Thermal camera on a drone

[hurunge1]

I have a dji mini 3.

Just saw a thermal camera made for phones and started to wonder if its possible to put the camera on thr drone?

I guess i would need a battery a and connect the camera to something that can send the video signal to my hand controller.

Anyone knows what I would need?

The thermal camera i was thinking och its the infiray t2 pro.
Seams like a great camera and its possible to detect animal over quite a big distance.

 

[mavic3usa]

Unfortunately putting a thermal camera on a drone similar to those found in quite a few mobile phone today is nothing less than gimmicky and would not have any professional application. Serious drones already have thermal camera options and while they are not cheap they are readily available and they work quite well. Pretty much any consumer level drone can use a camera mount which you can affix all sorts of equipment including those cheap thermal cameras but there's a reason why it isn't very popular.

 

[chadCO]

Using the FlirOne on a galaxy Note 8, I built a frame that would hold the phone and flir in front of the drones camera so you could see on the video feed what was on the camera. It actually worked... but like mavic3usa says, it was gimicky and was a pain to align and setup. I waited until the thermal camera was released and bought that.

 

[hornj]

https://support.dronesmadeeasy.com/hc/en-us/articles/8160429529876-Installation

Try this.

 

[hornj]

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I thinking about putting one of these on mine just for turds and giggles…..

 

[AMann]

It would be a much better quality image and more affordable than adding a comparable camera with a video transmission system to purchase a used drone with a thermal IR camera already installed.

But if that’s not the route you want to go, maybe try looking for a small thermal IR outdoor security camera that has WiFi built in? Most of those are not thermal IR though- just standard IR with built-in IR LED lights for illumination.

Another option is getting a small video transmitter to go with a thermal IR camera- something like this if it fits and doesn’t interfere with your drone or is too heavy: video transmission system

 

[hornj]

Yeah, I am in agreement with most of you, it will be bulky. It will be heavy. It won’t be near as good and you’re not gonna have any ability to keep a signal to it. It’s just gonna be too bad too much I think.

 

[hornj]

I’ve been thinking about the same thing with a light pod since LEDs have gone so far in the last 10 years.

 

[hornj]

And since I mentioned it, what’s everyone else’s thoughts about a light pod for a spotlight?

 

[High_Order1]

I dunno.
I've been thinking about it for awhile now.

I believe one of the ones that attach to a smartphone, with an adapter to a FPV video transmitter has some merit.

I've built a mount for a 2s for a small flashlight. Cheaper than the pods they sell now, and you have a usable flashlight when you're not flying.

Not sure how usable it will be... yet, haven't really been pressing the issue.

 

[JoeShmoe]

My best set up was flying CAT S62 phone camera-down on the back of Mavic 3, with AnyDesk to control the phone remotely. Phone is mounted not compleletly flat, but at some slight angle, like tilted about 20 degrees, to get a 50/50 top/sideways view. The trick to get best imagery was to attach the phone as firmly as possibly to the drone body, taking away any wiggle gap room.

 

[Flight259]

I dunno.
I've been thinking about it for awhile now.

I believe one of the ones that attach to a smartphone, with an adapter to a FPV video transmitter has some merit.

I've built a mount for a 2s for a small flashlight. Cheaper than the pods they sell now, and you have a usable flashlight when you're not flying.

Not sure how usable it will be... yet, haven't really been pressing the issue.

 

[Flight259]

I have been doing some research on thermal cameras for drones. I own a Mavic 4 Pro and would like to do an add-on of a Caddx Infra V2 Camera to it. The reason I would use the Mavic 4 is flight time, but adding weight would lessen that... One issue is the RFI may cause to the GPS. I looked and looked to see where DJI mounted the GPS on the Mavic 4, I still don't know, and I am not tearing it apart to find out.

The other thing you would need is a separate VTX and battery, plus a ground station. Maybe there is a way to hack another camera into the existing OS and see the Thermal screen on the RC2.

All above my head and acceptable risk level... I will repurpose old Phantom style drone guts on to a new frame and have a pure Thermal drone to see where all the **** coyotes are that take my mouse control systems, Cats!

 

[JoeShmoe]

I have been doing some research on thermal cameras for drones. I own a Mavic 4 Pro and would like to do an add-on of a Caddx Infra V2 Camera to it. The reason I would use the Mavic 4 is flight time, but adding weight would lessen that... One issue is the RFI may cause to the GPS. I looked and looked to see where DJI mounted the GPS on the Mavic 4, I still don't know, and I am not tearing it apart to find out.

The other thing you would need is a separate VTX and battery, plus a ground station. Maybe there is a way to hack another camera into the existing OS and see the Thermal screen on the RC2.

All above my head and acceptable risk level... I will repurpose old Phantom style drone guts on to a new frame and have a pure Thermal drone to see where all the **** coyotes are that take my mouse control systems, Cats!

Did that, albeit piggybacking on Mavic 3.
Caddx Infra 2 + VTX + LiPo battery + cheapy 5.8GHz fpv goggles. Camera is mounted at about 45 degress looking down.
Works great! GPS intereference does exist, mainly resulting in longer initial GPS lock wait. Total extra weigth is 110 g. Much better nighttime flying experience than Mavic 2 Dual with FLIR thermal camera. Next step is to add a gimbal. Even though Infra 2 camera has a generous field of view by itself, it is not quite sufficient to perform precision night time flying including take off and landing. So gimbal is much needed.

 

[High_Order1]

And that didn't affect flight stability any?

 

[JoeShmoe]

And that didn't affect flight stability any?

In C mode, its about same, smooth and stable. In N mode, drone is more agitated when transitioning from hover to flight, and v.v.
The key is to keep the c.g. as low as possible. I initially put vtx, battery, and infra cpu box stacked together, then spread them along the fuselage. The latter option behaved much better.