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Night drone race in Bengaluru on November 30

Last Updated 24 November 2018, 12:49 IST

Come November 30, Bengaluru will witness the country's first-night drone race as 30 of the best racers from across the country and abroad will be battling it out to claim the title.

The event -- 'Night Drone Racing' -- will take place at the specially-built arena at the Bangalore Palace grounds. Besides 30 professional racers from India, the event will have participation from three companies from Sweden, and one from Israel. The winner will receive a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh.

The drone race is being held by the Karnataka government in partnership with the Indian Drone Racing League (IDRL) as part of the Bengaluru Tech Summit 2018.

"It is a first-of-its-kind event in India where the government is organising a drone race as part of a tech event," minister for Information Technology, K J George told DH.

"Karnataka is going ahead with the drone race as part of the Tech summit so that the ecosystem can flourish along with aviation industry. We have already started using drones in various sectors such as surveillance, agriculture and town planning," he said.

There will be nano drones and mid-sized drones driven by expert pilots.

"High-speed racers can fly their drones at 80 km/hr and up to 30 feet high. It will happen both day and night, which will be telecast live on Doordarshan," said Raj Kumar Srivastava, advisor to the Department of IT, Government of Karnataka.

Drones weighing above 250 grams require a DGCA licence. Also, these drones should have a UIN (Unique Identification Number) and NPNT (No Permission and No Take off) approval.

Bengaluru Tech Summit CEO Mohanram said the race will have a trial run on November 29 prior to the competition on November 30.

"The competition will assess the pilots' manoeuvring skills. There will be obstacles as well to gauge the pilots' capabilities," said Mohanram.

Schedule:

Nov. 29, 2018 – Pilot Practice Day from 1 pm onwards.
Nov. 30, 2018 – Main Night Drone Race Day from 5 pm onwards.

Drone Race Address:
Bengaluru Main Palace, Bengaluru,
Karnataka, 560052

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(Published 21 November 2018, 17:11 IST)

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