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Wireless video streaming

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cyberfish:
I'm working on an RC quadrocopter and need some way to stream video.

I've been doing a lot of research, and it seems like the only way to get the bandwidth (~1Mbits/s) I need is to use wifi.

Is there any other option? I'm trying to avoid wifi because it adds a lot of complexity, and therefore a lot of things to potentially go wrong.

I need to stream an at least 640x480 video feed at >10fps. It will be compressed MJPEG. As for range, I'm aiming for 1km, but that's quite optimistic.

My onboard computer is a Gumstix, so I'm not too worried about interfacing (it has SPI, UART, I2C).

Suggestions?

Thanks

JohnS_AZ:
Suggestion? Yea. Transmit analog video. Framegrab it on the ground if you ultimately need it digital.

cyberfish:
That sounds like a good idea. I have never done any analog video, though, and don't really know how they work.

I Googled them up a bit and they all seem to be huge (my chopper is about 500g-1kg), for security monitoring, with short range. I was probably looking at the wrong places.

Can you suggest something concrete so I can get started?

JohnS_AZ:
Well, I think I'd start with something like this ...

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MINI-WIRELESS-CAM&cat=VID

It says the range is 150 feet, but I'd replace both antennas. Get a Yag or cantenna or something for the receiver and have a friend in charge of keeping it pointed at the copter. Might even be able to add an amp before the receiver.

You could probably do better than the little wire whip on the transmitter as well.

Anyone know if the antenna on a wifi router has any gain?

cyberfish:
That looks good, but the range is way too short, even with high gain antenna. Even with an antenna with 6dB higher gain, that's just 300 feet.

6 dBi wifi antennas are pretty common. >10 dBi directional antennas are also available.

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