‘Drones will be the mode of passenger transport in future!’

CHENNAI: Once considered a luxury item, drones have become increasingly affordable for certain income groups. These Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are used in photography, security, and even defence. Officials employed drones to monitor public movements during the Covid-19 lockdowns. Drones are being used in all sectors due to increasing innovation. To create a revolution in agriculture, Lal Mohammed Khan P, founder and CEO of EJJ Aeros Private Limited and his team have introduced a drone model, that can be used for spraying pesticides and other medicines over crops. The unique feature of this drone is that it is almost made up of metals rather than fibres, at an affordable price and also not compromising on high-level performance. “We incorporated a different design orientation so that many can manufacture this model without major investment. We are the fourth organisation in Chennai to get approval for agriculture drone manufacturing from the Directorate General for Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the first in India to manufacture using steel,” says Lal Mohammed Khan. He claims that the production cost was up to Rs four lakhs.

Lal affirms that drones will be a game changer. “The market for agriculture and defence drones is expanding widely. Globally, agri drones are estimated to grow at a CAGR of 31.5 per cent soon,” adds the founder, who worked as a senior project officer in the Aerospace department at IIT Madras for eight years.

In 2022, Lal started EJJ Aeros Private Limited, a startup with sky-high aims, much like Suriya in Soorarai Potru. “ People believe that the aviation industry is not for everyone and is expensive. I want to break that and make drones affordable for everyone. If simplified technology is introduced, more people will get into the business of drone manufacturing,” explains the 37-year-old.

Delving into the environmental benefits of using metal instead of fibre, the CEO shares, “Composite materials are hazardous to the environment. Few in the industry prefer steel for aviation because the metal is four times heavier than composite fibre. By having minimum usage of carbon fibre, we produced lesser-weight drones. We are working towards achieving zero-per cent carbon fibre UAVs.”

Industry experts are experimenting with drones for transporting organs used in transplantation from one place to another. Lal believes that even medicines delivery to remote areas will be made easy using drones. “Those UAVs can carry up to five kg and cover a distance of 25-30 km. It will also be used for carrying medical test samples in a short period between villages and districts. Drones will be the future of the transport sector with the concept of lower volume and higher distance,” he says. However, the researchers and manufacturers are waiting for the norms and guidelines from the DGCA.

The usage of drones alters its measurements. For agri 3x3 metres drone with 10 kg is suitable and for passengers, it is 4x5 metres. Works are on the way to introduce passenger drones, that can carry 200 kg. “Drones are now used in rescue operations in many parts of India and it is slowly picking up in Chennai. The future lies in the integration of drones and Artificial Intelligence. It can be implemented in calculating the volume of soil and coal taken from a particular place. This curbs soil and coal mining. Even for digital surveys, drones will be used in future,” concludes Lal, who has more than a decade of experience in the field.