The ultimate goal of our project is to create a live aerial video feed which can be processed and stored. This technology can be used for search and rescue, firefighting, law enforcement, military, and news reporting by being able to deploy aerial correspondence much faster than conventional helicopters. The end result of producing a digital video signal will allow for future expansions such as UAV sentience, target tracking and video compression.

There are many components to this project and we must decide which areas will developed ourselves and which areas will be implemented with 3rd party products. The three main components of the UAV are the quadcopter/controller system, the video transmission system, and the digital video analysis system.

The quadcopter chassis and controller system consists of everything needed to build and control the flying platform in which the camera will be mounted. This includes a frame, DC motors, power supply, rotors, flight control circuit board, flight control software, and an RC controller.

The video transmission system consists of the components that record, transmit, and display the live video to the controller. Included are the camera, transmitter, receiver, and display.

The digital video analysis system will take the raw video data, convert it to digital if necessary, and load it into a program. This system will need a video capture card, a computer receiver, and video processing software.