2020

I am aware that there are already multiple available UAV solutions to control UAV's, but controlling a UAV is half the fun. The other half is making it possible. This project is still ongoing, and I currently have a primary flight display with video feed from the aircraft, as well as some flight paramters (roll, pitch, heading).

Nothing new under the sun, but it is a great little project to reinforce concepts I learnt during my Uni days and my own time, such as Kalman filters, quaterions, Euler angles, frames of reference, transceivers,... and the list goes on. Can't wait to see it fly!

2008, 2013, 2014

I started this project at High School and I did some upgrades during the following years, hence the "long" duration of the project. Back in 2008, brushless motors for electric scooters were quite rare. Old school brushed DC motors dominated the landscape.

This electric scooter was made of multiple "salvaged" electric scooters. I managed to get all the parts I needed to create a functional one: chain, wheels, brakes, batteries, motor... The very first version was operated with a simple switch, with "ON/OFF" position. Quite rudimentary, but it got the job done. I did not know about MOSFETs at the age of 15. Also, I was using lead acid batteries. Lithium batteries were too pricy back them.

Some years later, I tried to use a speed regulator using transistors rated for 25A, but they kept getting too hot and eventually die. I even tried to use oil to cool them down, with no success.

In the end, a friend of mine taught me about MOSFETs and how awesome they are (thanks KH. Y.), and sure enough that was the solution I had been looking for. However, MOSFETs are also quite finicky, so I burnt quite a few of them too, but got it working in the end.

In 2017, with WAY better commercially available electric scooters with in-hub brushless motors and lithium-ion batteries, I decided it was time to say goodbye to this project and I disassembled it. It was a great project to learn about power electronics.