long range fpv for ground vehicles solution finally?

[Shagnifico]

4g lte rc for beyond line of sight fpv for ground vehicles. You could DIY it with raspberry pi, but that seems like work. If you are lazy and senile like me check this out.

https://youtu.be/FFNTIhZzW3Y

https://youtu.be/S7V5JTit4D4

[MrChef]

Interesting.

Someone with more knowledge and skill about these things hopefully can tell me the quality and reliability of this mod.

[Shagnifico]

Well it works as advertised with a couple of caveats. Because it uses 4g and 5g network you will have to buy a SIM card for it. The first SIM card I used was a data only SIM card for game trail tree cameras etc. It didn’t work so good because it’s not meant for voice and video. Then I tried an AT&T 5g card and it works much better. Second thing, if you’re going to use this system you really need to get a steering wheel and pedals and the game box thing. Yes you can operate it with just a phone it works but it sucks. I’m going to ask cloudrc rc what SIM card they recommended. The att card has these “video management” feature that you need to turn off on the att website. It may be causing some issues. Gonna drive it around the neighborhood some more and test it out.

[ziddan]

There are wheel+pedals that work just like a regular gamepad/human interface device and should connect to any phone that has usb2go/the possibility to plug in usb stuff via a dongle or dock.
A regular bluetooth gamepad might also be an option for better control than the onscreen stuff.

Not sure if the cloudrc app would accept that by default as they might have it locked down somehow but there are apps for mapping gamepad/other inputs to touch screen motions.

Looking at some vids of the gamebox it looks like a minipc running a custom android release.

There are probably more knowledgeable people that might clarify some but isnt ppm essentially an audio pulse signal? I know that the trainer port on my th9x spits out an audible signal and that those RC to PC simulator dongles are essentially USB sound cards.

It might be possible to pipe RC ppm output into a cellphone via a male to male 3.5mm cable, video call another phone mounted on the vehicle, pipe its sound output into an arduino set up to break the PPM into the different channel PWMs and have a cheapish LTE rc connection that way.

[Shagnifico]

Wow that sounds complicated. Cloudrc states that the gamebox is compatible with Logitech g29, thrustmaster t150 and t300rs. I use Logitech g29, works great. The gamebox uses a different app, it uses cloudrc cockpit app. The mobile app has more settings ie server list, video quality, mapping rx channels mic volume, TTS to voice and more. I use my phone to adjust settings, I use cockpit to operate the vehicle. Because cloudrc is just starting out, the software is tailored for the most ubiquitous hardware, ie Traxxas trx4, Logitech g29.

Latency is not bad at all, much better than Wi-Fi control. Yesterday in the middle of the night while sitting in my bedroom I drove it down the street and through the park and back to my garage. Two miles round trip without any problems or issues. The unit that gets installed into your rc vehicle has a speaker and a mic. So you can have two-way voice communication through the rc vehicle.

[Shagnifico]

Well it was glorious while it lasted. Today it won't start for some reason. I've emailed cloudrc, we'll see what happens. I've logged 699 minutes of use on it, played with it almost everyday and now I'm addicted. I need my fix!!

[Shagnifico]

Update. The next day, 15 minutes with customer support on the phone got it working again. By the way, great customer support.

Yes it is not cheap, but considering what you get I think it is fair. I imagine when the name brand manufacturers start offering these network receivers they will be asking higher prices.

[OldWolf]

If we were going to use this system with a model tank, what scale would work? Is 1/16 perhaps a bit too small?

[Shagnifico]

It should fit in a 1/16 tank. The camera isn’t small though and the antennas need to be on the outside.

[OldWolf]

Thanks, thinking about it, I suspect a model tank would really need two cameras, one for the drivers position and one for controlling the turret.