A good article appeared in the Journal of Commerce (a western Canadian Construction news publication)
concerning possibilities for how drones can be another "tool" for the construction industry
I concur, having been using them for 2 years for Job site video's and stills myself.
Read the article here: Construction Drones
I've been working on getting a better range and endurance. This QAV-540 weighs 5.5 lb's and I just flew it for 18 minutes today. Previously 16 minutes was my record, the change is that I went up one inch in prop size. This is not stripped down for endurance, I want something that will fly a long time and do some work, like carrying a Gopro. This one was carrying a Gopro and a gimble.
Trying different battery types will probably be next as well as even larger props. I am using a FRsky Taranis and am using the X9R receiver, but will be changing over the the Rmilac LRS system. I have been using Open Pilot so far but will probably switch to the Pixhawk. I haven't set up the FPV yet, but will be going to a 1.3GHZ very soon.
Anyway, I'm pretty stoked about the 18 minute flight, but looking for better!
!
This is just run of the mill FPV flying, but I enjoy reviewing the fight for more than the visual perspective. Re-living the altitude, the roll and pitch, the rate of ascent and decent, the airspeed during the flight and the battery condition gives me a much fuller context than just viewing the HD video I was recording using my GoPro H3 Black. Here is simple flyover of ready to be developed property!
From the University of Texas in Austin, Texas, USA
# note that there is a glimpse of architectural art piece in this video by James Turrell, Skyspace, 2013, courtesy of Landmarks
I originally solicited other construction company users as to their ideas about using drones in the industry and to heat there experiences. This might not be the right venue for that, instead I got responses that mostly was about legalities and professionalism etc.
I just want to mention that I had knowledge and consent from the owner to publish this video, which meets the "non Applicability Sec 423.002 (6) which says it is lawful to capture images with the consent of the owner. I have full consent from the owner, the Texas State University. And, I am just a employee of a construction company with a simple qaud copter and by no means a professional, so the video is not done to a professional standard. I found it to be quite a challenge to fly FPV in a crowded airspace without losing LOS and still trying to "get the shot" with FPV sometimes you have to look where you are flying, and not at the subject that you are trying to film. Perhaps that is why there are often many cuts in some pro videos.
The Quad Copter I used on these video's is a DJI Flamewheel,450 with a NAZA-M controller with the GPS. I use a EZ-OSD for basic flight info, and I use a Sony CCD wide FOV camera for FPV, transmitted to the ground with a Immersion 600 MW Video Xmitter.
It is using a 5500 MAH 30C LIPO, and I have the FPV camera rigged to a servo so I can "look" down. I receive the video both on a Fatshark video google and also an immersion DUO receiver that is attached to a 9" LCD monitor that is handheld by my spotter. There is also a Japan FPV DVR for recording the OSD and Flying camera imagery.
All this is set up to be powered by a 3s LIP0. More info on the video ground station is here
The Camera doing the video is a GoPro Hero 3 Black Edition and is not using any gimble for stabilization. It is just attached to the frame firmly with without vibration damping. It seems pretty free of jitter, but of course it doesn't track level. I plan to add a gimbal soon. I have a nice brushless gimbal, but it looks like it might fit better on my Ardu Copter.
So far the owners of the projects I've heard from really like to get the videos and stills because it gives them a much more complete picture than they get just visiting the construction site. Also, its just cool. I haven't found anyone who has prohibited using drones on the site, however as the drone operator, I focus a high level of attention to details in checking out the equipment before and after flights and and awareness of bystanders and subject the entire process to a critical review of the flight plan, equipment condition and all safety considerations. I think we have to be our own inspectors and make our own safety rules, we absolutely don't want an accident to mar our record of being a responsible group that can bring value to the construction industry.
note# comments are turned off, but you can send them to my profile.. Thanks!
Here are a couple of my flyovers...
And check this story on Constructech.com
http://constructech.com/news/articles/article.aspx?article_id=9763&SECTION=1
RE
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This weekend I took a couple of boys to the beach (family members) and wanted to get some video of them trying to surf and using a boogie board, (in some very poor surf conditions). Something unexpected happened, through the low resolution of the goggles, I mistook some other kid and hovered up close. As he turned to face me, I realized he wasn't the kid I was expecting and instead of a surfboard, he had a surf casting reel. He cast his lure at my quadcopter. I didn't really notice what had happened until later when I reviewed the video from the GoPro. In the slow motion section, you can see the lure whiz past just below me.
Anyway, he missed and I was lucky. I finished out the flight and landed unaware.. and will be more careful in the future!
I don't get to spend enough time with my little flying friend when I only fly by day.. So I decided that since I work during the day, that I needed to equip my little flying friend to play at night.
A low light camera and some lights to help me with location and orientation, and the mission planner and my video ground station all working together are extending my play time well into the night.
In this video, it is so dark that you could walk into a tree. but once you get above them, you can see the the lights of the houses, coming from the windows, as there are no street lights here. I was quite amazed at the low light camera seems to do as good or better than my night vision binoculars. and the FOV is much better!
Anyway, I am looking forward to finding some nice night flight adventures in the future.
I had an extra camera, antenna and video xmitter so, here is what I did with it.
This is my Composite ARF "Spark". It is an electric EDF aircraft, weighs about 13 lb's, has about 11 lb's of thrust, uses's a 10s setup and draws about 94 amps at full throttle. Its easy to fly and will go in excess of 150 MPH
I taped a camera, transmitter and antenna that I had "modularized" to the bottom and took it for a flight. I just take this assembled set of electronics and tape it onto whatever I want to fly!
I use 5.8ghz and this is just a 100 mw xmitter.
The video below was made at my local flying field. It was quite windy and I bounced around a little bit on landing and it is obvious that the nose gear leg bent a little. After this flight, i just bent it back by hand and it was ready to fly again..
RE
I took my Ardu copter out for a test flight to see if I have helped the stability with my latest attempt to tune some PID's.
It is definitely better, but I have an opportunity to make it better for sure. (I am slowly learning).
Anyway, I am gaining more confidence and so here is a video of a short FPV flight, recorded from my ground video station.
I enjoy looking at recorded video with the OSD info, I notice on this flight I get "Low RSSI" continuously, yet I don't have a connection to the receiver, also, I get overspeed at times and I get stall warnings.. Also, I get a message "Low battery" even though I am at about 60% capacity. I guess I need to go into the setup on the Minim OSD and work on the settings!
I flew my Arducopter IFR-FPV Sunday!
It was pretty cool once I landed safely back at the takeoff point.
For various reasons which I won't go into, my video camera view became unusable 2 or 3 minutes into the FPV flight in my rural neighborhood, and I found that I had no idea where I was.
The last thing I saw was an unfamiliar street and I was probably 100-150 ft high, then I couldn't make out anything.
I realized FPV wasn't going to get me back so I put int into loiter and took off my googles and and tried to see if I could see or hear it. I found that I couldn't hear or see the ArduCopter.
Unfortunately, I hadn't set up the Mission Planner and ground station, I was just going for a quick test flight before it got dark. so i just took the copter and the radio and took off.
Then I remembered!, I could just use the MinimOSD, thats what it's there for!
So I put the googles back on, even though I couldn't make out any camera image, the OSD was overlaying fine. So I checked the direction arrow, and the distance, I was about 600 feet out.
So, i turned until the arrow was pointing straight up and started heading in, In less than a minute, I began to hear the copter and it was a great sound. The meters out were counting down and I got it right within 2 meters of home, and descended to a landing. Whew!, I wiped my brow and retreated to the house with my hardware, and got a beer..
I found that it was a great feeling to know that I could fly IFR, and that I probably could have used RTL instead, using the instruments was much more fun and less nerve racking...
RE
Hopefully we have dodged the bullet and this post can be marked up as "paranoia"
Potential threat of GPS disablement! I know this has been an ongoing issue for a while. A company called LightSquared has been trying to build a cellular network that interferes with GPS. You don't hear much in the news about it these days, but it seems that maybe the threat has not completely gone away yet.
Although LightSquared was denied the frequencies after building out much of a network and had to file for bankruptcy, they are still petitioning the government to try to get a deal that would allow them to use some of the frequency's that are a little further from the GPS frequency. And apparently some venture capitalists seem the think that somehow the network could be resurrected and salvaged. Still there is a strong resistance from the Airforce, Trimble, and others, but I am worried that the power of big money could prevent this threat to the GPS system from going away.
Does anybody have an updated status on this issue?
When I hear about problems with GPS inaccuracies and runaways, I wonder if testing of the lightsquared network might be going on, or similar cellular interference could be a factor.
Interference on GPS and other links we use in out UAV's bring to mind the concern as it already applies with existing RF sources in our environment. There is a spot I would love to do a fly around getting some nice video, but a cell tower and some other towers sits on the top of the hill that I want to video, along with various other frequencies such as 2 meter, 70cm, GPRS an cellular services from Sprint, AT&T and maybe others. Probably not a good place to fly!
Anyway, the LightSquared technology is referred to in some articles as LTE, I know that LTE is been deployed around the country, so it doesn't seem to be the same LTE that light squared plans to deploy is it? as far as I can tell, so far they have been blocked from deploying the GPS blocking technology and lets hope they continue to be blocked!
Here is the latest thing I can find on it right now on the position of the FCC:
http://www.gps.gov/spectrum/lightsquared/
Anyway, hopefully, like I said: we have dodged the bullet..
The wind was calmer then it has been in months so I decided to see just how stable the Arducopter (2.5 APM, UBlox GPS) can be with the 2.9.1 code.
I was pleased, I could have hovered until the battery runs down. Also, landing while in Loiter is really smooth, much better than I could do flying in stable mode!. Just had flip the switch back to stable mode once down to finish the flight properly.
Here is something that I put together that is pretty simple, but nice to have..
I obtained a 9" LCD TV that runs on 12V DC and the idea was to provide a spotter a way to see what I am seeing while flying with my Fatshark goggles.
I use 5.8 GHZ for video and my goggles have a 5.8 GHZ receiver module that installs right into the goggle so it is a wireless solution and very convenient, and there is no "ground station" in this scenario that I am using.
I wanted to provide a spotter a way to see what I see, and also I wanted a method to record my flight as seen through the goggles during my flight.
I picked out a LCD TV with attributes that make it easy to incorporate into a FPV system. First, it doesn't blue screen when the signal is weak. because some dropouts are expected from time, a monitor that doesn't go into a blue screen mode is good.
Also, I wanted it to run on 12 VDC because I am using a 3 cell LIPO to power the monitor, the receiver and the DVR. I found a suitable TV and got it.
I simply used velcro to mount the battery, the receiver and the DVR to the back of the TV. I used some poster board to fashion a "hood" to help shield the screen from direct sun light. I used a immersion RC UNO receiver with a fatshark RH spiral polarized antenna to match the transmitter antenna. The receiver has two video outputs, one I connect to the TV video in, and the other one I connect to the pocket DVR, which records to the SD card. I know it doesn't look great as a package, but later I may install in in a briefcase or something.
This works quite well, I use it even when I don't have a spotter or interested companion, because it is interesting to view the video along with the OSD info that streams across. Here are some pictures:
If you would like to view a recording made with the DVR, check this:
I wonder if it is a practical idea to integrate air traffic data with all the other data we track in the GCS and the OSD. Data seems to be available. I don't see a complete solution in hand but some pieces are there., It looks like there is a growing standard for position reporting (ADS-B) and you can buy a receiver that will allow you to track air traffic in the area. This will only track aircraft that are equipped with ADS-B, but that is in growing numbers and is more prevalent in Europe. There is other data available too, from the FAA, that covers aircraft based on Radar and transponders (I think) for that data there is a 5 min delay that limits its usefulness.
Pictured above is a nifty item, reminds me of the 3DR radios!
This is an example of a receiver that can be connected to a laptop and display a map of local traffic. I'm sure it could easily be hacked and the data turned into waypoints.
There are several networks and software available to allow you to contribute data as well as receive data even if you do not have a receiver. This can work similar to how the findu.com network works for hams using APRS. To me, this seems to be a next logical step for hobbyists who are using altitudes higher than a few hundred feet.
I wonder if the drone community as a hold has an interest and see it as being practical as something that could increase safety, or is this a "dude" idea?
If you would like to learn more, here are a few links i found:
I blew up my first MinimOSD, and then received my second one, but didn't realize I needed the FTDI cable, so another week went by, but all is good now..
I received my FDTI cable from 3DR today, which i needed to get my MinimOSD loaded and working. Within minutes I had it working and configured. This is a great product and very inexpensive for all that it does! So, I am in a waiting mode for a good time to do another FPV flight, although I feel I should wait until 2.92., I will feel much more comfortable with the inertial navigation in the X-Y.\
I am using the camera from 3DR that is a night cam/ day cam and auto switch's.
I was amazed when I took it outdoors tonight. I live in a rural area that doesn't even have streetlights. There was no moon out and the only source of light was the lights from distant houses in the hills. The camera shows the multitude of pinpoints of light sources and even showed the trees, and other objects that I couldn't see much better with my eyes. I was amazed, I am used to cameras that show nothing in the dark..
My plan of getting some interesting video, (already have a number of subjects in mind) at night looks like it just might work..
Anyway, as soon as I do, I will post the video or some pictures here. I just hope my GoPro 3 Black will do as good!
Here is how it is mounted, (used the bolt that holds an arm on)
Got the eyes installed!
The camera bracket is attached with the bolt that secures the arm. This is a camera that 3DR sells that operates in low light and normal light and auto adjusts. I am anxious to do some night FPV flying.
I finally felt with 2.9 that I was ready to equip my Ardu-copter for FPV. I flew some test flights just line of sight in a confined area, and checked the stable mode and the loiter mode and the loiter mode was much improved over 2.81.
The stable mode was fine already in 2.81 and was just as fine in 2.9.
I tested FPV this afternoon and was very disappointed.
I have to say though, I am a long time DJI NAZA user, I am still haven't gotten to the point of understanding the usefulness of the the APM stable mode. My fascination with drones are flying in FPV and creating videos.
For FPV, what I want is the GPS enabled stable mode like the NAZA gives which allows an auto-pilot mode that doesn't require the pilot to constantly fly. Being able to hold a position lets you focus on running video or taking pictures or inspecting whatever you want to take a look at.
The Loiter mode seems to be very stubborn. when you set it, it wants to stay at that position, to change position, you have to switch back to stable mode, fly to the new location then set the loiter mode again. For FPV, this is difficult, in FPV, you only see what the on board camera sees and you don't want to be fumbling to operate switch's considering you are basically blind.
When I am in loiter mode and I use the stick to move to a new location, when I release the sticks, it goes back to where It was when I engaged loiter mode. this reduces its usefulness to an FPV flyer, to say the least...
This means you have to switch back and forth between loiter and stabile, and when in stable mode, you can drift all over the place and when seeing through the lens eye, it is easy to get too close to a tree, of other obstacle, which if you were able to move around in constant position hold that can be move around without changing modes, you can fly much safer and confidently.
This afternoon I finished setting my arducopter to use FPV and was able to test it. There was a little breeze and I found myself trying to stay in a confined area with several trees around the perimeter. I am used to flying in this area and have never had a problem with my copter with the NAZA even when it is very windy. In todays testing, I crashed twice, and once had to put it down a little abruptly once due to the behavior of the APM.
The first time in trying to move to a new loiter position, while in stable mode, I backed into a tree. (landed upright, no damage), the next time, when switching from loiter to stabile the throttle dropped resulting in a bounce off the ground from about 10 feet and tipped up on its side. (no damage.) the third time, I clipped tree branch's again while drifting due to the breeze in stabile mode. The main problem I was having is being able to move around, yet staying in a confined area, something I haven't had trouble doing before..
In each of these cases, if I had been flying LOS, I would have avoided any problem, but in FPV mode, copter stability is more essential due to not being able to see around you.
I could just fly in loiter mode and it would hold its new position rather than go back to the original position, I would happily continue perusing FPV, but being blind with the googles on and experiencing the unpredictable responses and having to be switching modes frequently is not what I want in an autopilot. I'm hope that a mode like loiter mode, but that can be moved and updated without switching out and back into loiter mode will be considered, for an FPV pilot, I think it is essential
One more thing..
I also installed a minimOSD. I didn't take time to really mess with it yet, but for now, it only says "download charset". I guess I will need to search the WIKI and start figuring this out. Am I going to need anything special to configure that?
I have 3DR radios and mission planner....
Thanks for help from anybody!
Richard
On the day the world ends (12-21-2012)
I got my box in from Udrones yesterday, haven't started setting it up or adding options yet, but I have begun familiarizing myself somewhat with how to proceed and found the online manual here. It is very comforting to know there is a very good source of help and documentation as to how everything works.
I have had my FW-450 tuned and working great for some time now so i'm not impatient to get in the air with this new quad so I will take my time and really do a good job of setting this one up. There are a few things I have coming before I have the complete parts list. I plan to pick up the receiver today, I use a JR 9 channel 2.4GHZ radio (9303) and probably will use a 9ch receiver by JR, or a Spektrum 8ch.
In my other Quad, I am using a DSM2 receiver, but since the transmitter is DSM, I am not getting the full benefit. However, I have to say that I have never had one range problem, but still, it is tempting to update and get a newer radio. Perhaps, i should move to one of the long range systems, but then I feel like i'm burning money too fast! .
Besides today (12/21/12) is supposed to be the end of the world, so would it really be a wise investment?
If today is the end of the world, I hope I get enough notice that I can get my drone in the air in time to get some good video footage, I have it in the trunk of my car with all the batteries charged and ready to fly at a moments notice!
If things work out, I will still be here to post more progress reports on my new UAV. I have a MinimOSD shipping, and have a camera gimbal backordered from Udrones that I will add when it gets here. I have the telemetry option and look forward to learning all about that.
if the world doesn't end today, I will be setting up my flight modes and finishing the setup and start on the FPV setup if the transmitter comes in today. (probably won't) I have ordered an Immersion 600 mw 5.8 ghz transmitter and will be using a Sony 450 line camera with a wide FOV lens for FPV flight.
I don't want this post to be all text, it needs an image or some color, so here is the token picture... a shot from a single frame of a some video I took with my GoPro HD 2 with my FW-450
2nd installment 12-22-12
Well the Mayans were on drugs.. they probably just had a short memory loss and never finished the calendar which really had us sweating bullets yesterday. Anyway that means I get to complete my ArduCopter,
yesterday, things just weren't working!!
I couldn't get the mission planner working and spent about 8 hours trying until finally giving up on using Windows XP.
The drivers don't install correctly on Windows XP, but work great on Windows 7. For anyone else having this problem, don't spin your wheels just find a Windows 7 machine you can use.
After installing the driver, the com port didn't appear by the driver name. When plugging in the cable for the first time, it says "found new hardware", but never completes loading the driver, and the any attempt to load or unload the device manually fails and locks up the machine until you pull the USB cable. the it frees up the system immediately.
It would be good if there was a fix for this for those who only have Windows XP, but I'm ok and have moved on.. Working on more stuff today, going to remount the Telemetry board and compass, they mounted with some real crappy velcro, and I like a tidy installation. Then I am going to tackle installing the receiver and setting it up in the mission planner along with flight modes. I decided on the Spektrum AR-8000 and picked it up at the local hobby store yesterday
Will post when I get more done!
3rd installment. 12-22-12
Ended up flying it after this little video was made (In the living room) It seems stable and no bad habits.
I am disappointed in the props, motors and collets that are provided. The long 1/8 inch motor shafts and compression fit collets are recipes for problems. The worst problem is these collets can leave the motor shaft if they loosen and that is bout to happen if you don't check the before every flight. Also, it is impossible to get the running smooth with zero runout. I will replace them, probably with DJI motors and collets. DJI really has a good system in their design.
I did fly it though with the ones provided and It flies fine.
Here's a little walkthrough of my progress so far;
4TH installment:
Waiting..... The weather has been bad for Flying Quads here, and I am waiting for 2.9 firmware.. I have things working pretty well, but Loiter isn't really working now, and I understand it is improved much .2.9
The latest thing I did was Monday, I replaced the motors that come stock on the ArduCopter with motors and propellers from DJI. The original motors and collets were unsatisfactory to me, and have lots of vibration. This is unavoidable when using 1/8' shafts with compression collet. DJI has a great system that eliminates vibration and provides a very secure mounting arraignment for the propellers. Although the RPM/volt was slightly different, without any PID adjustments, I couldn't tell any difference in stability or performance. That was fortunate, as I am not experienced at tuning. Looking forward to 2.9, and will be checking every day. Once I am happy with the autopilot performance, I will get the FPV part going, and also venture into using waypoints, using MP to send flight commands, and autonomous flight. In the meantime, flying my micro quad in the living room!
5th Installment:
I've been anxiously waiting to see the official 2.9 firmware. I am used to the rock steady naza and until
i can get that with the APM, My camera stays on the flamewheel with the naza. I decided to go ahead and set up the FPV, so as soon as my camera came in, I got the MinimOSD out of the drawer, and the 5.8 ghz transmitter (Immersion) and made up some cables. and started linking it up . I planned to make a y cable to allow the OSD and the 3DR radio use the telemetry at the same time.
os began linking up the components one step at a time. the last connections was to be the y cable to the telemetry port. I monitored from a 5.8ghz receiver, first just the camera to the transmitter, all was well the image looked good on the monitor. (12v camera, and I uses a 3S lipo for power for the Transmitter and the camera).
Then I connected the 12V side of the minumOSD to the camera and to the transmitter as it shows in the Wiki.
Initially, I got the OSD initialization on the monitor, it booted up and then displayed "waiting on Mav" but the camera video was messed up, it looked like it was out of sync of something in the background of the OSD text display. I had already seen a good video image from the camera in the preceeding step so I checked my wiring and all looked good, then after a couple of minutes the monitor suddenly went blue screen. It seem like the transmit went out..
After backing up, I found that the camera still worked fine, the transmitter and reciever and monitor all check out, but the OSD quit working. I put my finger on the board and it was hot enough to burn my finger somewhere down around the LED. Not sure what is was, those little SMD's are so small!!
so somehow my MiniumOSD fried within 5 minutes of powering it up. I have ordered another one, so I need to make sure I'm not doing something wrong so I don't blow it up.
The only thing I can think of is; I made an assumption that the 12v+ and GND terminals are bused together and so it doesn't matter of the 12 volt source is on the in set of pins or the out set of pins (as it related to video in/out) from looking at the circuit board it looks like they are. In the wiki it shows the 12+ tied to the supply + feed to the camera,
For wiring simplicity, I did it slightly different. I connected the 12+ for supplying the transmitter, to the lead going to the MinimOSD on the out, going to the out pin set, assuming that the +lead to the camera would receive its 12v across the buss. If these are not bussed and they the 12v in is filtered or regulated or something like that than perhaps I blew it!..
If they are bussed, then something else happened. Anyway, as soon as the new OSD board comes in, maybe I will have some "eyes"
Richard
6th Installment... Update
I got the minimOSD in so I will soon restart that installation. Also, the main thing I've been waiting for has come to pass. The 2.9 firmware official release is out. I uploaded it last night, but it was late and dark, so I wasn't able to test fly it until a brief flight this evening just as the sun was retreating.
congratulations to all the developers, There is a world of difference. The main thing I was hoping for is a good Loiter mode. although on take off I noticed right away that in Stable mode, the controls have more authority, I got used to that pretty fast. Then when I switched it into Loiter, the yawed about 45 dg. but it stabilized and aggressively held altitude and position. That was very good to see! There are a few things I didn't expect though. I'm sure they can be explained. I noticed that in Loiter mode, I could override and coax it to a new loiter location, but it would work its way back to the original position. I thought that was odd, It wouldn't seem to me to be the desired behavior. To confuse me I'm sure, it didn't do that ever time, at least once, I was able to move it to a new position and it did lock in on the new location.
I will have to test that some more to see whats up and see if there is some consistency in that behavior.
Other than that, it is beginning to look like it has the stability I need to be confident to explore it much deeper.
I am looking forward to this weekend when hopefully I can give it a mission and see what it can do. Also, maybe I get get the FPV system and OSD going by then.
By the way... I mentioned early about the floats I added to my other Quad (not the ArduCopter) because I fly over water a bit, so I wanted to add some floatation. I realize it probably won't save my electronics, or at least render it untrustworthy, but at least if it floats, I have some chance of at least finding the wreckage. if it is a very soft landing, perhaps It could survive. I haven't water tested it yet. I cut up some of the pool noodles that are popular water toys, and attached them to the extended legs on my Quad. A very cheap and easy way to provide some flotation!
heres the picture
RE
I have an ideal opportunity this weekend to get some good video at the coast. I have been wanting to do this for months but the winds are almost always 15-20 MPH or more.
This weekend they were light and the sun was spectacular. I used my DJI FW450 with the GoPro Black edition, and used a Sony camera as my flying cam and my fat shark glass's using 5.8 GHZ were my FPV link to the craft.
here's a short flight around the Marina where I keep my boat "Da Kine". you will see it early in the video as I fly straight to it to see if I can get my better half to come out and say hi!
Currently operating my first UAV, a DJI 450 with standard equipment (motors, Esc, NAZA, GPS). I'm using a 9 channel JR receiver , EZOSD, 5000 MAH 45C battery pack, Sony 650 line camera with a pitch axis adjustment that I fabricated that allows me to adjust from the ground, immersion 500 MW 5.8 GHZ transmitter, GoPro 3 Black, LED light system with controller. CF extended legs.
Ground equiment includes Fat Shark goggles with immersion 5.8GHZ receiver module, and a immersion 5.8 GHZ UNO feeding a 9.5 inch LCD monitor and a DVR that records MP4 to SD. I like to record the video transmitted back to the LCD monitor which I usually let someone else views while I fly by googles. That way, I can review the flight and look at the OSD data, yet I'm also recording good HD video with the GoPro
I'm looking forward to building an ArduCopter now, and have ordered what I need. I'm looking forward to learning about flying pre planned courses, and Fuller control of camera work and some of the other features of the APM that may be coming.
