Tidal Gimbal Assembly

Tidal Gimbal Assembly

Today the tidal team assembled our gimbal and GoPro 3 to our quadcopter. A gimbal is a mechanism that keeps an instrument like a camera horizontal and in a stable position while in motion. We need a gimbal because it is almost impossible to stabilize the camera long...
GIS Software for Flood Area Mapping

GIS Software for Flood Area Mapping

Today, the Tidal team had a meeting with our project adviser, George McLeod, who taught the team how to use specialized GIS (Geographic Information System) software to take images gathered from the quadcopter and stitch them together with GCPs (Ground Control Points)...
The Fire Rescue Team

The Fire Rescue Team

We are the land based fire rescue team at Old Dominion University. What does that mean? Our team is focused on designing a Unmanned Aerial Vehicle for the Carova Beach fire department in North Carolina. We are building a quadcopter that will be able to give fire...
Red Eagle Tested at Carova Beach

Red Eagle Tested at Carova Beach

Brian Duvall, Steven Machamer on the Land Rescue team, and professor Dr. Thomas Alberts drove down to Knotts Island to be picked up by the Carova, North Carolina fire department by boat to go to there fire house. The task for this trip was to intentionally fly in...
Building the SEA_RESCUE Drone: Day One

Building the SEA_RESCUE Drone: Day One

Our task is to build a drone that can fly out to sea up to 1/2 mile or so and inspect drifting ships and rafts to see if people are still on-board. Also, a secondary task, is to deliver a life preserver to someone caught in a RIP current. As a result certain aspects...