RC Controller for Small Planes
 

A while back I had an idea to make a plane that I could control from a phone. After quite a bit of work, learning app development, and circuit design, I now have a functional prototype. I am now at a crossroads of deciding whether I should pursue it as a business or move on to another project, and deciding which features are important in the case of a business. Please let me know if a post like this is against the rules. I'm new to this forum.


So the main goal would be to decrease the cost required to enter the hobby at the lowest tier. With an app-controlled plane, there is no controller that you have to purchase, and as you make the plane smaller you can start using coreless motors instead of brushless motors. Batteries also get much cheaper as you transfer to a 1s lipo. I think I could sell a starter kit with 2 motors, 2 servos, 2 batteries, and a control board for $35-40.


My latest prototype board has 4 general purposes PWM channels. 2 of the channels also have the circuitry to drive an 8520 coreless motor. It is programmable has integrated charge circuitry and has a 9 axis motion sensor for stabilization.


I wrote the app to be flexible and multipurpose. You would simply connect to the plane and select your motor configuration and fly. It's probably not quite as good as a true radio transmitter, but there are some cool things like autopilot and haptic feedback that I think could make it competitive with a physical transmitter. The range is also quite good, for a small plane it should be a non-issue.


My main questions to the community would be:

What is the typical recommendation to someone who wants to enter the RC Plane hobby on a budget?

Are there any features that a budget plane definitely should have?

Any features that I described that you think are a waste of time?

Do you think it is a good idea?

I think I’d recommend someone to get an Eflite Sport Cub 2 UMX. Small, easy to fly, hard to break and with stabilisation and panic button but also with the ability to switch to full manual control.

I think toughness and ease of repair are important considerations, as at the price range it doesn’t seem like offering full spare parts support is expected.

Have you seen the existing Powerup 3.0 app-controlled plane system that lets you convert a paper plane into radio control? This kind of system may be your competition although more simple.

I believe range may be more an issue than you think even with a small plane. I don’t really see any advantage to making the control app based, and the disadvantage is if the app isn’t kept updated as a customer you’re left with a brick after the new version of iOS or Android isn’t compatible. A cheap plane with proportional control by sticks would still be my go to recommendation.

I don’t think it’s a direct comparison with the type of aircraft I imagine, and your idea sounds more like an introductory toy. I think it’s a good idea in that market, but in practice I see this being outperformed by a cheap banggood RTF for similar money and so not a good idea to try to compete directly.