Inspire I with RedEdge

For most of the flights at Rush Creek, we used a DJI Inspire I version 2 with a MicaSense RedEdge camera. The DJI Inspire carries a 12megapixel RGB camera while the RedEdge 6megapixel 5-band camera including infrared.

The Inspire with RedEdge attached on an experimental target and the all-important card-board as a landing surface. This was critical to keep dust from being kicked up during take offs and landings.

We used an Empower adapter to mount the RedEdge camera (the red box mounted just below the battery at the left of the body of the Inspire). The RedEdge uses a down-welling light sensor (DLS) and GPS which were mounted on the nose of the Inspire using parts adapted from the Empower kit. The Enpower kit provides instructions for disassembling the Inspire and soldering power wires onto the Inspire's controller board. We chose to mount a small USB batter pack next to the DLS and GPS instead.

We found that the ribbon cables and connectors provided with the RedEdge were far to delicate for mounting on the exterior of a UAV. Ribbon cables are intended to be inside an enclosure. The first set of cables failed so we ordered two more. We provided strain relief for the cables and connectors by looping the cables out from their connectors and securing them with double-sided tape. Unfortunately, on our first attempt, one of the cables was in reach one of the propellers and was chopped in half on take off. The second attempt included securing the cables with duct tape as shown above. While not attractive, this worked well and allowed us to complete the data acquisition with the RedEdge.

While we don't recommend this solution and have already started looking at other UAVs, we have to give credit to the Inspire and its designers. It took everything we threw at it and never gave us a problem. However, we found the cables, connectors, and Wi-Fi provided with the RedEdge to be inadequate and cannot recommend it for use with a UAV at this time.