FLYLAB, Drones as a Service
FLYLAB
Challenge
At the beginning, civilian drones were equipped with micro-controllers which could control simple flight but they lacked the computing power for the artificial intelligence necessary for autonomous flight. The first challenge was to imagine a solution to load significant computing power in the drones. The second was to create a simple-to-use software framework for developers to create customized applications.
Solution
Collaborating with Intel® Software, Flylab took the best from Intel's IoT (Internet of Things) platform not just in simple prototyping but also in rapid production. This enabled us to quickly develop a product with the innovation of a startup and the reliability of an industry leader.
Intel's hardware platforms and software are easily accessible, but it was the collaboration which provided us with expert advice, assistance in rapidly prototyping and promoting us with invitations to international trade fairs.
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STORY
Flylab is a young startup based in Paris. Our venture began three years ago with the creation of the first European drone fablab (digital fabrication laboratory). « We are rapidly moving from the status of expert enthusiasts to building an elite team around the the three pillars of the drone : the hardware, the software and the aeronautics, » explained Hakim AMRANI-MONTANELLI, the founder andCEO of Flylab. «We realised early on that the drone was not yet reliable ; it was severely lacking in computing power and didn't allow us to develop apps as easily as on a computer. Years down the track and hundreds of custom-made drones and prototypes later, we decided to develop our own flight controller which rapidly evolved into a flight computer. »
The whole team set about analysing the various technical options designed to enhance flight controllers and drones in general but at the time these options were rather limited. Based what was available in the market, we decided to choose Intel® and in particular the IoT Intel® Edison platform.
This platform enabled Flylab to develop a controller capable of reacting quickly with all the functionality of an ordinary computer, but in a computer no larger than the size of a hand ! Intel® Software was very welcoming and readily available. It was from this constructive collaboration that Flylab designed and developed its own flight computer with the enormous potential of the Intel® Edison platform.
Having achieved this, we finally discovered how to increase our on-board computing power. Flylab drones were now quick and agile. However we wanted to go further.
During our discussions with the Intel® teams, we soon learnt of Intel’s RealSense technology. This endowed our future drones not only with brains but gave them eyes. All this can be neatly fitted into a compact format with two Intel® RealSense cameras, the F200 for short-range vision and the R200 for long-range vision.
The creative synergies of our 8 team members produced an environment conducive to the development of drones. The project ran for a couple of months and comprised a number of phases over which we developed multiple versions of our framework. Flylab then commenced the test phase in which we further explored the range of Intel® technology. After adopting Intel® Edison, we also took onboard Intel® NUC (Next Unit Computing) which offers even more powerful computing, necessary in certain cases. Thanks to our software development platform for autonomous flying robots, we found our first clients. We were now able to create with them customized solutions to serve their requirements.
Taking the time to listen and understand a client enables us to tailor the hardware and software to meet their requirements. This is imperative with partners such as the SNCF (French National Railways), the SAMU (French Emergency Medical Aid Service) and the French Fire and Rescue Service.
In addition to Intel’s technical and software development support, they also accompanied us to international trade fairs such as the 2015 IFA (Global Trade Fair for the Digital World) in Berlin and 2015's Maker Faire in Rome. Being present and visible at these major events gave us the opportunity to promote our products and find new clients. The backing of Intel® with its technical support and co-marketing opportunities instantly accelerated the growth of our startup.
When Flylab started, drones were low-tech machines with a tendency to break down and were essentially piloted by humans. Flylab immediately foresaw the evolution of the drone into potentially autonomous flying robots.
« Drones were hardly reliable, so our team turned its vision to the future. To change how drones functioned, we decided to place our stakes on a large-scale developer outreach for new ideas and share our platform as widely as possible, » explains Hakim AMRANI-MONTANELLI, CEO of Flylab. This is how our company helped unite a community of expertise in drone technology. We had two objectives : « We wanted to transform these banal automatons into real autonomous robots. We also wanted to be able to load our technology onto everything from small-sized drones to large aircraft by concentrating on innovation in « machine learning », « computer vision » and AI. »
Flylab created a system capable of operating in a number of programming languages in either JavaScript or in Python to cater for the needs of our clients and the various utilisations of the system. This is the first step as our company will continue to support other languages. Our software architecture was constructed around Unix for security, flexibility and transparent integration for both users and developers. We designated our OS to give it exceptional capacities. Our OS comprises a series of software layers from low-level demons to communication systems right up to user code via the Flylab SDK.
The « flykit » layer facilitates communication between the layers of the system. The Flykit API passes data and coordinates each process in the runtime environment from system agent to user code. FlyKit is responsible for effective system hardware communication. Simply put, each running process is separated from the others and tested via a sandbox. To prevent interested third party programs, making drones fly is all about telemetry and commands from the ground or the Internet. FlyKit is entirely written in C but the application is also accessible via C++, Node.js or Python.
With Intel® technology, we were able to start in maker mode and then make the smooth transition to professional solutions with compatibility in technology and hardware.
Flylab is in the process of tendering for a contract with the French Railway Company. At present, the company uses drones which can only be operated by pilots with advanced theoretical expertise. As a solution, our company has created a number of drone prototypes which will be simple to use and able to be produced in series.
We were also able to rapidly devise a custom-made drone with our platform and Intel's technology for the French Fire and Rescue Services. This is a drone which can save time when each second is critical to save lives !
« With this superior technology, our drones are becoming increasingly intelligent. It will not be long before their senses are developed. They will have the capability to interact with their environment. And it may well be our solution which loads on small and medium-sized systems which will become the heart and brain of the flying cars of the future, » projects Hakim AMRANI-MONTANELLI.