Operating your camera

Introduction

The camera payload is operated from the Video Control Station (VCS). The VCS is a touch-screen laptop that is running the CCA2 application to connect to the camera system. The VCS laptop is equipped with a joystick to control the camera.

The joystick

The joystick has several buttons numbered from 1 to 14. All buttons are labeled with their function.

Button	Function
2	Zoom in
4	Zoom out
5	Start/Stop onboard recording
9	Calibrate (clear) IR video
10	Deploy/Retract camera (ONLY PERFORM THIS WHILE IN AIR)
11	Switch between RGB (regular) and IR (night vision) video
12	Change the IR video between Black for hot or White for hot

Never press the deploy camera button while the UAV is on the ground. This may damage your camera.

The VCS

The VCS is a touch-screen laptop. The touch screen function can be used to activate the Object Tracking feature. To track an object simply tap on the object you want to track. When tracking an object the camera will remain fixed on this object for as long as it can.

When tracking an object the operator should be aware that the camera will reach its rotation limit near the rear of the vehicle and will not be able to rotate any further. In this situation, the camera should be manually rotated to the other extreme to resume tracking.

For optimal object tracking, it is recommended to ask the pilot to loiter directly over the object of interest. This prevents the need for the camera to rotate continuously and will allow constant object tracking.