hey guys, i had an idea in mind from a while, i was thinking of having an RC plane that is fully controlled by my PC. that is a custom built program would be interfaced to a very basic RF transmitter and the rest is normal , an RC plane with the reciver on board. PLUS, there would be the normal video camera on board sending footage to the PC feeding it to the custom built program to enable a pilot view controlling.
Is there anyone thought of this before or can help in such idea. I mean first of all i need to know what is the simplest RF circuit that can be used, offcource i mean as subtitution to the normal RX sets we used.
any ideas : ))

Thank alot guys

Start with 100% standard RC gear, get a plane that can fly with a little extra power leftover to handle the weight of the additional electronics and you have a good starting point. You can use any transmitter out there that supports a trainer cord. You can find links on the web for PC interfaces to transmitters all over the place, some more effective than others. However using something along the lines of a Basic Stamp 2 as an interface would be more efficient. Because Stamps are excellent at dealing with RC signals, and can even generate the baseband (entire RC frame) from scratch with little effort. They also can interface to the PC using standard RS232 serial cables. The most expensive stamp will set you back 80 bucks and maybe 20 bucks less for a lower end one (Just don't use a Basic Stamp 1 module as their timer resolution is only enough to get 100 steps out of a standard RC signal not enough detail) The main reason I suggest a stamp, is if you become even moderately proficient at programming them (It's pbasic... piece of cake to learn) You can do mixing on the chip itself that would make what you can do with a computer transmitter seem like a joke in higher resolution as well. If you want to get truly exotic and you can find the info, you can probably generate PCM signals with it. Then it's just a simple matter of getting someone to write a program that will translate joystick input into a serial signal and send to the stamp for turning into a baseband signal to send to the transmitter to actually be transmitted. I do NOT recommend having the computer itself try to generate the RC baseband signal because windows can't guarantee reliable signal delivery, meaning you'll get junk out. If you have a good degree of technical altitude and the money/time to do it, shouldn't take more than a few weeks from start to finish. BTW, 2.4 gigahertz video transmitters for this kind of thing cost about 160. While the camera itself would cost about 160. An added afterthought, is that if you want to. The video transmitter I've seen has stereo audio as well, which you could use as a mono audio channel (for the hell of it) and a custom data down-link channel if you want telemetry data from the plane. You can get as exotic as you want, but the price goes up fast, so does the time required to assemble and test it. If you're serious about the project I'd more more than willing to assist in pointing you in the right direction for getting the equipment together. I've been interested in something along these lines with a Helli for a while, but I don't have the funds to start the project until late this year. [email protected] is my e-mail address if you want to contact me.

Not that this effects what goes on in other parts of the world but, from the AMA's website, minutes of the EC meeting in October 2002: (pay particular attention to the second paragraph)

"National Security

Work continues on a report. The President is hearing more and more on the subject and asked if others were. C. Maroney received a call from an AMA member in the Midwest who works at the FAA regional office. This person is dealing with a request for an unmanned vehicle to be flown in St. Louis area with a 5-mile radius. The FAA person wanted to know what AMA’s position was in this matter. Maroney used the document (he indicated the document had not yet been reviewed by Council) to explain what the position was on model aircraft being controlled by GPS. Maroney feels this document will be very valuable.

D. Mathewson read a portion of an item from the American Correctional Association, written by a gentleman with the National Institute of Justice, concerning an RC helicopter launched by remote control and commanded via a laptop computer. Other Council members noted similar happenings they were aware of. The President expressed concern that these types of situations could have severe implications on model flying in the future."

How would this affect R/C flying? I don't follow.

You mean aside from the fact that both the AMA EC and this thread are discussing the same issue?

Homeland security !!!

Think about it

Hatman