Houston Requirements and Potential Purchases

Owned by Suraj Srivastava
2023-01-25
2 min read

Description

Houston is the name for the aircraft that will be taking over Phoenix’s role as the drone used for testing different components.

Requirements

This aircraft has different requirements it needs to fulfill. These are listed below:

  • It needs to support a radio receiver. In this case, it will have to support 1 rfd900.

  • It needs to support either a PixHawk px5 or px6

  • It needs to support zero pilot

  • Needs to support time of flight sensors

  • It needs to support the power distribution board

  • It needs to support ESCs

  • Needs to support 1 px4 optical flow sensor

  • Must support a NEO M-8 GPS module

  • Must be able to use a valid battery

  • Must have a flight time of at least 8-10 min

  • Must be 6 cell/3 cell compliant

  • Flat panel on top or flat panel on the bottom

  • Ideally has Quad place configuration, VTOL configuration

Potential Solutions + Timelines (TBD)

1st Possibility

Description: This is a pre-built Quad-Copter Frame. The wheelbase (diagonal distance between the motors) is around 610mm. This frame directly fulfills many requirements. It supports PixHawk with the NEO M-8 GPS. It has a flight time more than ten minutes. It has a flat panel on the top and bottom. Compatible with ESCs.

Link: https://www.foxtechfpv.com/foxtech-hover-1-quadcopter-frame.html

Here’s a useful video explaining the characteristics of this drone: https://youtu.be/kE_7WzQsQ1A

Motor Specifications: https://www.foxtechfpv.com/foxtech-motor-s3508.html

2nd Possibility

Description: This is similar to the first frame listed above. However, this one is 450 mm. This would be my secondary recommendation. This isn’t built specifically for supporting PixHawk like the previous one. Also, it is smaller so this is not ideal since having more space could be better to actually fit all the components on the structure.

Link: https://www.amazon.com/HAWKS-WORK-Quadcopter-Soldered-Version/dp/B09YQ4TM88?th=1

 

In both cases, a Power distribution board will be needed. I would recommend this one:https://www.getfpv.com/electronics/power-distribution-boards-pdb/holybro-pixhawk-pdb-board-for-pixhawk-6x-6c.html This PDB is made specifically for PixHawk, so it would suit our needs quite well. The size of this PDB is 50mm X 45mm. This should fit on either one of these frames.

Other frames to consider: Shen Drones Thicc 2.1 Cinelifter Carbon Fiber Frame + Hardware (getfpv.com) This drone could work, but it’s on backorder so it’s not exactly ideal.

Third Possibility

Description: This is also another drone frame. The special feature on this drone frame is that it has an extended main body frame to accommodate for extra accessories and electronics. It also has extra mounting options with both 30.5 X 30.5mm and 20 X20mm mounting holes in the middle and rear of the frame. Both of these will help with the space problem that was experienced with Phoenix previously. It should also be possible to attach the PDB board on the drone itself.

Link: Lumenier QAV-RXL 2 - 10" FPV Quadcopter Frame (getfpv.com)

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