Build Your Own Drone
Hardware manufacturer Holybro uses open-source products to deliver flight controllers, telemetry radios, and GPS to drone builders.
So you want to build your own drone instead of buying one off the shelf. It's not much harder than building up a PC, since the platform and components have reached a level of standardization that make this easy. Vincent Poon, Chief Technology Officer at Holybro, shows off the components you can choose from to build a custom drone (watch the video above).
Holybro provides hardware platforms like the X500 V2 kits (Fig. 1). These provide the framework, motors, and propellers. The platform still needs additional hardware, such as an autopilot, GPS, and maybe cameras and other sensors.
The platforms are built with carbon fiber frames with fiber-reinforced nylon connectors. The motor connections have XT30 power plugs and the power distribution board (PDB) has XT60 and XT30 connectors that work with standard lithium-polymer (LiPo) batteries. It has mounting structures for autopilot, sensors, and GPS hardware that will be needed to make the drone fly.