First of all, I think this website is great! I've been checking it daily for the last month or so.
I would like to get involved in the European civil UAV business, and most of my skills are focussed on G.I.S and remote sensing. I would like to obtain a UAV to set up a company that offers professional aerial mapping, all geo-referenced and stuff. I both have the capital / time to invest in this project and I would like some advice.
I have found out about the Cropcam, which I am sure you are familiar with. I'm wondering what you guys/girls think about both the platform and more importantly, the quality of the autopilot. How would you rate the MP2028 with for example the AttoPilot 3.3?
By doing some browsing on this website I have found out that a bunch of you have flown / own the cropcam. What are your thoughts about it and what should be improved to make it a better platform?
Are there any other commercially available UAVs out there that I should be aware of? My budget for the UAV system is around $15k.
Hopefully you guys can help me out!
Thanks,
Peter
Replies
if you want to sell the photos for commercial purposes the FlyCam series is way way below the specifications you are looking for. You need a good quality compact of 10Mp or more and with a good lens.
Yes you can stitch with a variety of panrama software packages but these do not produce geometrically accurate images and in many cases that accuracy may not be required. However, if you wish to produce orthophotos - geometrically correct photos usable as maps - then you will need some specialist software and a lot of time. Software to do the job and minimise your workflow is probably going to set you back Eur4,000+ so you will need quite some work to pay for that.
Good luck with your project and keep us informed of progress and decisions.
Mike