Expanding Frontiers of Micro Air Vehicles

Interestingly, Netra(meaning eye in Sanskrit), a smart micro vehicle produced by  the private enterprise Idea Forge,  after successfully perfected the technology of this device in collaboration with DRDO, has proved to be quite popular with the Indian defence forces.”When we made the device, we wanted it to be  relevant to the Indian military. There are many  companies that make UAVs but there are few that understand  the customers and make customized solutions for Indian conditions,” says a spokesman of Idea Forge. This spider like micro air vehicle can be deployed  for a variety of end uses including  anti terror and counter insurgency operations, hostage situation, monitor  the movement of militants and terrorists across the poorly guarded porous international borders ,battling guerillas,  search and rescue operations, low intensity urban warfare as well as crowd management. It can also monitor events and developments from a distance of 400-metrees through a highly  sensitive imaging system.

 

On another front, the Bangalore based Aurora Integrated Systems(AIS) makes a miniature drone that  features  an infrared sensor equipped to  spot the movement of humans and equipment  even under the cover of darkness from a distance of 500-metres. As things stand now, micro and mini UAVs with  advanced imaging systems are poised to become the tireless workhorse of the  future air power. Meanwhile, with a view to create talented  human resources  base for an ambitious national programme  aimed at designing and developing mini and micro air vehicles, National Design and Research Forum(NDRF), a part of the Institution of Engineers is poised to launch an internship programme for students who will work on well  identified  micro air vehicles projects.”NDRF has an active programme going on in the field of micro air vehicles with  the funding coming from DRDO and DST(Department of Science and Technology) and we are looking at getting at least 30 students from various colleges in the country  placed in these projects over the course of the next one year” says Muralikrishna Reddy, Director of NDRF. 

 

In the view of NDRF, these micro air vehicles  in addition to their well proven applications in the area of defence and homeland security can  be deployed during emergencies  to save life and property. In the context of the growing number of  fire accidents in the country,  an acute need for pressing into service a range of smart micro and mini air vehicles to  minimize the destruction of property and loss of life is being  felt acutely .According to a spokesman of NDRF,MAVs can be effectively used to assess damage  and look for casualties  during fire accidents and  other emergency situations. “There are MAVs and other vehicles that have to crawl, submerge for underwater operations and other functions. While we  have sensors and other essentials , we have to develop the camera and signals for the channels,” says an NDRF spokesman. In the ultimate analysis, MAVs are expected to play a critical role in disaster management in the years ahead.

 

The Rs.1,000-million national programme on MAVs that would harness the resources and expertise available in scientific organisations, academic institutions and industrial enterprises  cutting across public-private sector barriers seeks to realize a rang e of  high performance MAVs with multiple uses. As envisaged now, these all composite,  aerodynamically efficient versatile MAVs with remote sensing capability and real time data transmission feature could meet such needs as surveillance and reconnaissance, counter terrorism and  counter insurgency, monitoring of floods, earthquakes and gas leaks, as well as geological surveys and resources prospecting. Similarly they can be used for detecting biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. In the ultimate analysis, it is planned to develop fixed wing, flapping wing and rotary wing MAVs meant for different end uses.

 

In a novel approach to developing MAVs, Indian research laboratories involved in realizing the various technological elements of such vehicles would try to mimic nature to turn the MAVs into aerodynamically  efficient and operationally superb vehicles. Significantly, the sensor devices based on MEMS(micro electro mechanical systems) and biological substances could enhance the operational capability of MAVs by a substantial extent . In particular, it is planned to emulate bird flights for designing  the aerodynamic features of MAVs. Indeed   wedding biology with the engineering  makes for a win-win situation in so far as the development of  next generation  MAVs is concerned.

 

Some of the MAVs planned to be developed under the national programme would weigh 300-gms  with the plan to reduce their weight to  200kg. The most conspicuous advantageous feature of MAVs is that they are cost efficient and easy to handle in addition to being precise and accurate in identifying  targets.

 

All said and done, development of MAVs is a challenging job on account of their instability and reduced aerodynamic efficiency. The biggest problem is how to reduce the drag experienced by  MAVs without compromising  their functional utility. Moreover, these MAVs should be in a position to fly, perch, loiter, glide and land with the ease and grace of a bird or a insect. According to Lt.Gen(Rtd) V.J.Sundaram,a  leading expert on micro and mini air vehicles, sensors, bio mimetics, brain machine interface, vision  based  control, navigation and guidance, simulation, swarm operations and technical support facilities have been identified as  critical technology areas for the national programme on MAVs.”Appropriate  integration of micro, nano, bio, cogno and information technologies for sensors as well as power supplies based on light weight batteries and fuel cells are essential” notes Sundaram. However, he lamented the fact  that  India is lagging behind in converting the results of scientific research into tangible technology.

 

Sundaram  is of view that for flapping wing MAVs direct mimicry of nature  could be an ideal proposition but this happens to be a painstaking process. In recent years, the emerging  science of  bio mimicry is being taken seriously by those developing aerial vehicles of varying specifications including large aircraft. For such an emulation of nature makes for the lesser drag and higher efficiency of the vehicle.”Bio mimicry is looking at how you can use Mother Nature as a measure. It is looking to the biological systems and seeing where you can find guidance and inspiration” observes David Hills, a flight physics researcher with Airbus Industries.

 

Thanks to the endeavors of NDRF, a programme on fixed wing micro air vehicles has resulted in the development of three all composite  aerodynamically efficient and fully autonomous MAVs—Black Kite, Golden Hawk and Pushpak. All the three of them are electrically propelled and provide endurance in excess of thirty minutes. The airframe is structurally optimized and the avionics subsystems  are optimally routed  to have a central  power distribution system. The entire platform of three MAVs has been made in keeping in mind the ease of assembly, operations and recovery.

 

Views expressed are personal