So, this just struck me the other day. I am currently looking at just an RC controller for the short term, but I want to mess with UAV-type flight computers later. I saw a couple, they seemed expensive. And I noted that you had to buy GPS modules and such to work with them and what-not. One of the things I was wondering, is if anyone has ever set up to use an Android phone or something as a flight computer. (By now, almost everyone should have a couple old Android phones lying around.) Assuming you had some sort of adapter to get your ESCs connected to the USB port on an Android, you get your gyroscope, accelerometer, GPS, a data connection, and more than enough processing power, depending on which phone you sacrifice. If you sling it under the device, you could even use the phone’s camera for some low quality aerial photography and storage. Additionally, one of the ideas I noted, was between GPS, a data connection, and an independent power source (the phone’s battery), a phone would be able to help you locate your drone if you lost it, if it crashed or ran out of power mid-trip.
Of course, this is a good idea.
You will still need something to control the UAV as the cellphone will do the on-board flight controller unless your going full autonomious. But still you need something to input the flight points etc.
We need a way to communicate with motor controller…
Sure. You’d need some sort of board to connect the USB port on a phone to the ESCs/motors. (I’d guess an Arduino-based board could provide this.) I was suggesting this primarily for autonomous flight.