All-in-one portable "ground station" was born in Hungary....

Hi, I'm Adrian from Hungary.

Let me introduce my vision which became reality!

My idea was to make a portable ground station that includes all necessary components for FPV flying or piloting an Arducopter. I decided to use these parts from my previous ground station:

Futaba FF9 transmitter with FASST module
868 MHz 3DR telemetry module + USB FTDI panel
8" LCD screen + control panel
time base corrector (for screen to avoid sleep)
Iftron nano 5.8 GHz video receiver

I decided to add extra functionality to my ground station. Instead of using my Mobile phone, I bought an Android MiniPC (MK808b sunvel clone) and connected to the LCD via HDMI. My first idea was to use a touchpad for input, but I couldn't find any that could match my requirements. So finally I bought an USB ring mouse! The mission control app is Droidplanner.

After I had all the required parts in front of me, I started to design the shape with a 3D engineering software. Here is the final result (rendered 3D images):

Basically it has a top and bottom layer made of 2 mm black glass-fiber plate and FDM-printed spacers/side plates.

The ground station has the following sockets/peripheries:

2x USB and 1X USB OTG port
balancer port for battery
video and audio RCA output
trainer port for simulator
12V DC input for using external power supply
3 antennas: 2,4 GHz transmitter, 5.8 GHz video receiver, 868 MHz telemetry
port for teach panel of time base corrector

I'm using 9 cells of 18650 size Li-ion (3,7V) in 3P3S configuration. With 1.3A measured consumption ground station can operate more than 4 hours!

After I received all parts, I started to put it together. It took 2 weeks, with endless amount of soldering...and also had to make some PCBs for trim buttons, LCD control, power distribution, etc.

Here is the final result:

Both video input or mission control can be shown on the screen:

Here are the external connections:

The ring mouse and the power switches:

UPDATE: Under the hood...

Finally I'd say thanks to the following team/people:

Ground Zero (www.groundzero.hu) for help in 3D printing
Arthur Benemann for Droidplanner
my friend for sharing his CNC mill station

For further information, please connect me by mail: nhadrian@gmail.com

I'm not planning to produce since it would need serious investment. For example, the FF9 and the 8" LCD screen that I'm using are discontinued, so replacement should be bought...

Best regards

Adrian

I am new to this site and it's this type of work that I find so interesting. I'm good with mechanical design but terrible with the electronic end of machines. Could somebody offer an opinion what type of vidio system is best. Small LCD unit with dual receiver built in or a separate transmitter/receiver system with option on monitor? What frequency is best? I don't mind spending more for better system. End use is aerial photo of construction sites as well as environmental activity. This ground station is fantastic but I have more space available. As far as market, I think many people believe you get what you pay for and would spend big for a quality product. I like the use of 3D printing and I am casually exploring available systems for moderate comercial use.

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Comments

Shyam Balasubramanian September 26, 2014 at 10:22pm

@Adrian,
Great possibility, great potential and thanks for all your efforts. In other words, you have created something new for DIY guys and everyone I am sure everyone would like to have one in their hands.

I would crowdsource what I have in my pocket to get one. I know your have a great job, great life. But, what you have created deserves to be out there into the hands of thousands if not million yet, for the sake of bringing something new to life!

Please have the option of croedfunding. If there is help I could do, I would. I live in Netherlands. If interested, you can PM me anytime, to discuss on this.

Success!
F. C. Bearsch September 26, 2014 at 6:37pm

Really like what you have done, thinking of following your lead for a personal setup, very nicely done!
Adrián Nagy Hinst September 8, 2013 at 8:23pm

Hi,

thank you for all your answers.

As I said previously, I'm not interrested in producing, basically I have life, great job.

I do this all in my spare time, for my pleasure.

I just wanted to show the possibility of making such project at home.

BR

Adrian
zmooth September 8, 2013 at 1:32pm

There are international crowd-sourcing platforms like indiegogo.
Shyam Balasubramanian September 8, 2013 at 6:26am

I think it is only US based. I tried for some project a while ago from Netherlands, was not allowed.
Rob_Lefebvre September 8, 2013 at 5:24am

Does Kickstarter work for non-Americans? I thought it was US only?
Jesus A September 8, 2013 at 4:01am

HI Adrian,

Great and hard work. Congrats!

I am with Tim in that you should put it in kickstarter. I am quite confident it will get funded and you could have a nice new job!
Shyam Balasubramanian September 7, 2013 at 12:24pm

I can shell out 500 euros from my pocket for it.

Is it greater ;) ?
Joe Edgar September 7, 2013 at 5:31am

I am new to this site and it's this type of work that I find so interesting. I'm good with mechanical design but terrible with the electronic end of machines. Could somebody offer an opinion what type of vidio system is best. Small LCD unit with dual receiver built in or a separate transmitter/receiver system with option on monitor? What frequency is best? I don't mind spending more for better system. End use is aerial photo of construction sites as well as environmental activity. This ground station is fantastic but I have more space available. As far as market, I think many people believe you get what you pay for and would spend big for a quality product. I like the use of 3D printing and I am casually exploring available systems for moderate comercial use.
Tim Lucas September 5, 2013 at 7:57pm

Hi Adrian, this is a very good idea, and nice work too...

Integrating it with an android APP which computerised its functionality more, would be pretty cool as a next step.

Not sure if I would dismiss it as a product, I use controllers $1000 or more anyway,

Just out of interest if you developed this into a product how much do you think you would have to charge per unit?

You could put it up on a crowd funding website and see what happens,

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