By A Correspondent

New Delhi: Chennai-based start-up Zuppa OEG GEN5 Technologies Private Limited is now working on the development of ‘Zuppa Vector‘, a unique fixed-wing drone for mapping and surveillance. Having Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) capabilities, Zuppa Vector could soon be aiding Indian provinces’ drive to map every inch of territory.

The work on Zuppa Vector comes against the backdrop of the company having successfully launched the ‘Ajeet Mini‘ drone as an answer to India’s ‘Atmanirbarta‘ initiave to foreign brands such as DJI, Parot, Skydio and Autel, according to Zuppa’s Chief Innovation Officer Venkatesh Sai.

At the ‘Bharat Drone Mahotsav 2022‘ in May this year, Venkatesh Sai had unveiled the Ajeet Mini before India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and junior Civil Aviation Minister General V. K. Singh at Pragati Maidan here.

Ajeet Mini is fully ‘Made in India‘ from ground up, with over 75 per cent of it domestically manufactured, including the key Control and Communication Electronics at the Chip/Motherboard level, the company said during the launch of the drone.

“This tough little Indian Master’s Autopilot (motherboard) is based on Zuppa’s proprietary Computing Architecture of ‘DISSEMINATED PARALLEL CONTROL COMPUTING IN REAL TIME‘.

“The company’s end-to-end control of the technology at the core level of computing — similar to Intel‘s I3, I5 or I7 for laptops or Qualcomm‘s for mobiles — ensures that Ajeet is the most secure drone to operate within the country in addition to being the only drone in its class that is fully backed up with end-to-end comprehensive technical and service support,” the company said.

Ajeet Mini addresses the countries demand for the largest types of drones imported into India over the past four to five years, albeit illegally. An estimated 800,000 pieces of DJI Chinese drones have been imported into India over this period, of which over 150,000 pieces have also found their way into Indian armed forces, which is a serious compromise as far as national security is concerned.

“Ajeet Mini solves this problem, thanks to its complete visibility in terms of data transmission is concerned being completely self-sufficient. Zuppa is working closely with the armed forces to ensure strategic Indian data remains within India,” the company said, promoting Data Sovereignty of the nation.

Ajeet Mini is the first in a series of sub-two-kg Nano and Micro drones to be launched by Zuppa. These drones will all be of the ‘Buy and Fly‘ variety. That is, these drones can be purchased off-the-shelf or online to put to use soon after.

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