Design and Fabrication of Mount Plate for Integration of Multiple Cameras in UAV Using 3D Printing and Traditional Manufacturing Method

In this project, custom mount plates were designed and fabricated to secure cameras to unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for data collection. An engineering design approach was followed to design the mount plates. Two types of mount plate were fabricated using different methods. One mount plate was cut from G10 fiberglass sheets following a traditional subtractive manufacturing process while the other one was made from 3D printing with polylactic acid (PLA). The two manufacture methods were compared in terms of manufacturing cost, time, and simplicity. Performance of these two plates including compatibility, weight, and strength were also discussed. Results of this project will facilitate researcher’s decision making for choosing the appropriate approach to make such apparatus. 

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer a unique perspective in that they operate and view the world from a high vantage point, giving them the ability to collect information on a large expanse of area all at once. This equipment has been used widely for wildlife and environmental modeling, natural disaster relief efforts, agricultural studies and other applications . The Sensor Analysis and Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL) at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) of Mississippi State University (MSU) is trying to incorporate additional sensors with UAVs to achieve greater data collection capabilities. However, expanding the scope of possible data collection by integrating additional sensors on the pre-existing UAVs requires auxiliary components. 

SAIL experiments often have two or more sensors used simultaneously for data collection and image comparison. The current iteration of this research has an ICI MWIR Mirage thermal camera and a FLIR ADK thermal camera secured to a UAV with a Gremsy gimbal to collect data via the cameras. Since the gimbal was not designed to carry these specific sensors, so custom mount plates are needed to secure the cameras to the gimbal.   

In this study, a mount plate was designed to secure both thermal cameras to the gimbal of the UAV. Two versions of the designed plate were fabricated using two methods with two different materials. One plate was made by cutting from G10 fiberglass sheets, following a traditional subtractive manufacturing approach. The other plate was made from 3D printing with polylactic acid (PLA), via an additive manufacturing approach. Both methods had been used in previous mount fabrication in the lab. One goal of this study is to compare the effects of manufacturing methods and material properties on the performance of mounting plate so as to provide guidelines for researchers to choose appropriate methods for manufacturing mounting systems. Figs. 1 to 4 show the thermal cameras, gimbal, and the UAV used for this study. The goal of this design is to combine those components together so that they can operate as one cohesive system.