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In order to obtain accurate images from a moving vehicle and reduce the amount of distortion caused by changing fields of view (FOV), an active camera gimbal was designed to maintain the camera's FOV orthogonal to the ground. This was made well before commercial versions were readily available at the low weights required for use on quadcopters. The gimbal consists of four 3D printed parts. The first is a mount that connects the gimbal to the quadricopter frame. The second is a u-shaped bracket that provides the pivot for the rolling motion of the camera. The third is a ring-shaped bracket that provides the pivot axis for the pitching motion of the camera. The final component is a case that houses and protects the lens of the camera in case of impact.
GoPro Camera Gimbal
Project: Quadcopter for Environmental Monitoring
(Master’s Thesis)
Timeline: 1 year (Jan. 2013 – Jan. 2014)
# of participants: 1 Person
Project Goals:
-
Stable, straight flight at low altitudes
-
20+ minutes of flight time
-
Remote Controlled (autonomy desired)
-
Downward facing camera for high-speed image collection
-
Low cost and Portable
The gimbals function was designed to be controlled separately from the quadcopter and was fitted with an "ALEXMOS"-type Brushless Gimbal Controller (BGC) & a 2-axis IMU. Only two controllable axes are required for this project as the images can be easily transformed about the yaw axis in post-processing through the use of fixed objects with the image.
GoPro Camera Gimbal
Project: Quadcopter for Environmental Monitoring
(Master’s Thesis)
Timeline: 1 year (Jan. 2013 – Jan. 2014)
# of participants: 1 Person
Project Goals:
-
Stable, straight flight at low altitudes
-
20+ minutes of flight time
-
Remote Controlled (autonomy desired)
-
Downward facing camera for high-speed image collection
-
Low cost and Portable
Figure 1. CAD Model ISO view with component callouts
Figure 3. CAD Model Front view with component callouts
Figure 2. Detailed Exploded view of the GoPro camera case
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