway we can.

Thanks to everyone for their comments and interest.
Aldo Vargas August 30, 2015 at 3:32am

So, you actually design/build/developed an entire flight controller?? I'm impressed! tell us more details please.
Justin Martin August 27, 2015 at 5:51pm

Is it me or is that a rebadged hobbyking quanum?
John Dennings August 27, 2015 at 1:17pm

Where else have I seen those mission planning and HUD screenshots? AC 3.2.1 or 3.3? :)

10 minutes flight time with up to 4 pounds payload for $3,450 for the "Mark 2", no gimbal? Hmmm ...

Not going to do a lot of AG applications ...
3D Robotics

Chris Anderson August 27, 2015 at 7:53am

Can you tell us more about the flight controller? Which codebase did you end up choosing?
Developer

John Arne Birkeland August 27, 2015 at 6:24am

Nice design. The H frame in it's elegant simplicity and robustness is probably my favorite quad variation.

This reply was deleted.