Above the Arctic:
An Intel Drone Expedition

One ship. One team. One mission: Help save the polar bears before it’s too late. Our planet’s climate is changing fast and animals like the polar bear are struggling to adapt. Our drones are built to capture high-res imagery and data in harsh winds and weather, making them uniquely positioned to aid the study of polar bears and their changing environment.

Our Expedition

Welcome to 80° North, the front lines of climate change and the home of the polar bears. Rapidly changing environments make this terrain more challenging for researchers than ever before. The Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone was designed to battle extreme conditions and capture thermal data and photography for commercial use. Our drone team applied these same features to test a new way of studying polar bears in the arctic. This is their story.

MEET THE INTEL® FALCON™ 8+ DRONE

The applications of the Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone go beyond the arctic seas. Intel is leading a new era of drone solutions and expanding the potential of drones to transform business. Industries like oil and gas, construction, utilities and agriculture are using commercial drones to solve problems they never could before. Learn more about what commercial drones can do.

Explore commercial drones ›

THE TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE MISSION

The Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone’s remarkable stability, robust performance, and thermal camera can detect polar bears across the arctic with minimal risk to researchers and the animals themselves. Learn more about the tech behind our test mission.

A NEW FRONTIER FOR CLIMATE RESEARCH

Intel drone technology could revolutionize the way arctic researchers like Ole study our changing planet. Learn more about the hero of this expedition: the Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone.

Drones could significantly impact the way we study our planet and the animals who call it home. Our expedition to the arctic proved that drones can change the way researchers tackle even the most challenging problems across the world. We’ve only just begun to explore its potential.

Intel drone pilot Jeffrey Lo was the mission’s technology expert. The Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone had never been tested in conditions as bitter and brutal as the arctic. It was a serious challenge with serious potential.

Ole Liodden makes the journey to 80° North every summer to study the polar bear population. He knows this icy world better than anyone, yet his research is only becoming more challenging each year. Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone has the potential to change his research forever.

Polar bears are almost invisible in their snowy white wilderness, making them a challenging animal to track. The Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone’s thermal camera gave Ole and his team the tools to detect them in a safe, non-invasive way.

The drone’s thermal camera was able to detect even the slightest difference in temperature between a sleeping polar bear and the snowy mountainside.

The Intel® Falcon™ 8+ drone was also able to spot polar bears swimming in the surrounding water. From a distance, it can be almost impossible to distinguish them from the floating ice caps, but the drone provided the team with a unique perspective.

The Intel® Falcon™ 8+ system provided Jeffrey Lo and his team with a real-time view from the perspective of the drone, delivering thermal data instantly for their time-sensitive mission.