CIOInsider India Magazine

From doing surveillance in the military, farming the fields to delivering vaccines, Drones are soon gaining clout in India’s battle against COVID-19. Their role is equally vital as the roles of Arogya Settu, PhonePe, Zomato and others, by proving what it means to practise social distancing. These pandemic fighting social distance saving technological devices have been on the block before, but rose in fame when the tough times came.

Although COVID warriors like banks, defense, healthcare and not to mention media tirelessly breaking sweat despite how dreadful the situation is. But with a population of 1,393,568,297 equivalent to 17.7 percent of the world’s population according to Worldometer, India’s ways of using high-end tech really does justice to not the ones staying indoors, but to the COVID Warriors as well. High-end tech devices such as Drones, certainly help curb the spread and in fact, many sectors have deployed them to execute their operations in a smart automotive manner.

To top it off, logistic service providers namely BlueDart have designed Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium, to deliver vaccines and emergency medical supplies to India's most remote locations. In fact, a lot of technological firms are using Drones to perform various roles in feeding demands expected in various sectors.

At this rate, the Indian Drone market is the Indian UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) Drones Market is estimated to reach $ 810 million by FY2026, growing at a CAGR of 14.61 percent. Mostly due to rapid technological breakthroughs and the increased need for better security systems and to extinguish the corona virus

Dunzo to Pilot Aerial Delivery of Medicines
For the 'Medicine from the Sky Project,' Google-backed delivery and e-commerce business Dunzo Digital is leading a Med-Air coalition with industry professionals to undertake experimental BVLOS (Below Visual Line of Sight) drone delivery flights. The goal is to increase healthcare access during the Covid-19 pandemic. The program intends to provide medical supplies to several regions across Telangana. The drone delivery system will use the state's existing logistics network and will focus on an end-to-end ecosystem for drone-based logistic transportation.

“This is one of the first programs of its kind in the country, where many drones fly BVLOS to prove their worth in the healthcare supply chain. The goal is to provide rural communities with equal access to healthcare.”
Furthermore, despite infrastructural obstacles and lockdowns, this much-needed endeavour will ensure that basics like vaccines and medicines continue to be delivered.

BlueDart’s Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium
The Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium was launched by Blue Dart, India's top express logistics service provider and a subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group (DPDHL), with the purpose of deploying drones to improve the delivery of vaccines and emergency medical supplies to India's most distant places. The Blue Dart Med-Express Consortium is working on the 'Medicine from the Sky' initiative with the Telangana government, the World Economic Forum, Niti Aayog, and Healthnet Global.

The Ministry of Civil Aviation has granted the project the necessary exemptions and rights to undertake drone flights in Telangana on an experimental basis (MoCA). The purpose is to test an alternate logistical method for picking up and delivering health-care products (medicines, covid-19 vaccines, blood units, diagnostic specimens, and other life-saving equipment) from a distribution centre to a specific location and back.

“The collaboration intends to enable safer, efficient, and cost-effective Drone delivery flights. It is possible to cut current logistics costs by putting in place efficient processes, making healthcare logistics faster and more efficient. We are ecstatic to have been awarded the authority to begin operations, and this is unquestionably the need of the hour. The worst is yet to come for mankind, and Blue Dart is dedicated to giving back to the communities in which it operates, and will always be ready to take one step forward", says Ketan Kulkarni, CMO and Head, Business Development, Blue Dart.

Drones Becoming the Farmer's Best Friend?
Much of being an empowering tool for farmers, these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) are in fact playing the roles of weather reporter, a crop condition checker, overseeing irrigation. Agriculture drones enable farmers to adapt to individual circumstances and make thoughtful decisions as a result. Crop health, crop treatment, crop scouting, irrigation, field soil analysis, and crop damage assessments are all aided by the information gathered. The drone survey increases crop yields while reducing time and costs. At this rate they might as well be considered as the cream of the crop.

Drones typically contain a navigation system, GPS, several sensors, high-resolution cameras, programmable controllers, and autonomous drone tools. Since most farmers utilize satellite imagery as a starting point for farm management. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) equipped with modern technology can obtain more exact data for precision agriculture than satellites. They then use agri-tech applications to process the data and generate useful information.

Drones Serving the Indian Army
Drones can examine enormous areas of land in a short amount of time, providing real-time (and secure) feedback for swift decision-making. Auto-surveillance drones can now be controlled by commanding officers in battalions. Even on auto-pilot, these drones can detect camouflaged hostile activity. Along sensitive terrain regions, this increases vigilance and reduces reaction time.

Each soldier's powers are enhanced by the drones. During active missions, they provide stealthy and crucial reconnaissance. These drones fly softly, gracefully, and almost undetected through target areas. High-resolution optical and thermal imaging can provide a real-time account of every barrel, person, vehicle, weapon cache, and other object on the premises. They can also track and mark moving targets virtually. All of these factors contribute to ground forces' efficiency, making drones perfect strategic and execution partners for the Indian Army.

Surveillance in Hazardous Areas
Drones, for one, were employed in the 3D mapping for the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the Raebareli–Allahabad Highway by an autonomous GOI department. DeTect Technologies has created a patented positioning system with Hindustan Petroleum, Indian Oil, and GAIL that allows drones to autonomously monitor buildings such as a boiler inside a facility. In 2018, the Indian Forest Department used drones to monitor a 13-crore plantation in Nagpur. Tata Steel, for example, is working on deploying drones for surveillance.

The demand for border security concerns and healthcare requirements is creating multiple potential possibilities for the UAV Drones market in India, as Drone penetration in India's sectors grows. End-users are increasingly receiving various types of Drones, such as Fixed Wing, HALE, MALE, and UCAV, to verify their identity, in tandem with the Government of India's increasing initiatives in widely utilizing Drones in various activities such as defense, entertainment, industrial, agriculture, and commercial uses, which is directly pushing the demand for the market over the cosmos.