Drones Now Flying Linux
Drones are taking flight in the open source community. The Linux Foundation announced a new open source platform for drones—the Dronecode Project for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
According to the Linux Foundation, more than 1,200 developers are already working on Dronecode, with possible deployments ranging from environmental and agriculture research to wildlife conservation, search and rescue, and movie and TV production. Even Martha Stewart thinks drones are a good thing. She uses hers to shoot aerial photos of her farm.
Dronecode will also include the existing open source APM/ArduPilot UAV software platform and associated code, which was previously hosted by 3D Robotics, the company co-founded by Chris Anderson, former editor-in-chief of Wired and the author of Makers: The New Industrial Revolution.
DIY Drones seem a perfect fit for the maker movement—and maybe it’s a case of “it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission”—but isn’t the legality of commercial drones in the US still a gray area? “There are no shades of gray in FAA regulations,” states the FAA website’s FAQs on “Busting Myths about the FAA and Unmanned Aircraft.”
“Open source software and collaborative development are advancing technologies in the hottest, most cutting-edge areas. The Dronecode Project is a perfect example of this,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “By becoming a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project, the Dronecode community will receive the support required of a massive project right at its moment of breakthrough. The result will be even greater innovation and a common platform for drone and robotics open source projects.”
The Dronecode Project has some marquee names already on board as founding members: 3D Robotics, Baidu, Box, DroneDeploy, Intel, jDrones, Laser Navigation, Qualcomm Technologies, SkyWard, Squadrone System, Walkera, and Yuneec.
To learn more about Dronecode Project and to start contributing today, visit www.dronecode.org.
