Strapping a NIR Camera onto the Inspire 1

I finally went and did it...strapped my near-infrared camera (NIR) onto our DJI Inspire 1. Here are some of the results from this quick test flight.

For those unfamiliar with NIR imaging, in Geography we primarily use the near-infrared portion of the spectrum to help us measure a multitude of things just beyond the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Some of the primary uses for NIR imaging are to measure vegetation types, vegetation health, and help differentiate different landuse/landcover types. Here's a NASA link to more information on NIR and another on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (results below).

Wired CHDK Trigger for Pole Photography

As some of you may know, I use occasionally use pole photography for my research. Getting the camera on the pole is the easy part (Pole Camera), the hard part is getting it to take pictures while it's up there.



I use almost entirely Canon cameras and CHDK is such a wonderful add-on to the smaller cameras I use. One key thing CHDK allows you to do is use the USB port on the camera to trigger the camera. This post is a rehash of the basic remote trigger that CHDK has on their site (http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/USB_Remote), but I thought I'd post my design if you're interested in building your own.