Building with parts from different manufacturers.

[dfwsloan]

I'm going to build a quad, but it seems like no single company has everything I want. For instance, DJI sounds like they have really good flight controllers. But, if you use their autopilot, the camera always faces the next waypoint. Whereas, other autopilots let you control the direction the quad faces as it runs the route, or will even follow a user.

Is it possible, for instance, to build a mostly DJI drone, but put a Pixhawk autopilot on it?

 

[GJH105775]

DJI uses mostly the Naza flight controller. If by Pixhawk flight controller then yes. As long as you have all of your motors the same, and your ESCs the same as each other (big enough for the motors), then you can basically mix and match any brand parts.

 

[dfwsloan]

DJI uses mostly the Naza flight controller. If by Pixhawk flight controller then yes. As long as you have all of your motors the same, and your ESCs the same as each other (big enough for the motors), then you can basically mix and match any brand parts.

Thanks fir the response. I actually wanted to use a NAZA M flight controller and a USRobotics autopilot. People seem to really like the NAZA, but DJI's camera orientation is always towards the next waypoint when flying a mission. Whereas USRobotics' autopilot will train the camera on a fixed point or even follow a target. Can I mix and match flight controllers and autopilots?

 

[GJH105775]

I don't know on that. You may be able to if they have the same microcontroller. Or if their higher level interface uses the same language/engine.