This video was acquired by a small quadcopter (DJI Vision+) during a TERN AusCover field campaign (2 – 6 Feb 2015) in the old growth forest of southern Tasmania. The footage is of the Warra flux tower, which towers at 80 m over a 50-60 m tall canopy of wet eucalyptus forest. The data was collected as part of an airborne hyperspectral campaign and field campaign to measure forest properties. See the following link this TERN media release for more information.
We developed a gimbal stabilisation system for the Headwall Photonics micro-Hyperspec. This brushless gimbal actively stabilises the pushbroom scanner to achieve smoother image acquisition. We also re-designed the CameraLink data recording system, and integrated the micro-Hyperspec with a dual frequency GPS unit, MEMS-based IMU, and machine vision camera (all sensors synchronised). The video below demonstrates the stabilisation of the gimbal. The wires need to be loose to reduce the resistance on the gimbal.
The original HyperUAS system is described in our publication here: Lucieer, A., Malenovsky, Z., Veness, T., Wallace, L. (2014). HyperUAS – Imaging spectroscopy from a multi-rotor unmanned aircraft system. Journal of Field Robotics, 31(4): 571-590. doi:10.1002/rob.21508 | Download PDF
The system shown in the video aims to overcome some of the limitations of the HyperUAS setup.
Late last year, we tested the Devourer D130, an X8 mega-quad with 28″ props. Very successful test with a 3 kg dummy payload, getting good flight times of 20+ minutes. This platform will be used for our heavier sensors, such as the micro-Hyperspec and LiDAR.
This is a first test flight of the DJI S1000 at the University farm. The video was taken by Dr Guy William flying a DJI Phantom2 Vision+. The S1000 was flown by Darren Turner.
In August, we performed a test with an X8 flying wing and Pixhawk autopilot. We wanted to test a new bungee launch system and ran three machine vision cameras capturing multispectral information (each camera captured a different spectral wavelength). Some of the video footage was shot from a DJI Phantom2 Vision+ flown by Dr Guy Willians. The X8 was flown by Darren Turner.