Hey All,
The images attached (photomosaic and blown up section) were taken on the weekend. I am flying a Skywalker X7 with a Nikon J2 camera using a Pixhawk and triggering the camera every 30 metres.
The problem I have is that the pictures can be taken at all angles of pitch and roll as the Pixhawk adjusts the X7's flight. As a result, a high percentage of the photos are taken when the X7 is not straight and level. When you stitch these images for the photmosaic, you can see clear lines where the pictures are taken from different angles (circled in the enlarged section) . Is there any way to tell the Pixhawk only to trigger the camera when the plane is straight and level?
Replies
can you not brushless gimbal the camera, even if its only the roll axis?
Yep, you can. That is what we are trying at the moment. I am actually hacking an old APM2 to act as a gimbal controller. What we are attempting to do is have a common mount (bolts and power) for the sensor modules which would be completely independent of the autopilot. In this way (with IMU and GPS attached) the module can do its own thing regardless of what the aircraft is doing. This is particularly the case with stockpiles in mining where you want the camera pointing at the stockpile as the aircraft loiters around it at different heights.
Ha Ha.
My point was one of frustration. I am in no way suggesting that we all just give up and go out and buy off-the-shelf products. Where's the challenge in that?
That said, the Ebee is a phenomenal package. The fact that it turns its motor off for vibration free photos I'm sure more than makes up for a lack of resolution. No it can't do 1cm accuracy (are you talking DSM?). I have never seen sub 2cm accuracy. We throw out a bunch of surveyed ground control points and can't get that accuracy.
I do see a use for a parameter that limits the triggering to an attitude value. This could eliminate all the wasted shots during the turns.
I'm not saying you miss the shot, you just wait until the next time (maybe half a second) when the aircraft is level.
There are a lot of parameters required for this. Bank angle limits, maximum delay of shutter, maybe pitch angle limits.
It could be a very useful tool for mapping in turbulent conditions. It would certainly require some flight planning thought and decision making. Extra overlap planned, because you are really now planning for an overlap range.
Yep. I agree. This is all about compromise....taking photos from an unmanned aerial vehicle with an open source autopilot, carrying a camera running an open source operating system being controlled from an open source ground station...integrated by hackers....or you could just go and spend $50k on an an Ebee.
Ebee is around 30k and it has the pix4d included, I think this is a fair price for what it does. You should place the camera on a roll gimbal.
If this is a feature you feel strongly about, you should open the issue on GitHub so it will be tracked by the Devs, and not lost in these forums.