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/diy/ - Do It Yourself

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165710 No.165710 [Reply] [Original]

College computer science department project over the summer, something i'm trying to organize as a fun thing for the department.

building a UAV (probably quadrotor)

it'd be a uav for use by the department, maybe in classes, maybe for professors to tinker with and build upon, add sensors, whatever

i'm trying to price such a thing. we'll be using the ArduCopter code as a base, in order to get something that's stable and works well and is free.
Will probably buy the arducopter board and oilpan off diydrones (it's $165), but if the participants feel up for it, we could save cash by etching the board from schematics and soldering it ourselves, is this a bad idea?

What would i be looking at hardware wise? what constitutes "low end" in terms of prices for frames/motors/radios/transmitters/ground station equipment? what constitutes high end?

what are some things to avoid when building one of these?

my budget might be as low as $500, could i get a decent barebones uav with a groundstation for this cheap?

>> No.165721

aged?

>> No.165757

If you could get all of the electronics/sensors for $500 that would be a steal.

>> No.165763

>>165757
yeah, that's why i'm a little worried

it's possible we could get all the RC equipment at first as a way to show off, and possibly get additional funding to go full autonomous

>> No.165771

>>165763

Sounds like you're just going to buy a RC plane then.

>> No.165773

>>165771
more than likely a quadrotor

>> No.165793

You can definitely get a working autonomous quadcopter for under $500.

Get the APM 2.0, it's a bit more expensive ($200), but it comes with a gps and magnetometer built in, both of which you'll need anyway. It's also got the latest hardware and whatnot, so it's better quality and lighter.

The latest version of the ardupilot code supports wireless control through XBees, which means you won't need an expensive hobby transmitter.

I suggest you look at the parts list for the aeroquad (http://aeroquad.com/showwiki.php?title=Parts+List)), specifically the priority 2 items. Hextronik DT750 motors are cheap, but they'll spin a huge propeller. Combine them with a few cheap turnigy ESCs from hobbyking and some propellers from rctimer.

After buying all of that stuff, you should still have about $100 left for a frame and battery. Go buy some square aluminum tubing and a lipo from hobbyking, and you're done.

>> No.165796

>>165793
You might even be able to afford that corbon fiber frame from the aeroquad store, if you want to make things easy on yourself.

>> No.165816

>>165793
there are a few laser cutters around campus, i was thinking of actually getting a custom cut frame for this thing
thanks for that list by the way, i had no idea you could control it without a transmitter. can the XBees hook up to ham-radio-type antennas in order to broadcast over very long ranges (several miles)?

>> No.165821
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165821

I'm building my own quadrotor at the moment. I went with a very small 7" frame using carbon fiber rods, but you'll probably want to go with something larger and sturdier. For the electronics, I designed my own PCB, which does save cost quite a bit.

>> No.165822

>>165821
>designed my own
oh no no, we're not going that crazy up front, that's for later

if anything i'd use the PCB etching machine used by the EET department, and get a crew to solder the components in, that might take the APM 2.0 cost from $200 down to as low as $80 ( i hope)

>> No.165824

>>165816
Not sure exactly what kind of antenna you're referring to, but you can get 900 MHz modules with an RP-SMA connector, and hook up whatever high gain antenna you want. I get about 6 mile range with mine, just a wire antenna on the UAV and a 3 bBi duck antenna on the ground.

>> No.165828

>>165824
ah perfect, that's what i was looking for.

question though, if i'm ditching the fucking crazy expensive 7 channel remote bullshit...

1) can i still push video from the XBee to the ground station?
2) how exactly will i control this thing without...well...a controller? could i get something as crude as a 360 controller with the buttons remapped?

>> No.165829

>>165828
oh and another question, with the APM 2.0
http://store.diydrones.com/APM_2_0_Kit_p/br-ardupilotmega-03.htm
don't you still need that "oilpan" thing to handle all the control systems? or does the APM 2.0 internalize all that?

>> No.165831

>>165822
Keep in mind that most of the cost is in the components. Accelerometers and gyros only get so cheap, and unless you have the equipment to work with smd components, things get expensive (and big) fast.

>> No.165832

You won't be pushing video over XBee; the bandwidth is too small. You'd probably need to hook up an analog transmission sort of thing. Well, I do know the AR.Drone uses wifi to stream video...

For a controller, I just used a PS2 controller hooked up to an Arduino. There's a nice breakout cable for them for a few bucks online.

>> No.165835

>>165831
The cost of my board components was quite cheap, but it only has a mcu, accel, and gyro. You can sample the ICs off of companies using an edu email, so you only need to buy the passives.

As for the equipment to work with SMD, it really isn't too difficult to solder it at home, and I'm sure OP's school has some better tools than I do.

>> No.165840

>>165832
rats
well, i might be able to salvage some equipment from the EE department. full color board cameras are apparently as cheap as $60, super lightweight, and can mount on two servos to give total camera control

>> No.165847

>>165828
XBees can't handle video. Not at all. If you want that, you'll need a dedicated video transmitter and such, which gets expensive fast. A good FPV kit can be a 500 dollars itself. Why do you need video? If it's for navigation, there is an artificial horizon and mapping in the ground control software.

An xbox 360 controller will work fine, although it's nice to have something with a throttle stick that doesn't automatically return to zero.
You can always get fancy and buy an usb flight stick as well.

>> No.165849

>>165829
And no, you don't need the oilpan. It's all on one board.

>> No.165855

>>165849
oh sweet!
but that begs the question, what's the difference between APM 2.0 and this
https://store.diydrones.com/ArduPilot_Mega_kit_p/kt-apm-01.htm
?

>> No.165858

OH SHIT
YOU CAN PLUG YOUR ANDROID PHONE INTO A CONTROL BOARD AND MAKE IT A UAV BRAIN
https://store.diydrones.com/PhoneDrone_Board_p/br-phonedrone.htm

>> No.165860

>>165855
That's the APM 1.4. Looking at the price, it's actually terrible that they're still selling it. The APM 2.0 has a microsd port for datalogging, and a triple axis magnetometer, but costs $50 less.

>> No.165863

>>165860
ah, thanks for informing me

i actually made this exact thread last night with no luck

once i get some more OK's from staff, i'll start putting together a game plan and shopping list.

>> No.165901

$400-$500 is totally doable for a quadcopter with cheap/no video downlink. Check out UAVP-NG and mikrokopter for a couple other groups that've been doing this for a few years.

>> No.165902

aged for more data, so far i got

->use the ADM 2.0 board
-> don't bother with a transmitter, just use an xbee telemetry setup (can use a 360 controller in this case)
-> video has to be on its own channel