Qualcomm creates a special chipset for drones: Snapdragon Flight

Starting next year, you will find the Snapdragon processor not only on smarthphones, but also on drones. This news comes directly from Qualcomm; recently Qualcomm introduces a chipset called Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight that's designed specially for masterminding a drone.

Why does Qualcomm think that the drone industry requires a special chipset? According to Raj Talluri as Senior Vice President of Product Management for Qualcomm, the drone manufacturers have been utilizing a wide variety of components from several companies at once. As a result, the cost of production is increasing, as well as the selling price of the drones.

Qualcomm's mission through Snapdragon Flight is to bring together all the required technologies into an integrated circuit board. Thus, the drone manufacturer are expected can make more concise drones with affordable prices. Qualcomm itself has managed to create a prototype of small drone with 4K capability. 

The physical dimension of the Snapdragon Flight circuit board is only around 58 x 40 mm, inside this circuit board there is a quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor that supports 4K video recording option and also live streaming in HD resolution. In addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, Snapdragon Flight also brings a satellite-based navigation technology that's claimed can detect a location very accurately; not GPS, but the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System).

Snapdragon Flight also brings support for quick charging feature. This feature is crucial, considering the majority of drones on the market today can fly only for a few minutes before the battery must be recharged again.

The first partner of Qualcomm that will apply the Snapdragon Flight to its drone is Yuneec which recently has launched a unique drone named Typhoon Q500 4K. Yuneec's drone that will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight is planned to be launched next year.

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