RED CAT TEAL Golden Eagle, Operator'S Manual, Page: 47 / 76

46
TIME OF FLIGHT SENSOR
An infrared ground-distance sensor on the
bottom of the Golden Eagle works in
conjunction with other on-board (GPS and
barometric pressure) sensors to determine the
distance to the ground to assist in landing.
The photo-diode emitter in this ground-
distance sensor beams down infrared light, and
a photo-diode receiver senses the reflections
from that light to detect the distance to ground
by measuring the “time of flight” of that light . It
starts sensing the ground at about 12-15 meters
high.
STOCK PAYLOAD
The stock payload on the Golden Eagle is a dual-
axis (pitch and roll) gimballed FLIR Hadron 320
EO/IR camera module. The payload electrical
interface to the Golden Eagle utilizes plug-in
cables for ease of swapping the payload.
The gimbal’s pitch angle ranges from +35

to -
110  , and its roll angle ranges from +25  to - 25  .
The roll function is automatic, so that it rolls in
the opposite direction as the Golden Eagle,
allowing for the camera to remain horizontal in
roll and pitch up to 25  .
The electro-optical portion of the camera is a 12
Megapixel CMOS image sensor combined with
an 80-degree horizontal field-of-view (HFOV)
lens. The EO camera takes 4,000x3,000 video
as well as 12 MP resolution still images in JPEG
or TIFF format. Optical video from the camera is
stored in the Golden Eagle’s on -board flash
memory or SD card.
The infrared portion of the camera has a 34-
degree HFOV and captures video in a 320x256
format. The IR camera also has a built-in shutter
for automating non-uniformity correction,
which reduces image blurring and artificial
ghosting. IR video is stored in on-board flash
memory or SD card in 640x512 format.
The EO/IR camera module provides
simultaneous EO and IR video streams to the
Golden Eagle CPU, formatted as an H.264
elementary stream video within a MPEG2
Transport Stream. Either optical or IR video can
be selected (on the TAC) to be transmitted over
the radio link in a compressed format.
Transmitted optical video is sent in a 720p
(progressive scan) format. Video latency to the
TAC has been minimized to ensure safe
operation in confined areas.
MICRO SD CARD SLOT
The I/O port cover door swings open to expose
the I/O ports. The port on the left is a Micro SD
card slot. T eal’s Field Repair Kit includes one 128
GB Micro SD card and one SD card adapter that
can be used to store and transfer media files
from the Golden Eagle.
Using the Micro SD card for
storage is not a secure method of
transferring confidential media
files, but currently is one of the
limited options for doing so. Be
sure you understand the risks of
losing the content of the SD card if
the drone is lost or not
recoverable.
AUXILIARY LIGHTING
The Golden Eagle includes an illumination panel
on each right and left side of the airframe. These
panels are designed to spread light vertically
from the bottom to the top of the airframe to be
visible from nearly all angles in flight. The stock
Golden Eagle lights may not be bright enough or
have appropriate directivity for some
applications such as anti-collision, search and
rescue, or line-of-sight navigation at a distance.
For these situations, it is desirable to attach
third-party auxiliary lighting to the airframe.