DIY Mapping Drone

[Telefrag]

Good day, I am newish to the rc world and am wanting to build a flying wing to use for aerial mapping of my property for projects. I was curious if anyone had any recommendations on doing this budget friendly, I have seen several of the commercial drones for thousands of dollars and am not interested in spending that much on this when Id rather spend my money on more entertaining rc. I do appreciate any input.

 

[Spastickitten]

Do you plan on building it? The versa wing is a good platform for the diy route, but there are prebuilt ones out there. What flight controller do you want to use?

 

[RAM]

Cheap and easy http://publiclab.org/wiki/balloon-mapping

 

[Telefrag]

I have a MZ-12 6 channel. I am completely cool with DIY, would prefer it that way actually. Do you need to load gimbals and all of that or can I just mount the camera in the body facing down? And beyond that I would assume I would need a autopilot to map the flight and a time lapse camera?

 

[ZoomNBoom]

You pretty much need an autopilot yes, APM/pixhawk highly recommended. As for gimbal; Ive been trying to get by without gimbal at first. It is possible if there isnt too much wind, but its hit and miss. Here is a photosynth I managed without gimbal, and using a $25 raspberry camera:
https://photosynth.net/embed.aspx?cid=64da42bd-f402-4929-8927-84a9e3f80669

Some more info here:

But it doesnt always work out, especially if the ground has less distinct features, or if there is a lot of wind (causing roll and pitch). A better camera may help, allowing to use a wider lens without too much reduction in ground resolution, but thats also a fairly expensive band aid.

I then tried to use a 'servo gimbal' (just glued 2 servo's together pretty much), which works relatively well, but I cant get rid of the jello in my pictures now. Here is a 3D photogrammetry model I made using a servo gimbal (and the same raspberry):

And here the stitched panorama, which more clearly shows the jello problem:

https://photosynth.net/embed.aspx?cid=6144773d-6422-4e74-b9b2-bf7b253313fd

So yeah, you can get started without, but I would plan for one anyway.

 

[makattack]

I've essentially built my FT Versa Wing with a Blunt Nose to perform like you specified. I have a APM 2.6 flight controller with a digital airspeed sensor installed. I don't have a downward facing camera on mine, but it wouldn't be hard to set that up. I built it essentially with these:

http://flitetest.com/articles/blunt-nose-conversion-ft-versa-build

With this flight controller: http://www.readytoflyquads.com/readytoflyer-2-6
BUT... some people have not had good experience ordering from RTFQuads/Paul... and, you may want to get Pixhawk as the APM is essentially not supported any longer for software upgrades. The latest 3.4 version of ArduPlane will not work for APM.

I used this power system: http://www.lazertoyz.com/FT-Versa-Wing-Powerelectronics-pack-THE-BEEF-2_p_468.html
But I might recommend a newer power pack like: https://store.flitetest.com/power-pack-c-fixed-wing-large/

 

[Telefrag]

Would there be any benefit to going to the Kraken (180%) versa wing? I ask because my thought would be heavier aircraft more stable in the wind?

 

[ZoomNBoom]

Flying wings are never ideal for this. They tend be relatively pitchy and suffer from dutch roll. Granted, the horten I used is about as bad as it gets in those regards, but its still true for other flying wings too. Thats not a big deal if you have a brushless gimbal, but if you want to try without gimbal, a more traditional, glider-like planform is probably better.

That said, bigger is better. Not just for stability, but you'll need lots of room for all your gear.

 

[Telefrag]

Think a FT explorer or Soarer would do the trick or should I 150% it using their plans and use that?