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Airborne Video With an R/C helicopter
PerryResearch writes "MacGyver would be jealous - here are the plans for a complete 2.4 ghz wireless video transmission system, mounted on a Mikado Logo 20 R/C helicopter, with realtime video overlay showing wireless signal strength, GPS coordinates, and support for videoglasses. Make sure you check out some of their in-flight videos."
Trrsts don't tend to need that sort of accuracy.
A van packed with explosives parked against a building usually does the trick.
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This sig is inoffensive.
naturally someone had to bring 'this' up. the fact is there's no way to be totally safeguarded from an attack by someone who has issues with your country. the best thing for a government to do is try to refrain from making enemies, and the best idea for a private citizen is to get on with your life and go about your business without constant worry. widespread paranoia in the public doesn't do anyone any good, save for those manufacturing gas masks, bomb shelters, or war.
"Life is great; without it, you'd be dead." -Harmony Korine
If the camera fitted was an infrared camera, this would be great to help find lost hikers/ skiiers.
This could also be adapted for something like rogaining - every team carries some form of tag. Helicopter flies around competition area giving real-time tracking of competitors and also some cool video.
Imagine a beowolf cluster of these!
:)
Seriously, though - multiple helicopters with onboard computers obeying simple rules could quite feasably do useful things like intelligently scouring disaster sites for victims, or evaluating the extent of a fire.
Of course, they could also all coalesce and become Skynet!
The scale on this is way too small for anything beyond line of sight. For one thing, you have to have control over the heli (hobbyist RC transmitters like the ones used have limited range), and more importantly, 2.4 ghz video cameras like the ones used in the article have much shorter range, even with a clear line of sight. The cameras are also nowhere near broadcast quality.
For those suggesting the idea of using it to track races, it would be far more practical, cheaper and less threatening to the public to use the weather balloon-pizza-box camera that was a thread here just last week.
Yes, flying model helicopters are dangerous to J.Q. Public when some nump loses control, yells "Oh Shit!", and the thing comes careening down and gives a bystander a close shave.
At least the balloon camera combo can be deployed with decent motor-mount cameras, more electronics and you wouldn't have to worry about some noob in the crowd scamming your same frequency with another chopper and turning the bike race into a game of drunken Battle-Bots in the sky.
Never have a philosophy which supports a lack of courage
...will be the solution. The aerospace industry has so many unstable designs now that would otherwise be unable to fly without computers, I can't see why the same school of thought shouldn't be applied to helicopters. If we can have small handhelds packing 300+MHz processors, surely we can have a similarly powerful system in an R/C chopper.