Pixy stabilized camera or payload mount

The Pixy LR is a three-axis stabilized camera gimbal from Gremsy, a camera mount for drones that was developed for the Sony ILX-LR1 camera. It keeps the camera line of sight steady and controls its pointing direction on multirotor and other unmanned platforms, mainly for mapping, surveying and inspection payloads.

The gimbal operates in lock mode and in follow or mapping mode. In lock mode the camera keeps a fixed pointing direction in space, while the follow mode lets the camera track the movement of the vehicle. The gimbal supports lenses up to 85 mm and uses a damping system shared with the Pixy S/LR family and an IMU sensor to measure the camera attitude.

The main figures are a gimbal mass of 495 g including the quick release and dimensions of 140 x 115 x 200 mm. The angular vibration range is plus or minus 0.02 degrees, which expresses how much residual motion remains on the camera after stabilization. The maximum controlled rotation speed is 180 °/s on each of the pan, tilt and roll axes. The controlled rotation range is plus or minus 320 degrees in pan, +40 to -120 degrees in tilt and plus or minus 40 degrees in roll. The mechanical end points are plus or minus 326 degrees in pan, +50 to -140 degrees in tilt and +50 to -274 degrees in roll.

For power and signals, the input supply is 17 V to 52 V DC. The power draw is 7.5 W static and 8.8 W dynamic, and up to 80 W with a locked motor, which the integrator should account for in the power bus protection. The connections are Micro USB, USB-C (USB 3.0), CAN, UART, SBus and Micro HDMI, plus four auxiliary signals. USB 3.0 allows faster transfer of images and video from the camera, and the auxiliary port lets third-party devices such as a LiDAR, a laser range finder or a thermal camera be connected through the mount.

The gimbal mounts at the bottom through the Hyper Quick Release V3.0, whose connector carries the input and output ports to the flight controller, the remote control and accessories. Gremsy lists support for flight platforms such as CubePilot, Skynode, Airpeak and the M600, and provides an open SDK so developers can write their own control applications. The operating temperature range is 0 °C to 50 °C.

Typical applications are aerial mapping, surveying and industrial inspection with a full-frame mirrorless camera carried by a multirotor, where a stabilized pointing direction and a documented control interface are needed.