10mW test results (crash inside)

Where to start. The tl;dr is more delays, as the only prototype I had was lost yesterday on a mountain ridge and there is absolutely no way to find it.

The crashed happened after 1) The video transmitter software crashed (in a way that never happened before during development – I was so confident I didn’t have a watchdog enabled) and 2) RTL failed to work, even though I had tested it the day before.

The relatively good news is that I have a ground recording of the event I can share. It’s nothing to be proud of, but it’s the only video I have at the moment as I also discovered my external ground recorder will happily overwrite files saved during the previous boot. I feel like I keep blaming things on others, like having lost the flight from two days before (where at least the camera was showing less vibrations) but that’s not my intention.

Anyway, the video shows the system working at 10mW with omni antennas (2 dBi on the drone, 5 dBi on the ground) and reaching 600 meters at full data rate before decreasing it gradually until the software crash at 1.7 km. In theory the system still had ways to go as the sensitivity limit wasn’t reached, but I can’t say for sure what that would have looked like, yet, as I’m not giving up.

I will leave you with a narrated video of the test.

I’ve now ordered a new transmitter PCB that should be here on Saturday if it’s not delayed at the factory. If everything else goes perfectly well I should be up in the air on Sunday for the next tests, that are 100 mW, 1 W and finally 1 W with yagi antennas.

25 thoughts on “10mW test results (crash inside)”

  1. Sorry to hear about the loss of your quad, not good that the FC did not operate correctly. Look forward to more news.

  2. So proud of you man! You are doing so great, trying your best to get our expectations to be real. Please continue your work!

  3. Saludos desde Chile. Lamento la pérdida de tu drone… pero creo que tu trabajo es genial. Espero con ansias poder obtener este sistema. Saludos y continúa con tu excelente trabajo.

  4. Thanks Davide for keeping us updated! Looking forward to try the unit on my Talon. I’m still very happy with your 1.3Ghz Batch1 system 🙂

  5. Keep up the hard work! We’ve all lost expensive rigs — it’s part of the game but it never hurts any less!! Good luck on your continued development.

  6. I like these posts it is very real and transparent and shows you really care.

    Take your time don’t be so hard on yourself cool what you are even attempting.

  7. I am just wondering if someone is sabotaging your project. Could it be possible someone transmitting on the same frequency which interrupts your video signal while you’re in flight? It’s just a thought unless it’s just shear component failure. I’ve been following FPV Blue waiting for someone else to come out with digital video. There is only one other company cornering the market.

    1. Well, not willingly. The system is meant to handle interference. I didn’t look at the airwaves using a sdr/gr-fosphor before flying, if the problem was coming from the rf repeater/antennas installed near the ridge I will know for sure next time I fly in a different location.

  8. This is amazing stuff especially on 10mw. This might really make FPV truly legal, without special HAM licenses, etc. If I can get crystal clear video with-in a kilometre that covers 90% of my flying. Sure occasionally longer range stuff is fun to do but mostly I am just burning around the local park. Obviously some more work to do, keep it up, can’t wait to buy as I missed on the first batch.

  9. Honestly the applications for what your building go beyond just drones (personally I want one for my skydiving) and I think we will never truly realise how priceless your work is until its all finished. Thank you for not giving up when you have hit difficult challenges in this journey. Your an absolute legend!!

  10. I admire your honest approach. I am sure others do to.
    This is not failure in any way but instead progression and innovation as long as you take something away from it.

    Im over your way in April/may and happy to help as I mentioned in email previously. Keep me / us updated.

  11. This is already SO much better clarity & picture quality than what we have now! This has the potential to be amazing once these bugs get worked out. Keep up the great work & please don’t give up!

  12. Hi Davide,

    I am sorry to hear about your copter loss. I trust in you and your project. Wish you best of luck!

    Regarding the image quality, the colours with the camera currently in use are not great and the detalisation looks mediocre probably to low quality of optics. Is there any chance you find a better camera unit?

    1. I disagree, I believe the current camera has great detail and white balancing is accurate. I’ve tested countless devkits from aptina/ov. But no, this is not the camera that will ship with the 2.4 GHz version. It might be available as an option.

      1. I now disagree on my disagreement here and want to turn my answer into an “agree”. Auto exposure on very very bright scenes is way off, it’s hard to fix it with as I have no devkit here, but I will try and see what I can do. I will fix it by the time the product ships for sure.

  13. This is amazing. I have been waiting since the first fpv.Blue was released and it really seems as if you are going to make a product that can destroy the big boys. Been looking forward to your release since 2017 🙂 godspeed!

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