ISoftware developers can use the Intel Aero Ready-To-Fly ("RTF") drone to start coding and run flight tests without assembling a drone themselves. When their software is ready and the drone hardware specifications are clear, they can work with one of the drone hardware integrators to get a custom drone built for their usage model by using the Intel Aero board and sensors (Intel RealSense, Movidius). Important: the Intel Aero Ready-To-Fly drone itself is not a consumer product but a software development kit for professionals. If you are looking for a consumer product, we highly recommend Yuneec's Typhoon H.
Professors can directly use the Intel Aero Ready To Fly ("RTF") drone to build their autonomous drone course. We provide an open-source reference course for you to help build your own. We can also help with pedagogical consulting (paul.guermonprez@intel.com) to find the best way to introduce the topic in your existing course.
Typically, a professional drone project targeting production and certification would require collaboration between hardware and software specialists. Both could start working in parallel and end up with a product using Intel Aero Compute Board, probably Intel RealSense 3D sensors, your choice of motors, propellers frame and software you would develop for your specific needs.
OSes
By default, the Intel Aero board and Intel Aero Ready To Fly kit is delivered with a Yocto Project build already flashed. Yocto Project is an open-source set of tools for embedded professionals. The UEFI BIOS is maintained by InsydeH20.
Many developers may prefer prototyping with typical Linux distributions like Ubuntu* and you can install it manually on Intel Aero.
To learn more about docker, check our course modules B4 - Architecture - Software Architecture and D3 - Software - Docker Containers.
Development languages
You are then free to code in the language of your choice. Typical choices by drone software developers include:
C/C++ programming
Python high-level programming and prototyping, with a proposed selection of libraries for flight control and computer vision
ROS, the Robotic Operating System. A basic installation is provided by Intel on our Yocto binary build. We will focus on documentation on Python and ROS.
Development environments
In terms of development environment, you can:
Code on your workstation and upload the code to Intel Aero for execution. You can then use the IDE of your choice. This is the commended approach as you can use all the tools from your host machine rather than depending on the development libraries installed on Aero Compute Board.
The standard installation also ships with a minimum set of development tools which makes it possible to do some experiments on the board itself. For this case use case it's suggested to connect via ssh and do changes locally or use sftp/sshfs to edit files in your editor of choice
Code on your workstation only, if you do not have Intel Aero hardware. Simulators like Gazebo and SITL are available to simulate the drone and flight controller.
Cables and USB hub
Intel Aero has two ports of interest for software developers: one micro USB 3.0 OTG and one micro HDMI. You will need cables as soon as you receive the drone or compute board, as it is required to update the system components. You'll need:
USB OTG adapter: you can reuse an old USB 2.0 OTG adapter or buy a new USB 3.0 OTG adapter.
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DISCLAIMER
The information is provided by Tecquisition for general informational and educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional legal advice. If you have any feedback, comments, requests for technical support or other inquiries, please mail us by tecqusition@gmail.com.
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