The U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory recently obtained a hexacopter to aid in its data collection efforts. The hexacopter is a DJI S800, six propeller craft with a 25 minute flight time and a maximum in-flight carrying capacity of 12 pounds.
The hexacopter controller has GPS and an internal motion unit for in-flight tracking and preplanned flight paths, and for correction of point cloud images to real world coordinates. The hexacopter can also be actively controlled using a remote radio connection. With the addition of a 180-degree gyro mounted beneath the body, the Panasonic Lumix GH2 camera is able to record motion compensated videos and still frames. Additionally, a GoPro transmitter is mounted beneath the gyro for sending a live feed to a video unit for a First Person View.
The addition of the DJI S800 has increased the Field Data Collection Branch's ability to collect image data from remote (safe) locations. Photo data of this type is processed using photogrammetric techniques to produce 3D point clouds of objects or scenes. In July, AutoCAD will be joining the Field Data Collection Branch in a collaborative effort to create a scene of the Steel Bayou Structure on the Yazoo River using aerial photography collected from multiple unmanned aerial vehicles.