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I've been inspired by the guys at DIY Drones and I'm toying with the idea of making a UAV. To transmit the sensor data, I was thinking I'd go with a 60mW XBee, but I also would like to transmit live video. I'm having a hard time finding a way to transmit live video because I think the XBee will only transmit at low speed. Any idea what camera/transmitter/receiver combo would be possible? I think 1-5 miles range would be ok.

I'm looking for specific products/links.

Matt Williamson
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  • Here is a video of people flying such around New York: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9cSxEqKQ78 Maybe not the best place to experiment, but a nice video for sure. – kasterma Dec 06 '10 at 04:06

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I believe that the legal option here would be a 900MHz or 2.4GHz solution. There are some specialty RC Wireless and Video suppliers like Hobby Wireless that carry several different camera/transmitter/receiver solutions.

Remember that it is currently illegal to fly R/C aircraft outside of your line-of-sight (both the AMA and FAA are pretty strict on this). All model aircraft must remain in the pilot's sight during the entire duration of the flight. I'm not sure how enforced this is, but you would probably be wise to stay on the legal side of things as you are doing your UAV experiments.

mjcarroll
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    Here's the legal situation for the UK http://diydrones.com/profiles/blogs/uk-caa-clarify-things – Toby Jaffey Dec 05 '10 at 22:17
  • Ah, yes. Sorry, I don't know the legal situation worldwide, as I only do things in the states. The FAA is still pretty nervous about people operating drones in American airspace, so it's best to CYA when doing this type of project. – mjcarroll Dec 05 '10 at 22:20
  • This is called FPV and is quite legal in most parts of the world, including the US or UK, regardless of line-of-sight. – Thomas O Dec 06 '10 at 00:36
  • Thanks for the link, I'm thinking about this one: http://hobbywireless.com/cart/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=404 – Matt Williamson Dec 06 '10 at 14:49
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Legal issues aside, use a separate communication channel for the video stream. This way it will simplify your hardware and allow you use commercial off the shelf wireless transmitter and receiever the video, and a dedicated control and sensor channel using Xbee (or alternative) communication channel.

smashtastic
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Use analog video and a video transmitter/receiver pair.

Total cost less than $50 US.

Thomas O
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