Drone

Hardware Parts Lists

• 1 x S550 Hexacopter Frame
• 6 x 920KV Brushless Motors
• 6 x 40A Brushless ESCs
• 6 x 10 inch Propellers
• 1 x 4S 14.8V 6000mAh Lipo Battery
• 1 x FlySky FS-i6X RC Transmitter
• 1 x FS-iA6B RC Receiver
• 1 x Pixhawk 2.4.8 Kit including:
  • 1 x Pixhawk 2.4.8
  • 1 x Safety / Arming switch
  • 1 x Shock Absorber for Flight Controller
  • 1 x NEO-M8N GPS
  • 1 x Power Module T-plug type
  • 1 x 3DR radio Data Transmission Module(915mHZ) (TELEMETRY)
  • 1 x GPS bracket
  • 1 X Buzzer
  • THE FOLLOWING ARE INCLUDED BUT NOT USED
    • 1 x PPM module
    • 1 x Pixhawk-I2C Splitter Expand board
    • 1 x mini USB cable
    • 1 x mini OSD
    • 1 x SD adapter

Software

The flight controller is loaded with ArduPilot's CopterV4.1.3 Firmware through Mission Planner. ArduPilot is an open-source platform used to build autonomous and unmanned vehicles systems for almost any application. One drawback is that mission planner is a window's based software and not available on Mac or Linux.

Flashing And Configuring The Firmware

Flashing the firmware on to the pixhawk is done through Mission Planner.

1. Open Mission Planner
2. Connect to the pixhawk by clicking "Connect" in the top right hand corner
   *Make sure the COM port is the correct one, mission planner will usually automatically configure this
3. Go to the "Setup" tab in the top left
4. Go to "Install Firmware" on the left side
5. Choose the correct vehicle, in our case it is the hexa-copter
6. After clicking a pop up should appear ensuring you want to install this, click "yes"
7. The install should begin, after finishing unplug the pixhawk from your computer for 5+ seconds to reboot
8. Plug the pixhawk back in
9. Redo step 2. to connect the pixahwk again
10. Go back to the "Setup" tab
11. Go to ">> Mandatory Hardware" on the left side
12. For each piece of hardware that is applicable calibrate it in our case we did the acceleromters, ESCs, compass/magnometers, and radio
    *For any issues in calibrating please refer to the ArduPilot documentation

Flying

Before Flying

• Do not fly in tight enclosed spaces.
• Wear safety goggles while flying, often time plastic parts (especially those that are 3D printed) will shatter from crashes.
• Check the B4UFLY app to ensure there are no restrictions where you are flying
• Make sure you have access to your FAA TRUST Exam Certficate
• Make sure the registration number of the drone is visible

How To

1. Plug in the battery to the drone
2. Turn on your RC Transmitter
3. Arm the drone by holding down the arming switch until it is solid red
   *If the drone does not allow you to arm there is an error preventing you and should be troubleshooted
4. Hold the throttle on your RC Transmitter all the way down and to the right until you hear the drone's buzzer go off
5. Your drone should now be armed and ready to fly!

Trouble Shooting

Trouble shooting the drone can happen for many reasons such as refusing to arm or failing during flight. ArduPilot gives great information when errors are happening which makes it fairly easy to troubleshoot and figure out the cause.

LEDs

The LEDs on your flight controller will tell you the current status of your drone and have easy to decipher meanings through the colors and flash rate. Here is the link to ArduPilot LED status meanings.

Messages

LEDs are helpful to gauge that an error is happening but don't tell what error it is. Messages can be much more useful in helping decipher why your vehicle isn't arming. You can only see messages when connected to the drone on mission planner either through the usb port or telemetry radio.

1. When connected go to the "Data" tab on the top left hand side
2. Here you will see different windows of the drone such as "Quick", "Actions", "Messages", and more. Click on "Messages" to see real-time status updates of your drone.

Logs

We have not implemented the use of logs but ArduPilot does support them. You can learn more here.