This is the second posts about the technology that I’m using to record the flights. I’m adding two new toys in the collection: a geo tracking device and another camera.

Why? What was missing?

Well, as I was reviewing the different flights to create the posts, I’ve always wanted to be able to locate the plane not only on the map but also in altitude and I had no way to do that before. So I’ve started to look for a solution.

The other element that I was getting frustrated with is the fact that the camera being attached to the plane, I was getting only a single point of view for the recording with no other option. This means that the camera can not be aimed at other interesting point and frequently, these interesting points are not located in front but off the side of the plane. Unless I’m getting a camera for each angle, I will never be able to cover everything. This can be time consuming to review all the rushes and create interesting videos. So instead, I’ve started to look for a head mounted camera. At least, the camera would record what I’m seeing…

Geotracking Device

I’ve talked about wanting to do that in the past but was not able to find a suitable device until recently. Its name is QStarz Travel Recorder X BT-Q1000X. This is a GPS tracker/recorder also known as a geotracking device. In other words, this unit is allowing me to record exactly were I’m going with the plane. It is using not only the GPS signal but is WAAS compatible. To understand the why I choose this unit, you have to understand that the GPS system is very accurate in tracking objects on the ground and to detect changes but is notoriously unreliable when it comes to altitude. So a GPS only system would not work properly for my application because I do want to record the variation of altitude. The WAAS system is a land based system that provide this altitude accuracy that I’m looking for. This is a system largely used in aviation but that is getting leverage in many other applications.

So the unit that I have selected is one that is usually used for geotagging pictures (aka. associating a GPS position to a picture…). The unit can be setup differently and I’ve chosen to record the position every second. This should give me the best exploitable results. Out of the unit, I should be able to extract not only  the GPS position and the altitude but also the speed of the plane and the heading. This is an interesting unit and the first tests on the ground seems to be satisfactory. It is very sensitive and very fast so I have high hopes for the unit. The only negative aspects is that the software tends to have issue to connect to the device once in a while but I always manage to get it working. My PC is getting overloaded with software so it might just mean that I need to do some extensive some cleanup and free up some had disk space…

Helmet Mounted Camera

Finding a camera was not easy because I had several requirements that I wanted to fulfill that  the choice was becoming difficult. Basically, I wanted something light and that I can attach to my head. So it couldn’t be too wide. Searching the traditional camera was not working. Everything was too wide or too heavy and nothing could really be head mounted. I took another option and search a little more widely.

Remote control planes might have the solution!

Talking with friends, we looked at the cameras used for radio commanded plane but the resolution was not good enough.

Extreme Sport, that’s the solution!

The solution was a camera that was yet to be released at the time. Used for “extreme” sports, it was exactly what I was looking for. The brand is VHoldr and it is called the ContourHD 1080p. This camera is capable of shooting at many different resolutions with the highest being Full HD at 30 frames per second (fps), but can also downgrade the resolution to accept high speeds capture (60 fps). the lens can be oriented to compensate for the position on the helmet and has 2 lasers to allow the setup once mounted on the helmet.

They are also providing a lot of different mount types which should allow me to use it for many other activities… The other things that I was used too with the flip is the mini screen. It helps for the setup and I can substitute the mini screen for the laser but it hurts when you want to review something that was just recorded. The other things that is a little painful is the fact that the camera records all the movies in the QuickTime format. This is fine overall except I’m using Windows software and the QuickTime format is not well supported. An MP4 format would have been more appropriate like the Flip is providing. The solution is simple but annoying: one extra steps of encoding is required before I can start exploiting the recording.

So, what’s next?

Equipped with the new toys, I’m hoping to provide even more interesting point of view of the flights and a better experience. For the moment, I don’t foresee the need for new toy for quite some time! But I know myself and I might have to bring another one onboard!

Reference

• BT-Q1000X QStarz Web site: http://www.qstarz.com/Products/GPS%20Products/BT-Q1000X-F.htm
• ContourHD 1080p VHoldr Web site: http://vholdr.com/contourhd/helmetcam