IIT Kharagpur Designs Superpower Drone BHIM
In a first in the country, an indigenous superpower drone has been designed by a research group at IIT Kharagpur. The drone has been named BHIM, after the Mahabharata warrior, Bheem.
The drone has been designed especially for emergency situations. Its’ creators have said that the uniqueness of BHIM lies in the unmanned aerial device’s protection shield, superior imagery and hitherto unknown abilities.
Sudip Mishra, a faculty member of the Computer Science and Engineering department, said: “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.” During flying, BHIM can also create a Wi-fi zone within a nearly 1 km radius.
The uses of BHIM are being considered as follows:
- With a battery backup of 7 hours, it can fly into a disaster or war zone and can establish communication between security personnel, rescue forces and civilians.
- It can drop emergency supplies accurately with the help of parachutes.
- It can be used for rescue operations in remote areas and also areas which are difficult to access.
- It can identify breaches in boundary walls by conducting integrity checks.
