This is intended to be a repository for design files, instructions, photos, documentation, and everything else needed for people wishing to build a and operate UAV (drone) in a low-income, resource-poor environment. This is not about cutting-edge UAVs, it's about democratizing the technology and getting it into the hands of more people, particularly in poorer countries and humanitarian settings.
This repository focuses on hardware and builds, not software (we recommend using one of the excellent open-source software suites found at dronecode.org). We will publish, where appropriate, recipes for setting up open-source software to specifically work with the hadware recipes here, but will not be developing software.
The intended utilization is (at least initially) humanitarian activities, particularly mapping. The dream: civil society, universities, and Non-Governmental Organizations (particularly small, local ones) are able to own and operate eyes in the sky, gathering their own aerial imagery rather than being dependent on governments, large companies, and international organizations. This is intended to support such initiatives as missingmaps.org, openaerialmap.org, and http://opendronemap.github.io/odm/.
We recommend adhering to the principles and code of conduct at uaviators.org, where additionally a great many resources, and a lively humanitarian UAV/drone user community can be found.
This repo is a work in progress. For now it's focused on quad-copters, basically providing a drop-in, low-cost replacement for platforms like the 3DR IRIS+ or DJI Phantom, specifically adapted for resource-poor settings. As time goes on, we'll be publishing files and recipes for fixed-wing UAVs, VTOL devices, and larger multicopters.
Please feel free to comment, make requests, or pitch in. If there's another, similar initiative that we should be backing instead of continuing with this repo, let us know; we don't want to duplicate efforts and if you're well ahead of us we would be happy to support your repo instead.
Let's get up in the air!