The first and strong will to make airplane model was in high school.
But I was so busy with academic work that I didn’t have time to make it.
Only when I entered my college life, I joined the school airplane model team.

First Model

The picture shows the first airplane model I made, a simplified Cessna shape.
It was simple, but it started the journey �?like a dream coming true.

From Simple Flying to GRAS

Later I was no longer satisfied with just a simple hand-launched model.
I learned about CADC, especially the GRAS (Ground Reconnaissance and Strike) project �?it drove me crazy.
I read technical docs like Mission Planner and ArduPilot, which enable autonomous missions such as loiter and waypoint flights.
After rounds of design, carving and assembly, the first GRAS airplane was built.

PC-Controlled Drone · pymavlink

I wanted to make it smarter. I found pymavlink which bridges an ArduPilot-based drone to my PC.
This allowed scripting and cascading AI functions like YOLOv8-based search.
I also solved long-range control: with an edge setup and FM30, the link could reach up to ~30 km.

Field Trip · Chengdu

Our team joined an airplane model meetup in Chengdu. I DIY’d many things like FPV, an aircraft joystick, and some auto-fly demos.
Unfortunately some odd wind caused a mishap, but I kept footage from when it was alive.
You can also watch the clip on Bilibili.

Graduation Project · VTOL Research Platform

For my graduation design, I moved from hobby builds to a practical research platform:
a small VTOL UAV that can vertically take off and transition to forward flight.
A companion computer enables scripting, perception and higher-level autonomy.

• Airframe: VTOL layout, EPP + carbon reinforcement, modular nose bay
• Avionics: ArduPilot (Pixhawk), long-range RC & telemetry, tuned PID
• Companion: Raspberry Pi / Jetson; pymavlink / MAVSDK for scripting
• Perception: YOLOv8 for simple “follow/orbit�?demos
• Missions: Auto takeoff / RTL / loiter, waypoint flight, POI orbit, target-follow
• Lessons: Control tuning, link budget, failsafe design, quick iteration

📄 View Flight Plan PDF