IIT Guwahati signs MoU with industry partners to boost drone tech in northeast

Guwahati (Assam) [India] January 19 (ANI): The Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Assam Electronics Development Corporation (AMTRON) and RC Hobbytech Solutions (RCH) aimed at working on strengthening and expanding drone-based training, research and development, manufacturing for varied sectors.

The potential sectors include agriculture, disaster management, wildlife conservation and health care. Speaking during the MoU signing event, professor Parameswar K Iyer, Officiating Director at IIT Guwahati, said, the three organizations will work in tandem to actively engage in the research and development activities and the esteemed members of IIT Guwahati Drone Centre and Technology Incubation Hub will be integral parts in this endeavour for the greater good of the region.

The scope of operations under the new collaboration will include the establishment of a commercial drone-flying school at the IIT Guwahati campus, a press release said on Thursday.

“The Commercial Drone Flying School will offer commercial drone flying fresher courses and other related advisory and consultancy services such as renewing their drone flying license, securing necessary commercial drone permits and helping prepare students for drone flying tests,” the release said
Along with this, the school will also connect the students with organizations that need professional drone flyers.

Professional Drone Courses:
Professional courses in the field of drones that will offer a wide range of services such as drone-based survey and mapping; Geographic Information Systems courses; coding and AI-related courses, and other related courses will be a part of this objective. The classes for these courses will take place at the IIT Guwahati campus.

Research and development for the initial development of a few prototype drones for agriculture and surveillance purposes:
IIT Guwahati, along with the industry partners will work on initially developing a few prototype drones with an aim of getting them certified by the Quality Council of India (QCI) which will be used in activities including Agriculture; Spraying/ Seeding and Crop health monitoring, and Vertical Take-Off and Landing fixed wing Drone for payload delivery, mapping and surveillance.

Development of a Disaster Response Management System to Identify and Actuate any Disaster Response within the State of Assam:
By utilizing the expertise of all stakeholders, a Disaster Response Management System will be developed to address the identify and actuate any disaster in Assam. For the same, a team of students, and professionals along with ready-to-fly surveillance and payload delivery drones will be set up for emergency response, the release said.

For the same, IIT Guwahati will develop drones to cater to the needs of the state to contain disasters, AMTRON will provide communication support, and RCH will provide the necessary technical expertise in developing the drones and associated systems, it said.

Along with this, a Disaster Response Cell will be established at IIT Guwahati which will be operated by the Drone Helpline Student Volunteer Team of the Institute and AMTRON Drone Team, the release said.