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Low Cost Thermal Pan Tilt Zoom (FLIR PTZ) Gimbal WISH LIST

Posted by Randall Kolchins on December 11, 2012 at 10:26am

What would you like to see in a thermal pan tilt platform to make it effective for UAV usage?

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I am with a company called SPI Corp and we manufacture a low cost multi sensor pan tilt platform called the M1-D. The M1-D initially was developed for use on ground vehicles but due to its light weight, small size and low cost it has become very popular with folks in the aerial imaging world including both manned and unmanned craft. We are anxious to make this an even better product for UAV usage especially in the low cost market. We are reaching out to the UAV community for help in this endeavor (especially you guys at DIY Drones).  What we would like to know is what technical features would make our system even better for use in UAV's? If you could have anything you want in a low cost UAV Gimbal imaging system what would you ask for? What would be the bare minimum you would need to make the M1-D pan tilt thermal camera a workable UAV solution?  Current imaging systems are extremely expensive. It is our hope that by starting with our current low cost solution, and with a little help from the community, we can come up with a low cost UAV solution that will enable everyone to incorporate advanced imaging into their UAV project.

Our current system specs:

Fully enclosed pan tilt gimbal

Sensor Payload - Thermal Imaging, CCTV and Laser Pointer

Diameter of ball - 4.5"

Diameter of base - 5"

Height - 6.5"

Weight ~ 2lbs.

Pan - 360 degree continuous

Tilt - 90 degree

Pan Tilt Speed - Pan: 0.05~220°/sec; Tilt: 0.03~140°/sec

Video Output - Analog Composite single line NTSC or PAL

Communication Camera Control - RS/485 PELCO-D protocol

Inverted Mounting - Yes capable

Hardware specs such as size and weight are obviously difficult to change. What are the key features that you would need to integrate into your UAV project? Are there specific interfaces that are commonly used? Please post comments and let us know what you would like to see in the M1-D to make it even better for UAV imaging.

We look forward to your input.

Thank you

Randall Kolchins

SPI CORP

www.x20.org

Tags: ball, camera, cap, cctv, cloud, cmos, controp, flir, fpv, geo
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Comments

  • David Ellingsworth September 12, 2015 at 11:31pm
    Hi Randal, what are some of the new features of your m2-d gimbal
  • Brent Alderton November 25, 2013 at 6:35pm

    Keep us updated!!!

  • Chris Onyando November 25, 2013 at 1:48am

    Hi Randall,

    Should we expect a product anytime in the near future? Im sure this would be on high demand.

  • Randall Kolchins October 17, 2013 at 8:29am

    Sorry, we have been away from the forum for a while. The M1-D is moving really well and being used/tested by a number of UAV manufacturer/integrators. We have looked at the feedback from the board and there are solutions out there that convert the PWM to Pelco to control the PT thermal camera. We can also do a basic camera that the user can integrate into their own system. Yes we can have the camera measure temperature as well.

  • Pableras October 17, 2013 at 7:59am

    Hello is it possible to get temperature measurements from the data collected with this camera?.

  • 300km
    moglos September 11, 2013 at 2:16pm

    Hi Randall and co

    Any progress? This thread just dried up in January. 

    I think Sandro summed up what I'm interested in

    I believe that all you guys need to do is create just a small thermal cam with a well shielded "cubic" metallic enclosure and a pin-out containing GND, VCC and Video_OUT. So, we can buy or create our own pan/tilt/roll gimbal or pod devices.

  • 300km
    moglos September 10, 2013 at 3:02pm

    Hi Randall and co

    Any progress? This thread just dried up in January. 

    I think Sandro summed up what I'm interested in

    I believe that all you guys need to do is create just a small thermal cam with a well shielded "cubic" metallic enclosure and a pin-out containing GND, VCC and Video_OUT. So, we can buy or create our own pan/tilt/roll gimbal or pod devices.

  • Jethro Hazelhurst February 9, 2013 at 12:10pm

    I am wondering, is there any more news on this project?

  • Jethro Hazelhurst January 3, 2013 at 11:57am

    Fantastic, if you get it sorted, I will be a customer.

  • Hunter Parris January 3, 2013 at 10:43am

    Thanks for the reply Randall!  Good luck on everything!

This reply was deleted.