Longer range for radio controlled car?

[Alex101]

What can I do to extend the range of an RC car?

Would it be possible to get over a kilometer?

 

[blueroomelectronics]

What would be the point, you couldn't see the car to steer it.

 

[dknguyen]

Well, assuming you have a way to see it from that distance, it is possible to build two modules consisting of a PIC (or some other microcontrollr) and a radio module like a 9Tend or Zigbee from Digi (formerly Maxstream). One module connects to the RC receiver and the PIC measures the RC receiver's various PWM and transmits that information digitally (numerically) to the module sitting on the RC vehicle. The module PIC the RC vehicle receives this data and converts it back into PWM signals for the servos board the truck. THe Zigbee-Pro would give you LOS range of 1.6km and something like the 9XTend would be something ridiculou slike 40-64km.

 

[I²R]

Of course, modifying an RF transmitter to increase its output power voids your right to operate it under FCC Part 15 rules. Just FYI.

 

[Alex101]

What would be the point, you couldn't see the car to steer it.

Okay maybe I exaggerated the distance. I was hoping at least 200 meters. The car is pretty big though, 1:5 scale. Although, if I use a camera I wouldn't mind more range.

Well, assuming you have a way to see it from that distance, it is possible to build two modules consisting of a PIC (or some other microcontrollr) and a radio module like a 9Tend or Zigbee from Digi (formerly Maxstream). One module connects to the RC receiver and the PIC measures the RC receiver's various PWM and transmits that information digitally (numerically) to the module sitting on the RC vehicle. The module PIC the RC vehicle receives this data and converts it back into PWM signals for the servos board the truck. THe Zigbee-Pro would give you LOS range of 1.6km and something like the 9XTend would be something ridiculou slike 40-64km.

Would it be possible to stream video from a camera on the car through 9XTend?

 

[dknguyen]

These radio units are basically wireless RS-232 connections that work up to 230kbps, so they are not designed for and are way too slow to transmit video of any kind. As soon as you try to digitally transmit video things get very difficult and very expensive.

Controlling your RC car from a distance is easy. Seeing it...not so much. Digital video requires high speeds like WiFi stuff that covers huge distances which regular WiFi does not do. I would advise you to stick to analog video transmission (which will inherently be separated from the radio control signals since those are best and most easily and reliably transmitted digitally over those distances) and stay away from digital video transmission.

Digital control is entirely affordable and feasable. Long distance video transmission is another matter. But things do seem to be moving forward slowly assuming you have the cash (this is actually the first place video transmitter I've seen that works on ranges comparable to the MaxStream radio modules (unlike the regular short-range analog transmission security cams you normally find), let alone affordable ones. I think these ones are fairly well priced though.
**broken link removed**

THe UAV group at my university will be very inverested in those (times infinite the video processing power with zero the weight of onboard processing!)

And I'm pretty sure they are still analog transmitters.

 

[tonio]

Hello all!

Well you can use high gain antenna on both sides, and probably a directive antenna on the remote control side.....do you know at which frequencies your remote car is working ?

Antonio