Recent Posts - Page 43 - Eric Cheng
Eric Cheng

Here’s a video of an RC helicopter being controlled by a SpaceMouse. The interface seems to be much more natural than the 2-stick “Mode 2” control that we RC pilots typically use. It looks like they are using a computer as the interface to the SpaceMouse, but older controllers have serial ports, and per the ...

Here are some behind-the-scenes shots from Tonga, which were taken by my good friend, Julian Cohen. Although I mostly flew from the boat, I did a couple beach launches, as well. It’s important to have a tough, waterproof case for work like this. My entire Phantom with FPV and 6-8 batteries fits in a single ...

I absolutely love the aerial perspective. This is a picture of my wife snorkeling outside of Swallows Cave in Vava’u, Tonga. You can see the little mushroom island’s entire underwater reef structure.

DJI | DJI Released Naza-M Firmware 4.00

DJI | DJI Released Naza-M Firmware 4.00 DJI has released Naza-M firmware 4.00, the next iteration of firmware for the Naza-M multirotor flight controller. It supports ground station software (if you have the required hardware), but for beginner DJI Phantom owners, the most-interesting new feature will be the flight limits function, which allows you to ...

Aerial footage taken in Tonga, September, 2013. Huge thanks to Julian and Ildi Cohen and the crew of the S/Y Bella Principessa for their hospitality (I used the catamaran as a launch platform). GoPro HERO3 w/polarizer on a DJI Phantom quadcopter with Zenmuse gimbal. (Source: https://player.vimeo.com/)

I went to visit 3D Robotics last week, which was a ton of fun. They let me fly an Iris prototype and a Y6 running APM 2.6. I love the idea of a folding Y6 for travel. It has plenty of power and can fold into a compact little package. Thanks, guys!

I managed to get great aerial footage of whale sharks is Isla Mujeres by launching a quadcopter off of a 34-foot boat, but the flight controller (DJI NAZA v3.14) made the experience a pain in the butt because it refused to arm until the quadcopter was (relatively) still. had to wait until the boat was ...

This is my prototype multi-rotor aircraft launch platform for boats. It should allow me to arm and launch my quadcopters from pitching boats without waiting around for that perfect moment, like I had to while I was in Isla Mujeres.

About a month ago, I was invited by Adobe’s Russell Brown to crash a Photoshop team offsite at a winery in Los Gatos. As part of the offsite, Russell organized flight lessons on DJI Phantom quadcopters. It was a great gathering, and I finally got to meet Doc Brown and Barry Blanchard in person!