Looking for Aerial Platform Soluion

As part of my graduation design project, my team is looking for a RC aerial platform that is capable of carrying around 2~3kg of equipment into the air. Currently we have looked at:

1) Mikrokopter (quad and hexcopters) - ~$2000
2) 700 size electric RC helicopter - ~$1500
3) 60 or 90 size nitro RC helicopter - ~$1400
4) 9m RC blimp - unless the Chinese supplier I just contacted can give us a significantly cheaper price, this option is wayyyy to expensive

Does anyone here know anything about these? or have some sort of connection to some cheap equipment? We are looking for a solution under 1k preferably.

PS: There are Chinese suppliers for RC helicopters that charge around $500 but they have unknown durability, especially when carrying payload.

T-U-P said:

1) Mikrokopter (quad and hexcopters) - ~$2000
2) 700 size electric RC helicopter - ~$1500
3) 60 or 90 size nitro RC helicopter - ~$1400
4) 9m RC blimp - unless the Chinese supplier I just contacted can give us a significantly cheaper price, this option is wayyyy to expensive

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Definitely don't go with blimp.

What or other design requirements? Does it have to have VTOL ability? Do you guys have to create a feedback controller?

A winged aircraft is bound to be much less expensive for the same payload than a helicopter, whether that payload is 1 kg or 100,000 kg. Was there a reason you didn't consider it?
If it must hang still in the air, what about a captive balloon?

Yes I forgot to mention that it is used for aerial filming, so it will need to be able to both hover and move relatively fast. This is why fixed wing and balloons are not being considered right now.

2~3 kg is actually pretty heavy. A 2kg of mass is as heavy as a 2 liter pop bottle, so I would suggest using nitro as your power source because it has higher power density than batteries. Does this narrow down your list a bit?

My friend used a quad for his senior design project. That would be my suggestion.

I want to know how long the hover phase needs to last. If that is only a minute or two you might still use a winged plane. An-2, Y-5 can be stalled and they then come down stably and slowly. It is used in case of engine failure over a forest or in fog. You loose the aircraft but save your life.
So if the time you need is limited you can use a biplane with low wing loading. Perhaps mount the engines on the upper wing leading edge and put the batteries in the wings, if you decide not to follow Engineer's advice ( which is pretty good ). Do you need more?

A different approach: Why not use a captive balloon and a winged aircraft? Both should be pretty inexpensive and cheaper than a custom designed solution.

delft said:

I want to know how long the hover phase needs to last. If that is only a minute or two you might still use a winged plane. An-2, Y-5 can be stalled and they then come down stably and slowly. It is used in case of engine failure over a forest or in fog. You loose the aircraft but save your life.
So if the time you need is limited you can use a biplane with low wing loading. Perhaps mount the engines on the upper wing leading edge and put the batteries in the wings, if you decide not to follow Engineer's advice ( which is pretty good ). Do you need more?

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aren't these all manned aircrafts? We have definitely have considered nitro; however, nitro exhaust gas is pretty visible and could interfere with aerial filming shots.

A captive balloon maneuvers too slow for our application, and there is a grad student team working on what we are trying to do but on the fixed wing, which means we really shouldn't used a fixed wing for our project. We are currently leaning towards a hexacopter.

T-U-P said:

aren't these all manned aircrafts? We have definitely have considered nitro; however, nitro exhaust gas is pretty visible and could interfere with aerial filming shots.

A captive balloon maneuvers too slow for our application, and there is a grad student team working on what we are trying to do but on the fixed wing, which means we really shouldn't used a fixed wing for our project. We are currently leaning towards a hexacopter.

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I'm talking about the aerodynamic qualities, not about the size. So my suggestion might be useful to the other team?