Budding technocrats in Bhubaneswar have set their targets high: They are designing drones and awesome lightweight unmanned aerial systems by the sheer force of ingenuity and technical acumen. Shabiha Nur Khatoon meets the Einsteins in the making
Give me some sunshine, give me some rain
Give me another chance; I wanna grow up once again
These lines from the movie 3 Idiots which was a blockbuster and won the hearts of millions of movie-lovers, especially college-goers, are on everyone’s lips. Bollywood is really a very dynamic industry. Why? Because irrespective of the huge pile of unwatchable movies it produces every year, there are a few so memorable, hilarious and touching and also, of course, educative that you can’t help feel that all is not bad anyway. One such movie was 3 Idiots directed by Rajkumar Hirani. The movie spread a very important message, life’s lesson that can’t be got from books and in the classroom. And the scene of the drone or the quadcopter is also fairly familiar – the scene where Aamir Khan and his cronies are shown using a quadcopter with an attached video camera to spy on their hostel mates. It was hilarious and also an inspiration for many engineering students. Six long years after the film’s release the latest one that has excited the imagination of techno wizards is the Idea cellular advertisement.
The ad which shows how a normal guy gets rejected by IIT, gets into depression and is asked by his father to work in the not-so-lucrative family business. Sounds familiar? Read on. While working at the family business – a bakery – the guy continues his studies with the help of the ubiquitous Idea’s IIN and then builds a talking drone – which gives him the coveted prize all technical students aim for.
First, it is important to know what a quadcopter is. A quadcopter which is also called as a quadrotor helicopter is a multirotor helicopter that is lifted and propelled by four rotors. Quadcopters are classified as rotorcraft, as opposed to fixed-wing aircraft, because their lift is generated by a set of rotors (vertically oriented propellers). Unlike most helicopters, quadcopters use two sets of identical fixed pitched propellers; two clockwise (CW) and two counter-clockwise (CCW). These use variation of RPM to control lift and torque. Control of vehicle motion is achieved by altering the rotation rate of one or more rotor discs, thereby changing its torque load and thrust/lift
characteristics.
Sometimes technological innovations are used to showcase ads in a new way, but drones? Yes nowadays, drones are getting all the hype.
The term drone-vertising is a new concept that may enter the Merriam-Webster shortly. Drone-vertising, yes, it is what it sounds like. Using a drone to advertise your company is said to be the next big thing in the world of technology and marketing. From flying banners, to delivery systems, to filmed commercial stunts using drones a whole new movement is taking shape. Here are a few examples of drone-vertising:
DroneCast
In April, 2014 Gauravjit Singh launched his startup business called DroneCast. The business sells advertising space on banners that are then launched into the air and flown around high foot-traffic areas through the use of quadcopter drones. The idea came from the use of billboards and banners. But with Singh’s company, advertising becomes head-turning and more applicable; he is able to take his “billboards” and fly them around places that are marketed to the kind of people you might find there, in essence, making the advertisements more effective.
Coke Drone
Other publicity stunts have been performed through the use of drones; for instance, Coca-Cola delivered numerous care packages that included their product to workers on Singapore’s skyscrapers. It was a twist on the idea presented months before the stunt by a beer company that delivered beer to customers via the use of a drone.
OEC AERO has developed more than 30 UAVS/UAS including 25 fixed wing aircraft and five multirotors, and working on a solar drone project. Drones can be used in fields like military operations, agriculture, public security, filming and photography
Cup Drones
Cup of Noodle took to the skies with drones as well, but this time they were used for two different purposes: to film a commercial and to deliver Cup of Noodles to everyone, everywhere.
The commercial is obviously filmed by one of the drones in the pack since the perspective is much like one bird amongst its flock flying in formation. All the other drones set out to drop off Cup of Noodles to people on the beach, surfing, tightrope walking, and more! This type of drone-vertising used drones to make a commercial interesting enough to worthy of multiple watching but which can also be shared among social media friends on YouTube.
Making a drone is nowhere a cakewalk. But engineering students from different colleges of the state have taken the idea seriously and have designed an unmanned aerial system. The drone design steals the complete show; it is completely autonomous and is capable of all the basic flight operations including taking off and landing. And if this wasn’t enough, the drone can even provide a live video feed from a distance of 32 km.
These are the happenings that taking place right in Bhubaneswar and budding technocrats of the city are engaged in some of the most innovative of engineering projects. Sunday POST catches up with the Einsteins in the making…
DRONE DEVELOPERS
OEC AERO is the official aeronautical club under the mechanical engineering department of Orissa Engineering College. It was founded by Himansu Rout in 2014 with the help of friends and faculties of the college. He is the current captain of OEC AERO and an undergraduate mechanical engineering student of OEC. The club is funded by its founder members. It aims to provide undergraduate engineering students real-life engineering challenges, where they design, develop, and conduct research on Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) and Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS)/drones. OEC AERO team developed more than 30 UAVS/UAS including 25 fixed wing aircraft and five multirotors (a multirotor or multicopter is a rotorcraft with more than two rotors), and working on many drones and a solar drone project. The drones can be used in many fields like military operations, agriculture, public security, filming and photography. The aim of the club is to develop and provide low-cost drones.
“Till now we have made three drones and we are thankful to our college for giving us a separate space so that we can carry forward our project. Our team was also selected in the final round in a national-level competition by IIT-Kharagpur but, unfortunately, we could not win the finals due to some technical faults,” said Himansu Rout, the team leader.
OEC AERO builds the drones using both imported and Indian material. Drones are made by the combination of mechanical and electronics parts. Mechanical engineering students design and build the aircraft and its components while electronics and computer science engineering students work on its electronics and programming parts. Drones have the ability to fly without a pilot in them and can either be controlled by a pilot from ground or by a pre-fixed programme. Drones can take pictures and live videos from the sky; they have object-dropping ability and they are also able to transmit data from sky. The drones can used for surveillance and monitoring.
Funded by Orissa Engineering College, some of the members of the club are Himansu Rout (captain), Bharti Prasad, Govind C Soren, Bedant Nayak, Ishana, Monalisa and Sangram Khatei.
AWESOME AIRPLANES
KIIT AERO is the official team of KIIT University which has successfully represented KIIT University and the country at SAE Aero Design West 2013, 2014 and 2015 held at Los Angeles, Dallas Fort Worth and Los Angeles respectively. The team was formed by five students, members of KIIT Robotics Society, in 2012. The students were from three different branches in the 2012 academic year. But next year the team size increased to 20 and then 30 in the following year. The students are from different disciplines of engineering. In 2013 the team was awarded the prestigious NASA Systems Engineering Award Certificate. In 2014 the team came 5th in Advanced Class competition and in 2015 the position increased by one point – the team is ranked 4th among 75 teams.
Team KIIT Aero engineers designed light-weight, high payload carrying remote control airplanes for the purpose of competing against other collegiate teams from across the world. The SAE Aero Design competition is sponsored by Lockheed Martin. The team participated for the past two years at Aero Design West at Van Nuys, LA, California in 2013 and Aero Design West 2014 at Forth Worth Texas.
When we asked Shauvik, the captain of the team, how long it takes to complete one project and how the college is providing help, he said, “To complete one project it takes nearly three to four months and our college is really helping us a lot by providing us the space and the manufacturing cost – nearly `2 to 3 lakh! Our members typically consist of engineers from different streams. We have participated in Advanced Class as well as the Micro class model category. Members are subjected to the entire engineering process from design to budgeting finances and construction.”
Funded by KIIT University, some of the members of club are Shauvik Choudhury (captain), Yash Agarwal, Vinamra Vinay, Tanmoy Shaw, Narendra Kumar, Sudipta Pathak, Achal Negi and Antarip Giri.
“We have plans of representing the university again at SAE Aero Design West 2016 to be held at Van Nuys, California in April 2016,” added Shauvik.
BASICS OF AERODYNAMICS
The Institute of Technical Education and Research College club, which is yet to start full-fledged operations, intends to familiarise its members with the basics of aerodynamics but through a hands on learning approach. The club is open to all students and staff of ITER irrespective of branches. The club has a dedicated team of staff and students with the members from the various departments and the number is likely to increase manifold once the club starts functioning properly.
