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How to build an affordable drone/camera combo with a GSD of 0.3 millimetres at 20m altitude

Posted by WildTrack on May 27, 2017 at 2:25pm

We want a drone with a camera capability to produce a GSD of around 0.3mm at 20m altitude. This could be achieved with a 20Mpix SLR with optical zoom of 10x, but how feasible is the build?  Could it be undertaken by a highschool robotics group?

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Tags: 03mm, gsd
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  • WildTrack June 5, 2017 at 12:23pm


      Thanks Jeremy.  The idea is that we'd be flying at low velocity to identify trails, then just hover directly over a footprint to image that detail. But yes, I'm thinking that a Matrice would provide reasonable stability - using two different cameras - one to locate trails, and the other with a high zoom to capture individual footprints.


    Jeremy Randle said:

    With a GSD of 0.3mm, if you could achieve a shutter speed of 1/1000 (unlikely) then a velocity of even 0.3 metres per second (300mm/sec) would give you motion blur of 1 pixel !! At 20 metres altitude an angle change of 0.9deg/sec would give you motion blur of 1 pixel !!

    You will need a very, very steady platform.

  • Jeremy Randle June 2, 2017 at 2:32am

    With a GSD of 0.3mm, if you could achieve a shutter speed of 1/1000 (unlikely) then a velocity of even 0.3 metres per second (300mm/sec) would give you motion blur of 1 pixel !! At 20 metres altitude an angle change of 0.9deg/sec would give you motion blur of 1 pixel !!

    You will need a very, very steady platform.

  • WildTrack May 29, 2017 at 11:34am

    Yes, that's what I meant. 

    Thanks Andre!


    Andre K. said:

    "Coordinate with such camera ?"  - I do not know what you mean, but in any case, you do not need to depend on any proprietary, limited flight controller to do that.

    WildTrack said:

    Also is the Matrice the only system that comes ready to coordinate with this camera?

  • Andre K. May 29, 2017 at 10:03am

    "Coordinate with such camera ?"  - I do not know what you mean, but in any case, you do not need to depend on any proprietary, limited flight controller to do that.

    WildTrack said:

    Also is the Matrice the only system that comes ready to coordinate with this camera?

  • WildTrack May 29, 2017 at 9:34am

    I'd just like to check though, on closer inspection the Sony RX100 is 20Mpix but only has a 3x optical zoom. Is there a camera with a higher optical zoom?  Also is the Matrice the only system that comes ready to coordinate with this camera?

    Crady von Pawlak said:

    I think that would be an excellent combination



    WildTrack said:

    Thanks.  The Sony RX100 on a Matrice might then be the best option.  

  • Andre K. May 28, 2017 at 1:25am
    If it should give good data on a cloudy day, you need rx100 or bigger sensor, not a toy.
    Another thing you need to do right, is stabilisation, as such GSD will be very prone to motion blur. So a good brushless stabilisation will be a suitable side project. Start of by calculating.
  • Crady von Pawlak May 27, 2017 at 7:57pm

    I think that would be an excellent combination



    WildTrack said:

    Thanks.  The Sony RX100 on a Matrice might then be the best option.  

  • WildTrack May 27, 2017 at 7:56pm

    Thanks.  The Sony RX100 on a Matrice might then be the best option.  

  • Crady von Pawlak May 27, 2017 at 7:52pm

    No, I don't believe the P4 has optical zoom. 

  • WildTrack May 27, 2017 at 7:47pm

    Thanks Crady.  We're interested in building and testing for the specific application - imaging animal footprints on the ground, see ConservationFIT.org for more information.

    The Sony RX100 has an optical zoom so that looks promising, but the DJI Phantom surely not?


    Crady von Pawlak said:

    IMHO the feasibility of your project is limited only by your budget and the supervision of someone with basic electronics skills.

    As for the camera, a DSLR might be overkill (and certainly a very heavy payload).  Perhaps something light like a late model Sony RX100 w/20MP would be adequate.

    If you're more interested in the end product rather than building from scratch then perhaps you could convince DJI to donate a Phantom 4 Pro or even an Inspire to your school.  Either of those should fulfill your requirements.

    http://ConservationFIT.org/
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