distance

[sodman12]

lets say i wanted a uav that had a range of 20 miles with a live video feed and the ability to control by the video(not saying that this is eazy or a good idea) and also the ability to signal it from a very far distance, lets say 25 miles to come home and it will return.
Is this even possible or am i just taking a shot in the dark?

thanks

[kd7ost]

lets say i wanted a uav that had a range of 20 miles with a live video feed and the ability to control by the video(not saying that this is eazy or a good idea) and also the ability to signal it from a very far distance, lets say 25 miles to come home and it will return.
Is this even possible or am i just taking a shot in the dark?

thanks

Parts of it are reasonable to accomplish even if they aren't reasonable to do. 20 mile range for a UAV is no trouble. Video Feed at 20 miles isn't reasonable, or even close to being with hobby or even amatuer radio systems. You would have to look at some high end commercial equipment. I know nothing about that gear though.

Control by video, if you mean fly the plane by using the video link as if you're the pilot on board. Sure. We do that.

It's easier to have the plane fly automously than by long range link but is not at all a recommended practice. You need to maintain a "see and avoid" in air space. With a video system this is not reasonable or practical.

If you stay inside your own ability to "See and Avoid" thats what makes us look good and responsible too.

Dan

[sodman12]

has anyone here every put a decent camcorder on an airplane before.
i have seen a lot of heli pilots do it and was wondering if it can be done in a first person view on a plane.

i am in the first part of learn about airplanes. i was just wondering to what extent this hobby could be take and i am sure it just ends up with how much cash you are willing to put up.

also has anyone here herd of people using solar panles on the wings to charge the batteries enableing them to fly far distances without rechage? just another shot in the dark.

thanks

[chopsuey]

Yes I believe NASA had an electric plane called Helios that was covered in solar panels and it was an attempt to stay in the air indefinately or at least longer periods of time. Please correct me if I am wrong. I think the plane eventually crashed though.

[sodman12]

yes i have seen it but i was just wondering if something could be done on a smaller scale that could possibly prolong a flight

[Tuner]

Yes It has been done with the solar I can point you to McDonald Douglas they have 20-25 percent effeciency solar cells available to the public in lots of 50. These are basicly the cells that are used in commecial satellites (lower end satelites as the high end cells have a 30-35% efficiency approaching 40% now.

This has been done on an endurance UAV that stayed aloft for 48hours using thermalling and power from the solar cells stored in batteries to essentially be able to fly indefinately. Still this was more of a commercial project that a hobbyist project running Im sure in the $10-$20,000+ range easy Im sure.

One thought is to use the new high speed cell phones. Only problem is you would have to operate in the coverage area and the higher you go the more problems you have as cell phones only connect to one tower at a time and at certain altitudes multiple towers can have a strong signal and I have heard this can cause problems and is one reason why you are not suppose to use a cell phone while flying it actually violate s FCC not FAA rules, so I have heard second hand.

I have dealt with long range video. You will need line of site with long range video or very close because in order to send a signal with that amount of bandwidth over that long of a distance you will definately need a directional antenna on you airplane and a control system to keep it pointed at either a satelite or a base station.

Watch Out for WIMAX this technology could make this all easier it is basiclly WiFi extended to cover a large area like a city downtown.... The standard is still being finalized and could end up JUNK but it has the potential for 10-20 mile operation but I assume this is using expensive Cell Tower type equiptment....

The main problem is always Directionality.
Also the power required can be quite high. Just look at your local news Van look at the antenna and the transmition equiptment inside its got some juice.
The more directional the antenna the less power required.

A new methanol Fuelcell that is out can triple the capacity/ounce over lipos. Its only available to a select few for testing now but, it will be out next year. But not rechargable via electricity.

Basiclly unless you can work something out that uses cellphones or satelite phones/link, this is something that crosses my mind daily. With a sofware based radio you could build a modem that can work on any network you have an account with. You might be able to use more than one at a time with multiple radios to increas bandwidth.

I think you are out of luck.
What you talk about as fare as video goes is hard even to be dont commercially with towers let alone on a moving object that is lightweight so it may fly.

Why do you need a live video feed as pointed out earlier this is not a reliable way to fly or avoid obstacles as the feed can cut out or in the case of using a cell phone connection it could have a delay and still cut out.

I personally would just install a Hard disk recorder and a nice camera. Fly autonomously land checkout the video and reshoot. I bet most of the heli guys that do video work record onboard and use waypoints to shoot their camera shots as good ARHS system could fly more stable than a remot pilot.

Boy Im long winded today.
Scott

[sodman12]

i might do just that with maby a high powered camera mounted on the bottom. and just tell it to take pics at a gps point.

i will most likely look into other means of sending video over a wireless system. im sure it can be done but even if the feed was bad or even if it was just a picture every 3 sec it would give me something to look at.

thanks for hte comments.