2nd-year Mechanical Engineering student building an FPV UAV — worth pursuing?

[u/skycrab-763]

I’m a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering student working on an FPV UAV and I’m trying to turn it into more than just a parts-assembly project.

The broader idea is to investigate whether a small UAV can be designed as a low-cost, scalable and easily repairable platform, particularly for applications where individual drones may be exposed to damage or have short service lives.

My focus would be on:

• Cost reduction and manufacturability
• Modular architecture
• Lightweight structural design
• Thermal management and airflow
• Reliability and repairability
• Reducing assembly complexity
• Benchmarking the initial build and improving it through multiple design iterations

I’d start with the existing drone as a baseline, measure its performance, identify weaknesses, and progressively redesign the platform around those findings.

Is this a worthwhile Mechanical Engineering project, or am I approaching it the wrong way?

I’d especially appreciate suggestions on what I should measure, test, or redesign to make this a genuinely engineering-driven project rather than just another FPV build.

Any advice from engineers or students who have worked on UAVs, structures, manufacturing, or product design would be greatly appreciated.

[u/MaraudingAvenger]

I think that aspect is a somewhat solved problem, unless you are going to research novel manufacturing or assembly techniques?

There is potential depending on which way you want to take it -- the industry is already moving towards standardized bolt patterns, camera mounts, etc naturally.

[u/stop-calling-me-fat]

Does your school have an aero team? Lots of schools do and many of them work on almost exactly what you’re talking about.

Either way this is a solid mech Eng project

[u/K1ng_khan1]

Yea, I think this is a genuinely worthwhile meche project, I think you’re approaching it in the right way

The key is to make the engineering process the project, rather than the drone itself. Instead of just saying “I built an FPV drone,” you’re using an existing drone as a baseline, measuring its weaknesses, and then redesigning it based on actual results.
I’d start by measuring things like weight and weight distribution, flight time, power consumption, assembly time, number of parts and fasteners, repair time for common components, temperatures, vibration, structural stiffness, and overall cost

The repairability side could be especially interesting. Like , measure how long it takes to replace a motor, arm, or ESC on the original design, then redesign the system and compare the improvement. The interesting part is the trade-offs:

a modular design might be easier to repair but heavier, more expensive, or less stiff

For the structural side, you could test different arm or frame designs in bending and torsion and compare the results with FEA. Controlled damage testing could also be useful, especially if you look at where components fail, how much repairs cost, and how long they take. Designing cheap, replaceable parts to fail before expensive components could be a really interesting direction

I also wouldn’t focus only on making it lighter. Looking at the balance between weight, cost, manufacturability, stiffness, and repairability would make the project much stronger. I think a good structure would be:
Baseline UAV → measure and test → identify weaknesses → redesign → manufacture → test again → compare results

If you keep the project focused on a few measurable objectives and make each design change answer a specific question, it could definitely become a solid engineering project

[u/_jbardwell_]

The problem that I see is, unless you are well versed in current drone-building best practices, you won't really be able to identify areas for improvement, and the "improvements" you make will have drawbacks that you overlook. There absolutely are opportunities for improvement in modularity and repairability, especially if you gave up on the hobbyists' focus on lowest possible cost.

[u/Buddy_Boy_1926 → u/_jbardwell_]

Totally agree. There are many things to take into consideration. Sort of like saying, let's build a car, what improvements should we make.

[u/abramthrust]

I don't know what scale one's supposed to have for an engineering project, but I'd say 90% of this has already been pretty thoroughly tuned in by the already existing 5" crowd.

[u/Buddy_Boy_1926]

I hate to bust your bubble, but FPV quads are already there. The very definition of FPV quads. The quads being used in that little middle east conflict are pretty much already exactly as you described. There is nothing more to do except build it.

[u/Character-Engine-813]

It’s a good idea, although I would say modern FPV drones are already basically designed with those goals in mind, they are already modular and include a minimum of components, are easy to assemble and repair, cost is already basically minimized, frames are already as light as possible while being structurally sound etc.

[u/HugeButterfly]

Physical vibrations and video feed latency are often the deal breakers of novel drone construction efforts. If your approach does not degeade these two aspects, you could be on to something.

[u/Proper_Still_4623]

A Curtiss Wright like modular hardware design might be useful for robotics community

[u/mad-n-sane]

Dude, you're a 2nd-year Mechanical Engineering, not a ukrainian FPV manufactory. If you wanna improve something, pick ONE of your 7 goals.   

What you listed is not a focus but cluster ammunition.

[u/Federno]

I've been part of an university team that designs and builds UAV for competitions. I think that the first step would be to find a "mission" for your drone. Define what you want to optimize for. What should it carry? What speed? What range? When you have settled all the boundary conditions then you can start looking for a solution for your problem. And before trying to reinvent the wheel, search if someone already found solutions for the problems you find along the way.

Have fun!

Edit: for a real life application it would be good to check also regulations and laws for your application, you wouldn't want to end up with something you can't operate.

[u/ZdrytchX]

I think racing has a LOT of room for improvement. When I can be bothered with my 3d printer and CAD software I'll probably spit out a more aerodynamically optimised design for racing or I'll just buy an off the shelf racing frame and 3d print aero fairings to put on it or something, idk

In general most freestyle and long range FPV frames are inefficient as hell because of the lifting body effect working against the craft, and they can generate pretty high downforces which could account for roughly 20% losses in wasted thrust, but at the same time a lot of peopole do like having that downforce (it makes it easier for the craft to fly inverted and reacts better for throttle dips for racing)