Enters The Consumer Market In The $1,100 Range

Intel has introduced a read-to-fly drone it is calling the Intel Aero.

Intel's commercial drones made a splash at the Super Bowl by providing a light show behind Lady Gaga as she dropped into NRG Stadium for the halftime show, even if the display was pre-recorded.

Now, the company is offering to consumers a ready-to-fly unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) development platform that is a fully assembled, fully functional quadcopter powered by the Intel Aero Compute Board, equipped with Intel RealSense depth and vision capabilities, running an open-source Linux operating system. It is geared for developers and researchers who desire a fast path to getting applications airborne.

The Intel Aero Ready To Fly Drone combines the Aero Compute Board and the Aero Vision Accessory Kit with the Aero Flight Controller, GPS, Compass, airframe, ESCs, motors, transmitter and receiver. The only thing needed to start flying is a charged battery.  (recommended battery: Li-Po, 4S, 4000+ mAh, with XT60 connector)

The aircraft includes the Intel Aero Compute Board with an Atom x7-Z8750 processor.

Other features include:

• An 8MP RGB camera (front-facing) – one of the 3 camera modules included with the Aero Vision Accessory Kit
• VGA camera, global shutter, monochrome (down-facing)
• Open-source embedded Linux, Yocto Project
• Insyde Software InsydeH2O UEFI BIOS optimized for the Intel Aero Platform for UAVs.  More about InsydeH20
• Intel RealSense camera (R200)
• Intel Aero Flight Controller with Dronecode PX4 autopilot
• STM32 microcontroller
• Temperature compensated: 6 DoF IMU, magnetometer, and altitude sensors
• Connected to the Aero Compute board over HSUART and communicates using MAVLink protocol
• Pre-assembled quadcopter
• Carbon fiber airframe
• GPS and compass
• Power distribution board
• 4 electronic speed controllers
• 4 motors
• 8 snap-on propellers
• Spektrum DSMX Serial Receiver
• Spektrum DXe Transmitter (2.4GHz DSMX)

The Intel Aero Ready to Fly Drone is a platform for developers and is intended to be modified by developers according to their professional judgment. Intel has not established operating limitations for this drone development platform, or tested any configurations other than the base configuration as shipped. Developers are responsible for testing and ensuring the safety of their own configurations, and establishing the operating limits of those configurations.

(Source: Intel website. Image from Intel YouTube video)

FMI: http://click.intel.com/intel-aero-ready-to-fly-drone.html