Students from IIT-Kharagpur have designed a drone that can efficiently enter war zones and set up communication networks between civilians, soldiers, and even rescue teams through the “Internet of Things”. The drone is named BHIM, inspired by the mighty and muscular epic warrior of the Mahabharata, Bhim. Though it is under a meter in length, but the following unique features are enough to justify its name.
BHIM-The Main Features
1. Unmanned aerial device’s state-of-the-art protection shield
2. Superior imagery and thus hitherto unknown abilities
3. Can create a Wi-Fi zone within a nearly 1km radius when it flies overhead.
4. Aimed for conflict zones
5. Has a battery backup of seven hours
6. Can fly into a disaster (or war) zone
7. Can create a seamless communication network for security forces, rescue personnel and even the common man
BHIM-Other Features
Besides the above, BHIM’s special ability lies in maintaining long flight times and dropping emergency supplies by accurately using parachutes. It can also be used for rescue operations in remote and hard-to-access areas. The drone can conduct integrity checks for boundary walls and find out breaches if any.
“Such advanced built-in intelligence is not available in drones now. The design is completely in-house. The controlling and guiding algorithms of the drone have been developed in our lab,” informed Sudip Mishra, a faculty member of the computer science and engineering department, IIT-kgp.
Designed especially for emergency situations, the automated drone has an actual vision-based guidance with built-in intelligence. This helps BHIM identify if an area is crowded or not. It will then fly away and land in a safer place. BHIM’s light weight also ensures that its cost is just one-fourth the price of any average drone used for surveillance in till India now.
