Flight in First Person: The Makings of an FPV Drone (Part 1)

Introduction/Motivation

What is it like to fly at the speed of an eagle?

The average bald eagle dives at about 120-160 km/h (75-100mph) and at the same speed, a 6S freestyle First Person View drone reaches full throttle.

Financially speaking, it would be irresponsible for me to buy a project car or build extra PC towers that I don’t need. While searching for a project to get my hands dirty, I stumbled into FPV as a hobby, beaming with customization and performance, my two favorite aspects as a mechanical engineering student. While my financial responsibility is still questionable, this was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass.

At some point, everyone wonders, “What does it feel like to fly?” And while I wish I could present you with an Iron Man suit, let’s call this a start.

Project Objectives and Constraints

FPV has a low barrier to entry. Realistically, you could go to Best Buy and buy a DJI FPV set with everything that you need to get started, but to go one step deeper, you can build your own drone and fully dive into the world of FPV.

My aim is simple but ambitious with this project, build a 6S 5” freestyle FPV drone that actually flies.

Now what does that mean? Well, it really just means that my goal is to get a bunch of parts to fly. This is my first attempt at creating something that is slightly more complicated than a bunch of expensive LEGO pieces, like building a PC or doing basic maintenance on a car. To keep things manageable, I kept the constraints simple.

Budget is the first, where I tried to keep things relatively affordable so as not to blow through my college savings. I chose equipment and tools that were cost effective, performance oriented, and beginner friendly. The decision on what parts and equipment to buy was inspired by good community reviews and a fundamental understanding of “What makes a good FPV drone”.

Knowledge is the second constraint, where I am a complete beginner to the FPV world. Building and flying a freestyle drone is not as intuitive as it looks. The YouTube FPV community contributed to a majority of the knowledge needed to make the build happen, while Google and ChatGPT provided a fundamental understanding in defining basic terminology and concepts involved in the building process. Drone simulators like Liftoff and Velocidrone allowed me to get a feel for how to actually fly a freestyle drone.

Fundamental Theory

What is an FPV drone? A first person view drone is brought to life by 3 key components.

(1) The quadcopter - drone body

(2) FPV goggles

(3) A radio controller

Traditionally, the drone itself is called a (1) quadcopter, due to having 4 arms, motors, and propellers. I will go over the parts and their technicalities later in the post, but it is important to note that the drone only becomes an FPV drone due to the on-board camera, which allows the user to see from the perspective of the drone, essentially becoming the quadcopter, compared to merely piloting it.

The (2) quadcopter’s camera (VTX system) connects to a set of goggles worn by the user, respectively called FPV goggles. This allows for a fully immersive experience when piloting the drone. FPV goggles come in two main formats, analog and digital.

Analog systems utilize radio waves transmitted over 5.8 GHz, which get sent to the goggles instantly displaying an image similar to an old TV signal, making them cost effective and simple to use, while providing ultra low latency which is essential to the high speeds of FPV. Analog formats, however, provide the image quality of an old VHS tape, have overall less range, and fewer features compared to the digital format.

Digital FPV systems utilize the VTX system which takes the camera’s image and compresses it into a high quality video format which is transmitted digitally over 5.8GHz, then is received by the goggles, decoded, and displayed as HD video (720p-1080p). Digital systems on the other hand of analog, are relatively more expensive, have higher latency, require higher power draw, and suffer from ecosystem lock-in (DJI goggles only work with DJI parts). Overall, I chose to start with a digital system.

Finally, a quadcopter is piloted using a (3) radio controller, simply referred to as a radio/controller. This is what allows an FPV pilot to actually control the movements of the quadcopter. A radio can be found in many different formats and signals, but as long as the radio signal is compatible with the controller, a pilot can use whatever format fits them best. Commonly used, are traditional box-like radios or game-style controllers. Each user decides what they prefer in a radio and most importantly, what they feel most comfortable holding.

Parts List and Design Explanation

Skills and Tools I’ve Picked up

In order to break into the world of FPV, one must overcome a few key hurdles aside from basic understanding of the parts. A basic understanding of the tools you need is a good start, but when it comes to understanding spec sheets or learning how to fly, it’s like you’re preparing to fly an alien spaceship. If you are completely new to this world, I would recommend developing a basic understanding of the terminology behind FPV components.

One hurdle that many people must overcome in order to start FPV is learning how to solder. This was the case for me as I had never soldered before. Thankfully, I had someone who was able to teach me hands on how to solder and guided me in the right direction. Soldering can be intimidating at first but with a can-do attitude, it is certainly possible to become proficient enough to at least get going on your FPV journey.

Learning how to fly a quadcopter is a major challenge that you'd think would be the least of your worries, but it’s really much harder than it seems. If you have ever flown a DJI drone, you know that these drones level themselves and don’t seem like such a nightmare to pilot. I’m sorry to say that is not the case for flying a freestyle drone. I would say learning how to fly a freestyle drone is like learning how to ride a bicycle with a jet engine attached to it. One wrong move and you’re flying into space.

The one big hurdle I’ve yet to dive into is BetaFlight. This is the open-source software that allows for the configuration of the drone’s flight controller. This is like installing windows on your newest PC build. While this is the last jump towards completing my FPV drone, it is also a completely new experience, but with enough time, I am certain it can be conquered too.

What’s Next

In part 2, I will be going over the building process and the problems I encounter when preparing to take flight.

Final Thoughts

While I am still heavily in trial mode and I do not claim to fully grasp the forces or math behind all of it, this is the first step in understanding and turning nothing into something. I believe that things can be learned much faster by doing, making mistakes, and trying again until it works.

Thank you for being interested in something built by one person guided by curiosity. Let’s see if my “pray it flies” approach bears any fruit and evolves into something that not only flies, but flies well.