Skip to main content

Apple Patents System for Controlling Drones

For such a big company, Apple keeps its number of actual products fairly small. It makes computers, tablets, phones, smartwatches, and a handful of accessories. But that doesn’t mean it's not working with plenty more cutting-edge tech behind the scenes.

As highlighted by Patently Apple, the US Patent & Trademark Office has published a patent application filed by Apple, describing a system for controlling drones.

Apple's Drone Patent Application

The application, which was published on the last patent day (and the last day, overall) of 2020, describes, "an apparatus of a drone, the apparatus comprising: sensors arranged to determine a geographic location and an orientation of the drone; a plurality of antennas configured to form a beam through which the drone communicates data and control signals with a serving cell using a carrier frequency; an application processor; and a wireless modem arranged to communicate with the serving cell through the antenna and with the application processor."

While that's pretty densely technical stuff, the patent application details how the drone's location, orientation, and flight plan in 3D space could be configured using messages exchanged between the drone's processor and a modem.

Related: How To Prevent Drones Infringing on Your Privacy

The reason this is interesting is because it is one of the first times it's been officially acknowledged that Apple is actively working on drone technology.

Don't (Necessarily) Expect an Apple Drone

This doesn't necessarily mean that Apple will eventually release a drone, however. It's highly possible that this is used for Apple's internal operations.

A previous TechCrunch report from 2016 said that Apple was considering using drones as part of its Apple Maps initiative. They could be used to update Apple’s mapping data. A January Bloomberg report also noted that Apple had recruited the services of a "drone specialist" to lobby Washington regarding aviation rules.

It is worth noting that Apple currently sells drone technology such as the DJI Mavic Air 2 UAV both online and through its physical, brick-and-mortar Apple stores. While that alone does not suggest the company has interest in creating its own line of drones, it does show that Apple considers there to be a crossover between its own customers and those seeking out drone technology.

Apple's rival tech giants Amazon and Google (the latter through its Alphabet Wing subsidiary) both have ongoing initiatives involving drones. These primarily focus on the considerable potential of using drones as tools for carrying out deliveries.

Apple's drone patent application was filed June 28, 2019.

Image Credit: Miguel Ángel Hernández/Unsplash CC

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The 9 Different Types of NFTs

Jack Dorsey, the creator of Twitter, sold the world's first tweet for $2.9 million; this bit of news is what introduced most people to the world of NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). Now all the rage, NFTs are being bought and sold like priceless pieces of art. The NFT market is seemingly swarming with digital Mona Lisas, but the question is: besides tweets and pictures, what other types of NFTs are there in the wild? Let's take a dive into the world of NFTs and find that answer. First Off: What Are NFTs? Digital media can be replicated easily and redistributed; however, try making an honest-to-goodness copy of the Mona Lisa down to the brush strokes and the original paper. Think of NFTs as digital non-replicable pieces of art. These are properties that can not be copied or replaced at all. Sure, the media itself can be copied and posted to a person's social media, but the buyer will retain ownership of the NFT, regardless. Hitting Ctrl + C on an NFT and posting it is the equi...

64 Best Free WordPress Blog Themes for 2020

Are you looking for a free WordPress blog theme for your website? There are thousands of free blog themes for WordPress, making it hard for beginners to choose between all the different options. The best WordPress themes can be tough to find. Your free theme needs to be reliable and easily customizable. In this article, we have hand-picked some of the best free WordPress blog themes that you can use on your site. Getting Started with WordPress First, you need to make sure that you are using the best blogging platform . Self-hosted WordPress.org is the perfect platform to start your blog because it gives you lots of freedom, flexibility, and control. We have a useful guide on the difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com . WordPress.org is open source. It comes with support for thousands of free templates (called themes) and extensions (called plugins) that help you grow your blog faster. Take a look at our article on why you should use WordPress to learn more. You can...

The 7 Best Wired Headphones

Premium pick Sony WH1000XM4/B Over-Ear Headphones See On Amazon Brand Sony Battery Life 30 hours Material Synthetic leather Editors choice PeohZarr On-Ear Headphones See On Amazon Brand PeohZarr Material Synthetic leather Bluetooth No Best value Vogek On-Ear Headphones See On Amazon Brand Vogek Material Protein leather Bluetooth No Grado SR80e Prestige See On Amazon Brand Grado Battery Life N/A Material Leather Sony MDR-XB50AP Extra Bass See On Amazon Brand Sony Bluetooth No Additional Tips Yes Summary List 9.20 /10 1. Premium pick: Sony WH1000XM4/B Over-Ear Headphones 9.00 /10 2. Editors choice: PeohZarr On-Ear Headphones 9.00 /10 3. Best value: Vogek On-Ear Headphones 9.00 /10 4. Grado SR80e Prestige 9.00 /10 5. Sony MDR-XB50AP Extra Bass 8.60 /10 6. Panasonic ErgoFit 9.20 /10 7. Apple Ear...