IP Camera (FPV)

Some time ago I bought an Edimax Wireless IP Camera to use as FPV (first person view) solutions in my quadcopter project. But I noticed that it will be very difficult to control the quad live via the videostream from the wireless IP cam because there is to much lag. The IP cam also has a FOV (field of view) of only 40 degrees. For FPV solutions a FOV of > 90 is adviced. But still I can use the IP cam as live view and recorder.

So I disambled the Wireless IP Camera and made a mounting board to place the cam on the quad. The mounting board is a aluminium plate (1mm) total weight 38 grams. That is less then useing the original houseing of the ipcam itself. At the first try-out I reversed voltage polarity, so I burned the IP Cam.  But After some testing I found out that only the voltage regulation cirquit on board of the ip cam if defective and that I can bypass this section by connection a battery (or external voltage regulater) behind this section. So IP Cam fixed!

After mounting the IP Cam to the quad I got a total weight of 1420grams.  Adding an external voltageregulator + wiring to power the IP Cam will give me a total weight of 1450 grams. So estimated flight time with extra weight + ip cam consumption, only 5 min.
Weather is bad so currently I can't make/upload a real flight fpv video.

(update 2 nov 2012, due to bad weather again a little garage flight)

Reducing weight

As told in my previous blogpost the weight of my new frame is currently the only negative factor. I bought some Carbon fiber plates to reduce weight.


-> Carbon Fiber Sheet 1.5mm*300mm*150mm

I just had to cut this sheet in half to get the exact size I needed to fit on my quad. The result looks really nice and it also feels strong.

I also threw away the aluminium battery holder underneath the quad and added a second carbon sheet on top to hold battery and electronics. This sheet is seperated by the same rubbers I use for my motormounts. I did this to hopefully reduce even more vibrations. But that is something I'll test later.

An other thing I did to reduce weight is by using just wires to connect my ecs to the battery. On my prevouis X-Frame I used the powerdistribution board I had created for my first + Frame equiped with arduino. But this board is currently not really needed. So in total I saved up to 130 grams (almost 10%). Current total weight 1270 grams.

Because of the bad weather. Just a little flight test in the garage to see if it still works.