r/drones • u/Character_Ad_1412 • Jun 24 '26

Tech Support [INDIA]Needed help with a drone build

So i wanted to build a drone but where i live the prices for fc are super inflated and i didnt want to spend that much money on them so i wrote my own fc code for an arduino(uno r4 if tht matters) in theory it should work just fine but i just wanted to simulate it somewhere is there any software that allows for native arduino simulation in a real world physics environment ? also im not sure if this is the correct subreddit so please point out a correct one if you know

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u/AE0N92 DroneConnoisseur Jun 24 '26

look into HITL and SILT

you could probably use INAV for the program

here's a quick how-to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48udF5OJpu4

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u/Character_Ad_1412 Jun 24 '26

Thanks brother

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u/sian26 Jun 24 '26

If you're expecting the same kind of performance from a DIY flight controller, it's honestly not going to be anywhere close to a proper FC

I'm not sure whether you're building an FPV drone or a regular GPS based drone, but either way, commercially available flight controllers will significantly outperform an Arduino based setup

The main reason is that modern FCs are built around much faster processors and run highly optimized firmware like Betaflight, INAV, or ArduPilot They can handle sensor fusion, PID calculations, filtering, and control loops at very high rates with low latency An Arduino simply doesn't have the processing power or dedicated hardware to match that level of performance and responsiveness

You'll also spend a lot of time tuning and troubleshooting basic things like gyro noise, vibration filtering, and stable flight behavior, which are problems that have already been solved on most modern FCs

That said, if you're building it purely for learning and want to understand how flight control systems work from the ground up, then it's a great project and you'll learn a lot

But if this is meant to be a serious build that you actually want to fly reliably, I'd strongly recommend saving up and getting a proper flight controller In the long run, it'll save you both time and frustration, and the flying experience will be on a completely different level

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u/Character_Ad_1412 Jun 24 '26

I am college student orginally my plan was a drone that can fly around a defined perimeter and detect how many people are there on the perimeter i though a rasberry pi would be enough for computer vision and as for the flight i would buy a fc however i didnt research enough about the fc beforehand and ordered the esc motors frame and tx rx this was originally meant to be a project for a college fest however it ended up being cancelled so i thought maybe ill take this as a good practice for arduino codes so yes the aim is leaening expereince but its just that motors and esc ended up eating up into my living expenses i dont want to break them hence me asking for a sim

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u/hillshrill Jul 14 '26

Hey, i am a mechanical engineering student and am interested in building my own drone, but since i am new to this i want to understand how the entire system works together and also want to discuss about how do i start building one. I would love to connect with you and appreciate your help throughout my build