Remote 3D Aerial Tours

Advances in networked video devices and virtual reality headsets have lead to many new interesting and exciting applications. One such application is streaming live video from remote sources. We’ve applied this concept to a quadcopter for remote tours that uses off-the-shelf cameras to stream 3D video to an Oculus Rift head mounted display. Tour paths can be preprogrammed for both outdoor environments using GPS and indoor environments using a motion capture system. The motion capture system performs real-time tracking of the quadcopter via several beacons attached to high visibility spots around it. A computer program takes the motion capture data and uses the position and rotation information to adjust the flight of the quadcopter to match the desired path of the tour. The user simply puts on the Oculus, tells the quadcopter to begin its tour, and off they go in a real-time 3D flight