If you’re a maker with your head in the sky, you’ve got to check out this Raspberry Pi FPV monitor project put together by Seii-FPV. Instead of searching the market for an existing product, Seii-FPV opted to make a device from scratch using open-source tools. In addition to working as an FPV drone monitor, the Raspberry Pi comes with all the benefits of a desktop PC.
The final build is an all in one device that provides a real-time interface and feed with drones in flight. Giving anyone a peek at what the FPV goggles see. The video feed is output to a 5-inch LCD screen that Seii-FPV has housed inside a custom case. This project is similar to the Pi Zero 2 W CineWhoop drone we recently covered but unique in that it shares the experience.
Any bystanders in the vicinity can tag along for the flight as long as they can see the screen. It might be small but that makes it easier to carry and lighter on power consumption. The housing for the FPV monitor was designed by Seii-FPV just for this project and 3D printed using an FDM printer.
To make the project portable, Seii-FPV is using a 10,000 mAh power bank. The screen is an Elecrow RC050S HD display which has a resolution of 800 x 480px. It’s also a touchscreen so you don’t need any extra peripherals for input, however, Seii-FPV is using a Rii i8+ wireless keyboard and touchpad which definitely makes the unit easier to operate. The main board driving the monitor is a Raspberry Pi 4 B 4GB model.
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The software used in this project is called DigiView. This is an open source Linux-based operating system that needs to be imaged onto an SD card to run. It’s designed specifically for capturing drone FPV goggle feeds using single board computers like the Raspberry Pi.
If you want to see this Raspberry Pi project in action, check out the video shared by Seii-FPV over at YouTube.
