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New Mission Planner GCS feature: integrated OSD video!

Posted by Chris Anderson on June 11, 2011 at 8:00pm

3689412367?profile=originalIf you update to the latest Mission Planner (1.05) you'll see a cool new feature Michael Oborne has just added: integrated OSD video! Just select your video input device from your aircraft's camera feed from the Configuration screen (Planner tab) and it will replace the background of the artificial horizon on the GCS, turning it into a heads-up display instead, as shown in the left window above.

 

Pretty cool, huh? It's a virtual OSD!

 

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Comments

  • John Grouse June 20, 2011 at 6:23pm
    Thanks Michael, it does look more readable now. Down the track you may want to try applying a black border around the entire text to make it stand out even more. Introducing opacity options for the foreground OSD as well might also be helpful in balancing the visibility of both foreground and background.

    Saw the new Joystick settings option which lets you set up the four primary axis. How does the software get the control commands to the airborne APM? Is there a way for it to create a PPM signal and interface this with the Tx or are the movements sent via the xbee (which I thought was only one way coms for now)?
  • Developer
    Michael Oborne June 20, 2011 at 5:06pm
    Russell, John, please download 1.0.13 (Help > check for updates), this puts a drop shadow on all the text.
  • Russell B. Sutton June 19, 2011 at 8:10pm

    I agree, the OSD text does need a black out line.  It would help with a changing background.

     

     

  • John Grouse June 19, 2011 at 7:31pm
    Excellent interface. One more suggestion with the live video addition - the OSD text/markers probably need a black outline. I know you can change the colors however it's always going to be much easier to read if the OSD is made up of contrasting colors as a drop shadow or outline. Existing on board OSD's use this method to always allow the OSD text to be readable no matter what is going on with the colors in the live video feed.
    Itching to get my APM with the XBee 900MHz add on in the post to see how well it feeds the telemetry to this software.
  • Developer
    Mark Colwell June 19, 2011 at 11:08am

    3692226143?profile=original3692226358?profile=original3692226118?profile=original3692226293?profile=original

    Wire is labeled as "Memory Wire" or "German Style" by "Beadalon" for necklaces and bead work, available at Hobby Lobby $3 or $4 and other craft stores. It comes coiled and it is difficult to straiten out but once set, it holds shape well!  Comes in 3 sizes use smaller for 5.8 ghz, middle size 28? gauge for 2.4 ghz and 1.2 ghz. Largest size 20 gauge is a bit to heavy. I find that copper coated MIG solid welding wire (harbor Freight $10 for 2 lb spool) is easier to fabricate with as it can be bent a little easier but a little harder to solder (I use a chloride flux and clean well). Memory Wire holds up better to abuse, and with golden coating solders easily and keeps clean with very low corrosion.

  • Lew Payne June 18, 2011 at 9:56am
    @JDM45 - Thanks for clarifying your statement. I wanted to make sure it didn't lead readers into concluding that analog and digital have the same range, given the same physical constraints.

    As to the antenna link... you're welcome! One more tip... it's a lengthy thread (the antenna one), but you'll find someone posted about using an "art wire" available at art supply shops. It seems you can shape it (with pliers and such), yet it is flexible enough to retain its shape despite minor dings and crashes. I'd go with that wire! Sorry, but I forget the name of the wire, off-hand (it had some unrelated art-purposed name).
  • Developer
    Jason Short June 18, 2011 at 9:41am
    Yes the quad will point at the target waypoint by default.
  • Developer
    Olivier ADLER June 18, 2011 at 9:37am

     

    Thanks for the antenna link. I was looking for an antenna to replace the 16 dBi antenna of the RB SXT by an omni one. Will try this one.

     

     

  • Developer
    Olivier ADLER June 18, 2011 at 9:30am

     

    Yes you are right the sensitivity of the receiver depends on the modulation scheme. In the example i gave for the 4 km link, i've taken this into account, the -96 dBm sensitivity value is the one the manufacturer of the receiver give for a 802.11n 2 streams MCS8 / 20 MHz channel bandwith modulation.

     

    If needed, the link can be locked to a lower speed modulation, and use a lower 10 MHz or 5 MHz channel bandwith. Then the receiver sensitivity will be even better, and the background noise even lower. 802.11n is able to dynamically adapt the modulation scheme to the propagation conditions, reducing the modulation complexity if the link quality degrade.

     

    With analog, specialy AM modulation, the link will work with very small s/n ratio, but you will get noise at the same time.

     

    With digital links, as soon as you have a high enough safety noise margin, the link will be reliable and free from errors.

     

    In the example i gave, there is a 14 dB noise margin.


  • mc_don June 18, 2011 at 8:22am
    i use RTL mode for quadcopter
This reply was deleted.