The DRDO Netra (Literally ''Eyes'' in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

) is an

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n, light-weight, autonomous

UAV An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Drone ...

for

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

and

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

operations. It has been jointly developed by the Research and Development Establishment (R&DE), and IdeaForge, a

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

-based private firm.

Design and development

The Netra is a lightweight

, manufactured by carbon fiber composites, that uses

quadcopter A quadcopter, also called quadrocopter, or quadrotor is a type of helicopter or multicopter that has four rotors. Although quadrotor helicopters and convertiplanes have long been flown experimentally, the configuration remained a curiosity ...

s to provide lift and control giving a

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can takeoff and landing, take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust- ...

capability. It has no moving parts other than the rotors, motors and transmissions, and hence it requires very low maintenance. The use of carbon-fibre has resulted in a light weight of , which makes the Netra very portable. A backpack case allows operators to carry the system to field locations to serve as the base station. It also contains the power supply, military-grade controller, hand-held operator console and the communication systems.

Capabilities

Netra can be launched from a small clearing, and it can fly up to a distance of 2.5 km from its take-off point. The operational altitude of the UAV is 200 m. With an on-board wireless transmitter, it can carry out surveillance in an area of 1.5 km Line of Sight (LOS) at the height of 300 m, for 30 minutes on a single battery charge. It has a high resolution CCD camera with a pan/tilt and zoom to facilitate wider surveillance and can also carry a thermal camera for night operations. The zoom-in camera can identify human activity up to 500 m away, and can send live video feed of objects within a radius of 5 km. The images are sent through a local wireless network to laptops for monitoring. Flight and navigation is independent of user-input, and is controlled by an on-board auto-pilot with the help of anti-collision sensors. The user interface offers

waypoint A waypoint is a point or place on a route or line of travel, a stopping point, an intermediate point, or point at which course is changed, the first use of the term tracing to 1880. In modern terms, it most often refers to coordinates which spe ...

navigation, in which the user specifies the location of the target and the UAV automatically flies to that location. A built-in fail-safe allows it to return to base if there is loss of communication with the controller or if the battery is low in power. The UAV cannot yet operate in rain and further research is being done to make it operable in all weather conditions.

Trials

10 prototypes were made during the development stage by DRDO and they were put under tests like the temperature tests (from -10 °C to 55 °C) and high-altitude tests. After the successful trials, the UAV was cleared for production and induction. The development stage has been completed and Ideaforge is responsible for the production. The company has manufacturing capacity of 10 units per month. The base price of the UAV is ₹15-20

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

(1.5-2 million), which can increase on purchase of additional components like a thermal camera.

Further development

Ideaforge is also working on a more advanced version of Netra, which will have an increased flight time from the present 30-minute per battery charge.

Operations

Netra has done well in the Indian market, with several central and state armed police forces procuring it, and more police units interested in its capability. With the civilian use of UAVs gaining popularity in

, ideaForge has given about 200 demonstrations to prospective buyers. The drone is designed to be used in hostage situations, border infiltration monitoring, law enforcement operations,

search and rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

operations,

disaster management Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actua ...

and

aerial photography Aerial photography (or airborne imagery) is the taking of photographs from an aircraft or other flight, airborne platforms. When taking motion pictures, it is also known as aerial videography. Platforms for aerial photography include fixed-wi ...

. It can also be used in naxal-affected districts, in border locations across

for

, and for anti-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations in dense forested areas, where it can use its camera payloads to track human activity. It can also operate in urban quarters, in situations similar to that of the

2008 Mumbai attacks The 2008 Mumbai attacks, also referred to as 26/11 attacks, were a series of coordinated Islamic terrorism, Islamist terrorist attacks that took place in November 2008, when 10 members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist o ...

. It was deployed by the local law enforcement during a political rally in

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

. Gujarat Police purchased two systems at a unit price of ₹55

from IdeaForge. In July 2013 during the 136th Jagannath Rath Yatra,

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

became the first Indian city to use UAVs for crowd management. Three Netra UAVs were used in

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand (, ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. The state is bordered by Himachal Pradesh to the n ...

by the NDRF for locating people during the

2013 North India floods In June 2013, a mid-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides, becoming the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, 2004 tsunami. The r ...

. It was Netra's first deployment in a disaster rescue operation. They were used in

Badrinath Badrinath is a town and nagar panchayat in Chamoli district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is a Hindu holy place, and is one of the four sites in India's Char Dham pilgrimage. It is also part of India's Chota Char Dham pilgrimage c ...

and

Kedarnath Kedarnath is a town and Nagar Panchayat in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand, India, known primarily for the Kedarnath Temple. It is approximately 86.5 kilometres from Rudraprayag, the district headquarters. Kedarnath is the most remote ...

, where real-time monitoring of their video feed helped locate hundreds of survivors with precision. The

Indo-Tibetan Border Police The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is a Central Armed Police Forces, central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs (India), Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding Border guard, India’s border with ...

also deployed the UAV on 24 June in remote locations like

, Bhairav Chatti and Jungle Chatti to spot survivors.

Operators

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...

- 10 units *

Border Security Force The Border Security Force (BSF) is a central armed police force in India under the Ministry of Home Affairs. It is responsible for guarding India’s borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. It was formed in the wake of the Indo-Pak War of 196 ...

(BSF) *

* Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) - 12 units *

Mumbai Police The Greater Mumbai Police (Marathi language, Marathi: बृहन्मुंबई पोलीस, IAST: ''Brihanmumbaī Pulīs'', formerly ''Bombay City Police'') is the Police, police department of the city of Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a cit ...

Maharashtra Police Maharashtra Police (IAST: ''Mahārāṣṭra Polīs Sēvā'', formerly '' Bombay State Police'') is the law enforcement agency responsible for the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is headed by Director General of Police, Rashmi Shukla (IPS), an ...

* Gujarat Police - 2 units * NDRF - 1 *

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

and several other state police and central paramilitary forces have shown interest in the UAV.

Specifications

References

External links

IdeaForge official website

Images

Netra flying

Videos

Netra UAV - Youtube
{{Unmanned aerial vehicles of DRDO Defence companies of India Unmanned aerial vehicles of India Military equipment of India Rustom