- 6 min read
- Jan 30, 2021
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The rise of unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs or commonly as they are called, Drones, is a leap forward in the aviation industry. These aircraft do not have a pilot, but are operated from a remote location by humans who are trained to do so. Vital in such a system is the drone software that makes it possible. Drone software developers around the world have open sourced this software code. Thus many open source stacks exist to control these drones.
Any drone software development company is involved in a number of things. These include controlling the Drone to ensure its stability, obtaining data from its sensors, facilitating ground control and mission planning. Thus Drone software development companies know that Drone software development is not an easy task. UAVs or drones come in both military and civil departments. Drones can be used to do a range of things from going to remote places that are otherwise impossible to go to by human beings, carrying out inspection and surveillance.
This blog will discuss the drone software development companies around the world and the software tools including different API’s(Application Programming Interfaces) they use to make their drones work. Drone software should handle rapidly changing real time sensor data and relay the transmissions back to the software just as quickly. The firmware and the middleware in a drone is time critical for this very reason.
The operating system usually works on linux distributions or microsoft IOT and is computer-intensive. The prominent drone development software companies around the world are ArduCopter, DJI, and PX4 autopilot. ArduCopter, the paparazzi project and PX4 autopilot have developed many open source stacks that have further advanced drone software development in the world.
APIs to simplify your drone operations
Nextbrain Technologies is one of Canada’s leading mobile app development companies and keeps track of the latest developments in software development. Drone software developers in our company have developed various API’s to simplify the complexity in carrying out the different tasks in an unmanned aerial vehicle. Following are some of the things that can be done using the API that are in place to help simplify a drone’s operations.
- Remote drone fleet control
Drone software development companies around the world have built separate API’s to help support this feature. This feature of drone software development includes gaining access to and controlling a drone’s flight features remotely. This can be done by using 4G/5G networks. Fleets of drones can also be controlled remotely using this feature. Drone software developers can simply integrate the API into their code and it saves them a lot of time in coding.
- Live HD video feed and gimbal control
remote inspection sometimes calls for high definition video feed. Drone software developers have noticed this and have come up with an API that can do this. Remote inspection is made easier by gimbal control which helps rotate the camera mounted on the drone in any angle the user wants. Drone software developers can integrate provided API into their code which helps writing the next feature they are working on.
- View progress in real time
There are APIs that help a drone software development company reduce delays and deviations without errors. Multiple operations of the drone can be handled simultaneously using certain APIs. This can help increase the productivity of the drone. Internal hardware and software health can also be tracked which is an advantage to drone software developers.
- Automated reports and analytics
certain other API’s track the health of the unmanned aircraft so that it is adequately supplied with. Previous navigation data, fuel and battery logs can be maintained. These are important because without them the drone can be damaged. unmanned aerial vehicles are a very costly affair, and any drone software development company will take care of this fact.
We will now look at the specific API’s that help a drone software development place in its arsenal to make the drone function as perfectly as possible.
Vehicle setup API
This specific API will set up the drone to perform its initial operations including pre flight checks, taking care of the procedures and setting up the vehicle for take-off
Mission control API
This is an API that makes the mission control process easy. Drone software developers have taken care of everything needed for the communication of the drone to its users.
Payload API
This takes care of the payload amount that is mounted on the drone. Drone software developers know that there is a defined payload limit for a specific drone. They know that the drone should perform differently when it is carrying a payload. This API is responsible for handling such tasks.
Gimbal control API
Gimbal is the point where the drone camera is mounted. This API is responsible for the control of the gimbal. It is also responsible for sensing if anything happens to it.
Video streaming API
This API is responsible for seamless video streaming in high definition to its user. The drones used for inspection purposes especially demand this feature so almost every drone software development company in the world provides this feature
Collision avoidance API
the drone is not the only object in the air and every drone software development company knows this. Thus drone software developers have provided the API of collision avoidance where a drone can detect its surrounding objects and avoid collisions with them.
Conclusion
Unmanned aerial vehicles or Drones require state of the art Drone software development companies to develop the software tailored to them. As real time operations and energy savings are on priority list for any drone, drone software developers cannot ignore efficiency. Nextbrain Technologies is a top mobile app development company in Toronto, canada. It has the capabilities to grow into a drone software development company that can provide drone APIs to the world’s users.
