DIY Drones

Latest Activity

Dave replied to Michael's discussion 'Quadcopter, decisions decisions...'

You might be coming at the design from the wrong direction. One of the important things you've said is that the quad must carry a load - your camera of choice and any associated gear (e.g. transmitter for FPV). So, size and weight of that…

3 minutes ago

James replied to Rui Manuel Cravo Marques's discussion 'ArduCopter Configurations and Settings for beginners !'

hi john, i built it myself and first flew with v2.1 firmware - tbh i cant really be objective about how it flew because those first few flights were a very steep learning curve and just getting off the ground and back without crashing was a major…

6 minutes ago

James masterman commented on Jack Crossfire's blog post 'Monocopter POV Choreography'

Wow, that is amazing work. Now I see why you went to so much effort with this strange flying craft. Not sure what you mean about 50 full time jobs in the whole country - are things really that bad in the USA? ;-)

9 minutes ago

Randy replied to Jahn Otto Andersen's discussion 'Crash and freeze'

Excellent news that the problem is fixed! I delayed a long time before updating my ppm software..it always seemed like it was too core to change...but I'm also very glad I did.

22 minutes ago

Wandering During Waypoint Navigation?

Hello APM Experts! I took my airplane out for a test of general waypoint navigation and experienced a few challenges. I'll do more testing and research, but wanted to see if anyone had any tips on what may be causing the "wandering" I experienced: Set-up:Airplane: Scratch built "Nova" (standard pusher fixed wing airplane)APM: APM1 (I do not have airspeed or magnetometer)Waypoints: Simple 4 - 5 waypoints creating a ~1 mile boxAltitude: 80m Actions:Completed proper APM set up and mission loadTook…See More

Trent at MyGeekShow added a discussion to the group ArduPlane User Group 25 minutes ago

0 Comments 0 Likes

Jahn Otto Andersen replied to Jahn Otto Andersen's discussion 'Crash and freeze'

So you got it working? Cool! Can I buy it back, please? ;-) You don't need a separate BEC. You can use the internal BEC in one of the ESCs. The reason I have a separate BEC was that I wanted to test whether it solved the problem.

34 minutes ago

Helitrasher commented on Brett Horton's blog post 'Cool flying people.... and a quad!!'

10 years ago they (and me) would have done that in between buildings for an april fools joke, but now you could go to prison for even thinking it !

36 minutes ago

What is the best FPV system ?

HelloI would like to start with FPV and would like to hear your experience and what some systems can recommend.Which frequency to choose? and what about the antenna tracker?My setup is Tx 9x rebuilt with TS Long Range Systems by Thomas ScherrerFatshark DominatorArducopter hexa from JdronesthanksSee More

Discussion posted by Carsten J Elkjaer 44 minutes ago

0 Comments 0 Likes

James Magos commented on James Magos's blog post 'UAV as Aerial Mapping & GIS platform'

Yes Mike, this is a draft image how electronics placed and the camera mount i want to use with stabilization is this : http://youtu.be/lKgouOjk8pk i will upload more pictures when i go home

1 hour ago

John Campen replied to Rui Manuel Cravo Marques's discussion 'ArduCopter Configurations and Settings for beginners !'

James is yours a Jdrones Hex ready to fly or did you build it yourself? I just bought a Jdrones Hex ready to fly and it is supposedly test flown before it was sent. Ive not tried it yet as I'm busy working on my other rig. But Ill attach the…

1 hour ago

Wojciech replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

Hi, I do already have Xbee868 connected to APM 1.0 via xtreembee on the test bench. It is compatibile in case of pinout, and software. However it needs external power source ,(XBee868 needs up to 800mA on full 300mW Tx power) xtreembee onboard…

1 hour ago

Mike Pursifull commented on James Magos's blog post 'UAV as Aerial Mapping & GIS platform'

Would you consider sharing some photos of the gear (cameras, etc) inside the aircraft so we can see how you distribute it, mount it, etc?

1 hour ago

Monocopter POV Choreography

The mane requirement for Marcy 1 was always the most advanced flying thing known to man, hovering autonomously, showing POV synchronized to Evans Blue: The Darkness That Follows. 2 years after envisioning it, we finally got it working. It doesn't come out as well with the slow RPM as hoped. Getting the full POV image requires lying directly under it with a video camera, relying on the autopilot to work. Lying directly under it causes turbulence which makes it very unstable. A wide angle camera…See More

Blog post by Jack Crossfire 2 hours ago

1 Comment 0 Likes

Hein du Plessis replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

No problem, thanks for taking the time to induldge me, good night !

2 hours ago

Mike Pursifull replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

xbee pro 900, yes, I think it is not permitted; I think most EU residents use 2.4Ghz models

2 hours ago

Hein du Plessis replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

Accoriding to your link, no-one in UK or Germany may use an XBee. :o

2 hours ago

Hein du Plessis replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

Seing that most systems run with 2200mAh +, 60mAh usage increase per hours will fall well within budget ;) Very little heat increase, especially since most XBees are outboard. At around 500mW one should start adding ferrite cores to prevent…

2 hours ago

Colin Bouriquet replied to srinath mallikarjunan's discussion 'Xbee usb adapter is identified as a mouse by windows 7'

Paul, what versions of FTID drivers are you using ? 2.08.14 or 2.08.17(Beta) ? Thanks.

2 hours ago

Mike Pursifull replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

oh, wow. Sorry about that. I knew you were in SA, I just got confused while talking to another guy in Europe. I guess it's past my bed time, the brain isn't working right. :)

2 hours ago

Mike Pursifull replied to Hein du Plessis's discussion 'XBee with 80km range?'

heh, famous last words ... I'm sure 2Amps is safe ... it's only 2 feet deep ... the door is not that hot, I'll just open it ... I'm sure the laws allow me to do this ... I don't know the EU regs for this, so I cannot offer…

2 hours ago

Start a discussion

Click here to start a forum topic below. Remember to select a category!

VIew all discussions

Click here to see all forum topics.

Forum

Quadcopter, decisions decisions...

Started by Michael in Quadcopters. Last reply by Dave 3 minutes ago. 4 Replies 0 Likes

ArduCopter Configurations and Settings for beginners !

Started by Rui Manuel Cravo Marques in Flying/Tuning Mulitcopters. Last reply by James 6 minutes ago. 31 Replies 1 Like

Crash and freeze

Started by Jahn Otto Andersen in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Randy 22 minutes ago. 48 Replies 0 Likes

What is the best FPV system ?

Started by Carsten J Elkjaer in Aerial photography 44 minutes ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

XBee with 80km range?

Started by Hein du Plessis in ArduPilotMega 2.0 hardware. Last reply by Wojciech 1 hour ago. 28 Replies 0 Likes

Xbee usb adapter is identified as a mouse by windows 7

Started by srinath mallikarjunan in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Colin Bouriquet 2 hours ago. 7 Replies 0 Likes

ArduCopter Traditional Heli (was: "600-size heli")

Started by malcolm churn in Helicopters. Last reply by malcolm churn 4 hours ago. 1088 Replies 6 Likes

ArduCopter 2.3 released

Started by Chris Anderson in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by John Campen 5 hours ago. 476 Replies 11 Likes

ArduCopter Heavy X-Octo / Coax - Foto, video and other

Started by Marco Robustini in ArduCopter 2.x (multicopter). Last reply by Dusty Starbucks 5 hours ago. 88 Replies 4 Likes

APM Unexpectedly Stopped Outputting Gyro Data - Strange LED Behavior

Started by Peter Cathcart in ArduPilot Mega hardware: tech support 5 hours ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

Digi 9XTend Development Kit - Price Drop, $250 OBO

Started by Luke Middleton in Buy, Sell, Trade. Last reply by Luke Middleton 8 hours ago. 4 Replies 0 Likes

Night vision pictures with GPS coordinates

Started by Lee Wilkes in Aerial photography. Last reply by Eraser 8 hours ago. 21 Replies 0 Likes

CNC question

Started by Bart in Quad/multicopter frames. Last reply by Russell - ScoutUAV.com 8 hours ago. 1 Reply 0 Likes

APM Mission Planner Open Source?

Started by Marianne Antonio in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Sauk Wang 9 hours ago. 29 Replies 1 Like

HK GCS & Micro Maestro

Started by kolyan2003 in HK's GCS. Last reply by Paul Mather 10 hours ago. 7 Replies 0 Likes

Problem with timestamps in GPX or KMZ logs ? (APM2 + ArduPlane 2.28 + MP 1.1.22)

Started by Colin Bouriquet in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Colin Bouriquet 10 hours ago. 4 Replies 0 Likes

Unable to communicate with airplane side xbee modem

Started by Bryan K in XtreamBee Board hardware: tech support. Last reply by Colin Bouriquet 10 hours ago. 20 Replies 0 Likes

what versions of what software do i need to download to get started

Started by Brad Smith in Helicopters. Last reply by Randy 11 hours ago. 16 Replies 1 Like

introduction topic

Started by jehan60188 in Aircraft platforms 11 hours ago. 0 Replies 0 Likes

HIL Flight Data and Flight Planner screens do nothing

Started by Justin Wolford in APM Mission Planner. Last reply by Chris Anderson 12 hours ago. 14 Replies 0 Likes

Photos

Loading…

Videos

Gaui 330 teste, Tilt Servo

Added by Harry Patrick Tate 0 Comments 0 Likes

Morning flight at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Added by Harry Patrick Tate 0 Comments 0 Likes

Site license

All content is free to use under a Creative Commons attribution license.

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

This community created the Arduino-compatible ArduPilot, the world's first universal autopilot (planes, copters of all sorts, ground rovers). The APM 2 autopilot hardware runs a variety of powerful free Arduino-based 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)

How can I join a DIY Drones project? Glossary of confusing terms

Contests

Season Two of the Trust Time Trial (T3) Contest has now begun. The second round is an autotakeoff and landing round for both planes and copters, with a deadline of March 4th. Details here.

A list of all T3 contests is here.

Blog Posts

Monocopter POV Choreography

Posted by Jack Crossfire on February 6, 2012 at 4:00am 1 Comment 0 Likes

Continue

UAV as Aerial Mapping & GIS platform

Posted by James Magos on February 6, 2012 at 3:00am 2 Comments 0 Likes

Continuing from my last post and hunting down the ever ending dream for "more" Skiptrovamon took a new form. This time our team goals was to keep the good things from our first airframe and..:

-Step on Known PIDs

-Make more room for cameras…

Continue

NASA DROID presentation at AMA EXPO 2012

Posted by Mark Harrison on February 5, 2012 at 2:30pm 0 Comments 1 Like

Here's NASA's presentation at the recent AMA expo. It's about 75 minutes in five parts.

Are you a pilot looking for a handy means to help keep you out of trouble -- such as, say, flying into immoveable objects like mountains or the ground? Well, in the future, there may be an app for…

Continue

Team Prometheus How to make a Zero Pressure High Altitude Balloon

Posted by Monroe on February 5, 2012 at 1:30pm 10 Comments 4 Likes

Making your own Zero Pressure balloon is a bunch easier than you might think! What is a Zero Pressure balloon? A Zero Pressure balloon is a high altitude balloon much like the latex weather balloons many people use to do experiments in NearSpace these day's or altitudes higher than 65,000ft.

These balloons go so…

Continue

ArduPlane v2: Full autonomous flight HIL simulation of a Nimbus 4m electro-glider drone

Posted by Jean-Louis Naudin on February 5, 2012 at 1:59am 6 Comments 3 Likes

Here a video of the test of a Nimbus 4 meters wingspan electro-glider piloted by the firmware ArduPlane 2.28xp1 (updated version with a JLN mod). Test done in HIL mode with the AeroSIM-RC v3.83 simulator connected through the AP Mission planner v1.1.30 on an ArduPilot Mega board v1.

Test Mission…

Continue

Arducopter 2.3 Nav tuning video scenarios

Posted by Ihab Ali on February 5, 2012 at 12:00am 1 Comment 3 Likes

Hello,

This is my first blog(and I mean first ever anywhere) so please excuse the lack of the "bloginess" quality :)

I've been in testing mode with APM1 since the release of Arducopter 1 code. After a couple lost and crashed quads, I decided that my strategy for testing arducopter from now on is to start with a cheap frame/motor/prop combo, basically to…

Continue

MyGeekShow finally flies an APM!

Posted by Trent at MyGeekShow on February 4, 2012 at 12:54pm 5 Comments 4 Likes

This week I constructed, installed and tested an APM on my Nova. Everything went great! Stabilization worked like a charm and RTL worked flawlessly! Can't wait for the next few months as I explore this "new" technology. (well, new to me!)

Thank you DIYDrones for the AWESOME equipment and software... very, very…

Continue

DIY Drones on NPR's Science Friday

Posted by Chris Anderson on February 4, 2012 at 11:23am 4 Comments 4 Likes

I was on NPR's Science Friday yesterday talking about drones, along with "Wired for War" author Peter Singer and MIT unmanned systems professor Missy Cummings. You can hear it here. And welcome all the listeners who are new members…

Continue

Rate PI Autotuning - A third attempt

Posted by Adam Rivera on February 3, 2012 at 11:30pm 5 Comments 4 Likes

Hi again all, Two blog posts in two days... i'm on a roll. I just finished the next set of revisions to my autotuning code. I have shifted from tuning the stab gains to tuning the rate gains. This is more dangerous but also more rewarding.

Here are…

Continue

Android App for Controlling Arduino via Bluetooth

Posted by Shannon Morrisey on February 3, 2012 at 1:00pm 5 Comments 1 Like

ArduinoCommander is a sweet new Android app for controlling Arduino with a Bluetooth shield.

From Android Market:

"Control your Arduino board from your Android device via Bluetooth using WYSIWYG…

Continue

Chat

Welcome to
DIY Drones

Sign Up
or Sign In

You can also sign up with:

Groups

ArduCopter User Group

463 members
ArduPlane User Group

289 members

ArduCopter (traditional …

77 members
ArduPilot (legacy) User …

76 members

Moderators

48 members
ROS User Group

25 members

Team Prometheus

5 members

View All

UAV news from sUAS News

Innocon’s MicroFalcon accomplished qualification flights at extreme weather

Israel, February 6th 2012 …Innocon’s MicroFalcon mini UAS has completed flight tests at extreme weather conditions. The MicroFalcon operated successfully under a snow storm at -15 Celsius, and a 35knt wind velocity. “We are proud of the MicroFalcon mini UAV system. It has demonstrated its long endurance, wide-area surveillance capability to detect targets in all operational environments – in any type of weather, day and night,” says Michael Armon, Innocon’s CEO. The MicroFalcon is Innocon’s lightest UAV. It provides high quality intelligence and surveillance information required for both the civil and HLS markets, as well as for military over the hill missions. This UAV has an Innovative structure of boxed type wings with belly mounted payload, which contributes to its high survivability and fast redeployment time cycle. Moreover, the system is able to give around the clock coverage of the targeted area with its multi UAV control capability. The multi UAV function allows the operator to fly continuously over the target. Both UAVs are controlled and monitored during the whole time from a single ground control station. Bookmark It Hide Sites $$('div.d11659').each( function(e) { e.visualEffect('slide_up',{duration:0.5}) });

Elbit Touts Hermes 900’s Multi-Mission Performance with Multiple Advanced Payloads

The Hermes 900 is Elbit Systems’ next-generation multi-mission, multi-payload Medium Altitude Long Endurance (MALE) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS). The Hermes 900 is a natural extension of the successful Hermes 450, which has a track record of over 300,000 accumulated flight hours. Among the key capabilities offered by the Hermes 900 are longer endurance, flight altitude of 30,000 ft. and a large payload capacity (up to 350kg). A unique 2.5 meter long internal payload bay is provided, capable of accommodating up to 250 kg and allowing quick modular payload installation and replacement, as well as additional payload installation capacity including four hard points under the wings. The UAS includes innovative avionics and electronic systems, a low noise engine, as well as solutions that can be offered for sense & avoid capabilities and safe integration of the UAS into the relevant air space. The Hermes 900 employs the same ground control station, line of sight data link, various sensors and key ground support equipment elements as the Hermes 450. This enables seamless insertion of Hermes 900 into Hermes 450 units with highly cost effective logistics optimization and minimal additional training. The Hermes 900 system provides rich and versatile multi-payload configurations offering unique [...]

Indian Airforce plans separate UAV cadre

Chethan Kumar, Bangalore, Feb 3 2012,DHNS Fighter squadrons may be trimmed to meet need Increasing the dependence on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) like former Air Chief P.V. Naik terms, is not an “out of the box” concept for the Indian Air Force (IAF) anymore. In what would be a significant move once it comes through, the IAF is already in talks to have a separate cadre for the RPVs and is in the process of drafting a proposal to be sent to the Centre. “Just like the fighter pilots, transport pilots and so on, this will be a role-specific cadre, so that the officers are trained for a specific role from the word go,” a senior official said. The IAF, which already uses UAVs, is in the process of multiplying the forces. And DRDO’s Rustom and Lakshya-II are also expected to be inducted into the IAF. Air Marshal Dhiraj Kukreja, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Headquarters Training Command, Bangalore said: “…There are talks about sending a proposal for this. We currently discussing various options.” Speaking to Deccan Herald over phone he said: “…It would be part of existing squadrons but said that the numbers might not to the [...]

New trainer addresses manned-unmanned training needs

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – Army helicopter pilots will soon be able to train virtually anywhere, at any time, thanks to a new training device demonstrated last week at UAH. Team members with the AH-64D Apache Longbow Block III program gave a demonstration Thursday of the Apache Block III National Airspace trainer (AB3NAT). Designed to act as a “surrogate trainer” for manned to unmanned teaming, or MUM-T in Army parlance, the new trainer will be able to receive full motion video from an unmanned aircraft system, or UAS. That may not sound like much, but it answers a critical training need faced by Army aviation. Federal Aviation Administration rules bar UAS from flying over nearly all of the U.S. Block III officials say the piloted AB3NAT solves that problem while providing realism needed to make training useful to pilots. Increasingly important in helicopter training, MUM-T provides the ability for manned platforms such as Apache and Kiowa to receive Full Motion Video from Unmanned Aircraft systems. The AB3NAT will allow the crew of an Apache, or other Army helicopter, to receive and process real-time video imaging surveillance from a UAS operating in theater, such as in Afghanistan. It also allows control of other [...]

New USAF X-Plane, the X-56A UAV, Revealed by Aviation Week

Looks like people have been following Chris Mc Nairs work, the wingtips of this wing have his tale tale cut outs. The Devil Ray from Chris also comes with variable length wings. Its not quite as big but we have seen a new larger high aspect wing coming out off the Mc Nair stable. In exclusive coverage, Aviation Week has revealed a new U.S. Air Force X-plane, the X-56A Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), which will test active flutter suppression and gust load alleviation– vital technologies that will propel the development of slender, lightweight, high-aspect-ratio wings for future transports and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance UAVs. Designed by Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, the X-56A flying wing will also be flown by NASA and is considered the future of high-altitude, long-endurance (HALE) reconnaissance aircraft. Configured for easy wing replacement, the 28-foot-long X-56A features stiff wings, as well as multiple sets of flexible wings, and a parachute recovery system, in case a wing fails in flight. The UAV will test the outer limits of the flight envelope where flutter occurs. Flutter is the potentially catastrophic dynamic coupling that can occur between the elastic motion of the wing and the aerodynamic loads acting on it. “The success of [...]

More…

More…

Badges | Report an Issue | Terms of Service

1	ArduCopter 2.3 released
2	Swarm of Quads!
3	The easiest way to mount APM2 on ArduCopter.
4	Cool flying people.... and a quad!!
5	Check out James Goppert's cool Masters thesis on ArduPilotOne

Latest Activity

Start a discussion

VIew all discussions

Forum

Photos

Videos

Site license

Welcome to DIY Drones

Contests

Blog Posts

Chat

Top Content

Groups

UAV news from sUAS News

UAV news from Flight Global