What is drone video&data telemetry?

Drone video and data telemetry is to accurately and quickly transmit a thing from one place to another, resist interference and focus on the key points. The UAV image transmission system is an important part of the UAV. It is a kind of wireless electronic transmission equipment that adopts certain technology to wirelessly transmit the video captured by the camera carried by the UAV to the remote rear in real time. Therefore, the drone image transmission is also called the "eyes" of the drone

The current mainstream technologies for UAV image transmission:

1. OFDM technology

Technically, the most widely used transmission technology on UAVs is OFDM, which is a type of multi-carrier modulation. This technology is more suitable for high-speed data transmission. OFDM has many advantages, such as: it can also send out under narrow bandwidth. Large amounts of data, able to combat frequency selective fading or narrowband interference, etc. However, OFDM also has shortcomings: (1) carrier frequency offset; (2) very sensitive to phase noise and carrier frequency offset; (3) relatively high peak-to-average ratio. So it is the perfect technology to solve these three bottlenecks.

2. COFDM technology

COFDM is coded OFDM. Some channel coding (mainly to increase error correction and interleaving) is added before OFDM modulation to improve the reliability of the system. The difference between COFDM and OFDM is that error correction coding and guard interval are added before orthogonal modulation to make the signal more effective. OFDM is mainly used in application systems such as LTE (4G) and WIFI. COFDM is currently most widely used in DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting), including DVB-T, DVB-S, DVB-C, etc., and is widely used in Europe, Southeast Asia, South America, and Australia.

3. WIFI technology

WiFi transmission is the most widely used technology for drone image transmission with cost-effectiveness. However, because WiFi has many technical limitations and cannot be modified, and many manufacturers use solutions to build directly, its shortcomings are also very prominent. : For example, what format the chip is designed into is what format, cannot be modified, the technology is relatively solid; the interference management strategy is not real-time; the channel utilization rate is relatively low, etc.

4.Lightbridge HD long-distance digital image transmission technology

Lightbridge technology uses one-way image data transmission, similar to the data transmission form of a high-rise television broadcasting tower. The data transmission of Wi-Fi image transmission requires the sender and receiver to first establish a communication handshake mechanism, and then transmit each data packet with a size of 512 bytes. The transmission of each data packet must be complete and correct. The loss of one byte will cause the entire data packet to be retransmitted. After confirming that a data packet has been completely received, the next data packet will be transmitted. root cause.

For UAV flight, "real-time" wireless image transmission is very important. It is very time-consuming to resend the entire data packet due to one byte. From the perspective of data transmission, Wi-Fi transmission is already a fast wireless transmission technology, but the two-way handshake mechanism based on the TCP/IP protocol can easily cause Wi-Fi image transmission to fail to transmit aerial images in real time. Under the premise that UAV FPV flight requires high real-time performance, resending data packets will make the controller unable to see the real-time picture.

The real-time high-definition image without delay is what every pilot wants to see when flying from the FPV perspective. Even with the use of Lightbridge HD image transmission technology, zero delay cannot be achieved 100%, but this technology is undoubtedly the most advanced UAV image transmission at this stage, not only can minimize the image transmission delay, but also maximize Transmitting distance. In terms of technical implementation, it is precisely because Lightbridge uses a one-way broadcast data method, even if it flies far, the image transmission delay can still remain stable at about 100-200 milliseconds. The delay of Wi-Fi image transmission depends on the flight distance and flight environment, and generally ranges from 25% to 100% higher. Efficient one-way broadcast data transmission allows Lightbrige to easily surpass Wi-Fi image transmission.

5. Analog image transmission technology

Some UAVs without pan/tilt cameras can reach speeds of up to 80 km/h and use analog signal transmission technology. There is almost no delay in analog image transmission, and another feature of analog image transmission is that when the limit distance is reached, the screen will not suddenly jam or completely lose the entire picture. Analog video transmission is also a one-way signal transmission technology, which is a bit similar to the transmission of analog TV broadcast signals before the digital TV signal appears. When the signal becomes weak, a snowflake screen will appear, warning the pilot to adjust the flight direction or go back. Fly, get closer to the home point.

It can be said that the two image transmission methods of OFDM technology and WIFI technology are currently the mainstream of UAV image transmission, and the more advanced technology is COFDM technology. In fact, in general, UAV long-distance transmission is actually a balance between distance and power consumption, which also involves many modulation techniques, such as spread spectrum to improve anti-interference ability, channel source technology optimization and so on.

FlyDragon 100 KM long range Video & Data and telemetry for UAV

100 KM long range Video & Data and telemetry for UAV

Flydragon100 KM long range Video & Data and telemetry for UAV  Infofly long-distance image, data transmission, and remote control integrated data link products provide highly reliable communication connections for industrial-grade unmanned systems. Infofly data link products use unique link enhancement technology, which has strong anti-interference performance, stable signal, rich interface types, and excellent electromagnetic compatibility, which can improve the stability and reliability of information transmission of unmanned systems at long distances and maneuvering attitudes. . The product can provide 6Mbps data bandwidth, the longest communication distance is 100 kilometers, supports 1080P HD video transmission, and the image delay is within 280ms. The data link product also provides remote control coach interface, RS232 interface, etc. The airborne end can replace the remote control receiver to directly output the remote control signal, the remote control signal delay is within 40ms, and can be widely used in high-definition image transmission, real-time data interaction and other unmanned System application scenarios.

The InfoFly-SDI data link has a built-in industrial-grade high-performance H.264 image encoder, supports SDI interface video input, realizes three-in-one image transmission, data transmission, and remote control. The ground end outputs a video stream through a network interface and uses computer software to decode The decoding software has local storage and forwarding functions. The end-to-end image delay is at least 250ms.

Features
Working in L, S band
Broadband transmission, air rate 10Mbps
Communication link establishment/recovery time is less than 10ms
Reliable communication and strong anti-interference ability
Excellent electromagnetic compatibility, no interference to GPS, pod and gimbal
Transmission distances of 3, 5, 10, 20, 40 kilometers and more than 50 kilometers can be selected (under visual conditions)
With 1 1080P60 SDI HD image, 4 digital transmission, 2 remote control interface
1 independent PWM channel output on the airborne end, can be used for signal control such as drop and lighting
The ground side adopts software decoding, and the decoding software has local storage and forwarding functions
Optimized transmission of 1080P high-definition video stream with minimum end-to-end delay of 250ms
Can realize point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, relay networking applications
Cold start time 5 seconds.

typical application
When users choose SDI interface pods, they need to choose InfoFly-SDI data link radio. InfoFly-SDI has a built-in high-performance industrial-grade SDI interface encoder that outputs H.264 code stream.

Figure 2. Typical application of InfoFly-SDI data link
Airborne end: SDI interface connects to pod or PTZ camera; COM1 interface connects to flight control data transmission interface for data transmission between flight control and ground station; SBUS1 interface connects to flight control for manual remote control flight; SBUS2 interface Connect PTZ to control PTZ. If the gimbal supports data transmission port control, InfoFly-SDI has 4 data transmission interfaces, and it can also support the gimbal control through the data transmission port.
Ground end: LAN port connects to the computer, receives H.264 high-definition image code stream and performs software decoding. The decoding software has functions such as local storage and network forwarding. The COM1 port is used to connect the flight control ground station to complete the telemetry remote control data transmission; the COM2 port can be used to control the gimbal and pan/tilt; the PPM1 remote control interface is connected to the first remote control through the trainer line to control the flight; the PPM2 remote control interface is passed The trainer line is connected to a second remote control for controlling pods or other loads. If the PTZ on the airborne end is controlled by a digital transmission interface, the ground needs to connect the PTZ control box to the corresponding digital transmission interface.