Drone Airspace Map was published on September 24 last year, opening up nearly 90 per cent of Indian airspace as a green zone for drones flying up to 400 feet, said Singh.

“Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for drones was also notified on September 30 last year as well as UAS Traffic Management (UTM) Policy Framework was published on October 24 last year,” said the Minister.

A monetary grant programme for the purchase of agricultural drones was announced by the Union Agriculture Ministry on January 22 this year, and all application forms under Drone Rules, 2021 were also made online on the Digital Sky Platform on January 26.

Singh said that the drone certification scheme was notified on January 26 this year and the mission “Drone Shakti” was also announced for supporting drone startups and promoting Drone-as-a-Service (DrAAS) as part of the Union Budget on February 1.

Besides, the drone import policy was notified on February 9, banning the import of foreign drones and freeing up the import of drone components.

He further mentioned that Drone (Amendment) Rules, 2022 were notified on February 11, abolishing the requirement of a drone pilot licence. Now a remote pilot certificate is issued by a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) authorised Remote Pilot Training Organisations (RPTO) which is adequate for the remote pilot to operate drones.

Drones Rules, 2021 notified on August 25 last year, provide the necessary regulatory framework for the civilian or commercial use of drones.

These rules cover various aspects like type certification, registration and operation of drones, airspace restrictions, research, development and testing of drones, training and licensing, offences and penalties.

“An airspace map of the country segregating the entire airspace into red, yellow and green zones is available on the digital sky platform. The operation of drones in red and yellow zones is subject to the approval of the Central Government and the concerned Air Traffic Control (ATC) authority respectively. No approval is required for the operation of drones in green zones,” the Ministry said.

He said drones are required to have the necessary type certification issued by the DGCA, and that no type certification is however required in case of nano drones (up to 250 gram all-up weight) and model drones made for research and recreation purposes.

The Minister said the owner and operators of drones are required to furnish the necessary personal details including their Indian passport number for issuance of any registration or licence.

“Authorisation of RPTO will be done by DGCA within specified time limits,” said Singh.

As of July 20, there were 27 RPTOs authorised by DGCA. Of these, three RPTOs are located in Gujarat– Blue Ray Aviation Pvt. Ltd., Kaushalya- The Skill University and Sanskardham Drone Academy.

The post Steps Taken to Make India Global Drone Hub by 2030 appeared first on IMR.

The policy framework has been drafted by the National UTM Committee constituted by the Central Government. It has been drafted under the overarching framework of the Drone Rules, 2021.

The policy framework is expected to be dynamic and will evolve based on technological advancements, actual experiences and other developments in airspace management systems.

Key Highlights

This policy framework defines the architecture and mechanism for traffic management of unmanned aircraft in Very Low Level (VLL) airspace up to 1000 feet above ground level.

This airspace shall be defined as UTM Airspace. All drones except nano category operating in green zones must use UTM for real-time location sharing. Drone pilots must use UTM services to seek permissions, manage UAS Operations (fleet) and access other UTM services.

The framework  envisages private, third-party service providers for ensuring safe operations. UTM Service Providers (UTMSP) are an essential and integral part of DigitalSky Ecosystem. The UTMSPs will extend automated, algorithm-driven software services instead of voice communication as in the traditional Air Traffic Management (ATM) systems.

They will primarily be responsible for segregating and separating a drone from other drones and manned aircraft in the airspace below 1,000 feet in the country.

The traffic management providers will be assisted by Supplementary Service Providers (SSPs), who will maintain data about terrain, weather, location of manned aircraft and provide services such as insurance, data analytics and drone fleet management.

The drone traffic management policy also requires integration of UTM with ATM so that flight plans and real-time location of manned aircraft can be recorded as well in order to continuously separate manned and unmanned aircraft from each other.

Law enforcement and security agencies will also have access to some information in the UTM ecosystem on a need-to-know basis.

The policy also allows UTMSPs to levy a service fee on users, a small portion of which will also be shared with the Airports Authority of India. Following which an evaluation process will be undertaken and successful participants will be awarded regions for establishment of UTM services. UTMSPs will be deployed in small areas to begin with and their geographic presence may be increased subsequently.

C-UAS systems will need to interface with UTM for identifying whether an unmanned aircraft system detected by the C-UAS system is a friend or foe.

The key stakeholders are:

The Central Government.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).

Airspace Management Agencies.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) Authority.

Air Defence Authority.

UAS Traffic Management Service Providers (UTMSP).

Supplementary Service Providers (SSP).

Remote pilot, law enforcement and security agencies, and general public.

Comments

With a vision to make India a global hub of drones by 2030 under the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, the Central Government has carried out a series of reform measures. It notified the liberalised Drone Rules, 2021 on 25th August 2021 and published the drone airspace map on 24th September 2021. To promote manufacturing of drones and drone components in India it notified the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme on 30th September 2021. The single-window digital sky platform is being developed in line with the new Drone Rules, 2021 and is expected to be fully ready by 26th January 2022.

The number of unmanned aircraft operating in the Indian airspace is expected to increase multifold. The interplay between manned and unmanned aircraft has to be managed with utmost attention to global safety norms. India’s UAS Traffic Management systems shall play a vital role in doing so.

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