Iris v1 for mapping

Posted by Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz on October 7, 2014 at 1:24am

Hey everyone this is a short intro on a project
I've been working on for the past month or so.


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Canon S100 - 3D Printed Mount 
Based on a craigslist ad, I found a reliable, 
honest, and skilled individual with experience in
auto cad and a 3D printer. 

Ryan, the guy who designed the mount, was
meticulous about measurements and got straight
to work from my quick pencil sketch. His attention to
detail paid off because on the first flight with the mount
the center of gravity was dead on.


The Canon S100 with battery and SD card, 3D mount and
necessary hardware all comes in at 245g. 




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DIY Iris+ tall legs
For the tall legs I took inspiration from Iris+, but made
it my own by sourcing the hardware and carbon fiber rod
from the local hobby shop.

A $10 investment in parts, and a quick 30min garage sesh
turned 4 stock short legs into tall legs. Total weight for all 4 legs is
36g. That's 11g less than the new Iris+ legs.

 

Next steps
1. Put together the cable based on flight riot's tutorial for triggering camera.

2. Call 3DR verify whether Iris+ arms can accommodate 11" props.

3. Set up & install CHDK firmware hack with necessary scripts.

4. Finalize pre-flight checklist

5. Test the finalized bird w/ camera in manual flight and evaluate for optimum mission duration.

6. Research & design first mission, test run with camera.

7. Evaluate imagery & refine post-production workflow.

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Replies

  • Jaco January 10, 2015 at 8:12am

    Hi Pascal

    Photos look of good quality! It seems that your “high tech’ gimbal work well.

    Its seems very straightforward to build such as gimbal, i might give it a try and see.

    Does your camera sit tight and secure with the Velcro,I would be afraid that it would come lose and fall off during a hard landing or song winds?

    • Pascal P. > Jaco January 10, 2015 at 8:32am

      Thanks Jaco,

      This is by no way a gimbal, the Iris + is flying so stable that for nadir photos you barely do not need a roll correction. So far I have no windy conditions, so I am happy with this.

      The Iris is for me a semi-testing platform and I should go to more "serious" stuff if I can get some bucks from it. Gimbal will be a part of that stuff.

      On my first trials I secured the velcro with tie-raps. Than I noticed it is almost impossible to remove the velcro by pulling perpendicular to it. Sony is only 200 grams or so, can't remove itself by it only weight.

      But I may add some extra security if needed., at least to make people (clients) more comfortable.

      By the way, I am in Cameroon. I saw you are in SA.

      Cheers !

  • Jaco January 10, 2015 at 7:55am

    Hi Oscar + Pascal am going to try the trigger cable setup that I found on FlightRiot youtube videos:

    Pixhawk and camera configuration.

    The trigger method for PixHawk also requires a USB cable and one of the aforementioned EFlite  LED light controllers (EFLA600) as well as a 5V step up board since PixHawk only puts out 3V from its RC outs and CHDK needs 5V to utilize the remote trigger function.

    I should get the part on Monday and would let you know how its works .

    • wbal57 > Jaco February 5, 2015 at 12:43pm

      Do you know if you can use the GentWire USB with the pixhawk?  Will this need the same 5v step up boards? 

      It would be nice to have the function of controlling when the camera shoots as well as being able to retract the lens prior to landing. 

  • Pascal P. January 10, 2015 at 12:55am

    I also do mapping with my Iris+. So far very good results, I am still in the validation process for accuracy.

    On the operational point of view, I work with a Sony RX100 2, triggered by Pixhawk through Gentles cable. The camera is fixed on a home made frame, with a foam layer to avoid any vibration. Pictures are good enough for orthophotos and DEM creation.

    3701909752?profile=originalI use 80m altitude flight that gives me 1.7 cm pixel. I keep flights under 10 min at 5 m/s, allowing me to cover approximately 9 ha (22 acres).

    Still evaluating Pix4D against Photoscan. I found a slight advantage in using the last.

    • Pascal P. February 14, 2015 at 2:48am

      Having only 800m max distance is definitely a problem on your side.

      I do between 2 and 3km with one battery and my RX100.

    • Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz > Pascal P. January 10, 2015 at 3:27am

      Nice! Pascal when you have a chance can you document your set up? I'd love to see it.
      I'm tempted at the idea of moving up to larger sensor and that sony sounds about right.

      Also, is Gentles cable the same as Marco's?

    • Pascal P. > Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz January 10, 2015 at 4:06am

      you will laugh...

      this is my high tech photogrammetry support !

      3702682218?profile=original

      3702682282?profile=originalI don't know for Marco's cable, I get the 018MU gentWIRE-FOCUS from gentles. Damned expensive but working so well. I learned with drone to spend money to earn some time.

  • Jaco January 9, 2015 at 11:48pm

    Hi Oscar, after your email I popped over to your page to check out your customized camera gimbal - Impressive.

    I will be interested in your write up regarding how you build this gimbel.

    I originally thought about modifying a Tarot gopro gimbal myself, but it was over the Christmas holiday season and could not import the gimbal from the suppliers to South Africa. So i made an alternative plans and made this simple camera mount  - here are same photos of the modified gopro bracket and tripod mount I used on my Iris+ Simple Iris Camera Mount

    How is your Pixhawk working with your modified v3 to v5 camera trigger cable?

    • Oscar Avellaneda-Cruz > Jaco January 10, 2015 at 3:29am

      Jaco at the moment there is not cable. 
      Let it be known that the Sparkfun board won't work because
      3v signal from pixhawk is too weak. I'm going to try Marco's
      cable but with US components. I'm curious to know about
      Gentles cable that Pascal mentions below.

This reply was deleted.