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The autonomous UAV for surveillance and reconnaissance
was inducted into the paramilitary forces last
month while the army, navy and several state police
forces have shown a keen interest in acquiring
it, say its makers.
It was developed by Ideaforge Technology Pvt
Ltd, a company floated by a group of Indian Institute
of Technology (IIT)-Mumbai alumni, and the Pune-based
Research and Development Establishment (Engineers)
laboratory of the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO).
DRDO, after watching the 2009 Aamir Khan-starrer
"3 Idiots", tied up with IdeaForge to
refine the Netra.
It is designed specifically for anti-terrorist
and counter-insurgency operations in forested
areas. It can be used in hostage situations like
the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, border infiltration
monitoring, local law enforcement operations,
search and rescue operations, disaster management
and aerial photography.
"Ten units of Netra have already been taken
by the DRDO for research related works in their
laboratories like Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment
(SASE) in Manali while less than a dozen have
been provided to paramilitary forces," IdeaForge
vice-president (marketing and operations unmanned
systems) Amardeep Singh told IANS.
Netra is light-weight (1.5 kg) and portable,
constructed using carbon fibre composites, allowing
a user to carry the system along with the control
station to field locations. Each unit costs around
Rs.15-20 lakh.
The operator simply selects the locations from
a graphical interface showing the map of the area
and specifies the heights with command either
to hover or traverse through them.
"We have developed 10 prototypes of Netra
that can suit the requirements of paramilitary
forces, police and defence forces. We have now
given the right of production to IdeaForge and
those interested in buying it can directly get
in touch with the company," Alok Mukherjee,
head of the robotics division of DRDO, told IANS.
Talking about its usage in paramilitary forces,
Singh said Netra can help in catching the images
of the mass movement of Maoists hiding in difficult
terrains and alert the forces about their presence.
"We have also demonstrated the Netra during
a political rally in Chandigarh at the request
of police and several other state police forces
have shown keen interest in procuring it,"
said Singh.
The company is now working on the next version
of Netra in order to increase the flight time
from the present 30 minute per battery charge.
It can fly in a radius of 1.5 km at an altitudes
of around 200 metre.
"Netra flies using four high-speed propellers
that allow vertical take-off and landing and provide
the power to soar through the skies. It has a
wireless video transmitter and high resolution
CCD camera with pan/tilt and zoom that sends images
back to the operator," said Mukherjee.
The built-in intelligence in the controller allows
for fail-safe operations wherein in case of either
a communication failure with base station or low
battery, the UAV returns to take-off position
automatically.
(IANS)
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