Mapping with E382 and DroneMapper

I just wanted to share a mapping mission I ran last week with the E382 from Event 38 (my company) and processed with DroneMapper.com.

The reason these results are somewhat noteworthy is the amount of time it took to make this. I pulled up to the flying field, setup the plane in maybe 5 or 6 minutes. I hand launched the plane, flew around manually for exactly 5 minutes, taking 110 pictures in that time. Brought it in for a quick landing in some bushes then I packed up and went home. At home I uploaded the images straight to DroneMapper without even reviewing them. A few hours later, DM came back with really awesome results. All of this took just a few minutes of my time not counting the drive to and from the field.

My setup on the E382 is as follows:

- Skywalker 168cm Airframe

- APM 2.0 with ArduPlane 2.4

- 3DR Telemetry Radios 915MHz

- Canon Powershot SX230 HS with CHDK

The camera is really what made this so quick.. with built in GPS all the images are geotagged automatically as they're taken. This mission was actually done to see if it could keep a GPS lock for the entire flight which it did. Having the images geotagged and processing them with DroneMapper returns files that can be analyzed (as in the image above) for things like the elevation profile of any path, the length of a path, the area of a field and so on. There are nice tutorials on how to get started with that in the DroneMapper FAQ.

Measuring the length of a trail

Measuring the area of low lying vegetation

Extracting the coordinates of a point of interest

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Comments

Drone Nerd March 27, 2013 at 10:19am

If you calculate number o shots * interval time = time to shutdown lens. It's more simple.

So,if I understand correctly, the script you are using allows you to put in a start delay where you specify when you want the intervalometer to begin and then when you are done capturing photos you can use a switch on your RC tx to shutdown the camera?
Jeff Taylor March 24, 2013 at 11:24am

Hey Brendan, sure - check out the TvEvent38.bas file linked at this page:

http://event38.wikispaces.com/E382+Setup+Guide

I've tested it and it does work well on the SX260!
Jeff Taylor March 9, 2013 at 1:49pm

Morgan, There is a tool in the Mission Planner software which helps you pick the appropriate flight line widths based on those criteria. It's in the Flight Planner tab.. right click on the map, and navigate to Map Tool -> Camera.
Jeff Taylor February 11, 2013 at 3:28pm

Yes I use CHDK on the A2200. The A2300 CHDK page is here.
Bjarni February 11, 2013 at 12:52pm

when using powershot A2200 do you use the CHDK firmware? just asking because I have got Canon Powershot A2300 and I can not find a CHDK firmware for it (nor the A2200), do you know if there is a CHDK firmware for A2300? is there a firmware for A2200?
Kenneth Beason December 19, 2012 at 4:11pm

Thanks for the help, i'll go back to isolating vibrations
Jeff Taylor December 19, 2012 at 2:25pm

The blur problems I've had have been with motor vibrations only, not focusing too close.
Kenneth Beason December 19, 2012 at 2:21pm

your not setting focus to infinity, just auto mode? I've tried to set the focus to infinity but it resets after each shot
Jeff Taylor December 19, 2012 at 2:20pm

Nothing special in terms of exposure usually. You can lock it at a faster shutter speed which may help. I think it all comes down to proximity to motor and propeller balance though.

By the way my CHDK script is available for download if you want to reference it or use it. It's just based off of the standard intervalometer script with some modifications by Alan Sanchez and me.
Kenneth Beason December 19, 2012 at 2:16pm

What settings are you using on the sx230? I did my first run with it and nearly all the photos are out of focus.

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