Development of an independent UAV payload electronics for real-time capable direct georeferencing of camera images involving gimbal orientation data

Abstract

During pasture mowing in spring, an estimated 100,000 fawns are killed by agricultural machinery in Germany. The reason for this is the lack of the well-known escape reflex of the animals lying in the high grass. In order to find the fawns before the mowing, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) equipped an UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) with various sensors and a camera system. The present masters thesis focuses first on the evaluation of the actual recording time of the images as well as the triggering of those. Subsequently, a method for merging the available data from the GPS of the UAV and the orientation data of the payload-mounted camera with the images is developed. In the further course, a universally applicable data logger will be developed, which is independent of the UAV and carries a GPS receiver, inertial measurement unit as well as further sensors on board. An analysis of the requirements of the sensors and possibilities for improvements compared to the previous system describes another section of this thesis. The knowledge gained was used to create a customized printed circuit board meeting those requirements. Finally all of the available new components on the board were then subjected to extensive testing. With the completion of this thesis, a fully functional and tested version of the data logger board is available.