Mr17Hz 1 #1 January 23, 2005 I'm curious if anybody's ever heard of a product that allows tracking and video photography from the ground. I was thinking about different technology offered today and determined that it's becoming reasonable to develop a product that might allow this. A GPS/Altimeter device that a skydiver could strap to his belt or harness could send real-time location information to a telescope on the ground. That telescope could use this information, as well as real-time imaging software to track skydivers from the second they leave the plane to when they land – keeping the telescope focused and centered on them the whole way down. This could offer a very unique point of view for photography. A quick estimate would put development and research between $10-18K, production costs could be around $2-2.5k per setup… Does this sound like a product that could be marketable at ~$4K for a complete package that could provide a ground perspective video from before a diver jumps to when he lands? I’ve done video processing software before although not quite this real-time; I’m seriously thinking about asking some friends in various industries what it would take to put a product like this together to determine if my cost estimates are accurate. Any comments?Matt Christenson [email protected] http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
LouDiamond 1 #2 January 23, 2005 There is already something like that minus the GPS. Style judges have been using a telescope/camera set up hooked to video for ages. As long as the camera guy knows the jump run he can set up and follow the plane so GPS wouldn't help that much unless we are talking about a remote unmanned setup."It's just skydiving..additional drama is not required" Some people dream about flying, I live my dream SKYMONKEY PUBLISHING Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ltdiver 3 #3 January 24, 2005 Before Air-to-Air video came of age, skydiving used a device called a telemeter. Ground-to-Air viewing for judges. See pic below. ltdiver Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
diablopilot 2 #4 January 24, 2005 These guys make probably one of the best systems in the world...... http://www.l-and-b.dk/gtavideo.html---------------------------------------------- You're not as good as you think you are. Seriously. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #5 January 24, 2005 Manually pointed, ground-based telemeters are still used for Style. As for something automatic, it would be far less expensive, IMO, to create something that would optically track the image based on contrast differences. The issues becomes -which- object is going to be tracked and how to track the skydivers exiting the aircraft. In 1988 I had the oportunity to "drive" one of the ground based and highly accurate telemeters used by NASA to track rockets. It had two modes; auto and manual. The auto mode does exactly what you'd think it does but had difficulty with background clutter. IR sensors could easily fix that today. What might be an "interesting" idea would be to fix a reflector on to the skydiver and use a low level IR laser in a feedback loop. Aquire the aircraft target manually, then on exit switch over to auto. I -don't- think GPS is the way to go.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mr17Hz 1 #6 January 24, 2005 Thanks for all of the feedback. I've put thought into tracking software as well - I've made some inquires to Matrox to see how real-time their real-time processing techniques work with video. I've used their Imaging library to analyze still images before and it's an impressive suite. I do want to mention that the core GPS chipset that would be used to collect gps information runs for under $30 when purchasing singles, cheaper in groups... a complete package that gathered gps and altitude could probably be produced for around $200... This would give the device an idea of which object to be pointing at - and tracking software could further smooth, center, and focus the shot - making the operation completely hands-off. Using an IR laser would be bad news - although the human eye can't detect IR light - it can still be damaged by it. A very bright floodlight might work - if it would still be noticeable at 10,000 and reflected back another 10,000 feet... but I think you'd see an awful lot of dispersion at that altitude. You would also need reflectors on just about every side of the skydiver’s body – as you can’t predict what position he’ll be in. I imagine that heat imaging might be a solution too; but I’ve never worked with this technology before so I can’t come up with any estimates or project drafts.Matt Christenson [email protected] http://www.RealDropzone.com - A new breed of dropzone manifest software. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazetailman 0 #7 January 25, 2005 Count me out as a test subject with you guys. I don't want to be fried, baked or blasted with radiation. Hell I would be miffed if you guys gave me a bad sunburn. The last thing I would want to hear from you guys would be "ooops. That didn't work but let's try the smaller laser." But good luck......www.canopyflightcenter.com www.skydivesac.com www.guanofreefly.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
quade 3 #8 January 25, 2005 Pete . . . you -start- with the smallest laser. Not any more powerful than the typical laser pointer. Even though it's a laser it will still be dispersed and attenuated by the time it gets near you in flight. The "other" option I came up with was using IR glow sticks, but since that would be a fairly expensive consumable . . . I thought a cheap IR laser would be better. Anyway and in any case, it's probably not a viable project anyway because of the initial costs.quade - The World's Most Boring Skydiver Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
blazetailman 0 #9 January 25, 2005 Skydivers rarely start conservative.www.canopyflightcenter.com www.skydivesac.com www.guanofreefly.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
