Building a Platform for Commercial Drones Buddy Michini CTO - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Building a Platform for Commercial Drones Buddy Michini CTO

Venture-backed, 70-person startup in San Francisco, building a HW/SW/Cloud platform for commercial drones.

2010

2011

2013

What I Learned: Designing/building/fixing HW and SW for flying robots is soul-crushing, tedious work . ! ! Someone should make a platform that makes autonomous flight easy, but still customizable

Application-specific breakout board Gumstix CoM for flight controls and applications Core board with sensors and coprocessor for data fusion

Airware Platform Evolution Autopilot HW and SW

Actuator Module GPS Module Flight Core Airspeed Module Air Datalink Module

The Importance of Pub/Sub/RPC Middleware

Airware Platform Evolution Autopilot HW Multi-Vehicle and SW Architecture

Ground Control Station Configuration Manager

Airware Platform Evolution Autopilot HW Multi-Vehicle Streamlined and SW Architecture UI

Application Framework Application Flight Critical Data Bridge Flight Core Application Core • Closed real-time OS • Linux, with app management • Airware flight software • Middleware for apps w/ simplified pub/sub/RPC • Hub for certified flight HW • Tight (but protected) integration w/ flight control • Compliant • Onboard apps connect to UI plugins • Certifiable • Embrace open source for applications

Airware Platform Evolution Autopilot HW Multi-Vehicle Streamlined Application and SW Architecture UI Framework

Airware Platform Evolution Autopilot HW Multi-Vehicle Streamlined Application Cloud and SW Architecture UI Framework Management

An Alternative Interpretation Aircraft/ Paying Sensor Customer OEM

An Alternative Interpretation Service Provider Aircraft/ Integrate Paying Job Sensor Aircraft & Customer Planning OEM Sensors

An Alternative Interpretation Operator Service Provider Aircraft/ Integrate Paying Job Sensor Aircraft & Data Collection Workflow Customer Planning OEM Sensors

An Alternative Interpretation Operator Service Provider Service Provider Aircraft/ Integrate Data Paying Job Sensor Aircraft & Data Collection Workflow Analytics Products Customer Planning OEM Sensors

An Alternative Interpretation Operator Service Provider Aircraft/ Integrate Data Paying Job Sensor Aircraft & Data Collection Workflow Analytics Products Customer Planning OEM Sensors Create Create Fly and Deliver Projects& Setup Create Sync with Approvals Flight Acquire Data Manage Vehicles Jobs Cloud Plans Data Users Airware Solution

App Developers! Operator Service Provider Aircraft/ Integrate Data Paying Job Sensor Aircraft & Data Collection Workflow Analytics Products Customer Planning OEM Sensors Create Create Fly and Deliver Projects& Setup Create Sync with Approvals Flight Acquire Data Manage Vehicles Jobs Cloud Plans Data Users Airware Solution

1. Wildlife Surveying

2. Avalanche Rescue

3. Bridge Inspection

4. Quarry Accounting

5. Structural Assessment

6. Telecom Satellites

7. Gas Leak Detection

8. Cruise Ship Safety