Skip to content

How to Drone

Input Interface

You will need:

Then pair the controller with your computer via USB (TX16S) or Bluetooth (Nomad) so you can practice in a simulator environment using a real-world controller.

Drone simulators

  • FPV.SkyDive (free): basic flying tutorial + introduction to controlling a drone.
  • VelociDrone (~$20) is geared towards realistic physics with the goal of letting drone racers get as close as possible to the same experience but in a virtual environment. This means you can configure a drone to be very similar to your own and practice things repeatedly.
  • Zephyr -- lets you practice real-world scenarios like tower and bridge inspection (DLC, $10-100+), but doesn't work with the TX16s.

FPV/First Person View

Getting video from the drone to the viewer is an open problem depending on what your needs are. Mapping doesn't use FPV per se, but understanding how a plane flies and being able to manipulate the controls is a valuable skill. Landing a winged drone involves flying a pattern similar to manned planes and is harder than landing a VTOL craft.

  • Analog: get a FPV camera (NTSC, ~$30), point it at your computer screen, then send the signal to a NTSC FPV headset (~$100) while doing the above.
  • Walksnail is well regarded in this field for sending/capturing HD video.

IRL

The best place to start is to buy a trainer RC plane, which are cheap, fly at slower speeds, and can handle unplanned landing events. Once you have basic flight patterns figured out you can start to think about more advanced flight controllers. Painless360 suggests a H-King Bixler.

Mapping: A Heewing PNP/BNF Cruza VTOL (with pre-programmed F405 flight controller) can be had for ~$700. This will come mostly pre-built, then you will need to set up a receiver (ELRS/SBUS) for your drone and add a battery. This is a good way to understand what is going on before trying to build your own drone. A larger drone has more mass and larger surface areas which means its controls are more stable, at the cost of endurance. Having more lifting capacity allows you to carry different payloads such as companion computers or more advanced sensors. The F405 runs Ardupilot (4.4.2), which gives you a lot of basic autonomy out of the box. You can swap it out with an OrangeCube down the line.

rPIC

Some people who have good info on drones, tools and techniques: