Theia II

Theia II is a fine-tuned upgrade of our previous system, Theia I. Theia II consists of a custom airframe with modular parts, a robust power system, a well-tuned autopilot, a fully modular distributed imagery system, and a custom ground control station. The team continued with many components of Theia I, such as the 3DRobotics Pixhawk autopilot, but also made significant changes, such as changing cameras to the uEye LE industrial camera, to optimize reliability and consistency in turbulent flying conditions. Theia II’s air delivery system utilized a linear actuator for a robust mechanism, located near the aircraft’s center of gravity to avoid decreasing stability during flight, and its airframe design considered trade-offs between agility, accurate way-point capture, speed, and stability for better image quality. To optimize for overall mission success, a large wing surface area was chosen to slow flight, improving waypoint accuracy and image quality.