I first wanted to build a model airplane in high school. Academic commitments left little time to pursue it. When I started college, I joined the university model aircraft team.

First Model

The picture shows the first airplane model I made, a simplified Cessna-style design. 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 immediately captured my interest. I read documentation for 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 integrating AI capabilities 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 built several systems, including an FPV setup, an aircraft joystick, and autonomous flight demos. Unfortunately, unexpected wind caused a flight mishap, but I kept footage from earlier flights. You can also watch the clip on Bilibili.

Graduation Project · VTOL Research Platform

For my graduation project, I moved from hobby builds to a practical research platform: a small VTOL UAV that can take off vertically 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