Quadcopter control and live video streaming
Sparo
The Sparo quadcopter is a flying video platform for both hobbyists and professional videographers. The startup company brought us in to build an iOS flight control app that also supported live video streaming.
The bar was set high for this project: intuitive and foolproof flight controls and telemetry, smooth video streaming, and—most important—rock-solid control software. We developed an app that made flying and shooting video super easy and fun.
The Challenge: Flight Control and Video
The quadcopter was already making short test flights when the Sparo founders brought us in. Their team was developing the hardware but they needed a mobile app to control the aircraft and display live video during flights.
We built an app using touchscreen thumb controls to steer the quadcopter. The app handled commands and displayed telemetry using MAVLink, an industry-standard flight control protocol.
Streaming live video was the greatest challenge, since this app was created before iOS included hardware-accelerated H.264 video encoding/decoding APIs. We implemented a custom video streaming protocol capable of smoothly and reliably delivering video, even when network packets were lost.
Feature Highlights
Flight Status
Altitude, flight time,
battery life.
Touch Controls
Takeoff, flight controls,
and landing.
Camera Modes
Switch between video
and still photos.
Video Streaming
Watch live flight video
on iPad or iPhone.
The Process: Quick Ramp-Up
Sparo's investors insisted on a successful demo—including flight and video streaming—just 10 weeks after we came on board. Our engineers developed the user interface in parallel with the flight telecommand and telemetry code, and delivered an app capable of flying the quadcopter in just a few weeks.
We then dove into the much harder problem of streaming and playing live video in a bandwidth-constrained environment. It took some long hours but we perfected the video system well in advance of the deadline.
"Lorien Digital built a reliable flight control communication system, including a custom video streaming solution, all in an app simple enough for new pilots."Jeffrey Smith, CTO
The Results: Thrilled Investors
Smooth flying
The app makes it easy for anyone to fly the quadcopter.
Video performance
Users enjoy smooth, hi-resolution flight video on their iOS devices.