I am designing a fixed-wing drone. I am planning on transmitting HD video and some telemetry over a distance of maximum 3 kilometers. I will need a longer-ranged module in the future but it is the future me's problem.
I have checked out some lo-ra modules such as E32 SX1278 but they have extremely low bandwidth. I think that HD video streaming requires around 5mbps and telemetry takes basically nothing so 5mbps should be enough for me.
There are FPV transmitters that are doing basically what I need. However, since they are designed to be used by a standard hobbyist with a rc hardware setup, I really can't use it to transmit telemetry and other types of data, or can I. I honestly don't know.
Of course, the ideal module that I would put on board the drone would be small and cheap but I accept that everything good comes with a price. I have some budget but not very much so I would really like some cost-effective alternatives in addition to some expensive performance modules.
I actually think that we can manage to find a light module since I will be transmitting to and receiving from a ground station. So I can use a transceiver with a huge antenna in my ground station.
To sum up, can you guys recommend some long-range high-speed radio transceiver solutions that fits my requirements. Thank you!
It occurs to me that probably the best people to ask would be the large number of enthusisasts and companies who are involved in and use Video in drones already.
It would also seem likley that if there was a cheap,light, easy way of doing this then the FPV enthusiasts would be doing it already.
Just telemetry at that distance is easy enough, so run it seperatly or via the drones RC control.
There are tons of FPV and PWM RF solutions in the market that can achieve 10s of kilometers of range. Some examples:
This Rc setup can achieve "10 of kilometers" using a very light receiver. However, this is basically a servo controller type of thing so can not transmit any bytes you give to it. It must be pwm signal.
This guy can transmit HD video over a distance of 2000 meters and fairly cheap. However, this is a video transmitting system, designed for that specific reason so I don't think I can transmit my telemetry over it. The second problem is on board part is only a transmitter so can not receive commands from my ground station. I want the connection to be both ways.
Best transceiver I have found was capable of just 2mbps over 250 meter in open field. I literally can't find even some expensive modules.
Equipment used by amateur radio people (hams) to do this sort of thing is modified commercial equipment operating in the 3.4ghz band. He could do the same, but will need the proper license for his country.
My drone can carry an 850 g of useful weight. I will be improving this number shortly. The problem is I have to save as much weight as possible to carry some mission-related payloads. So I must make this system light.
About amateur radio equipment, I am not against getting a license. I will get a license if necessary. However, Arduino Ham shields or any other Ham modules can just transmit morse code. I will be using it to transfer data and video. I couldn't find microcontroller compatible modules.
I am a little lost here guys. BTW, I am from turkey
isaturk:
However, Arduino Ham shields or any other Ham modules can just transmit morse code.
That is just not true and a very long way from the reality.
There is a lot more to Amateur radio than just Morse code.
I went to a talk last year, it was from the local Amatuer Radio Microwave group, it was all about sending video over long distances and Morse code did not get mentioned once.
I am planning on transmitting HD video and some telemetry over a distance of maximum 3 kilometers.
I am by no means an expert on anything, but as far as I know that would be a very difficult/expensive thing to do. If you want to transmit video you should get a video transmitter. Something that records video and turns it into electromagnetic waves. If you're thinking about sending it digitally, even for low resolution video anything short of a Raspberry Pi will be insufficient. Let alone HD video. And that's only for processing the camera input. You'll also need to find an RF solution with a bandwidth high enough to transmit HD video. I've never researched it but I don't think anything in the Arduino/amateur world can achieve that.
For sending telemetry-only, DIY is possible with different RF solutions. I don't know about 3Km tho.