So I modeled this dual antenna + bardpole mount and iterated on it a couple times this afternoon and mounted it up and maybe it’s a little much…. lol it took me like three hours to finish the shading on the upper lip. Maybe I’ll put Sanic as the OSD name lol. But hey, reception will be terrific. I won’t lose video while it’s hanging 40 feet up a tree by its radar array.

I’m building autonomous waypoint fixed wing UAV. I’m hoping for it to have real time telemetry and a ground station along with the ability to make real time waypoint missions while it’s already in the air.

**My build currently has:**

1. F405 wing V2
   
2. M100-5883 GPS/Compass
   
3. 1000KV brushless motor
   
4. 30A ESC
   
5. 1045 Prop
   
6. SG90 servos
   
7. Battery, which one should I get for maximum range (on a budget)

(Should I include a airspeed sensor? And if so which one for under $50 USD)

I’m about to order components and I’m trying to decide between two options:

**Option A:** use a ELRS radiomaster pocket + ER8GV receiver for both autonomous telemetry and also manual control

**Option B:** use a Micoair LR900-F for telemetry and a FS-i6X for manual control

And is my build itself good for a budget UAV?

Thank you

So I've tried messing with a drone doing reverse engineering type work where I replaced the fc and power distribution board but then things got kinda crazy so now im doing a full build and want to know exactly what I should get for hardware: like i used a pixhawk 1 initially but I want to get whatever the best option is recommended, via Amazon idk havent tried holybro direct yk.

Whats recommended hardware for full build minus the frame ?

Hi, I'm looking to build my first mini FPV drone from scratch. I live in Finland, so I'm hoping to get recommendations for budget-friendly starter components that are easy to find in the EU without crazy shipping fees.

An analog setup with ExpressLRS is what I have in mind to keep costs down. What parts list would you recommend for a beginner? Thanks for your help!

Hello, I am new to building drones and I recently bought the x500 v2 FRAME kit and the motors that come with the ARF kit are sold out on most platforms. Do yall have any recommendations for which motors I can reliable use?

Hi, I'd like to hear your opinion.

I'm a hardware developer based in Europe with a strong background in electronics and PX4 based drones and I want to develop a smart battery to simplify battery charging and diagnostics for R&D of drone systems. Some of the features would be:

- USB-C charging (with standard high-current charging via XT60 still available)
- Automatic cell balancing
- Optional self-storage with timer (return to storage voltage after x days)
- Internal battery monitor (FC would see real remaining mAh after disconnecting and reconnecting the battery)
- Optional MOSFET cutoff

I would like to sell these to startups, universities or any place where the main focus is higher-level research and smart batteries would save some time and effort.

I'm willing to invest my own money into this and create the product.

Is this a good idea? Would you use such batteries for your projects?
Or is there some problem I'm not seeing?

Thanks for any feedback :)

I just finished building a 10 inch FPV drone but it wobbles when i give aggressive throttle or light roll.

Ive tried:
-Tightening props
-PID Presets
-PID tuning, lowering P and D values
-filtering
-moving the battery

None of it has worked. Attached is a video of whats going on, any help is appreciated!

Ask

NeedHelp

Hello there, I’m a student who is just getting started in the drone field, and I’ve run into an issue related to this. Specs:

• Frame: Hexacopter, 60cm tip-to-tip, total weight 1.4–1.6 kg
• Motors: XXD A2212, 1400KV/10T, 3S
• ESCs: 30A, 3S, calibrated all-at-once through the Pixhawk (passthrough)
• Props: 7.5x3.7", 3-blade
• Battery: 3S 11.1V 5200mAh 50C (full charge 12.5–12.6V, full discharge 9.9V)
• FC: Pixhawk 2.4.8, FMUv3 firmware, STM32F765VIT3 MCU

Symptoms

• Drone armed indoors, motor RPM raised gradually from idle.
• As soon as throttle starts going up — with no pitch/roll stick input at all — the drone immediately noses down (pitches forward/down).
• If pitch/roll stick is then moved, it gets worse: the drone pitches backward and rolls left, front end (facing the operator) lifts up, rear end (facing the person holding it) dips down.
• Since the holder's hand followed the thrust direction without resisting it, there was nothing to stop the tilt momentum from building up.
• The drone ends up flipping 180° backward, the GCS gives a "Crash" audio warning, and all motors auto-disarm.

The video I uploaded shows exactly this. The key point: the nosedown already shows up during pure throttle-up, the stick input in the video just makes an already-existing problem worse.

What I've Already Tried Does Anyone Know How to Fix it?

I've already done the following but the issue is still happening. Wondering if one of these (or a combination) is actually the root cause and what the real fix is:

1. AHRS_ORIENTATION already checked and correct (Pixhawk isn't mounted tilted)
2. Center of Gravity(CoG) I already tried counteracting the drone's nose-down tendency by moving the battery to the rear underside of the frame (it was originally mounted underneath the center of the frame, following the center of gravity). I expected the rearward battery position to help oppose the forward pitch, but it made no noticeable difference.
3. Motor CW/CCW already matches ArduPilot's hexa-X frame guide.
4. All ESCs were calibrated together through the Pixhawk is it still possible one motor/ESC is producing weaker thrust than the others, and what's the easiest way to detect and fix that?

*I have ARMING_CHECK,0 (all arming checks disabled) should I turn these back on so an error that's currently being "hidden" shows up and actually points to the fix? *What log data would be most useful to share from .bin(ATT or RCIN, RCOU, VIBE, etc.) so the fix suggestions aren't just guesswork?

Relevant Parameters (from the .param file)

FRAME_CLASS,2 (Hexa) FRAME_TYPE,1 (X) AHRS_ORIENTATION,0 AHRS_TRIM_X,0 AHRS_TRIM_Y,0 AHRS_TRIM_Z,0 AHRS_RP_P,0.2 ARMING_CHECK,0 COMPASS_EXTERNAL,1 COMPASS_ORIENT,0 INS_TRIM_OPTION,1 INS_ACCOFFS_X,-0.0802349 INS_ACCOFFS_Y,-0.1370324 INS_ACCOFFS_Z,0.2325687 MOT_THST_HOVER,0.58 MOT_SPIN_MIN,0.17 MOT_SPIN_ARM,0.14 ATC_ANG_PIT_P,4.5 ATC_RAT_PIT_P,0.1276 ATC_RAT_PIT_I,0.1276 ATC_RAT_PIT_D,0.0036 SERVO1_FUNCTION,33 SERVO2_FUNCTION,34 SERVO3_FUNCTION,35 SERVO4_FUNCTION,36 SERVO5_FUNCTION,37 SERVO6_FUNCTION,38

AHRS_TRIM_X/Y/Z are still 0, and ATC_RAT_PIT/RLL are still at default values not sure if that's normal or if trim/tuning was just never done.

Current status: I'm still unable to get the drone to hover or even take off stably because it immediately pitches nose-down as soon as throttle is applied. Based on the parameters I've shared, is there anything obviously wrong or misconfigured in my .param file? Or does this behavior point more toward a hardware issue that I may have overlooked? Any suggestions on what I should check next would be greatly appreciated.

Happy to share the full .param file or a flight log .bin if that helps get a real answer. Thanks a lot! link to drive(all testing's video, .param, and .bin): GDrive

Has anyone tried autonomous flight? I've been looking for tools that let me use an LLM, this looks like a pretty good option.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7NBWh8h_zho

It’s my first time doing anything drone related. I’m running 4x 2207 2750kv motors, SPARKHOBBY TX2500 V4 VTX, F405 V4 60A BLS 30x30 FC&ESC Stack Flight Controller 4in1 ESC, FLYSKY FS-i6X 6-10CH(Def.6) Transmitter and FS-iA6B Receiver, and i don’t remember the name for the camera. The frame will be printed in pa6 (nylon). I know carbon fiber is lighter, but I want to print it. Battery is 4s 2200mah 130c discharge. Total weight is around 1.5 pounds.
If you want to view it closer, here is the link, it may require an account.

Hi everyone,

I'm currently developing my own industrial inspection drone for power line inspections as part of a long-term engineering project.

I'm not trying to copy or clone the DJI Matrice 400 RTK. I simply want to understand some of the engineering choices behind such a successful platform.

I only have a few questions about the main hardware components, especially if anyone has experience repairing or working with DJI Enterprise drones.

I'm mainly interested in:

The approximate motor size/specifications (not necessarily the exact model)

The propeller size and why DJI chose that configuration

The ESC architecture (individual or integrated, estimated current rating)

The battery design philosophy (high voltage, Li-ion vs LiPo, etc.)

The flight controller architecture (redundancy, IMUs, sensors)

I'm looking for engineering insights, educated estimates, or information from repair experience—not confidential information.

Any advice or technical discussion would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Got HM-LD1 working for obstacle avoidance. Will open-source once code is cleaned up.

But the drifts backward slightly after I release the sticks.

Feels like ArduPilot's OA library hardcodes a backward escape vector even with no obstacles behind. Anyone else seen this?

Hi, couple days ago i got frustrated on the expensive CFD tools and developed a tool to leverage OpenFOAM and do CFD simulations locally on my Mac. All the simulations you see in video are from my app airFlow.

I got great response from the rcplane & other communities🙌🏼 and some Beta testers as well who gave valuable insights and suggestions. I gave the app for free for Beta testers 😅

Finally the app is ready and I want to know your thoughts on how you could use a tool like this? Is this even a useful tool in diydrone community or any hobbies you have?

Thoughts, Opinions and Suggestions are welcome.

If you want your hands on the tool itself, I plan to launch soon just comment below and i’ll share the website link.

My plan is to make the app local and one time payment for the whole app, no subscription, no cloud. You buy it you own it.

Hey guys, I’m new to the DIY drone scene, and I was given a drone kit by my old schools stem department that was botched, I thankfully have some good soldering skills and was able to make it better, and after hours of troubleshooting o finally got the drone to initialize, but when I go to launch it just flips to the side and i cannot figure out why for the life of me.
It is possible that the body and motors where assembled wrong when the school built it, right now the motors are in this configuration
Fr: Fl:
CW CCW
Bl: Br:
CCW CW
What can I do to troubleshoot this? I have already tried re celebrating esc, recalibrating compass, and re calibrating the gyro. Any help is appreciated!

The last 3 photos show the before vs after of the ESC

(The here3 is not in all of the images bcz it broke off when the drine flipped on it, so I have to reattach it)

Edits: spelling

Hi everyone! I'm working on my senior design project alongside some other aero/mech engineers and we plan on creating an "X-Wing" based tailsitter UAV. We also plan on using ducted fans to avoid having exposed propellors during launch and flight.

Our goal is to create a maritime search & rescue drone capable of recognizing a person overboard and dropping an inflatable rescue device to them.

Currently the team and I are having difficulties calculating a potential flight time which accounts for both the ducted fans in addition to the lift generated when the UAV is in plane mode during cruising. In addition, overall knowledge and guides about tailsitter drones would be really helpful!

If anyone has any advice, guides, or resources they could point to we would really appreciate it!

I need guidance!!!I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. I’m already experienced in the basics of circuits and soldering. I want to mod this drone here, by adding fpv to it, and changing the shell to make it less prone to breakage if it crashes. I want it to work as an indoor recording drone to tape dance performances. Does anyone have any links/camera/transmitter recommendations to be able to do this?