The impact (good and bad) of drones in society is no longer in question. But what will it take for drones to impact a traditionally outdated, low-profit-margin civil works industry through the use of technology? The solution lies in a low-cost approach. One could say it all started when a bunch of scientists realized they could do a far better job in measuring objects accurately and at a distance rather then an individual putting himself in harm's way and using expensive/primitive equipment for the same task. We're talking about photogrammetry. In a nutshell (or should I say according to Wikipedia), Photogrammetry is the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions of surface points. In more simplistic terms, provided you have some form of frame of reference (like a ruler) you can determine the physical properties of objects and their exact location to the accuracy of the remote sensing equipment used (a 4K-size imag...

Yeah that's right. Everywhere you go, including some intern projects at my company, quadcopter drones is the current trend. The marketing success is simple. It's a lot cheaper and less complex and than a comparable RC helicopter. They're virtually no mechanical moving parts (expect the platform itself). And it's perfectly suited for camera attachment. So hot combination has spawned the quacopter drone revolution. I've always been against following a trend just for the sake of it. But considering that I need perfect weather test fly my flight controller only makes sense to start modifying my code to accommodate for a quadcopter. The controls are pretty straightforward and the design is incredibly simple. Another design dev coming up!

Shinden by Bryan Hebert (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Hi all, I came across this spreadsheet containing rough estimates of common building materials used for scratchbuild of RC airplanes . Use it, don't use it. Here it is. What it doesn't have, is a updated list on LIPO batteries and common brushless motors but besides that it's pretty decent. Enjoy! Click the link below: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.flyelectric.ukgateway.net%2Fweights.xls