Multi-Camera, High-Speed Imaging System for Kinematics Data Collection

A two-camera system was devised and created to determine the kinematics of flapping fin and flapping wing vehicles. Each camera is set up to capture triggered, high-speed up to 10,000 frames per second images of the appendage in a test environment. Using direct linear transforms, each camera is calibrated to convert image coordinates to an alternate coordinate system. Points of interest on the appendage are selected from each camera image at matching times throughout multiple flapping cycles and converted from sets of two two-dimensional coordinates to single three-dimensional coordinates. These three-dimensional coordinates are then compared with desired kinematics and necessary changes are made to improve the performance of the appendage. Kinematics comparisons are supplemented with force comparisons as experimental force measurements are compared with force calculations made using computational fluid dynamics simulations.