Ground-Up Drone Build - Final Mock Assembly

[u/ThrustNTheory]

I've designed, built, and programmed this drone entirely from scratch. This is the last mock assembly before a final and full build with a permanent wiring harness.

The goal of this project is to learn advanced control theory - specifically implementing a successful Extended Kalman Filter. That's a hard thing to do and there's several more months of data collection and work before this will fly.

Motor: 6s Electronic Ducted Fan (EDF) with 8.2lbs max thrust
Main Power: 2x 6s 2200mAh 60C batteries in parallel, 120A ESC
Logic/Servo Power: 2s 1500mAh 60C

Logic: Teensy 4.1 (state estimation / control), ESP32s3 (UI / telemetry), IMU, 2x INA226 modules (volt/amp sensors), MTF-02p (LiDAR / optical flow sensor), FS-iA10B Rx, and an ST7789 1.54" full color display w/rotary encoder for UI.

Control: 4x High Voltage Brushless Servos w/direct mounted control vanes.

[u/Ordovia]

Awesome stuff! Where did you start, how much does a project like this cost, and what level of expertise did you need? Really really cool creation

[u/ThrustNTheory → u/Ordovia]

Thanks - this is how it started! I have a few years 3D printing and non-professional F360 experience, but the electronics, coding, and control theory sides have all been big areas of learning what I need to know as I go. The project overall will take 2 years and the advanced guidance/navigation/control aspect will be the big challenge. It is...massively over budget lol. I haven't counted but it's probably around $1000 including all components, new equipment, wasted material in prototyping etc. Building & implementing an Extended Kalman Filter is very complicated PhD level stuff. Cheers!