India’s first petrol-operated drone namely ‘DH-Agrigator’ has received ‘Type Certificate’ from the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which enables the manufacturing and selling of drones in the market as per need.
- It has been designed and manufactured by the Ambattur, Chennai (Tamil Nadu) based students’ startup Daksha Unmanned Systems (DUMS) Private Limited.
- DH-Agrigator is an agriculture sprayer drone for farming solutions.
Key Points:
i.Due to the petrol engine, the drone can be operated for long hours in remote agriculture fields barring the need of frequent charging of batteries.
ii.This drone consumes 700 ml of petrol per acre and takes 7 to 10 minutes to spray an acre.
- Its maximum spraying Payload is 12 litres.
iii.It should be noted that MIT (Madras Institute Of Technology) Aerospace Department is offering Research and Development (R&D) to Daksha unit while Anna University is providing drone pilot training courses for those who have passed Class X.
- DUMS is also setting up an exclusive manufacturing unit at Ambattur.
iv.The cost of each drone costs Rs 13 to 15 lakh. However, the Central Government is offering a subsidy of Rs 10 lakh to the Kisan Vikas Kendra (KVK) and Rs 7.5 lakh to Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs).
MS Dhoni launches ‘Droni’ Camera Drone
Indian cricketer Mahendra Singh (MS) Dhoni has launched an indigenous quadcopter consumer camera drone named ‘Droni’ which can be used for different surveillance purposes. It was launched during the Global Drone Expo in Chennai, TN.
- This advanced featured drone is manufactured by Garuda Aerospace Pvt Ltd., of which MS Dhoni is the Brand Ambassador.
- The product will be available in the market by the end of 2022.
Key Points:
i.Garuda Aerospace also launched another indigenous product today called ‘Kisan Drone’ which is battery-powered drone, and is capable of carrying out agricultural pesticide spraying over a land area of 30 acres per day.
ii.With Droni, Garuda Aerospace is venturing into B2C (Business to Consumer) business.
Recent Related News:
i.The Army Design Bureau (ADB) and the Drone Federation of India (DFI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop high-impact drones for Indian soldiers.
ii.Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRT&H) Nitin Gadkari unveiled India’s first prototype of drone transportation of human organs to facilitate quick organ transplant in hospitals.
About Garuda Aerospace:
Founder and CEO– Agnishwar Jayaprakash
Headquarters– Chennai, Tamil Nadu
