How Build The Drone dD Quad 16
I will provide all the necessary components needed to build the Drone dD quad 16 shown here. This will be a technical video as I will give details on all the components to be bought in order to build this model. If you haven’t seen the video prior to this one with the in flight demonstration of the dD Quad 16, I will ask that you check it out first as it is more fun to watch compared to this actual technical video. I will start with the list of components making up the drone. Here we have, the main module, the auto-pilot which is an ArduPilot however I recommend the pixhawk. I have used the Ardupilot for this prototype which is a bit less effective compared to the Pixhawk. That’s the receiver for the Graupner remote controller. I will elaborate on the controllers later on. This is the receiver for telemetry in order to connect the drone to either a computer or a smartphone. And I have put a 433 MHz antenna which performs better than the standard antennas.
Here we have two voltage regulators, one for 5 Volts and the other one for 12 Volts. The 12 volts is used to power the video transmitter and the 5 volts is used to power the Go-Pro. Here we have a switch which is connected to a relay, which allows me to active things remotely. I have a socket that allows me to turn on a lamp, for example, remotely from the remote controller. Here is the GPS chip and above the mast, the compass. The latter is far from the other components to provide higher performance At the back, we have three times the connectors for connecting 3 4S batteries. On the arms, we have ESC afro slim with SimonK firmware to refresh the engine speed more quickly and thus makes the drone quieter. We have 390kv turnigy motors that spin slowly, they are designed for 6S which makes them spin even more slowly. And we have 16-inches APC propellers. For the video transmitter, I have used an omnidirectional spironet antenna. The GoPro is mounted directly onto the drone. But of course, we can use a stabilized gimbal as the one mounted on my Y6.
This provides better results. On the F550, I used a bigger gimbal that can be used to accommodate a bridge or hybrid camera. Indeed this gimbal can be adapted to the Quad 16 however you should keep in mind that the more weight there is on the drone, the less the number of batteries to be had thus decreasing your autonomy significantly. I will now talk about the different components found around the drone. We obviously have the remote controller. Here is the Graupner MX16. I, however, recommend the Taranis from FrSky. which is cheaper and has more features. In addition you can put a 433 MHz Module on it in order to get a longer range. We either have a laptop or a smartphone in order to connect the telemetry. I use an Easy cap module to have a video live feedback from the drone to my computer. However, I can always use a separate screen which is glued to my Graupner controller or use a mounted structure as I did on my Taranis.
The video receiver is connected to the screen. This is made of a two-way receiver on which I have put a spironet antenna and a patch antenna, which provides a directional reception for long ranges. If you want more flexibility, there are screens on which the receiver is already integrated. When you receive the telemetry modules, you receive 433MHz standard antennas such as this one. I have then changed the antenna on the drone but on the ground, I either use a monopole antenna like this one. Or, even better, a dipole antenna like this which allows you to reach a range way over 7 Km. Note here that the cable is quite long and it gets disturbed very quickly by other items. You have to be careful of the things that are between the antenna and the receiver of the telemetry to avoid disrupting the signal in the cable.
This concludes the tour of all components. What should I do to get this drone?
What should I then do if I want to build this drone myself? If you want to build the drone yourself, you can go onto the website and you will find a list of all the necessary components for its construction. Thank you for the video and the explanations.
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