India's domestic drones are preparing to take to skies but concerns persist: Experts

Experts predict that India's drone sector will play an increasingly important role in public services such as agriculture, defense, healthcare, and infrastructure maintenance in the future, despite some worries about the safety and privacy of these unmanned aerial vehicles.

Drones are small pilot-less air crafts that may be controlled remotely using basic equipment such as a smartphone app. These unmanned vehicles nee significantly less work , time and energy to operate, and can travel over long distances and through tough terrains while being controlled with a remote by a single person.

Drone technology is gaining popularity and adoption across geographies and industries and India is no exception. According to Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, India will require around one lakh drone pilots in the coming years.

India's largest drone festival was recently held in the national capital to highlight the potential of the domestic drone sector. The Bharat Drone Mahotsav was attended by more than 1,600 delegates. It was a two-day event held in New Delhi on May 27 and 28. The list of attendees included government officials, foreign embassies, PSUs, private firms, and drone startups, among others.

The firms displayed unmanned vehicles that are ready for use in industries such as defense, agriculture, and survey mapping, as well as prospective cutting-edge concepts that would see drones carrying patients in crises and delivering goods and supplies on a large scale.

Theta Enerlytics, a drone manufacturer based in New Delhi, and Vega Aviation Products displayed their endurance and hard body drones during the festival. "Our drones are made with complete composite materials which enable a higher-flying time than any other drones in their class. Our Theta Falcon can fly up to 150 minutes in a single flight and can carry up to 1 Kg of sensors and payloads," Karan Dhaul  Chairman and co-founder, Theta Enerlytics told PTI.

'Theta Falcon' is perfect for mapping applications, monitoring, and border security, according to Dhaul. The drone takes off vertically, similar to a helicopter, before transitioning to horizontal flight similar to an aeroplane.

The 'Hexacopter Theta Lotus', another drone on display at the event, can carry a weight of upto 10Kgs in optimum conditions and is also capable of stringing guidewires for transmission lines, rope-way bridges, and cable cars. "On a single charge, the Lotus can fly for up to 70 minutes, " Dhaul claimed.

Suhas Chandak, proprietor of Karnataka-based Vega Aviation Products, told PTI,"many of the drones shown at the festival have a distinct and strong use case and would sell well due to the burgeoning demand in the country."

"In India drone companies are already providing services worth 100 crores, and are poised to increase tenfold," Chandak told PTI.

"Now a lot of private players are entering this space, which will undoubtedly lower the cost of drones as well as the services provided by drones for various applications,"  Dharmendra Singh, professor at Department of Electronics & Communication Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee told PTI.

The professor told PTI, that India has adequate infrastructure, a strong supply chain, and high technical capacity for drone deployment, but that there are still certain problems.

"Privacy, hidden monitoring or eavesdropping, and drone crashes are some of the risks that could stymie their widespread use," he informed.

According to Chandak, the government is well aware of these worries, and the country's zoning into green, orange and red zones has handled the majority of anxities and concerns, particulary those related to privacy.

(With PTI Inputs)