Drone Showcase (2022-2024)

T January 28, 2025

The drone project started in September 2022, after finishing my A-levels. I bought parts from a failed drone project and reused them alongside many new parts. It took a lot of research to determine which additional components I would need, whether they would work together and how to solder them. I first had to learn new concepts, like wireless radio transmission, antenna signal dynamics, frequency characteristics, quadcopter flight mechanics and motor driver behaviour to name a few. That month I managed to get the drone flying as shown in the picture below

I wanted to add FPV (first person view) functionality to the drone which involves attaching a wireless video transmitter to the drone and connecting the video feed to a headset using antennas to amplify the signal strength. Again, I had little knowledge about how to do this, but in the process of preparing and implementing this tech, I learnt a great deal about the topic. I established the video link as shown in the picture on the right, allowing far easier control over the drone using the first person perspective.

It took many attempts to configure the drone correctly and even more crashes (in a safe environment) until I could fly the drone consistently. This caused severe damage to the drone on multiple occasions, but fixing these issues gave me another opportunity to improve my soldering and problem-solving skills. This project was fully self-directed and started out of curiosity about new technology, The project in introduced me to many new concepts, and encouraged me to attempt more ambitious projects in the future.