What is Minla?

Minla is a RC receiver that connects your RC model to internet.

You can now manually control your RC model (rover, drone, boat, etc.) from your Android/Apple smartphone/tablet or PC web browser via internet.
FPV (First Person View) video stream from internal camera, realtime telemetry data delivered from Minla and control signals delivered to Minla over mobile 3G/4G network and internet. No regular radio equipment (2.4GHz, 5.8GHz, etc.) is required to operate rc model. Just 3G/4G mobile network.

minla_drawing


How does it work?

Minla basic overview:


Drone flight example


Minla tech spec

Microprocessor:

- STM32F4 32-bit 168MHz


Sensors:

- 2 megapixel camera


Interfaces:

- USB type A port for USB modem connection
- mini USB port for MCU firmware upgrade and setup
- GPS/Glonass sensor connector (DJI Naza GPS sensor and U-blox sensors supported)
- 9-channel PWM output (connected to flight controller or directly to servos)
- PPM output (connected to flight controller)
- LiPo 1S-3S voltage sensing ADC connector
- LiPo 1S-4S voltage sensing ADC connector
- I2C
- regular PPM receiver backup control


Power requrements:

- +5V DC from flight controller BEC or ESC BEC
- 650 mA max current with connected USB modem


Weight and dimensions:

- Weight: 30g
- Width x Length x Thickness: 50x50x13 mm


Operating parameters:

- FPV video: color, up to 25 fps, 0.1-0.5 sec end-to-end latency*
- FPV video resolution: 160x120, 320x240 (default), 352x288, 640x480
- USB modem support: Huawei E1550, E3272, E3370, E3372 and others

* FPS and latency depends on 2G/3G/4G mobile signal strength and video resolution

Control panel features:

- Control panel is developed in form of web app (static html5 and opensource)
- Can be opened in any modern browser on Android/iOS devices or PC (Windows, Linux, Mac)
- On-fly FPV video resolution, quality, size selection
- Easily adjustable to any RC model


Control panel provides following data to pilot:

- FPV video stream from integrated camera
- FPV video FPS (Frames per second) and average frame size in bytes
- Current drone position on the map
- Distance from start point to current position in meters
- Current altitude above ground in meters
- Current ground speed in km/h
- Current 1S/2S/3S/4S battery voltage
- GPS fix and number of connected sattelites


Software updates

Check helilab blog for the latest software/firmware updates:

Link to blog

Manuals, how-to, etc

Minla pinout description and DJI Naza M V2 flight controller connection manual:

minla_pinout_and_naza_connection_v0.35_EN.pdf


Minla web API reference:

minla_API_v0.3.pdf


Bootloader upload/upgrade manual:

minla_bootloader_upgrade_v0.2_EN.pdf