An FPV System for RC Vehicles That Incorporates Head-Tracking

FPV (first-person view) systems have revolutionized the RC (Radio Control) hobby. In the past, enthusiasts had to be content with piloting and watching their vehicles from a distant third-person perspective. Sure, that was fun. But it wasn’t immersive. FPV systems put you in the driver’s seat and that is a lot more engaging. However, most contain cameras that can’t move at all. They force you to always look straight ahead, which doesn’t mirror the experience of driving a car or piloting plane. To change that, YouTuber Max Imagination designed this FPV system for RC vehicles that incorporates head-tracking.

This system provides an FPV experience that is a lot like what you would get in a VR sim or game. If you move your head to the right, for example, the camera will pan to the right so you can see out of the passenger window. That results in a much deeper level of immersion and could even help you pilot your vehicle more effectively.

That camera itself sits on a pretty conventional pan-tilt mechanism, like what we commonly see on security cameras. Two small hobby servo motors actuate that mechanism, which is 3D-printable. Power for the entire FPV system comes from an 18650 lithium battery through a charger/boost converter module. The camera is a WT07 with its own transmitter. An Arduino Pro Mini development board controls the two servo motors and communicates with the head-tracker through an nRF24L01 transceiver.

The head-tracker side is similar, but uses a smaller lithium battery and has an MPU6050 accelerometer/gyroscope instead of servo motors. The head-tracker’s Arduino detects head movement through the MPU6050 and communicates with the FPV system’s Arduino, telling it to move the servos to match the movement. The head-tracker components mount onto the FPV headset — a model from iFlight.

Max designed simple PCBs for both sides that simplify the wiring and keep everything compact. The head-tracker components are small and light enough that they shouldn’t increase neck strain much. The FPV system is a bit bigger, but should still fit in a wide range of RC vehicles.

Max designed this to be a universal and affordable system, so it isn’t quite as small as something that fully integrates with the vehicle’s own controller. However, it seems to work really well and enables a level of immersion that looks really appealing.