Inventing breakthrough technologies that have positive impact and meet society’s needs is at our core. We also believe in fostering collaborations that drive innovation. That’s why Qualcomm Technologies, which includes Qualcomm Government Technologies and Qualcomm CDMA Technologies, is pleased to share the hard work we’ve been doing withNASA喷气推进实验室（JPL）in developing technologies and solutions that power the Mars helicopter, 创造力 ，，，，to prepare for the first powered flight on another planet.

The Mars helicopter project has been in development since 2014 and is the culmination of rigorous testing and innovation. The project is meant to be a technology demonstration by JPL to showcase how autonomous flight can expand the horizon of space exploration, research, and data for future missions and designs. No technical detail would be too small to consider, including the processor that would be responsible for the helicopter’s operation.When JPL approached us about testing and expanding the autonomous capabilities of Ingenuity using products fromQualcomm Technologies, we were thrilled to share in their team’s vision.

有史以来首次太空飞行的挑战

太空的严格构成了在火星上操作直升机的独特挑战 - 挑战我们高通飞行平台，，，，is capable of addressing. The main hurdle is operation itself; due to signals taking minutes to arrive, controlling a helicopter via remote control in real time is impossible. The helicopter must instead receive commands for autonomous operation transmitted from millions of miles away and delayed by 3-22 minutes. 从那里开始，下一个重大挑战是确保系统处理自动操作的系统具有足够高的计算能力，并且鉴于直升机中的大部分功耗来自加热器，以使组件在火星夜晚保持温暖，因此同时具有低功耗。尽管高通航班最初不是为太空旅行而设计的，但它确实具有强大的自动操作features that we believed would be a great starting point in tackling some of these upfront challenges.

In addition to flexible autonomous functionality, Martian radiation and atmospheric conditions were also important considerations for JPL in determining the right choice of robotics platform. Extreme temperatures and temperature cycling can wear out parts very quickly. Plus, some forms of space radiation will gradually or abruptly damage silicon. Normally, thorough testing would be ideal, along with space hardening. Through JPL’s analysis, they were able to determine that certain properties of the Qualcomm Flight technology would reduce risk of faults and would qualify the needs for the first flight on another planet.

Putting together the right toolset

高通航班最初是从地面开发的，考虑到自动驾驶飞行。该平台关注的是针对消费无人机技术的技术好处，例如4K Ultra-HD视频，异质移动计算，通过视觉惯性探测器进行导航以及飞行援助 - 都采用非常小且耐用的包装。当JPL考虑在火星上远程操作直升机的限制时，这些功能都会想到，并且直升机需要计算的复杂算法。直升机在火星上的自主飞行对于驾驶区域至关重要的是，流动站无法轻易访问和打开新的探索可能性，获得高分辨率图像，并通过更快的旅行覆盖了更多地面。

A major factor that helped us get a head start in our collaboration with JPL was our already extensive testing methodology for commercial technology. 我们一直在努力推动我们正在开发的技术的极限，当这使邻近的机会蓬勃发展时，这是令人兴奋的。这简化了将高通航班整合到JPL项目中的过程，并体现了如何 我们高度集成的解决方案和严格的测试使高通技术解决方案可以轻松适应其他行业领域的需求。高通航班不仅可以成功地在我们自己的实验室中成功忍受我们自己严格的硬件测试，还通过JPL在地球上对火星的仿真测试。

该项目还为我们提供了一个独特的机会，可以测试该平台的极端条件。该测试还扭转了有价值的学习，可以应用于未来的任务。例如，我们能够量化JPL暴露于辐射后如何降解的零件如何降解，从而使它们对风险进行建模。这可以使JPL能够决定是否将特定的任务沿着线进行。

除了启用创造力的自主功能外，高通飞行还用于火星漫游者的通信系统。漫游者上高通飞行的计算能力处理了直升机拍摄的照片。这使Ingenuity和Rover都可以同时工作，以收集并准备最佳的照片，这些照片将被发送回地球上的JPL团队。

Better innovation through collaboration

这些测试结果只能通过高通技术与高通政府技术和JPL之间进行周到的合作和信任来实现。从一开始的心态就植根于协作和对话，这使参与的实体能够参与和了解各个方面的环境。彼此深切地相互同情，以外向的心态有助于统一集体思维，从通过使用高通飞行来有效地克服障碍。该关系涉及技术，业务和合同团队，以将来自实体的交叉协作团队汇集在一起​​，以确保对解决方案的2向理解。

Collaborating with JPL on the Mars Helicopter project has been an incredibly exciting honor and a testament to what’s possible when technology companies and end customers work together. This project will shape future technological development for space exploration utilizing commercial technology and research. It also will help drive further innovation in robotics at Qualcomm Technologies. Since the introduction of Qualcomm Flight, we have introduced otherQualcomm Robotics Platforms。我们迫不及待想看看接下来会发生什么。

在悼念
This blog post is dedicated to the inspiring leadership of engineering team lead, Jim Willmore, whose passing occurred during the development of the project. Without Jim’s curiosity and enthusiasm, we wouldn’t know how much risk there was in sending all of these components to space, and NASA might only roll the dice on a project like this once. Jim’s belief in taking on projects that are interesting and inspiring to his team was instrumental in the success of this collaboration.

高通飞行平台和高通机器人平台是高通技术公司和/或其子公司的产品。