The Drone Girl

Drones these days have become essential to explore the world. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology or drones, has evolved exponentially since it was first used in 1848. More so in the last decade, this field has grown leaps and bounds owing to its various applications. Recently, the drone industry has caught several eyes as it is user-friendly, efficient and cost effective. Be it military services, agriculture, entertainment industry or for that matter even hobbyist, everyone understands the power of a drone. To understand the functioning and the application of a drone better, we caught up with Nikita Aakhade, Co-Founder and Tech Lead, DroneIT. Also known as the ‘drone girl’ in the industry, Nikita spoke with Corporate Citizen at length about her journey in this industry, dos and don’ts while using a drone, the future of this industry and much more... Read on!

"I always had a dream of flying high in the sky. If not that, build objects that soar high in the sky. 'The Drone Girl', as many people call me these days, has become my new identity now"

Introduce yourself to our reader.

Born and raised in a small town of Beed, Maharashtra, I always had a dream of flying high in the sky. If not that, build objects that soar high in the sky. ‘The Drone Girl’, as many people call me these days, has become my new identity now. Growing up, I was always interested in Physics and Mathematics. To give wings to dreams, or as Bernoulli’s aerodynamics principle explains that an aircraft can achieve lift because of the shape of its wings, I went ahead to gather the technical know-how of Physics, Math and their application. I got a clear vision once I completed my degree in Mechanical Engineering from Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT), Pune.

Prior to starting DroneIT, I worked at two MNCs – Pernod Ricard India and Mosdorfer India Pvt Ltd in various capacities. Thereafter, I got married and shifted to Mumbai. When you and your husband share the dream, the out-come is pretty amazing. That’s what lead to the beginning of DroneIT. My husband, Amol, has been supportive and has a huge contribution to DroneIT’s development.

Before starting DroneIT, you have worked for a few companies, be it an internship or on the payroll. Tell us about your experience working for them and how it shaped your future.

During my engineering, I underwent two in-ternships, one with Bharat Forge Limited and another with Weichai Power Ltd. Before my Bharat Forge internship, I just had finished my second year, and hence it was my first exposure to industries and their organisation. I also got a chance to see many heavy industrial processes in action. Post third year, in my second internship with Weichai Power, I worked on power genera-tor engines. My work involved developing SOPs and guidance book for new joiners. This gave me insights into understanding how process are to be organised for the smooth operation of the or-ganisation as well as for better productivity. Both the internships were highly technical and I loved every aspect of it. By the end of the third year, I was pretty clear that I would never go in a pure managerial job but would always want to stick on the technical side.

When I started my first job with Pernod Ricard India, I got to learn how the corporate culture can have an impact on all the aspects of plant life. During this stint, I designed two simple machines which will help workers to save time and efforts. This sparked my hunger to build my own projects and mechanism. I soon moved to projects and CapEx Department where I was responsible for conceiving and installing such mechanisms to improve productivity.

In the second job with Mosdorfer India, my immediate boss, Abhijit Baruah, trained me further in processes and SOPs. I was working as an Assistant Manager in the Projects Department. This involved coordinating across functions like sales, production, quality, dispatch and accounts. This further enhanced my understanding of organisational structures.

Looking back now, I can actually see that each and every experience I had helped me develop the organisation that I’m leading today.

How did DroneIT come into the picture? What pushed you to start such a unique company? And more importantly, why drones?

While I was happy with my job, I always felt that I should spend my time more in research, development and working on technical things than I was able to spend in my current job. Flying objects have always fantasised me, ever since my childhood. Even today, I’m extremely excited about any trip simply to experience the wonder of flight and a weird satisfaction of knowing that I’m 30,000 feet in the air only because the laws that Newton and Bernoulli discovered, and their planned application are helping this metal tube soar through the air.

Drones were a simple extension of this fascination of flight combined with my desire to dedicate my life to researching kinetics and dynamics of machinery. Initially, I started with building drones just as a hobby or a project. However, during the process, I realised that this industry is at an inflexion point and these machines are only going to become more and more ubiquitous in our lives. This just pushed me enough to change the direction of my career and get into it on a full-time basis.

How has your education and knowledge garnered so far, helped your life?

I feel that those who aren’t intrigued or shocked when they come across any concept in Math or Physics, cannot possibly have understood it. Each theory and every theorem have an intrinsic beauty which reveals greater secrets once we get to know them better.

My training as a mechanical engineer made me aware of various mechanism, machines and the interactions of various forces on them. Throughout my four years of engineering and later in my job, I had built various working models like a crane, weight shifting mechanism, a plane, and in fact a gun as well. Hence, getting the design right was something that I was trained for. The part where I struggled a bit was the electronics and programming of these components. Most of that knowledge I acquired regarding these aspects was only after getting involved in the project.

Tell us a bit about what your organisation does...

Here at DroneIT, we’re a research-oriented firm trying to expand the horizons of what is possible with drones. The way we have structured the organisation is such that it actually has two different revenue streams, product-based, and training based.

Our key product is the customised autonomous drone that we design as per the application our customer wants it. For example, we recently commissioned a drone that could spray liquid insecticide over crops automatically once you give it coordinates of the boundaries of the farm. Another key project we are working on is a drone for regular surveillance of an area with an automated alert system. The autonomous application uses an Artificial Intelligence layer over and above the control layer of the drone. The interactions of these have been tough to crack.

As we believe that drones are going to be as ubiquitous as 2-wheelers in the near future, we want to ensure that we have a workforce that has a basic under-standing of this technology. We have developed a training programme, aimed at school going kids, to teach them manufacturing simple drones.

"My training as an engineer made me aware of various mechanism, machines and the interactions of various forces on them"

Tell us about a few striking instances that you will always remember.

Over the past years, we have literally grown each day owing to the wide range of experience this field has to offer. When I say ‘experience’, I mean, each moment spent making or theorising drones is special to me, making each and every instance and projects memorable. When an idea starts to take a shape into something beautiful, those are the days when you are supposed to enjoy the process of making your product. The initial few days, when we were still in the phase of developing working models were the most fun. That’s perhaps because we were learning a lot and experimenting with every size and configuration of the drone.

One instance, I remember clearly in when I had built a micro drone of only about 20 cm in length with racing configuration. It was extremely fast and agile, though looked quite small and harmless. My husband decided to test it in our home since it was a smaller configuration. The moment he gave it minimal throttle, the drone zoom past and hit the ceiling, breaking off the POP and actually had a dent in the concrete slab. The owner of the flat wasn’t pleased.

Another similar instance in our early days was when we were testing our first ever drone. It was a basic configuration without any GPS stabilisation but reasonably sensitive to the radio controller. One of our engineers was on his first week with us and wanted to help test it out. This time, we were in a field. The testing started, it flew well normally, but when the new engineer tried a quick throttle the drone shot up straight in the air and just literally went out of sight, never to be seen again.

Why do you think drones have become so popular with mainstream consumers in the last few years? What are the commercial drones market size?

First unmanned aerial vehicles were first used in 1849 in Austria for war by their military. Since then, drones have become an integral part of militaries across the world. Even today, around 85% of the drones are getting used for military purposes only and rest 15% for commercial and hobby purposes.

The biggest challenge for the industry has been the requirement of high capacity batteries for drones that are capable of quick discharge and longer flight times. The massive development in Lithiumion technologies for smart-phones and electric cars have also helped the drone industry immensely. The second challenge is just like an autonomous car, the drones also have to do a lot of calculations instantaneously. This has again been helped by the availability of faster chips and optimised algorithms.

Third is the concern with regards to privacy and safety concerns. This will be solved with regulatory framework once that comes up.

Today, the size of the drone business across the world is approximately USD 43 Billion. It’s ex-pected to grow to USD 91 Billion by 2023. However, military applications will have a lion’s share among these. The commercial market is expected to be approximately, USD 12 billion by 2023.

Is there some serious competition that the drone industry is facing?

The regulatory framework in India and around the world is being debated and hence fairly restricted. As a result, there are no really big players in the industry yet. The world’s biggest drone manufacturer, DJI, is in discussion with Maharashtra government and DGCA for approval for their drones in India. However, unofficially (and perhaps illegally) most photography drones used today are from DJI. Our key priority here is to work with DGCA to ensure we are compliant to the DGCA frameworks.

In the training space, while there is competition, it’s still in a nascent stage and there’s a room for expanding the pie. As a result, we are more focused on driving awareness of the subject than gaining market share. For this, we’ve developed different modules that can start from as low as Rs.3500 all the way up to Rs.60,000 certificate courses.

Walk us through the making of a drone.

Conceptualising the drone, assembling it and the final product is a work of art. Technically, if the team is efficient, a drone might take 24 hours to see the light of the day. Assembling the parts of a drone is a half an hour’s game. We purchase most of the electronics from China and Canada. As per the necessity, we get some of the parts manufactured in India itself.

Coming to the most important part of the drone, which is the flight controller, it acts as the brain of a drone where all the settings are saved. A drone’s features and abilities are determined by the program written inside the flight controller. We customise it according to the application and the customer’s needs. Another important component is the GPS. We actually can set locations on map and drone can travel those points and come back home. Drone range is determined by the quality of the radio controller you use. And its flight time by the size of the battery.

The setting up of a drone and getting its settings across electronics right takes about four hours. Post which we usually test is for around a few hours depending upon the scope of application.

" First unmanned aerial vehicles were first used in 1849 in Austria for war by their military. Since then, drones have become an integral part of militaries"

Inform our readers about the dos and don’ts of using a drone.

One of the biggest factors is ensuring the legal compliances before flying a drone. The guidelines are available on the DGCA website. Considering the safety of users and surroundings, one should never fly a drone beyond line of sight. Before flying you always should check for battery per cent and do a proper GPS calibration. Drones are not allowed to fly in Red zone areas defined by the government unless with explicit permission, which includes areas near airports, government offices etc., for security and safety reasons. Even in some places like national parks, drones may be restricted because they disturb wildlife. Finally, be mindful of the privacy invasion that drones may cause and do not shoot anyone without explicit permission from the people.

For drone-based services to continue to thrive and grow, it is necessary for regulations to be in place. Tell us the norms and regulations that your company has to follow.

Owing to its applications, the drone industry is one of the most highly regulated ones. As we speak, the entire framework is being evaluated at various government departments. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which is the controlling authority for Indian Airspace has been working with drone manufacturers since last year to slowly and gradually open up the market for safe flight. Recently, they even al-lowed drone manufacturers to experiment with non-line-of-sight drones in Bengaluru. We have to follow all of the current legal requirements for drones, restricting the size and capabilities it has. We are working with the DGCA to have software-based compliance in place so that even our customers will automatically be able to log their flights with DGCA.

Which is the major segment that your company has explored?

The key business segment that we’ve tried to explore is the industrial applications market. The coming years, the drone-powered industry solutions will be worth billions of dollars. While drones have been present and now becoming prevalent in photography, there’s a wide variety of applications for which drones can be used economically and efficiently.

Where do you see the drone industry heading?

Customer’s expectation is soaring the sky. To meet to their demand, countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom have already started drone deliveries for Amazon, which makes reaching the consumers easy. To join the league, in the coming years, India is expected to test those waters as well.