Have You Ever Flown FPV?





As technology has advanced over the past few years, so has the FPV technology. FPV Drones kept getting smaller and smaller as their cameras kept shrinking. Insert Tiny Whoop "Tiny Whoop" is a drone company founded in 2015 by Jesse Perkins. Jesse and a group of friends came up with the idea of pairing a microsized drone (65mm motor to motor) with a mounted micro camera. The design combination of size, maneuverability, and guarded props give you the ability to fly almost anywhere. You can zip around your house, weave between chair legs (or the human variety) at the coffee shop, and take on the challenge of navigating a tube slide at the playground! (Learn more about the history of Tiny Whoop here) My Favorite Tiny Whoop, "Bright Blue" The Problem With a Tiny Whoop you can fly anywhere! Well, almost…. Flying in the dark can present a bit of a problem. And, if you're racing, trying to differentiate between 15 separate gates on a course can get difficult if they all look the same. A potential solution came in early spring, when flier Adrian Gibson brought in some single color LEDs to mark the course and make some gates for our weekly Tiny Whoop races in Fort Collins. The amount of improvement the LEDs made in the visibility of the course impressed me greatly and the ‘wow’ factor inspired me to design a Tiny Whoop-sized race gate of my own.

The Quest for the Perfect Race Gate Last December I purchased my first 3D printer from Robo 3D, a former KickStarter project (Robo 3D Printer), and was amazed at all the things I could create, straight out of the box! Soon I was constantly searching Thingiverse for new and useful things to print, and I came across a Tiny Whoop gate that looked intriguing. I printed it in green and put some plain white LEDs around the edge. First Printed Race Gate I liked the initial results, but I wanted a way to change up the light display….plus about a hundred other ideas. Starting with an Arduino board and an 8x8 panel of addressable RGB LEDs, I soldered together a concept board that would later become the controller for our Bright Blue Tech (BBT) Race Gates. Doesn't look like a race gate, yet... At the same time, I started noticing some issues with the 3D file I was using from Thingiverse. According to the MultiGP spec, the area of the Tiny Whoop gate could be up to 361 square inches. The one from Thingiverse maxed out at 247, which could make it pretty challenging when flying at higher speeds. I brought the smaller green gate to the next Tiny Whoop race for a test run, but I quickly figured out that gate size was the least of its issues. The pieces did not stay together very well and the slightest bump from a drone would have the gate collapsing and leaving a mix of powered LEDs and plastic everywhere.

Many hours of CAD design ensued, working on different iterations to look for the right solution. After many cycles of design, print, construct, test, and repeat, I happened across the right solution. Using the basics of the original design, I removed features that were difficult to mass print and added features for stability and ease of manufacture. This included snap-on outer covers that protected the LEDs from damage and added the needed rigidity for stability. They also allowed the colors to shine in nearly all directions. The largest design addition at this point was the electronics box. This design came from several hours of discussion with a 3D printing guru and great friend of mine, Nick Mati. We came up with a box that would store the electronics, mode button, brightness control, and power connector, and mount on a stand easily made from PVC parts available at the local hardware store. A Box for the Electronics The Gates Suddenly Got A LOT of ATTENTION! I brought the first fully functional prototype to the races on April 18th and the reaction was amazing. People started asking me all sorts of questions about how they worked, how difficult they were to make, AND how much I would charge to make them some. That question floored me. It was about this time that my gates caught the attention of the Amazing Jesse P and Ben Shepard of Tiny Whoop. Jesse and Ben asked me to come by their shop to show them my creation, so I brought two gates by and demonstrated their features. We brainstormed on LED patterns, button functionality, and ease of use items. AND, they bought both of my prototypes right then and there, with an order for another 10! I immediately went back home and ordered more LED strands, Arduino boards, power supplies, wire, and a ton of 3D printer filament! I was running my printer 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. And, by the way, that little Robo3D has been amazing! But, it alone could not keep up with the demand I was about to face.

The Tiny Whoop Order See the Technical Product Demo HERE. Only one issue... Volume production! The sheer number of requests to build gates quickly overwhelmed my only printer's capacity and had me up at all hours of the night to change out prints. Then there’s the controller. For that, the following steps are required: Cutting 15 specific lengths of wire

Stripping both ends of each wire..

Tinning each end of every wire...

Building up resistor networks....

Covering exposed parts with heat shrink tubing for safety.....

Soldering more than 30 solder joins......

Working the cut-to-length wiring "harness" into the controller box and onto the gate hoop.......

Take a break and do it all again! Farming to the Rescue! 3D Print Farming, that is... To print the quantities of plastic necessary to provide the expected demand for these race gates, a whole lot of printers are needed. Not only standard sized, 200 x 200 x 200mm print volumes, but large-format printers also. The fewer parts that construct the hoop of the gate, the sturdier it becomes. What about having the plastic components made for me? I've received quotes from injection molding companies and the prices for the molds and larger gate pieces were outrageous. For the price of a single mold, I could purchase 8 high-quality 3D printers and still retain the ability to make design quality improvements as we go along. In addition, the crystalline appearance of the 3D fill material makes the LEDs sparkle like no injection molded part could.

Single Board Design Presently, I install a 3A thermal resettable fuse in every gate that goes out the door, but I'm still not satisfied with that level of safety and protection. Designing a reverse polarity circuit and overheat sensor has really set my mind at ease. Making this board design a reality would allow these additions without having to increase the size of the controller box. Instead of the 30+ hand solders I was doing before, I would be doing 8 at the most. Instead of fighting with shrink wrap and wires inside the control box, all the circuitry would be confined to the board. These safety features alone are worth taking this step, but the time-saving aspect in terms of production is very important as well. Project Timeline Based on the requirements, here are our plans to get our BBT Race Gates into your hands as SOON AS POSSIBLE! Project Features and Specifications Result: Continued Innovation Regaining much of my time spent soldering and changing out 3D prints until all hours of the morning would immediately result in further innovation on this product. Adding features that support games, color changes on events, and cross communication between gates are just a few things I will be working on. I also have other great drone racing ideas that constantly float around in my head. At this point, working with a single 3D printer and soldering up every circuit by hand has taken a great majority of my time, leaving these great ideas written down in a notebook to be expanded on another day. Comparison to Presently Sold Products There is really only one other commercially sold Tiny Whoop Race Gate out there, and that's the Team Black Sheep (TBS) Tiny Whoop Race Gate set. Here's how we compare to this product: BBT vs TBS Tiny Whoop Race Gates Now, It's Your Turn Please help us bring this great product to market. We have heard from so many of you who have seen our BBT Race Gates in videos live-streamed from Tiny Whoop HQ, our Tuesday night Tiny Whoop races, and from others. Many of you had first-hand experience seeing the Tiny Whoop guys creating a whoop course every night on the flight line of FliteFest East just a few weeks ago. Now is your chance to own your very own set of these BBT Race Gates. Outfit an existing event, or even start your own Tiny Whoop races with your local drone group. And, if you haven't tried one of these little FPV Tiny Whoop drones before, you have no idea what you are missing. Check out our video section for in-race video of our gates in use. If you’re interested in purchasing a Tiny Whoop racer, check out the Tiny Whoop site here. https://www.tinywhoop.com/ I Did Not Get Here On My Own Many thanks to the following people for making all this possible: My Mom for not asking too many questions when her 46-year-old son asked for an Inductrix FPV drone for Christmas last year. That's what started all of this.

My wife, Kirsten, and kids (Jordan, Rylan, Owen and Colin) for dealing with the constant smell of plastic, solder, the endless late nights, and the occasional close buzz of a Tiny Whoop by your heads as I "tested out" the product.

Adrian Gibson, Chase Mallory, Drew O'Connell, Josh Kerson and all the Fort Collins Drone Enthusiasts for being so enthusiastic and encouraging me to pursue this project. And for all the weekly product testing we are "forced" to do.

Lowell and Debbie of E-Team Hobbyplex for allowing us to take over your place every Tuesday night and the opportunity to show off our wares, even though you constantly berate me about my flying skills... (believe me when I say I deserve it)

The 3D printing Guru, Nick Mati, for the amazing help. Suggesting my first 3D printer, getting me up to speed on all that was involved, and the endless help with CAD. You were a project lifesaver during those times!

Danny Dodge for the amazing dedication of time and gear shooting our Kickstarter video.

Josh Rice for the graphic design and trademark creation you volunteered without even being asked.

Jesse Perkins and Ben Shepard for promoting the heck out of these gates. The Tiny Whoop team ROCKS!

And Taylor Worthington for all the video editing, social media management, paperwork, and business advice. It is truly invaluable. The Fine Print The initial STL file (3D Print) for our gates was "Tiny Whoop gate. For Blade inductrix, tinywhoop, eachine E010 and others" by Megabug Published on October 23, 2016 is licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution license. The "Dancing LED" code for the modes: rainbow; rainbowWithGlitter; confetti; sinelon; bpm; and juggle; are modified from Demo Reel by Mark Kriegsman, December 2014, licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution license. The "Dancing LED" code for modes blendme and three_sin_pal are based off of modifications of work done by atuline, licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution license. The remaining modes and the start gate mode were created myself. Music in our video: "Never Gunna Stop Flying", "Upliftification", "Itty Bitty Bitsy Busy Izzy" by the amazingly talented Ben Shepard of Tiny Whoop.

If you have, you know the feeling. First Person View (FPV) flying uses a remote control and camera attached to an aircraft to control it via a screen or set of goggles, all while you are on Terra Firma. It's like you are sitting in the cockpit of the craft as you are piloting it, except you can take risks that a real pilot would never dream of taking. The experience is like nothing else.