UAV, FPV, and AP Projects

First off, there are a few acronyms to get out of the way....
UAV - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle. Anything that flies via remote control or autonomously. (No human pilot onboard).
FPV - First Person View. This is the common RC hobbyist term for flying your airplane via a real time video link from the aircraft's cockpit.
AP - Aerial Photography. This is the common RC hobbyist term for strapping a camera to your remote controlled aircraft.

This page will serve as a place to demonstrate some of my projects with UAV's, FPV, and AP. For those interested in building your own FPV ship I will try and provide useful setup information and tricks that I have learned etc.

I've experimented with several aircraft, cameras, wireless links, controllers, power plants, etc. However I mostly use an EasyStar with brushless motor, 900Mhz video link, and 72Mhz control link. I've also done digital still camera triggering and rocket motor triggering using my own circuit designs.

For those looking for information about the HobbyZone XPort Hack, take a look at http://www.pasqualy.com/XPort/

More projects can be found at http://www.pasqualy.com

 

General Images and Video

Cockpit view from the EasyStar over my house. This is what my view looks like through the video googles when flying.

Here is my current long distance record. I'm guessing that the line of sight distance was around 1 mile or more. I didn't notice any significant video or controll drop out so I think I could get farther but I was a little nervous about loosing all my expensive goodies.

AP shot flying over my driveway. I usually fly with a shirt or blanket over my head to block out light so the video goggles are easier to see. I also tend to squat or sit while flying so I don't step over the video cables etc.

Another AP shot of the neighborhood.

Click the image for higher resolution.

This is a shot of my old gasser just before my brother totaled it. We were testing the rocket launching system and I was flying without onboard video. His last words before crashing were something like, "Do I look like an idiot? Of course I can fly this thing".
f Here is a shot of the EasyStar cockpit. The camera is a KX171. On the nose is a voltage monitor originally designed for a 4.6V battery but hacked for a 3 cell lipo (11.1V).
Here is the EasyStar setup with a Saturn Missle Battery under each wing. The neighborhood kids were really impressed by the show.
Here is my AP setup. I programmed a PIC micro controller to capture one of the servo channels from reciever so I could remotely operate the camera.
FPV Flight over my brothers rice farm. You can see the damage done from feral hogs. I also took a little time out to chase some birds etc.
Here is the EasyStar Multiple Rocket Launcher video showing the circuit design and launch of the Saturn Missile Battery fireworks. My good camera was recently lost before this video was made so I had to use a really poor substitute.
This is an early FPV flight around the neighborhood.