iDroneLink Now Shipping:
Through the course of this project the Fighting Walrus Radio grew up and became the compact iDroneLink.
More information is available here:
www.fightingwalrus.com/iDroneLink
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Fighting Walrus Radio
iOS Accessory for Personal Drones
The Fighting Walrus Radio turns your iPad or iPhone into a mobile ground station for your personal Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV).
Key Features
- Monitor your UAV's critical flight systems
- Touch the screen to send new waypoints to your drone
- Log flight data
- Open-source iOS app
- Rugged aluminum design
- 1 mile range
- Compatible with all MAVLink drones and Parrot AR.Drone
- 30-pin and Lightning connector versions
Why Fighting Walrus?
During the design process, we couldn't help but notice that our radio looked like a plucky little walrus peering over the edge of our iPads. It was during one of these late-night coding sessions that the Fighting Walrus Radio was born.
How Does It Work?
The Fighting Walrus Radio communicates with your drone using the MAVLink Micro Air Vehicle communication protocol. This makes it compatible with existing drone platforms such as Ardupilot and the forthcoming GPS upgrade for the Parrot AR.Drone. Current users with Ardupilot vehicles and the popular 3D Robotics air radios will be able to integrate the Fighting Walrus Radio directly into their UAV systems.
![MAVLink Micro Air Vehicle Communication Protocol]()
The Fighting Walrus Radio is based around the HopeRF HM-TRP Transceiver module. This comes in 915 or 433 MHz variants depending on your country. As a funder of our campaign, you will receive a radio appropriate for the country from which you place your order. You will also be able to select the non-default frequency if you so desire. This radio is rated to a 1 mile line-of-sight range.
![HopeRF HM-TRP Transceiver Modules]()
Open-Source Software
To maximize the potential of the Fighting Walrus Radio, we've made the iOS software open-source. The app is based on software created by Claudio Natoli for the DIY Drones community.
The code is available here: https://github.com/cnatoli/iGCS
Parrot AR.Drone 2.0
The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is normally controlled by connecting to the drone with an iOS device with a WiFi link. The drone is then flown by tilting the iPad or iPhone back and forth, with the drone's orientation tracking the controller's orientation.
The Fighting Walrus Radio allows you to continue to use the same method of control only with our 1-mile stable radio link instead of the WiFi. If the drone is within WiFi range, you will be able to view its onboard video stream like normal, but when out of WiFi range the video will not be available.
If you already own a Parrot AR.Drone 2.0, you can purchase the Fighting Walrus Radio Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 Range Extension Kit perk for $140. If you don't own a drone, you can get the Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 with Fighting Walrus Radio kit for $500.
The Fighting Walrus Radio range-extended Parrot AR.Drone is controlled using a modified version of Parrot's FreeFlight iOS app. A screenshot of an early version of this app is below.
Risks
Our biggest challenge will be completing the Apple Made-For-iPod certification process. We have an initial approval of our concept and app, but must work with Apple to ensure that our device complies with their requirements.
Production Plan
We are working with a number of Bay Area small businesses that will create the components of the device. We will have a beta round of devices for more widespread testing before our main production run in September.
Supported Devices
iPhones:
- iPhone 6
- iPhone 6 plus
- iPhone 5S
- iphone 5
iPads:
- iPad Air 2
- iPad Air
- iPad mini 3
- iPad mini 2
- iPad mini
- iPad 4th
T-Shirt Design
![T-Shirt Front]( "T-Shirt Front")
![T-Shirt Back]( "T-Shirt Back")
T-shirts come in S, M, L, XL, or XXL.
Contact
bryan at fightingwalrus dot com
andrew at fightingwalrus dot com
Special Thanks
We couldn't have started this project without the help of some amazing people:
- Claudio Natoli: For providing a working iOS app for use as a baseline
- Owen Hnath: For over-the-top efforts doing the mechanical design
- Ofer Bruhis: For PCB design and consulting
- David Long: For his on-demand pilot services
- Phil, Cameron, Don, and Karen from
People Productions for making and iterating our launch video
- Dominic Megalli: For busting tricks on his bike while a drone buzzed overhead for our video
- Cody Remington from
uasusa.com: For piloting in our launch video
- Ian Frechette: For piloting in our launch video
- Mike Machado: For technical assistance with our drones
- Domenic Pellarin from R.P. Specialists: For 1-week turns on mechanical parts
- Brian Riley: For mechanical design and unwavering support on evaForge / UAVForge project
- Ryan Graba: For some great graphical design work
- Aaron Nathan: For his excellent drone hacking skills
