Make your own micro FPV drone racing gate
Make your own micro FPV drone racing gate
Arduino Team — January 7, 2023
Drone racing is an increasingly popular hobby, especially as high-performance drones become more and more affordable. Racing drones can reach 200 mph and a big part of the skill needed to compete is the pilot's ability to navigate through gates at high speed. These gates mark checkpoints on the course, much like the gates that slalom skiers go through. Drone racing gates can also track time, which is the case with this DIY micro FPV drone racing gate built by YouTuber ProfessorBoots.
This is an affordable door for indoor micro FPV drone racing. It's large enough to accommodate larger drones, but the pilot should have stellar finesse. For micro drones, it's perfect. The gate detects the presence of a passing drone and can time laps, recording each lap and allowing the pilot to see their best time. It also has an LED ring for visibility. If desired, the user can program these LEDs to flash when a drone passes by.
The brain of the gate is a small, affordable Arduino Nano board. It detects passing drones using a pair of ultrasonic sensors. Many similar versions only use one ultrasonic sensor, but ProfessorBoots has added a second for reliable drone detection. The case and ring are 3D printable, with a strip of individually addressable WS2812B RGB LEDs running along the outer surface of the ring. A small four-digit, seven-segment display connects to the Arduino to show the time.
Arduino Team — January 7, 2023
Drone racing is an increasingly popular hobby, especially as high-performance drones become more and more affordable. Racing drones can reach 200 mph and a big part of the skill needed to compete is the pilot's ability to navigate through gates at high speed. These gates mark checkpoints on the course, much like the gates that slalom skiers go through. Drone racing gates can also track time, which is the case with this DIY micro FPV drone racing gate built by YouTuber ProfessorBoots.
This is an affordable door for indoor micro FPV drone racing. It's large enough to accommodate larger drones, but the pilot should have stellar finesse. For micro drones, it's perfect. The gate detects the presence of a passing drone and can time laps, recording each lap and allowing the pilot to see their best time. It also has an LED ring for visibility. If desired, the user can program these LEDs to flash when a drone passes by.
The brain of the gate is a small, affordable Arduino Nano board. It detects passing drones using a pair of ultrasonic sensors. Many similar versions only use one ultrasonic sensor, but ProfessorBoots has added a second for reliable drone detection. The case and ring are 3D printable, with a strip of individually addressable WS2812B RGB LEDs running along the outer surface of the ring. A small four-digit, seven-segment display connects to the Arduino to show the time.
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