Photo caption: Using gestures, children are able to communicate with the drone to play the life-sized game.

The drone uses VLC technology from Philips Lighting, enabling it to pinpoint its location and navigate and act autonomously. This technology enables ceiling lights to act like an indoor GPS and transmit their location through a modulation of the light which is imperceptible to the human eye, but detectable by smart devices such as drones. The wireless operation between the drone and its ground station is made possible by communication technology from NXP.

Notes to editors:

• Philips Lighting has visualized drones and droids serving customers in its 2030 Smart City Life virtual reality video. 
• Read the article ‘When light takes flight’ by Gerben van der Lugt, Philips Lighting’s Indoor Location Services Leader and Ties van Loon, team leader for Eindhoven University’s Blue Jay drone development project.
• The first autonomous drone has been developed by Blue Jay, which established the world’s first Drone Café. The temporary café had drones picking up and delivering items to tables, navigating by VLC. Partners of Blue Jay are TU/E, NXP, Philips Lighting and Fourtress. 
• The camera on the drone does not record so no personal data is collected. 
• Philips VLC is privacy protected and will not ask nor store any personal data. Each light fixture is using one-way transmission of a luminaire ID or code to the drone using VLC.