Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are
used throughout many industries and for many purposes, such
as mapping areas of interest that are not easily accessible or too
large for traditional land-based methods. The cost of these
specialized UAVs is high and unaffordable for small townships
and farmers. This capstone project demonstrates that a UAV
can be built for less than $1500 and can be used to carry out
mapping missions with a consumer-grade camera. The UAV’s
construction and component selection will be covered. This
paper also covers the creation of a ground station that supports
the operation of the UAV by continuously pointing a high-gain
antenna at the UAV in flight. The testing methods and validation
for both the UAV and ground station are also covered. In the
end, the UAV cost $996.62 and the supporting ground station
cost $434.90.
