Active Vibration Suppression of UAV Camera Mounts

Objectives: Vibrations are propagated onto a UAV camera mount; this leads to improper images. We analyze the vibrations occurring in and come up with a solution to suppress them. Methods/Analysis: The vibrations occurring in a quadcopter are first measured by using a piezoelectric element, and then the existing algorithms for vibration suppression are compared. The data recorded is then imported in MATLAB and the NLMS algorithm is applied on it. Following this we generate a vibration, measure it and generate an anti-vibration to cancel it to prove the concept of vibration suppression. Findings: The best suited algorithm among the LMS, Fx-LMS and the NLMS algorithms is the NLMS algorithm because it has an estimate for the step factor and is stable. The main frequency of vibrations of the quadcopter camera mount is measured as 17.91Hz. The measured frequency from the generated vibrations of 25Hz is 23.17Hz. The vibrations after suppression are found to be lesser in intensity. Application/Improvements: The concept stated could find application in suppressing vibrations occurring in a quadcopter camera mount. A frequency tracking algorithm could be developed additionally to suppress vibrations of varying frequencies.