Alarm.com, Qualcomm Unleash Guard Dog Drones

Burglars, beware! Your next victim may be guarded from above.

Security company Alarm.com unveiled plans last week to create an autonomous drone application to strengthen home and business security systems by combining the company’s multi-sensor awareness software with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Flight drone platform. The smart drone can navigate across a property and transmit hi-res video to owners and can also investigate potential invasions.

“By analyzing data across the devices on our platform, we have created unique capabilities that make properties safer, smarter and more efficient,” Alarm.com Chief Product Officer  Daniel Kerzner said in a press release.

“Our intelligent drone deployment system will be designed to provide targeted video in response to specific events around a property – augmenting fixed location cameras and enhancing the active security perimeter for homes and businesses,” Kerzner added.

The company’s “Insights Engine” uses machine-learning algorithms generated by devices and sensors in a connected property.  The smart-drone system can then recognize patterns and detect invasive anomalies and, if necessary, “release the hounds.”

With privacy controls, property owners can share video feeds with a central monitoring station and law enforcement.

“This is a very interesting application for drones, which at their core are essentially flying cameras, and by using other advanced capabilities of our Snapdragon processors, Alarm.com is designing a whole new way to provide security to properties,” said Hugo Swart, senior director, product management, Qualcomm Technologies.

For Qualcomm, the new partnership is another step forward in the company’s drone-sector saga. In 2015, Qualcomm launched the Snapdragon Flight, entering a new sector for the wireless telecommunications giant.

In September, Qualcomm and AT&T launched a research partnership to explore drone use within wireless networks.

Other companies see a bright future for drone “guard dogs” as well. In September, Bay-Area startup Aptonomy Inc. demonstrated what it calls a “flying security guard”– a DJI S-1000+ all-seeing, human-detecting octocopter that will autonomously patrol a pre-set perimeter to scout out potential intruders.

In 2015, Japanese company SeCom announced the development of a “drone guard dog” – a $6,000 commercial-security drone designed to roam factories and commercial buildings and investigate suspicious activity, sending a stream of live-video to its human counterparts.