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System
One of the planned systems for this bike was the control center. I figured I would need multiple iPhones, and the drone controller to be able to control the various cameras, the drone, and the gimbals.
After much research it became rather obvious that I would need a mounting bar, and a three phone mounts. This would allow me to array the phones on the bar, and the drone controller would be mounted via a Ram Mount ball that attached to the front tank mount.
QuadLock
I decided to go with the
QuadLock mounting system, because it is extremely robust. The phones can be mounted in various orientations, the system includes an excellent case for the phone, there are quite a number of different mounting solutions, and the mounts have a high degree of customization.
The QuadLock allows easy mounting and dismounting of the phone to the bike. Of the other systems I came across doing a one handed gloved operation seemed way too difficult, and yet with the QuadLock it is totally doable—with a little practice.
Colors
Another subtle thing that I like about the QuadLock is that they had just introduced different colored release tabs. The blue ones are nice, but with red they totally matched the bike. Since I had worked so hard to have a strong color theme with the bike this small feature was truly appreciated.
Interuption
Because of how things went down I didn’t have a chance to realize this system in Japan during this adventure. The drone mount did arrive late, but that was no matter since the schedule had slipped, however it didn't come complete with all of the parts rendering it temporarily useless. So I ended up just setting the mounting bar up with two phone mounts. This would be sufficient for what I was going to be able to do at the time.
Positives
So while the system wasn’t fully realized it was tested to the point of knowing it was going to work. The mounting bar is actually for a bicycle setup, but because the Derbi employs a top triple with openings I was able to mount it on the triple making a perfect mounting area for the phones. It is a little tricky getting at the key, but not too difficult.
Power
Power to the phones was supplied by a system of USB converters. These were directly connected to the battery, although they should have been engineered to go through a relay, and that’s something that I will eventually upgrade.
The converters will over time drain the battery so it is best to have them switched off when the bike is not in use. If it is being ridden everyday then it’s not really an issue as the battery is being charged up frequently.
Propagation
Back here in the States I finally had a chance to work on this system again. This time the system is much simpler. Just one phone, and the drone controller. Thus only one QuadLock was necessary for this test.
QuadLocking
Again, for the QuadLock mounting I took advantage of the opening in the top triple. There was no room anywhere else on the bike to mount the QuadLock such that the phone wouldn't collied with something else. But even mounted on the triple was tricky, because of the closeness to the body work, and the drone controller.
Ram Mount
The first instance was the QuadLock mount, and the Ram mount ball fastening the tank. These could be set such that there would be a collision. This was solved by relocating the QuadLock—which was the only solution because the Ram mount ball had only one possible mounting location.
Drone Controller
The initial placement of the drone controller was offset to the left. This didn’t work out as it conflicted with the phone. Placing the controller off to the right however created enough space for everything to be manageable. Since the mounting was worked out, and proper, it was time for a test run.
Out in the Wild
I took the system up a local corner with nice foliage, and some open space. The open space is a requirement for the drone. It is far too easy to place the drone in harms way, and that needed to be mitigated.
The placement of the controller, and the phone didn’t seem to pose an issue for connecting with the drone. There’s always the possibility that the antennas of the controller wont be able to make a proper connection to the drone due to orientation, and the construction of the motorcycle.
Since they communicate via WiFi there pretty much needs to be a clear line of sight pathway to the drone from the front of the controller. The testing went well, and from the various test video I was able to assemble a short video.
Issues
Most of the things I tested had some issues. There were a few times I had to dismount from the bike, and fly the drone in. This would have been much easier if the drone controller had a QuadLock adapter.
To free up the Ram mount requires some disassembly, and that takes time—time where the drone could have found a new friend in a bush or tree, and while friendships are important some of them can be unhealthy.
QuadLock just recently introduced a
Ram mount, and they have a
universal adapter that could possibly be mounted to the drone controller. I’ll have to investigate these opportunities, because the current system isn’t quite optimal.
Current State
The solutions are coming together, and I have full confidence that with a little refinement this will develop into a nice working system.
Please excuse the quality of the video. I employed a new editor for this one, and I didn’t get the export variables correct for YouTube. The editor though is amazing, and I’ll be reporting on it in the future.
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https://youtu.be/UKC_zVWhnVQ