The DJI Matrice 100 is a quadcopter for developers. The drone allows developers to customize the flight platform using the DJI SDK. Today we attach the DJI Zenmuse X3 Gimbal, Camera and GPS to the airframe. Looky here:
Background
Gimbal and Camera
The Zenmuse X3 camera is a 1/2.3 CMOS sensor, 12.4 Megapixel camera that can takes 12 MP stills and 4K video, and record it to an onboard micro SD card. The Zenmuse X3 is mounted on a 3-Axis gimbal, which helps the camera to produce smooth and stable footage under many different flight conditions.
The camera has a 20mm focal length lens with a 94 degree FOV. The gimbal and camera are attached to the Matrice using a Gimball Installation Kit, which includes a mounting plate and the proper cables to connect the X3 to the airframe and flight controller. Note: The Manifold has supplemental cables used to attach the X3 to the Manifold, as shown in the above video.
For mounting the gimbal, this video provided useful instruction:
GPS System
In a previous video, one of the issues encountered is building the GPS system mast. Andrew Baker suggested using a two part epoxy to attach the mast to its associated parts. Thanks for the tip! The mount and antenna base was attached to the carbon fiber mast using a 2 part epoxy. Before applying the epoxy, each end of the mast was roughed up with sandpaper with the hope of creating a better joint. After assembly, the mast was set aside for 24 hours for the epoxy to cure. The mast assembly was mounted on the Matrice as seen in the first video on this page, and then the rest of the GPS system was installed and wired.
The GPS system was mounted using the instructions in this video:
In general, the videos produced by DJI have been very helpful in the assembly process. There are some differences in the Matrice model used in the video versus the one that is being assembled here (which is expected as production modifications happen), but for the most part putting the aircraft together has been straightforward.
Conclusion
This completes assembly of the aircraft. At this point it’s time to start work on the software installation and development. The embedded computer, the Tegra K1 based DJI Manifold, has been installed on the aircraft, so we’re ready to start development! Looky here:
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