v0.07 firmware

New firmware and control panel is available at http://minlarc.com/support.html
Control panel works on devices with touch screen olny (tablets, smartphones, etc.)

A lot of work has been put in redesign of control panel as well as improvements in stability and firmware for MINLA 3G/4G receiver.

This is the timestamp video below describing how to connect and use 3G/4G mobile network receiver for quadcopter (v0.063 firmware version used).

v0.063 firmware

Minla LTE receiver firmware v0.063: minla_v0.063_firmware.dfu
Firmware upgrade tool: DfuSe.zip
Firmware upgrade manual: minla_firmware_upgrade_v0.1_EN.pdf
Pinout description and NAZA connection manual: pinout_naza_v0.2_EN.pdf

What's new:
- improved video frame rate: about 10-12 fps on LTE link
- support for new control panel "cp_v0.06.html" that designed for use both on tablet and smartphone
- USB modem support: Huawei E3272, E1550, E3370
- 4 general purpose PWM channels (CH6 CH7 CH8 CH9) to control servo/gimbal etc
- open API to control from custom HTML/Javascript code

v0.04 firmware

Minla LTE receiver firmware v0.04:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3220677/DRONE/v0.04/minla_v0.04_firmware.dfu

Firmware upgrade tool:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3220677/DRONE/DfuSe.zip

Firmware upgrade manual:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3220677/drone/manuals/minla_firmware_upgrade_v0.1_EN.pdf

Pinout description and NAZA connection manual:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3220677/drone/manuals/pinout_naza_v0.1_EN.pdf

Source files of control panel and server part can be found here:

https://github.com/gshmakov/cellcopter

v 0.04

Finally, I finished new v 0.04 board design and sent it to production. Another month to wait for delivery (and another vacation to spend, this time in Greece).
Meanwhile I have a plenty of time to design a plastic case and hopefully find a reasonable offer to make it injection moulded.
So it's getting closer to the final product in the way it should be.

Specification

3G/4G receiver board

Microprocessor:

• STM32F417 32-bit 168MHz

Sensors:

• 2 megapixel camera 
• GPS/Glonass sensor with antenna (external)

Interfaces:

• 1x USB type A port for USB modem connection
• 1x mini USB port for MCU firmware upgrade
• 4-pin GPS sensor connector
• 5-pin flight controller connector
• 3-pin servo/GPIO connector
• 2-pin LiPo 3S/4S voltage sensing ADC connector
• 1x I2C

Power:

• +5V DC from flight controller BEC or ESC BEC
• 650 mA max current with connected USB modem

Weight and dimensions:

• Weight: 30g
• Width x Length x Thickness: 50x50x13 mm

Operating parameters (with current software release):

• FPV video: color, 6-15 fps, 0.3-0.7 sec end-to-end latency *
• FPV video resolution: 160x120, 320x240 (default), 352x288
• USB modem support: Huawei E3272, E1550, E3370

* FPS and latency depends on 3G/4G mobile network quality and video resolution

Control panel

Features:

• Control panel is developed in form of web app
• Can be opened in any modern browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox etc.)
• Supported platforms: iOS, Android with touch screen and 1024x768 min screen resolution
• Pitch, roll, yaw, throttle and 3 position switch control with 0.5 sec update period
• On-fly FPV video resolution change

Control panel provide following information to user:

• FPV video stream from camera
• Current drone position on the map
• Distance from  start point to current position in meters
• Current altitude above sea level
• Current ground speed
• Current 3S/4S battery voltage

Little flight from river bank above forest and landing in the old quarry.
Distance about 1 km.

Finally another flight. This time more than 5 km long.

I suggest to watch entire video, there are some moments in the middle.

v0.03 update

Have to return to websocket implementation as there are seems more issues with p2p than were expected.
When my android tablet is LTE connected sometimes I see lags in transmitting UDP packets for UDP hole punching technique and sometimes connection cannot be established. Or may be I dont know how to cook it right.
So websocket seems to be better solution for now. And easier to use as it works in any modern browser on all major platforms. And no extra software installations are required. Next step could be WebRTC but there is much more work to make it run on microcontroller.