Hi,

I have been giving demos of this product and have run into several photographers and even movie makers (when I was in LA). They saw the potential of the XPO for the aerial photography industry. So, I am sharing it with you.

This system allows the master pilot to grant full or partial control of the vehicle to the secondary pilot - no trainer cord involved and any TXs can be used....

For example, the master pilot can focus on maintaining a hover while secondary pilot operating the on-board camera can use the tail rotor to pan the vehicle, line up the shot and capture it...

OR

Full Control is passed on to secondary pilot that then continues to follow the action since vehicle is moved beyond comfortable visual of master/primary pilot...

and so on...

Visit the link below for more info.
www.2icrc.com

Looks very interesting.

Tony Stott

Now thats pretty slick !

For example, the master pilot can focus on maintaining a hover while secondary pilot operating the on-board camera can use the tail rotor to pan the vehicle, line up the shot and capture it...

While the concept sounds good from a safety perspective (another pilot taking over FULL control), I would never allow someone to fiddle around with the tail rotor of a heli that I was operating. That would mess with orientation for one. Maybe others would feel comfortable doing that but I certainly wouldn't

I'm with KB. I'd freak out if without my input, the heli's tail starts moving on its own. I have to be absolutely in control 100% of the time - safety being the simplest of (many) reasons.

For this to work, there must be perfect two way communication between the pilot and the cam operator -
"Okay Jim, sorry but I'm gonna have to move the tail to the left now .... "
Jim - "Okay buddy, but gently. Don't freak out my orientation like last time ... "

Think this thing would work on a flight sim?

Think this thing would work on a flight sim?

For this system to work with a sim, we need a USB to receiver-male type connection. Most Flight Sims use a regular buddy cable or a dummy TX with a cord.

So far I have only found one such device that would possibly unlock all of the possibilities of the XPO with a sim.

Here is their website.

http://www.mftech.de/usb-interface_en.htm

Read on the middle portion of the page. However, I have not tested this device with the XPO. I will do some digging around with this company and see what they say and get their product state side to test it out. Who knows, I may distribute their product and then the XPO would be an even more complete package.

On another hand, DOES ANYBODY know of a similar (USB to receiver) device sold in the US? Something tells me my answer is going to be with the robot battle people/sites...

It would be cool to practice Co-op Piloting witha heli on a flight sim while both pilots flying use their very own independent TX - the same TX that they use for the real heli at the field, so the feel and toggles and such that they practice with is the same as the one that is flown...

I found two more USB to receiver devices. The one is from Thailand though....and the other is for cars with just two channels...

http://www.rc-usb.com/v2/rc-usb-kit.html

http://www.hobbypartz.com/carsim.html

I need to find similar devices here in the US with 4 or more channels...

This XPO system is awesome. I now have the ability to hand off any of my airships to a pilot downrange on a golf course, across a stadium, or around a building or other obstruction where I lose sight or depth perception. Works exactly as described, and if you shoot long-range missions with your aircraft, you should consider this system. Thanks Evandro--keep putting your ideas into production, you've got a winner with this!

Okay. Here's an idea. I'm looking at the Rx redundancy feature.

Question - can we use the XPO as a Rx redundancy system? Put two receivers of the same frequency connected to the XPO. If the 'main' receiver fails (eg. receiver battery shut down), the XPO automatically shifts to the secondary Rx, which is controlled by the same radio.
This secondary Rx can be a smaller unit (eg. 6 channels instead of 9), with a small battery supply - just enough juice to land the aircraft safely.
Is this possible?

Borneobear,
check out this from Power Box

http://www.powerbox-systems.com/e/p...x_rrs/start.php

redundant receiver set-up.

"Vini, Vidi, Velcro"

so BRB, who are you?
Just curious since your marketing it.

"Vini, Vidi, Velcro"

Borneobear,
check out this from Power Box
http://www.powerbox-systems.com/e/p...x_rrs/start.php
redundant receiver set-up.

Thanks for the link SB.
But the power box looks a tad more expensive than the XPO.
Plus the XPO seems to be working on a totally different platform.
Very interesting.

XPO does look to be a different platform.

The PowerBox RRS is 149.00 euro where the price I saw on the Wireless Buddy Box was 140.00 usd.

The PowerBox RRS is allowing a backup receiver to to come online if the primary fails.

The WBB only allows 6 channels, so would you need two of them to pass off control of the heli and camera mount?

"Vini, Vidi, Velcro"

Yes, the XPO can be used as a redundancy system, and you can have redundant battery systems as well. They have two more coming out according to the site, one for 9ch, one for 12ch. The object in use for rc heli apps isn't to hand off the entire heli, only partial control for things like front-mounted camera systems and giving t/r control to the videographer. I know some of you think that's a scary and horrible concept, but it's how some very well-known companies do the job.

Hello all,

This is my reply to SeaBlade and Borneobear.

Who am I?

I am an Aerospace Engineer with Undergrad and Masters both from the University of MD. I work here at UM now, teaching among many other things...my Masters background is in Carbon Composite, design, build and fly all composite aircraft using Vacuum Assisted Resin Molding Methods...

I have flown UAVs here for UMD and always wanted to come up with a way of sharing full or partial control of a vehicle to another pilot...other requirements were also to be able to use any technology & brand name out there....

I have several ideas going and some other products in the horizon...I hope to bring in a new energy into the hobby and professionals who use the same technology, but earn a living with it...

------

As far as redundancy, you can use the XPO for full or "partial redundancy". What do I mean?

Full redundancy is flying two Rxs on board linked to two TXs on the ground...so if the master TX/RX is compromised then the pre-programmed failsafe on the master RX can activate the XPO and give control automatically to the secondary pilot.

OR

You can wire it up similar to the other product mentioned in this forum. You can have two RXs linked to the same TX. This is in my mind a partial redundancy because there is only one TX on the ground. Although your vehicle has two ears to listen there is still only one brain on the ground. So for example, if the TX battery fails/dies your vehicle is STILL going down despite having two receivers on board...see what I mean?....

But anyway, if you are happy with just two RXs and ONE TX on the ground you can do this with the XPO as well. Just link both RXs to the same TX on the ground and program the failsafe to give control to the seconday RX which is communicating with your antenna regardless. I don't want to further confuse the topic, but you can use a "Y" splitter on the switch input of the XPO going to both RXs...so now both RXs talking to the same TX on the ground are masters. Doing this eliminates the question of either RX physically shutting down for some unexplained reason (internal failure of the RX)...let me know if this does not make sense and I will describe it some more...

I need to make videos of each scenario and wiring option to illustrate the many ways to implement my product...I hope this helps...

One last thing....about battery.

You can use just one battery to power the whole thing (two RX, XPO and servos)...

If you wish to use another batt. that is possible, but I recommend using a secondary battery that is similar in chemistry, voltage and capacity as the primary battery. All power connections are in parallel so having another batt plugged in adds capacity to the overall system....but, don't forget you must use the same voltage.

Yes, I have already made the 3 channel, 9 channels and 12 channel prototypes....however, it takes a good bit of money to launch them into mass production... quite frankly, I would prefer to see a little bit of return on the XPO so I can better fund the launching of the follow-up product line (3, 9 & 12).

Please feel free to contact me directly at customercare@2icrc.com

Cheers,
Evandro

By the way,

The PowerBox version only allows 7 channels to be backup...my current device is for 6...but soon I will beat them on that...so it is not like they are giving you that many more channels than me at the moment.

Cheers.

sounds good!

"Vini, Vidi, Velcro"

Yeah! Sounds freaking great!

BRB, you got great products, you are getting big support from our AP community.
I've ordered my first one and waiting to recieve it. Will order the second one right after sucessfully testing first one.