UAV Aerial camera help
02-16-2009, 04:20 PM
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UAV Aerial camera help
Hey everyone. I am a student at ASU, and we are building a 8ft wingspan airplane that will be flown by the autopilot and needs to be able to take pics.
We are currently deciding on the type of video camera that we will need. Any help on decisions would be nice. It needs to be wireless of course. Range of 1 mile minimum. Needs to transmit back to tv so we can see if we see a target at all. We will have a max altitude of 800ft and min of 50ft. so the camera needs to be able to see the target and let us know when to take a picture with a digital camera that would be mounted to the same mount as the video camera. any idea on type of camera. what has worked best for other people.
We are currently deciding on the type of video camera that we will need. Any help on decisions would be nice. It needs to be wireless of course. Range of 1 mile minimum. Needs to transmit back to tv so we can see if we see a target at all. We will have a max altitude of 800ft and min of 50ft. so the camera needs to be able to see the target and let us know when to take a picture with a digital camera that would be mounted to the same mount as the video camera. any idea on type of camera. what has worked best for other people.
02-16-2009, 05:09 PM
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RE: UAV Aerial camera help
I have taken excellend video (in hi-def) using a $99 video camera from Walmart. It is called the "Jazz" and is in the camera section. It only has enough on board flash memory to record about 1/2 minute of hi-def, but it will take a flash card to allow as much record time as you want. I got a little engine vibration in the video, but it wasn't too bad. If you can I would recommend using an electric motor setup to eliminate the vibration. I also tried a vibration isolation mount for the .65 saito 4 stroke to eliminate vibration, but it didn't help. My next "video" plane will be electric.
Andrew
Andrew
02-16-2009, 06:05 PM
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RE: UAV Aerial camera help
I am sure you are aware of the super cheap nannycam type equipment you can buy - other people who I have read about seem to have trouble with them based on any range exceeding 500', and bad interactions with 2.4GHz RC equipment. So I think you probably may need to go with 1.2GHz or 5.8GHz transmission, but you probably already know this. Once you solve the 1+ mile transmission problem you can choose from a ton of available cameras, as I'm sure your 8' plane will be able to lift a couple of pounds with no trouble. I am interested in the same thing (for FPV), but so far I am using non-transmitting cameras (FlyCamOne2, helmet cams, Flip Mino) to gain experience on successfully mounting cameras on my 5' trainer.
Hope this helps but you probably have already gone a lot further...Chris
Hope this helps but you probably have already gone a lot further...Chris
