iPhone FPV

by ukarmy04 | July 14, 2012 | (12) Posted in Projects



Many people want to get into FPV, but because of budget constraints the cost of purchasing a fully functioning FPV setup can be too high.  Before I purchased my 5.8GHz system, I too was facing this same dilema, so I came up with a quick and dirty solution for trying out FPV for the first time.  

As the article title suggests, I used my iPhone for my first FPV experience on my DJI quadcopter.  Previous attempts at this (as far as I have seen) have involved using FaceTime or Skype over a 3G connection.  However, these types of connections have always been a little unreliable for me.  To get around this I used an application called "Reflection" to stream the camera footage from my iPhone to the screen of my Macbook Pro.  This setup utilizes a direct connection between the iPhone and the computer and doesn't have to go through any 3rd party servers (like Skype or FaceTime).  Because of this direct connection, the video streaming is actually usable and can be used for FPV flight.  The videos below will give you an idea of the kind of lag you can expect on a system like this.




I did a couple of flights with this FPV setup and found the range to be ~150ft in all directions.  It may be able to go further, but I didn't want to push it.  Also, I found the lag becomes an issue when trying to do fast circuits. Otherwise, for slow and steady circuits everything handled absolutely fine.  

Also, the resolution coming back to the computer is much higher than what I have seen from other setups.  In addition to this, there are apps available for iPhone that will allow you to superimpose a heads-up display (HUD) - like a jet fighter - over the streaming camera footage.  




While I do like this sort of pseudo-FPV setup, I do believe that this is by no means a replacement for a full FPV system.  A dedicated FPV system will always provide more reliability and greater range.  Having said that, I think that this is a fun project for anyone who has an iPhone, a computer and wants to give FPV a try before purchasing a full system.  

I have written a tutorial on how to setup the software and get it working with your iPhone on my website:

http://www.rctutor.org/iphone-fpv.html

If you have any questions, feel free to comment or contact me and I'll do my best to help out.  Hope you enjoyed!

COMMENTS

FlyBoy on July 20, 2012
good article for those who can't afford the real deal !
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Nic on July 17, 2012
Will it work with the iPod touch with a bluetooth connection?
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ukarmy04 on July 17, 2012
Hey Nic, it should work with the iPod touch as long as you are running the latest iOS firmware on it. It works over a WiFi connection so you won't need bluetooth.
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Night Crawler on July 15, 2012
5* I do like this idea and 150ft would me more than enough for someone wanting to try it out.
I dont have an iphone myself, but there must be something out there for android?
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ukarmy04 on July 15, 2012
Thanks Night Crawler. I'm not sure if there is anything like this for Android - although I haven't spent much time looking. This particular setup relies on the iOS Airplay feature, so if there is something similar in the Android market, then I'm sure it could be easily replicated.
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Nonamerc on July 15, 2012
Rated 5 stars for creativity!!!
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ukarmy04 on July 15, 2012
Thanks, man. I appreciate it.
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Hugo Wilding on July 20, 2012
Awesome article!!, though I question your view of cheap, a 1k iPhone and a 3k MacBook pro so you don't have to buy a $100 fpv set?? 5stars!
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ukarmy04 on July 20, 2012
Haha, fair point. Although, in reality it's more like a $1k laptop and a $300 phone but I see your point. I was looking at it more from the perspective that a laptop and a phone are usually long term investments and an FPV setup probably won't last as long as either of them. If you read my other article, I actually worked out a good FPV setup for $160 after I tried out my iPhone FPV setup. Just goes to show that things are getting cheaper every day. Thanks for the rating!
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iPhone FPV