Week Nine: Taking to the Skies

This week during lab on Wednesday our class put action to all we have learned about aerial photography, taking to the skies with balloons and cameras.  The seminar class split into different groups, and we each had separate research projects and aerial balloon camera designs.  For my group’s aerial photography project, we decided to study the use of footpaths on the Furman campus around South Housing and the Lakeside Judson dorm.  During our time at Furman, my group members and I have noticed that many of the walking paths at Furman are not used, and students decide to take the most efficient path instead.  By collecting aerial photograph data during a class change, we could identify student-made paths with heavy foot traffic and the paved paths that not many people use.   

The main areas where we planned to collect aerial data

When the day came to actually collect the data, most of the groups decided to lift their camera into the air with many, many party balloons.  My group partnered with another team and ordered an aerial photography balloon kit online, so we used a very large balloon almost 2 meters tall when inflated.  The balloon kit also came with zip ties, carabiners, rope, gloves, rubber bands, and a rubber ring; everything to help get the balloon in the sky.  Although the balloon came with everything we needed, we had to build our own housing for the camera.  To make it, we cut out the top of a 2-liter bottle, and using rubber bands, suspended the go pro camera inside it.  We used a large can of helium from Dr. Suresh to fill up the balloon.  We had to inflate the balloon separately three times because we underestimated the amount of helium it took to lift out camera in the air.  Finally, the balloon was strong enough to lift the go pro. 

The group we were sharing the balloon kit with needed to collect data on tree removal on the mall, so we took the balloon first to the large circular lawn in front of the PAC.  In order to avoid trees, we planned to release the balloon in the open lawn area until it reached above tree level then walk through the mall.  Everything was going as planned as we walked through the mall when SUDDENLY a gust of wind blew our balloon far to the left.  After that, the balloon sunk back below tree level, and the camera holder became stuck in a tree.  We tried to get the balloon back down to no avail, so we decided to call campus maintenance.  Seeing that the official induction of the new Furman president was the next day, the maintenance team was eager to remove a giant, red rubber balloon from the middle of campus.  After a long while of waiting and the use of a cherry picker, we were able bring down a popped balloon and an intact go pro.  Though my group was not able to do our research, the other team gathered an innumerable measure of data on tree branches.  

 Next week, Dr. Suresh is going to take my group out with a drone, so we can collect our data.  Although my group spent most of its time trying to get the balloon out of a tree, I learned valuable information about how to get a balloon in the air and how difficult taking aerial photography really is.