UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLES

TECHSAGAR EMERGINGTECH WEBINAR SERIES

TechSagar hosted the second webinar on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The
esteemed panelists included Dr. SN Omkar (Chief Research Scientist at IISc),
Mr. Karan Kamdar (CEO, 1Martian Way), Mr. Bhagvan Kommadi (Director,
ValueMomentum) and Dr. Amit K. Mondal (Individual Researcher)

TechSagar is a technology repository that is supported by

the office of National Cyber Security Coordinator. The Currently, TechSagar has 2100+ companies,
value proposition of TechSagar is to showcase India’s 370+ Academic institutes, 3000+ capability
technology capability. As an outcome, it aims to identify
definitions, 3700+ services, 1200+ individual
individuals, entities and institutions that are involved in
critical technology capability building and provide a map Researchers and 5300+ products and solutions
of critical cybertech capabilities in India. It provides ways listed on the portal. Specifically, for UAV,
to search, query, filter, and analyze information and tech
TechSagar has 56 Companies, 15 Academic
areas for different purposes.
institutes, 9 R&D centers, 20 Researchers and
In September 2020, TechSagar hosted the 2nd webinar,
where the team had a discussion on Unmanned Aerial 49 Products.
Vehicle (UAV). The webinar was moderated by Mr.
Vinayak Godse, Vice President at DSCI. The discussion strategically about national security etc. TechSagar also
helped in getting insights from multiple directions – aims to bring individuals from various fields to
Academic, Start-up, Enterprise and Individual Research. understand nuances in supply-chain, gaps in capability
The discussion raised an important point about enhancements and much more.
Technology – discussion around Politics and pandemic [Opening statements]: UAV is one area where India is
are incomplete without the reference to the technology. progressing rapidly. IISc has a decade-old lab pertaining
Historically, we have seen that society always progresses to drone technology. Drone, as a field, has various
with the help of Technology. TechSagar talks about 25 components. First, as composite manufacturing, India
such technology areas that are essential for the has a lot of expertise and the Government has pushed
development of any country. It is meant to have national many initiatives in the right direction. We have an
level overview of the capabilities in our country. UAV is ecosystem to manufacture the structure of the drone.
one of the important areas - It has applications in both Second, if we look at the integration of various
commercial as well as personal use cases. UAV has also components – motor, electronics, propeller – about 25%
helped certain sectors, for example Agriculture - to is indigenous, while 75% is imported. We are behind in
understand certain nuances, Defense sector - to think Propulsion systems such as batteries. There are efforts,
but we have a long journey ahead of us. In order to make delivery of First-Aid kits etc. UAVs can help us to prepare
indigenous technology, cultural change at the national for a future pandemic.
level has to happen – standardization needs to happen,
Other countries such as Australia have taken UAV
Academic research has to match with industry
applications a little further. Based on local regulations,
development (and vice versa). Standardization in control
people can find out the density of UAVs in the airspace,
algorithm, software, manufacturing must be taught and
type of usage and categories (recreational, commercial
practiced. Care must be taken that the standardization
and others). People can also find out how free is the
process should not be complex, else it might have an
airspace. These examples show some of the opportunity
adverse impact on the industry.
areas that Indian companies can take inspiration from.
For India to transition from mere assembler of the India now has its own map (Bhuvan) – the Government
Drones, to pure manufacturer, we need to ensure that is planning to go as close as 10 cm resolution. Drones can
every component is made inhouse. We as a country be applied here.
should also focus on building the Brands. This will help
[Question]: If you want to depict the supply chain
at-scale adoption of the technology. India is seeing the
of UAV, what is the most significant component of
development in this direction – there are small companies
technology in the supply chain, where a concerted
that are involved in manufacturing frames and flight
effort is needed to build our capabilities?
controllers. However, the prices of these indigenous
products are relatively higher than their Chinese Today things have changed a lot. As with the mobile
counterparts. phone, we need to reach to a stage where it becomes our
second nature to use the technology. One of the
UAV is much beyond the hardware – it has flight
examples of opportunity area is as follows - We should
controller firmware, intelligence module (AI, ML,
create a portal where ML algorithms are uploaded. If we
General intelligence), computer vision, biometrics,
want to do an analysis of agricultural land, drone should
navigation and communication protocols. Thus, the
be able to click the photograph and upload it on the
UAV manufacturers need to work cohesively for bringing
portal. The rest of the analysis will be done in the portal
together the HW and SW parts mentioned above.
itself. Thus, in order to progress in any technology area,
Government regulations are also evolving since 2014. It we need to demonstrate the successful application and
was in 2018 that regulators have picked up in UAV. user-friendly attribute of the technology. UAV has the
Another viewpoint that was presented in the opening potential to delink the middle-man structure in some of
comments was whether UAV has been socially the application areas, especially if applied to agriculture
acceptable. For increasing the acceptability, companies and farms. UAVs have also been applied in the radiation
need to demonstrate various use cases of the technology. field.
Information Technology Development Agency (ITDA)
The key message is that unless the technology area is
Uttarakhand and National Technical Research
taken care of end-to-end, it may not be looked as a
Organization (NTRO) have signed MoU to establish
product. One of the key reasons for the success of some
state of the art center for Drone application and research.
of the drone brands is that company can showcase the
The global UAV market size is USD 21.47Bn., while the completeness in the supply-chain. Standardization is the
market in India will be close to USD 85Mn. by 2021. The key to make any technology area a product.
opportunity areas are retail, agriculture that are discussed
[Question]: How can we regulate or control the
above. Additionally, COVID has given rise to
UAV against the use of weaponization? How can we
applications of UAV in the field of Telemedicine -
make effective measures?
surveillance of lab samples, collecting blood samples,
The answer is yes. Imagine that, just like in other There is interest in algorithm development and open-
countries, you can categorize the UAVs based on their source code development. But largely, the interest of the
type (Recreational, Government, Commercial etc.), and community is towards the application side of drones.
additionally you can set up the air-traffic control. Further,
[Question]: From a career perspective, how do you
AI/ML can be applied to check whether the suggested
entice Engineering mindset towards the UAV
rules are being followed (for example, checking the
technology area? What is your suggestion to
weight of the drone, checking the license of the drone,
someone who is starting (student, start-up etc.)?
height and visual line of sight).
UAV is a multi-disciplinary field – People from
There is also a huge opportunity for the commercial
Computer Science, Electronics, Mechanical Engineering
market, where the app is free. App market is the area
are all contributing towards the success of the drones.
where there is a huge opportunity for India. Also, there
Companies can attract the students through internships
are a lot of Open-source projects, where developers can
and incentive-based competition. There is a need for
contribute. Local UAV companies can start using the free
creating a conducive environment. Institutes such as IISc
app. Thus, the question is “Can India have its own app
have opened the skill development center.
store for drones?”
Right from high school, students can be attracted to HW
[Question]: Specifically talking about regulations.
projects. Projects to build the drones at the college level
We believe that there are 3 areas – Vehicle specific
can be good initiatives. Students will learn about the
regulations, Operator specific regulation and then
components – batteries, controllers, RC controllers,
the operational specific regulations. How is the
telemetry, etc. The next aspect is the controlling part –
regulation space evolving?
students can take up Python-based projects to control the
So far, the regulations are restricted to take permission drones.
from Police. The challenge is that Police don’t have a
Finally, Start-ups in the Drone industry need to have a
clear definition of Drone. Regulations are progressing
clear vision – being product-focused or service-focused.
over years, but these are mostly in the draft stage. Then,
Future innovation lies in the Product side of the Drone
there are regulatory measures around testing – lot of
industry. Think about out-of-the-box ideas and
consortiums have applied for Beyond Visual Line Of
collaborate to explore the possibilities of converting the
Sight (BVLOS) testing. The Government is making
ideas into the solution.
progress on the regulation front. Geo-Fencing inside the
drone can be applied by drone manufacturers. Standards,
methodologies, etc. need to be out in the public domain,
for people to understand the privacy aspect of drone
usage.
Just recently (beginning of September 2020), Aviation
regulators have roped in Quality Council of India (QCI)
certification for UAV. Under this, the regulators are
going to tie-up with IISc and IIT for providing testing
infrastructure.
[Question]: Mobile, Robotics, OS development etc.,
play an important role. Are you seeing interest level
towards solving firmware, OS, mechatronics
problems at the fundamental level?
 ADDITIONAL LINKS SUMMARY
Some of the useful links shared by our Panelists are as 1. Standardization is a key to make any
follows: technology a success. However, care
must be taken that the standardization
1. https://www.dronedeploy.com/product/marke
process should not be complex, else it
t/#flight
2. https://opensource.com/article/18/2/drone-
might have an adverse impact on the
projects industry
3. https://opensky.wing.com/visitor/map?lat=- 2. UAV is much beyond the hardware – it
28.418053&lng=133.454211&zoom=4 has flight controller firmware,
4. https://amp-au.airxos.io/airspace intelligence module (AI, ML, General
5. https://ok2fly.com.au/?lat=- intelligence), computer vision,
37.80999999999833&lon=144.94999999999914 biometrics, navigation, and
&map=street&zoom=9 communication protocols
6. https://bhuvan-app1.nrsc.gov.in/globe/3d.php 3. Success of technology is defined by its
7. https://www.dji.com/flysafe/geo-map ability to demonstrate the successful
application and user-friendly attribute
4. BVLOS testing and inclusion of QCI
by Aviation regulator are positive steps
in the regulatory side of the UAV field.
 ABOUT TECHSAGAR
TechSagar – India’s Cybertech Repository was conceptualized by the Office of National Cyber Security
Coordinator, Government of India, in partnership with Data Security Council of India (DSCI). It
provides information about 25 technology areas, 5000+ products & solutions, and 3500+ services from
start-ups and large enterprises. The repository facilitates several opportunities to collaborate, connect and
innovate, and endeavors to provide direction for a strategic cyber roadmap of the country in R&D,
industry development, and strengthening the preparedness for National Security.

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