Digital Wireless Transmission of Live Video

Wright State University High Altitude Balloon Team

Team Leader: Greg Taylor
Team Members: Brandon Bayer, Tom Holmes
Faculty Advisor: Dr. Zhiqiang Wu, Dr. Joseph Slater
Electrical Engineer Mentor: Bruce Rahn
June 8, 2012
Abstract
First, wireless communication technology aboard Wright States high altitude balloons have
traditionally been hardware-defined. Hardware-defined radios require hardware replacements if
the communication technology and/or protocol needs changed. Secondly, during 2010-2011,
Team BluSkye successfully achieved analog wireless transmission of live video from the
balloon.
The goal of this senior design project was to improve both of the above issues by using softwaredefined radios (SDR) to achieve digital wireless transmission of live video from the balloon.
This team based their approach off of the research and findings of the 2010-2011 Team
Radiohead. Ettus SDRs were used for this project. The standard SDR requires a host laptop to
operate correctly. Team Radiohead unsuccessfully attempted to solve this problem by using a TI
Beagleboard running Linux to replace the host laptop. To overcome this issue, this team used a
stand-alone Ettus SDR that does not require a host laptop.
This teams design and implementation was successful in digitally transmitting live video up to
approximately 60,000 feet distance. The successful outcome of this project provides a good
foundation for future teams to improve digital live video transmission as well as digital
transmission of other information.
Introduction
The problem that is presented to the HIBAL Team Live Video is required to design a wireless
digital video transmission communication system. The purpose is to implement a mobile
wireless communication system onto a future balloon launch for the HIBAL team. The
previous HIBAL EE team, Team Radiohead, was able to transmit digital video but their
communication system consists of two SDRs that needed laptops; in order to process the
transmitted and received data [1]. Team Radiohead were able to succeed in some areas for
digital live video streaming [1]. The areas that our team focused were the weight constraint and
improving the transmission distance that the Team Radiohead was unable to resolve.
Team Radiohead began the digital live video streaming project for the HIBAL but was unable
to resolve the weight constraint issue which disqualified their design for any possible HIBAL
balloon launch [1]. Team Live Video focused on designing a mobile wireless communication

system that will meet the weight constraint, so that, our system can be implemented on a HIBAL
balloon launch. The need for a standalone mobile communication system is the task that is
desired for the HIBAL team.
The E100 is designed to perform as a standalone radio without any peripheral processing
devices. The standalone SDR meets the weight restriction that has been defined from the
HIBAL team for future launches. Future HIBAL balloon launches will have the ability will
provide real-time video streaming for the HIBAL team.
A digital wireless transmission system can provide the ability to capture real-time data in near
space. The desired altitude that the mobile wireless communication system is 100,000 ft; Team
Live Video has made great progress and has transmitted over 60,000 feet. Future EE HIBAL
teams can improve and implement the ideas that our team has provided. The goal for Team
Live Video is to design a mobile communication system that will transmit and receive digital
live video, up to 100,000ft., via a HIBAL balloon launch.
Design Specifications
The digital wireless transmission system that this team has designed has been subdivided into
four areas: transmission hardware, transmission frequency, transmission antenna and portable
power supply.
Transmission Hardware
An Ettus E100 software-defined radio is the stand-alone digital wireless transmission station. It
is being used with a WBX daughter board and a HMC758LP3 RF amplifier. The receiving
station consists of an Ettus USRP1 SDR connected to a host laptop running an Ubuntu Linux.
Transmission Frequency
A transmission frequency of 1280.5 MHz, the analog TV channel 3 [1], was chosen because it is
a legal band for digital HAM transmissions. It also has good line of sight transmission and will
not cause any interference with the CW beacon or the APRS transmitters that are also on the
balloon.
Transmission Antenna
A simple, lightweight wave vertical whip antenna is used for transmitting from the balloon.
This antenna is better than horizontal loop and halo antennas because it propagates better over
long distances and is Omni directional when protruding from the bottom of the balloon package.
An antenna of 6.6 inches will be used to keep 50 ohm impedance while operating in the 420
MHz band and the 1280 MHz band. The standard antenna that comes with WBX daughterboards
was used to meet these requirements.

Portable Power Supply

The Ettus E100 operates from a 6V power supply and draws 1.15 amp. An 11.1V 6600mAh
Lithiumion battery was chosen to provide power to the E100. The Castle Creations CC-BEC
Pro Battery Eliminator Circuit was used to regulate the 11.1V battery pack voltage to the
required 6V for the E100.
Realistic Constraints
The Federal Aviation Administration has weight restrictions on high altitude balloons. The
balloon weight limits are a maximum of 12 pounds total and 6 pounds per package. The Federal
Communication Commission has restrictions on radio transmissions requiring a HAM license for
use of HAM bands. Package construction must also take temperature into account, as
temperatures at 100,000 feet altitude can be as low as -60 degrees Celsius. Insulating the payload
with Styrofoam is a technique that has been used in previous launches for the HIBAL team.
Also, the Lithium-Ion battery can withstand very cold temperatures and retain the nominal
voltage.
Design Process and Results
Radio Frequency Design
The RF signal path from the balloon to send digital video to receiving station is required by the
FCC to be on experimental amateur bands above 420 MHz with power and bandwidth
limitations. Further investigation found that signal path loss from 100,000 ft. and interference
from other balloon and ground transmitters was needed. The frequency selected to avoid
interference problems was 1280.5 MHz on the 23 cm amateur band and the free space path loss
is determined using
. The balloon altitude of 100,000 feet equals 30.4 km. Therefore, a transmission frequency
of 1280.5 MHz yields 120 dB of signal path loss.
The signal strength of the transmitted signal at 1280.5 MHz with the 20 dB amplifier is +20
dBm. So, the signal level under line of sight ideal conditions is +20-120 = -100 dBm at the
receiver, which is 25 to 30 dB above noise floor.
With signal conditions less than ideal, gain was added to signal path by designing a portable
handheld Yagi antenna for the receiving station. The Yagi antenna adds 14 dB gain making the
received signal at 100,000 feet to be 30 to 44 dB above noise floor. The payload mounted
balloon antenna is a wavelength whip with 1:1 unity gain. This allows for frequent gyrations
during balloon ascent and descent.
The 1280 MHz receiver antenna was designed to have 14 dB gain with 50-ohm impedance as
follows.

Element Name
Reflector
Driven element
1st director
2nd director
3rd director
4th director
5th director
6sh director
7th director
8th Director

Figure 1
Distance to End of Boom
11.6 cm
15.1 cm
17.6 cm
21.0 cm
27.5 cm
34.3 cm
41.0 cm
49.1 cm
58.0 cm
67.1 cm

Length of Element
11.5 cm
1.2x2.3 cm (folded dipole)
9.9 cm
9.6 cm
9.5 cm
9.4 cm
9.3 cm
9.2 cm
9.1 cm
9.0 cm

Note: Driven element is 10.2 cm length and 2.3 cm spacing of folded dipole rectangle. This
presents 200-ohm impedance requiring wavelength shorted stub in series with coaxial feed.
The antenna was built for frequent abuse coming in and out of tracking vehicle.
Ettus E100 Design
Documentation on the E100 is available at http://code.ettus.com/redmine/ettus/projects/usrpe1xx.
During the first part of this project, the E100s performance was terrible as it could barely
transmit a basic waveform. Updating the E100 file system to the latest version solved this
problem. It is highly recommended that the E100 is always operated using the latest file system.
The USB Host connector on the E100 broke off during the attempted launch 28. The work
around is to use the USB OTG port by plugging devices into a USB hub and plugging the USB
hub into the USB OTG port (devices will not work when plugged directionally into the USB
OTG port).
Software-Defined Radio Design
The SDR design was based on the Simple DVB with Gstreamer and GNU Radio project [3].
GNU Radio is the open-source software development tool kit for utilizing Ettus SDRs. GNU
Radio allows for easy use of the actual SDR. On the transmitter side, the default
benchmark_uhd.py was used to transmit video from the UNIX pipe. On the receiver side, the
default benchmark_usrp.py was modified to save the data to a UDP port instead of a file.
Gstreamer is an open-source multimedia framework that makes video processing very easy. For
this project, Gstreamer was used on the transmitter side to overlay the time & call sign and to
encode the video as a motion jpeg. On the receiver, Gstreamer was used to receive video from

the UDP port, decode the video, re-encode it, and ship it to a TCP pipe. Ideally, Gstreamer would
not be needed on the receiver side. It is only needed to work around a problem (see next
paragraph).
VLC is an open-source multimedia player that was used to display and record the received video.
Unfortunately, VLC is not capable at this time of playing MJPEG video from a UDP pipe. To
work around this problem, Gstreamer was used to transfer the video to a TCP port. The video
was decoded and re-encoded because Gstreamer is not able to take an input and map it straight to
an output.

The E100 transmitter script is below.

start_streaming.sh
#!/bin/sh
#start_streaming.sh
nohup gst-launch -e -v v4l2src ! videorate ! video/x-raw-yuv,width=320,
height=240,framerate=\(fraction\)2/3 ! textoverlay text=[CALLSIGN]" font-desc="Sans 26"
valign=bottom halign=left shaded-background=true ! cairotimeoverlay ! jpegenc ! filesink
location=video2.ts &
nohup ./benchmark_tx.py --tx-freq 1280.5M -s 600 -M 100000 -m gmsk -r 125e3 -v --txamplitude 1 --from-file video2.ts
The laptop receiver scripts are below.

start_receiveA.sh
#! /bin/sh
#start_receiveA.sh
sudo ./benchmark_rx_video.py -f 1280.5M -R A -r 125e3 -v -m gmsk
start_receiveB.sh
#! /bin/sh
#start_receiveB.sh
now=$(date +"%F_%H:%M:%S")
path="/home/wsu1/$now.asf"
gst-launch udpsrc port=2002 ! jpegdec ! jpegenc ! tcpserversink host=localhost port=5000 &
vlc tcp://localhost:5000 --sout
'#duplicate{dst=display,dst="standard{access=file,mux=asf,dst='$path'}"}'
#vlc tcp://localhost:5000 --sout
'#duplicate{dst=display,dst="standard{access=file,mux=asf,dst=/home/wsu1/$\now.asf}"}'

The instructions for starting the transmission and reception are below.
1. Power up the E100 (takes several minutes to boot)
2. Power up the wsu1 laptop
3. Open three terminals on the laptop
4. Terminal 1, issue the following commands: (starts USRP receiving)
1. cd working_code
2. ./start_receiveA.sh
5. Terminal 2, issue the following commands: (starts video viewing and recording)
1. cd working_code
2. ./start_receiveB.sh
6. Terminal 3, issue the following commands: (connects to E100 via SSH).
1. ssh root@130.108.29.130 (This will fail until the E100 is fully booted)
1. Enter password: usrpe
2. cd working_code
3. sudo ./start_streaming.sh
7. After a minute or so, the blue light on the webcam should be on as well as the top-left
LED on the front of the E100.

Parts List
Price
11.1V 6600 ma/Hr Lithium-Ion Battery Pack
11.1V 4400 ma/Hr Battery Pack
Life Cam HD-5000 Web Cam
Castle Creations CC-CEB Pro Battery Eliminator Circuit
E100 (Software Defined Radio)
EC3 Connectors
Total

69.99
45.99
49.95
40.99
1300.00
3.99
$1510.91

Tools Needed
Laptop running Ubuntu Linux with GNU Radio, Gstreamer, and VLC installed.
Project Implementation and Testing
Portable Power Supply
An endurance test for the battery pack was conducted by charging it to full capacity. The battery
pack was connected to the E100; the voltage was measured and recorded every 30 minutes. The
battery pack was exhausted after 4 hours. Figure 2 displays the results from the endurance test.
Figure 2
Time (min)
8:40 am
9:10 am
9:40 am
10:10 am
10:50am
11:10am
11:40am
12:10am
12:40am
1:10pm
1:40pm

Voltage (V)
5.72
5.72
5.78
5.80
5.80
5.80
5.80
5.80
5.80
5.80
5.80

A cold endurance test was performed to verify if the 11.1V Lithium-Ion battery pack would
provide adequate power to the E100 during the rigid conditions it will endure during a launch.
The cold test was conducted by placing the fully charged Lithium-Ion battery into a cooler and

placing a block of dry ice into the cooler. A thermostat was place inside the cooler to measure
the temperature during the cold test. The voltage and temperature was measured every 30
minutes. The cold test was conducted for 2 hours due to time constraints. The end of the cold
test, the battery maintained its nominal voltage that was measured at the beginning of the test.
Figure 3 displays the results for the cold test that was performed.
Figure 3
Time (min)
9:00 am
9:30 am
10:00 am
10:30 am
11:00 am
11:30 am

Temperature (degrees C)
60
8
-11
-14
-14
-14

Voltage (V)
6.0
6.0
6.0
6.0
6.0
6.0

Ettus E100 Software-Defined Radio

The E100 SDR wireless transmission was tested using various signals at various distances.
Below is a summary of the E100 testing.
Transmitted basic waveforms, small text messages, audio wave files at a distance of 3
feet.
Transmitted and received digital video streaming at a distance of 3 feet.
Tested the digital live video streaming communication system in one of Russs hallways
at a distance of 100 feet.
Transmitted and received digital live video streaming from the outside entrance of Joshi
to the end of the student parking lot at a distance of 700 feet.
Transmitted and received digital live video transmission from a distance of 2,800 feet
along Colonel Glenn Highway.
Transmitted and received digital live video streaming at a distance of approximately 4.7
miles from Wright Memorial to the intersection of 235 and Haddix Road (next to
WPAFB).
Transmitted and received digital live video streaming at a distance of over 60,000 feet
from the bottom package of HIBAL launch 29.

Screenshots from Launch 29

The wireless digital video communication system was installed onto the bottom package of the
balloon launch. Snapshots of the live digital video streaming from the wireless digital
communication system during launch 29 are provided in the figures below.
Figure 1

Balloon Launch 29

Snapshot before takeoff

Figure 2

Balloon Launch 29

Snapshot of live digital video while ascending up

Figure 3

Balloon Launch 29

Digital video streaming from higher altitudes

Figure 4

Balloon Launch 29

Snapshots of higher altitudes and false packets are distorting the digital video streaming

Figure 5

Balloon Launch 29

The balloon has landed and mission accomplished

Conclusion and Remarks
This team has made great progress on this project during the past two quarters. Although the idea
of live digital wireless video transmission was previously explored by Team Radiohead, this
project nearly started from scratch due to using the E100. Our greatest difficulty was the
extremely slow performance of the E100. However, after significant troubleshooting and
communication with Ettus Support, it was determined that the E100 file system needed updated.
This simple update dramatically increased the performance of the E100, enabling us to actually
transmit video from the E100.
Future options for improvement are a more precisely built Yagi antenna (using a drill press),
optimization of video encoding/decoding, and moving processing from the E100 CPU to the
FPGA. Significant improvements will not be possible without increased performance of the
E100 hardware, significant update to the E100 file system, or moving most of the processing to
the FPGA.
Contemporary Issues
Team Leader, Greg Taylor, Contemporary Digital Video Issues
The question has been proposed to each team member, how does our senior design project
apply to real world applications? There are many examples that can provide implications from

our senior project. Wireless communication, signal processing, digital video streaming and
designing a standalone communication system are applications that are team implemented to
provide real-time video streaming. There are unlimited uses in the commercial and military
industry to implement digital wireless digital video streaming. Our senior design project has
provided a process that establishes a mobile digital video communication system. The mobile
communication system could be used in the military as a portable surveillance assistant for
platoons to survey the surrounding terrain for enemies. A soldier could be equipped with a
small receiver that is attached to his/her uniform or headgear. Real-time video streaming could
be beneficial by providing the platoon with a visual that they may have not been able to acquire
otherwise. The transmitter could be stationed at a highpoint in the surveillance area; undetected.
A wireless mobile communication system could provide invaluable data to the soldier in the field
and possibly provide live video around the perimeter of interest. This could assist the platoon to
decide how to respond to a particular situation during very critical situations.
The mobile wireless communication system can also be implemented in numerous of
applications pertaining to the commercial industry. Farmers could use the mobile wireless video
communication system to survey their crops while inside their home. They can determine what
areas of the field need cultivating and what areas of the field need maintenance. A wireless
digital monitor system would provide the farmer a solution to manage his/hers field with better
efficiency and save time by making decisions, depending on the live video streaming by
surveying their entire field or particular point of interest.
Only been a few examples have been presented to illustrate how a digital mobile wireless video
communication system can apply to real world applications. Our senior project involved
innovation and modification from previous EE HIBAL teams. A process for a mobile wireless
communication system has been established should provide future HIBAL EE teams to pursue
continuous improvements from where our team has ended the live video streaming project.
Team Member 1, Tom Holmes, Contemporary Digital Video Issues
Everyday activities are constantly changing as more computers control normal life in the 21st
century. The convenience of having a computer do simple everyday tasks has allowed us to
expand our capabilities far beyond the 20th century. The computer deals with 1s and 0s
which evolves engineering in a new context. Not only the conversion of analog to digital
quantities, but new usage of these entities in more usable forms which fulfill original design
specifications without user discrimination or failure, but keeping security standards to satisfy all
surrounding applications. Our wireless digital live video transmission project takes a step in the
evolution of digital computer capabilities.
Our senior design project has many uses in todays environment. The high altitude balloon
Camera gives a unique viewpoint from 100,000 ft. to military personnel with observation from
above surface to air missiles plus the digital downlink can send more information from other

sensors including view of non-visual electromagnetic which can see the Earth below to see nonvisual entities. This viewpoint allows better military decisions before men are risked in
unfamiliar environments.
Another use is by meteorological observers. A high altitude balloon viewpoint can inspect
weather systems but be well above potentially hazardous conditions on Earth many miles below
the camera. Also a second viewpoint allows meteorologists to anticipate approaching systems
better while using digital data downlink for other information like air pressure, humidity, and
wind conditions, which can be encoded and sent back to Earth receiver without any video
disruption.
The evolution of digital electronics not only has extended the reach of all humans, which can
improve everyones quality of life, but care should be taken to avoid misuse of wonderful new
inventions. Not only designing products that are available to users without discrimination, but
they have good security and reliability in adverse conditions. Each design should continue to
function well in poor electrical environments like intermittent electricity or lightning which often
damages unprotected equipment.
Our wireless digital live video transmitter was tested under extreme conditions to ensure
satisfaction when sent up on high altitude balloon. The results are collected to verify that
specifications were met. Engineering projects should be followed through to completion to
satisfy users and designers goals. The quality and innovation can live on to further enhance
future engineering projects as the digital revolution continues.
Team Member 2, Brandon Bayer, Software in a Hardware World
This digital live transmission of live video project is connected to several electrical engineering
issues that are currently impacting the world. The most prominent is this projects connection to
software in electrical engineering. Electrical engineering used to be almost entirely analog
circuits where software was not and could not be used. However, in todays world, software is a
tremendous part of most areas of electrical engineering. Having the ability to simulate hardware
with software components adds tremendous benefit in prototyping situations, reduces costs
significantly, and makes field upgrades more seamless. This project is heavily connected to this
issue because software-defined radios were used. Software-defined radios are not limited to a
certain small subset of operations built into the hardware, but rather, they have limitless
possibilities for configuration. Not only are these radios reconfigurable via software, open-source
projects such as GNU Radio provide the user with a large supply of pre-built components that
can easily be linked together in different ways to achieve different configurations. If a certain
application demands a non-standard configuration, the user can create custom blocks that fit
seamlessly into existing frameworks. This project is a great example of the benefit of simulated
hardware. An initially complex task of taking video, encoding it, modulating it, and transmitting
it is made extremely simple by pre-built software blocks.

Currently in the world, many electrical engineering projects that have traditionally been based on
hardware are moving to software-based solutions. This is being driven by the fast pace of
innovation and the push for smaller and cheaper solutions. Many of the innovations in certain
product areas are now mostly based in software because of the extremely high performance
hardware available now, even in mobile devices. When solutions are more software-based than
hardware-based, companies can stay closer to the cutting edge of technology because they can
roll out new updates to existing customers easily as well as ship the same or slightly upgraded
hardware with significantly improved software. Software-based solutions are also an answer to
the push for smaller and cheaper solutions because hardware is simply bulky and expensive to
manufacture. When the hardware is removed and replaced by software, the physical size
decreases as well as the cost to manufacture and assemble the physical components.
This project in particular could have a significant impact in the area of software-replaced
hardware because it is similar to a proof-of-concept. Although no new tremendous ground was
broken in this project, it is a stepping stone on the way to a better future for those following
behind.

REFRENCES
1. Wright State University High Altitude Balloon Team. 1 June 2012.HABTWiki. 2 June
2012. <http:// www.cs.wright.edu/balloon/index.php/2011-2012.
2. Amateur frequency usage, American Radio Relay League,
http://www.arrl.org/Sband--plan--1
3. Simple DVB with Gstreamer and GNU Radio
http://wiki.oz9aec.net/index.php/Simple_DVB_with_Gstreamer_and_GNU_Radio