UAV Newbie!

[Tyler Owen]

Hey, I suppose it's already clear, but my name is Tyler Owen. I'm a Computer Engineering student at UCF right now and am very interested in building a UAV. I've been on DIYDrones a lot trying to figure out how best to get started and found this group buried in a list of clubs. Any advice - or used parts for sale - you guys have would be much appreciated. Also, are there ever any meetings? My dad works with someone who goes to a club in Maitland, I think. I'd love to come out and meet some more experienced people as well as learn about their builds. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

For reference, the kind of UAV I'd want to build would be an FPV ArduPlane. I think that'd be pretty awesome. ;D

[Jeff Milay]

Hey Tyler!  Good to "Meet" you!  I started this group when I 1st got into APM almost a year ago.  I never got any hits on the group (until now - you are the 1st!) but I have built quite a few quads and hex's since then.  I don't have any parts at the moment but I am more than happy to help you on any builds you may be working on.  I don't meet up with anyone except a few friends that fly helis.   There are definitely a lot of people around flying APM's but there seems to be a lot of people trying to be secretive in what controller they are using.  A few guys are flying WooKong-M and KK boards as well.  Hover-Fly is another board which is run locally and  Multi-wii seems to be another popular build.  As for FPV Arduplane, I haven't seen or noticed anyone flying that.  Mostly traditional RC with FPV.  

Feel free to join the OrlandoUAV and invite anyone and everyone to it!  It would be great to get this group going and actually have meet ups.  

Have you flown Traditional RC already or are you new to that as well?

Good luck with your build(s) and feel free to hit me up with any questions you may have!

On Sat, Feb 16, 2013 at 2:52 PM, Tyler Owen <heroico...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey, I suppose it's already clear, but my name is Tyler Owen. I'm a Computer Engineering student at UCF right now and am very interested in building a UAV. I've been on DIYDrones a lot trying to figure out how best to get started and found this group buried in a list of clubs. Any advice - or used parts for sale - you guys have would be much appreciated. Also, are there ever any meetings? My dad works with someone who goes to a club in Maitland, I think. I'd love to come out and meet some more experienced people as well as learn about their builds. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

For reference, the kind of UAV I'd want to build would be an FPV ArduPlane. I think that'd be pretty awesome. ;D

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[Tyler Owen]

I think a heli would be even more fun than a plane, but I'm worried about the damage it'd take from my inevitable crashes! =P 

Are your copters UAV's or just RC? Do you think that the copter route would be okay for a beginner or should I start with something more crashable like a plane? I'd definitely love to do one, but I'm just not confident at all about starting there.

[Jeff Milay]

Helis are more for me but that's just my preference.  Crashes are without a doubt more violent requiring extensive repairs.  I'm currently flying two APM multirotors.  Both can fly "Unmanned" missions.  So far mostly just testing them out.  I've got one that is roughly 2 lbs (quad) and a hex that is 9.5 lbs.  I've been meaning on trying to get it working on my 600 Size heli, but Just haven't found the time.  The copter route would be good if you already have flown traditional heli.  Otherwise, planes will be a great start.  The only con I can say for airplanes are that they require more real estate to fly.  Other than that, I would find them cheaper and more reliable   A multirotor has lot's of moving parts, and if a motor goes out, esp a quad or a hex, that thing is crashing!  No gliding down and no auto rotation down.  

IMHO, start off with planes! Do you have planes now that you can convert to a UAV?

 Have you used simulators such as real flight?

[Leo]

Noticed this group the same day you posted.  I was busy at that moment assembling the 3DR APM 2.5 that just arrived, converting our old multiwii quad to APM, a slow process during the federal holidays when some parts do not arrive correctly,  First few things I tackle was flight modes switches, failsafe setup and following the entire Quick Start Guide. 

So far we have completed some steady Loiters, Failsafe/Land/RTL switches unintentionally, however they performed very satisfactory.  So, yes failsafe is important before you start flying.  GPS  uBlox LEA-6H module gets between 8-10 satellites indoors, a GPS lock under 10 seconds.  

Without telemetry air module, we are not able to tell if the power module is performing right.  The power module to ESC/PDB does not seem to work, with jp1 out (i wonder if that is by design), so we added a parallel power splitter for now.  Strange though, I measure it with a multimeter and it seem to have normal power out.   The failsafe is configured at 9.6v by default on the mission planner, I thought that was low for a quad, maybe it is okay, any thoughts?.

We plan to add ArduPlane later for training, like what Jeff says, estate has to be large for planes, but then it can continue to glide if you have good airspeed.

Any nice/safe areas for FPV in Orlando?