High Level Design

So what am I shooting for from a very high level?

1. A small quadcopter where everything is controlled and operated by Raspberry Pi 2 or 3. Just a frame, motors, sensors and RPi. I know there are few more details involved, but we are talking high level.

2. Remote Control app that can run on multiple platforms: Linux, Windows, Android phone and tablets, possibly on Apple devices as well, but I don’t have access to them, so I won’t be able to test those.

3. Communications between the quad and remote control app will happen over TCP/IP network. What does it mean? No RC devices involved. Initially, I’m thinking of simply using WiFi for communication between the drone and remote device. I know the range is limited, but if I can get it to work on WiFi, I can attempt to make it work over a mobile network. Will it be fast enough? Don’t know. But obviously, it depends on the quality of link and how much data is being sent over.

4. All software will be written in Python. I know it’s not the most efficient way to do the embedded development, but what the hell. Let’s see if it works. And if it doesn’t, I will consider some other options.