Orthophotos with Inspire 1

[IrishSights]

I'm going out this morning (3 hours from now) to do 2 test orthos taken on the same flight. One using a Sony A6000 on time lapse using Dronedeploy for the flight. I can't seem to upload images from the DD desktop it just fails at around 80% upload for each image so I'll use Photoscan Pro to create the orthos.

Aim is to compare quality, flight time with extra payload, Sony/Inspire cross-georefing possibilities and FOV.

As the files are huge I'll post a temp link to my OwnCloud.

 

[m00se]

I'm going out this morning (3 hours from now) to do 2 test orthos taken on the same flight. One using a Sony A6000 on time lapse using Dronedeploy for the flight. I can't seem to upload images from the DD desktop it just fails at around 80% upload for each image so I'll use Photoscan Pro to create the orthos.

Aim is to compare quality, flight time with extra payload, Sony/Inspire cross-georefing possibilities and FOV.

As the files are huge I'll post a temp link to my OwnCloud.

exciting stuff, I am interested in the flight time with the a6000 and stability.... I already know more or less the results to expect,
I am thinking about a way to geotag the photos on the sony, so far Im stumped, I could get an arduino, GPS, SD reader and an IR LED and make up a board to get the job done, but that would also addweight.

im especially interested to know how the drone handles the new center of gravity.

 

[IrishSights]

exciting stuff, I am interested in the flight time with the a6000 and stability.... I already know more or less the results to expect,
I am thinking about a way to geotag the photos on the sony, so far Im stumped, I could get an arduino, GPS, SD reader and an IR LED and make up a board to get the job done, but that would also addweight.

im especially interested to know how the drone handles the new center of gravity.

Yeah, interesting. In Photoscan pro I can export the georefed data from the Inspire. When I create a new ortho using the Sony I can use the time stamp to import the exported file from the Inspires images.

Generally georefing this way has an accuracy of the Inspires GPS which is 2.5m. Even using known points on the ground as Ground Control Points that can come down to around .5m or less depending on the resolution of the base map. I use the georeferencing plugin in QGIS for that.

 

[m00se]

Yeah, interesting. In Photoscan pro I can export the georefed data from the Inspire. When I create a new ortho using the Sony I can use the time stamp to import the exported file from the Inspires images.

Generally georefing this way has an accuracy of the Inspires GPS which is 2.5m. Even using known points on the ground as Ground Control Points that can come down to around .5m or less depending on the resolution of the base map. I use the georeferencing plugin in QGIS for that.

I will use GCP most of the time anyway. What accuracy does the sony time stamp give? I had a look into that and it didnt seem accurate enough.... maybe I looked in the wrong place.

will the inspire be taking photos at the same time as the sony? I dont really understand where you get any relevance to the position of the sony on time lapse from the I1 files

 

[IrishSights]

I will use GCP most of the time anyway. What accuracy does the sony time stamp give? I had a look into that and it didnt seem accurate enough.... maybe I looked in the wrong place.

will the inspire be taking photos at the same time as the sony? I dont really understand where you get any relevance to the position of the sony on time lapse from the I1 files

It's an often advocated technique to use the date and time to sync the long/lat. I used to do it on my P2 syncing the flytrex data with the unreference GoPro images using the date/time stamp in the GoPro EXIF data. You are right GCP are a way better way to go. I'm interested in the accuracy of the Inspires long/lat as it uses GPS and Glonas. Just curious really.

As the date time is the common factor between the 2 the long/lat from the Inspires EXIF can be added to the Sony EXIF as the positions will be the same.

 

[m00se]

The Sony EXIF only gives a time that states the hour and minute of capture though right?
unless im missing something im not sure how you can georeference an event when you only have minute accurate time stamps.

The MD4-1000 I use creates an excel file with all the data for each camera trigger given. When flying at 5m/s even half a second error on the georeferencing will be a problematically high number.
how do you know if the internal clock of the sony and inspire are within half a second of each other?

 

[IrishSights]

The Sony EXIF only gives a time that states the hour and minute of capture though right?
unless im missing something im not sure how you can georeference an event when you only have minute accurate time stamps.

The MD4-1000 I use creates an excel file with all the data for each camera trigger given. When flying at 5m/s even half a second error on the georeferencing will be a problematically high number.
how do you know if the internal clock of the sony and inspire are within half a second of each other?

No, the Sony exif is to the second. The setting is to the minute but data recording is to the second. The Sony clock and the iPad clock can be synced. But to be honest I just don't like the flakiness of georeferencing this way as I said, just curious as to what can be done so I'm not going to be spending much time on it. For quick and dirty geotiffs for a layer in QGIS they might be ok for some purposes. I only occasionally get access to RTK GPS so known points as GCP works for most of my purposes.

Packing up now to go for a test flight.

 

[m00se]

Packing up now to go for a test flight.

good luck.

where do I see the second timing on the sony exif? that would help greatly for those odd moments when the camera double triggers.

 

[IrishSights]

good luck.

where do I see the second timing on the sony exif? that would help greatly for those odd moments when the camera double triggers.

In the exif file itself the data shows to the second.

 

[IrishSights]

First flight with the Sony A6000 went well just testing stability. Landed a couple of times to check the fittings so no overall idea of how much less the flight time would be.

DD mission also went well taking timelapse on the Sony and DD doing its stuff. I'll post video and orthos for comparison later as I gotta go out. Onwards...

 

[IrishSights]

Here is a short 60 seconder rough and ready clip demonstrating the stability of the Inspire carrying a Sony A6000

 

[IrishSights]

The Inspire/Sony comparison orthos will have to be another day sadly. I botched the settings in the Sonys timelapse. Doh

 

[m00se]

doh indeed... it looks pretty good though, it can definately handle the weight,
next time you fly it can you do a full up and full down on the throttle test? If you feel safe to do so... that would give an idea of the power left when flying that payload.... leave more time to stop after full throttle down though.

looks like a sucessful maiden though, good work

 

[m00se]

do you have access to a 3d printer?

 

[IrishSights]

Me? I don't own one but my bro has access to the uni engineering one.

 

[m00se]

Me? I don't own one but my bro has access to the uni engineering one.

Im playing around with a camera mount to put the a6000 on the I1. Maybe when its done I can send you the files to have a play with

 

[CaptainBadge]

I flew with the NDVI cam for the Inspire this afternoon. Exciting stuff. Ortho came out stitched well. The DSM was corrupt though.

 

[m00se]

is that the modified inspire camera? Would I be able to get a copy of the data set to play around with?

 

[CaptainBadge]

Yes it is. I will try and PM you the data set.

 

[m00se]

Yes it is. I will try and PM you the data set.

brilliant, I have been looking at that camera. It would be great to be able to mess around with some data before spending 1200 usd to see how it works