FPV Drone


Summary

I've always been interested in radio-controlled aircraft and FPV drones seemed like the top of the progression of personal UAVs, so of course I've always wanted to build one. I decided it was a great time to build it during the COVID-19 pandemic as it was a good excuse to go outside, It also gave me good experience with soldering and overall system design.

Part picking, System Design, and Building

I began the build of this drone by not building the drone and just learning how to fly an FPV drone. To do this I first got a controller and a simulator, as it would allow me to practice how to fly and decide if I wanted to go along with this project. If I didn't the controller is universal, so it would work with any other RC device. I used a simulator called Velocidrone. After a few weeks of practicing on the simulator, I got pretty good at flying the drone and I still felt like this would be a great project to undertake.

So, to begin with, part picking I had to research what the community says are good products. I found a YouTuber called Joshua Bardwell who explains all the topics of FPV wonderfully. He even has a website where he compiles all the components that he has tested and found to be good. I use this list as a starting point. I then use forums, Reddit, and youtube to find the best parts that are within my budget and meet my requirements. I then listed them all out on a spreadsheet to keep track of the items that I've purchased and interchange parts to make sure they meet my budget. At this point, I created a wiring diagram to make sure I know what to do once the parts get to me (both of these can be seen below. Next, I send an email to Joshua to see what he thinks about the parts I picked out and if my wiring diagram is correct, he confirmed my desing. So, I felt comfortable to begin purchasing the components.

To build the drone I just followed the wiring diagram I made before and used many YouTube videos. I then had to upload some firmware to the drone to get it up and flying, which was easy because of the extensive community. When the firmware was uploaded, the drone was done! But, before I could start flying I had to register the drone with the FAA since, it weighted more than 250g.