Voice alerts: The Vector can speak flight information to you periodically, or on programmed alarms.
Variometers: The Vector is the first OSD to provide a charting graphical as well as acoustical tone variometers. The variometers are fully programmable to suit your taste.
RSSI: The Vector supports 4 types of RSSI:
Analog (fully buffered input)
PCM – some receivers output a varying pulserate to indicate signal strength, which the Vector supports.
SpektrumTM (all SpektrumTM FlightLogTM telemetry parameters are available for display, as well as a feature that combines them into a single RSSI display
Virtual SPPM RSSI: some receivers output RSSI and link quality via the SPPM interface, which is supported
Fast, easy control and menuing system: The Vector utilizes switch “gestures” and your control stick to let you rapidly scroll through menus and change parameters. All OSD parameters can be configured via the stick menus!
Kitchen sink: Of course, all the other OSD features you’ve come to expect from Eagle Tree, such as RADAR, ladders, compass, full ‘F16’ AHI, flight simulator, manual waypoints, monitoring of up to four battery voltages, and a huge list of parameters available for display are there in the Vector.
Flight Controller
Utilizing our proven GuardianTM technology, the Vector’s built-in, full featured flight controller is equally at home with both fixed wing (traditional, elevon, v-tail, etc.) and multirotor (quadcopter, hexacopter) aircraft. And, since the controller is fully integrated with the OSD, everything can be adjusted via the onscreen menus, rather than needing to drag a laptop or other device to the field.
You can even move the Vector back and forth between your fixed wing and your multirotor at the field, with no PC configuration needed!
Feature Details
The Vector system includes the base controller unit, the GPS/Magnetometer, and the Current Sensor/PSU. The Vector’s feature list is quite long, so what follows is an overview of the main features:
Full Color OSD
The Vector’s built-in OSD provides features not found anywhere else.
Smooth, razor sharp color graphics: tired of staring at hard to read white text with clunky graphics? The Vector changes all that. WARNING: a full color OSD can be addictive! :) Colors are fully adjustable to your preference.
Numerous flight modes are available, and are easily selectable via one or more switches on your radio:
2D: multirotor or fixed wing leveling with or without altitude and heading hold
3D: direct rate 3D with or without heading lock, for doing acrobatics when you get bored just flying along. :) Great for holding 3D positions such as knife edges or inverted flight, or doing flips with your quad (experts only!). Pitch, roll and yaw direct rates are programmable of course.
Additionally, following GPS control modes are supported:
Return to Home (RTH): Whether you fly fixed wing or multirotors, our advanced RTH algorithm means few if any adjustments are needed.
Geofence: lets you program a maximum ceiling and distance, to avoid flyaways or exceeding altitude restrictions
Loiter: for multirotors, this holds the present position using the altimeter and GPS, and for fixed wing, the plane circles when loiter is triggered
Cartesian: this multirotor control mode remembers the direction that the ‘copter was pointing when it was last armed, translating your pitch and roll commands to that frame of reference and reducing 3rd person pilot workload. Stick-left makes it fly to the left, stick-back makes it fly back towards you, etc.
Radio Control Interface
The Vector’s receiver input harness with labeled connectors makes it easy to connect to any receiver.
The Vector supports three types of RC inputs:
Standard/PCM: the Vector’s labeled servo connectors just plug into the appropriate receiver channels
SPPM and S-BUS: a single cable connects to your SPPM or FutabaTM compatible S.BUSTM outputs, for reduced wiring and more flexibility. The PC software lets you fully customize the meanings of up to 8 serial channels, making it easy to support a variety of OSD features.
The Vector’’s flight modes are easily accessed via a 2 or 3 position “mode switch” on your radio. Further, a “submode” switch can be configured to allow more modes to be easily selected during flight. The meaning of each switch position is easily programmable via the Vector’s menus.
Current Sensor with Integrated Power Supply Unit (PSU)
Tired of using multiple batteries, LC filters, BECs, etc.? The Vector’s current sensor/PSU makes it super easy to power your equipment.
The current sensor is available with DeansTM, XT60TM, or wire leads.
The high efficiency, low noise PSU accepts up to 6S voltage input, and provides filtered 12V and 5V output at 1.5A max per channel. It’s perfect for powering most FPV gear, and also powers your receiver on multirotors with “opto” ESCs, eliminating the need for an external BEC.
Note that the 12V regulator does NOT boost the voltage, like a SEPIC. However, the Vector’s 12V PSU has a unique Low Voltage Lossfeature that drops the regulator’s output by only about 0.5V if you are using a 3S pack operating below 12.5V. For example, if your 3S pack is at 11.5V, the regulator outputs about 11V. Other non-boost switching regulators typically drop the output voltage by 1.3V or more.
In addition, SEPIC and other voltage boost regulators are generally much less efficient and generate much more UHF band noise, and in many cases you don’t need one. All known cameras and many transmitters will operate well across the 3S voltage range. Check your transmitter manual’s specs to determine this. If your transmitter does need a boost when operating at the lower end of 3S, a JST equipped boost regulator can easily be connected into the Vector’s AV harness without needing to cut wires.
Wiring Made Simple!
The Vector’s filtered PSU and innovative wiring harness (so innovative we’re not showing it for a little longer J) makes it easy to connect your 5V or 12V cameras and transmitters without keeping an electrician on standby. If your camera and transmitter+- has have servo style connectors already, you just need to plug them into the labeled plugs, select the appropriate voltages, and away you go. And, If you prefer to use 2 or even 3 flight batteries, additional filters, voltage boosters, etc., that’s trivial to do without needing to do any rewiring. The harness also makes it easy to move the Vector from model to model without removing all of the wiring as well.
EagleEyesTM FPV Ground Station Compatibility
The Vector fully supports our EagleEyes Ground Station. On-screen menus make it easy to set up EagleEyes features. New, greatly simplified antenna tracking setup wizards make it an easy to configure your EagleEyes compatible tracker.
Data Logging and Telemetry
Of course, the Vector fully supports data logging of sensor and GPS parameters via internal storage, and our PC software lets you display, graph, visualize and save the data. Variable logging rates and advanced logging triggers are supported.
The Vector also embeds real-time telemetry in the video signal for use with the EagleEyesTM ground station.
Further, the Vector’s UART port is compatible with open source telemetry transmitters and other hardware. We plan on supporting the UART interface with a variety of telemetry related features in the future.
ALL VECTOR INFORMATION PRELIMINARY AND SUBJECT TO CHANGE!!!
DeansTM, FutabaTM, SpektrumTM and all other brand and product names are trademarks of their respective holders.
Powerful PC Setup Software
Want to configure your Vector via your PC or laptop? Our powerful PC software and the Vector’s USB interface make this easy. Drag and drop screen setup lets you see how the display will look as you configure it. Configuration files let you easily move your Vector from model to model without needing to reconfigure everything. Tabs for visualizing GPS flight data, manual waypoint management[This is going to raise some eyebrows. We should be clear that these are only *reference* waypoints and do not connect to any navigation functionality at this time], and many others make it quick and simple to fully utilize your Vector.