Home security solutions provider unveils plans for drone system

Unwanted visitors or intruders at your home or business will soon risk being caught on video via drone. Alarm.com, a security platform developer that provides security solutions to millions in the U.S., has announced plans to partner with Qualcomm. The partnership will develop autonomous, video-enabled drone applications used to extend the capabilities of traditional home or business security solutions.

“This is a very interesting application for drones, which at their core are essentially flying cameras,” said Hugo Swart, senior director of product management at Qualcomm Technologies Inc. “Alarm.com is designing a whole new way to bring security to properties.”

Using machine-learning algorithms coupled with the data set generated from sensors and cameras, Alarm.com’s system will be able to fly through a property and provide a high-resolution video feed to the property owner. According to the company, the system will be able to recognize complex activity patterns, detect anomalies and then respond to events for the property owner. The property owner will be able to share the video feed with a central monitoring station and emergency responders. Daniel Kerzner, chief product officer for Alarm.com, said the drone security platform will help to augment fixed location cameras and enhance the security perimeter for properties. According to Alarm.com, the system will be functional inside and outside of a property.

Qualcomm will supply its Snapdragon flight platform that it first released in September 2015. The platform, originally designed for the consumer drone market, is based on Qualcomm’s 801 processor and allows for what the company calls superior processing power per unit of weight, including the ability to take 4K video, communicate, navigate in real-time and utilize real-time flight assistance.

In April 2016, Qualcomm earned permission from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to perform platform and flight tests at its San Diego campus. Part of the tests involved the Snapdragon flight and development platform, a system designed to perform obstacle avoidance, waypoint to waypoint navigation, landing zone determination and stabilized hovering.