F P V info ??

[drgilo1973]

hello i m interetsed in FPV but i need some more info from people who already had experience ,
the hardware that i installed are , e logger v4 , OSD pro , gps , all of them from eagle tree , do i need more so i can retrack the path of my plane , who can i record my path so i can see it on google earth ?? do i need more hardware ??
BTW everything is good connected my camera is working , my elogger is on my gps also , thnks for your help ..

[Mick]

Gilbert, you can download the logger after the flight and see the flight path on Google Earth. I have done this and it is quite straight forward but confusing at first. It is all done via the Eagle Tree software.

If you want to do this real time then you need the receiver to output a signal to a PC and run the right software to display real time tracking. I have never attempted this but I think Andrew and Billy have so hopefully they can help.

[Tarek Hassoune]

Gilbert be ready for towing again I have a nice new glider

[drgilo1973]

thnks mick i really appreciate that , tarek i ll be ready when ever you want , my plane is ready my camera also wee gonna put it to film like last time see you soon

[Andrew Fernie]

The S/W I use for real time tracking on the PC relies on the Arduplane H/W and S/W (basically an autopilot with datalink). Check the DIYDrones site for more on this.

Flew with my antenna tracker for the first time yesterday. That sure cleans up the quality of the video!

[drgilo1973]

ok thnks andrew

[zorba]

Hi Gilbert, The unit I use is good and very inexpenssive, I got it from Best buy
As long as you have a base receiver you connect the unit to that and the laptop, you can watch it real time and then press a button to record. It comes with its own software.
Here's a photo of it

Cheers

[Hadi]

Can you possibly post the link/name to the product you got from bestbuy?

[zorba]

Sure Hadi here it is.


Cheers

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/diamond-diamond-ati-theater-hd-750-usb-tv-tuner-tvw750usb-tvw750usb/10139477.aspx?path=93c88f48639ed0a37427f2a102f6ba9 7en02

Also this one
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/hauppauge-hauppauge-1200-wintv-hvr850-usb-stick-1200/10169948.aspx?path=a379cb4f053c1f03772ecfecc2fcfa4 cen02

[Andrew Fernie]

Gilbert,
There are two distinct types of data being discussed here.

One is the video from your camera, presumably after the Eagletree OSD has added the symbology. Once it has been sent from the plane to the ground on your video link it can be recorded on a PC via the type of device Billy described, by a portable camcorder like Mick used (although tough to find one with video inputs), by a hard disk (HDD) based video recorder (like Ionel uses), or by a DVD recorder like I have (search for Sony VRD-MC6). I believe that the best image quality of the four is the DVD recorder, and DVDs are a cheap way of keeping an archive of your flights. Another alternative is to search on ebay for an old digital video camcorder with an analog video input as they also have very good image quality. They used to be common, but I couldn't find any current models when I was looking. Search the FPV forums in RCGroups and you will find plenty on this. Which ever you pick, you will end up with a record of what your camera saw, but no digital data that you can visualize in Google Earth.

The other type of data is a digital stream of flight parameters such as latitude, longitude, altitude, etc. Your Eagletree records that data internally and you can download it after your flights. The system I have has a separate data transmitter and receiver so that my laptop can receive data from the plane in flight, and also send commands up to the plane. The application that runs on the laptop shows where the plane is via Google Earth along with a variation of the symbols that are found on a real aircraft head up display (HUD) for aircraft pitch, roll, heading, altitude, etc. The display occurs in real time while the aircraft is flying and is recorded for later playback. In addition, you can use a video capture device like the one Billy listed to show the camera view with the HUD symbology on top, and record that while the plane is flying. The software is quite nice - check out this (http://code.google.com/p/ardupilot-mega/wiki/Mission) link.

The Eagletree has some type of a data link available as it can drive an antenna tracker, but I don't think that it has a general purpose link like the Arduplane.

Getting any of these systems going is a bit of work - you need to build up and debug one element at a time, and can't get discouraged when it doesn't work as planned. The Arduplane is much more of a experimenter's kit than the pre-packaged Eagletree, but I am having lots of fun working on it and have basically been at it on and off since the early summer.

Andrew

[drgilo1973]

ok clear , thks billy and andrew