It flies! It flies!

I know it has been a while, but everything flies as planned.  With the 3600Ma batter I get about 10 minutes of flight time and the thing is screaming fast.  I'm still using the very conservative setup for endpoints for the Turnigy 9x setup, which will prevent you from doing any real acrobatics, but nonetheless it flies!

On another point I bought a small Hubsan MicroQuad, which flies JUST LIKE THE REAL THING!  It is a great trainer tool for flying a quad that is set up on the KK2 board.

Test Flight Take #2

I went out this morning to give it a test.  I found a nice soft grassy area and set about giving it a test.  Immediately upon takeoff the quad would start spinning to the right, slightly at first and then faster and faster. I knew what this meant thanks to doing some quality web browsing - a reversed yaw gyro.

The procedure for fixing this is to set the roll pot to zero, turn on the transmitter, power up the control board, then move the yaw stick.  It should then start flashing continuously at a very high rate until you turn the power off.  This should fix the problem.  (Make sure to put the pot back in the middle)

One easy way to test is to hold the quad over your head with props on - be very careful - and then try to rotate it clockwise or counterclockwise.  The quad should really try to fight you.  If it feels like there is just a little resistance than try to increase the gain on the yaw pot a little.  This thing should honestly feel like it doesn't want you to rotate it!  If it's not resisting you'll need to reverse that pot.

To Infinity and Beyond!!!

Not really - after I got the yaw problem fixed I did a few test bounces, then played with the hovering a bit.  I was able to get it to hover a few feet off the ground and move it around a bit, but I can still tell something isn't quite right.  What I experienced was the following:  I could get it off the ground and it wanted to go slightly forward, and I could compensate, but then when I tried to steer it took too long for it to stop steering.  That is, when I told it to go right, it would go for quite a ways before it would stop going right.  I know it should be crisper on the controls, but I'm not sure what the cause of this is.  I'll do a little message board searching and see if I can figure out what is going on.

Getting close to first "real" flight, but not there quite yet.

Ecalc Tool

One handy little tool that I found online is at the eCalc Multirotor Calculator, which will tell you what your setup will do.  It has tons of great defaults and can tell you if you are going to get off the ground and how long your battery will likely last.  Below is a screenshot of my calculations:

New Frame and Rebuild

Side view of new quadcopter frame.

I'm still not sure that I'm really satisfied with the Turnigy Trust ESCs - they claim to have automatic throttle calibration, but that doesn't seem to be satisfactory for a quadcopter, so I might have to purchase the Turnigy Plush ones that I've now recommended on the Quadcopter Parts page.

Top view of new quadcopter frame

However, I did go out and pick up a new frame from HobbyKing - the Talon 550mm Carbon Fiber QuadCopter Frame.  The frame was easy to assemble and went together in about 10 minutes.  The one problem is that the power distribution board was too big so I had to solder the ESCs together - I'm not great at soldering, but it worked for me and all the engines are getting their power.

The frame is a perfect fit for the motors and for the control board, which is incredibly helpful and can be set up both the + and X configurations - for now I'm going with the + configuration.  The reason I'm doing that is  that + is the default and I've had some trouble programming the control board - and this is after I burnt one up - oops!

I did a couple of test bounces and it handled okay, but I can tell that it needs some fine tuning and I'm not sure if that should be done on the control side or on the gyro side.

I think tomorrow I will head out to a grassy field and see how it handles, try to do some test hovers, and see if I can actually fly it around for a few seconds.  I'll post an update once I get some flight data.

Frame Finished

I needed to add a battery holder and something to protect the electronics in case of an upside down landing, so I decided to do both at once.  It was relatively easy to do.  Below are the pics.

Top View

Side View

Back View

ESC Not a Problem - HK Control Board

Earlier I had written that I thought that the Turnigy Trust ESCs were a problem because they couldn't be manually throttle calibrated.  Turns out that I was wrong.  It was actually the HobbyKing control board that was causing my headache.
Here is the info that could save you that headache too!

HobbyKing Control Board v3.0 Atmel 328PA:
Unfortunately as is the case with many HK products they have absolute crap for support and rely on other users to do it for them, and often have outdated or just wrong user manuals.  In this case, it was the latter.  You see, HK rips off designs that others come up with and have their Chinese supplier build them for 1/10th the price, and then sells them on the cheap - and price matters with this stuff, so that is why I shop there.  Anyhow, that isn't the point.
The point is that they had a user manual for this item that tells you to put everything as Atmel 48PA, which is what the KK board version uses, but the Atmel 328PA is distinctly different in that it has a different memory size!  And unfortunately, the chip itself doesn't know what is up, so it will just do what you tell it to do.  What you really need to do is:

1. Use the new Atmel Studio 6.0 software
2. Plug your HK Control Board into the USB programmer and plug the battery into the control board!
3. Open up the dialogue for programming in Atmel Studio
4. Tell the software that it is the Atmel 328PA and click Apply
5. Click Read and then see what it says.  It should tell you that it is the Atmel 328PA chip.
6. Go to the Fuses tab and set "SPIEN" as checked; BODLEVEL = 1v8; SUT_CKSEL = 8Mhz 6CK/14CK +65ms (Default)
7. Go to memories, select the .hex file you want to load, and then click on program.

That fixed my problems of the motors not being synced up.  Now it appears to be working just fine.

FPV System: Now Working!

Thanks to the folks at ReadyMadeRC I now have a functioning FPV system!  The problem was a bad battery - and since it was the only battery I had that had a JST connector I couldn't test it with another one... I was probably a little shortsighted in buying just one, and will correct that now that I know it is working.

Anyway, I'm glad I bought my camera system from them because they were very responsive to my questions and I couldn't imagine HobbyKing being nearly as cooperative as they were.

ESC Problem?

Apparently the Turnigy Trust 45A ESC doesn't allow for throttle calibration, but tries to do it "automatically"... which is fine for a vehicle that uses one ESC, but not for one that uses 4 ESCs.  I'm waiting for some feedback, but will probably have to go with a Turnigy Plush 40A ESC - that is one I know will work.

FPV System

Just a quick note on the FPV system.  As I posted earlier I was having trouble getting the Tx to power up - luckily it wasn't the FPV system, it was instead a defective battery.  Unfortunately, I wasn't able to test this myself as I didn't have a second battery with a JST connector.
However, the guys at Ready Made RC were awesome.  They shipped me replacements of the Tx and the Tx cable, and when that didn't work they had me send everything back in a pre-paid envelope they included.  They quickly located the problem and kept me updated.  I just got a note that they shipped it all back yesterday.
Once again I can't stress how helpful they were.

Homemade Frame: Flying Cake Pan

Flying Cake Pan Design.  Angle view.

After the failure to launch caused some catastrophic warping of the frame (which I believe is due to motor torque with blades on), I decided to build on from scratch.

The hardest part was trying to figure out what materials to use - I went with 3/4" square aluminum tubing for the arms, an 8 in cake pan for the chassis, and some 3/4" by 1/8" aluminum bar for support (the pan vibrated a lot until I added it for reinforcement).



Here are some tips on the build:

Flying Cake Pan Design:  Top View Showing Electronics.

1. Go to Dollar General or something similar - they sell 8" cake pans that are a thin aluminum and are extra-light weight (cheap)...  best of all it only cost $1!
2. Use three screws per arm - it will make them a lot more stable.  All the screws I used total cost about $4 at Home Depot - if you live close or go there often buy more than you need and return what you don't need as they have a good return policy.
3. Measure everything twice before you cut and before you start drilling holes.  Once you start drilling holes try to use previous holes as a guide or else the bolts might not go in clean (trust me).
4. Use some washers on the top side of the cake pan as that will help you have more area to crank down on when tightening.

I need to add some landing gear and a battery mount.  I'm not sure how I'm going to do the battery mount yet, but for the landing gear I'm going to use a couple of aluminum bars - they'll help strengthen the frame as well and might give me an option for a battery mount as well.

Expected re-launch:  4 days.

Complete Fail

I went out to the park to fire it up and I never got more than a foot or two off the ground before control problems kicked in...  It wad a total failure. 

Worst of all I warped the frame - it was a total piece of crap.  The torque from the motors is what caused it to warp... Not a crash!

I am going to home depot now to get materials to build my own frame.  Fingers still crossed I can get off ground this weekend.

First Flight in 30 Minutes

Top View of Quadcopter Before Maiden Flight

I've done basically everything that I can on the ground... now it's time to test this thing out, at least briefly, in the air.  This will let me test the gyros, and figure out if I'm completely wrong in my setup.

Side View of Quadcopter Before Maiden Flight.

The last two things I did were install a crash bar on top (out of an aluminum bar), and mount the antenna facing up, by using a straw I cut in half and then taped to the crash bar.

Neither of these is really necessary, but the bar on top is both useful for carrying the quad by and will save the KK board in case of an upside-down landing.

I didn't want the antenna just dangling around so I decided to use the straw (perfect diameter) to hold the antenna upright.

The sun is almost up and I want to get to the park before there are too many people around so I can test this thing without anyone being to nosy.

Fingers Crossed!

FPV System Issues

As an FYI, I still haven't managed to get the FPV system working.  I did some troubleshooting that Ready Made RC suggested, but nothing got going.  I have a suspicion that it is actually a problem with the battery for the system.
The guys at Ready Made RC have been very helpful, however, and I have sent the whole system back to them so they could test it themselves (this was after they had already sent me a replacement Tx and cables).
Definitely glad that I went with them.

Range Testing

The other simple task that we can do on the ground is to range test the transmitter.  You can do this by yourself, but it will help if you have a friend or neighbor to help you out.  This is a no propeller test - so REMOVE the propellers before continuing, otherwise you might destroy your quad and injure your assistant!

Range testing is a simple procedure - find yourself a good clear area where you have a long line of sight.  Do a normal start-up procedure, first powering up the transmitter, then powering up the craft, and arming the transmitter/receiver.

Stand a few feet away and increase the throttle - the motors should start spinning.  Now turn them off.  Now continue turning the motors on and off while walking away.  As long as you can turn them on and off you are in range.  You'll want to make sure that you can get at least 100 feet or more away, and it can be difficult to  see if the motors are still responding at this distance, which is why you'll want to enlist the help of a friend to give you a thumbs up if it is responding.

I walked about 300-400 feet, alternating the motors on and off and still had good response on the motors before I lost my line of sight.  At 400 feet the quadcopter looks tiny, so I can't see doing much recreational flying with it much farther away than that for the time being.

If you lose your signal before you are able to get a hundred feet away you should check to make sure that your antenna wire isn't wrapped around any other wires.  If it's not, make sure that the batteries in your transmitter are fresh.  Assuming that's not the problem you'll need to "bind" your transmitter.

To do this, plug in the binding cable (last slot on the receiver), power up the quad with the transmitter off.  Next you'll press and hold the "bind/range test" button the back of the transmitter, and while still holding it turn the transmitter on.  The light on the receiver should stop flashing.  Let go of the button, and unplug the bind ring.  To save the binding you'll need to then unplug the battery from the quad and then turn off the transmitter.  Now your receiver and transmitter are bound.

Repeat the test and see how far you can get - hopefully you'll get full range this time.

ESC Throttle Calibration

Two of the remaining tasks that are left can be easily done on the ground and are relatively quick and simple to perform.  These are ESC throttle calibration and range testing the transmitter.  In this post I'll go over ESC calibration.  Make sure to REMOVE the propellers before doing this!

ESC Throttle Calibration
Calibrating the throttle is simple enough - all you'll need to do is the following:

1. Turn on the transmitter and power up the control board - do not arm the receiver!
2. Move the throttle all the way up, and wait a few seconds.  You should hear the ESCs beep.
3. After a few more seconds move the throttle to minimum.  You'll hear another beep.
4. That's all!
5. Unplug the battery and turn off the transmitter.

Now you'll want to test what you've just done. To do this you'll follow the normal start up procedures:

1. Turn on transmitter and select correct model
2. Plug in the battery
3. Arm the receiver by moving both sticks down and to the right.
4. Move the throttle stick up - by the time it is a quarter of the way up all four motors should be spinning

That's all there is to it!

Getting Dangerously Close

So at this point we have done the following:

1. Assembled the frame
2. Mounted the motors and ESCs
3. Connected the power distribution board
4. Reassembled frame with electronics installed
5. Programmed KapteinKuk v4.7 X-copter onto control board
6. Connected ESCs to control board
7. Connected control board to receiver
8. Hooked up the battery to ensure all is getting power
9. Programmed the transmitter and tested receiver functions
10. Done some preliminary testing without blades

So what do we have left to do?

1. Install a bar on the top to protect the control board in case of crash
2. Calibrate the throttle range on the ESCs
3. Range test the transmitter
4. Mount the props
5. Fly it!

Programming the Turnigy 9x

The next step is to program up the Turnigy 9x transmitter so you can fly it without it being too unstable.  I had to do a lot of looking around on the internet to find the proper set-up, and there are a few different configurations that I am going to try... I'm not sure which one will work best and I have seen people advocating both of them.  You can hold several different setups in the memory, so I put these in slots #1 and #2.

You'll need to read the manual to learn how to navigate through the menus and to set the buttons, but here are the setups that I went with:
Setup #1
Model Name: Quad-H
Model Type: Heli
Type Select: Heli-2
Modulation: PPM
Stick Setup: Mode 2
Then in function settings you'll go with the following:
Reverses: Aileron = Normal; Elevator = Reverse; Throttle = Reverse; Rudder = Normal
Throttle Curve = Linear 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%
End Points = Aileron = 50%, Elevator = 50%, Throttle = 100%, Rudder = 100%
Throttle Hold = -30%


Setup #1
Model Name: Quad-P
Model Type: Acrobat
Type Select: NA
Modulation: PPM
Stick Setup: Mode 2
Then in function settings you'll go with the following:
Reverses: Aileron = Normal; Elevator = Reverse; Throttle = Reverse; Rudder = Normal
Throttle Curve = Linear 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100%
End Points = Aileron = 50%, Elevator = 50%, Throttle = 100%, Rudder = 100%
Throttle Hold = -30%


I'm going to test both of them out and see what works the best.

Electronics Hookup and Frame Reassembly

Assembled Quadcopter Top View.

Now that I have everything programmed up and have received all of the cables that I need, it's time to put things together.  There are just a couple of things you need to remember - red to red and black to black for the power board wiring.

Brown cables go to the outside on the control board and to the bottom on the receiver.  Aileron is Channel 1, Elevator is Channel 2, Throttle is Channel 3, and Rudder is Channel 4.

Assembled Quadcopter Side View.

This part is quick and easy.  For the ESC's the front left is motor #1, the back left is motor #2, the front right is motor #3, and the back right is motor #4.

Putting it all back together is a little tricky as you'll need more hands than you have.  I loosely screwed on each arm, and then used the second bolt to hold it all on.

What I did was the following:
Power Control Board is between the two plates on the frame and is held on upside down on the top plate by foam sticky tape.  The Receiver is held on by foam tape on top of the upper plate.  You then will put the control board on top of the whole thing.

Once you are done and everything is connected up it will look like this:

Now of course you can see that this leaves us with a problem that we have the control board exposed and the wires are just hanging out there.  I would like to add something above the frame to clean it all up, but more importantly to provide a little protection to the control board in case of an uncontrolled upside down landing (some of you might call it a crash).  I'm not sure what I'll do about this, but a trip to Home Depot is in order.

The frame is a tight fit for everything, and I'm already thinking about getting one that has a bit more room - over even better, building one from scratch so I can properly seat everything, screw it all down, etc.  However, that will be a ways in the future - first I'm going to get this one flying!

The battery mount is done by the velcro strap was provided with the frame - you'll need to run it through the frame and then use it to hold the battery in tight.  This seems a little unstable, but it also seems to be common practice.

Hobby King Control Board Programming

Last time I left you all with the motors and ESCs mounted... that leaves a lot to do.  The first thing you'll need to do is decide what configuration you'll want to fly your quadcopter with.  I decided to go with the classic X-quad configuration, which is shown here:

Two classic quadcopter configurations.

The X-quadcopter configuration seems to be more popular and is the I decided to go with.  There are many different firmware versions that you can load up on your control board, but I decided to go with the X-quadcopter configuration v4.7 by KapteinKuk, which you can get from Hobby King under the link to the control board on the files tab (files seem to only be linked under the international warehouse, but you can still get them).  Once you get that file you'll need to download Atmel Studio version 6.0 and upload all of the settings that are listed in the manual - it takes a while, but it's easy enough.  Remember, you'll need the USB programming card to do this - this can also be purchased at Hobby King.

Once you upload the firmware you'll be ready to hook up all the electronics and assemble the frame, which I'm covering in the next post.

Transmitter to Camera Setup

This week I got all of the components to run the FPV system... unfortunately I'm having a little trouble figuring out what is going on.  Although everything appears to be correct, when I hook up the receiver I'm not getting a signal.  I'll update this once I figure it out.

Transmitter, Camera, and Battery system from ReadyMadeRC.com

Motor and ESC Mounting

To make all the connections you'll eventually need to take the frame apart, so you might as well do it now because it will make mounting the motors and ESC easier.

Mounting the motors is easy - all you have to do is use the motor mount (you have to use it to make sure included mount plate so it can spin freely) and then screw it to the frame  Then you run the wires out through the arm of the frame.

Top view of mounted motor and ESC.

The ESC is something that you'll have to attach via alternative means.  I chose to mount it on the top of the arms, using a quick strap and some electrical tape.  The ESC needs some airflow so you don't want to tape the hole thing down.  Many people use velcro, but when I tried it seemed a bit flimsy.  Hence the cinch strap and a bit of tape.

As you can see from the top the ESC is about the same width as the quads arm so it looks nice and clean from the top except for a few wires off to the side.

Side view of mounted motor and ESC.

From the side view you can see that the wires are a little longer than needed, so you'll have to thread them through the bottom of the arm and then to the ESC.  You'll run the input wires from the ESC through the end of the arms.

From here we'll have to connect the newly soldered on ESC inputs to the power distribution bard and then we'll assemble the frame again.The control connector will then be plugged into the control board.

We will also need to consider programming the ESC, but this requires powering the system up, and we'll need some connection adapters because the battery came with HXT connections which stupidly don't connect up with the XT60 connectors on the power distribution board.

Another order has been placed, and I'll update this once I get that shipment in.  I'm also still waiting on the male to male servo connectors.

Parts Arrival

The parts arrived today (yesterday actually), and it was a mixture of fun and a bit of disappointment.  It was fun because I got to start doing some assembly, but disappointing because not everything was as advertised.

Turnigy 1000kv brushless motor.

First, the motors aren't a perfect fit for the frame - you'll only be able to screw in two of the screws, but they are long enough that they should hold the motors on without problems.
As you can see from the photos the motor has 3 wires coming from it that are yellow (ground), black (negative), and red (positive).  As long as you get the ground right, it doesn't matter if you switch red and black when plugging into the ESC - it will only affect the direction the motor turns.
The connections are with 3.5mm bullet connectors, which will plug snugly into the matching bullet connectors  on the ESC.

Turnigy Trust 45A ESC

The ESC, which I was led to believe would bullet connectors on both ends only has bullet connectors on the output side that you'll connect the motor to.  There are three of them labelled A-B-C.  A is the ground and the other two are the power outputs.  How you connect the other two will affect the spin direction of the motor.
This is important, because you'll want to have two motors spinning clockwise and two counter clockwise.  When connecting the ESC to the motors connect two of them with B to black and two with B to red - then put the two wired the same on opposite sides of the quad.

Because the ESC doesn't have a connector on the input side we'll have to do some wiring to connect it to the  power distribution board which has 3.5mm female bullet connectors.  You will need to solder on the male connectors and then put some heat shrink wrap over them.  I hadn't soldered in years, but it eventually came back to me.  The inputs will then fit snugly into the PDB - make sure that you put the positive to positive (red to red) and negative to negative (black to black) when connecting it.

FPV Cables & Power System

I got my recommendations for the connectors and power system that I need for the FPV system and placed my order last night.  The FPV Parts List page is updated with links to the products.  The default connectors that you get are for CCD systems so you'll want to get some specialized cables that are smaller, fit for purpose, and with more common connector ends.

There are four cables that you need:
Camera Cable (4 wire for cameras with audio) since I bought the RMRC-420 NTSC camera
Audio Jumper and Video Jumper cables
Transmitter Cable (Mini) which is good for the 300mW strength system

The battery system is a bit more flexible, and the battery recommended to me was the 1100mAh 3S 35C LiPo.  I believe that this can be plugged straight into the FPV system, but I'm looking into getting a BEC or power filter just in case.

I think the big order I put in for the main electrical components will come in tomorrow so check back soon to see what we've picked up!

Second Quad Parts Order

So, I jumped the gun by a little bit, but I realized that I had forgot to order some of the connectors that I would need to connect the KK-style control board to the receiver.  To do this you need 4 male-to-male connectors.  They are about $2 each from Ready Made RC, or alternatively you can get them on Ebay where a 10 pack with free shipping will only set you back about $5.

I also picked up a low-battery alarm off Ebay that emits a loud beeping sound to let you know that your battery is about to die - this is a temp solution that I am using until I start using the OSD to send me that information.  For a very cheap solution see the Quad Parts List page.

I received the FPV gear that I ordered today.  It looks good and durable and I can't wait to try it out... However, the stock connectors that come with it just aren't suitable to "plug and play" so I've got a help request in with Ready Made RC to get some suggestions for cables to connect the camera to the transmitter to the battery supply and for a small batter to power the FPV system independently of the Quad's power supply.

Assembly should start on Thursday or Friday, so check back soon!

The Frame: ST-450

Some parts are starting to come in.  I placed orders from a bunch of different places including Value Hobby, Hobby King, Ready Made RC, Amazon, and Ebay.  Surprisingly (or maybe not) everything I ordered off Ebay I received in a couple of days, then everything from Amazon, then the items from Value Hobby.  Ready Made RC gear is on track to be here by the 16th of January, but the Hobby King stuff, even though I made sure everything was in stock and in the US Warehouse is going to get here last - sadly that batch is the one I need the most as it might let me know if I need to buy some more small stuff like connectors and the like.

ST-450 Frame with phone for scale.

Anyhow, the frame (ST-450 Quadcopter Frame) arrived today.  I was going to post a video about it's assembly, but much to my surprise it basically came fully assembled!  All I had to do was extend the landing gear feet and add a couple of screws to lock them in place.  The frame has folding arms and those were loose on arrival, so I had to tighten them up.  One thing I noticed was that when tightening those bolts it was important to not over-tighten them as you could locally bend the frame doing so.

ST-450 Frame with phone for scale.

One of the things that struck me was just how small this frame was relative to my expectations.  When I had seen photos of it there was no scale so I couldn't tell.  Then when I read the technical specs I misinterpreted the size.  I thought that each arm was 450mm in length; however, it turns out that it is 450mm from tip-to-tip.

That's not really a problem for me though.  From looking at it I still think that the ESCs will fit neatly inside the arms and I'm relatively certain that the motor will bolt on without any need for an adapter.  There is plenty of room in the center for the electronics.

The only concern I have about the size is the ability to mount two batteries instead of just one.  However, I don't think that will be a problem as I can pretty easily adapt the battery harness with just a little bit of work. I hope so anyway.

Notes on Frequency

Since I'm interested in doing RC + FPV + UAV functionality I'll have to pay attention to what frequencies I'm doing things on and what is legal.  I'm going to briefly mention some basics and then share some advice that I've been given and finally lay out what I hope my final system will be.

• The higher the frequency the more data you can transmit.
• The lower the frequency the more range you get.
• The higher wattage on the transmitter the more range you get.
• Frequencies can interfere with one another.
• Antennas are very important.  Maybe the most important part.

The most common out of the box frequency for flying RC vehicles seems to be 2.4Ghz.  The controller I purchased has this module installed, but it is interchangeable, so I will likely swap it out later.  Out of the box I was told it would give me about 500' with the stock whip antenna.  433 Mhz is a popular bandwith for long-range systems and I plan on purchasing that range system, but you have to get your amateur radio license from the FCC before you can use it legally!  Know your laws!!!

Unfortunately 2.4Ghz also seems to be a popular frequency for FPV.  5.8 Ghz is also popular.  1.2 and 1.3 Ghz frequencies are less popular.  For short range any of these are fine, but if you are going to start playing around with longer range you would either need to really up the power on the 2.4 and 5.8 Ghz frequencies, and high power transmitters can get really hot and can cause interference.  Obviously with 2.4Ghz it would interefere quite a bit with your RC control.  Not what you want, so avoid that frequency.

For UAV functionality most people want telemetry data and most people use a 915 Mhz system for that (check out DIY Drones 3DR telemetry module).  This one seems to be the creme-de-la-creme, so it's the one I'll use in the future.

Given all that here is what I am going with (at least in my head).

RC Control:  Initially I'll use 2.4 Ghz, but will later switch to 433 Mhz.
FPV: 1.3 Ghz at 300mW transmitter.  Can be upgraded later if more power is needed.
Telemetry: 915 Mhz at 100mW.  Telemetry data can be overlain with FPV so no need for a high power or high bandwidth system.

Antennas are the secret sauce.  They can make a high-frequency, low-power system outperform guys that are trying to push at over 1000mW.  The wrong antenna setups will severely limit your range.  I'm still researching what antenna systems to and will make new posts as I learn more.  Once I decide on a FPV system I will make posts on that as well.

Initial Parts Order: Quadcopter

As a reminder here are my 3 goals for this project:

1. Ground up quadcopter build
2. FPV System with real-time transmission
3. UAV capabilities

When I look at these it makes logical sense to me that I should basically do them in series.  First step is to get the quadcopter built and flying.  Then I need to get the FPV system working.  The final step will be to add in UAV capabilities.  This post will focus on the parts that I need to build the quadcopter.  I'm sure it won't be complete, but I'll put in an order for as much as I need and I'll fill it in as needed.  The Quadcopter Parts List page tab at the top will contain an up-to-date running list.

After doing a bunch of reading on various forums and watching a load of YouTube videos from others that have built Quadcopters I've come to realize the beauty of them - very few moving parts... in fact very few parts at all!
As far as I can tell what you need are the following:

1. Quadcopter Frame x 1
2. Brushless Motors x 4
3. Electronic Speed Controllers (ESC) x 4
4. Quadcopter Control Board x 1
5. Power Distribution Board x 1
6. Propellers x 4 (Pusher Blades x 2, Puller Blades x 2)
7. RC Transmitter/Receiver (6 Channels or higher) x 1
8. Lithium Polymer Battery pack x 1-2

And of course you'll need some tools to put it together and a charger for the batteries.  I'll get into the chargers later, and as for tools you'll need some screwdrivers and maybe a wire-stripper and soldering iron.

The first thing that I chose was the frame.  I wanted something that looked sturdy and versatile and that didn't break the bank.  After toying around with the idea of going to Home Depot and just buying some Aluminum bars I finally decided on the ST-450 Quadcopter Frame that I picked up for about $22 at Value Hobby.  It comes with four 10x6 propellers as well, so that makes it even a better deal!  Weight: 280 grams.

Next I decided to find some motors.  I'm not sure if I made the best choice or not (only time will tell), but I decided to go with the Turnigy D3536/8 1000kv brushless motors.  They have a maximum thrust of  1160 grams, so 4 of them should give you 4640 grams of lift.  And since it's a quad you'll need 4 of them.  They are $17 each. Weight 4 x 102 grams.  Cumulative weight: 208g + 408g = 616 grams.

To control the motors you need and ESC for each of them, and it has to be rated at a higher amperage than the motors.  I decided on the Turnigy Trust 45A brushless ESCs.  Once again you'll need 4 of these and they are $18 each. Weight 4 x 31 grams.  Cumulative weight: 208g + 408g + 124g = 740 grams.

You need to be able to power everything, and this is where you'll either have to solder a bunch of ESC wires together or you can buy a pre-built power distribution board.  Luckily Hobby King has a pre-made Quadcopter PDB that is only $4.  The headache it will save is well worth it!  Weight: 27 grams.  Cumulative weight: 208g + 408g + 124g + 27g = 767 grams.

Quadcopters blades need to spin at identical rates when flat, but then need to have variations in speed to move the quadcopter forward, left, right, and back.  Furthermore, if it is slight tipped or off-balanced then you'll need to have the speed of the motors vary slightly to compensate.  People can't do this with the controller fast enough so you need a controller.  I selected the very basic Hobby King multi-rotor control board, which is a basic KK-style board that will set you back $20.  Weight: 15 grams.  Cumulative weight: 208g + 408g + 124g + 27g + 15g = 782 grams.

Of course you'll need your favorite RC controller-receiver combo.  There are lots of options, but because I want to have the flexibility to use different frequency transmitters and to potentially use it in more complex vehicles I wanted something that gives me flexibility.  I went with the Turnigy 9x 9Ch transmitter with 8ch receiver.  Weight: 12 grams (receiver).  Cumulative weight: 208g + 408g + 124g + 27g + 15g + 12g = 794 grams.

Then you just need to power up the system that you've just designed - what you'll need for that is a battery or two.  You need to pay attention to what your motors require.  Ours are looking for 2-4S batteries and you'll want a 20C or higher discharge (from what I've been told).  I picked up 2 of the Turnigy 3S 3600mAh 30C batteries from Hobby King for $26 each.  Weight:  321 grams.  You can run either one or both simultaneously (you'll just need to wire them in parallel to extend your flight time).  Single battery setup cumulative weight: 208g + 408g + 124g + 27g + 15g + 12g + 321g = 1215 grams.  Parallel battery setup cumulative weight: 208g + 408g + 124g + 27g + 15g + 12g + 622g = 1536 grams.

That means we should only be using about 25% of the total thrust that we have available from the motors.  I hope I'm getting that right!

So, I'm pretty sure that covers all of the real hardware.  I know that I'll need some connectors and will update once I get some of the stuff and see what I actually need.  Not the most efficient way to do it, but I don't want to overbuy right off the bat.  Remember that I'll always keep a running tally of the parts on the tab at the top of the blog.

I've put in my orders from 3 different places making sure that everything was in stock from USA based providers (you have to watch Hobby King as they only have some things in their international warehouses and that can lead to long shipping times).  I'll update this again once I get some stuff coming in!

Project Details & Outline

So aside from my experience with the little $20 RC Helicopter that I just got and what I remember from a RC Car I had about 20 years ago I pretty much know nothing about either RC or flying vehicles.  However, when I do something I want to do it right and that involved some homework that I'm going to share with you.

In the world of RC vehicles Google is your friend.  There are loads of sites out there that have some very dedicated RC hobbyists that are more than happy to answer questions from basic to quite complex.  One of the first that I visited was DIY Drones.  They are the place to go for projects that involve autonomous flight and using FPV (first person video).  There are loads of other sites and forums.

I read a ton of information on what people were doing and I decided that I wanted to do the following:

1. Build a vehicle from the ground up.
2. Record and watch FPV from the vehicle.
3. Have the ability to do autonomous flight.

Basically I want to build a UAV (i.e., drone) with FPV capabilities.  Sounds cool, huh?

Plane, Heli, or Multicopter?  The plane looks to be the easiest as there are many available kits and there seems to be the largest community.  However, it also seems to be the one that requires the most open space to operate and test.  A bigger helicopter was my next thought, but the support community doesn't seem that big and I've read that many inexperienced pilots had crashed many, many times.  Also, you basically just build a kit and there is very little customization for someone who is new to the game.  Then I stumbled on a forum post about multicopters - and a quad in particular.  The poster made the case that multicopters were easy to build, fly, and customize and were relatively durable compared to other serious vehicles.  They also give good lifting power.  He recommended me to start with a quad because it has the least number of propellers, motors, etc.

So that was it -  I decided to build a quadcopter.  Now all I have to do is figure out what the hell I need to buy to make this happen.  A review of what I ordered will come in the next post, and I'll have a tab linking to everything I've ordered and used.

Picking a Project

Hello There!  I've been looking for a project for a while, but I've been struggling to come up with something. I batted around a number of ideas that have ranged from everything from programming up some back-end databases to building an electric car to learning to fly.

My previous projects have mainly been on the software side.  I developed a football ranking and score prediction algorithms, which can be found at CSSportsRank and CSSportsRank: Predictions.  I also developed a tool for doing performance reviews called TinyEval.  However, I've been looking for something that is on the hardware side, but that I could still use my programming knowledge for.  I also want it to be something that will challenge me, but won't break my budget or suck up every minute of my free time.

What to do, what to do?  I had looked at building a car or electric car, and I love a company called Factory Five.  They make some awesome ground up kit cars, but at the end of the day that would probably have been a $40-50k project - and it would have required a lot of garage space, which is something that I don't have.  The electric car conversion is something I probably could have done for under $10k, but once again I needed space that I didn't have.

Syma 107G with phone for scale

Then Christmas came around.  I'm 34 years old and much to my surprise my parents gave me a Syma 107G RC helicopter.  You can pick one of these up at a mall kiosk or at Amazon for about $20.  I can't stress enough how insanely fun these little things are.  They are also relatively durable as I crash it about 3 times every flight and flights are only about 6 minutes long.  I'd definitely advise you to get one.  Either way, this little baby (video below) gave me the idea for what I wanted to do as my next project.  I wanted to build something bigger.

So, with that I decided to do something RC related.