Platform Brief

Summary¶

After reading this brief, the evaluator can explain what libdrone is, why it is different from consumer and commercial alternatives, and whether it is appropriate for their institution's deployment context. Learning objective: recommend libdrone for further evaluation or conclude it is not the right fit — either outcome is useful.

Concept¶

The problem this platform solves¶

Flood. Chemical spill. Power outage at night. Three streets away, you cannot see what is happening. This is an information problem. For the first time in history, it has a €1,400 answer that fits in a backpack — but only if someone builds the right platform.

No existing option fills this gap cleanly. Commercial drones (DJI) are closed software, cloud-dependent data pipelines, and Chinese supply chain. Academic platforms are open but require institutional procurement at €10,000–50,000. Racing FPV drones are cheap but have no payload concept and no structured data output. → platform-overview maps this gap precisely.

libdrone is the EU civilian reference implementation: open-source, locally repairable, zero cloud dependency, documented payload interface, community- level cost.

What the platform is¶

A 330mm True-X quadrotor, 6-inch propellers, approximately 720–760g all-up with battery. EASA Open A2 category (250–900g). 12–15 minutes endurance. Built from 3D-printed PETG and PCCF structural layers — the frame costs €16 in filament. Electronics are commercially available components with documented alternatives.

The airframe is not the product. The payload standard is the product.

Two GX12-7 aviation connectors on the sealed top surface give any payload access to: regulated power (5V, 2A), GPS coordinates (57,600 baud NMEA, 10 Hz), bidirectional communications (UART + I2C), radio-controlled switching, and OSD overlay in the pilot's goggles. → gx12-connector-standard, → payload-electrical-interface, → payload-software-protocol define the complete interface.

Why this is the right platform for your context¶

→ platform-overview gives the full variant family overview. The evaluator question is: which variant, and why?

For community preparedness and municipal deployment: Pro platform. Manually piloted, GPS-assisted, field-repairable in under 10 minutes, operates fully offline. → civilian-preparedness and → resilience-use-cases map the 15 use cases from everyday training to active flood response.

For autonomous survey and ATAK integration: Bandit platform. ArduPilot firmware, waypoint missions, full MAVLink telemetry for tactical network integration. → iff-architecture covers the ATAK CoT pathway.

For training and education: Core platform. Under 250g, fewer regulatory requirements, lower consequence per crash.

The regulatory picture¶

→ easa-open-category covers the EASA A2 requirements in plain language: operator registration (registrace.caa.cz, ~200 CZK/year), A2 Certificate of Competency, third-party insurance, 30m separation from uninvolved persons (reduced to 5m with verified low-speed mode). → regulatory-overview provides the summary for procurement planning.

The cost picture¶

→ bom-summary contains the full cost breakdown. Single-frame build with goggles: approximately 34,000 CZK (~€1,400). Second frame incremental cost: approximately 7,000 CZK. Sensor payload (air quality mast): approximately 2,650 CZK additional.

Maintenance consumables: O-ring sets approximately every 20–30 flight hours. Arm shafts (the crash fuse) print from filament stock at <€1 each in 20 minutes. No service contract, no proprietary spares, no cloud subscription.

What partnership looks like¶

libdrone is a nonprofit open-hardware project. It does not sell drones — it publishes the design. An institution can build from the documentation, commission a local builder to produce units, or attend a workshop to train their own builders.

Institutional partnerships with component vendors, resellers, or workshop providers are welcomed. → foss-principles explains the CERN OHL-S v2 copyleft that governs modifications to the hardware design — your payload designs are your IP, not subject to the copyleft.

Reference¶

Quick reference for evaluators¶

Question	Article
What does it do?	platform-overview, resilience-use-cases
What does it cost?	bom-summary
What are the regulations?	easa-open-category, regulatory-overview
How is it maintained?	scheduled-maintenance
What payloads exist?	payload-sdk, payload-integration
How does it fit into a preparedness programme?	community-deployment
Is the platform auditable / open?	foss-stack-libdrone, foss-principles

Procedure¶

Rationale¶

The Platform Brief is a Type B conversion skeleton: every paragraph moves the evaluator toward a decision. It does not contain specifications (those are in atoms), only the information needed to decide whether to proceed. An evaluator who finishes this brief should know whether libdrone fits their context — yes or no — not have more questions than they started with.