Autonomous UAV & Drone Software Development
I was the sole developer of all three software units of KAPGAN — the AI detection unit, the autonomous management unit and the ground control station — which won Turkey 1st and the “Most Original Software” award at Teknofest 2021. I bring the same discipline to your UAV: autonomous mission software, flight-controller communication, a ground control station and a simulation environment, end to end.
First step: Discovery & Feasibility — Free
Problems it solves
- The mission (takeoff, route, target detection, landing) has to run autonomously, with no human in the loop.
- MAVLink communication with the flight controller is unreliable; commands are delayed or lost.
- There is no simulation environment (Gazebo / ArduPilot SITL) to test software safely before field trials.
- Off-the-shelf ground control software does not cover your mission-specific screens, telemetry or server integration.
- You need control where GPS is unavailable or unreliable (for example, inside a factory).
What you get
- Autonomous mission / main management software (Python, multi-threaded)
- ArduPilot flight-controller integration over MAVLink and DroneKit
- A mission-specific ground control station (C# / .NET): telemetry, mission screens, server communication
- A Gazebo + ArduPilot SITL simulation environment and test scenarios
- AI-based target / marker detection where needed (OpenCV, YOLO)
- Source code, setup and user documentation
How we work
- 1
Free discovery call
I listen to your need, your current system and your goals, and we talk openly about what is technically feasible.
- 2
Scope and quote
A written scope, milestones, an exact price and a timeline. No surprise costs — what is included is clear from the start.
- 3
Build and regular demos
I work in short iterations and share a version running in simulation, plus a demo video, at every milestone.
- 4
Test and handover
End-to-end testing in Gazebo / SITL first, then field validation. Handed over with source code and documentation.
Tech stack
Related projects
Real projects I have built in this area.
Teknofest 2021 · Turkey Champion
KAPGAN Combat UAV
National champion and winner of the "Most Original Software" award at Teknofest 2021 Combat UAV Competition — I was the sole developer of all three software units.
My first international freelance job · Upwork/Fiverr
Vision-Based Autonomous Precision Landing
A precision-landing system that uses AI to detect a helipad "H" marking and lands the drone exactly on its centre — continuously re-centring during descent so wind/drift cannot throw it off. My first serious international freelance job.
Teknofest 2022 · Finalist (9th)
Armed Autonomous Strike UAV
Teknofest 2022 TÜBİTAK Open-Mission UAV finalist: a hexacopter that runs the entire mission — from takeoff to strike — autonomously. I coded its "brain", the main management unit.
Mayfly · Turkey's first GPS-denied 5G UAV
5G-Enabled GPS-Denied UAV
One of Turkey's first private-5G UAVs able to operate in GPS-denied (indoor/factory) environments. We built one drone in 15 days; I owned the system architecture and the control/communication software.
Open source · R&D
Atmaca — LLM-Powered Autonomous UAV
An experimental UAV you command in plain (natural) language; a language model (Gemma 3) interprets the commands and turns them into autonomous flight.
Award-winning ground control software
Award-Winning Ground Control Station
Professional C# ground control software that runs all combat-UAV missions from a single window and communicates latency-free with flight controllers over MAVLink.
Frequently asked questions
How much does UAV software development cost?
The price depends on the scope; there is no fixed price list. The easiest way to start is Discovery & Feasibility: requirements analysis, technical roadmap, rough plan and proposal document. Discovery and feasibility are free. The price and timeline of the project itself depend on its scope and come as a firm quote at the end of that work.
Which flight controllers and protocols do you work with?
My projects use ArduPilot-based flight controllers, the MAVLink protocol, DroneKit and Mission Planner, and ROS for swarm work. If you use a different autopilot, we assess compatibility together in the discovery call.
How do you test the software before real flights?
I test end to end in simulation with Gazebo and ArduPilot SITL. For example, the vision-based precision-landing system runs the whole takeoff–search–centre–autonomous-landing loop in SITL, and its DroneKit/MAVLink architecture ports to a real vehicle.
Can you add AI target detection to my existing UAV?
Yes. I built target-UAV detection with Faster R-CNN for KAPGAN and helipad detection with YOLOv3-tiny for the precision-landing system, and wired the detections to MAVLink commands. See the AI & Computer Vision service for details.
Do you support Teknofest teams?
Yes — I offer one-on-one training and Teknofest consulting for teams. Details are on the UAV Training & Teknofest Consulting page.
Do you work remotely, and in which languages?
Yes. I am based in Türkiye (GMT+3) and work remotely with clients worldwide; meetings are held in Turkish or English and scheduled around your time zone.
Let's talk about your project
We clarify your need together in a short call; then I send the scope, exact price and timeline in writing.