I’m in charge of drone operations at my university, and a researcher wanted to fly a datalogger for vertical profile measurements. Since students will be around during demos, we needed something that could stay within the A1 category—meaning under 250g, even with the extra payload. The Neo handles it like a champ!
I’ll be open-sourcing the “backpack” design soon!
Nice! Is that a Pico on the bottom?
Sullivan said:
Nice! Is that a Pico on the bottom?
Yep! Pico W on the bottom, a “Pi Cowbell” SD card and Real-Time Clock in the middle, and an HDC3022 on top!
Sullivan said:
Nice! Is that a Pico on the bottom?
Yep! Pico W on the bottom, a “Pi Cowbell” SD card and Real-Time Clock in the middle, and an HDC3022 on top!
Very tidy. Looking forward to trying it out myself!
Nice setup! What’s the weight, and how does it handle? Also, what kind of data are you logging?
Zen said:
Nice setup! What’s the weight, and how does it handle? Also, what kind of data are you logging?
The backpack weighs 35g. We saved quite a bit of weight by drawing power directly from the drone’s main board.
It flies fine, but it’s louder than stock, and you’re lucky to get 9 minutes of flight time. Also, it complains a lot about wind—since the backpack acts like a bit of a sail 
Right now, we’re logging temperature and humidity, but we can swap in any sensor that a Pi Pico can handle.
@Ren
Have you thought about mounting it underneath the drone? It could improve stability and efficiency by keeping the center of gravity lower.
The downwash from the props would also help stabilize it naturally, like an airfoil, whereas right now, wind is probably making it act like a sail.
@Marley
That would be ideal, but the Neo doesn’t really have a good mounting spot underneath—it’s all battery down there. Plus, I want to be able to swap batteries quickly, and tapping power from the top makes that easier.
@Ren
Still might be worth considering! Right now, the drone is using extra energy just to keep itself balanced with the weight on top. If you mounted it lower with some simple straps, you might squeeze out an extra minute of flight time.
Even small changes can make a noticeable difference in handling and efficiency!
@Yan
I hear you! The current setup is super easy to attach/detach, and it doesn’t block the landing sensors. Mounting it underneath would be more complicated since there’s no solid surface down there—just the battery casing.
@Ren
Fair enough! Good luck with it 
