Sketch of Drone designed by group member Isabel Yun
Have you ever written a list of things you need from the grocery store and then triple checked it because it felt like you were forgetting something? After the third round through your refrigerator and pantry, you finally cave to the facts that you just don’t need as much as you thought. That’s what it was like for our team planning our Bill of Materials. You’d think for such a large project we’d need to purchase multiple tools and materials but the truth is we already have many of the materials. We already have our UAV which will be doing the flying, a remote to control the flight of the UAV, and tools to finish building the rest of the vehicle are very basic and provided by JMU.
All that is left to acquire are the camera, the gimbal, and the software. We are looking into using a GoPro with a fixed lens so we can best gather accurate, clear photos. Next we will be gathering a gimbal which is a mount for the GoPro on the UAV. We need the gimbal specifically because it will allow a range of motions while keeping the camera steady and accurate. We can either make this or purchase one on Amazon for a decent price. Lastly, we will need the Photogrammetry software. This software will allow us to develop our photos into the 3D data.
By: Katrina Aducci