Looking for some advice on my first Drone build

1

Hey, all I just finished ordering the last parts for my first serious custom drone build and wanted to share the progress + get some feedback from people who’ve been down this road.

The Build So Far:

  • Holybro PX4 Development Kit – X500 V2 Frame + Pixhawk 6C

  • RadioMaster TX12 MKII (ELRS) + RP3-H nano receiver

  • 2× OVONIC 4S 6000mAh 120C batteries + HOTA D6 Pro charger

  • Full plug-and-play setup (Hopefully LOL, still trying to learn how to solder)

Total so far: ~$1,000

The frame is already famous in the PX4 community for being a quick, lightweight, carbon-fiber research platform. Everything is arriving in the next few weeks and I’m about to start assembly once delivered. I already have QGroundControl installed & downloaded.

Next Steps / Long-Term Goal:
I’m planning to turn this into a proper open-source research/AI drone:

  • Raspberry Pi 5 (8GB) + OAK-D Lite Fixed Focus camera for onboard computer vision

  • ROS 2 Jazzy + depthai-ros + PX4 bridge for object detection, basic obstacle avoidance, and autonomous missions

  • Eventually get my Part 107 and use it for real-world testing (mapping, inspections, etc.)

Main reasons I went this route:

  • Wanted full PX4 control and expandability instead of a locked-down DJI

  • Building something that actually looks good on a resume/GitHub for robotics/computer-vision jobs

  • Keep the whole project under $1,400 even with the AI stack

Questions for you all:

  1. Anyone else built the X500 V2 recently? Any gotchas I should watch for during assembly or first flights?

  2. Pi 5 + OAK-D Lite on this frame. power/weight tips?

  3. Best first computer-vision project to try once it’s flying? (YOLO detection? Simple follow-me? Something else?)

  4. Any must-have accessories I’m missing for a clean research setup? (Remote ID module is already on the list)

I’ll post build photos + flight video once it’s in the air. Super excited! This feels like the perfect middle ground between a hobby toy and a real development platform.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Please note: This is my first time posting on here I believe I am posting in the right category I am not please do let me know so change it to the proper category.

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Hi there!

Sounds like a cool project.

About the PI 5 with ROS 2 Jazzy: Be warned that this can lead to compatibility issues, as most things for PX4 are done using ROS2 Humble. Not impossible, just more work.

Do you plan to have any kind of data link besides the RC?

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Good point!

So the kit I purchased includes a “SiK Telemetry Radio V3 433/915MHz” so I’m planning to use that as the primary MAVLink data link with QGroundControl initially. Again, this is my first build but from my research this should work initially. I am trying to break my project down into phase’s due to monetary constraints.

For the first phase the plan is:

RC (TX12 ELRS) → manual control / safety override

SiK telemetry radio → MAVLink link to QGroundControl

In Phase 2: (Once I get everything up and running)

I plan to add the companion computer (Pi 5 + ROS2), I’ll probably also add WiFi between the Pi and a ground laptop for development and debugging.

So my idea thus far is:

Pixhawk ↔ MAVLink telemetry radio ↔ ground station

Pixhawk ↔ companion computer (ROS2 via MAVROS / PX4 bridge)

Still figuring out what the cleanest long-term architecture is for running computer vision + telemetry simultaneously, so if anyone has experience with that on the X500 frame I’d love to hear how you set it up.

Out of curiosity, what data links are most people using these days for companion-computer builds?

MAVLink telemetry radio, WiFi bridge, or something else?

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Probably Raspberry Pi 4/5 and Nvidia Jetson Nano`s.