Ground Rules

Ground Rules

For these 3 projects, my intent is to reuse the hardware in different configurations and build things as opposed to buying wherever possible. I don't have a set budget, and I will use things on-hand when it makes sense. This is not intended to be an instructable. I will try to do things as safely as possible and try to point out risks.

Speaking of risks, the first one is that the first project - lofting a pi for aerial photography might be a disaster and jeopardize the subsequent projects. I plan to test out the air-lift system with my old cell phone - a Palm Pre, that takes good video.

Adding Camera Module

All 3 of these projects make use of the pi camera, so I talk a little about it here. The camera is a 5 megapixel 1/4" CMOS sensor with fixed focus made by Omnivision, mounted to a small circuit board, and attaches to the pi (model A or B) via an included ribbon cable. It can produce stills up 2592 x 1944. It weighs just 3g and the dimensions of the module are 25mm x 20mm x 9mm (.98" x .79" x .35") - it is small!

Estimating Power Needs

I mentioned in my previous post that the Raspberry Pi Model A requires 1/3 the power of its sibling, but I did not quantify. The model uses about 0.65W per hour. But that is with no camera, no Wi-Fi, no motors or anything else. Every additional capability means considering power management.

For Sky Pi, I need to keep everything light, so it is the light-weight platform. For Pi Lapse, long duration use is needed, to it is my endurance athlete. Birdie Pi, is sort of the all-rounder and benefits from the design of the other two.

For now, I need to determine how much power the camera will draw when operating. According to the Raspberry Pi FAQ it uses 250mA. It runs off of 2.8V.