Affordable FLIR-equipped high-endurance SAR (Search and Rescue) drone based on the Xuwing VTBird frame, Ardupilot, and the Cube/Herelink ecosystem.

Drones can be an amazing asset to a search and rescue operation, especially those equipped with thermal imaging and those that have a long loiter time. Unfortunately, thermal-equipped drones are EXPENSIVE and fixed wing, VTOL-capable drones are also expensive. So, if you combine the two, you end up with a drone that is earth-shatteringly expensive. Most search and rescue is done by updaid volunteers who have to buy their own equipment, either out of their own pocket or from limited organizational funds. This is a barrier that can prevent a team from having equipment that can help save a life.

The intent of this project is to balance feautures and cost-effectiveness for a DIY drone build that can be used for extended search and rescue operations. The intent certaintly isn't to build the most high-tech drone, but to instead create the best drone possible with the resources on hand. This involves learning new skills, shopping around, and waiting for deals to pop up so that you can get the greatest value for your money--especially taking advantage of used components found on eBay or other sites.

The best part: you can upgrade your homebuilt drone over time to keep up with new technology as finances allow, and sell old components to help recoup some of the cost.

It's going to be as expensive as you can tolerate. All-in, my drone cost less than $3,500 (USD) with battery and GCS which is still drastically cheaper than any FLIR-equipped drone on the market--even used ones! I could have made it even cheaper, but I opted for ease-of-use by using the Herelink system instead of having different radios for control, telemetry and video (which is usually the cheaper route). Thankfully, I found the Herelink system on eBay at a price that made it comparable.

As time goes by, I plan on adding features as finances allow and demonstrated need during flight testing and real world exercises. I will add these as phases below, with a price on how much each phase cost.

• FLIR Thermal Imaging and RGB Camera (original FLIR Duo, $298 on eBay)
• Vertical Takeoff and Landing Capability
• High-Endurance (1.5 hours) in Fixed-Wing mode
• ADS-B Receive and automatic traffic avoidance (if enabled)
• Remote ID-compliant to allow use of the US National Airspace System (NAS)
• Anticollision strobes compliant with part-107 Night Flight (using amber strobes for easy identification of our drone)
• Flourescent Orange Color for easy day-time visibility
• Control, video, and telemetry integrated into a single remote control.
• Ability to share video/telemetry (wired or wirelessly) between the remote and one or more computers. This allows your teammembers to view the video on a larger screen and with less sun glare, increasing search effectiveness.