(July 13, 2015) TU
Wien and the company Dynamic Perspective develop an advanced camera suspension
system, actively controlled to deliver pin sharp videos from dynamic aerial
viewpoints.
A shake-free video stream from inside a roller coaster -
sounds unbelievable. That's an easy one for the new TV camera suspension system
jointly developed by TU Wien and Dynamic Perspective. A camera gimbal featuring
five rotational axes and high-performance control technology stabilizes the
camera's line-of-sight accurately and dynamically, enabling best pictures even
from light-weight remote-controlled aircraft. For live TV sports broadcasting
and film production tasks, this technology opens up entirely new possibilities.
Clever, not heavy
"The simplest way to reduce shakiness in videos is to
use a heavy camera system", Alexander Schirrer of the institute of
mechanics and mechatronics of TU Wien says. A heavy camera system reacts so
slowly that vibrations cannot produce significant image distortion. Weight must
be minimized, however, if the camera system should be mounted on lightweight
aircraft. The novel gimbal system weighs about 20kg including camera payload -
a feasible load also for small aircraft, compared to up to a hundred kilograms
of similar systems on the market.
TU Wien and Dynamic Perspective have researched and
developed a novel high-performance control system for active camera gimbal
stabilization for two years. A special cardanic suspension, the gimbal, has
been developed. To arbitrarily rotate a camera in space, three rotational axes
would suffice. Two more axes have been added to improve precision and
responsiveness of the system's dynamics to boost the final pointing accuracy.