Aarav Unmanned Systems’ small drone gets DGCA certification

Aarav Unmanned Systems’ (AUS) flagship enterprise grade multicopter drone Insight has become the first small category drone to be certified by the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

The DGCA certification is for the ‘No-Permission No-Takeoff (NPNT)’ and manufacturing compliances laid down by the Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) for drone operations in India.

At present three other Indian start-ups have been able to obtain certification under micro category. AUS is the first company to get the certification under small category.

Drones weighing between 250 gms and 2 kg come under micro category which have to meet fewer compliances and are limited by performance and capability to carry payloads for commercial operations. Small category drones weigh between 2 kg and 25 kg and can stay aloft longer and carry heavier, more advanced sensors and need to meet additional compliances as per the CAR.

Vipul Singh, CEO, AUS said, “This achievement maintains our legacy of being the technology leader in the commercial drone market in India. We were the first to develop and launch the PPK GPS technology, terrain following capability on drones in India and now we are first small category drone to be certified by DGCA. Our team has been always aggressive about maintaining the lead position when it comes to technology.”

“Even our NPNT implementation is of premium level with some advance capabilities which we will be announcing soon. So far, we have been able to achieve 250 per cent Y-o-Y growth from our end to end solution for enterprises. We are very optimistic about achieving at least 400 per cent Y-o-Y growth and to help larger number of enterprises adopt compliant drone operations for their different business functions. We are extremely thankful to the DGCA for being very supportive and start-up friendly and the entire team of iSpirit for being instrumental in making Digital Sky and NPNT possible for the drone ecosystem in India.”

Singh said “Legacy Indian business in both the private and public sectors showed inhibitions in the early adoption of ambient intelligence technologies such as UAVs (drones) that level-up competencies in industries with data-driven routines. Proving consistency in driving cost benefits while competing against inexpensive labour was a key challenge, especially with unclear regulatory frameworks.”

BV Naidu, Managing Partner, StartupXseed Ventures, an early investor in AUS commented, “Since inception AUS has been making advances in developing new technologies in the Unmanned Arial Vehicles, along with building innovative and low-cost solutions for the enterprises segment. Becoming the first company to obtain compliance certification for the small category is substantiation to their competence in meeting the highest level of benchmarks present in the industry. Though they are well positioned to address the inconsistencies of tech-disabled operations at enterprises and their adversities at global levels since long, this recognition from DGCA will give them more credibility and opportunities to cater to.”