Drone Autopilot & Mission Computer Utilises AWS

By Mike Ball / 27 Jan 2022
Sky-Drones flight computer and autopilot
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Sky-Drones flight computer and autopilotSky-Drones Technologies has partnered with AWS (Amazon Web Services) Greengrass, an open-source edge runtime and cloud service, in order to make the AIRLink unmanned aerial vehicle autopilot and AI-powered mission computer more accessible to customers.

Sky-Drones’ flagship hardware product AIRLink is an advanced flight control system for enterprise UAV fleets. AIRLink provides a wide range of connectivity options and an abundance of features including Artificial Intelligence and autopilot elements, and free-to-use software for flight planning, logs and analytics.

AWS Greengrass extends the AWS cloud service to hardware devices so they can carry out tasks and initiate responses to the information they receive and data they generate for building, deploying and managing devices. AWS allows its users to run their own hardware and software, alongside messaging, data caching, and other services for connected devices, in a secure and encrypted environment. The ability to connect with other devices even with no internet connection is a prime element of AWS, as it allows users’ Internet of Things (IoT) devices to respond quickly and accordingly to events.

Advantages of using AWS software for hardware devices include the huge capacity for large and open-ended organisations, the reliability and securely encrypted data protection, and the ease of use. Only having to adapt to a single software for multiple hardware devices has been a revelation for a variety of industries, including drones and unmanned systems.

Sky-Drones’ AIRLink can now be run using AWS software, allowing organisations that favour the software and its unified device communication capabilities to take advantage of the cutting-edge autopilot capabilities for drone fleets of unlimited size. While Sky-Drones have specifically targeted the defence and security sector with this advancement, the partnership will also be advantageous for many other applications including delivery, agriculture and inspection.

Posted by Mike Ball Mike Ball is our resident technical editor here at Unmanned Systems Technology. Combining his passion for teaching, advanced engineering and all things unmanned, Mike keeps a watchful eye over everything related to the unmanned technical sector. With over 10 years’ experience in the unmanned field and a degree in engineering, Mike’s been heading up our technical team here for the last 8 years. Connect & Contact