A barrel roll while zipping over the tarmac, a steep vertical climb followed by a rapid descent, and a formation where machines come dangerously close to each other... Images that are often associated with supersonic fighter jets in air shows of Aero India came alive in their miniature form on Thursday.
For the first time, the air show had a display by model aeroplanes and a competition for drones — the Drone Olympics — which saw 17 teams vying for cash prizes totalling ₹36 lakh. In the run-up to Aero India, 57 drones tested their mettle and 17 made it to the finals, held on Thursday. While the number was lower than what Ministry of Defence officials had expected, they believed it was a “good enough start” to what would hopefully propel the private Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) industry in the country.
The drones were tested in various categories — surveillance, which involved fixed vertical takeoff and landing and was judged on flight times and ability to detect human-sized targets; weight drop challenge in which light-weight drones dropped 2-kg package — perhaps medicines or essential supplies — to targets 2 km away; and flying formation.
UAS-DTU, a team of undergraduate students from Delhi Technological University, won the top honours in flying formations, which included a delicate dance of numerous shapes and forms between multiple drones in the air. Pranjal Shiva, team leader, said that while the hardware was sourced, the algorithm which dictated the movement of drones and autonomous flying was developed by the students. “We worked really hard for the competition, spending ₹2 lakh to ₹3 lakh to come for the competition as well as ₹2 lakh to ₹5 lakh on the drones. But what gave us the edge was that we were a tightly knit team of 22 students passionate about such competitions,” he said.
Starting the show off was drone racing, where individuals raced against the clock in a small setup by the tarmac. Covering the loops in his custom-built drone in 32 seconds and taking pole position on the podium was 15-year-old Aaradhya Kulshrestha.
It was two years ago that the Bengaluru-based class 10 student saw a drone pilot in Dubai. Since then, using Internet as the source of learning, he has built eight drones, one of which — the 500-gram drone — was used at Aero India. “I assembled it at home using parts imported from abroad. It takes nearly five months to build something like this. But a drone is just 30% of the performance; the rest is the pilot’s abilities,” he said.
The winners
In the surveillance category with drones weighing less than 4 kg, Sagar Defense, Mumbai, came first, while Drovengers Quad came out tops in drones weighing more than 4 kg. For hybrid-design drones weighing 4-20 kg, Daksha team of Madras Institute of Technology was the winner. In the weight drop challenge, Thanos of Hyderabad triumphed.
Sanjay Jaju, joint secretary, Department of Defence Production, said the competition’s aim was encouraging interest in UAVs. “India was late into the fields of fighter jets and defence aviation, but in drones we are on a par. It is an important sector, considering that it will change the face of national security with developments in Artificial Intelligence and other technology,” he said.
