Gannet, a sea bird, is known to pursue its prey under water and is capable of hunting fish by diving into the sea. This Gannet, however, is an unmanned aerial vehicle that is capable of remaining under water like a submarine.
Developed by students of Bengaluru’s Sir M. Visvesvaraya Institute of Technology, the UAV called Gannet on Sunday won the best college project award at Aero India 2019 and students walked away with a cash prize of ₹2 lakh. The UAV can not just fly, but also remains under water and does not require much power.
“It has a separate propeller to move under water and also has navigational wings for the autonomous mode,” said Shiv Varun Singh Rajput, a third year mechanical engineering student of MVIT. He along with D. Revanth, an electronics and communication student, and Aman Singh, student of electrical and electronics, have jointly developed Gannet. The vehicle, which weighs 2.6 kg, can go to a depth of up to 20 metres and can remain under water for months. When required, it can be triggered to move. It can fly for 14 to 20 minutes while can be operated under water for four to five hours.
Currently, Gannet is being incubated at the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay to scale it up for commercialisation. “We are the first in the country to do an underwater vehicle. We do not want to keep this as a project but want to commercialise the product. It may take about four months to make it market ready,” he added.
Among others, the camera equipped Gannet has civilian application in fisheries industries and pollution monitoring of rivers. “You don’t require divers in many aspects. Instead, the UAV can be operated.”
