Drones and Farming

[3930dave]

Liking the video Pear :thumbsup:, thanks for posting that.

Towards the end, the front tires are pushing a bow-wave... not something I'm used to with a combine, but I know zero about rice. Too bad you couldn't send some extra water down Alien's way....

Alien - what do you load for auto flight - gps track and preferred elevation, then the avoidance sensors trigger deviation as needed ?

Rgds, D.

 

[Alien]

I use the Dart 450 frames. I have 3 of those and a 600 for mounting a gimbal and SJ4000 with a 90 degree lens. They take beautiful vids, however in this case I used this one with a Firefly Q6 and no stabilisation. I just made a soft mount and used inbuilt camera stabilisation. It works pretty well for a cheaper setup. I don't bother with 4K as my Mac has trouble working with that.
I use a Windows computer with QGround Control and set waypoints where I want to go. I have a range of 4 klm. (2200 battery)
This pic was taken at 40 meters altitude at a speed of 12 meters per sec. I use a PX4 (Pixhawk) Flight controller.
The Firefly only works well in good light. No good for lower light conditions. I can add a small vid if you want to see the result.
That little radio TX on the rear sends a signal to show where the drone is on Google Earth and is also used to program the FC.

 

[3930dave]

Neat project Alien !

Thanks for taking the time to post the details.

Rgds, D.

 

[Alien]

No problems, I enjoy it! My drones. Two have Radio transmitters and one is WiFi. All have about the same range. WiFi distance surprised me actually.
If I smell smoke in the air I send up a drone and look around so I know whether to panic or not.

 

[PearOrchard]

Those look like racer frames...that means they're probably pretty nimble, right? I'm using DJI's GS Pro for my waypoints and mapping, but once I get used to it I may upgrade to Pix4D. I have an old Pixhawk that I was wanting to rig up on my atv for puddling purposes.

 

[Alien]

Too big for racer frames but there are smaller versions. They have lots of room to add stuff on and have LEDS etc already on board. I bought 4 kits from Hobby King, (an extra for spares)
My neighbour has a Mavic but he wants to build one like mine. The kits were on special down to Au$22 each from around Au$90. I just add motors, ESCs and pixhawks etc.
I also have some flying buddies that bought some as well. Pixhawks are great gear.
Nimble? Yes. I can do aerobatics, flips etc but prefer auto flight and videos. (it's an age thing )

 

[Alexavez2]

Thank you for the post

 

[cqaigy2]

Nice setup Alien.

 

[Alien]

Thanks, It has been a big learning curve but I feel I am on top of it now. I just bought a Samsung Galaxy Tablet S4 and am using that now for missions. It is easier to carry around than a laptop.
Works fine.