Friday, September 11, 2015

Qualcomm Targets Consumer Drone Market With New Platform

San Diego-based Qualcomm has launched a new reference platform, specifically aimed at helping designers incorporate its chips into drone aircraft, the company said Thursday. According to Qualcomm, its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, has launched a new reference platform called Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight, which is specifically aimed at use in consumer drones. The new platform offers up video and image capture, communications, navgiation, and a set of development tools, all aimed at integrating many of the features that currently come from multiple vendors on drone aircraft. Qualcomm said its single board allows OEMs to build lighter, smaller, and easier to use drones. Qualcomm said that at least one, consumer drone company--Yuneec---has already committed to bringing a drone to market using the platform. Yuneec is expected to launch its Qualcomm-based platform in 2016. The new Qualcomm platorm includes support for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, real-time flight control, 4K video support, GNSS location capability, inertial measurement, and more.