Building Your Own Drones: A Beginner’s Guide to Drones, UAVs, and ROVs

Building Your Own Drones: A Beginner’s Guide to Drones, UAVs, and ROVs

by John Baichtal
Released September 2015
Publisher(s): Que
ISBN: 9780134000121

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

Absolutely no experience needed!
Build your drone, step-by-step, with this full-color, hands-on guide!

You’ve heard about drones. You’ve seen drones. Now, build your own—it’s a lot easier than you think!

Drones are the newest frontier for the DIY/maker community, and you don’t need to be a technical expert to build one. John Baichtal, the #1 author of hardware hacking books for beginners, will teach you all the skills you need.

First, Baichtal shows you the amazing drones others have built. Then, he walks you through several complete projects: quadcopters, UAVs, ROVs, and more. Not ready to start from scratch? No problem: Baichtal helps you choose from today’s best new kits.

Hundreds of full-color step-by-step photos teach you every step, every skill. When you’re ready for more advanced concepts, Baichtal explains them in plain English.

  • Discover what drones are and why they’re so exciting

  • Explore today’s most imaginative projects, from 3D-printed mini quadcopters to floating robot armies

  • Compare kits, from $200 up: Parallax ELEV-8, DJI Phantom 2 Vision+, OpenROV, Actobotics Nomad, Brooklyn Aerodrome Flack, and more

  • Create your own practical Drone Builder’s Workbench

  • Build complete rocket, blimp, waterborne, and automotive drones

  • Construct both fully autonomous and radio-controlled drones

  • Choose and assemble your chassis (airframe), motor, props, flight control, power system, accessories, and software

  • Integrate Arduino to make radio-controlled drones operate autonomously

  • Teach a drone to navigate via RFID tags

  • Learn all the basic electronics and programming you’ll need

    • Table of contents

    1. About This eBook
    2. Title Page
    3. Copyright Page
    4. Contents at a Glance
    5. Table of Contents
    6. About the Author
    7. Dedication
    8. Acknowledgments
    9. We Want to Hear from You!
    10. Reader Services
    11. Introduction
      1. Who This Book Is For
      2. How This Book Is Organized
    12. 1. A History of Drones
      1. What Is a Drone?
        1. Three Terrrains
        2. Anatomy of a Drone
      2. Summary
    13. 2. Showcase of Cool DIY Drones
      1. Bicycle Rim Quadcopter
      2. 3D-Printed Mini Quadcopter
      3. Clothesline Racer
      4. Vessels
      5. Radio-Controlled Blimp
      6. FPV Quadcopter
      7. Open RC Trike
      8. Foldable Quadcopter
      9. Mini-Quadcopter
      10. 3D-Printed RC Boat
      11. Tricopter
      12. Mecanum Wheel Rover
      13. Summary
    14. 3. Overview of Commercial Drones and Kits
      1. Parallax ELEV-8 Quadcopter
      2. DJI Phantom 2 Vision+
      3. OpenROV
      4. Actobotics Nomad
      5. Brooklyn Aerodrome Flack
      6. Summary
    15. 4. Building a Quadcopter I: Choosing an Airframe
      1. Which Airframe?
        1. Choosing Between Commercial Options
        2. Making Your Own Airframe
      2. Project #1: MakerBeam Airframe
        1. MakerBeam
        2. Parts
        3. Steps
      3. Summary
    16. 5. Rocket Drone Project
      1. Amateur Model Rocketry
      2. Quick-and-Dirty Arduino Guide
      3. Project #2: Data-Gathering Rocket
        1. Parts for Building the Data-Gathering Rocket
        2. Steps for Building the Data-Gathering Rocket
        3. Programming the Payload
      4. Summary
    17. 6. Building a Quadcopter II: Motors and Props
      1. Choose Your Motors
        1. Outrunner Versus Inrunner
        2. Brushed Versus Brushless
        3. AC Versus DC
      2. Choose Your Propellers
        1. Prop Adapters
      3. Project #3: Attach the Props and Motors
        1. Parts
        2. Steps for Attaching the Props and Motors
      4. Summary
    18. 7. Blimp Drone Project
      1. Radio Control
        1. Transmitters
        2. Receivers
      2. ESC (Electronic Speed Controller)
      3. Project #4: Blimp Drone
        1. Parts
        2. Arduino Parts
        3. Steps
      4. Autonomous Control with an Arduino
        1. Code
      5. Summary
    19. 8. Building a Quadcopter III: Flight Control
      1. Know Your ESCs
        1. Common ESCs
        2. Programming ESCs
      2. Receiver
      3. Flight Controller
        1. Flight Controller Examples
      4. Installing the Flight Electronics
        1. Parts
        2. Installing the ESCs
        3. Installing the Flight Controller
        4. Installing the Receiver
      5. Summary
    20. 9. Drone Builder’s Workbench
      1. Design It
      2. Drive It
      3. Measure It
      4. Cut It
      5. Wire It
      6. Attach It
      7. CNC It
      8. Summary
    21. 10. Building a Quadcopter IV: Power Systems
      1. Choosing a Battery
        1. Battery Types
      2. Adding Bullet Connectors
        1. Why Bullet Connectors?
        2. Parts List
        3. Steps for Adding Bullet Connectors
      3. Assembling the Wiring Harness
        1. Parts
        2. Steps for Assembling the Wiring Harness
      4. Wiring the Flight Controller and Receiver
      5. Summary
    22. 11. Waterborne Drone Project
      1. Realities of Waterborne Electronics
        1. Disadvantages of Waterborne Electronics
        2. Advantages of Waterborne Electronics
      2. Waterproofing Your Electronics
        1. Sandwich Container
        2. Pelican 1000-Series
        3. Sealing a Tube
      3. XBee Mesh Networking
      4. Project: Soda Bottle Boat
        1. Parts
        2. Building the Drone
        3. Building the Controller
        4. Programming the Soda Bottle Boat
      5. Summary
    23. 12. Building a Quadcopter V: Accessories
      1. Add Accessories to Your Quadcopter
        1. Camera
        2. First-Person Video (FPV)
        3. Landing Gear
        4. Parachute
        5. Protective Plate or Dome
        6. Prop Guards
      2. Project: Adding Accessories to the Quadcopter
        1. Install the Camera Mount
        2. Install the Landing Gear
        3. Install the Top Plate
      3. Summary
    24. 13. Making a Rover
      1. Advantages and Disadvantages of Rovers
        1. Advantages of Rovers
        2. Disadvantages of Rovers
      2. Chassis Options
        1. 3D Printed
        2. Tamiya
        3. mBot
        4. Arduino Robot
        5. Actobotics Bogie
      3. Navigating with Radio Frequency Identification Tags
      4. Project: RFID-Navigating Rover
        1. Parts
        2. Steps
        3. Programming the RFID-Navigating Rover
      5. Summary
    25. 14. Building a Quadcopter VI: Software
      1. Flight Control Software
        1. OpenPilot
        2. MultiWii
        3. APM Planner 2.0
        4. eMotion
        5. AR.Freeflight
        6. 3DR Solo App
      2. Configuring the MultiWii
      3. Examining the MultiWii Control Sketch
      4. Pre-Flight Checklist
      5. Summary
    26. Glossary
    27. Index
    28. Code Snippets

    Product information

    • Title: Building Your Own Drones: A Beginner’s Guide to Drones, UAVs, and ROVs
    • Author(s): John Baichtal
    • Release date: September 2015
    • Publisher(s): Que
    • ISBN: 9780134000121