Anybody interested in helping me brainstorm a flying wireless network?

What I need to do is be able to take pictures with a Canon 20D and use their
wireless adapter to offload the images from the camera and somehow get them
down to a laptop on the ground. My first thought was to have a wireless
laptop on board to accept the images from the camera (which probably could
be done just as easily with a wired setup between camera and laptop of some
kind), then somehow have a wireless connection from the laptop in the
helicopter down to a laptop in a truck on the ground.

We never take pictures any higher than 2000 feet above the ground, and we're
typically within about 1/2 a mile of the photo site. So probably the longest
straight-line distance the data would need to travel is approximately 3,300
feet.

I've researched several different options. I first looked into 802.11g with
a hi-gain antenna on both the helicopter and on the truck. That seems to be
the simplest option, I'm just concerned about what kind of range I can
really expect.

I've also researched the Wi-Max system, but I don't think any hardware has
been made available yet. It sounds like a great alternative, I just don't
know how much something like that would cost, how much the equipment weighs,
what kind of power source it would require, and how difficult it would be to
setup. Please advise me if you know about it.

I've even looked into EVDO technology through Verizon, I was thinking of
getting EVDO cards for both laptops and just ftping the files from one to
another, my concern about that is the laptop on the ground may be able to
download them quickly, but what about upload speeds? It's gotta be fast on
both sides, right?

Please help, all opinions or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

Adam

Why not cable from the camera to the laptop and check the photos as you
take them with a laptop?  The Canon
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos20d/page3.asp
has USB 2.0,  so what you need is a large-display laptop, all of which
nowadays support USB 2.0.  You would have to have a laptop of some size,
anyway, to pick the files from the Canon and push them into a WiFi card, so
why do you need to send the files by WiFi, which will take forever to send
a hi res image at that distance?

If you absolutely, positively, have to look at the images on the ground,
then make sure to install the antenna on the whirlybird for *horizontal*
polarization, and likewise for the rectenna on the ground.  Mismatched
polarization can result in an 18db loss you really don't want.

Show quoteHide quoteGain requires aim... are you going to have someone on the ground tracking
the whirlybird? If not, you degrade your system somewhat, as very high gain
antennas are very, very directional.  There's not a ghost of a chance of
steering the airborne antenna, anyway, as that would drive the complexity
and therefore cost of this to near-military costs, so you can't have a
highly directional high-gain antenna aloft at any reasonable cost.

There's pre-standard gear out there.  However, it's spendy, and you had
best count on amortizing it over a year, as when the standard is set, your
manufacturer may not be able to fix the firmware to make the pre-standard
gear match the standard.

Would work, as would EDGE from Cingular.1xRTT from SprintPCS would be
slower.   BTW, EDGE can work outside of North America, if your data card
supports overseas frequencies; EV-DO and 1xRTT are limited to North
America, and a few odd places here and there. If you don't travel, no
problem, but if you go to Yurp, go EDGE.

External antennas are available for most cellular data cards. Most services
are designed to cover the ground, not the air, so borrow a card from your
carrier of choice and take it up to see what the signal's like at your
preferred altitude.

IANAL, but I believe there may be an FCC restriction on the use of 800MHz
services (e.g., Verizon) while airborne.  'PCS', or 1900MHz services, are
not so restricted. I'd peruse the relevant FCC regulations before adopting
a cellular solution. You could start at
http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-255742A1.pdf
and go on from there.

The FAA requires the pilot to approve the use of radio devices while in
flight, so as long as your pilot's OK with whatever you do and it does not
interfere with systems on other aircraft, it's OK with the FAA, IIRC.

EV-DO, EDGE and 1xRTT are symettrical when it comes to speed. Yes, fast is
better.

Show quoteHide quote

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