Pilot Video Link (VTX/VRX)

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Integration Contact

@Anthony Luo

Subteam Owners

CV
@Jinghao Lei
@Mika Shaw
Ryan
Firmware
@Anthony Luo

Relevant Projects

  • RC-Link

  • Telemetry

Status

draft / in review / approved / In production

Last date updated

Jun 2, 2022

On this page

 

Goals

  • <250 ms latency at 5km

  • usable up to 5km with minor obstructions?

  • Easily servicable, replaceable components.

  • Must maintain link in loss of ac power.

 

System Architecture


This is pretty simple, we buy some OTS solution

Which OTS Solution? Idk….there’s some considerations we have to make:


Architecture considerations

Some things to consider:

  1. Transmission frequency: 1.3GHz, 2.4GHz, 5.8 GHz

1.2/1.3GHz is probably the best when it comes to penetration and distance. Very cost prohibitive and should only be explored if we need to. Can be used with 900MHz crossfire/dragonlink as long as we use notch filters appropriately. Could impact GPS → need to mount antenna properly. Antennas are larger but this isn’t an issue if our drone is larger or equal to the size of vanny.

2.4GHz probably the most common? (also a controller freq tho).

5.8GHz more and more popular now (esp on digital). Can get a few km’s of range line-of-sight, but even a small tree/bush can kill the video…

2. Digital v Analog transmission

Digital tends to be higher quality but also higher latency. Digital systems tend to gain more noticeable latency as range increases, but less loss of signal quality. Analog systems tend to be more cross-compatible, while digital systems are a little bit more locked in.

3. FPV Goggles v Monitor

we use a monitor because that means changing from FPV to LOS is a lot simpler and safer. It also means multiple people can view the monitor, or we can split the output signal to multiple people (lot easier with monitors than fpv goggles).

We may end up using a receiver meant for goggles but plugged into a monitor. We will see.

4. Antenna tracking

Cheap ready-to-go- antenna tracking is available. GPS data is injected alongside video data and then decoded on the groundstation. Would use a seperate GPS from what we have, and could be OTS or we could make our own?

https://www.flyingtech.co.uk/fpv-camera-gimbals/arkbird-aat-auto-antenna-tracker-fpv-ground-station

 

5. Other Notes

  • mounting of rx needs to be seperated from rc-link (two poles as far away as possible).

  • Mounting of TX needs to be seperated from RC-Link

    • if we really wanted to, we could do some very basic antenna tracking with TX (same with the RC-Link I * guess * )

 Options

We consider 5 key components: camera, VTX module, Antennas, VRX module, and monitor. Not sure what the easiest way to pair them together would be…. Would it be better to just get the 1.3GHz setup? Or would we want to try 2.4/5.8 first? DJI Digital systems seem to be literally the best, if we can ever find them in stock and somehow get an hdmi output from them….

I think these are the viable tests that we would want to conduct:

  • ground to ground LOS (walk from one end of an empty road to another).

    • Try this with both rx and tx ground level

    • Try this with RX / TX taped to the top of a broomstick or pole or smth (just a few metres off the ground)

  • Air to ground LOS (TX on a balcony somewhere up high) - as high as we can get it, but consistent heights

    • walk (bike?) the RX away and see how bad latency might be?

  • Air to ground with obstruction

    • Same task but this time try walking behind another building so it’s no longer LOS. Have walkie talkies or be on a phone call so you can evaluate what is happening.

 Action Items

Action

Description

Owner

Due date

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Action

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Due date

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1

Jun 2, 2022

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Options

Uhhhhh Hopefully this is still understandable in about a week.

But also there’s a hell of a lot of antenna options available

1.2/1.3 GHz

Camera

 

 

VTX

http://www.mateksys.com/?portfolio=vtx-1g3se

Mateksys 1.3 GHz TX.

Requires soldering but mateksys smol not super great

Compatible with 2.54mm jumps

25/200/800 mW

https://hobbywireless.com/12-13-ghz-transmitters-c-179_117_165_113/t1013-eagle-13-ghz-500mw1000mw-long-range-fpv-transmitter-v2-us-version-made-in-taiwan-p-4547.html

T1013 Eagle TX

500/1000mW

https://hobbywireless.com/12-13-ghz-transmitters-c-179_117_165_113/txv13100-1213-ghz-1000mw-transmitter-nonus-version-p-1758.html

TVX13100 TX

1000mW

VRX

http://www.mateksys.com/?portfolio=vrx-1g3-v2

https://hobbywireless.com/12-13-ghz-receivers-c-179_117_160_162/vrx1g3v2-1213ghz-9-channels-receiver-mateksys-p-4910.html?zenid=fnh3kel5v8921tfch5grm7nuj4

Mateksys 1.3GHz RX.
Requires soldering but mateksys….idk.

https://hobbywireless.com/12-13-ghz-receivers-c-179_117_160_162/r12-1213-900-mhz-1300-mhz-12-channel-receiver-900mhz-13ghz-upgraded-saw-filter-p-4549.html?zenid=fnh3kel5v8921tfch5grm7nuj4

R12 rx…

Has saw filter

https://hobbywireless.com/12-13-ghz-receivers-c-179_117_160_162/r1200pro-plus-900mhz-13ghz-9channel-long-range-fpv-receiver-upgraded-saw-filter-made-in-taiwan-p-4121.html?zenid=fnh3kel5v8921tfch5grm7nuj4

R1200 Pro-Plus w/ Saw filter

https://www.getfpv.com/fpv/video-receivers/1-3ghz/1-3ghz-receiver-9-channels.html

Random Receiver with no brand?

ReadyMade RC (RMRC) Rx

Good and available, commonly used on the youtube?

Signal Filter/Amp

http://www.fpvpro.com/video-signal-amplifier-lna-12-13-ghz

Amp with RF Filter, by DragonLink

http://www.fpvpro.com/video-filter-12-ghz

915MHz Notch filter

https://www.team-blacksheep.com/products/prod:notch_filter_1g2

Notch Filter 868/915 by TBS.
Designed for 1.3 to run with crossfire on 915

Antenna Options?

  • everything probably needs a new antenna

https://www.videoaerialsystems.com/collections/antennas

A bunch of different antennas…. need to test…?

Probably hard to run diversity, so…. drone tracking or omni?

Bluebeam Pro + Pepperbox/Crosshair

https://www.truerc.ca

Probably better than VAS stuff bc you can juts pair it together, and the RX side is better than what VAS has to offer (but less value)

Singularity + X-Air

Monitor interface + Groundstation + Tracking

tbh idk….
We probably build our own tracking system with GPS? Or we buy one from arkbird (easier)

 

2.4Ghz

  • nvm couldn’t rly find anything it seems to be phased out now.

5.8

Digital Systems: THER ARE ONLY TWO

HDZero; https://www.getfpv.com/fpv/hd-fpv/hdzero-digital-hd-fpv-system/fat-shark-shark-byte-digital-hd-video-system.html

DJI System, uses goggles.

 

 References and documentation