Glover - Drone University

Note: This book is interactive! Select subjects include links to my website kiloOhm.com and other sites where you will find up to date information, additional content and more pictures. This book is meant to be used with the website for the full experience, please feel free to comment or ask questions on the site. This book is best displayed on a color e-reader to make best use of the schematics and diagrams, or view it with amazon.com/CloudReader on your computer!

Tarot 650 with 15 props hovering on autopilot. Several multicopter and flying wing recipes near the end of book.

Now on with the show!

So you want to build a First Person Video (FPV) model airplane or multicopter; AKA Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), or just plainly named the good old Drone . While they have many different names, they all feature commonalities that have been scaled up or down to fit their application and budget. We will focus on designing an electric Radio Controlled (RC) model with a live video feed which is commonly referred to as an FPV, which in its most basic form is just a RC airplane or copter with a wireless CCTV camera on it. FPV is the mini experimental civilian hobbyist version of a drone and is not suitable for high risk uses.

To assist the reader, I have included several recipes near the end of the book. There you will find an inexpensive beginner FPV airplane recipe, quadcopters capable of carrying a DSLR or Cinema camera, a racing mini quad, and a recipe for a performance driven FPV/UAS wing that is capable of an estimated 15,000 foot ceiling, 1 hour flight time, 100mph straight and 120mph dive speeds, with a radio and video range of 40 miles. Sounds good huh! Its a challenge to get that kind of performance even on .gov budget, but it is possible to make a highly capable FPV UAV in your garage or on the kitchen table for a under a grand. Or you can scale down depending on your needs and budget and can build one for just a couple hundred dollars. You wont have to pour through hundreds of internet videos and dodgy forums to figure out what works, this book will highlight the parts required; expensive or cheap- your choice.

This book will break down all the required and optional components into six easy to understand sub-systems; Airframe System, Radio Control / Autopilot System, Camera System, Power System, Ground Control Station, and the Drive Train System. Other chapters will provide flying tips, check lists and a many surprises in-between.

Our focus is on engineering constants that will still be relevant far into the future. The aircraft of the future may look different than what we have now but will still operate according to what physics allows. However, as time presses on - components will get smaller, lighter, cheaper and more powerful which will increase flight times.

FPV 55 Ritewing ZII with 3DR APM autopilot and telemetry, Gopro 3, long range radios. Several recipes near the end of the book.