Sure enough, I found an entire community dedicated to FPV flying. Now, I am no engineer, but I am very technically inclined. It would not be out of my grasp to attain the skills needed to master the avionics and broadcast portions of this project. However, I decided that would be too easy. Like most things in my life, I am not happy unless I am being challenged.
I decided to dig a little bit deeper in to the community to see what people are working on, and through some persistence, and my own imagination, I came upon an idea that I think will suitably challenge me.
What I want to create, or design, preferably with as few preprogrammed pieces as possible (perhaps a prefab OSD, and the control components) is an rc plane with FPV capabilities, that is able to fly a pre determined course without my own active input.
Now, I know this is possible, but what I am unclear on is where to begin. Like I said, I am just a curious 25 year old with some time and a penchant for cool gizmos.
My idea in more organized form is as follows.
1) Attain FPV flight. (Pretty simple, some very detailed howtos on this very site.)
2) Add on some necessary bolt on's (OSD, GPS Support, sensor arrays)
3) Integrate gryo and accelerometer support to maintain level flight without my input. (Getting tougher)
4) Integrate on board video recording (Wont be able to xmit to a terrestrial recorder if I am out of range)
5) Create an interface to assign pre determined GPS coords (X,Y,Z) and basic flight protocols to get there. (For example. If I need to be at an elevation of 145m, I would have to command the plane to increase power, increase angle of attack, and circle until reaching the desired altitude.)
6) Introduce a secondary cam on the underside of the craft with more advanced optics, for various applications. (SaR, Recon, and whatnot)
My question to you all, oh great experienced ones, is this; Is what I want to do feasibly possible without a degree in either software engineering or avionics of some sort?
Should I just get to FPV and be happy with that, or is there some reading I need to do before I get started?
Will I need to learn things like Assembly, and stamp processor production? If so, what would be a good place to start?
Anyways, I am really excited to get started. If anyone has any productive input, I will be glad to hear it!
Thanks a ton,
MechSpectre
Replies
http://hybrid.eecs.berkeley.edu/starmac/
With a Pan/Tilt camera, you could use camera position to point a quad rotor at a target. The quad rotor would use the phase difference to turn the quad rotor towards the object of interest. Once the difference between the quad rotor and camera X,Y have been reduced to zero, the quad would fly towards the object of interest. Select a new corse trajectory by looking at something and pressing a button. Sonar or laser rangefinding could reduce velocity when near the object of interest.
Does that answer your question?