FPV using Skype on Nokia 521 Windows Phone 8

[DronePhone]

I've been experimenting with mounting a Nokia Lumia 521 Windows Phone to the DJI Phantom. The camera is excellent, but until I get my anti-jello mount, the jello is way too much for the on-board camera. However, I decided to test the FPV capabilities of the phone mounted as is, with the Nokia phone tied to the drone's GoPro mount with shoelaces and buffered by a little moongel.

I shot two FPV videos, both recorded using a screen capture program from the PC's Skype client. One uses Skype with Wifi, and the other uses the TMobile 4G network. Basically, you just call any Skype user with a video call before you fly the drone.

Here is the Wifi video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCNItYSux4w

Here is the TMobile 4G network video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtYS924hNE4

Soon I will have built my DronePhone Windows Phone 8 application, which will provide real-time tracking of the drone's GPS position, heading, speed, and GPS altitude through the 4G data network, wherein you will be able to follow the real-time progress of the drone on a webpage while simultaneously sending back FPV video or recording 720p video. This should be done by the end of August.

I'll have a website up soon, but you can look on the DronePhone YouTube page for other videos, like testing of the little Dice HD camera, etc.

 

[slugger]

You're Definitely on to something......
Have you balanced your props? might help the jello problem?

Great work

Slugger

 

[DronePhone]

You're Definitely on to something......
Have you balanced your props? might help the jello problem?

Great work

Slugger

Yes, I have balanced the props. You can look at the other videos on my YouTube channel to see videos with a $40 720p Dice camera and they have little jello.

The jello is only bad when using the Nokia 720p video recorder. It records at 30fps, and I went from using zip ties to shoelaces to mount and secure the phone to the drone, and that lowered the jello somewhat, but now I've managed to order the parts for a Gopro-to-tripod mount coupled with a tripod-style phone bracket which will be mounted from a standard anti-jello vibration isolator. This will allow me to shoot 720p videos from a phone only 1/3 the cost of a Gopro, while simultaneously sending back position telemetry data over the 4G network from the phone's GPS and plotting it on Bing maps in real time.

Or, instead of recording video, I could just FPV with Skype while following the flight on Bing maps as well.

 

[slugger]

Are you worried at all with wi-fi Interference?

 

[DronePhone]

Are you worried at all with wi-fi Interference?

Not a bit. It hasn't affected the flight controls at all, nor should it ever. And, I'm flying over water, haha.

 

[martcerv]

Are you worried at all with wi-fi Interference?

Not a bit. It hasn't affected the flight controls at all, nor should it ever. And, I'm flying over water, haha.

Having a second transmitter so close to the RX on the same band will drastically reduce your range, trying to get video and control both at 2.4GHZ just is not a very good idea I think, but many people much smarter then me have found this out a long time ago and I see no reason to challenge that finding.

You should do a range test and lag test but from the videos its very low fps and likely has quite a bit lag so its not a very effective FPV setup, adding high risk using 2.4G WiFi when you can easily get a much better setup without risking your phone and phantom anywhere near as much.

It will also let you fly using the FPV in a way that is not possible using the video your getting which is only good for basic framing and not for precise FPV control.

 

[DronePhone]

Are you worried at all with wi-fi Interference?

Not a bit. It hasn't affected the flight controls at all, nor should it ever. And, I'm flying over water, haha.

Having a second transmitter so close to the RX on the same band will drastically reduce your range, trying to get video and control both at 2.4GHZ just is not a very good idea I think, but many people much smarter then me have found this out a long time ago and I see no reason to challenge that finding.

You should do a range test and lag test but from the videos its very low fps and likely has quite a bit lag so its not a very effective FPV setup, adding high risk using 2.4G WiFi when you can easily get a much better setup without risking your phone and phantom anywhere near as much.

It will also let you fly using the FPV in a way that is not possible using the video your getting which is only good for basic framing and not for precise FPV control.

I had actually thought to use it not with Wifi, but on the 4G network with the camera facing straight down to supplement a front-facing FPV-rigged GoPro. It could operate concurrently with a traditional FPV setup and perhaps be useful in remote landing.

However, the Nokia's camera is much better for recording 720p video than FPV. This was just a technology experiment, though I think it would be useful with a good outside wifi antenna and you could get perhaps up to 300m range, just like the Phantom's transmitter limit. I'm just not at all worried about interference between the phone and flight radio...spread spectrum on the phone and rc transmitter make interference unlikely.

 

[Blown454]

I've been experimenting with mounting a Nokia Lumia 521 Windows Phone to the DJI Phantom. The camera is excellent, but until I get my anti-jello mount, the jello is way too much for the on-board camera. However, I decided to test the FPV capabilities of the phone mounted as is, with the Nokia phone tied to the drone's GoPro mount with shoelaces and buffered by a little moongel.

I shot two FPV videos, both recorded using a screen capture program from the PC's Skype client. One uses Skype with Wifi, and the other uses the TMobile 4G network. Basically, you just call any Skype user with a video call before you fly the drone.

Here is the Wifi video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FCNItYSux4w

Here is the TMobile 4G network video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtYS924hNE4

Soon I will have built my DronePhone Windows Phone 8 application, which will provide real-time tracking of the drone's GPS position, heading, speed, and GPS altitude through the 4G data network, wherein you will be able to follow the real-time progress of the drone on a webpage while simultaneously sending back FPV video or recording 720p video. This should be done by the end of August.

I'll have a website up soon, but you can look on the DronePhone YouTube page for other videos, like testing of the little Dice HD camera, etc.

This is quite interesting, thinking outside the box. GPS position, heading, speed, and GPS altitude via 4g data network has me intrigued! I will definitely be following your progress with this, I wish you the best of luck and look forward to your findings, great stuff and interesting stuff. Thanks for sharing your work!

 

[SkyDrone]

We have just started a Indiegogo campaign for Sky Drone FPV - our digital HD FPV system using cellular networks:

http://skydrone.aero/fpv-indiegogo