Latest Activity

Jan replied to Craig Elder's discussion APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
"Hi Randy, Looking forward to test it. Thanks for the efforts."
4 minutes ago
Oliver Volkmann replied to peter christian's discussion Gimbal for pics at nadir
"Hi Peter, We've had this issue with other platforms, especially ones where you have a 90 degree pitch limit. To over come this we have used an AV200 dual axis stabilized camera mount and a PicLoc3X Gyro Stabilizer to keep the camera…"
9 minutes ago
Nikos Gerarchakis commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"@Euan Dear Euan, with the latest codes, Power modules adjust automaticly. with small variances from the linkage-batterie-connectors-load etc. altitude report depents on the sat count. but generally you are between standards for both. If you need any…"
20 minutes ago
b nevins replied to Andrew Tridgell's discussion ArduPlane 2.73 released
"Hi, I'm curious if you are only getting 30 deg bank using the elevon mixing from the APM.  Does the same thing happen when you program from the TX?  "
21 minutes ago
Dimitri replied to Ryan Randels's discussion I'll Introduce myself - QAV400 Pilot With a Question!
"Also do as Clint suggested, unlock your roll/rate PIDs and crank up only rate pitch. I'm using stock values on rate pitch while my roll rate P is down to .095"
30 minutes ago
Edward Chew replied to Craig Elder's discussion APM Copter 2.9.1.b has been released
"Hey guys, Can anyone help me read on my log whether my vibration dampening is good? It has now 3 layers(previous 2) of dampening but still my loiter is bouncing around in the wind. Stab is all fine. Can't be sure which is the right file i…"
52 minutes ago
Chinlin replied to 昆緯 柯's discussion Mission Planner MAV 1.0的simulation部分 in the group Taiwan ROC ArduPilot Group
"你有沒有打yaw stick到右邊?"
55 minutes ago
Stefan Gofferje replied to Kevin Hester's discussion Andropilot - discussion for Android ground controller users/developers
"That sounds like a good solution :)."
1 hour ago

Developer
John Arne Birkeland commented on Joshua Ott's blog post Hero 3 with interchangeable lens mount
"R, not that many that offer 2.7K@24, 1080p@60 and 720p@120fps and 48mbit h.264 recording in this price range."
1 hour ago

Developer
John Arne Birkeland replied to Petrus Botha's discussion How do you calculate quadcopter lifting capability?
"You should calculate lift at ~50% throttle. In other words the copter and payload should hover at 50% throttle. The reason for this is that the copter needs a lot of thrust headroom to maneuver properly. You also get very short flight times if you…"
1 hour ago

Developer
John Arne Birkeland replied to Philip Sulikosky's discussion Large Heli versus Large Multirotor - Which is Best in wind?
"Helis are definitively better at handling wind. But there are some tradeoffs. Helicopters are mechanically much more complex and costly. The biggest weakness with helicopters from a AP view is vibrations. It can be really hard to make a heli run…"
1 hour ago
Matthew Coleman commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Chris: I agree that they should not copy without credit. The ArduPilot/Copter/thing claims to be community created but it is not really clear who that community is. You are selling electrons and giving bytes away for free.  Where are you…"
2 hours ago
Usman commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"Naming it as "ArduPilot" was bad move by HK (now its changed to HKPilot) but on the other side it was HK that helped me get into RC hobby by offering low prices & multiple shipment options. Today I'm a proud owner of genuine 3DR…"
2 hours ago
Jesse commented on Joshua Johnson's blog post DIY Drones at 39,000 Members!
"It's interesting to see how many more people are using Chrome than Firefox (which I use)."
2 hours ago
iskess replied to Andrew Tridgell's discussion ArduPlane 2.73 released
"I am still only getting 30 degrees bank in FBW with the max bank set to 60 degrees. Auto mode is giving me the full 60 degrees and is working great. I have recalibrated the controls. Any ideas what I can try?"
2 hours ago
titeuf007 commented on Hooks's blog post APM 2.5 from hobbyking
"3.0 baord should improve something and i don t see what we could have more for the moment than an apm 2.5.. only better processor could be improve it and for the moment the code is not ready for it(smt32) so create a new baord will be an…"
2 hours ago

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Forum

APM2.5 5V/Vcc Schematic

Started by R. D. Starwalt in ArduPilotMega 2.x hardware. Last reply by Derek Vignard 2 minutes ago. 64 Replies

Gimbal for pics at nadir

Started by peter christian in Aerial photography. Last reply by Oliver Volkmann 9 minutes ago. 3 Replies

ArduPlane 2.73 released

Started by Andrew Tridgell in ArduPlane 2.x software. Last reply by b nevins 22 minutes ago. 79 Replies

How do you calculate quadcopter lifting capability?

Started by Petrus Botha in AeroQuad. Last reply by John Arne Birkeland 1 hour ago. 15 Replies

Large Heli versus Large Multirotor - Which is Best in wind?

Started by Philip Sulikosky in Aerial photography. Last reply by John Arne Birkeland 1 hour ago. 3 Replies

Tips: APM and Arduplane

Started by Toni Test in Newbie. Last reply by Bill B 5 hours ago. 1 Reply

Quadcopter Flight Control Board <$100

Started by Hunter Orrell in Quadcopters 7 hours ago. 0 Replies

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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/Site rules)

This community created the Arduino-based ArduPilot, the world's first universal autopilot (planes, multicopters of all sorts and ground rovers). The APM 2.5 autopilot hardware runs a variety of powerful free 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)

Examples of civilian uses of drones                   Glossary of confusing terms

Blog Posts

Flight of a "Cyclocopter"

Posted by Chris Anderson on May 22, 2013 at 7:40pm 7 Comments

Every year or so, some research group posts a video of a "cyclocopter" flying. I'm not sure why (this article suggest they might be more efficient than traditional helicopters, and that people have been pursing them for a…

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Thirty Days (#16): More maker Faire

Posted by Joshua Ott on May 22, 2013 at 5:46pm 3 Comments

R2 gangs roamed the…

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DIY Drones at 39,000 Members!

Posted by Joshua Johnson on May 22, 2013 at 5:00pm 3 Comments

As is customary and traditional, we celebrate every new 1,000 members here and share the traffic stats. This time it's 39,000!

There were 2 million page views in the last month! (we get around 65,000 pageviews a day on average). It took us just 24 days to get this latest 1,000 members--we're…

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1.2 Ghz FPV with 2.4Ghz control- Weekly Video #6

Posted by Jake Wells on May 22, 2013 at 2:35pm 4 Comments





Last week(week 5) I tested out a new FPV system using 1.2 GHZ. It works great. The only problem I had was that it was locking out my 2.4GHZ control. So for the video I used my old 72mhz radio. Let's just call it glitch. It glitched me right into a patch of stinging nettles. So I ordered a low pass filter from Readymaderc.com. Then I commenced to building yet…

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6 Modes on a Futaba T9CAP

Posted by Bryan Cherry on May 22, 2013 at 1:00pm 3 Comments

Here is how I got 6 modes out of my T9CAP 

Under AUX CH set CH 5 to Sw C

End points I set ch 5:GEAR to +/- 120%

Under Mix 1                                    Mix 2                                   Mix 3

MAS>…

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VR Copter X6+ VR Direct Drive Gimbal is coming ... the first fly ...

Posted by Roberto Navoni on May 22, 2013 at 3:25am 1 Comment

 

Dear Friends, 

our Flight Teams beta tester star to test a  VR Copter Fly Cam configuration. This is the hexa copter used by our beta tester for doing this video :

 …

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Hex demostrated in San Francisco

Posted by Hex Air Robot on May 22, 2013 at 1:30am 3 Comments

At HAXLR8R’s demo day, ten hot hardware startups presented their products after completing a 15-week accelerator program in Shenzhen China. The program is designed to help entrepreneurs with innovative hardware concepts and prototypes and help turn them into commercial realities.

Yes! Hex is one of them! Here are some…

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Data Bus mbed baseboards: Tindie Fundraiser

Posted by Bot Thoughts on May 21, 2013 at 2:30pm 0 Comments

Data Bus mbed baseboards are now available on Tindie as a fundraiser! I figured maybe some folks wanted to experiment with their own algorithms and want a head start on their 2014 AVC ground vehicle entry.…

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The Ardupilot controlled transducer boat part 2

Posted by Burkhard rieck on May 21, 2013 at 12:00pm 8 Comments

As I already mentioned on the first page, mygoal was to construct a boat that could drive for at least 4 hours without charging while I could catch some fish :-). To reach that goal, my boat should weigh around 4 kg and the capacity of the batteries should be quite high. After a lot of searching in the internet, I…

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Contests

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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UAV news from sUAS News

First flight for Triton

First flight for Triton

The Northrop Grumman-built Triton unmanned aircraft system completed its first flight May 22 from our facility in Palmdale, Calif. The flight, which was about 1.5 hours successfully demonstrated control systems that allow Triton to operate autonomously. Triton is specially designed to fly surveillance missions up to 24 hours at altitudes of more than 10 miles, allowing coverage out to 2,000 nautical miles. The system’s advanced suite of sensors can detect and automatically classify different types of ships. Bookmark It Hide Sites

Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, ‘Built for the elements’ The movie

Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, ‘Built for the elements’ The movie

‘Built for the elements’ is a non-standard movie filmed in slow motion – 1,200 frames per second – with a high speed Phantom Flex camera. A true technical challenge, it offers stunning images that feature the robustness and the power of the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, definitely a one-of-a-kind quadricopter! The film will premiere May 22 on www.youtube.com/ardrone. The machine faced with the elements Lighting in chiaroscuro, a black set whose boundaries aren’t visible… The scenery is arranged. The singular shapes of the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 appear in a halo of light… Its engines pushed to their maximum, the quadricopter throws itself in a mad dash during which it has to brave the elements rising up in front of it, like water or fire… The extreme slow-motion enabled by the high speed Phantom Flex camera reveal the magical and fascinating spectacle of the sturdiness of the machine, faced with the elements: the flames sucked up by the rotational motion of the propellers; droplets exploding on its blades… The soundtrack, an astonishing metal rock version of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy, highlights the beauty of the images and the power of the flying machine. Freeze frame To make such precise images, Parrot used, for the [...]

Russia to test drones to monitor wildlife and track poachers

Russia to test drones to monitor wildlife and track poachers

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, Officials say they’ll test unmanned aerial vehicles at a nature reserve on Russia’s Pacific coast this summer to monitor wildlife and crack down on poachers. “UAVs are silent and can fly at a very low altitude to produce high-resolution imagery and detect poachers, their boats and vehicles,” Alexandra Filatkina, deputy director for development at the Kronotsky nature reserve on the Kamchatka Peninsula, told RIA Novosti Friday. Images from the drones will not only spot trails left by poachers’ vehicles but can also spot illegal logging sites and waste dumps, she said. Officials said the drones will greatly reduce the cost of aerial monitoring animals like brown bears, reindeer and snow sheep. Last year, the South Kamchatka Federal Reserve spent more than $32,000 on monitoring brown bears alone, officials said. The drones, which weigh about 5 pounds and have a range of 40 miles, will be equipped with inexpensive cameras capable of taking a photograph every two seconds, Filatkina said. The test at Kronosky will determine whether they can be used in other wildlife sanctuaries across Russia, she said. http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/05/17/Russia-to-test-drones-to-monitor-wildlife-and-track-poachers/UPI-44531368820052/   Bookmark It Hide Sites

DreamHammer Announces First Commercially Available Software that can control any Drone or Robot

DreamHammer Announces First Commercially Available Software that can control any Drone or Robot

SANTA MONICA, Calif – DreamHammer announced the beta launch of its drone control software.  Called Ballista®, the software is an intelligent control platform that for the first time integrates unrelated unmanned drones and robots from different manufacturers into one system.  Ballista is poised to become the industry standard for drone and robot control software for the multi-billion dollar global unmanned systems industry. “Ballista® is designed to the highest military and safety critical standards but goes beyond military applications to work with all unmanned drones and robots. It is commercial off-the-shelf software, when applied to different industries — for example,transportation, logistics, agriculture, law enforcement, etc. — can be used to link multiple drones into one master system, all controlled by one person,” said Nelson Paez, CEO of DreamHammer.  “A drone could be as simple as a farm tractor or as complicated as an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle or a satellite. It can be anything with a computer interface that is leveraging intelligence, technology and diversified control. ”DreamHammer, which had revenues of $6 million in 2012, has been licensing thesoftware and providing support to defense, intelligence, and homeland securitycustomers as well as their industrial base of manufacturers and integrators inadvance of the general [...]

Rocky Mountain AUVSI “Unmanned Aerial Systems – 2013 Annual Symposium”

Rocky Mountain AUVSI "Unmanned Aerial Systems - 2013 Annual Symposium"

Date: May 30th, 2013 Proposed Agenda (subject to change) 7:30 – 8:30: Registration 8:30 – 8:45: Opening Remarks 8:45 – 9:30: Keynote Speaker 9:30 – 10:30: Break/Expo 10:30 – 11:15: Presentation 11:15 – 12:00p: Presentation 12:00 – 1:30: Lunch/Expo 1:30 – 5:00 Presentation 5:00 – 7:00: Networking/Expo Where: Wings Over The Rockies Air & Space Museum 7711 East Academy Boulevard Denver, CO 80230 Register now for the Rocky Mountain AUVSI 2013 Annual Symposium. Join us and do some networking!  Includes Lunch! There are a limited amount registrations available so please sign up ASAP.  Please follow the link below (pay via PayPal). Admission: $65- AUVSI Member  $95 – Non-Member $145 – Non-Member (includes AUVSI Membership)             Sponsorships: $2,000 – Platinum Corporate (Includes short presentation, primary venue sponsor, name on main banner and advertising.  Includes 3 emplyee registrations.) $1,000 – Diamond Corporate (Sponsorships available for: 1) Registration (Lanyards) 2) Beverages (coffee, juice, water) all day. 3) Lunch 4) Networking event.  All the above includes a booth 2 emplyee registrations and printed advertisement recognition.) $395 – Gold Exhibitor Participant (Includes 2 emplyee admissions, booths space and attendace to all daily activities) http://www.auvsi.org/Rocky_Mountain_Chapter_of_AUVSI/Home/ Bookmark It Hide Sites

UAV news from Flight Global

Maritime Heron UAV supports European airspace trial

Europe has advanced a project to prove the feasibility of using satellite communications to enable UAS operations in non-segregated airspace ...

Brazilian navy begins UAS evaluation

The Brazilian navy has begun to evaluate two Israeli-made unmanned air systems for maritime surveillance missions ...

Indian air force to launch micro UAS evaluation

The Indian air force is to evaluate several micro unmanned air systems from around 10 companies in early May ...

VIDEO: Eurocopter demonstrates unmanned EC145

Eurocopter has unveiled an optionally piloted vehicle (OPV), based on its EC145 light twin, which has been in development since September 2011.

Israeli F-16 downs another Hezbollah UAV

An Israeli air force Lockheed Martin F-16 has shot down an unmanned air vehicle launched from Lebanon by Hezbollah militants ...

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