Real-time video from freefall.
Spectators, the people waiting, the team itself — they follow the jump with the naked eye. The footage only arrives after landing. The moment itself stays invisible.
Until now, freefall could only be retold — the footage always comes too late. We bring the view from the jump down to the ground, in the very moment it happens. Not a recording. The present.
Its own radio link, no internet. The HDMI cable runs straight to the big TV in the waiting area.
GoPro format: lens in the protruding protective nose, the 1 W radio behind it — worn flat.
Turns the camera image into a radio signal and broadcasts it at 1 watt — virtually lag-free (~14 ms). Reaches over 4 km, with comfortable link-budget margin.
A wide-angle skydive perspective in HD. The lens sits flush in the front wall — nothing sticks out to snag. Tool-less swap.
3S LiPo (11.1 V) in the protected swap tray. BMS against over-/under-charge & short circuit · recessed contacts · thermally isolated. Charged externally, swapped tool-lessly.
Flat patch antenna (35×35) in the floor — beams directionally downward to the drop zone, RHCP for clean reception. Final aim = jump test (our #1 check).
GoPro width (~7 cm), worn upright — a bit taller & deeper, because a real 1 W radio, cooling and an all-day battery live inside.
The sensor reads chip temperature. The fan kicks in only when it gets hot — in freefall the airflow handles it; on the ground it runs on until everything has cooled.
Like a GoPro battery door — but freefall-safe: snap latch + jump lock. Door on the side, out of ram pressure — holds against the ram pressure. Charge several trays in parallel.
The transmitter makes it possible: 4 km range with margin · ~14 ms — virtually lag-free · GoPro mount · all-day on a swappable battery · ready in seconds · legal via amateur radio Class E.
| SKYDIVE·LIVE | DJI O3 / FPV | GoPro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live image to the drop zone | Yes, open | own goggles/app only | — |
| Onto a big screen / TV | Yes · via HDMI | encrypted → no | — |
| Range | ≈ 4 km | a few km | Wi-Fi ~50 m |
| Latency | ~14 ms | ~30 ms | n/a (recording) |
| Legal Class E (DE) | Yes | grey area | Yes |
| GoPro form on the helmet | Yes | no | Yes |
DJI transmits encrypted — you can't put the image freely on a screen. GoPro only records. Our niche: open, live, legal — straight to the TV at the DZ.
From the jumper as a radio signal to two antennas, on to the monitor — and via HDMI onto the big TV. 14 milliseconds from the jump to the family in the waiting area.
A monitor on the tripod catches the signal through two antennas — always the one with the stronger image. Daylight-readable, with a sun hood. Over HDMI the same image runs straight to the big TV in the waiting area.
Free-space link budget at 5.8 GHz / 1 W. At 4 km about +9 dB margin remains for body shadowing & multipath. The directional patch on the ground adds ~6 dB more — that's why there are two antennas. (drag the slider · switch antenna)
Both halves fully engineered. The live loop is complete.
Transmitter & ground station fully designed, collision-checked.
PETG print, assembly, bench test (radio & thermals).
Internal practice jumps — verify range & image for real.
First real, official tests in summer 2026.
Jumpers, tinkerers, drop zones — let us build the front-row experience.
Free-space path loss (Friis) at f = 5.8 GHz, d = 4 km:
Received level = TX power + antenna gains − losses − FSPL:
Zero margin (free space) only at 4 km · 10^(9.2/20) ≈ 11.6 km. So 4 km is deliberately conservative — the ~9 dB absorb body shadowing, multipath & polarisation.
Dissipation at 1 W RF (~28 % efficiency, analog 5.8 GHz): Q ≈ 2.5 W.
Closed-loop: ATtiny on an NTC (ON 45 / OFF 40 °C), post-landing cooling until < 40 °C. Well under the ~80–105 °C limit. Graceful: HDZero has its own thermal shutdown → a fan failure only throttles the image, no damage.
Two cooling paths — situational, not on a timer:
Battery decoupled from the VTX zone by the heat wall (LiPo < 45 °C). Vented, not sealed: GORE membrane + drain against condensation (4000 m / temperature swing).