The new design of the PrecisionHawk UAV, equipped with Intel®’s multicore system on a chip (SoC), will interact with people the ground in real-time to demonstrate unprecedented onboard, in-flight analytics and safety capabilities for unmanned aircraft.
PrecisionHawk today announced plans for a demo using Intel on-board processing technology at the AUVSI Unmanned Systems conference in Atlanta, GA. The demonstration will take place on May 5, 2015 at 1:30pm EST in the Innovation Hub located in the exhibit hall and showcases real-time, inflight decision making by the PrecisionHawk Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), with the ability to decide and flight-plan for areas of interest.
“This level of on-board processing is opening doors to a kind of autonomy that has never been seen before in the realm of unmanned aircraft,” said Dr. Ernest Earon, PrecisionHawk President. “The addition of a high-performance, energy-efficient Intel Atom Processor on-board allows us to make autonomous decisions in the air that, previously, had only been thought possible on the ground; ensuring that PrecisionHawk is manufacturing the safest and most intelligent drone in the sky today.”
The PrecisionHawk flight team will arrange two target objects for the UAV to locate as a potential landing location. While in flight, the teams on the ground will be able to send tweets directly to the UAV, using the hashtag ‘FlyPrecisionHawk’ (#FlyPrecisionHawk), to democratically choose the landing location.The UAV will then calculate the target that receives the highest number of votes and land accordingly. In addition, the UAV will tweet flight details from the air such as aerial images, target location and altitude.
This new technology is designed for commercial applications that rely on time-sensitive decision making such as emergency response and insurance. Beyond survey analysis, the processor’s superior on-board computing power adds another layer of safety and reliability to the growing number of applications being serviced by unmanned aircraft.
“We’re making the Internet of Things happen today through our ecosystem and companies like PrecisionHawk. Commercial UAVs are just the beginning, as we look for ways to transform traditional industry practices through onboard, real-time analytics. This demo provides a glimpse into tomorrow’s reality,” said Tony Franklin, director of public sector, Internet of Things Group at Intel.
All interested parties are invited to view the UAV's in-flight Twitter feed @LancasterUAV.
About PrecisionHawk
PrecisionHawk is an unmanned aerial systems and remote sensing company founded in 2010. The company provides an end-to-end solution for aerial data gathering, processing and analysis to provide actionable information to clients across a wide range of civilian industries. The team is comprised of professionals with backgrounds in remote sensing, unmanned aircraft operations, software development, data processing and GIS systems development. PrecisionHawk also owns the drone data software, DataMapper, and the Low Altitude Tracking and Avoidance System, LATAS. The company operates out of HQ offices in Raleigh, N.C. and Toronto, Ont.
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