I'm going to build a quadcopter in the coming weeks/months and I have a question about the pin requirements and weight of the board I'm looking to use (Arduino Mega 2560).
First off, I'm going to be using four motors so I'll have four ESC's (electronic speed controllers). Is this absolutely necessary or can I use one ESC to control all four motors? Also, how many pins do I need per ESC?
Second, I'll have a gyroscope, accelerometer, and an altimeter onboard. I'm assuming each takes up one IO pin; if this is not necessarily the case, please explain...
I'm going to have all that plus a camera which will output it's video independently (as of now this is my plan). Now, I'm new to this so I don't have previous knowledge to draw from and I'm not sure what is the best/most powerful motor/propeller combination I can use to lift all this.
I'm going to have to use another microcontroller as the remote control, but I don't know which one I should use or how can it be interfaced with the copter. Most of the stuff I've seen only tell you about the copter itself and not the controller. So if anyone can help me out with that I'd be very grateful.
And the kicker is I'm trying to develop the flight control software myself. I'm trying to make it self stabilize, i.e. fly by wire. I'm also trying to make it hold its position against wind, using only the onboard sensors (no GPS as of now). Does anyone know where I can get information on doing this kind of software and the validation tests I need to do before I can say with confidence that the copter is stable?
Thanks in advance!