Adding a camera (worklog)

[SuperRoach]

Hi!
I realized I've been hijacking Another thread on here about using a camera on the Crazyflie, and thought I probably should make my own thread for it.


For previous info that I have been posting, check here!
http://forum.bitcraze.se/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5&start=20

In short,
I have added this transmitter:

As well as a camera to the crazyflie, keeping in mind the voltage requirements, as well as the weight requirements - the Crazyflie can lift a max of around ~6grams in its stock configuration, and at that weight it's flight time is drastically lower.

The transmitter: http://www.fpvhobby.com/180-4-ghz-nano-size-vtx.html
The Camera: http://www.fpvhobby.com/63-1-gram-nano- ... 80tvl.html

After much testing, I started to have success in sending a video signal wirelessly

The wiring description which I should wikify at some point:
http://forum.bitcraze.se/viewtopic.php?p=2673#p2673

Video of the setup and how it's been done
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zps4C9ko-dU

[SuperRoach]

We have streaming/recording video now!


Another picture, this time inception style:
http://i.imgur.com/L7voSXz.jpg

I think I'll need more hands for further testing :p

Have taken a video, which I can work on cutting up and editing tomorrow. It has a bit looking at the

The main part next for me, is that I want to box up the receiver, as well as look at making the camera stay put a bit better. Because this needs to be ready for pax on the 19th, I don't think I'll risk trimming that cable down.

[SuperRoach]

Oh, and I found a carry case for the actual Crazyflie which is perfect:
http://i.imgur.com/Nm5lfsT.jpg

It's a Ferro rocher box, 200gm, They normally look like this:

[SuperRoach]

I've done my first full flight! It was still surprisingly agile. ~%75 throttle gave me a consistent hover. with the right dampened settings, or even software that gave you curves to ramp motion, you could have a very effective pan/dolly on your camera while in mid air.

Video dropout has been very high lately, and I think it's because the TX is sitting loose somehow - if I angle it upward, I'm getting a strong signal. This is before I fly and during flight by the way.

My camera is angled slightly down for aerial stuff, not sure if you are using it for FPV if that's what you would want.

First flight time, I probably got 4-5 minutes, with probably 5-10 minutes before I connected to it in the cfclient transmitting video. That's with the stock 170mAh battery. Could be interesting to get a 250mAh one day as per the wiki with battery vs weight tradeoffs.

I wasn't able to get t he Android software to run on my phone, I'll try again tomorrow if I get some time with that.

[absoloodle37]

Great work! You're the first hacker to vouch for FPVhobby.com equipment (except for tobias). Also great to hear the stock battery can support flight w/ FPV. Check out my thread on double motors here.

I'm flying my double motor CF now with a 600mAh battery, which weighs 13g and gets me 10 minutes of flight time while hovering at 82% thrust. It's a good weight that allows for max flight time, and can probably support 1-3 extra grams of payload for a camera, when allowed to fly over 80% throttle.

I would try your fpv setup and start adding US pennies (2.5g each) to see how much extra battery weight you can carry. Then buy a bigger battery to maximize flight time. Also consider converting to double motors if you want to fly 8-10 minutes.

[SuperRoach]

On the good side, Derf's android app is installed and appears to run fine, which can help me because I can leave the PS3 Controller behind. This makes the entire package very lightweight to carry around!

I think I may have hit a roadblock at the moment though. I have the video signal frequently cutting out when the thrust is above 60ish percent. Hovering has no signal due to the draw so far.

I will throw it to people in here to check my pin out for power and ground, to see if you think I could do it better.

Explanation of the power distribution on the Crazyflie from the wiki:
http://wiki.bitcraze.se/projects:crazyf ... stribution

Is wired like this

In short, the power is going to Pin 16 (VCCOM), the Ground is going to DGND, at 17.

Is there an alternate way I can use to optimize the power draw?

[SuperRoach]

Leaving my post above as a progress kind of thing.

I have changed the power pin wirings. It's now AGND (pin 19) + VCC (digital supply, pin 15).

This combination works perfect! I have full signal. Infact the signal is better when the rotors are powered up.

I just done a ~4 minute flight while learning the android controller. Charging up and doing another run.
I'll be flying this at pax with their permission, so I want to be confident I can control it well before I unleash it there.

[SuperRoach]

The finished version!

Crazyflie with wide angle lens


Crazyflie running the Android client with thanks to Derf


A picture of the case (with a glued in chocolate to stay in there) can come latter.

Overall, I've learned so much from this project, and if I broke this or something went wrong, I'd get another crazyflie in a heartbeat. And I still havn't even used a version with the hover mode firmware yet!

[absoloodle37]

Sweet!
Your work inspires me to go get the same parts and try it for myself. One question: How long is your flight time with FPV going on the stock battery?
I imagine it shortens a bit. May consider a larger battery. This one works great because you can swap out the leads and connect the battery with the stock plastic connector. I show you how here. Doesn't weigh much more than the stock battery either.
BTW, I'll try your setup on my double-motor CF.

Cheers!

[SuperRoach]

Hello!


I'm trying to find out how to get a more consistent signal. I've got at least three separate videos. One done in a hotel room where the video signal worked pretty much the whole time during flight (5-6 minutes flight time).

Next was the screenshot above, where I was flying it during PAX near the Alienware and Comic Booth. Footage was a bit more patchy, but the biggest problem I had was coming to grips with the phone controller.

Any suggestions about controlling it are more than welcome :p I think I was using "mode 3" in the video, where right stick left/right is yaw, up was throttle, left stick done pitch and bank.