DR ONE R E GULATI ONS I N I NDI A
Why in News?
Ministry of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has for the first time released a set of rules regulating the civil use of drones in India which will be effective from 1st December, 2018.
What are drones?
• Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been defined as: “Powered, aerial vehicles that do not carry a human operator, use aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload.”
• Applications of UAVs
o Damage assessment of property and life in areas affected with natural calamities, surveys, critical infrastructure monitoring.
o Security function: Drones are used by Armed
Forces for tactical purposes at border.
Concerns regarding use of drones
• Potential threat: Its use poses a security threat, and has the potential for invading privacy. Owning to the privacy and security concerns Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier banned the launch of any UAVs in India.
• The airspace over Indian cities already has a high density of aircraft traffic and unregulated use of drones poses a grave threat for air collisions and accidents.
• Drone traffic management: It will require planned research and practical experimentation. Small drones fly at low altitudes and are more susceptible to changing weather conditions. Strong winds and rains can easily knock them off course, out of their designated operating zones.
• Drones as weapons: They are considered a cost- effective weapon system with no risk to operators. Thus, they are being portrayed as weapons of future warfare.
• There is possibility of drones being misused by terrorists, criminals, drug cartels and other antisocial groups.
o Surveillance and Crowd Management: It is used for effective and smooth conduct of events like Kumbh
Mela etc.
o Monitoring of wildlife: UAV are deployed these days for better counting and guarding unreachable region.
o Agriculture: SENSAGRI (SENsor based Smart AGRIculture) is a drone-based crop and soil health
monitoring system using hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) sensors.
o Mode of Delivery: Many e-commerce companies are using it for delivering their product like Amazon.
52 ©Vision IAS
o Other uses: For surveys, infrastructure monitoring, commercial photography, aerial mapping etc.
Current Scenario
• According to a research the Indian drone market will reach USD 885.7 million by 2021, and the global market size will touch USD 21.47 billion.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has been the primary platform leading the global drone governance efforts. The ICAO has issued several rules in the form of circulars and manuals but has not come up with comprehensive guidelines.
• India has had military drones – or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) – for many years and is also developing combat versions. But the use of drones for civilian purposes remain underdeveloped, because regulations regarding the technology were not yet fully established.
• The absence of well-defined regulations had made innovation and attracting investments very difficult in this field, and the new rules are expected to ease manufacture and use of drones in the country.
Key features of the Regulations for Civil Use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)
• The Digital Sky Platform is the first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform that
implements “no permission, no takeoff” (NPNT).
o The UTM operates as a traffic regulator in the drone airspace and coordinates closely with the defence and civilian air traffic controllers (ATCs) to ensure that drones remain on the approved flight paths.
o Before every single flight, drone pilots are required to request permission to fly via a mobile app, which will automatically process the request and grant or reject it.
o If a drone pilot tries to fly without receiving permission from the Digital Sky Platform, he or she will simply not be able to take-off.
• Users will be required to do a one-time registration of their drones, pilots and owners. All civil RPA, shall require to obtain Unique Identification Number (UIN) from DGCA.
• As per the regulation, there are 5 categories of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) categorized by weight, namely
o Nano (Less than or equal to 250 grams),
o Micro (250 grams to 2kg),
o Small (2kg-25kg),
o Medium (25kg-150kg) and
o Large (Greater than 150kg).
• Operators of civil drones will need to get a Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP) from the DGCA with certain exceptions such as RPA owned and operated by NTRO, ARC and Central Intelligence Agencies.
• The DGCA has to issue the UAOP within seven working days and it shall be valid for five years and not transferrable.
• RPAS shall be flown only by someone over 18 years of age, having passed 10th exam in English, and undergone ground/ practical training as approved by DGCA.
• DGCA has also clarified that no remote pilot can operate more than one RPA at any time.
• The basic operating procedure will restrict drone flights to the daytime only and that too within “Visual Line of Sight (VLOS)”.
• Manned aircraft will be given priority. There can’t be any human or animal payloads, or anything hazardous.
It cannot in any manner cause danger to people or property.
• An insurance will be mandatory to cover third-party damage.
• Minimum manufacturing standards have been prescribed for RPAS.
• Restrictions placed:
o RPAS cannot be flown within 5km of the perimeters of the airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata,
Bengaluru and Hyderabad and within 3km from the perimeter of any other airport.
o It cannot fly within “permanent or temporary Prohibited, Restricted and Danger Areas” and within 25km
from international border which includes the Line of Control (LoC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Actual
Ground Position Line (AGPL).
o It cannot fly beyond 500 m into sea from the coast line and within 3 km from perimeter of military installations.
53 ©Vision IAS
o It also cannot fly within a 5 km radius of the Vijay Chowk in Delhi, within 2 km from perimeter of strategic locations/ vital installations notified by Ministry of Home Affairs and within 3 km from radius of State Secretariat Complexes.
o It also cannot be operated from a mobile platform such as a moving vehicle, ship or aircraft.
o Eco-sensitive zones around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries are off-limits without prior permission.
Conclusion
• The Drone Policy is a big step taken by GOI towards regulating drones in India. It shows GOI's commitment to use of artificial intelligence for technological and economic growth.
• However, the involvement of multiple regulatory agencies and compliances/clearances will discourage the players.
• Further, drones cannot be used as of now for delivery of food/ other items, or to carry passengers.
• There are restrictions on drone operations in India by foreign players (except through a license to an Indian entity).
• Government has setup the Drone Task Force under the chairmanship Jayant Sinha which will provide draft recommendations for Drone Regulations 2.0.
Why in News?
Ministry of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has for the first time released a set of rules regulating the civil use of drones in India which will be effective from 1st December, 2018.
What are drones?
• Drones or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been defined as: “Powered, aerial vehicles that do not carry a human operator, use aerodynamic forces to provide vehicle lift, can fly autonomously or be piloted remotely, can be expendable or recoverable, and can carry a lethal or nonlethal payload.”
• Applications of UAVs
o Damage assessment of property and life in areas affected with natural calamities, surveys, critical infrastructure monitoring.
o Security function: Drones are used by Armed
Forces for tactical purposes at border.
Concerns regarding use of drones
• Potential threat: Its use poses a security threat, and has the potential for invading privacy. Owning to the privacy and security concerns Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had earlier banned the launch of any UAVs in India.
• The airspace over Indian cities already has a high density of aircraft traffic and unregulated use of drones poses a grave threat for air collisions and accidents.
• Drone traffic management: It will require planned research and practical experimentation. Small drones fly at low altitudes and are more susceptible to changing weather conditions. Strong winds and rains can easily knock them off course, out of their designated operating zones.
• Drones as weapons: They are considered a cost- effective weapon system with no risk to operators. Thus, they are being portrayed as weapons of future warfare.
• There is possibility of drones being misused by terrorists, criminals, drug cartels and other antisocial groups.
o Surveillance and Crowd Management: It is used for effective and smooth conduct of events like Kumbh
Mela etc.
o Monitoring of wildlife: UAV are deployed these days for better counting and guarding unreachable region.
o Agriculture: SENSAGRI (SENsor based Smart AGRIculture) is a drone-based crop and soil health
monitoring system using hyperspectral remote sensing (HRS) sensors.
o Mode of Delivery: Many e-commerce companies are using it for delivering their product like Amazon.
52 ©Vision IAS
o Other uses: For surveys, infrastructure monitoring, commercial photography, aerial mapping etc.
Current Scenario
• According to a research the Indian drone market will reach USD 885.7 million by 2021, and the global market size will touch USD 21.47 billion.
• The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has been the primary platform leading the global drone governance efforts. The ICAO has issued several rules in the form of circulars and manuals but has not come up with comprehensive guidelines.
• India has had military drones – or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) – for many years and is also developing combat versions. But the use of drones for civilian purposes remain underdeveloped, because regulations regarding the technology were not yet fully established.
• The absence of well-defined regulations had made innovation and attracting investments very difficult in this field, and the new rules are expected to ease manufacture and use of drones in the country.
Key features of the Regulations for Civil Use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS)
• The Digital Sky Platform is the first-of-its-kind national unmanned traffic management (UTM) platform that
implements “no permission, no takeoff” (NPNT).
o The UTM operates as a traffic regulator in the drone airspace and coordinates closely with the defence and civilian air traffic controllers (ATCs) to ensure that drones remain on the approved flight paths.
o Before every single flight, drone pilots are required to request permission to fly via a mobile app, which will automatically process the request and grant or reject it.
o If a drone pilot tries to fly without receiving permission from the Digital Sky Platform, he or she will simply not be able to take-off.
• Users will be required to do a one-time registration of their drones, pilots and owners. All civil RPA, shall require to obtain Unique Identification Number (UIN) from DGCA.
• As per the regulation, there are 5 categories of Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) categorized by weight, namely
o Nano (Less than or equal to 250 grams),
o Micro (250 grams to 2kg),
o Small (2kg-25kg),
o Medium (25kg-150kg) and
o Large (Greater than 150kg).
• Operators of civil drones will need to get a Unmanned Aircraft Operator Permit (UAOP) from the DGCA with certain exceptions such as RPA owned and operated by NTRO, ARC and Central Intelligence Agencies.
• The DGCA has to issue the UAOP within seven working days and it shall be valid for five years and not transferrable.
• RPAS shall be flown only by someone over 18 years of age, having passed 10th exam in English, and undergone ground/ practical training as approved by DGCA.
• DGCA has also clarified that no remote pilot can operate more than one RPA at any time.
• The basic operating procedure will restrict drone flights to the daytime only and that too within “Visual Line of Sight (VLOS)”.
• Manned aircraft will be given priority. There can’t be any human or animal payloads, or anything hazardous.
It cannot in any manner cause danger to people or property.
• An insurance will be mandatory to cover third-party damage.
• Minimum manufacturing standards have been prescribed for RPAS.
• Restrictions placed:
o RPAS cannot be flown within 5km of the perimeters of the airports in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata,
Bengaluru and Hyderabad and within 3km from the perimeter of any other airport.
o It cannot fly within “permanent or temporary Prohibited, Restricted and Danger Areas” and within 25km
from international border which includes the Line of Control (LoC), Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Actual
Ground Position Line (AGPL).
o It cannot fly beyond 500 m into sea from the coast line and within 3 km from perimeter of military installations.
53 ©Vision IAS
o It also cannot fly within a 5 km radius of the Vijay Chowk in Delhi, within 2 km from perimeter of strategic locations/ vital installations notified by Ministry of Home Affairs and within 3 km from radius of State Secretariat Complexes.
o It also cannot be operated from a mobile platform such as a moving vehicle, ship or aircraft.
o Eco-sensitive zones around National Parks and Wildlife Sanctuaries are off-limits without prior permission.
Conclusion
• The Drone Policy is a big step taken by GOI towards regulating drones in India. It shows GOI's commitment to use of artificial intelligence for technological and economic growth.
• However, the involvement of multiple regulatory agencies and compliances/clearances will discourage the players.
• Further, drones cannot be used as of now for delivery of food/ other items, or to carry passengers.
• There are restrictions on drone operations in India by foreign players (except through a license to an Indian entity).
• Government has setup the Drone Task Force under the chairmanship Jayant Sinha which will provide draft recommendations for Drone Regulations 2.0.
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