I’m thrilled to announce an update to my second drone course, “Make an Open Source Drone: More Fun.” The course contains new lectures that feature the Matek F405TE flight controller and teach advanced features of the Mission Planner software.
If you want to see the updates, look at the “Course #2 update details” segment further down in this post.
First, I’d like to give you an overview of the two drone courses in the Tech Explorations catalog.
Techexplorations.com offers an exciting pair of courses for drone enthusiasts and aspiring builders. These courses, “Make an Open Source Drone” and “Make an Open Source Drone: More Fun,” provide a comprehensive journey from assembling a basic quadcopter to creating an advanced, self-piloting drone.
Course #1: “Make an Open Source Drone”
This foundational course is designed for those who want to understand drones from the ground up. It covers:
- Drone mechanics and electronics
- Component selection and assembly
- Software for semi-autonomous flight
- Principles of drone design and performance
By the end of this course, students will have built a quadcopter capable of stable, manual flight. They’ll also gain the confidence to perform repairs and extend their drone’s capabilities.
Course #2: “Make an Open Source Drone: More Fun”
Building on the first course, “More Fun” takes drone building and piloting to the next level. The course has been recently updated with new content, focusing on:
- Setting up radio telemetry for real-time tracking and control.
- Configuring fail-safes to prevent accidents and unauthorised incursions.
- Setting up and configuring flight modes on the radio controller.
- Designing and executing autonomous drone missions in the Mission Planner simulator, to include geofencing, inclusion, and exclusion zones.
- How to setup battery monitoring, and include battery health information in the fail-safes and pre-arm checks.
- How to do all of the above with the Matek F405TE flight controller and Mission Planner software.
Course #2 update details
In early 2025, I updated “Make an Open Source Drone More Fun” with several new lectures. The latest lectures begin by integrating the radio telemetry module with the Matek F405TE flight controller (which I introduced in Course #1), offering clear, step-by-step instructions to establish a reliable communication link that allows you to monitor and adjust flight parameters in real-time.
The course explains how to configure geofencing by setting up inclusion and exclusion zones. This feature lets you define safe flight areas while restricting access to sensitive regions, ensuring that your drone operates within designated boundaries and adheres to local regulations. You then learn how to set up various flight modes on the Matek F405TE, which involves calibrating the controller for different conditions and switching modes.
The course also introduces the Mission Planner flight simulator to help you verify your configurations before deploying your drone. This tool allows you to test your geofencing setup in a virtual environment, providing a practical way to ensure everything works as expected without the risks associated with real-world testing.
Lastly, I added detailed lectures with guidance on setting up the Matek F405TE’s battery monitoring capability, enabling you to install the necessary sensors, configure monitoring parameters, and interpret battery health data to manage power efficiently during flights.
Check out the two courses here. Wishing you blue skies and safe landings!