Qualcomm Aims For The Skies With New Snapdragon Flight Platform

In case it hasn’t been obvious enough, drones have become big business. Whether for work or for play, prices have reached a point where drone kits can find their way into the hands of the masses, and I’m sure retailers all over are grinning at the fact that a major holiday season is going to be soon upon us.

With such great and still-growing popularity, Qualcomm has decided to help make it even easier for drone makers to create the coolest devices possible. It accomplishes this by way of a brand-new platform it calls Snapdragon Flight, which includes the high-end Snapdragon 801 processor and many other key features.

To start, Snapdragon Flight will support 4K video recording out-of-the-gate, something that most people who plan to record video will want (we have to make use of those 4K displays somehow). On the communications front, Flight includes dual-band 2×2 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0, 5Hz GNSS location capabilities as well as real-time flight control thanks to the included Hexagon DSP.

Other highlights include an inertial measurement unit, optic flow cameras, barometer sensor support, and room for additional sensors. When OEMs receive Flight kits, they’ll come in the form of a 58x40mm board that could fit almost anywhere.

Ultimately, Qualcomm wants to reduce the hassle of building drones as much as possible, and we can hope that given its capabilities, we might be able to see it become directly available to DIYers at some point in the future.