Intel has started manufacturing their own commercial and professional drones called the Falcon 8+, and it vows to better than all its competitors!
The Falcon 8+ commercial drone is created to be used for industrial inspection, surveying and mapping and is an upgrade on the previous AscTec Falcon 8 drone. It is a V-form octocopter entailing high stability, precision GPS and state of the art flight control electronics and components. This helps the drone achieve the best weight-to-payload ratio, with an empty weight of 1.1 kg and a maximum payload of 0.8 kg making it ideal for some of the most intense field applications.
It predecessor, the Falcon 8 already had amazing gadgets such as Intel’s RealSense cameras and the company’s 3D-mapping technology for collision avoidance. Building on this, the Falcon 8+ has added on Intel’s latest water-resistant ground Cockpit system, which allows the drone better control and endurance towards environmental effects.
Flight control can also be managed with a single hand joystick courtesy an Intel chipset-powered tablet at the centre of the cockpit. The chip allows for planning of complex flight patterns and also enables the users to record and send live video feed via a low latency digital link of up to 1080p resolution and within a 1 km range.
Another salient feature is its ability to replicate its travel routes using its onboard sensors which can map surfaces down to the millimetre. The UAV is configured in a V-form and measures 768 x 817 x 160 mm. It has a takeoff weight of 2.8 kg (6 pounds) when it is fully loaded with all the gizmos such as camera and transmission gimbal sending the 1080p HD video.
Intel revealed the Falcon 8+ at the InterGeo drone conference held in Germany, but the model is yet to be approved by the Federal Communications Communications for sale or use in the United States. The pricing is also yet to be determined.
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