HeliCam: Custom 2-Meter RC Aerial Platform

Between 2006 and 2010, long before multi-rotor drones were commercialized, we researched, designed, and constructed a custom 2-meter remote-controlled helicopter platform specifically built for aerial photography. Equipped with a custom-engineered robotic camera mount, this system was the first of its kind in Europe and one of only three operational systems globally at the time.

Robotic Camera Platform & Flight Controls

The HeliCam system bypassed the payload and stability limits of early RC aircraft through several hardware innovations:

• Robotic Pan-Tilt-Roll Mount: A custom 3-axis gimbal controlled wirelessly by a secondary ground-operator to separate flight controls from image framing.
• Vibration Isolation: Custom silicone and mechanical dampening rigs designed to filter out the high-frequency vibration of the 2-stroke combustion engine.
• Flight Stabilization: Early gyro-stabilization units tuned specifically for stable hovering at heights up to 120 meters.

ReaLight & Byzantine Photogrammetry

In 2008, we expanded the system to support scientific antiquities documentation. We developed two innovative methods:

1. ReaLight: An automated lighting technique to capture antiquities under correct, neutralized illumination vectors from mid-air.
2. Airborne Photogrammetry: Early software-based stitching and camera coordinate calibration to map Byzantine monuments in 3D. This allowed us to capture scientifically accurate visual details that had previously been considered impossible to document due to terrain restrictions.