Counter-Balancing Vibrations From A Vehicle For Stabilizing Image Capture

An unmanned aerial vehicle, comprising:

• a vehicle housing defining an interior space;
• a payload stabilization assembly movably supported relative to the housing, the payload stabilization assembly comprising:
• an elongated support member extending into the interior space of the housing, and
• one or more vibration isolators coupling the elongated support member to the housing;
• a payload mounted to the payload stabilization assembly;
• one or more motion sensors configured to detect motion of the unmanned aerial vehicle;
• one or more processors operatively coupled to the motion sensors;
• wherein the one or more processors are configured to dynamically tune a damping characteristic of at least one of the vibration isolators during operation of the unmanned aerial vehicle, such that a dynamic response of the payload stabilization assembly is adjusted to reduce transmission of motion to the payload across a selected range of motion frequencies.

A method of stabilizing a payload on an unmanned aerial vehicle, the method comprising:

• detecting motion of the unmanned aerial vehicle using one or more motion sensors;
• determining a frequency characteristic of the detected motion;
• dynamically adjusting a damping characteristic of a vibration isolation system supporting the payload based on the determined frequency characteristic;
• thereby reducing transmission of motion to the payload across a selected frequency range.

An apparatus comprising:

• one or more computer readable storage media;
• and
• program instructions stored on the one or more computer readable storage media that, when executed by one or more processors of an unmanned aerial vehicle, cause the unmanned aerial vehicle to:
• receive motion data from one or more motion sensors;
• analyze a frequency content of the motion data;
• and
• dynamically tune a damping characteristic of a payload stabilization system based on the frequency content thereby reducing vibration transmitted to a payload mounted on the payload stabilization system.