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Permalink Reply by Seth on April 12, 2012 at 2:25pm

Most commercial gimbal manufacturers use the Sony block camera like the FCB-EH3300. You can communicate with these cameras with the Sony VISCA protocol, which is basically RS-232 serial. I've setup an FCB-IX11D on the bench and used an Arduino to control it and it worked pretty well. Stabilization though is an entirely tougher nut to crack. Arduplane stabilization, as it is now, isn't going to allow you to zoom in 30X and have useable video. Many commercial gimbal designs use a combination of hardware stabilization with a precise actuator, such as a brushless motor (servos won't cut it), and a software image stabilization setup either in the gimbal or in the ground control station. Another issue, especially with an HD camera, is transmitting video- an analog transmitter won't push digital HD video. One option would be to get a GigE interface, push video to a GigE capable board, like an Atom equipped dev board running linux/OpenCV for frame grabbing and other cool stuff, then pushing video through something like a Ubiquiti bullet.

A commercial solution to this problem starts at about $20,000- and that's not in HD....

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Permalink Reply by Roger Powers on April 12, 2012 at 3:39pm

Seth, Our commercial cameras are open mounted but the mount has electronic stabilization from the autopilot.  The means you can get a camera that meets the needs from say best buy, and marry it up so that you can shutter zoom and stabilized to hold pan and tilt.  Best of both worlds.   Fat Head found that the miniaturized gimbal cameras had stabilization but poor EO qualities.  Costs for Fat Head turn key camera systems are a fraction of the price you quoted.  Plus you get on board recording, Video TX/RX, etc as nice features/options.

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Permalink Reply by Seth on April 12, 2012 at 7:52pm

Roger, is this a standalone system separate from Piccolo/Viewpoint?

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Permalink Reply by Roger Powers on April 13, 2012 at 4:59am

Several options Seth.  There is a stand alone system that has remote TX/RX as well as full functionality to pan/tilt/shutter/zoom.  Fat Head does offer as an option to wire in the pan/tilt of the open camera skid to the autopilot to electronically stabilize. Its a nice option if you already have invested in an autopilot but its certainly not necessary for full functionality.

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Permalink Reply by CORNELIUS P BRICE on April 12, 2012 at 2:50pm

Seth that doesn't surprise me, but out of my league. Because of my lack of skills, I really like the Flat Head solutions. But I could be wrong; some of the pictures look like they are showing prototypes. Another thing, for that kind of money, there is no warrantee. If you want support you have to buy it up-front. So to sum it up, the Flat Head solution is a commercial only set of products.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Powers on April 12, 2012 at 3:33pm

Cornelius the company launch and timeline to get everything out there does show some systems before they were painted and the like, but trust me they are not prototypes.   Each product is ready for the market.  The products are a combination of commercial and non commercial and have been carefully selected to provide the best possible solution for the serious UAV developer.  Every thing thats pure commercial has been industrialized so it can be used in pretty extreme repeat flying circumstances.

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Permalink Reply by CORNELIUS P BRICE on April 12, 2012 at 3:57pm

Roger, can appreciate what you’re going through. Some people think that profit is a dirty word. Please keep us updated on your progress.

Thanks, Neil

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Permalink Reply by Roger Powers on April 12, 2012 at 4:31pm

check out the Fat Head Sister company video:  its incredible.  Turn up your volume:  guess the theme song.   All fat head subsystems:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPEEDh_m4lo&feature=youtu.be

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Permalink Reply by CORNELIUS P BRICE on April 12, 2012 at 5:03pm

Very cool. Very impresive. I would love to be able to purchase one. Everyone has there own reasons mine are selfish. My grandson is in competive surfing. I want to shoot videos to help promote him to get sponsors. If it can truly handle the wind this would be a great platform. Please keep us posted on your progress.

Neil

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Permalink Reply by Roger Powers on April 12, 2012 at 5:22pm

Its actually very affordable.  We have flown it in 40 MPH winds.  With DGPS its like a perfect flying machine.

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