Ted Hench Imaging

Objectives  Determine target locations to within 50 feet Targets are all unique, but similar Large area to search Limited time  How are we going to do this?

Image of plane flying Live Video

Image of camera being controlled Control

Image of picture being taken Storage

Retrieval

Analysis

Why are we doing things this way?  Low Cost  Feasibility Isolated aircraft subsystem Itself composed of isolated subsystems

Why do we need to analyze pictures on the ground?

Alternatives to human analysis?  Computer Image Recognition Extremely Hard to implement Unreliable Weight and Cost of Computer

Why are we waiting for the plane to land get our images back?

Alternatives to Image Storage  Transmitting Images Back The digital radios (modems) are too slow ○ Also unreliable Wi-Fi links are expensive ○ Require a network-able computer or camera ○ Even less reliable

Why do we need to store digital images?

Analog video transmission has limited resolution

Image of plane flying Why should the aircraft transmit live video then? What does it require?

Alternatives to Video Transmission  Pattern Recognition ( Cueing ) Hard to implement Unreliable  Take Constant Pictures Takes time to sift through Team doesn’t have much to do while the plane is airborne anyway ○ Can try to identify targets

What Does Transmission Require?  Not Much Radio ○ Small ○ Inexpensive Camera ○ Re-using digital camera Power ○ Shared with other devices 100 grams of additional lift

Why is a pivoting camera necessary? What does it require?

Area Viewed vs. Resolution  How do we cover more ground? Fly higher or use a lens with a wider field of view ○ Targets represented by fewer pixels - harder to identify Flying faster ○ Images are blurred ○ Constraints on aircraft design

Alternatives to manual control?  Fixed Camera Position Area being photographed depends on the plane’s orientation Requires that the aircraft sweep the area ○ Takes time  Pattern Recognition and Tracking Hard to implement Unreliable

What Does Manual Control Require?  Servos for panning  Gimbal or mounting that allows for 1-2 axes of rotation  System/Radio for controlling the servos Direct RC controller Controlled by onboard processor  Minimal cost and weight regardless

What We’ve Done This Semester  Video/analog radios picked out  Control servos and camera with a microcontroller or RC controller  Can sample aircraft orientation and transmit to base for use with images  Calculate the GPS location of object given camera orientation and location of object in picture

What’s yet to be done  Control servos via digital communication Requires fewer servos Can more accurately determine camera orientation  Store sensor data onboard Frees up one radio  Create a proper mount for the camera

Questions?

Gimbaled Camera