I’ve been working on putting together my own Arduino-based UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle). It’s a R/C (Remote Controlled) plane that has an auto-pilot and GPS onboard. The platform I’ve chosen is based off the work done by the ArduPilot program. It’s made on the Multiplex EasyStar airframe so it’s pretty resilient as far as crashing and abuse goes. The home-built UAV movement has done some really amazing things over the past few years and I belive it will offer a nice avenue for some learning and entertainment.

As it goes right now I’ve purchased the airframe itself and the GPS module, but am waiting on the next revision of the microcontroller (ArduPilot) to come out before purchasing the electronics required. As it stands I still need:

1. Brushless motor and ESC for the airframe to get the power to carry the electronics and possibly a camera in the future.
2. R/C Radio and Servo kit.
3. X&Y stabilization sensor array.
4. Z-axis sensor (New in the ArduPilot 2.1 revision).
5. Misc cables (GPS interface extension cable, Servo extension cables, etc.)

Click here to view the embedded video.