wifi DIRECT connect to Phantom

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Hi,
I use my phantom hand-held a lot, just for the gimbal stabilization.
Is there a way I can connect my phone directly to the phantom? that way i would have to carry the TX with the wifi repeater when I'm just using the phantom hand-held.

thanks
 
You could un-bolt the wifi extender and just use that. Or buy another wifi extender and bind it to your bird for a portable platform. You do know you can potentially cause the wifi module in the bird to overheat by using as described?

There is a hidden SSID associated with the bird, find a wifi analyzer app to see the MAC address. But I've never heard of anyone binding to that particular MAC address.

Or you could buy a GoPro and a hand held gimbal - at about $800 depending GP model....
Feiyu G3 Ultra 3-Axis Gimbal as an example.
 
I'm doing a lot of videos for river/sea side restaurants.
And after the aerial video shots outside, i do some videos of the inside too, hand-held with the Phantom.
I mostly travel on motorcycle, so its very practical not needing any more cameras and gimbals to do so. Just the phantom backpack and I'm ready to go anywhere.
My wifi extender has the Itelite antenna bolted to it, so its not practical to remove it from the stand.
I really would like to know if someone did manage to direct connect from cellphone to phantom and use the app for framing the shot.
 
It can be done but you will get worse results. The range extender has a more powerful TX/RX than your phone so it sits inbetween you phone/device and the phantom.

IP wise you do connect directly from your phone to the phantom, but physically your wifi goes via the RE.

You could take it out of the picture. what would be better is building a custom RE using more powerful wifi cards (allthough I havnt seen many wifi cards with more than 100mw which is the max of the RE anyways). The RE is just a wifi bridge using linux so easy to replicate.
 
I'm been beta-testing a Phantom Rig to use it it hand-held for a while now. The phone sits on top of a handle that holds the Phantom. So the phone is like 10 cm away from the bird, so distance is not a problem.
But its not practical having to have the wifi extender around.
If I could connect directly to the Phantom it would be ideal.
How can I do it?

Pic of the rig:

Screen_Shot_2015_05_22_at_01_44_28_copy.jpg
 
uhmm... so the phone flies along with the Phantom ?

How do you use the app / see stuff??

Can give you instructions on how to edit wifi settings on the phantoms wifi module to atleast let it connect to it directly from the phone.
Are you familiar with linux ??
 
Neither the phone or the Phantom flies in this "mode". This is for shooting on the ground using the gimbal for stabilization.
I'm familiar with unix, I only use Macs.
I had a linux machine a few year ago.
But i don't want to permanently alter the birds wifi definitions.
I would like to fly the bird the old fashion way, with the phone on the Tx. Then when I land, and I need some ground shots, I would like to connect directly from the phone to the bird.

Is this possible?
 
just thinking of a way to do this so you dont have to change the wifi config via SSH each time you want to swap methods.

Pretty sure it could be done. Bit hesitant though as if you make a mistake (or i do) its goodbye wifi module...

Will get back to you soon with sone details and leave it upto you to decide if you want to try :)
 
LoooL If its risky I'll have to pass.
I'll have a big job with more than 30 flights this month, I cant afford a non flyable Phantom :)
I thought it was an easy thing.. no app that can automate and do that by itself?
If there is no app, there really is a market for it.
There area an a lot of phantom users using it to film on the ground too
I'll pitch this idea to app developers :)
 
Hmm maybe is easy...
use wifi scanner and look for the name of hidden ssid wifi module sends out

It will be something like

FC200__XXXXXXX
The xxxx is the mac addy..so unique.

once you have the name set your phone to connect to hidden ssid and see if it works connects/works

Dunno if it will work but no danger in trying that :)

If you cant find the name you might need to SSH into the wifi module and pull the name from the wifi config file.

Maybe try use wifi analyzer on both the phone and pc.. sometimes one works better than other.
 
Hmm maybe is easy...
use wifi scanner and look for the name of hidden ssid wifi module sends out

It will be something like

FC200__XXXXXXX
The xxxx is the mac addy..so unique.

once you have the name set your phone to connect to hidden ssid and see if it works connects/works

Dunno if it will work but no danger in trying that :)

If you cant find the name you might need to SSH into the wifi module and pull the name from the wifi config file.

Maybe try use wifi analyzer on both the phone and pc.. sometimes one works better than other.
+1. The extender is just that, an extender. Remove the extender from the equation and there's still a network in there.
 
Here is some further information, may not be exactly what you're looking for but either the people involved or the dissertation could provide some answers....

About 1/3 down the page in the link below, RemE's post....

http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2019429&page=345

Overview, what we will do is to first gather the data from your existing Range Extender/Camera network. It will be needed to fill in the boxes in the Router config screens. Armed with that knowledge, we configure the router to mimic your stock extender.

1 - Normally you start with a working Vision WiFi Range Extender setup, power up the extender, the Vision, then your Phone/Pad and go to Settings>WiFi, and connect to the Extender Network.

2 - While still in the phone/pad WiFi settings, touch the (i) info icon to the right of the currently connected Range Extender network. In this information page, jot down the "IP Address", "Router", and the "Search Domains" information.

3 - Now Open the DJI Phone App and go to Settings>General>Binding. In here you will see the "Current Binding" data. Copy down the SSID number, this is the hidden ID of the Vision Camera, note that it's "FC200_the last 6 digits of its MAC address", just good to know. Note - The other instructions I saw had you reset the Extender and then Re-Bind the Camera using the QR Code from the shipping box and the manual (pg16), this should not be necessary if you have a normally working system already as you should be able to just read the current data. I have tried it both ways and it does work to get the Camera's hidden SSID number to show up if that information is blank in this screen for some reason.

Now we will configure the router. But first, I thought I'd mention something about using a second, spare, Range Extender. I was going to get a 2nd extender to modify it with big antennas etc. as others have done. I took the 2nd extender and found that I could bind it to the same Vision using the QR code from the Vision Shipping box (I keep a copy of this QR code in my carry case). The 2nd Extender shows up as a 2nd network on the iPad. So you can carry a spare extender and use one OR the other with no changes needed on the Vision, just connect to the which ever extender you need, each has a unique network name, easy!

Good luck!
 
Macsoft did you get a chance to try it out?
I can test it tonight if you had issues finding hidden SSID? I cant remember if wifi module or RE run the DHCP server for phone to get an IP. If its the RE you'll need to set ip like 192.168.1.20 / 255.255.255.0 manually on your phone.
 
Ok sorry guys, I've been away for the weekend. I've found a link on google with the same some of you have posted.
first you connect normally with the extender, open the DJI app, and on settings tap on Binding to find your birst SSID. if something like FC200_.....
Then turn the app the radio and the extender OFF, leave only the bird ON. On the phone create a wifi network with the SSID you've found earlier.
ip address: 192.168.1.5 (some number from 4 to 20 at the end)
subnet: Mask 255.255.0.0
router: 192.168.1.1

Than open the DJI app and that is it.

I report I CAN successfully DIRECT connect from the phone to the bird with both IPHONE (4S with ios7) and ANDROID (Nexus 7).

You use the app fully and tilt the camera on app. The only difference is the extender icon is off.

PROBLEM IS.... on both iphone and Android, i see the "connection broken" like every minute or 30 secs...it seams it looses connection and then gets it right after.

Maybe a better connection refresh rate app would better this?
 
It might be something in the wifi config on the wifi module you could change...I've got abit of time when I get home tonight..I'll do the same test as you and if I get same 30sec disconnect issue I will play around wifi module settings.
 
It might be something in the wifi config on the wifi module you could change...I've got abit of time when I get home tonight..I'll do the same test as you and if I get same 30sec disconnect issue I will play around wifi module settings.

THanks, I'm looking forward to your results.
I have no idea how to play around with the birds wifi module settings.
But remember, we want it to connect to the extender too when in flight, so we must make sure any settings change does not affect the normal way for connecting to phantom
 
Yip I understand..
on my way home now.. then I'll do some testing... forgot to charge batteries so I could fly after work today grrrr :/
 
Ok done some testing and get same results as you.. disconnect after exactly 30sec.
I believe the issue is due to the wifi module set to WDS mode access-point... instead of a straight access-point.
You can google "wds mode wifi" for more info on what WDS is if you are not familiar.. but basically its the mode used so an access point can connect to another access point (i.e RE which is an AP connecting to the wifi module AP)

I am tempted to try change the mode from WPS to AP which will set it as a straight access point.. I've got a script which will change the setting back if I can't reconnect back in.. i.e if its screwed... I don't recommend anyone change that setting as you might essentially brick your wifi module :] I'm only going to test it due to the script being able to change the setting back if I can't connect back in, as I said. Little scared however, but script hasn't let me down.. .

If it works I'll test the phone can connect and then it works again with the RE... all though I suspect it will not work properly when the RE is back in use... but we'll see... .
 
when you change the mode from WDS to AP on the wifi module the phone can connect and does not get disconnected.... but the RE keeps getting disconnected seems the RE is expecting the wifi module to be on WDS mode... not really changing the mode.. but disabling wds... just easier to say mode, but could be confusing if anyone tries it lol...

so no luck.... not sure what you can try next... perhaps put the RE on the floor :/
sorry
 
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