The guidelines (Drone Regulations 1.0) issued by Directorate General of Civil Aviation for
commercial use of drones or remotely operated aircraft came into force from December 1,
2018.
 DRONE REGULATION 1.0

• Under this regulation, the Digital Sky Platform will enable online registration of
  pilots, devices, service providers, and NPNT (no permission, no take-off).
• The Digital Sky Platform is a unique unmanned traffic management (UTM) system
  which is expected to facilitate registration and licensing of drones and operators in
  addition to giving instant (online) clearances to operators for every flight.
• The airspace has been partitioned into Red Zone (flying not permitted), Yellow Zone
  (controlled airspace), and Green Zone (automatic permission). The restricted
  locations are airports, near international border, near coast line, state secretariat
  complexes strategic locations, military installations.
• DRONE
• Drone is a layman terminology for Unmanned Aircraft,There are three subsets of
  Unmanned Aircraft- Remotely Piloted Aircraft, Autonomous Aircraft and Model
  Aircraft.
• Remotely Piloted Aircraft consists of remote pilot station, the required command
  and control links and any other components, as specified in the type design.
• Remotely piloted aircraft have been divided into five categories-
• Nano: Less than or equal to 250 grams.
• Micro: From 250 grams to 2kg.
• Small: From 2 kg to 25kg.
• Medium: From 25kg to 150kg.
• Large: Greater than 150kg.
• All civilian drone operations will be restricted to only during day time and a
  maximum of 400 feet altitude.
• There can’t be any human or animal payloads, or anything hazardous.
• It cannot in any manner cause danger to people or property and insurance will be
  mandatory to cover third-party damage.
• Except nano drones and those owned by National Technical Research Organisation
  and the central agencies, the rest would be registered and issued Unique
  Identification Number.
• DRONE REGULATIONS 2.0
• Meanwhile, the government is already working on drone regulations 2.0, focusing
  on three thresholds:
• BVLOS (Beyond Visual Line of Sight),
• Delivery of payloads, and
• Automate the air traffic management to the extent possible.
• The current policy allows one drone pilot for each drone whereas in the next set of
  regulations, one pilot can operate any number of drones.
• Under drone regulations 2.0, the drones will be tracked by computers through
  artificial intelligence.
• However,delivery of products by e-commerce players like Amazon and flying taxis
  like Uber Elevate are likely to be part of drone regulations 3.0.
• APPLICATIONS
• Agriculture- Gather data and automate redundant processes to maximize
  efficiency, to spray medicines, planting seeds by distributing on the land.
• Healthcare- Delivering quick access to drugs, blood, and medical technology in
  remote areas, transportation of harvested organs to recipients.
• Disaster Management- Surveillance of disaster-affected areas to assess damage,
  locates victims, and delivers aid.
• Urban Planning- Instant mapping and survey of the land. E.g.: Recently (GCMC)
  became first Municipal Corporation to map Chennai using drones.
• Conservation of Endangered Species- Monitor and track the no. of animals.
• Weather Forecasting- physically follows weather patterns as they develop to
  understand the environment and imminent weather trends.
• Waste Management- Drones can be used to clean ocean waste as well. UAV like
  Roomba by Ran Marine operates at the vanguard of these initiatives and have
  helped to clean oceans in past.
• Mining- Drones in mining can be used in volumetric data capturing of ore, rock and
  minerals storage which is extremely difficult to measure manually.

 Recently, the Indian government has finalized National Counter Rogue Drone Guidelines
for handling the threats from Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
 The genesis of the counter rogue drone guidelines lies in the rising number of drone-
related safety incidents across the world including in India.
 Recent incidents of the utilization of drones to target VVIPs in Venezuela and Saudi
Aramco drone attacks are a stark reminder of the threat level from rogue drones.
 India has an estimated over 6 lakh rogue or unregulated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
(UAVs) of various sizes and capacities .

 To handle the above scenario the Ministry of Civil Aviation has suggested a counter-rogue drone
deployment plan, categorized across three models, based on the sensitivity of vital assets and
installations.
 The strategic installations differ from state to state and place to place, based on their
geographical condition, criticality and construction type but standard categorization would
be:
 FULL-SCALE MODEL:

 It will work for the protection of Rashtrapati Bhawan, Parliament House,
nuclear installations, major airports, etc;
 (C-UAS) with primary and passive detection means like radar, (RF) detectors,
electro-optical, and infrared cameras to be installed.
 MID-SEGMENT MODEL:
 It will protect installations like metro airports, oil refineries, ports, and power
plants, etc
 Lower level of threat mitigation technique to be installed with (C-UAS).
 BASIC MODEL:
 Aims to protect state secretariats, important official premises, monuments of
national importance etc.
 The basic threat mitigation technology to be used.

 The Counter-Unmanned Aircraft System (C-UAS) includes the following modern weapons:
 SKY FENCE:
 It aims to block a lethal drone that uses a range of signal disruptors to jam the
flight path and prevent them from entering their target, a sensitive installation
or event venue.

 DRONE GUN:
 It is capable of jamming the radio, a (GPS) and a mobile signal between the drone
and the pilot.
 Further, it forces the drone to the ground in good time before it could wreak any
damage.
 Australia has already designed such kind of weapon with an effective range of 2 km.
 ADVANCED TEST HIGH ENERGY ASSET (ATHENA):
 It works by firing a high energy laser beam on a rogue drone resulting in its complete
destruction in the air.
 It is a very costly technology and is currently being tested by the US army.
 DRONE CATCHER:
 It swiftly approaches an enemy drone and grabs it by throwing a net around it.
 Such a tool is required when a rogue drone is needed to be captured safely to extract
incriminating evidence from it.

 SKYWALL 100:
 It is the ground version of the ‘drone catcher’ and it works by bringing down a UAV
using a parachute that is hurled through a net from 100 meters distance.
 In addition to the counter rogue drone deployment models, the civil aviation
ministry has also suggested a set of legal procedures to handle rogue drones.
 The legislation needs to address the risk-based use of Counter-UAS authority and
coordination among relevant departments and agencies.
 It shall also aim to mitigate adverse impacts of anti-drone guidelines on the safety,
efficiency, and accessibility to the Indian airspace to the maximum extent feasible.
 The law shall state a legal framework for authorized use of C-UAS systems by
security agencies for protecting vital assets, safeguarding manned aviation,

supporting law enforcement activities, protecting national borders and conducting
operations.
 RADIO FREQUENCY (RF)
 It refers to the electromagnetic radio waves in the range of 3 kHz to 300 GHz, as well
as the alternating currents carrying the radio signals.
 This is the frequency band that is used for wireless communications transmission
and broadcasting.
 The frequency band is being divided into different parts, which are then assigned to
different technology industries. This is known as the radio spectrum.
 WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES FOR NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS GOVERNING DRONES?
 In the case of violation of the CAR, penalties may be imposed: an operator’s unique
identification number or unmanned aircraft operator permit issued by the DGCA may
be suspended or cancelled.
 Breach of compliance to any of the requirements of the CAR and falsification of records
or documents may attract penal action, including imposition of penalties as per the
Indian Penal Code 1860 (IPC), which includes but is not limited to
 section 287: negligent conduct with respect to machinery (carrying a maximum
sentence of imprisonment that may extend to six months or a fine that may extend up
to 1,000 Indian rupees, or both)
 section 336: act endangering life or personal safety of others (carrying a maximum
sentence of imprisonment that may extend to three months or a fine that may extend
to 250 rupees, or both)
 section 337: causing hurt by an act endangering the life or personal safety of others
(carrying a maximum sentence of imprisonment that may extend to six months or a fine
that may extend to 500 rupees, or both);
 Section 338: causing grievous hurt by an act endangering the life or personal safety of
others (carrying a maximum sentence of imprisonment that may extend to two years
or a fine that may extend to 1,000 rupees, or both.
 Penalties for contravention or failure to comply with any rules or directions issued
under Rule 133A of the Aircraft Rules 1939 (the rule under which CARs are issued), are
punishable to the extent of imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or a
fine not exceeding 200,000 rupees or both.

 WAY FORWARD
Drones have immense potential apart from few mentioned above. This new policy initiative
will open up many new and exciting applications that can propel India’s economy forward. It
can provide strong impetus to all players in the drone ecosystem and place India among the
global leaders.