Building a sub 250g Autonomous Drone with Ardupilot and ExpressLRS AirPort Telemetry

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

To all the people asking about my RC radio software, it's a Flysky FS-I6X model running OpenI6X firmware. OpenI6X is a special version of OpenTX that can be flashed to this particular radio. I have been using it for about 2 years now and it really brought a new life to this old champ. It's been working flawlessly, but the gimbals on this unit aren't very precise so I will probably swap it for a Radiomaster soon. I won't be making any tutorials about this software, because there are already tons of them on KZbin, just go search for it. Also visit OpenI6X Github page to learn more.

[@scottbattaglia8595]

I was just going to leave an angry comment how ardupilot firmware won't fit on any damn speedybee flight controller like the one you had shown, there are a few H743 flight controllers like mateksys h743 mini or the hollybro's kaukute or whatever they call it but yea, my elrs Rx is built into the jumper t pro V2 I'm using, I guess I would just cough up the $70 for a new flight controller with full ardupilot firmware support. The mateksys ditched the mpu6000 with a bit of an upgrade, the holybro is still rocking the mpu6000 but both got 2gb flash and full size onboard ardupilot, just saying would have made things a touch easier from the get go probably.....but yea interesting way of accomplishing it if you have an external Rx elrs and a flight controller that can't run ardupilot itself. Pretty awesome, All hail Mavlink!

[@trotyl1432]

How much did this whole project cost?

[@christopherleveck6835]

What happened to the global hawk?!

[@reggiebannister1080]

i love tubers that dont provide links to the products thanks for making me have to scour around to find things

[@guruoo]

I noticed that missing, too. Otherwise, a good tutorial.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

I always post all the 3D models, Parts, Links and Parameters of my projects on Printables and Thingiverse. It keeps the video description clean and you can have all the files and details in one place. The links are in the description , I don't know how to make it any more obvious.....

[@guruoo]

​@@BasementCreationsChannel OK, I get it. Like 'one man's trash is another man's treasure'.

[@LaLaObeRoT]

I use laser cut plywood as a core for my frames. then I strategically laminate very few carbon fibre rovings on top of the wood with epoxy. Adds very little weight if done right and stiffens everything up nicely.

[@mondrider994]

Potrzebujemy więcej takiego kontentu w polsceee

[@replicon66]

From Romania, I totally agree with you.

[@ocdraridrogonel]

We need it everywhere for the free world!

[@EmuDellno]

сонласен

[@ChadKovac]

The countdown to my small autonomous drone patrol army has begun. ;)

[@lionnelmurimi651]

Now to add a wireless charging feature and it will be completely autonomous. later add some machine learning for it to loiter and observe when things stop for long enough along the patrol route

[@kotnapromke]

​​@@lionnelmurimi651 И потом добавьте функцию сброса. Чтобы дрон убивал флашеттами тех кто будет на дороге патрулирования. Скайнет готов.

[@czx044]

Hell yeah

[@XiaolinDraconis]

Wireless charging pads, set a route that brings em back to the pad for charging and get a whole squad in rotation.

[@ShannonJosephGlomb]

Agreed I been waiting for this since I was a child and soon ill just ask ai it'll order me the parts then give me instructions on how to make a body for itself then it can start building ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@campallu]

Congratulations, not only completing all your goals but documenting everything. Nice work.

[@TheLordSamoht]

Definitely interested in the swarm mode! The mothership deployment method is very intriguing! I look forward to seeing more of your videos!

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Dropping drones from a mothership is definitely one of the most interesting projects I ever did, and I had a total blast while working on it😄. I also had a lot footage from this project and it's all posted on my Patreon now, so feel free to take a look. However it wasn't really a proper swarm, so I am really excited to test it now when I have all the hardware to do so

[@sbezialisd]

great work - one tip for three benefits: cut the capacitor wires more and solder it closer to the - + connection. This reduces vibrations, miiiiiinimal weight and your cap can work faster on spikes

[@royjones1053]

Ardupilot is a great open source project

[@BeachbumfromBrick]

I heard nail polish works. I saw a good builder like you build a POPSICLE STICK drone! Shaved down arms for lighter. Nail polish for strengthening

[@OpenEggs]

A video where the quadcopter follows you would be cool, One when you can throw it to autonomous flight and then guide it with voice commands would be legendary.

[@bashkillszombies]

So any DJI drone, minus the voice commands. The drone would never hear you over it's engines, so you'd still need a controller unfortunately. But amusing people who want to waste money on consooming Chinese junk isn't the focus of the drone world. It's the pointy tip of the spear of modern warfare.

[@OpenEggs]

@@bashkillszombies Voice commands to a control device that relays that information to the quad-copter would work

[@technicalsupport6983]

I made a custom 10 inch drone (ardupilot flash in it)with SpeedyBee stack and it is as much stable as DJI ... 55 min hover time with molicell p45B batt.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

That's really impressive flight time man!

[@Jpilgrim30]

That’s awesome. I have a couple of old quads with NAZA v2 FC that I just don’t trust anymore and this seems like a perfect solution. My very first build ever was an APM 2.6 and that thing was rock solid. I didn’t even know this was a possibility. Do you think it would do good with a 680 sized quad with 15” props? I’d love to get that quad and my old TBS discovery back in the air reliably.

[@technicalsupport6983]

@@Jpilgrim30 go to mamba H7 flight controller Gives you goosebumps..... All setup with this flight controller is good....

[@Janezeng-v9z]

awesome! do you need PCB supplier?

[@alexdoho]

how many cells?

[@TONY...GTB6]

That's really cool. I would love to have that on a long range drone

[@freedomisfromtruth]

The radio control is Flysky, but should prolly be Flyski. They are looking for you from the east, to work their drones. Excellent setup

[@jaredwhite4955]

This is awesome information. Thank you for showing that ExpressLRS has AirPort telemetry features to transmit and receive data to and from a control station. I already have most of these components on hand and want to experiment with these features. I am curious to see if I can adapt this to my work.

[@ddegn]

The shorter you capacitor leads the better. Ideally, you'd want the cap right up against the ESC. Fantastic project and video. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks for the tip!

[@guytas]

Ho wow, I'm impressed. Very nice. I've been wondering if it was possible to have ardupilot on a basic drone. You gave me that answer. I'll get to it next week. I'll just modify one that I already have and tweak a few things based on your video. Thanks a lot. You did a great job with that quad. Congrat

[@thinkflight]

Did not know ELRS was putting out Mavlink now, great news! Awesome project.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks man! I will be testing experimental Mavlink-RC soon. It sends both telemetry and RC on just one ELRS link, similar to crossfire. Could be fun😉

[@redscoutfreemaniv9361]

@@BasementCreationsChannel this is the way

[@henrystanjr]

thats airportelrs ,,, but now theres a new full mavlink protocol already in elrs

[@rolisaenz]

i use to have one of those FLY SKY radios !! ohhh those memories

[@legobuildingsrewiew7538]

This is awesome. We are building one 10x the size.

[@jaysonrees738]

I really should learn to use Ardupilot. It just has so many powerful features to take advantage of. Thanks for your demonstration!

[@ahaveland]

I was playing with Ardupilot in 2014 with a 700mm CF quad and pixhawk. It weighs a couple of kilos so I haven't used it since laws were made and miss the fun I had making BVLOS missions. Good to see that things have improved since with miniaturization and that they solve the waypoint glitching as the copter flies through it! Tempting to get back into it again on a smaller but still useful scale.

[@kiq4767]

>laws

[@ahaveland]

@@kiq4767 2014 was before there were drone laws

[@stratos7755]

14:20 There is a new feature in the main branch (and will release in v3.5) that is specifically made for this. It allows you to have mavlink and controls with single tx/rx pair.

[@jaredwhite4955]

Do you have any links or documentation to support this configuration?

[@stratos7755]

@@jaredwhite4955 can't send links on KZbin. It's a pull request 2753 on the elrs github.

[@swissfreek]

Yeah this is critical to truly be a useful feature in my mind. Figured it was only a matter of time since CrossFire has supported using the RC control link to receive Mavlink telemetry and rebroadcast over first Bluetooth, then WiFi for many years.

[@spaul-vin]

Dont get me wrong, but I want to give several recommendations: 1. Get yourself radiomaster pocket or boxer. I used to have flysky with heavy modifications, but nowadays radiomaster pocket - cost cheaper than some of your external tx... 2. Try inav. Ardupilot is great, but for simple quads there is no reason to use such complicated and advanced software. You l get more spare time ;) 3. Try converting to "pusher" configuration. I believe for this setup youl get additional up to 10% of flight time Still geat project! Have luck ;)

[@HENEKETT]

Great job, hope you I will show all of your skills. Wish you good luck 🤞

[@cprcprcpr]

more ELRS Airport is needed in youtube! :) Well done and keep it up

[@artisticyeti22]

Truly. This is the first time I've heard of it

[@djsolstice8964]

Oh fuckin tell me about! Mavlink and ELRS ... match made in heaven

[@gastonnogues]

Love that all that fancy stuff that is way above my skill level is stuck on a flysky transmitter🤯

[@Delwin_Cardozo_27]

You just answered all of my questions🙌.... Very nice dude🙌🙌

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Glad I could be helpful🙂

[@premkumar-pt1gj]

Knowledge is very good tool to share someone

[@vvilq27]

cholera, spoznilem sie ze swoja zabawka

[@maheshwardev8387]

This is a great project thanks for sharing. Waiting for the swarm mode.

[@AerialWaviator]

Fantastic project that's very inspiring. Nice demo of features in Ardupilot and EpressLRS to enable MavLink telemetry. Lots of great information, nicely organized. Having four of these drones configured with LEDs and telemetry opens some interesting opportunities for follow-on projects/demos. Some suggestions:: - fly drone in evening and use camera with long exposure to capture light paths as drone(s) fly a mission path and change LED colours, relative to position - use two drones to carry a small banner/flag, with string between - have camera drone follow a second drone. think would require sharing gps telemetry.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks! And those are some great ideas, I will make sure to test some of them in the future

[@badrulhisyamo]

is a great project🎉.. basically, theres company do this stuff BUT with keep it secret how their done it and what components ande all setting they use. u do a great job to make many others people think abt this project. it just like kind open others people mind and think together and inovate together. keep it up. to think that, i just say adding an sensor will make the quad became more precise of the location. height sensor, visual sensor and others. congrats again you make the door opened to the world.

[@nabeelsherazi8860]

sweet build! i didn't know about this telemetry radio option, that's awesome!

[@jimbos5.7x28]

Thanks! Dude this is the best ELRS SpeedyBee Ardupilot video that is clear, concise, cost effective all the way around, and easy to duplicate. I was thinking about going with a Pixhawk setup for this kind of autonomy and telemetry but I'm sold on ardupilot thanks to you. I am duplicating your project as we speak. Thanks a ton man.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks a lot man! I am still working on improving this project, next version will probably be using just one ELRS module for both telemetry and RC

[@jimbos5.7x28]

​@BasementCreationsChannel honestly i thought using 2 rx modules was genius i gad a feeling while watching thats where you were heading lol

[@gtxghost]

Hello! Thank you for the video and the project. Swarming is interesting. Will you do that?

[@MohammadAdib]

Have you heard of ELRS Mavlink-RC? Its airport + rc all in one. Would have solved all your problems man

[@mjodr]

I was wondering why he used two RX/TX. I thought it could all be on one link now. At least that's what I was seeing in the ELRS Discord like 6+ months ago in testing.

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

That's next on my to do list! Just gotta figure out how to set it up

[@AnotherTrucking]

Brilliant, instant sub impressive with that hand launch start

[@seanbuford987]

Yes please do a swarm video with following tracers lights so it looks like an in motion freeze frame to motion and then make it look like it takes off like a lightning bolt "special effect ".

[@smartrobotshop-wecare9387]

The best introduction DIY FPV drone❤

[@evanyang1969]

Those Darwin 1106 motors are leftovers from dobby drones and they are on the one dollar each on taobao

[@mikahidiot2614]

This is seriously awesome. Will watch more of this if you make it, looking forward to more polish.

[@stephenkosloff6081]

xcellent video - i think i will look for my 15 year old ardupilot and use it again

[@coriscotupi]

I too used to play with Ardupilot + Mission Planner, in what now seem like a past life. Good memories.

[@clintondeguara2709]

smart frame design nice positioning of the electronics would help with interference on the drone its self nice work

[@royjones1053]

Best regards from the open source community

[@fronbasal]

What an amazing project... thank you so much for sharing! Lots of love to the Netherlands from Germany

[@mike_oe]

Thank you, I have been waiting for ELRS telemetry!!!!

[@dragonfly-7]

Absolutely AWESOME !!! Thanks for all the tips along the whole project !

[@emotodude]

What an incredibly informative and well thought out video! Figuring out a way to do all of this with a single radio link would seem to be the next step

[@techstuff6829]

ELRS offers "MAVLink" mode which enables RC control and bidirectional MAVLink over a single link. You lose Yaapu though currently.

[@JohnCorrUK]

Congratulations on winning 🇵🇱drone competition and a great project 👏

[@roberttroyromanillos9186]

Well done bro, congratulations!

[@ShmultSR-]

I really liked your video, especially impressed by the launch from the throw, how to set it up? Thanks in advance.

[@extremeboatdockingmedia]

Throw mode?! 👏👏👏👏

[@FrancisPeter-it7gb]

It's quite complex and cool, love it ❤

[@johnadama]

go with plywood, if you glue 2 or 3 layers together, even in a very skiny design, it will get very stiff, also you can glue fabric in between, so it will never break again.

[@diggsit69]

This dude is ridiculously smart! 🧐

[@HuguesD]

Great project

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks man! Your micro Ardupilot drones were actually a big inspiration for me

[@HuguesD]

@@BasementCreationsChannel I'm honored of that!

[@hazonku]

This thing is so awesome! Looking forward to content on swarming.

[@Forlgore]

And lets add motion sensor on the ground that informs the drone if they are triggered to let the drone fly to the area where the motion sensor is to scout the area.

[@TheSolongsidekick]

1:42 "Now we have to fuck with the most important part..." Damn my dude you keep it real. Love the informality and great project bud.

[@matthewanderson6254]

Great work brother, really enjoyed ur video. Smart guy🙏

[@rayondinanath4536]

Nice project man. Keep it up. Love what you are doing

[@nelo4047]

Based and dronepilled

[@MorningView]

Awesome....two receivers of course!

[@one_stz]

omg i wanted to do this, thx for sharing this great info

[@extremeboatdockingmedia]

Could you also make a larger cinelifter and install a ronin with dji transmission for faux dual operator?

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

That would be a big project, but I might try something like this in the future

[@systemG3000]

I don't know if it's needed but maybe you could use nylon screws instead of metal for additional cost savings

[@shubhammaurya205]

Awesome. Do the next on swarm flight. Waiting for it

[@novisfpv]

hello, thank you for this wonderful tutorial . Q: How change motor spin direction without swapping motor wires?

[@AyomidePopoola-kr7qz]

Thanks for the awesome video. I would love it if you would overlay some text descriptions when you're calling out part names or some technical words for us that are just coming up in the drone space. Thanks very much again for all the info and the links in the description.

[@MasterOfHalo25]

omg that is so beautiful build, i immediately subscribed

[@dewetterblanche8898]

a video about the following function would be cool

[@KoljaMineralka]

I wonder if you can have a little monitor on your wrist that you can install on your friends arm, so you do fpv and your friend receives the same pic on his arm monitor, like a recon drone

[@ZenoTasedro]

Less than a minute into this video I'm smacking that subscribe button 😮

[@fridolineckerd6135]

This is so impressive! Well done

[@dfgaJK]

3d printing on a carbon fibre effect build plate works very well to make the frame look like it is carbon fibre

[@BOTGRINDER]

hell yeah

[@claytoncavalcante9130]

Awesome build! Congrats!

[@blkmsk_fpv]

Thanks brother. Need to learn this!

[@mdellertson]

This project is truly outstanding. Great work! I too have built a drone project using ArduPilot and a SpeedyBee F405 V3 flight controller. But, I had to revert back to using iNav, because the drone would oscillate immediately after takeoff. The drone would indeed fly while it was oscillating, but when I landed it, the motors were quite hot. So, I was curious if you might be able to export and share your ArduPilot config file? Or if you have encountered any oscillation problems with the SpeedyBee F405 running ArduPilot? Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed watching your video. And learned much, so thank you for sharing your work. Happy flying!

[@reseted]

Congratulations sir, your kind of skill set is rare to come arround, keep it up and never stop experimenting and learning. Can you please tell us what was the total cost of the finished product?

[@uniteam3702]

Very cool! Nice work with that 😀

[@hexaway]

it's a really good project, awesome

[@altermannfliegt3927]

Congrats to the winner 🏆

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks!

[@royjones1053]

Thanks

[@brainplay8060]

After all the add ons, what was the max flight time with the batteries you used?

[@Jaceace87]

Sick vid bro can you make a fpv drone with active tracking that follows you around that would be a sick innovation for the community

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

That would be cool, but it will probably require a companion computer. A bit complicated topic, maybe will try it in the future

[@PeterM-PeterM]

What is your maximum flight time? Amazing project. Congrats.

[@GJEELANBAIG]

GOOD JOB

[@sudeeptamishra366]

Congratulations... Very good video and explanation.

[@fpv-geek]

Great video! Nice work, especially winning first place. Looking forward to seeing more of your builds!

[@jacobdavidcunningham1440]

oh man that throw was sick

[@BasementCreationsChannel]

Thanks!

[@Intellistan]

Incredible

[@minirccreators3516]

that project is awesome can you make a video how to put an elrs module on flysky transmiter thanks

[@TërnocBesa]

Great work love that kind of stuff. +Sub. 🦅🦅 Would love to see a low cost mini 4k clone build in the future.

[@Sulaiman-xn4oq]

Nice work

[@royjones1053]

good for predefined flight paths

[@fleurbird]

Amazing build!

[@galaxygames3216]

11:54 bro ur thumb on life support ong

[@edwardfletcher7790]

# Ukrainian drone pilots have joined the channel 👍😁 PCBWay are an awesome company 👍