FPV remote controlled sniper rifle

This thing is amazing and ingenious. Its really a radio controlled “First Person View” (FPV) sniper rifle. I wonder what they are using to move the gun, servos or linear actuators…would have to be very durable to handle that recoil. These Syrians are making really high-tech military hardware out of household crap, earlier this year…

RC Frequency Selection for FPV UAV LRS

There are several frequencies to choose for your RC transmitter and receiver by swapping “piggybacks” or “backpacks” onto your RC transmitter. For long range choose 443MHz. Be sure not to choose the same frequency that your video transmits on. I recommend 433MHz 500-800mW for RC and 1.3GHz 800mW for video long range and 900MHz for…

Planning for your plane or quad build

Before buying any products for your plane or quad, here are some things to think about. Ask yourself some questions and work out the answers by asking on forums or here   “What do I want to do?” – Find the best hiking route to get to the summit of that mountain.   “What is…

Mantras to use when building unmanned planes

Lightness and Efficiency are paramount – These are the keys to high performance in all aspects of aeronautics. All high performance aircraft is dependent on this simple concept and should be the defining principle in your design. K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) – Simple engineering is generally better. In the case of aeronautics; simplicity could…

Fully autonomous Ardupilot APM Flying Wing schematic

I’ve been working on this for some time now, I present the first schematic in a series that I have. This is Stage 3; a full on “drone” if you will. Using 3DRobotics Ardupilot APM 3.5/3.6 autopilot. This setup is a high end FPV UAV Ritewing Zephyr II airframe, and for just over $1000 total…

Replacing the nose on an airplane with EPP, Zephyr II

This plane is a Ritewing Zephyr II which is made of EPO (Expanded polyolefin) foam, which is pretty durable but it didnt survive much after 10 nose dives into rocky ground. So, I cut off the front and replaced it with EPP (Expanded polypropylene) foam. EPP is somewhat hard to find in at the market…

FOAM! …types of foam that are used in RC & FPV & Mini UAV airframes

Why foam? Foam is very lightweight and easily repaired. But foam is flexible so wings will require support spars to add rigidity. Spars should be preferably fiberglass or carbon fiber, not metal. Carbon spars might mess with the antennas because it is conductive, they “might” interfere antennas depending on wavelength. Foam is great for planes…

minimOSD Extra setup and customizing

If you are reading this, then you probably know that the minimOSD is the standard on screen display for the APM Arducopter or APM Arduplane. They tiny boards come with a software version that is likely outdated and has a poor layout. To fix this and upgrade the firmware to EXTRA read on: Buy a…

Quadcopter FPV frequency selection primer

I have a full book coming out on this soon, but here is some quick info. Never run anything on the same freq and avoid the associated harmonic frequencies when possible. Your radio control should be 2.3-2.4Ghz. and your video on 5-5.8Ghz.You can get the 3D robotics telemetry in either 433 or 900mhz, either one…