We are an Aussie based start up with a 20 year history in traditional aerial survey with both helicopter and fixed wing platforms. We are also a CASA licensed UAV operation with our own custom made products.
We would like to introduce our mapping quad called the Nullarbor (because its flat, Aussie humour) with an integrated 2 axis gimbal. We wanted a simple 25 min UAV that had the ability to easily pull the camera. We use a 6200 mah 4S and T motor/12 inch props combo. We like to use the French made Dropix or the Autoquad for this unit,
The product is made in ABS with both CNC and 3D printing along with carbon tubes etc. We are currently selling this model ready for your mapping missions. we designed this build over 12 months ago.
We have also designed our own controller based on a Spektrum 9 with RFDesign radios and our own custom battery charging system.
In case you were wondering.. Yes its all real..
and the controller
Comments
Mike T - using the Ricoh GRD 3 or 4
Peter Morris - Robust connectors!! yes plus the square form factor 45x45 holes .. quality HW as well AND cheaper for us in Aus to buy AUD/USD is crap.
very nice, especially the RFD Spektrum controller.
" We like to use the French made Dropix or the Autoquad for this unit, " makes me wonder what do you see as the advantages of the Dropix over a 3DR pixhawk? more robust connectors?
what camera is the gimbal for? is there any camera information?
Like it! You guys should totally power it via hydrogen! that would make it fly a lot longer and be much lighter.
D M Earl ll
Hi Survmatic,
Thank you for your response,
It confirms what I have been seeing (and saying) elsewhere, big props and slow motors are great for maximum efficiency and long flight times, but they definitely get blown around a lot more and can be a bit sluggish in response.
Bigger slower props also typically produce lower frequency, higher amplitude vibration, oscillation and corrections causing more problems for cameras and vibration mitigation techniques (which generally work better at higher frequency lower amplitude).
I think this problem shows up big time with the really big motor/prop quads in the 27" to 29" prop size and that is one reason we don't see more of them.
One of the things people often seem to lose site of that in a fixed physical medium (like air), scaling sizes and weights definitely does NOT result in identical behavior.
Sometimes this is referred to as the Lilliputian effect.
In the long run it's going to be a trade-off between the long flight times offered by bigger props and the maximum control-ability with reduced vibration amplitude offered by smaller props (or more smaller props).
However, I do think you would get some performance and endurance gains associated with shortening your support arms now that you no longer need them to be that long.
Best regards,
Gary
Glenn M - We don't.. the Autoquad is the best autopilot on the market with the DIMU upgrade, we use it on our Cinestar and filming but use the pixhawk dropix for all things mapping.. I have a project in play for a android app to handle the Autoquad and mapping but is currently on the backburner until we get some time.
How do you find planning and running mapping missions using Autoquad? As much as I love the way Autoquad flies I've found the GCS and android app to be terrible for mapping as it doesn't generate auto grids or offer anything even close to the planning functionality you get with APM/Pixhawk.
We can be contacted at disrupt@survmatic.com
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Adam Kroll
Great design, seeing such great work makes me proud to be an Aussie. I wish you guys all the success in the world.
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sorry mate - I deleted your comment above somehow.. cheers..
Acorn - We surround ourselves with the best of breed tech, we currently use the ricoh GRD IV camera and use the usual suspects in all things photogrammetry. We have produced our own Android app for photogrammetry and believe the Android/traditional camera manufacturer play is the future. We also have started working with the tango type tech and think a future in realtime data crunching the data on the mobile device is the way.
Pascal P > No other details coming out yet, we wanted to put it out there and let the world know things are happenin gin this country, the USD$ to the AUD$ is pretty crap at the moment so we are very Euro centric in our hardware play. For a US based company wanting to work with us makes cheap buying!
Gary McCray - Gimbals for mapping under a quad imo are a pita, we wanted to be able to drop the ship and pull the camera.. make it easy access.. your right about the arms! your looking at the prototype flying 15 inch props and long booms at that time but we found the flat design very disc like and getting shoved around in big wind, flew for a long time though!, once we went to the 12 inch tmotor combo we have not looked back..
Cheers..
Checkers > re 25 mins It is a bloody tough ask, in absolutely lab conditions with a light weight camera (talking gopro here), yar it will get to it. but in a real time scenario.. probably not.. We are still shaving weight off the airframe and think like most quads this size we are going to be happy around the 15 - 25 min mark.. Our Pilbara version (more conventional quad) in exactly the same motor prop config will do the 25 mins every time carrying a 3 axis gopro rig pictured below.
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