Eye Sky (Mugila kannu) Project

Its my  privilege to bring one of our successful  project Mugila kannu (Eye of sky) in this blog...


   The project is headed by our Professor and guide  Mr.Prithviraj .U..


Let me add media explanation to it ...

Deccan Herald

An ‘eye’ on sky

Sandhya C D’Souza, Mangalore, January 21 2012, DHNS:

(Me extreme right  with my Team)

The International Kite Festival which kicked off at Panambur beach was a visual treat  and many were seen glaring into the sky with their sunglasses. However, a person who was busy staring into a weird equipment in his hand caught everyone’s attention.


Many started peeping into the equipment and were filled with awe to see a bird’s eye view of the entire Panambur beach.


Prithivraj U, Associate Professor of Applied Mechanics and Hydrolics at NITK has created ‘Mugila Kannu,’ The Eye in the sky, an aerial camera mounted on a kite. This is the first time in India, that such equipment is being mounted on the kite to get an aerial view, he claims.


Explaining his equipment, Prithviraj said that he has mounted a Canon 450 series camera on a kite with a transmitter and the equipment in his hand is a receiver. “The camera records the images, and I can also click pictures. The video is transmitted through a radio frequency of 900 MHz. We can also pan and tilt the camera to get a 360 degree view with a joystick. This is controlled by another radio frequency of 2.4 GHz. I get the display captured by the camera in a small TFT Monitor,” he explains.


Manufacture cost
Prithviraj accompanied by his project staff Sanjay and Mohan have been working on Mugila Kannu for more than six months and the equipment costs Rs 75,000. 


The 12 megapixel camera can record the view of 1.25 kilometers.


“We had visited Mangalore Kite Festival two years back. A person from France had brought a similar equipment and we were fascinated with it. We decided to build a similar equipment by the next Kite Festival. We have got a lot of support from Team Mangalore, especially from its member Janardhan ,” says Prithiviraj. 


Most of the equipment was fabricated at NITK. 


However, some parts had to be imported. “This device can be quiet handy in terms of security. One can simply hoist the camera, if the wind is good and keep watch for hours,” he concludes.

Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore: 'Mugila Kannu' - An 'Eye in the Sky' at International Kite Fest

Mangalore: 'Mugila Kannu' - An 'Eye in the Sky' at International Kite Fest Prakash Samaga Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore Mangalore, Jan 22: While everyone was enthusiastically flying their kites in the open sky at Panambur beach during the International Kite Festival on Saturday January 21, Prathviraj Umesh was standing with a TFT-monitored remote controller and was controlling a camera attached to a kite. An assistant professor from the applied mechanics and hydraulics department in NITK, Surathkal, he prepared this unique device which he named ‘Mugila Kannu’ (meaning ‘eye in the sky’) which gives a bird's eye view of the beach on his monitor connected through a wireless signal. Aerial views  Captured by unit From right :-Me(Mohan) ,Janardhan Roa,Prof-Prithviraj,Umesh,Bangalore team member and Sanjay Ground Controlling and Operating unit Aerial unit  with our Kite Professor  with media people Guide and Professor Prithiviraj.U It is for the first time in the country that this sort of an aerial camera connected to a kite has been produced. Prathviraj was helped by project heads Sanjay and Mohan as well as Janardhan of ‘Team Mangalore’. There are two devices—one to receive the signals and another to transmit the signals—and the picture is displayed on the TFT screen in the ‘Mugila Kannu’. The device has two different radio signals—one to transmit the image or video taken by the camera and another to pan and tilt the camera for a customized image. The camera fixed in the kite has a resolution of 12 mega pixels which is good enough to give a commanding view from the top. The frequency of the camera is 2.4 GHZ and for video recording it is 900 MHZ. It has a 360 degree view to capture the image. Asked about what influenced him in making this unique device, he said that in the last international kite festival held here, a kite flyer named Nicolas from France had brought such a device and this made him create his own such apparatus to enjoy the kite flying from up in the sky. Prathviraj and his team men took one year to make this device as they did it during their free time. The expenditure was about Rs 75,000 as some of the equipment used is imported. He also has plans to make it available for any security purposes if demanded by the defense department. Prathviraj, however, adds that the cost of each device will come down with mass production and he would make it for a reasonable price as it is not his business but only a hobby. WWW.Mangalorean.com Mangalore: 'An Eye in the Sky' at Kite Festival Affords Sharp View from Top   By Akram Mohammed, Team Mangalorean [ Published Date: January 22, 2012 ] Mangalore: A majority have not visited the International Kite Festival on the Panambur beach here and the majority who have witnessed it might not have noticed a kite with a camera in the sky. Of course, there are too many beautiful kites in the sky with attention rarely resting on one particular kite alone. Call it a bird's eye view or better even a 'kite's eye view', a kite is a also bird, after all. Mugila Kannu - Eye in the Sky Aptly named 'Mugila Kannu' (an eye in the sky in Kannada), the camera mounted on a kite is a project by Pruthviraj U, assistant professor, department of Applied Mechanics and Hydraulics at NITK-Surathkal, which he is displaying at the International Kite Festival. 'I have developed it as a hobby', he said. The camera has some unique features. Mugila Kannu is composed of two units, first being the unit to transmit the pan and tilt of the camera and the second unit to trigger the camera to capture photographs. Prithviraj says that he is able to control the pan and tilt of the camera in any angle he wants. This is an exciting prospect for a gadget hanging 50 metres up in the sky and controlled by two joysticks. Mugila Kannu is connected to a main kite rope. This is where the expenses in creating such a kite tend to sink in. The kite rope or the thread comes at a cool Rs 25,000 and is able to withstand a tension pull of up to 45 kilogrammes. The thread is made of Kevlar, a synthetic fibre strong enough to be used in bullet-proof body armours. What speeds of winds can the kite with the camera withstand, with such a tough thread to support it? It depends on the size of the kite, says Pruthviraj. The camera is suspended on a seven-foot kite made of rip-sail cloth. As ignorant as I was about the 'rip sail cloth', Pruthviraj explained that rip-sail cloth are used in parachutes around the world. The cloth is preferred for its light weight and its strength to withstand wind speeds. It has been imported from the Netherlands and cost not more than Rs 20,000. Canon Powershot A480 series with a resolution of 10 megapixels is probably among the cheapest apparatus in the whole kite. Though the resolution of the camera is not quite to a pixel perfectionist's liking, one can fit any DSLR camera. The camera is suspended using a mechanism called Picavet. In one of the photographs in the album one can see Pruthviraj displaying the camera suspended in a Picavet. The Picavet keeps the camera parallel to the ground irrespective of the wind pulling the kite hither and thither. The whole unit weighs 1.5 kilogrammes and is slightly lighter in weight than some large kites you can see if you visit the kite festival. Camera Operation The camera is operated from the ground by an operator. The signals to capture an image, and the 'viewpoint' of the camera are being transmitted in a wireless mode. A 900-MegaHertz transmitter weighing a mere 25 grammes is also suspended along the camera to ensure transmission of signals. There are three sets of batteries too. The first set keeps the battery running for a good four hours, second set are for the motors that control the pan and tilt of the camera and the third set of batteries are for transmitting video. Can one transmit videos as seen by the camera to a screen. Yes. But they haven't done it this time. There are still more tweaks to do, as experience grows with such exposures. The team of Pruthviraj has captured around 380 photographs on day 1. They expect to capture better photographs on day 2, as night kite flying with lights is expected today. Heard from the crowd: "This is fabulous. Some gadget of this kind should be permanently flying over the city to monitor public disturbances, traffic jams and the like." "At all kinds of festivals and gatherings, this should be flying and the images should be projected on an LCD screen. It would be fun." courtesy:Deccan Herlad,www.daijiworld.com,www.Mangalorean.com