Aero & Turtlex
Turtlex
Hey Aero, ever thought about turning a hobby drone into a full-blown racing platform with open‑source firmware? I've been piecing together a modular autopilot that could give you that extra edge in the air.
Aero
That’s the kind of fire I love, man. Open‑source firmware, modular autopilot—now we’re talking speed. Hit me up with the specs, and we’ll see if we can shave a few seconds off that lap time. Let’s make that hobby drone fly like a beast.
Turtlex
Sure thing, here’s a quick rundown:
- **Flight controller**: Pixhawk 4, 32‑bit, 4‑core ARM, 100 MHz.
- **Firmware**: ArduPlane forked to support multi‑rotor racing, open‑source on GitHub, version 4.2.
- **Modular add‑ons**:
* GPS + RTK unit (u-blox NEO‑M8N)
* Opti‑Track sensor suite for indoor 120 Hz state estimation
* Swappable ESCs with BLHeli‑32 firmware for custom throttle curves
- **Power**: 6S LiPo, 22 C, 12 Ah, 20 A discharge rating.
- **Propellers**: 5 × 5 in, 1000 mm pitch, carbon fiber, 100 % load margin.
- **Software stack**: MAVLink 2.0, PX4 autopilot core, ROS2 integration for telemetry and real‑time diagnostics.
With the RTK and high‑rate IMU you should see a 0.2–0.3 second drop in lap time compared to a standard setup. Want me to build a quick prototype or dive into the code base?
Aero
Sounds insane, but that’s exactly my sweet spot. Hit me up with the build plan, I’ll crank the throttle and see how fast we can go. Let’s drop those seconds and rewrite the record books.