Wiris Pro Payload Hardware Overview

Learn more about the Astro aircraft here:

The Wiris Pro Payload consists of a Freefly gimbal and an integrated Wiris Pro camera. It is developed for use with Astro and other vehicles that are compatible with the Freefly Smart Dovetail and the Pixhawk Payload Bus standard. More information about how to interface this payload with another aircraft is available here:

Updating Astro and Herelink

Installing & Removing the payload from Astro:

To install the gimbal:

• Orient the gimbal under the aircraft so that it is facing forward and the Smart Dovetail is facing upwards.

• Slide the gimbal Smart Dovetail into the Isolated Dovetail receiver that is on the underside of the aircraft. Slide until you hear an audible click of the safety latch and the connector is fully seated.

• Close the dovetail locking lever until tight and the gimbal is secure.

To remove the gimbal:

• Open the dovetail locking lever so that it is loose.

• Hold the safety latch so that it is disengaged.

• Slide the gimbal dovetail towards the front of the aircraft to fully disengage from the Smart Dovetail Mount and remove the gimbal.

Swapping out the Wiris Foam Insert

We offer an option foam insert for the Astro hard case. It replaces the insert for the Mapping Payload, so you can store Astro with the Wiris Pro payload installed

• Start by removing the Mapping Payload insert. There is a velcro strip on the bottom of the foam

• Insert the Wiris Pro payload bottom foam. Note the orientation

• Install the upper piece of the foam around the gimbal from the front of Astro

Search and rescue

• The flight path of Astro is displayed with a red line on the map in AMC, which can be useful for looking at the area the aircraft has already covered

• Setting an isotherm to show colors between a specified temperature range can help with identifying areas of interest quicker

• Streaming live video from the aircraft to the Auterion Suite is possible with a strong LTE connection. Additional information on setting up LTE on Astro is here:

Inspections

• The Wiris Pro EO camera provides 1920x1080 images and 1280x720 video from a 1-10x zoom lens. When approaching an object of interest, we recommend keeping the aircraft a safe distance away and zooming in as much as needed to see the detail level required for inspections.

• When using Slow Speed Mode, camera tilt and pan are scaled with the zoom rate, so the control inputs become less sensitive the more zoomed the camera is.

Mapping

• The Wiris Pro Payload currently does not support mapping missions.

Tilt Control

The Wiris Pro payload has zoom rate scaling on tilt. This means that as the zoom level of the EO camera is increased, the tilt rate of the gimbal will be decreased to give more pointing control

Yaw/Pan Control

By default, yaw control of the aircraft is unaffected by the zoom level of the camera, however, zoom rate scaling can also be applied to yaw/pan through Slow Speed Mode.

For even more control, the global yaw rate of Astro can also be adjusted if desired. The default global yaw rate of Astro is 75 degrees/second.

• This can be adjusted by going to Advanced Mode (tap the Auterion logo in the upper left hand corner 7 times) --> Vehicle Setup --> Parameter --> MPC_MAN_Y_MAX. The units are in degrees/second.

Slow Speed Mode

Slow Speed mode is a togglable flight mode that affects the sensitivity of the aircraft's yaw when the camera is zoomed in.

• Slow Speed mode can be toggled on and off while in flight when Astro is in Position mode. It's active when the icon is lit up and you are viewing the EO video stream

  • Slow Speed mode will automatically deactivate when viewing the IR stream

  • Slow Speed mode is turned off by default

Weather

• While Astro can fly in the rain, the Wiris Pro camera does not offer any ingress protection, so we do not recommend flying in any precipitation.

• In cold temperatures:

  • We recommend allowing 3-5 minutes of warm-up time after powering on. This allows the IR sensor inside the Wiris Pro to reach a steady operating temperature for the most accurate temperature measurements. During the warmup time, the gimbal and camera will still work as normal, however the temperature data from the IR sensor may be less accurate.

  • Make sure your Astro batteries don't get too cold. More info can be found in this section of .

• The Wiris Pro Payload matches Astro's operational temperature range of -20C to +50C

Checks

• Check that the Wiris Pro Payload is secured in the Smart Dovetail mount and that the safety latch is closed.

• When you’re ready to fly, perform the standard preflight checks for Astro (found below).

Connecting to the Wiris Pro

Once you've installed the Wiris Pro Payload in the dovetail mount on Astro, power on the aircraft. Powering on the aircraft automatically powers on the gimbal and camera. It typically takes about 1 minute for the camera controls and video feed to appear in AMC.

Storage/Recording settings

• In AMC, select your media storage option. You can save to the internal Wiris SSD, a USB flash drive installed in the USB-C port on the Astro IO panel (on the bottom of the aircraft), or both.

  • The USB flash drive storage option is not fast enough to support video recording. Video can only be recorded to the SSD.

• Select different image/video capture options to save photos and videos from the EO camera, IR camera, or both.

Thermal camera

You can configure the thermal camera using the following settings in the Auterion Mission Control (AMC) app for Astro.

• IR Pallet - How temperatures are mapped to a color.

• Exposure Settings - these adjust the range of temperature values that can be measured, similar to shutter speed and dynamic range on a traditional camera.

  • Manual, incremental adjustments

  • Custom, specifying the min and max temperature

  • Auto

• Isotherm Modes

  • Isotherm ‘Alarm’ modes can be set to show a solid color when objects in the frame are within a temperature range. The options are Off, Below, Between, Outside, and Above.

  • We recommend using a grey IR pallet when using Isotherms for better clarity

• Video/Photo Settings

  • Video can be saved in two methods:

    • Thermal encoded - this outputs a 512x640px 30 frames per second .avi file that can natively be played in most video software. The IR pallet (color map) is baked into the image and cannot be changed later. Similarly, the temperature information of each pixel is not recorded. We recommend this mode when qualitative data is the most useful, such as looking for hotspots or searching for animals and people.

    • Radiometric - this outputs a .WSEQ file that can be opened in Workswell’s ThermoLab software. This consumes more storage but saves the temperature information of each frame. The IR pallet can be adjusted later and the temperature data of each pixel can be retrieved in post-processing. This is most useful when quantitative temperature measurements are needed.

• Photo Settings

  • Radiometric JPEG - 640 x 512 px

  • Radiometric TIFF - 640 x 512 px

  • Super Resolution - 1266 x 1010 px image

• Lenses
• EO Zoom Camera

  • Video/Photo Settings

    • Auto-exposure

    • 1-10x zoom range (93.5 degrees to 11.92 degrees HFOV), incremented at 1x, 1.5x, 3x, 6x, and 10x settings

    • 720p 20 frames per second video saved in a .MP4 format

Viewing Media

Images from the EO camera can be saved in JPEG or TIFF format, and can be opened in most photo software. EO Video is saved as an MP4 file.

Images from the IR camera can be saved as a Radiometric JPEG or TIFF. Video can be saved as Thermal Encoded or as Radiometric video. Workswell ThermoLab software is required to view thermal video shot in Radiometric mode, and can be downloaded here:

USB Drive

• To remove photos from the USB drive, remove it from Astro and insert it into a computer.

• For information on formatting the USB drive, check out this section of the wiki

Wiris Pro SSD

Download via PC

• To remove media stored on the SSD, first power the Wiris Pro Payload on the aircraft. Then connect a cable to the micro-USB port on the side of the Wiris Pro. The drive should appear on a computer as ‘Wiris SSD’, with the files organized in folders by date.

• Drag the selected media off the Wiris SSD folder on to your computer.

• Right-click and 'Eject' the Wiris drive, then power off the drone and gimbal

Formatting Wiris SSD

The formatting option for the SSD of the Wiris Pro can be found in the camera settings under Advanced SSD Options - Format SSD

• The will restart the connection to the Wiris Pro and takes about 30-60s to complete. It is normal for video to briefly stop working as the connection is re-established