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Windows CE R/C Transmitter
Si24601 writes "Futaba has released details of a new radio transmitter, the 14MZ, that incorporates a 640x240 colour touch screen, runs Window CE and uses a Compact Flash card. As someone in the midst of building a semi-autonomous model yacht, this screams to be used for telemetry feedback. Fly RC Magazine has a review of the 14MZ."
Marty: "you've got that thing hooked up to the...car?"
My only question is can I stick a digicam on my gas powered R/C plane, and get the live video feed from it right there on the R/C controller?
The possibilities boggle me (somewhat evil) mind...
Why do I need a GUI on a device that requires that I dedicate my full attention to something *else*.
If I am watching the screen, my aircraft is headed for the lake.
Not everything electronic in the world needs a display.
"Rocky Rococo, at your cervix!"
Music can be played (Windows Media), and voice commands can be assigned to switches, e.g., "flaps up"
:)
I would find it incredibly distracting trying to fly my plane and hear someone nearby have "what's your vector Victor" come out of their remote control everytime it updates the screen
Semi-autonomous yacht? I hope it yells "coming-about!" when it turns around, or you are going to have a few less people onboard.
Now I can say "Crash land"!
Wow, this sounds really nice. It's not uncommon to use one controller for many R/C devices. Normally you'd create a profile for each R/C device you intend to control, then switch profiles using an special interface or switching cartridges. Hopefully this will allow improvements to the management/switching of these profiles.
1. This thing runs WinCE?
2. Why WinCE? Linux could do so much better.
3. Anyone try this with a modded Linux XBox?
4. Why Linux? BSD could do so much better.
5. Why BSD? BSOD could do so much better.
6. In Korea, only old people BSOD.
7. In Soviet Russia, BSOD blue screens you!
8. Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
9. Profit!
Well, not really because it has two processors: one fore Windows CE and non-critical processes. The other is made by Futaba and controls flying the plane.
Ouch. When it screams, I WinCE.
-- Thou hast strayed far from the path of the Avatar.
I know it is poor form to like a WinCE device here, but that looks pretty cool.
Looking at the website though it looks like all the processor power is in the controller. The screen is just for a pretty display of servo positions.
I cannot help but think it would be so much cooler if there was some more general (ie programmable) intelligence in the controlled device. I don't expect RC plane fans particularly want autonomous robots, but even processing on the same level as a lego mindstorm would be cool.
Don't get me wrong, a display of servo position and a pretty JPG of your plane is nice, but engine temperature, GPS location and altitude would be so much cooler.
As someone in the midst of building a semi-autonomous model yacht, this screams to be used for telemetry feedback.
As someone who has read that sentence six times and still has no idea what it is you're exactly trying to do, I wish you the best of luck with the Windows CE installation.
One of the projects here last year was a RC helicopter with telemetry feedback and computerised control, plus a wireless camera feed (not over IP though) - the ground terminal was a laptop running RH9.
:o)
No major hickups involved, which was good as their budget was bad enough after buying the first heli let alone having to buy a replacement after a crash
Beep beep.
With the addition of video (perhaps even two way) this would be a breakthrough in rescue equipment. Imagine not only being able to remotely locate survivors, but also being able to communicate with them. Very Impressive!
"Can there be a Klein bottle that is an efficient and effective beer pitcher?"
Now you won't only be crashing because of wind, visibility, or crashing into another plane (didn't happen to me personally, but happened at the club I belong to, and I was there), but now your RADIO can crash too!!
I can't see this as a good thing. I'll stick with my older Futaba radio. It does what I need, and has never shown me a blue screen of death.
Erioll
Flying Model Airplanes for 9 years
TowerHobbies (www.towerhobbies.com) had this listed yesterday for a little over $2k. A little pricey for me. As a long time rc pilot, I love the features. Give it 5 years and every computer radio will have this kind of technology.
http://www.vxm.com/Dolo.NTsinksNavy.html
Go for it WinCE might help you make the Darwin awards.
. ...
.
8. Imagine a Beowulf cluster of these!
9.
10. Profit!
Not only will it crash your computer, but with this new controller, it'll break your toys too.
Using a Windows based OS for your RC equipment? That will bring a whole new meaning to Crash Landing you plane! I'd only use it on the boats, since I can always row out and retrieve them. The planes, however, might come down a little unexpectedly.
HexaByte - he's a square and a half!
Like I REALLY want something running windows ANYTHING controlling my brushless R/C doing 60+ mph. This is one of those areas of tech where the item CANNOT fail. It's not acceptable for a lockup or restart to occur when you're R/C plane is in the middle of a stall or you're car/truck is doin 60mph str8 into a wall.
I hope they have success with it, but I'd prefer one of the simpler computerized transmitters already on the market personally.
In any event, the most useful R/C plane telemetry generally isn't visual -- it's audible. You're too busy looking up at your plane to watch a display on your radio (looking at your radio while flying is a recipe for losing your plane), but a variable pitch tone that's telling you if your glider is gaining or losing altitude can be very useful in determining if you're still in that thermal. Full scale glider pilots use the same system, but of course in that case it's not done via radio.
Again, looking at your radio in flight is very bad, especially if several people are flying at once or your plane is way up there. MANY times somebody has looked down at their radio for some reason, and looked back up and never found their plane again. Or looked back up, found their plane, and kept flying it for a while longer but then realized that it wasn't obeying their controls anymore. (Eventually, they learned that they `found' the wrong plane up in the sky and that their plane had crashed shortly after and they didn't even notice, because they were `flying' something else.)
Now not only can the plane crash, but the transmitter also
Great... BPL isn't bad enough. More QRM on 20 Meters *sighs*
Would that be a screwup involving relatives?
So, instead of yelling, "Dead stick!" you'll be yelling, "Blue screen!"
Too late to be known as Bush the First, he's sure to be known as Bush the Worst.
Also, it could transmit infomation to the device, such as historical background about the area, and the nearest popular buildings. I know WAP can already provide such features, but wouldn't be convenient if this data was automatically downloaded..
Programmers never get old.. They just can't C as well.
There are no worms for Windows CE because they aren't binary compatible with other Win32 platforms. Also Windows CE doesn't have a bluescreen, plus embedded CE devices don't allow software to be installed that isn't part of the base platform (usually).
Nice try though.
I like it..."oh sh*t" turns off the engine and pops a chute to lower the model safely to earth...
Now thats cool..."Airplane bank right...airplane increase throttle...airplane don't hit that tree" ... you get the picture!
A worm on your remote control? You plan an checking your email on it?
Sorry, folks, not for me.. My RC airplanes crashes WITHOUT windows.
I saw an add for this radio over on the tower hobbies website, and almost choked on the price (around $2k).
I have been flying for a few years, and I am wonder who on earth has a 14 channel RC aircraft. Most Planes I fly at the most use 6 channels (ailerons, elevator, throttle, rudder, retracts, and flaps). Perhaps some one building a scale model B-52 (it has been done btw) would need this many channels. I imagine that they will sell a lot more of these on ground frequencies than air frequencies. Most of the guys who buy these high end radios for thier 4 channel planes are not much more than posers (see me with my pretty plane?) anyway.
Futaba sometimes introduces these nice features on their high end radios, and after a few years, the features start showing up on the low-end stuff. Personally, I can't wait for the touch screen technology to get down to their regular 6 channel radios.
One good 100w 20m signal and you'll BSOD!
*cackle*
In space, no one can hear you moo.
You know, you /.ers would be all over this thing if the title of the article was "Linux Embedded R/C Transmitter". But you see Windows and you're all, "OH NOES, BSOD PLANE GONNA DIE!"
Windows CE is stripped down and optimized enough that it actually works. Get over the fact that you have a personal vendetta against Microsoft, and see the possibilities this product could offer. I bet you would all have fun with this either way.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
I'd really like something sophisticated to replace my 8U, but the idea of trusting my Fokker to Windows makes my skin crawl!
Hmm ... I fly R/C regularly. The submitter doesn;t actually say much.... but his intended use for this is simply wrong.
This is a Transmitter, a TX. Not an RX (Receiver). There will be no telemetry to the screen from the plane.
gus
.. if only.
On the heels of the WSJ article on flash-mob advertising comes a story that sounds amazingly like a plug for WinCE embedded. Huh.
"...used for telemetry feedback."
You could use a CF WLAN card for this. You only need something lightweigth on the yacht. Anybody know about a simple setup using 802.11g? I looking for something that can be driven with a microcontroller. Prefably a SoC or SiP.
Uhh oh...
Futaba Blue Screen of Death crashes R/C Plane!
Quick, install linux!
here - here's some free software and some hoes.
I'm a gangster, you see!
The Feds have made serious model rocket enthusiasts suspect. How long before this sort of technology gets regulated as it approaches UAV's capabilities?
When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
My only question is can I stick a digicam on my gas powered R/C plane, and get the live video feed from it right there on the R/C controller?
As I read it this is strictly a transmitter. There's no receive channel. The whole second processor/WinCE/display business is just control-panel candy, utterly useless for any feedback (though perhaps handy for giving you information on reconfiguring the controls or what they're INTENDED to do on the craft you're currently controlling.)
So no remote-vision. No "semi-autonomous yacht" either, unless you are willing to run it with no feedback from it.
It may make it easier to operate the controls, automate some standard complex functions (i.e. "pull out of spin" button), or synthesize controls that do coordinated operations on multiple control surfaces. But that's about it.
If it DID have a return channel - especially a TV image from a forward-looking camera - that would be a quantum leap. (Such a channel could carry a lot of telemetry back, too, and could easily be augmented to do just about anything you wanted.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
It would be nice to get some video in it, preferably from a camera pointed towards the direction of flight ;-).
I can imagine the spam now...
probably the same people who like to see kernel panics?
this screams to be used for telemetry feedback.
[Thinks about hourly Windows CE crash and flying an RC plane].. NO IT BLOODY DOESNT!
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
Exactly right! Backlight, touchscreen drivers, Windows Media Player (good grief!) and WinMain() idle loops chew a hell of a lot of power... power that should be spent sending signals to an aircraft, not playing stupid sound clips.
From the manuf. webpage:
>>The 7.4V 2200mAh Lithium-Ion battery... providing nearly 3 hours of flight time
Note they say *nearly* 3 Hours? What's that translate to in real life? Two and a half hours with a BRAND NEW fully charged lithium ion pack? That's not very impressive. And just wait 'till that battery begins to age... it's all downhill from there.
Now 2+ hours may sound like a long time (and for gas flights it is) but it's not uncommon for thermal sailplane flights to last more than an hour each! BTW: 1 hour per flight isn't excessive -- it may take 20 minutes of work just to get a plane out of an aggressive thermal riser and back on the ground without overstressing the airframe in a dive. With only two+ hours flight time, running out of battery during a flight is a real risk. Who is going to risk a thousand $ model with this radio system?
The so-called review (which was little more than a press release) sucks, too. It didn't even mention whether this radio can do advanced features such as flap/aeleron mixing, programmed sequences, v-tail mixing, etc. or whether the radio includes servos. Is it safe to assume it does all this? Who knows.
Finally, the price tag -- $2000!
No thanks. I'll stick with my old-fashioned radio that does all the above and lets me fly all day on one charge for 1/5 the price.
link from tower hobbies...
Look at the price!
Hell, for that price you can buy a nice full-featured transmitter *and* a laptop or pocket PC along with the necessary cord to connect the two together.
If Futaba had half a clue and were more interested in providing a functional cost-effective solution than a "gee whiz!" box of tricks, they'd have separated the fancy LCD screen and WinCE bits from the transmitter itself.
This alternative approach would have meant that the system was just as powerful and configurable but with the added bonus that if you had more than one transmitter (and many fliers do) you would not be unnecessarily duplicating the cost and functionality of all that user-interface stuff.
What's more, if you wanted to transfer your own settings to another modeller's transmitter it would be a very simple task to do so.
Nobody needs a honking great color LCD display in the bottom of their transmitter (making it heavier and bulkier) when they're actually flying because the kind of plane that warrants a 14-channel set like this is *not* the kind of plane you can afford to take your eyes off for any length of time while you try to read such a screen.
No, I'm afraid that this is *bad* ergonomics and gross overpricing.
I fly with an RD8000 http://www.airtronics.net/RD8000.htm/ which can be bought for less than $300 including a _complete_ flight pack.
My RD8000 can do just about any imaginable mix for aircraft and helicopter use you can think of. If you really need a step up from there the Airtronics Stylus, JR 10X, Futaba 9Z are great, then there is the Multiplex truly high end.
I see the 14MZ as a flashy, marketing exersize so Futaba can claim to be an industry leader again. Most people flying R/C recognize Futaba as a good sport radio but JR is what all the top national pilots fly (unless they are sponsored). I would argue that there are features that even Hitec and Airtronics offer above Futaba, features that Futaba still does not incorporate.
Such as, you say: My Airtronics can transmit to _any_ brand 72mhz receiver, positive or negative shift, PCM or PPM. Hitec has an option to _easily_ change the frequency you are going to transmit on.
Bottom line, there is a lot more to radios than a fancy color screen. If you want that, add a USB uplink to your radio and have it programmable via a PC, liek the high end JR equipment.
WinCE interface is a gimick - IMO
...yup...
btw - if anyone want to read up on an old discussion thread for the 14MZ:
_ 2205427/mpage_1/key_/anchor/tm.htm#2205427/
http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_2205427/anchors
...yup...
has just been realized:
Clippy with a Pilot's license!
Dude.
Have you EVER talked to a girl? Without using a credit card number?
How do you plan to get your RC boat down to the lake without exposing yourself to natural sunlight?
Flame away. I've got karma up the wazoo.
CG-48 Yorktown was decomissioned December 3rd after twenty years in service, a long and interesting career in which a Smart Ship testbed failure in 1997 would rate as significant only on Slashdot. CG-48 Yorktown
CVN-77 George H.W. Bush, the last of the Nimitz-class carriers, now under construction, will incorporate W2K based technology developed by Microsoft Federal Systems. 'Son of Windows' to control carrier $5 billion dollar warships can take a decade and more to plan, fund and complete. So let's hear no complaints that the Navy wasn't looking at a commercial Linux solution in '97-'98, or earlier.
Could someone please write a Virus for that??? Maybe something like a airbrake every 20 seconds combined with two rolls??? Fly
After reading the Futaba speil at 14MZ...
Thank goodness Futaba had the wisdom to have two seperate processors, with Windows CE only used for setup and not for actual control.
I fly model aircraft. Model aircraft can crash. Crashing models can hit, injure or even kill people. Could you imagine the consequences if Windows CE was running the control system and bluescreened? (Impossible, I know.) I shudder at the thought of someone releasing a single-CPU controller running Windows CE.
Smart pixels, anyone?
#1
0x0000001E FLIGHTMODE_EXCEPTION_ERROR
A fatal exception 1E has occured at 0029:C0002684 in module 000055F8. The current application "airplane" will be shot down.
* Press any key to terminate the airplane.
* Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to restart your airplane. You will lose any unsaved passengers.
Press any key to continue
#2
Futaba parts Catalog:
"We recommend a new set of wings! Try our new airplane since you've just crashed your's into the lake!"
#3
"8uy V1agr4!"
#4
"Win a free iPod!"
#5
"W4nt a fr33 r0lex w4tch?"
#6
Some crappy new plug-in by Wild-Tangent.
#7
"Tonight, on the Sopranos..."
#8
"NT AUTHORITY/SYSTEM is shutting down this workstation. System will shutdown in 00:29..."
#9
"There is another network device in this airspace with the same MAC address. To resolve this conflict, please contact your local FAA Administrator."
#10
"Loading LILO..."
-- Game Developers: Stop porting badly-textured games from crappy console systems!