Unlock Unlimited Practical Range
The FPV community is crowdsourcing the ultimate open-source autonomous relay drone. A 1-hour hover. A $2,000 budget cap. True 2-square-mile cross-band Walksnail & ELRS bridging.
The Mission
When you fly an FPV drone behind a building or a mountain, the signal degrades rapidly or drops completely. But if we position a Relay Drone at 400 feet AGL (the maximum FAA limit), the signal density issue vanishes.
This project will fund the ultimate open-source bounty to crack the "Holy Grail" of civilian RF networks: An autonomous, cross-band, 1-hour hovering relay drone that provides 2-square-miles of unbroken coverage.
100% Open Source Guarantee
Every submission, every line of Python code, and every 3D printed schematic generated by this contest must be released under MIT/GPL licenses. When the bounty is claimed, the entire FPV community gets the technology for free, forever.
Live Funding Tracker
We need $20,000 to guarantee 3rd place recoups their BOM cost. Pilots fund it. Builders hack it.
Prize Pool Ticker
SYNCING LIVECore Technical Specifications
To claim the prize, your submission must meet the following hardware and software constraints.
1-Hour Endurance
The drone must hover for a minimum of 60 continuous minutes. This requires maximizing Watt-hours per gram. (Hint: Use deep Molicel P45B Li-Ion packs, not racing LiPos).
$2,000 Budget Cap
The final Bill of Materials (BOM) cannot exceed $2,000 USD. The system must be attainable for standard FPV hobbyists to replicate.
The Cross-Band RF Payload
You must bridge the gap between Walksnail HD Video and ExpressLRS Control without self-interference on the same airframe.
- Video Relay: Walksnail Avatar HD (5.8 GHz RX / 5.2 GHz TX)
- Control Link: ExpressLRS (900 MHz RX / 2.4 GHz TX)
Beware RF Hell
Placing four active radios next to a GPS compass on a carbon frame will cause GPS lock failures and failsafes if not shielded, separated, and filtered correctly.
Autonomous Topographical Brain
The relay drone must constantly calculate and position itself in the optimal 3D location between the Pilot and the Worker drone. It requires topographical awareness—loading SRTM digital elevation maps into a companion computer (like the Orange Pi Zero 3) to know where it must fly to avoid mountains while maintaining the 400ft FAA hard deck.
Judging Rubric
Every submission will be evaluated by the administrative panel across 9 core metrics.
Quantitative Metrics (Hard Data)
| Metric | Goal | Max Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Flight Time | ≥ 60 Minutes (Requires .bin logs) | 20 |
| 2. Cost | ≤ $2,000 USD (Requires itemized BOM) | 15 |
| 3. Weight | Minimum Possible AUW | 10 |
| 4. Range Extension | 2 Sq Miles (Requires uncut DVR map proof) | 15 |
Qualitative Metrics (Design & Execution)
| Metric | Description | Max Pts |
|---|---|---|
| 5. Design Quality | Engineering elegance, wiring, thermal management. | 10 |
| 6. Documentation | Completeness of the build guides and schematics. | 10 |
| 7. Replicability | How easily could a standard hobbyist build this? | 10 |
| 8. Reliability | Field test stability. Does the link drop? | 5 |
| 9. User Experience | How intuitive is the final system to deploy? | 5 |
Note: The final 10% of the prize pool is split among VIP Contributors (5%) and Admin Costs (5%).
Think you have what it takes?
The burden of proof is absolute. You must provide uncut DVR footage of the 1-hour hover, ArduPilot dataflash logs, and full GPS overlay proof of the 2-square-mile range extension.