First APM2 Build for Aerial Photography to create DEM,DSM for GIS purposes - Ursus Airframe

Hi Forum, 

Some pictures to start... 

Thought some of you may be interested in this build as I intend to build an aircraft capable of 1 hour flights to map large areas in order to Create some Digital Elevation models for GIS mapping purposes. Initially i will be doing this for experimental purposes. I know there are a lot of rules and regulations in around commercial photography etc. 

I will be focusing on the following

  • Best Airframe for the job, including some brief build information
  • Suitable Cameras for the project. (Canon Point and Shoot cameras using CHDK)
  • Camera Stabilization - already made a basic pan/tilt gimbal for my Skywalker using the FY21AP
  • Ardupilot APM2 Learning with Trial and Error
  • Software to create the Digital Elevation models.

I know this is a highly specialized area, but i do have some of the above from asking various people on here (initially posted about this in my blog area, but that was wrong place, so posting here...)

Right where to start...

Airframe

I have selected the Ursus Airframe for this build as it seems to have a large wing and space for enough batteries to give slow, stable flight for up to an hour or more in some cases. It has been talked about on here before

Some Stats...

Wingspan: 2200mm

Material: EPP and wood

I'll try and post more pictures than words.. .as they are more interesting to look at... 

Day 1

Airframe arrived, fuselage part assembled,

Day 2

Wooden spas glued into wings, Glass rods glued into tail booms

Day 3

Fuselage glued together, with, wooden wing joiners glued into place

Day 4

Wings joined, APM arrived, sticker stuck to horizontal stab.

Day 14

After a few weeks of tinkering, my APM2 has arrived, And with much help from Chris and Michael I have managed to get HIL mode running pretty well in Xplane 10. I have been familiarising myself with the MissionPlanner as much as possible. Learning how the PID settings work.

Servos implemented, Undercarriage on.

I have also been playing with the Canon CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) on an ixus 80 and Intervalometer. Which is how i will be taking the photos from the plane, I wanted to see how long it can take pics for before the battery dies, I took pictures every 120seconds, and it took 81. Review was selected though after each picture, And i will be taking pics quicker than that. I created a time lapse from the window. Not that interesting, but its all part of the learning curve.

Day 23

I have upgraded the nose wheel undercarriage to a more robust strut with steering as well. This should give plenty of ground clearance for the Camera Gimbal

Testing the placement of the electronics, need to decide where to put the APM2, R149DP Futaba RX and the Camera IMU. Plenty of room in here for 2 x 5000 3s lipos! AUW is currently 2.7kg!

Tags: APM2, Canon, FY21AP, GIS, Gimbal, Photogrammetry, Ursus, chdk

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Richard on July 6, 2012 at 7:19am

I have a few different grades of foam,  I am going to experiment with those in the boxes. The gimbal is only designed to get vertical photos, not for vibration dampening, the box should take care of that. The camera needs to be going across the plane, So i need to make a wider fuselage. The new build has a 150mm box fuse, which will be big enough to accommodate an internal gimbal. Have you done any aerial photos using the CHDK?

R

Permalink Reply by Richard on July 6, 2012 at 7:16am

Hi James, cheers for the advice on the dampening issue. I have already made a set of boxes that I can line with different materials to see what works best at the field. I just need to make an aircraft to carry them! As the URSUS is too heavy to fly now. I have another thread to do with the twin boom build. 

I have also discovered that I need to use a minimum of 1/500 to ensure the photos are not blurred with thin foam. But i would like ot find a better material, so i can take photos on darker days with low cloud cover.

I like the bubble wrap idea! I may try it!

R

Permalink Reply by James Kirkley on July 6, 2012 at 10:02am

No Richard, I have no experience with the Canon Camera firmware hacks, I'm pretty much a newbie to all of this. I do want to get into the APM2 and 3DR radios. Also maybe mount a GoPro type camera. But I'm not so much interested in FPV. But before all that I'm designing a foamy myself. That means I'm spending plenty of time over in the RC Groups Foamy Scratch Build Forum. Eventually I'd like to take my plane on on cross country trips. So yeah, speed, tracking in a straight line,  and flight time will be important. But not so much areobatic or 3d qualities.

I'll check out your build ideas on your other thread.

 

Permalink Reply by Richard on July 11, 2012 at 12:40pm

Update - Flight 2 with the flying wing was a success. another 3 flights to go to make 5 successful flights on the APM in a row.

I am mainly doing the flights to get a bit more confident in the APM2s ability to:

  • Maintain a good GPS lock throughout the flight
  • Ensure the IMu units stabilize the plane properly in wind
  • Test the 3DR radio and telemetry capabilities

My 2.4m Twin boom design is going well over on another thread - I hope to have it complete in 4 weeks or so, and by then have 5 successful flights. 

Parachute recovery

I am also thinking about how I can build a parachute recovery mechanism for the 2.4m twin boom aircraft. Has anyone got any experience with this?

Rich 

Permalink Reply by Kevin Sanders on December 27, 2012 at 11:23am

I am trying to build a similar aircraft. my question is how do you determine the location of your horizontal stabilizer when building a twin boomed pusher like the  one you have? Or How far away from the main wings GC.

Permalink Reply by Richard on December 28, 2012 at 7:25am
@kevin - this thread was mainly about using the skywalker and the Ursus twin boom aircraft. The Ursus is an off the shelf plane, and the cg was marked on the plane. I did not scratch build this plane.

I have however built a twin boom aircraft from scratch on another thread. in order to determine horizontal stab location, I kind of guessed it, it's best to ensure it is as far back as possible from the wings to ensure good pitch stability. Whilst ensuring the plane will balance on the cg line.

Have you a build thread/ info on your build?

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