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Comment by klinquist | Hacker News Reader

Using the RPi as a video encoder may be the "killer app" for this. Currently, there isn't a "ready to fly" solution that will encode video and send it out over LTE.

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Exactly! We are working on this and will include a very easy to use LTE streaming configuration for HD FPV experience.

Is it actually possible to fly FPV with that much of a delay?

The delay is not that big, around 50-100ms depending on the setup, that is mostly okay.

It's probably possible, but it won't be easy or at all fun compared to a non-packet-switched analog feed.

Why would there be large delay? Am I missing something that you'd care to fill us in on?

Most hobbyist multi-rotor flyers use an analog video feed over 1.2ghz or 5.8ghz radio, which has very minimal lag. Converting the video to a digital signal typically introduces 500-1000ms of delay, which is enough to make flying by the camera difficult or nearly impossible. Transmitting the signal over an IP switched network would likely introduce more lag in addition to the digital conversion.

Ultimately it will depend on which you value more-- response time or resolution.

The delay with Raspberry Pi camera module and proper LTE\WiFi link is much less - it's around 100ms.

Do you all have any plans to shave that further? What might be considered the ideal maximum latency for things like flying obstacle courses(fpv racing)? landing from fpv?

You can use an Android phone with a Propbridge or IOIO board for control (disclaimer: I make and sell the Propbridge), however that is fairly heavy and contains components that you don't particularly care for, like a screen.

That said, I had 2G video off a flying wing in 2010 with this method.

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