We like the EagleTree gear a lot, so we were pleased to see that they've just announced an upgrade of their OSD to OSD Pro. Along with a bunch of cool features, such as an on-screen map and voice status reports, it includes what appears to be a rudimentary GPS-only autopilot that can return home in the case of radio failure. The pricing seems pretty reasonable, too: around $300 for the device, or as little as $20 to upgrade if you have the current OSD and send it back.
I was interested to see that EagleTree hasn't figured out the universal failsafe problem yet, either. The OSD Pro description says that the failsafe is intended for RC gear that doesn't have a built-in failsafe. For most modern RC systems, which only allow you to program channel 3 (throttle) actions in the case of radio failure, we're still looking for a good way for autopilots to recognize the difference between failsafe and manual signals.
I'm currently developing an OSD like that... The chips everybody is using cost like 29 dlls :S "MAX7456".. You need the eeprom version to upload special figures, like the arrows, and the artificial horizon...
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