The DIY spy-in-the-sky: From kites to octocopters Last week, we offered a brief history of aerial surveillance, with a promise to give a few pointers to the budding DIY spy-in-the-sky. Interest in airborne photography has skyrocketed in the past few years, driven by the availability of lightweight cameras packing plenty of pixels at bargain basement prices. Such kit allows …
I suspect predictable range is the problem with the AR Drone. You're controlling it with WiFi, so assuming absolutely no interference then 100m max. In an urban environment, using an iPhone to drive it will give you a range more like 30m.
I've had 2 AR drones. The first one was going great then I took off the altitude limiter; it disappeared into the clouds and came back down a couple of minutes later completely out of control. Shouldn't have happened according to Parrot (it's supposed to hang around if it loses the WiFi signal) but in any case it was wrecked.
The second one was fine, and I took some great aerial photos of my house with it, but was far too nervous after losing the first one to let it get more than about 20m from me including vertical.
Did learn something interesting about Parrot's guarantee though; when the first one was destroyed Parrot refused to honour the warranty as it was crash damaged. My argument was that it crashed BECAUSE it lost control and was therefore broken under warranty - but this carried no weight with them. Given that 99% of AR Drones will have been crash damaged at some time in their lives, I wonder if Parrot have ever had to pay out on a warranty claim??
These days when I buy a helicopter or quad I tend to assume it has no warranty the minute I fly it for the first time. Ultimately gives me less heartburn.
Quadcopters, hexcopters and octocopters. Make brillaint camera platforms partly due to their excess thrust left over from using brushless motors.
Yes you can buy off the shelf or better still if you like playing with a soldering iron, make your own. I built my first using a small square of laminate flooring for the center plate and two lengths of 10mm square alloy tubing bought form B&Q. The control board can be pruchased for under 30 quid, add 4 speeed controlers, 4 props, 4 motors, transmitter and recieiver and have the whole lot ready to fly for under £200. Capable of lifting an SLR, I use mine with a Go-Pro as it's more durable when I crash.
Advise you get insureance by joining the BMFA for £30 per year but not sure how you would be covered flying in a built up area. Most model flyers have airfields or farmers fields to fly safe and uninterupted.
Its an interesting area and allows you to mess with Atmel, Arduino and other simple electronics. Just search for "Multiwii" or "kkmulticopter" on the internet to get a taste of what you can do with no more experience than mecanno.
If you reaaly want to see how well they fly in sport mode then search our "warthox" in vimeo.com That guy really can these things to the limit.
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There are some great ones available straight out of the box - seen both a fixed wing and rotor for less than £100. Still think the Lego one is the bee's knees.
I can understand wanting to restrict these devices in built up areas, apart from the privacy issue, I would not want one dropping on my head when some numpty loses control of it. But outside of built-up/urban areas I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed.
Def on my xmas list either to buy or build at some point.
AVOID the GoPro Hero cameras UNLESS you want pictures featuring condensation on the lens!
The heat from the camera causes condensation to form on the lens insert - even in locations as hot at SaiGon or as cold as Kapuscasing, Ontario, which effectively renders images unviewable.
If you must use a GoPro I suggest you use the waterproof case with a couple of vent holes stuffed with some breathable material. The holes should be at the lowest point of the case.
My employer has had eleven GoPro units for the past couple of years and there are now superior units available under the names of Sony, Liquid Image, ION Air Pro, Vio POV.HD, etc. Choose carefully and test at low temperatures! Unfortunately GoPro support is not good.
You should also choose SD memory carefully, GoPro doesn't function properly with many brands of SD memory.
...and yet there are a great deal of videos and still photos out there, publically accessible, taken using gopros and condensation free. I've seen some recently from places as hot as the Sinai peninsula in summer and as cold as Niseko in the winter. Funny old world, isn't it?
@EddieD
So GoPro finally admits it has a problem?
Of all the POV cameras I have used only the GoPro exhibited these problems.
Even the Oregon Scientific unit was better, and it used standard batteries, but it's problem was it it was unserviceable - simply dump and buy another.
@Lester Haines
The 'skeleton' back is useless in heavy rain as there are too many large openings.
And, when the water has entered, quite a bit has to accumulate before it overcomes the internal lip of the rare cover of the case. Only if you are taking pictures of clouds, with the camera tilted skywards, will these holes permit moisture to exit the case.
And, given the condensation is between the lens of the camera insert and that of the external lens, it is extremely hard even to permit a 'draft' to equalise the moisture.
Riding in the desert hardly equates with the extremes of space.
How long are these video's and what cover were they using? If you use a 8 or 16-gigabyte chip, which obviates case opening they will mist but ONLY over the lens.
I used two GoPro's, daily, for years and they both suffered from the same effect. The humidity comes from within the camera.
I am currently building an Android based quad copter.I got one of those really cheap Android Mini-PC's off Ebay, they only cost £40, and hooked it up to a Phidget.
With a combination like this, you can pretty much do anything, but for my purposes it will just allow control over the copter itself.
I preferred this over an Arduino based machine, Android gives you everything you need in one package. My inspiration for this was the recent article on launching an Android smartphone based satellite into space.
I gather that keeping Spitfires flying supports a component manufacturing industry which can supply all the parts you need to build your own Spitfire. So for DIY spy-in-sky stuff, go for the Spitfire PR Mk XIX. Not only do you get good pictures, you get to fly a Spitfire.
Nothing else comes close.
Yup, heritage flights Spit is a beautiful plane The Lanc makes me look for a Acht-Acht but that is family tradition, where I come from they find RAF/USAAF "zum schiessen"
As an alternative you can get a brand new replica "Butcherbird" FW190. Since reece is done low this is saiid to be even better. Sadly they have not yet done a "Longnose" but the A-version I had the pleasure to see looks great.
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