🚁 FPV Drone
A custom-built First Person View (FPV) drone designed and assembled from individual components, providing hands-on experience with flight control systems, electronics integration, and real-time wireless video transmission.
Overview
This project involved designing and assembling a fully functional FPV drone from individual hardware components. Instead of using a prebuilt kit, I selected and integrated each subsystem including the flight controller, motors, ESCs, camera, video transmitter, and receiver.
The goal was to understand how each subsystem contributes to stable flight and real-time control, while also gaining experience troubleshooting hardware issues and tuning flight performance.
System Architecture
The drone consists of multiple integrated subsystems working together in real time. The flight controller acts as the central processor, receiving input from the receiver and IMU sensors, then adjusting motor outputs to maintain stability and control.
- Flight Controller (IMU + PID stabilization)
- Electronic Speed Controllers (ESCs)
- Brushless Motors
- FPV Camera + Video Transmitter
- Radio Receiver + Transmitter
- Battery (LiPo power system)
Hardware Integration
Building the drone required careful wiring, soldering, and power distribution across all components. Each ESC was connected to the flight controller and calibrated to ensure synchronized motor behavior.
The FPV system allowed live video feed from the drone’s camera to a headset or monitor, enabling real-time piloting from the drone’s perspective.
Control System
The flight controller uses sensor feedback from an onboard IMU (gyroscope + accelerometer) to maintain stability. A PID controller continuously adjusts motor speeds to stabilize pitch, roll, and yaw during flight.
- Proportional: reacts to current tilt error
- Integral: corrects long-term drift
- Derivative: dampens oscillations
Build Process
- Selected and sourced individual drone components
- Soldered ESCs, power distribution, and connectors
- Mounted motors and frame components
- Configured flight controller firmware
- Calibrated sensors and radio inputs
- Tuned PID settings for stable flight
Technical Challenges
- Balancing power distribution across components
- Debugging wiring and signal issues
- Tuning PID gains for stable flight
- Managing interference in FPV signal
- Preventing oscillations and drift
Results
- Successfully built a fully functional FPV drone
- Achieved stable flight and responsive controls
- Enabled real-time video transmission for FPV piloting
What I Learned
This project gave me hands-on experience with embedded control systems, power electronics, and real-time feedback loops. It reinforced the importance of system-level thinking, where hardware, software, and control theory all interact to produce stable behavior.