I am new to this site and this field, so any help will be much appreciated. I am working on a team with the goal of creating a drone controlled by a JETSON NANO on-board-computer. Some digging has shown us that the pixhawk 4 is a reliable component, but at this juncture we are unsure what are the best options for the drone itself. We are looking for a decently hefty drone build (that can hold a couple pounds). Holybro, has been pretty prevalent in our searches, should we get one of those, or is there a better option?
@ppoirier, some of your previous posts have been very helpful in our search so far, do you have an opinion on this?
Good day, as flight controller you can opt for the mRo control zero… the mcu of it is the stm32f777… more powerful and you can have many improvements… all of that in a small form factor so you don’t need have a nightmare about the size.
As for the frame, depending on how you want to implement and fly (indoor - outdoor) you need to fit the size with the mission. I am not a good reference because I fly the cheapest frames that Shenzhen can offer
What’s your budget for the Flight Controller? This can trim down the selection rather quickly. For example, does your budget allow for a $350 Control Zero or is it closer to the $185 Pixhawk 4? There are Cubes within that price range also.
We are finding this field much more complicated (and exciting!) than we first expected. Could you confirm or deny some of our basic understandings for us? Here goes:
It looks like we’re going to need two computers on the drone, our Jetson Nano (which we are going to use for sure), and a Flight controller of some kind that will translate our Nano’s instructions to the propellors.
Also, is the MR Control Zero compatible with the Jetson nano, or is it a replacement?
And one more question, another necessity for us ROS compatibility, and since ROS has the capability to be controlled by an Xbox controller, can we bypass a radio controller, and just connect through the Nano? Let me know if that didn’t make sense.
Thank you so much for the help, we are big ol’ amateurs and all of your expert advice has been key to our development. No worries on the frame front.
I recommend that you start from the beginning , that is, Build a quadcopter and use it with a radio control, just like the wiki tell https://ardupilot.org/copter/
Then once you have successfully made all working together and mastered all the parts and system so you made autonomous flights, you can consider adding a companion computer and do advanced stuff. Trying to get a vehicle in autonomous flight with ROS and controlling with a joystick is fun when you are experienced and have a well tuned vehicle with a good method of manual recovery…, otherwise it is a dangerous recipe for an expensive disaster.
