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Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

digikey.com

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Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#131

Post by Neywiny »

asadalt wrote: post #25

i wish this didn’t use mpu6050 imu, which is obsolete and unavailable it seems. but i guess they used it due to existing code/drivers widely available for it and esp32.

Agreed. I'm in the market for an imu and thought "ah the MPU 6050, I've heard of this one a lot even recently" and it's obsolete. This is typical of consumer to adafruit/sparkfun/aliexpress levels where they have countless old stock of cheapy proto boards to buy from, but if you're designing a whole new thing from scratch, that's inexcusable.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#132

Post by KennyBlanken »

Does anyone know who at Digikey is responsible for their absurd adblock-blocking efforts?

It's so goddamn tiresome that I'm headed to a site already with a list of things to buy and it blocks me because I've installed an extension that will block them from showing me ads trying to sell me even more stuff.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#133

Post by Aurornis »

Kadin wrote: post #92
the__alchemist wrote: post #79

Note to anyone unafamiliar: There is a thriving "FPV" ecosystem of drones that can be DIYed. Example common setup, you can mix+match: - Small square PCB with the main flight control MCU (STM32), and some sensors - Smalls square PCB with motor drivers - Carbon fiber frame - Small PCB with a LoRa radio - Camera and video transmission system. (90s-security-cam style analog, or digital. - Brushless DC motors, props etc U…

This is all true, but just to set expectations: the open source ecosystem seems to be lagging the proprietary world pretty significantly, unless there's some corner where development is really chugging along that's not making it out to the rest of the hobbyist market. Though there have been incremental improvements in flight control software, and video subsystems have moved (mostly) from analog to 2.4/5.8 GHz and dig…

> In comparison, a COTS quadcopter from DJI has a single backhaul from the airframe to the controller which does control, video, and and telemetry. And the video is impressively low-latency.

Your information is very out of date.

DJI sells their camera and video unit as a standalone part that you can put in your hobby drone. They're on the 3rd generation right now with the 4th coming out soon https://www.dji.com/o3-air-unit

If you want the DJI video feed, you just buy this unit for under $200 and put it in your drone. You get the same video technology as the COTS DJI unit and it integrates with your open-source controller.

> A Raspberry Pi running a decent RTOS would have orders of magnitude more processing capacity than an STM32 and could easily do the sort of multi-sensor fusion that the commercial systems do.

The STM processors have more than enough power to operate the drone.

I think you're missing the point of hobby drones and their controllers. They don't need or even want LTE, Starlink, or any of the other complications you mention. They just need to get up in the air and fly cheaply. The current products work well for that.

People have tried to build drones around Raspberry Pi gear but there's no advantage and a lot of additional cost, size, and weight for something that doesn't help at all.

I don't think people realize how powerful the top STM microcontrollers are these days.

> Happy to be corrected if there's new stuff that I'm not tracking, but the gap between the "art of the possible" and current practice seems large.

Most of what you posted has been tried in open source. It's just not really beneficial or interesting. You can cobble together an LTE drone if you want, but you can't legally fly it past line of sight anyway, so what's the point?

For what it's worth, hobby drones are miles ahead of the COTS drones when it comes to fast flying and control. The gear from DJI is great if you want to safely fly a camera up and hover around, but if you want a fast and challenging drone you basically have to DIY.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#134

Post by Aurornis »

qazxcvbnmlp wrote: post #98
Kadin wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all true, but just to set expectations: the open source ecosystem seems to be lagging the proprietary world pretty significantly, unless there's some corner where development is really chugging along that's not making it out to the rest of the hobbyist market. Though there have been incremental improvements in flight control software, and video subsystems have moved (mostly) from analog to 2.4/5.8 GHz and dig…

Everything here is possible, the gap in implementation is that it’s a) expensive and b) non trivial engineering work. There is vanishingly small overlap between the people whom have the capital for parts, the understanding of the engineering needed, free time to do it and desire to do it for free. The people whom have the true multidisciplinary understanding to do robotics well can usually also consult (with little d…

> Everything here is possible, the gap in implementation is that it’s a) expensive and b) non trivial engineering work.

The real issue is that it's just not interesting or worth it.

Why would you want to put LTE or Starlink on a drone? Flight time is around 30 minutes with current battery technology and you're not legally allowed to fly past line of sight anyway. Strapping a bunch of extra gear to a drone would cut flight times and add basically nothing to the experience.

These things aren't popular because they're not interesting to the people who build and fly drones.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#135

Post by Aurornis »

nuker wrote: post #130
Kadin wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is all true, but just to set expectations: the open source ecosystem seems to be lagging the proprietary world pretty significantly, unless there's some corner where development is really chugging along that's not making it out to the rest of the hobbyist market. Though there have been incremental improvements in flight control software, and video subsystems have moved (mostly) from analog to 2.4/5.8 GHz and dig…

> Telemetry is typically separate from control, which is separate from video. Everything is very short-range and non-IP. Check out ExpressLRS, very long range, everyone is using it today. https://www.expresslrs.org/

It's possible to use a DJI air unit for control, but most people prefer ExpressLRS to have a separate, longer range backhaul.

You want your control backhaul to have more range than your video feed anyway. If you go so far that the video starts to drop out, you can fly up higher to regain signal or flip the switch to safely drop the drone. You can also get GPS coordinates back to go find it.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#136

Post by edm0nd »

diggan wrote: post #81
mathgeek wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://apnews.com/article/drones-new-jersey-what-to-know-e6...

Thanks! > Authorities say many of the drone sightings have actually been legal drones, manned aircraft, helicopters and even stars. > many state and municipal lawmakers have called for stricter rules about who can fly unmanned aircraft — and for the authority to shoot them down. Hard to find a more American article than this.

humans are the virus

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#137

Post by hermitcrab »

ActorNightly wrote: post #123
JKCalhoun wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not scary when it is just a hypothetical. If this were happening with some frequency it would be concerning. Until then I suspect there is something you are overlooking, oversimplifying. (EDIT: I'm assuming you are talking about non-military use.)

Its one of those things where once you can buy "kits" for it, you may see its use. Ukraine war videos popularized the idea of using drones to drop explosives. I could see Cartels using this to take out targets.

A rival cartel paid a British mercenary to drop 500lb bombs on Palbo Escobar in the 1990s.

https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/sep/14/colombia.world

So it isn't an entirely new concept.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#138

Post by nine_k »

Aurornis wrote: post #134
qazxcvbnmlp wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everything here is possible, the gap in implementation is that it’s a) expensive and b) non trivial engineering work. There is vanishingly small overlap between the people whom have the capital for parts, the understanding of the engineering needed, free time to do it and desire to do it for free. The people whom have the true multidisciplinary understanding to do robotics well can usually also consult (with little d…

> Everything here is possible, the gap in implementation is that it’s a) expensive and b) non trivial engineering work. The real issue is that it's just not interesting or worth it. Why would you want to put LTE or Starlink on a drone? Flight time is around 30 minutes with current battery technology and you're not legally allowed to fly past line of sight anyway. Strapping a bunch of extra gear to a drone would cut f…

Not interesting to the people who build amateur drones for fun.

I bet that stuff like different Linux kernel schedulers, or entirely new subsystems like io_uring are written by not entirely amateurs and not completely for fun. But the ecosystem is such that open-source licensing works for such efforts. For some reasons, the same is not true for the open-source firmware or hardware used in drones.

One could contemplate on the structure of incentives that could produce a viable pool of open technologies for advanced (including non-amateur) drones.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#139

Post by joshmarinacci »

asadalt wrote: post #8

this is amazing. on similar note, I have spent last few months trying to fit visual inertial odometry into esp32. Combining that with this would be insane (and so cheap!)

What do you mean by this? Do you mean using an onboard camera for navigation and/or orientation? I’m very interested.

Re: Build a Low-Cost Drone Using ESP32

#140

Post by stavros »

nostrademons wrote: post #128
hylaride wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And a lot of it is all open source! ESC software: - https://github.com/am32-firmware - https://github.com/mathiasvr/bluejay Flight controller (you mentioned these): - https://github.com/betaflight - https://github.com/ArduPilot - https://github.com/iNavFlight Control link: - https://github.com/ExpressLRS (also uses ESP32/ESP82 chips) Radio Controllers: - https://github.com/EdgeTX 5+ years ago the vast majority of thi…

You can start for ~$400 - I just bought parts for 2 drones for my kids. My shopping list: - Flywoo Goku F405 HD 1-2S 12A ELRS AIO V2 flight controller, $64, flywoo.net - Radiomaster Pocket radio controller, $65, radiomasterrc.com - EAchine EV800D VR goggles, $109.81, banggood.com - Meteor 75 frame, $5, tinywhoop.com - 4x 40mm props, $2.25, tinywhoop.com - BetaFPV canopy, $5, tinywhoop.com - TinyWhoop Pinch Premium FP…

I don't see the ESCs, are they in the AIO?
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