Airpixel AIR Commander Entire User manual

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Camera control
Before using this product, carefully read all product documentation and retain it for future reference.

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Safety
AIR Commander Entire has been designed with the highest concern for safety and easy handling.
However, any electrical device, if used improperly, has the potential for causing fire, electrical shock or
personal injury. To help ensure accident-free operation, follow these guidelines:
Observe all warnings, precautions and instructions.
Regularly inspect the DC power cords for damage before each usage.
Stop use, unplug the DC power cord from the electrical outlet or battery and disconnect any other
cables immediately if the device functions in an abnormal manner, produces unusual sounds or smells
or becomes too hot to touch.
Use and handling
AIR Commander Entire has been created for easiest handling possible, but as any other control device,
can divert your attention from your drone. Please follow these guidelines for safe operation:
Do not allow liquid, small particles or other foreign objects to get into the system or accessories.
Do not expose the system or accessories to high temperatures, high humidity or direct sunlight.
Keep the system and accessories, including cable ties and fasteners, out of the reach of small children.
Follow instructions about input voltage on every part of system. Do not exceed maximum of 5V input!
Never disassemble or modify the system or accessories.
If the system is brought directly from a cold location to a warm one, moisture may condense inside the
system. If this occur, the system may not operate properly. In this case, unplug all power cables
immediately and leave device on dry place for several hours.
Check this document every time you are going to change wiring / connection of the Entire.
Positive and Negative poles on all ports are interconnected. Please note this in designing of your
connection!
Introduction

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Basic parameters
INPUT VOLTAGE 5V!
WiFi2.4 GHz
3 UART ports (PORT A, PORT B, EXT)
Maximum current consumption 500 mA (up to 1.5A when camera charging)
3D printed case
Dimensions 45 x 27 x 9.5mm.
System

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Connection
AIR Commander is a standalone system which has no communication with your drone system. System is connected only into your camera via IR
transmitter and optionally via Smart plug. Only external connection is necessary for powering up each device of the system. There is a lot of
options on how to power AIR Commander. You can use a wide variety of power sources like 12V P-TAP connector, internal power of your gimbal
(if accessible), external battery, USB power bank or internal USB connector of your RC transmitter / gimbal. Next steps will show the most frequent
option for power up your AIR Commander system.
Power UP
Power cable to PWR connector, another end to the 5V power source.
LED blinking
When Device is powered up, LED goes RED as signalization of system startup process.
During the startup, LED will blink white few times as sign of proper system load.
Startup process takes approx. 20s. Then blue color appears and Entire is ready for camera connection
WARNING!
All input and output pins of 5V and Ground are interconnected. Input power is interconnected to Port A/B, EXT, PORTMULTI. Make
sure that external device can handle 5V input, or does not output higher voltage to the Entire. If you are not sure, contact us at
[e-mail] or disconnect the power pin by removing from cable connector.
System
Connection

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Device setup
AIR Commander Entire, has own Wi-Fi hotspot. For the setup you need any device with
Wi-Fi connection and web browser (Mobile phone, Tablet, Laptop, PC).
Connect your Phone to Wi- (xxxx is unique identification) .
Once connected, open your browser and type URL address:
http://entire
Configuration page
Once the URL http://entire
If connection will be unsuccessful, please double check you have filled out the http:// properly. Alternatively you
can type http://192.168.10.1
Overview page
At landing page you will get all important information together in panels. If the Camera
or Wi-Fi, SD card or etc. is properly connected, proper block will be highlighted.
At the bottom of page you can switch from overview to Control page, where you can
control connected camera from the mobile phone / tablet or etc.
Main MENU is accessible by clicking to the icon in the top left corner.
Installation
Connection

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Camera USB connection
1. Firstly make sure, you have selected USB as control mode of the Entire
(See the Mode bar at the overview page or MENU)
2. Open Camera MENU and s
3. Select cable to fit your camera USB:
For SONY ILCE series (A7x, A6xxx, A5xxx)
 Multiport Micro USB cable (check cable photo at pg.19)
For the Nikon or Canon cameras
 USB cable (check cable photo at pg.19)
 USB-C cable (check cable photo at pg.19)
4. Connect USB cable into the
5. Connect cable to the Camera connector
6. Turn ON the Camera
7. STATUS LED will come Green if connection was established properly
8. Also the Camera bar on the overview will highlight with camera type
WARNING!
Input power of the AIR Commander Entire is forwarded to your camera. Exceeding input voltage can possibly harm your camera.
Please make sure that you are using a reliable 5V power source.
If you use any other external device with external power (HDMI converter, Dummy battery) your GNG pin of all devices must be THE SAME. If GND loop occurs,
your camera and Entire will be harmed.
Installation
Connection

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PORT A/B connection
AIR Commander Entire has two universal ports (A & B).
Ports can be used as output or input for plenty of external devices.
Selecting the port operation mode is made in the Ent
AIR Commander Link (or v2) connection
1. Open the MENU and select PORT A or B mode
2.
3. Connect cable to the selected port A or B
Connection

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4. Connect to the AIR Commander Link Receiver port DATA
When Link is used for remote commanding of the Entire, please do not use any accessory in
or IR. If you would like to use IR commands, attach IR LED to the EXT port of
the Entire.
5. In few should selected port
6. Power up the AIR Commander Link Transmitter
You can use both connectors of the Transmitter to power it up. Selected port
depends only on your needs.
Optionally you can use our USB splitter to power the Transmitter from DJI
.
Connection

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7. Any press of button on the AIR Commander Link Transmitter
Will make STATUS LED blink white (active)
Activates assigned function in the Entire. Function
activated by particular button can be customized in the
menu of the Entire (see page 11).
AIR Commander v2 system must be updated to FWv1.10 / v1.11
Connection

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Mounting Link RX antenna
Position of antenna is most important for best range of AIR Commander Link.
Best position for receiving is under your gimbal, in place of your camera mount, or Gimbal horizontal motor. Place should be chosen in order of non-
interrupted visual contact with AIR Commander Link Transmitter. Antenna should not be mounted directly on solid metal surfaces. Especially DJI Light-
ers antenna will have
Light-Bridge transmitting antennas. AIR Commander can perfectly coexistent with other 2.4GHz systems, anyway 2.4GHz signals transmitted on drone
itself can decrease AIR Commanders range.
Pairing of Link RX & TX
AIR Commander was designed for simple everyday work. There is no necessity to wirelessly bind Receiver &
Transmitter. Each AIR Commander Link Transmitter accepts one or more receivers which are at the time without
active pairing. If you are using only one
behavior. If you wish to use more than one AIR Commander System at on place, follow these steps:
Turn on first AIR Commander Link Transmitter.
Turn on receiver (or receivers) which should be paired with this Transmitter.
Wait for pairing confirmation short blinking of CONN LED on transmitter
Turn OFF first Transmitter and keep ON paired receiver
Turn ON second AIR Commander Link Transmitter
Turn on receiver (or receivers) which should be paired with this Transmitter.
Wait for pairing confirmation short blinking of CONN LED on second transmitter.
Turn back ON first Transmitter.
Pairing is done.
Link installation

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AIR Commander Link Receiver STATUS LED
Short blink green with long delay (after power up)
oReceiver is running properly and waiting for the Transmitter signal (pairing)
Continuous green
o
Blinking green (shortly interrupted continuous green)
oReceiver accepted command from the Transmitter
AIR Commander Link Transmitter STATUS LEDs
PWR LED is always RED once successfully powered ON
STAT LED
ois continuously GREEN, when system is idle and out of the Time-Lapse mode
oblinking quickly when Time-Lapse mode is enabled
CONN LED
oIs continuously OFF when system is idle
oquickly blinks when data Transmit or Receive is active
oin Time-Lapse mode CONN diode shows actual interval after pressing of the TL button
Link usage
Link usage

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Infra-Red diode installation
Some cameras has Infra commanding capability. Especially SONY has wide variety of commands available only via IR.
If your camera supports IR commanding, please plug included Infra Led cable into EXT port of the Entire.
If you are using AIR Commander Link for remote controlling of the Entire, do not install IR diode of AIR Commander Receiver.
AIR Commander Link function mapping
Once Entire is connected with AIR Commander Link, each command
received by the Receiver is forwarded to the Entire. You have option
to assign any function of the Entire to any command (button) of
the AIR Commander Link. Some functions may not be available at all types
of cameras, so this function gives you chance to replace unused function by other.
1. Connect to the Entire Wi-Fi and setup page.
2. Open the MENU and select Link mapping (or ACv2 mapping)
3. You will see the list of Commands (Buttons) on the left side.
4. Right side of the list contain the preview of currently assigned Entire function.
5. Replacing of any function is available under click to particular list item.
Functions

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S-BUS control
Instead of AIR Commander Link system you can use SBUS input for controlling the Entire and Camera.
You can use separate RC controller, or use DJI Expansion KIT to implement control under LightBridge2.
When DJI Expansion port is used, connect the F-PORTs outputs to PWM/SBUS converter and then
Connect the SBUS output into PORT A or B of the Entire.
1. Connect to the Entire Wi-Fi and setup page.
2. Open the MENU and select SBUS mapping
3. .
4. Control channel can be assigned by clicking to the list item
Master channel
It would be very confusing to have separate channel to each function.
Master channel function combine control of multiple function by only two channels.
One channel is selecting the function which will be controlled. Second (control)
channel then trigger function UP or DOWN. In practice, you can assign Select channel
controlled. Function Control channel is then assigned to the channel of stick controller.
By the Knob angle you will choose the function (Aperture/ ISO / etc.) and by the stick
You can trigger function UP or DOWN.
Functions

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MavLink control
Instead of AIR Commander Link system and SBUS input for controlling of the Entire you can also use MavLink.
If you have PixHawk as drone flight controller, you can use MavLink telemetry channel for remote commanding of the Entire (and Camera). Our
plugins are compatible with QGroundControl and Mission Planner application.
Aperture and Shutter-Speed control are not accessible during geotagging session. ISO is available only as custom key shortcut mapped to the
arrows Left/Right/Down. Once GeoTagging is disabled all features can be used for camera control.
QGroundControl
1. Download our QGroundControl plugin
2. open QGroundControl application
3. in the top menu click to "Widgets"
4. select "Custom commands"
5. at the bottom of new window select "Load Custom Qml file"
6. select file "entire_qgc.qml" included in this ZIP
7. Plugin will be loaded as per image, click to the button will now
be executed on your camera.
The Entire must be updated to the minimum FW 1.079 for this feature.
Functions

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Mission Planner
1. Download our Mission Planner plugin
2. Unzip and copy all files to Mission Planner program path
3. open Mission Planner application
4.
5. click to "Select camera_control.py
6.
7. our camera control console will pop up in few seconds
C always
visible. You can also set the console semi-transparent to see information under.
The Entire must be updated to the minimum FW 1.079 for this feature.
Functions

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Wi-Fi Camera control
Compatible cameras can be controlled by the Wi-Fi connection.
Please note, that using Wi- -Fi has very low signal.
In some application cases, users choose Wi-Fi control instead of USB because this solution uses,
no cables from the FC to the gimbal. Using AIR Commander Link system as separate data-link has
incomparable lower interference and also needs no cables from FC to the gimbal.
This solution is strongly suggested instead of Wi-Fi control.
1. Connect to the Entire Wi-Fi and setup page.
2. Open the MENU and select Control Mode -> Wi-Fi
3. Disconnect the USB cable if connected
4. Turn the camera into Wi-Fi control mode
5.
6. Shown list contains Wi-Fi networks available to assign for Entire connection.
Entire will scan networks periodically and join the first available network from this list.
7. Select empty slot and select your camera network. If desired network is not in the list
8.
9. During the joining process will Wi-Fi hotspot be disconnected and STATUS LED will blink BLUE/GREEN.
Important:
a. Entire does not perform automatic scan while user is connected on the setup page.
b. During scan or joining process the Wi-Fi hotspot will be disabled and Control page will not be available.
Functions

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Bluetooth Camera control
The Entire has no internal Bluetooth capability. BT camera control is done via third-party external USB Bluetooth dongle. Compatible
USB cable and Bluetooth dongle is available at our shop. Configuration and first camera connection is also available at our YouTube channel.
Check the video here.
Configuring the Entire for Bluetooth
1. Connect to the Entire Wi-Fi hotspot and setup page.
2. Disconnect any cable from PORTMULTI, if inserted.
3. Open the MENU and select Control Mode -> BlueTooth
4.
5. Connect BlueTooth USB extension cable with BlueTooth dongle.
6. Status LED should now start flashing BLUE as sign of initialization of BT dongle
7.
8. Scanning, adding or removing of BT cameras, is available under MENU->BT connection
Functions

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Pairing new camera via BlueTooth
1. Connect to the Entire Wi-Fi hotspot and setup page.
2. Open MENU and select BT connection
3. New window shows list of paired devices, you can pair more than one camera.
4. Make sure, you have enabled Bluetooth in the menu of the camera
5.
6. Once scan will be done, available devices will be shown in the list above the button
7.
8. In few seconds, you will be requested for the PIN. Open the camera MENU and navigate to
Bluetooth configuration. Copy the PIN code from the Camera to the Entire and confirm.
9. Once pairing is successfully done:
a. Your camera must will be shown in the list of paired devices
b.
c. If a) or b) is not as described, please restart the Entire and repeat the process.
10. Once camera is successfully paired, the Entire will connect automatically once available.
(if user is present in at configuration page, automatic searching is disabled)
Functions

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Firmware update
1. Download the firmware update package from http://shop.airpixel.cz/entire-firmware/
2. Unzip the content and save the .img file
3. Connect your device to the Wi-Fi hotspot of Entire
4. Open the control page at http://entire
5. Open the MENU and select
6. Select the .img file downloaded from our website
7. Package will be uploaded and decompressed
8. IMPORTANT!!!
Double check the power source. Power failure during update can damage your device.
9. Confirm Start and check it the STATUS LED turns to Purple
10. While STATUS LED is Purple, device is rewriting memory, this step is critical for interruption
11. Once LED turns to RED, device is restarting and making self-check. During self-check device
can be restarted.
FW update

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Cables description
USB Power Multiport USB cable USB cable
USB-C cable UNI cable (Link RX connection)