IARI-DTU SENSAGRI Project

This project aims to utilize autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) for agricultural mapping
purposes using sensors such as hyperspectral cameras and thermal infrared cameras. For this
purpose specialized UAVs are required to carry these payloads and their associated computing
units, data storage equipment and communication systems. These sensors weigh between 0.5 to 5kg
and the supporting equipment required would also weigh 0.5-1kg additionally.
Following are the UAVs here at Delhi Technological University which have already been validated
with their autonomous flying capabilities. These UAVs have been developed and tested in a
professional manner incorporating set systems engineering procedures for the same. Such due
process and diligence is unique to the DTU-team as they have been working with mentorship from
Lockheed Martin for more than five years, and due to the close cooperation they have acquired
specific expertise for industrial-type research and development of safe and reliable systems.
Also they have been working with small to mid size UAVs, which are the perfect class of systems
required for the SENSAGRI project based on their payload, endurance and use-case requirements.

Aarush X-1
Specifications: Aarush X-1
Gross Takeoff Weight
34 kg
(GTOW)
Wing Span

3.65 m

Max Payload Capacity

8 kg

Operating Ceiling

5000 feet

Endurance

6 hours

Take-off Distance

60 metres

Landing Distance

90 metres

Engine

50cc, 5 hp
gasoline

Developed under mentorship from Lockheed Martin

Corp. USA, this tactical class UAS is capable of a variety of missions, from surveillance and
Reconnaissance to mapping and fertilizer deployment. It can accommodate various payloads in its
spacious fuselage such as multi sensor imaging devices, synthetic aperture radar, and advanced
communications units. All design and development was done in-house.
Key Capabilities include1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Fully autonomous navigation system

Short takeoff from Tarmac
High definition real time surveillance with EO/IR payloads
Operational in cross winds of 37 Km/hr and gusts of 46 km/hr
Mid-air restart in case of engine failure

Plug And Play Payloads

1. BTC Pan-Tilt Gimbal with Sony block camera, 40x Zoom
2. COFDM based wireless communication system
3. Canon EOS 500D DSLR camera

Achievements
1. Designed and developed under the mentorship of Lockheed Martin, with design reviews
with D.R.D.O.
2. A total of 12 hrs of successful flight hours were recorded.
3. Presented at a Lokarpan Ceremony by DRDO Director-General Dr. VK Saraswat at India
Habitat Centre in November 2012, with attendance by top industry, government and armed
forces officials. Also presented at a public flight demonstration at Haryana Institute of Civil
Aviation, Karnal.

Aarush M
Specifications : Aarush-M
GTOW
22 kg
Wing Span

3.1 m

Max Payload Capacity

4.5 kg

Cruise Speed

60 kmph

Endurance

4 hours

Take-off Distance

50 metres

Landing Distance

80 metres

The Aarush-M UAV was designed as a smaller version of

the Aarush X-1, to participate in the international B
Seafarer Chapters Student Unmanned Air System
Competition (SUAS) 2013 , held at the Naval Air Station, Patuxent River, Maryland, USA.
Engine

50cc, 5 hp
gasoline

This UAS was not only designed, but also entirely fabricated on-campus in our laboratory using
advanced carbon and glass fiber composites.
Plug and Play Payloads1. Canon EOS500D DSLR Camera
2. Canon G10 Camera
3. BTC Pan-Tilt Gimbal with Sony Block Camera
This system was used in the flight demonstration for the AUVSI SUAS 2013 competition in USA, and
secured 6th position out of 35 international teams.
The mission performed tested autonomous navigation, real time 3D waypoint following and dynamic
mission re-tasking capabilities, and imaging and ground target recognition capability based on
computer vision techniques in which the platform fared well. It has been tested for over 4 hours of
flight time.

Aarush X-2
Specifications-Aarush X-2
GTOW
22 kg
Wing Span

3.1 m

Max Payload Capacity

4.5 kg

Cruise Speed

60 kmph

Endurance

4 hours

Take-off Distance

50 metres

Landing Distance

80 metres

Engine

50cc, 5 hp
gasoline

The Aarush X-2 is an optimized version of the X-1, built

with a modified design and finer manufacturing
processes to increase efficiency and make the airframe
lighter and stronger, increasing endurance while having
similar payload capacity

Its key capabilities include 1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

Fully autonomous way point navigation with RTL (return to launch) feature
Both electric and gasoline engine propulsion systems tested
Composite body for lighter GTOW while accommodating heavier payloads
Spacious fuselage to accommodate large sensor payloads
Payload drop capability for release of packages at specific GPS coordinates

This system was demonstrated to Lockheed Martin officials at a technical review and flight
demonstration review in June 2015.
In addition to the above UAVs for which the airframes have been designed and developed in-house,
the team has extensive experience integrating and modifying various commercial airframes so as
to quickly deploy and conduct safe and test flights for autonomous navigation, obstacle avoidance,
and testing of imaging cameras for surveillance, mapping, object detection, localization and
classification.

Garuda
GTOW

Specifications: Garuda
12kg

Wing Span

2.8 m

Max Payload Capacity

3 kg

Propulsion system

2.6 kW electric
motor

Endurance

25 minutes

Take-off Distance

30 metres

Landing Distance

60 metres

Communication Range

1.6 km LOS

Garuda is a modified Sig Rascal 110 airframe which

was used for the AUVSI SUAS 2012 competition in
USA, winning 3rd position overall our of 35
participating teams.
Key capabilities
1.
High resolution imaging using gimbal
stabilized Canon G-10 EO camera
2.
Fully autonomous navigation system
3.
Payload drop feature.

Vihaan
Specifications : Vihaan
GTOW
5.2kg
Wing Span

2.12 m

Max Payload Capacity

2.2 kg

Propulsion system

1.3 kW electric
motor

Endurance

40 minutes

Take-off Distance

Catapult/hand
launched

Vihaan is a modified EPO foam airframe which was used for the AUVSI SUAS 2014 competition in
USA, winning 3rd position overall our of 32 participating teams.
Key Capabilities:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Live video feed through a gimbal stabilized board camera

Dual imaging and Near-IR sensors
Fully autonomous navigation system
Catapult assisted takeoff
Payload drop feature

AIR TITAN

Take-Off/Landing Distance &

Launching Configuration GTOW
Payload Weight

Specifications
<100 feet, tricycle type landing gear with steerable front
nose gear. Can also be hand-launched at GTOW 5 kg.
7kg
3 kg

Communication Range
Endurance
Test Flight Hours

9 to 10 km
30-35 minutes
6 hours

Minimum number of
required flight crew
Payload Stabilization
capability
Achievements

3
Yes

Fully Autonomous with auto take-off & landing

Payload drop from high altitudes with
considerable accuracy
Dedicated Portable Live video terminal

Features
High wing configuration, with stable flying characteristics and a gentle stall.
2 configurations for mounting cameras, a bottom camera port for surveillance along with a
top mounted camera(360 degree pan & tilt for first person view & aerial photography)
Payload drop achieved with accuracy of less than 10 ft.

FPV RANGER
This is a PVC and EPO foam based
durable airframe which is stable
and easy to fly manually in
restricted spaces. The DTU team
has used it extensively for
hundreds of test flights for
imagery data acquisition,
autopilot navigation and
communication system tests.

Specifications
Take-Off/Landing Distance &
<40 feet, Can also be handLaunching Configuration launched at GTOW 3 kg.
GTOW
Up to 4kg
Payload Weight
Endurance
Tested Flight Hours

Upto 1.5 kg.

20 to o 25 minutes
15 hours

TEST QUADROTOR
This carbon-fiber based four-propeller
vehicle is used for its hover capability
and precise on location autonomous
Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL)
operations. It is especially suited to fly
in very restricted spaces without
colliding with obstacles, and is capable
of easy operation with a small crew.
The four propeller design offers special
redundancy, incase of mishap and
failure of any one motor it can safely land using its three other motors.
The DTU-Teams test quadrotor is capable of carrying 3 kg of payload and is currently under testing
and optimization for long flight duration. Its stability and low vibration levels are highly suitable for
accurate high resolution imaging for mapping purposes.

UAVs at IIT Kanpur

IIT Kanpur has professors Dr. C Venkatesan and Dr. Abhishek working on Unmanned Air Vehicles,
however their main focus seems to be the development of new, stable autopilot systems for
different UAVs such a miniature helicopters, coaxial helicopters and flapping wing vehicles. The
features and payload capacity of such vehicles is not specifically suited for the agricultural mapping
sensors, and also sufficient testing, reliability and safety of the full navigation systems does not seem
to be established yet.
Not only the same, but more extensive features have been integrated and tested by the DTU-team
already in their existing UAVs with good reliability for multiple flight hours. Also a user-friendly
Graphical User Interface is present for the DTU-team autopilot for easy operation of the UAV.
There has been correspondence over phone with Prof. C Venkatesan confirming that these UAVs
are in development stage and there are no other UAVs being developed by the institute.

Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) Lab

Projects1. Project NAAVIK (Navigation for Autonomous Aerial Vehicles by IIT Kanpur)
NAAVIK aims to be an open source cross platform / vehicle autopilot project meant for UAV / MAV
applications being developed at IIT Kanpur MAV laboratory. It is developed on ChibiOS RTOS (Real
Time Operating System) for NAVSTIK and Aeroquad 32 autopilot hardware boards which are among
the lightest open source autopilot hardwares out there.
NAAVIK has already been tested on a fixed wing UAV for fully autonomous flight. It has also been
tested on coaxial MAV, flapping wing MAV, Quadrotor and now on Mini Helicopter (single main rotor
and tail rotor type). Objective is to develop NAAVIK for application on wide range of UAV platforms.
The features offered by NAAVIK include:
1. Loiter: at specified altitude, circle radius and location (lat, lon).
2. Straight line path following: between any number of points (can specify different altitudes).
3. Height hold, position hold.
4. Return to home on loss of radio contact.
5. Auto landing for VTOL vehicles.

2. Micro Coaxial Autonomous Heli (MiCAH) Proof of concept vehicle for novel vehicle
design and stabilization algorithms.
Goal is to develop a hover capable, autonomous Micro Air
Vehicle. The desired characteristics include capabilities such as
auto-take off and landing, autonomous hover with velocity and
position hold followed by autonomous flight with way-point
navigation. The platform chosen for this work is a Coaxial Micro
Air Vehicle instrumented at IIT Kanpur using optic flow sensors,
IMU, infrared sensors and SONAR. The above milestones would
be achieved in a step by step manner. Significant progress has
been made in the autonomous take off capability as well as
autonomous hover using velocity feedback.

3. Flapping Wing UAV Proof of concept vehicle for ornithocopter-type (bird-like) design
with 1.5 metres wingspan. Not suited for stable long endurance flight carrying a heavy
imaging payload.
4. Visually guided autonomous quadcopter- Under development for safe indoor /cluttered
environment navigation

5. Autonomous Mini Helicopter- Weighs few kilograms, used for testing stabilization and
autonomous flight algorithms. Does not seem to be optimized for maximum payload
capacity and endurance.

6. Internal Combustion Engine powered autonomous quadcopter under development.

The work is on a completely novel technology, which may or may not result in a stable and
reliable platform, and may be very prone to mid-air failure and vibration during flight.
Similar ventures at other institutes have met with limited success, hence the platform is not
a safe bet for agricultural surveillance.

7. Aarav 2.2 kg Quadrotor with 800 gm payload, range of 1km and flight time of 20
minutes. It is a basic platform with limited autonomy.

UAVs by National Aerospace Laboratory,Bangalore

The UAVs Black Kite, Golden Hawk and Pushpak are micro UAVs, weighing less than 1kg
which is unusable for SENSAGRIs purpose.
The NAL- Slybird UAV, which weighs 3.6 kg and is a conventional T-tail pusher type aircraft,
has very limited payload volume which cannot realistically accommodate the sensors and
data storage units needed for SENSAGRI, which are not only heavier than its payload
capacity, but will also have a significant volume.
Also, the required aircraft for SENSAGRI will need special protection mechanisms and 2-axis
stabilization gimbals for the specialized sensors as they will be very expensive. To fulfil all
these stringent requirements, a brand-new UAV frame will have to be designed from the
ground up to optimally fulfil them, while maintaining flight safety, reliability and offering
good endurance.
Correspondence with Dr. G. Ramesh, Head of the Micro Air Vehicle unit at NAL is pending to
confirm the capabilities and development status of their UAVs.
Attached below are brochures with descriptions and specifications of the NAL UAVs to
illustrate the above points.

BLACK KITE 300

About Black kite
Black Kite 300 is an all composite
Micro Air
Vehicle being jointly developed by
CSIR-NAL
& DRDO-ADE. It is designed with
excellent
flight characteristics and robustness
for quick
deployment for various surveillance

Ground Control Station (GCS)

User-friendly Interface
Point and Click waypoint
navigation
Pre flight check before launch
Return to home at loss of data link
RPV and Safety pilot
Auto land at home for low battery

GOLDEN HAWK
About Golden hawk
Golden Hawk is an all composite
Micro Air Vehicle being jointly
developed by CSIR-NAL & DRDO-ADE.
It is designed with flight
characteristics for quick deployment
for various surveillance applications.
With short setup time needed for
deployment, it is ideal for short
reconnaissance mission. It has a
steerable-down facing camera.

PUSHPAK
About Pushpak
Pushpak 450 is an all composite Micro Air
Vehicle being jointly developed by CSIR-NAL
& DRDO-ADE. It is designed with excellent
flight characteristics and robustness for quick
deployment for various surveillance
applications.
With short setup time needed for deployment,
it
is ideal for short reconnaissance mission.
Pushpak 450 is perfect eye in the sky with
steerable-nose
mount camera.

SLYBIRD
About Slybird
Slybird is an all-composite mini UAV being
developed jointly by CSIR-NAL and DRDOADE.
It is a conventional design with a pusher
propeller
with forward / downward looking gimbaled
EO payload. It will cater to ISR missions. The
mini
UAV can fly to a range of 10km with an
endurance
of above 45 mins and it has been tested for
high
altitude (4000m ASL) operations. The vehicle
is
undergoing
flight trialsunder
and product
Advance features
development
engineering.
Soft ware Image Stabilization on and
Mosaicking
GEO Tagging
Terrain Following
Target Tracking