“This is document is a sort of How to guide slash documentation that goes through process it took me to understand the concepts to achieve my goal of building a simple quadcopter that I could control from my mobile phone.
To do this project I wanted to get an idea of what a drone actually is, in my case a quadcopter, so I started doing some research. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, read a bunch of articles and Insructible pages and this is what I got.
Essentially you can split a drone into two parts. I called it the Physical and the Controller. The Physical is essentially everything that has to do with the mechanics that makes the drone fly. These are things like the motor, the frame, the battery, propellers and every other thing that physically gives the drone the ability to fly.
The Controller is essentially the flight controller. What controls the physical so that the drone can fly as a whole unit without falling. Essentially the microcontroller, the software on it and the sensors that help it triangulate it’s bearings. So in all to have a drone, I needed a Controller, and a bunch of physical parts for the controller to control.
Supplies:Budget for project: $250
Time Frame: 2 weeks
Things to Buy:
Physical Frame $20
Blades $0 (Comes with frame)
Battery Pack $25
ESC (Electronic speed controllers) $0 (Comes with motors)
Motors $70
Flight Controller
Arduino nano $20
Arduino USB Cable $2
Bluetooth Module (HC-05) $8
3mm LED and 330 Ohm resistors and wires $13
GY-87 (Accelerometer, Gyroscope) $5
Prototype Board $10
Male and Female headers $5
Other
Soldering kit $10
Multimeter $20
I wanted to enjoy building this project as an Engineer, so I bought some other stuff that I didn’t have to.
Total: $208”