DJI, notable drone manufacturer, has unveiled the Manifold, an embedded computer for drones. The computer, which runs on Ubuntu Linux. It’s updated platform and powerful hardware will allow for more strict flight control and more detailed use.
The Manifold is designed for developed, the company said, and its system supports CUDA, OpenCV and ROS. It’s ideally for research and development of professional applications, and can run the DJI Onboard SDK, as well as access flight data, and is capable of intelligent control and data analysis.
The Manifold is set to hit the market at $499, and it is compatible with the #3,299 Marice 100 drone. The Manifold uses Ubuntu 14.04 and has a Nvidia Tegra K1 quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 processor with 192 GPU cores, with clock speeds up to 2.2GHz, that enables the GPU cores to make throughput of 326 gigaflops, according to the company. It has USB, Ethernet, Mini-PCIe, HDMI, UART, SPI and I2C ports, and powers up to 15 watts.
Canonical, Ubuntu maker, adds that the Manifold is compatible with other third-party sensors that enable developers to pair with a long list of devices such as infraref cameras, geographical surveying equipment and atmospheric research devices to the Matrice 100.
