Qaudcopter for atmospheric measurements

[SamK]

Hello everyone. I'm an engineering student who in my practical work is involved in a project whose goal it is to validate an atmospheric model by taking measurements and comparing reality with the model. Unfortunately the instrumentation usually used is unavailable to us due to cost, but my supervisor believes an alternative and cheaper way of getting measurements would be to attach sensors on the drone and fly it into the air, which is why I am here.

Unfortunately we don't know much about the practical use of drones. Therefore I would need some help in determining how realistic the things we are planning to do is, how much the equipment needed would cost and I would also appreciate being pointed to any resources that you think would be useful.

So here is what the preliminary plan is in bullet points:
- The drone is to be autonomous, probably controlled by some open source control program. Making custom software based on an open source program is very much a possibility.
- Measurements need to be done vertically in a single point, making something like a GPS system a necessity so that the drone stays in roughly the same position
- The drone will hover at certain altitudes to take measurements. Altitude is probably to be measured by a barometric altometer.
- Sensors and a data logger are going to be attached to the drone. The total weight of this is expected to be a few ounces at most.
- Measurements need to be taken at high altitudes, at least 200 meters, but the higher the better. A drone capable of flying up to an altitude of 500 meters would be ideal.

As you see it is quite the undertaking for a couple of drone beginners, but the good news is that there is time to plan out the project beforehand. I certainly got a lot of learning to do. In any case I hope to hear from you soon and I appreciate any input you have!

 

[holtneil]

HI mate you didnt say how much you want to spend , Phantom 1 is cheap as every one want s the new one , it has gps so will hover where you put it , will fly up to 2000 mtrs you can set in the Naza M the height you want it to fly for each flight it has a barometer so it knows how high it is , its easy to fly a newbie that has never flown before can fly this , it will carry more pay load than you want ,and after your done with it you can re-sell at a really good price
If its to much the other to look at is the Hobby king Nova

 

[GJH105775]

What is your budget?

 

[SamK]

Regarding budget it's still to be determined, but from what I've heard it's not unreasonable that it would be a bit over $1000, maybe around $1500. Of course, cheaper options are preferable to more expensive ones given that both are about as good.

HI mate you didnt say how much you want to spend , Phantom 1 is cheap as every one want s the new one , it has gps so will hover where you put it , will fly up to 2000 mtrs you can set in the Naza M the height you want it to fly for each flight it has a barometer so it knows how high it is , its easy to fly a newbie that has never flown before can fly this , it will carry more pay load than you want ,and after your done with it you can re-sell at a really good price
If its to much the other to look at is the Hobby king Nova

For what they can do both of the quadcopters are much more affordable than expected, awesome. I also see that phantom 2 and 3 are not too much more expensive either, so that's 4 contenders that seem to be capable doing everything we need them to do.

There is a few things I'm wondering about the Phantom 1 however. For instance, Naza-M boasts features like return to home, different failsaves, programmable waypoints (I guess it would also be possible to set waypoints and have the drone hover for a set amount of time here for example?), but is all of these features available for a standard Phantom drone package? This page leads me to believe that it's necessary to buy an additional platform of sorts for some of them. Also, for anyone familiar with the program the Quanum Nova uses, what kind of failsaves does it have?

 

[GJH105775]

Regarding budget it's still to be determined, but from what I've heard it's not unreasonable that it would be a bit over $1000, maybe around $1500. Of course, cheaper options are preferable to more expensive ones given that both are about as good.



For what they can do both of the quadcopters are much more affordable than expected, awesome. I also see that phantom 2 and 3 are not too much more expensive either, so that's 4 contenders that seem to be capable doing everything we need them to do.

There is a few things I'm wondering about the Phantom 1 however. For instance, Naza-M boasts features like return to home, different failsaves, programmable waypoints (I guess it would also be possible to set waypoints and have the drone hover for a set amount of time here for example?), but is all of these features available for a standard Phantom drone package? This page leads me to believe that it's necessary to buy an additional platform of sorts for some of them. Also, for anyone familiar with the program the Quanum Nova uses, what kind of failsaves does it have?

The Phantom 1 is hobby grade, so if you needed features it did not have you could buy a new FCB (Flight Controller Board)

 

[SamK]

The Phantom 1 is hobby grade, so if you needed features it did not have you could buy a new FCB (Flight Controller Board)

All features needed seem to be included in the Phantom, so I guess that answers my question. On a closer look the Naza-M is to be installed on quadcopters in general, and the Phantom would almost certainly have that system already included considering it's of the same make.

 

[holtneil]

Hi guys the fail safe on the Phantom are one of the best , but it must be set up right you need all 8 GPS locks , only once have I not had all GPS locks , main fail safe is re-turn home and land , this will make the phantom climb to 60 feet then fly its its over it take off position hover for 10 seconds then land , I tested in strong cross wind and it missed by 1 foot , thats good going seeing the phantom was at 40 degs tilt to hover still, there is also course lock and home lock , if you get to far away to see which way the phantom is pointing flick in to home lock and hold Cyclic down it will then fly home to you that easy
its the easiest to fly my wife did fly it first time out

 

[Samuel]

Okay, a small update. After a lot of thinking and comparing I am quite sure that the Quanum Nova/Cheerson CX-20 is the way to go. It does everything that is needed (autonomous flying, ability to go high enough up in the air (though changing the antenna might be necessary to get up to 500m), decent safeguards, gps-positioning, open source control systems) for a lot less money than the rest. However, I'll admit that I haven't found too many alternatives, the only other true ones I found being the phantom (more expensive, proprietary parts and control systems) and the Iris+ (almost universally lauded as an advanced drone, a poor choice for complete beginners).

However, even though the Cheerson CX-20 is "easy" to control the general consensus is that drones of that size are not what you should get as your first quadcopter. Using it fully autonomously is not an option but on the other hand my supervisor has shown some skepticism in buying another quadcopter, cheaper as it may be. So before that happens I want to get confirmation that it is necessary to buy and learn on a toy-grade quadcopter before touching the larger one. Also he has been skeptical of the fact that the toy-grade quadcopters got similar flying properties as the full-sized one.

With that said I also would appreciate a bit of help in putting together a beginner kit. Here is what I am thinking of putting together; a FY326 Q7 quadcopter with prop guards (bought separately), 4 blades, 4 motors and a 5 pack of 3.7V 700 mAh lipo batteries as spare parts. Something I'm not so sure about is a battery charger; I've heard that, at least when it comes to larger multicell LiPo:s, a proper charger is necessary. I've heard the batteries have a tendency to unbalance themselves, making a balancing feature useful, and that a charger that can sense the voltage is almost a necessity, as is a feature to charge to storage voltage. It would be great of the charger would be able to charge both the FY326's and the CX-20's/Quanum's batteries as well.

So what I'm essentially wondering is if I got too much of something, or if there is anything I missed that I would need? I would hate to use research money for something that is unnecessary especially when it could so easily be construed that I use it to buy toys, or conversely break something or lose time by not buying something that was needed.

PS: Anyone out there flying quadcopters in Finland? Finding someone local into the hobby who is willing to help could be highly helpful, but my search has been wholly unsuccessful thus far, so although it's a long shot I figured I could ask here.

Edit: Oh yeah, I'm the same person as the threadmaker. I made two different accounts as the first one I had trouble registering with initially, but later the registration was approved, and I accidentally made this post on the wrong account. Oops.

 

[holtneil]

Hi mate look up ECKS he the guy to chat with here is his face book page https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=6&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CDcQFjAFahUKEwjGlcHg8avHAhXFWRQKHX3hAME&url=https://www.facebook.com/ecksframes&ei=3ZvPVYazHcWzUf3Cg4gM&usg=AFQjCNHniEMcN4t2zycYWSAEZlkIHKugdw&sig2=X7wlVlFPqUIE6aJuDHqMEg&bvm=bv.99804247,d.d24
as for getting the height you need , if you fly off the top of a hill your be well above sea level to start off so the cx 20 will have the range so if your go 200 mtrs up you only need 300 mtrs more to fly
let me know what account you dont want i will get it removed if you like

 

[SamK]

About ECKS; are you saying he could help in some way?

When it comes to height launching the drone from a hill is a no-go. First of all we're going to launch it in a specific location where there might not be a hill, and more importantly, if we were to launch it from a hill, due to how the hill affects the atmosphere, the net effect would be that the measurements are essentially made at 300 meters even if it would be 500 metres above sea level. I have seen videos of Quanums going up to 1000m so I know it's possible, but I am aware it's risky to fly high.

And you could delete " @Samuel ", just don't take away the post I made with that account if possible.

 

[holtneil]

ECKS makes multi rotor frames one of the best near you, flies multirotors for a long time , have a chat with him really nice guy will give you pointers

 

[SamK]

I see. I'll contact him (them?) and see if he is willing to give us a few pointers then. Thank you for the tip!