I want to add a camera

[marcus]

I do I'm really excited to see the result!

[SuperRoach]

Holy Amazeballs, it worked!

First signal:
http://i.imgur.com/bW7XsS8.jpg

From bottom to top:
Crazyflie
Wireless transmitter (has orange and red cables running in to it)
Camera (has white red and black cables going in to it)

Off screen:
Receiver (on the white box to the right)
And finally, a portable projector, which is showing the signal from the crazyflie, with me giving the thumbs up.

It's very liberating, to actually see a signal!

Transmission time I have not tested yet, as it's too fragile to fly with it running. Propellers spun up fine though. Testing without flying easily lasted 10 minutes with more battery left, it will of course be a fraction of that when it needs to actually fly too.

[omwdunkley]

Awesome!
An easy way to test delay might be to film a clock on a screen that shows milliseconds too, something like this (from a quick google):

from this forum post http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showpost ... tcount=100
Cant wait to see where this goes!

I wonder what the best way is to convert the analgue video signal to a digital one.

[SuperRoach]

Thanks Omwdunkley!
If it was about 15 minutes earlier, I would have taken footage of a clock on a screen to measure the delay. Feels responsive when tilting by hand.
Regarding digitizing the analog signal, I can go through that latter on, but I've got that well covered already with the other equipment I have.

I also noticed straight away the camera was upside down - whoops. It would be a good idea to put some fluro marker to indicate "right side up" in the future.

Still very much a frankencopter with cables being held together by sticky tape, and a lot of excess cable for the camera to trim. I need to think about how to mount it, I didn't expect to get to this point so quickly.

I'm going to make a quick video of today's efforts, will link them when edited and uploaded.

For now, here's a photo...
.

[Bradatech]

Hi everyone, we just started experimenting with this platform and have ordered some FPV items as well to try.

These results sound promising. I guess the real test will be to see the quality when everything is mounted up close on the PCB which the likelihood of interference will most likely be the highest.

Will check back again soon.

cheers

Yves

[SuperRoach]

Cheers Bradatech - I think the biggest measure would be how is the signal, when running it at full throttle. Should see interference then.

Here is a video! I don't think this forum supports youtube embeds, so you'll need to click to see it.

Progress video
http://youtu.be/Zps4C9ko-dU

In it, I show putting parts together, and sample video (not direct feed) of the entire thing. So, it's been great progress today. The biggest thing to do is the mount somehow now.

[SuperRoach]

Update:
I have been able to spend some time getting rid of most of the excess cables, and mounted it onto the crazyflie. The camera cable could be trimmed, but I havn't decided on how to mount it yet.

Here is how I've done that.


I have been able to fly it! It takes time to get used to the balance and weight, but once you do it appears to fly well. I've limited the max thrust to %85 while testing, and it has plenty of lift remaining to take off quickly indoors.

Here is a photo of the setup on the crazyflie:
http://i.imgur.com/OTHtzTP.jpg

...
And a photo of the rear, showing how the wiring is holding the TX in place and going straight into the Crazyflie holes (cables visible infront of the battery)

http://i.imgur.com/0OvzJ6K.jpg

A minor thing I've done is that the antenna is pointing to the front currently, which means thet camera is a rear view at the moment haha. If it was taped underneath it would face the right way, but that'll be simple.

To wire it to the crazyflie, the pinouts which I've talked about in a previous post:

DGND 17, vccom 16.

I was going to take a video, but the video signal didn't seem to work this time around Anyone have an idea what I can do to troubleshoot? I've measured a current at the camera, and at the TX, and measured a current on the Receiver. I have a feeling it may be a receiver thing, but not sure at all at the moment.

To wire the CF to the TX, A jumper wire starts at teh crazy flie, goes through the TX, and into a socket (top of the battery in one of the photos here). The socket is the camera cable.


So the short version:
It flies! I'm not receiving a video signal at the moment though

[omwdunkley]

keep up the good work! Looks great!

[SuperRoach]

I'm working on it currently, and not having much luck
Technically I thought I'd be fine right now...

Heres a picture of it atm:
http://i.imgur.com/6dCI886.jpg

I have used the Yellow and orange cables just now to test that the TX wasn't too close to the battery. Didn't make a difference.

So far I don't appear to be getting the video signal anymore. I've checked for voltage at the Camera, the TX, and the Crazyflie...
As well as on the receiver, at power and ground, as well as the channel selection and power.

Even have tried ground and the tip of the RCA cable, to check its getting current - It's getting about 1.5v which seems fine.

But I don't see a signal getting received at the moment :/

Kind of feels like I'm so close, yet so far!

[SuperRoach]

Correction to above - we have a working flying quadcopter! Lack of sleep (projector cable was in the wrong hole) slowed me down a lot.

More information to come, but what kind of things would you like me to show?

Also I tried to take a picture of the screen with a stopwatch, but I couldn't seem to get it right. I'll have another go of it tommorrow.