FPV Flight

Overview

FPV (First Person View) flight is one of the most exciting applications of drones. In this project, you will learn how to add a camera to the drone and implement FPV flight.

What You’ll Learn

• Camera module usage
• Video streaming
• FPV goggles setup
• Immersive flight experience

Materials Needed

Step 1: Hardware Connection

Connect the OV2640 camera to ESP32-S3 DVP interface:

Step 2: Open the Project

Extract fpv_camera.zip and open with VS Code.

Step 3: Initialize Camera

Open camera.c and initialize the camera:

void camera_init() {
    camera_config_t config;
    config.ledc_channel = LEDC_CHANNEL_0;
    config.ledc_timer = LEDC_TIMER_0;
    config.pin_d0 = 4;
    config.pin_d1 = 5;
    config.pin_d2 = 6;
    config.pin_d3 = 7;
    config.pin_d4 = 8;
    config.pin_d5 = 9;
    config.pin_d6 = 10;
    config.pin_d7 = 11;
    config.pin_xclk = 15;
    config.pin_pclk = 22;
    config.pin_vsync = 25;
    config.pin_href = 23;
    config.pin_sscb_sda = 26;
    config.pin_sscb_scl = 27;
    config.pin_pwdn = -1;
    config.pin_reset = -1;
    config.xclk_freq_hz = 20000000;
    config.pixel_format = PIXFORMAT_JPEG;
    config.frame_size = FRAMESIZE_QVGA;
    config.jpeg_quality = 12;
    config.fb_count = 1;
    
    esp_err_t err = esp_camera_init(&config);
    if (err != ESP_OK) {
        ESP_LOGE(TAG, "Camera init failed");
        return;
    }
}

Step 4: Start Video Stream

Open video_stream.c and start streaming:

void start_video_stream() {
    // Create Wi-Fi hotspot
    wifi_init_softap();
    
    // Start HTTP server for video stream
    httpd_config_t config = HTTPD_DEFAULT_CONFIG();
    httpd_handle_t server = NULL;
    
    if (httpd_start(&server, &config) == ESP_OK) {
        httpd_uri_t stream_uri = {
            .uri = "/stream",
            .method = HTTP_GET,
            .handler = stream_handler,
            .user_ctx = NULL
        };
        httpd_register_uri_handler(server, &stream_uri);
    }
}

Step 5: View Video Stream

1. Power on the drone
2. Connect phone to drone’s Wi-Fi hotspot
3. Open browser and visit http://192.168.4.1/stream
4. Or use FPV goggles to view the stream

Troubleshooting

No video output

• Check camera connections
• Verify camera initialization

Video is laggy

• Reduce resolution
• Lower frame rate

Achievement

Congratulations! You have implemented FPV flight, which is one of the most exciting applications of drones!

Next Steps

In the next project, you will learn how to implement target tracking functionality.

Continue to Project 05: Target Tracking →