Intel : and Drone Technology - Breaking New Ground

The last month has been a whirlwind of drone activity. In October, we announced our first Intel-branded commercial multirotor drone for the North American markets - the Intel® Falcon 8+ System* with complete flight system redundancies built in. Just this week, we announced that we are expanding our capabilities in the drone sector through our acquisition of MAVinci GmbH - a private fixed-wing company with best-in-class flight planning software. But we aren't stopping there.

Today, my team and I are thrilled to announce our first Intel drone designed specifically for light shows: the Intel® Shooting Star drone. With this drone, we will be able to demonstrate that drone light shows can redefine entertainment and create amazing new experiences in the night sky.

» View the Drones at Intel press kit

Recently, we put the fleet of Intel Shooting Star drones to the test in Germany and we were able to achieve what no one else has done before. We set a new Guinness World Record™ for having The Most UAVs Airborne Simultaneously with 500 Intel Shooting Star drones lighting up the night sky. We outdid our previous record of 100 drones in-flight simultaneously in less than a year.

Intel Shooting Star Drone

The Intel® Shooting Star drone is the company's first drone created for entertainment light shows. The drone is designed with safety and creativity in mind with a super light-weight structure and virtually limitless color combinations. We've also worked with the FAA to receive a Part 107 Waiver to fly these drones as a fleet with one pilot at night in the U.S. This means we can now create beautifully choreographed images in the nighttime sky quickly and easily in the U.S. We are looking forward to using this new fleet of Intel Shooting Star drones publicly soon. Find more information on the Intel Shooting Star fact sheet.

MAVinci GmbH Acquisition

We believe drones are an important computing platform for the future and we are continuing to invest in technologies and companies that will enable us to provide the best compute, sensor, communications and software integration for the growing drone ecosystem. To this point, we have acquired MAVinci GmbH, a drone company based in Germany that offers best-in-class flight planning software.

With this transaction, we are gaining expertise in flight planning software algorithms and also fixed-wing drone design capabilities that complement the technology and knowledge Intel previously acquired from Ascending Technologies. This new acquisition will play a key role in providing solutions for industries such as agriculture, insurance, construction, mining and more.

These announcements represent a string of progress we've made in the drone space. In August, we introduced the developer-focused Intel Aero Platform and the Intel Aero Ready to Fly* Drone that will be available by end of the year. And prior to that, we collaborated with Yuneec, to launch the Yuneec Typhoon H with Intel RealSense Technology that provides industry leading collision avoidance features.

As we build new capabilities and enable products and solutions in the drone space, we will continue to demonstrate how far and how fast this exciting technology can advance.

For more information on Intel in drones, visit Intel's drone website.

Anil Nanduri is vice president in the New Technology Group and general manager of unmanned aviation systems for the Perceptual Computing Group at Intel Corporation.

*These devices have not been authorized as required by the rules of the Federal Communications Commission. This device is not, and may not be, offered for sale or lease, or sold or leased, until authorization is obtained.