As drones revolutionise military, commercial and other
activities, an imperative need for ‘traffic management’ of these flying objects
has emerged with a start-up by two entrepreneurs from Assam providing solutions
for it.
Already working with the Indian Air Force for
detection and counter-measures of drones, the duo has now come out with an
intelligent airspace management platform, which was launched at the ‘East Tech
2023’, a two-day defence expo which concluded on October 11.
“While most companies are making drones, we are
focusing on drone airspace management as it’s equally important for sustainable
growth of the drone ecosystem. Just like automobiles require road traffic
management to run safely and efficiently, the same analogy applies for drone
airspace,” said AVGARDE Co-founder and Managing Director Manash Bhuyan.
Avgarde Systems Pvt Ltd (AVGARDE), co-founded by
Manash Bhuyan and Nilutpal Choudhury in 2018, is a startup incubated at IISc
Bangalore, and IIT Guwahati.
It is a radio frequency and wireless
technology-focused deeptech start-up building an AI-driven object sensing
platform for low-altitude airspace management.
Both founders have relocated from Dubai and Germany
respectively to pursue their passions.
It has announced launch of ‘DeepSense’, a platform
addressing complex challenges presented by drones in terms of their operational
environment which needs to be managed efficiently and effectively to ensure the
safety of aviation, public, operators and other stakeholders.
The platform has various applications across multiple
market segments, including airports airspace safety, critical infrastructure
protection, drone fleet operations, unmanned traffic management, security
monitoring, aerospace and defence, amongst others, they claimed.
Explaining the functioning of the AI-based platform
developed by the company, CEO and Co-Founder Nilutpal Choudhury said, “We have
already put in place technologies through which drones can be identified,
tackled and their movement inhibited. A bird detection and monitoring radar
(BDMR) is also among our products which can prevent bird aircraft strike hazard
(BASH) for airport operators and ensure aviation safety.”
“Now, we are integrating our modular solutions with
the AI-driven airspace management platform, with the vision of establishing an
unmanned traffic management system for the drone airspace,” he added.
The company is working with the Indian Air Force as
well as oil and gas companies, incorporating feedback and learnings from both
military and civilian use cases to further improve their platform.
“As drone technology further develops, we also have to
continuously upgrade the platform at our end. The experience of working with
the Indian Air Force provides us with critical insights and helps us improve
further,” Choudhury added.
Bhuyan said while for the defence sector, the focus is
more on anti-drone system, for civilian sectors, protection of critical
infrastructure is more vital.
“With the proliferation of drones, there is also a
convergence with conventional aviation airspace which needs to be managed
effectively to avoid collisions, near-misses, delays and disruptions,” he
added.
PTI
