Which Quadcopter should we adopt?

Chris Anderson
DIY Drones

April 21, 2010

The DIY Drones and Sparkfun teams are thinking about selling and supporting one of the quadcopter platforms. But there are dozens of them out there--which one should we choose?

Here's what we need:

Open source
Cheap (sub $1,000 all in)
Easy to make
Full UAV
including GPS navigation and ground station.
Capable of indoors and outdoors flight (ie, bigger than the Parrot AR.Drone, but not as big as the Hollywood-quality big camera lifters)
Pretty mature in terms of software and community

Which projects fit the bill best?

6:25pm

By Alex

April 22, 2010

Just a question but before you choose on which platform to start making and selling their platform, don't you need to ask the creator if they will let you? Because that might just be the deciding factor to which quad copter platform to choose??? And i think this would also play a factor on the cost.

I could be wrong, but i was under the impression that you will need to ask the creator, but since they will also be open source do you only need to say who made it and publish all changes as open source too?

And i will add a link posted here on diydrones to help ppl decide, it is a mega thread on RC groups showing all the quad copter platforms Here [ http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1097355 ]

3:20am

By Chris Anderson

April 22, 2010

Of course we would work with the creators to either resell what they're already making or manufacture their designs under the terms of their licence. But the point of only considering open source designs is that access should not be a barrier. BTW, exactly the same is true from our own technology--anybody can make and sell it if they want, as long as credit is given and it remains open source.

5:04am

By 13brv3

April 26, 2010

Chris,

I think one of the requirements for a DIY Drones platform should be "Arduino based". The Aeroquad is one of the better known units, but there have been a few others as well I believe.

I would not consider the UAVX a good choice (not that it seems to still be in the running) partly because it's not Arduino, but mostly because the hardware is already supported quite well by the Quadroufo shop.

Cheers,
Rusty

5:16am

By Chris Anderson

April 26, 2010

I agree that Arduino-based leverages our community well.

7:40am

By Jose Julio

April 28, 2010

Hi all,

Ardupilot Mega will be a winner for quadcopters.

Cool features of Ardupilot Mega and new sensor shield for quads:

Arduino based
USB port for programming/debugging
ATMega1280, 128K program memory, lot´s of analog and digital I/Os
8 channel PPM encoder (with 1us resolution)
8 Servo Outputs (Hardware interrupt supported). We can easily modify the frequency for the ESC´s up to 400Hz. Resolution 1us.
Support different GPS (Ublox, NMEA, ...) using standard arduino libraries.
16Mbit EEPROM Datalogger to record flights (very usefull for debug also)
Dedicated two way serial port for telemetry
External 12bit ADC. Sampling frequency is now 400Hz.
Invensense gyros (better with vibrations)
Absolute pressure sensor (Bosch)
Port for external 3 axis magnetometer
Output to trigger camera (Relay switch for cameras, lights or payloads).
Status leds and input switches

I have tested the Ardupilot Mega with the beta sensor shield in a quad (60cm size) with very good results (I ported the ArduIMU quadcopter code). I have started the tests for the navigation algorithms.

I think this could be a very nice solution and users will have an added value for his money becuase the same hardware could be used for planes and quadcopters...

Jose.

6:43am

By Chris Anderson

April 28, 2010

We're in good conversations with the AeroQuad folks. Might be an opportunity to merge the projects, given that we're all on the same team (Arduino folks unite!)

6:52pm

By Ted Carancho

April 28, 2010

Hey all! I agree with Jose, the APM board looks ideal for a quad platform. I like the fact that it is using the Invensense gyros which are well immune to frequencies seen in quadcopter applications. I've been speaking with Chris and a partnership between DIY Drones and AeroQuad looks to be a good win/win situation. I would also look forward to collaborating with Jose in his excellent work with developing his DIY Drones Quad if he's open to it.

Can't wait to start working with the board! The AeroQuad software should be a quick port since we already have common code that supports the Duemilanove and the Mega... it's pretty cool that we are all apart of the Arduino family!

Ted (Mikro from AeroQuad)

10:03pm

By Chris Anderson

May 1, 2010

We're pretty much settled on a collaboration between the AeroQuad team and ArduPilot quad team (led by Jose Julio), basically bring the best of both projects together.

8:10pm