Building drone without Radio

Help
1

I have used a F450 frame and wired up esc and motors, have 2s battery.

I am trying to build a quad copter that only goes up a foot, hovers, then comes down. Really in 30 sec or less. Its to test lift strength. We are not allowed to use radio control, it must start and fly without intervention. Technically it will not even have a battery mounted, just wires.

My problem is I start to get lost looking at APM (2.8) documentation. Most configuration uses a radio which I dont have. I could in theory kick off a program via usb if I tied it to the computer - even that requires config with radio to get params right.

My thought was there might be a way to have APM start the quad copter after 30 sec of power-on, go up a bit, then go down - all from software. But there is so much config tied to radio I’m not sure its possible with flight planner.

Any advise?

-Rose

2

Yes you can do that with APM as there is options to disable any startup checks (one of them is to check if a radio is connected or not)

3

and…
use a wireless link, 3DR, SiK, HC05 Bluetooth, HC12 433MHz etc. so you control it remotely with Mission Planner, this will allow you to load and start an autonomous flight plan.

Sounds good fun :grin:
Pics / video when you have it running would be nice

Cheers
Steve :slight_smile: