Building Your Own Drones
A Beginners' Guide to Drones, UAVs, and ROVs
1st Edition
Published on 25. August 2015
272 pages
978-0-13-400015-2 (ISBN)
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
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
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Boston
United States
Publishing group
Pearson Education (US)
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-0-13-400015-2 (9780134000152)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
09/2015
Que Corporation,U.S.
€42.92
Article exhausted; check different version
Person
John Baichtal has written or edited over a dozen books, including the award-winning Cult of LEGO (No Starch Press, 2011), LEGO hacker bible Make: LEGO and Arduino Projects (Maker Media, 2012) with Adam Wolf and Matthew Beckler, Robot Builder (Que, 2014), and Basic Robot Building with LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (Que, 2012). His most recent book is Maker Pro (Maker Media, 2014), a collection of essays and interviews describing life as a professional maker. John lives in Minneapolis with his wife and three children.
Content
Introduction xiii
Who This Book Is For xiii
How This Book Is Organized xiii
Chapter 1 A History of Drones 1
What Is a Drone? 2
Three Terrrains 3
Anatomy of a Drone 5
Summary 7
Chapter 2 Showcase of Cool DIY Drones 9
Bicycle Rim Quadcopter 9
3D-Printed Mini Quadcopter 9
Clothesline Racer 11
Vessels 11
Radio-Controlled Blimp 12
FPV Quadcopter 12
Open RC Trike 14
Foldable Quadcopter 14
Mini-Quadcopter 15
3D-Printed RC Boat 16
Tricopter 17
Mecanum Wheel Rover 18
Summary 19
Chapter 3 Overview of Commercial Drones and Kits 21
Parallax ELEV-8 Quadcopter 21
DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ 24
OpenROV 26
Actobotics Nomad 29
Brooklyn Aerodrome Flack 31
Summary 34
Chapter 4 Building a Quadcopter I: Choosing an Airframe 35
Which Airframe? 35
Choosing Between Commercial Options 37
Making Your Own Airframe 38
Project #1: MakerBeam Airframe 41
MakerBeam 41
Parts 43
Steps 44
Summary 50
Chapter 5 Rocket Drone Project 51
Amateur Model Rocketry 51
Quick-and-Dirty Arduino Guide 54
Project #2: Data-Gathering Rocket 60
Parts for Building the Data-Gathering Rocket 60
Steps for Building the Data-Gathering Rocket 61
Programming the Payload 65
Summary 67
Chapter 6 Building a Quadcopter II: Motors and Props 69
Choose Your Motors 70
Outrunner Versus Inrunner 70
Brushed Versus Brushless 71
AC Versus DC 72
Choose Your Propellers 73
Prop Adapters 74
Project #3: Attach the Props and Motors 75
Parts 76
Steps for Attaching the Props and Motors 77
Summary 80
Chapter 7 Blimp Drone Project 81
Radio Control 81
Transmitters 82
Receivers 83
ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) 83
Project #4: Blimp Drone 84
Parts 85
Arduino Parts&
Who This Book Is For xiii
How This Book Is Organized xiii
Chapter 1 A History of Drones 1
What Is a Drone? 2
Three Terrrains 3
Anatomy of a Drone 5
Summary 7
Chapter 2 Showcase of Cool DIY Drones 9
Bicycle Rim Quadcopter 9
3D-Printed Mini Quadcopter 9
Clothesline Racer 11
Vessels 11
Radio-Controlled Blimp 12
FPV Quadcopter 12
Open RC Trike 14
Foldable Quadcopter 14
Mini-Quadcopter 15
3D-Printed RC Boat 16
Tricopter 17
Mecanum Wheel Rover 18
Summary 19
Chapter 3 Overview of Commercial Drones and Kits 21
Parallax ELEV-8 Quadcopter 21
DJI Phantom 2 Vision+ 24
OpenROV 26
Actobotics Nomad 29
Brooklyn Aerodrome Flack 31
Summary 34
Chapter 4 Building a Quadcopter I: Choosing an Airframe 35
Which Airframe? 35
Choosing Between Commercial Options 37
Making Your Own Airframe 38
Project #1: MakerBeam Airframe 41
MakerBeam 41
Parts 43
Steps 44
Summary 50
Chapter 5 Rocket Drone Project 51
Amateur Model Rocketry 51
Quick-and-Dirty Arduino Guide 54
Project #2: Data-Gathering Rocket 60
Parts for Building the Data-Gathering Rocket 60
Steps for Building the Data-Gathering Rocket 61
Programming the Payload 65
Summary 67
Chapter 6 Building a Quadcopter II: Motors and Props 69
Choose Your Motors 70
Outrunner Versus Inrunner 70
Brushed Versus Brushless 71
AC Versus DC 72
Choose Your Propellers 73
Prop Adapters 74
Project #3: Attach the Props and Motors 75
Parts 76
Steps for Attaching the Props and Motors 77
Summary 80
Chapter 7 Blimp Drone Project 81
Radio Control 81
Transmitters 82
Receivers 83
ESC (Electronic Speed Controller) 83
Project #4: Blimp Drone 84
Parts 85
Arduino Parts&
