National Level · 1st Place

MeitY · Drone Federation of India · Jan 2026

NIDAR
2025

Team Edhitha won First Place in the Disaster Management category — deploying a fully autonomous dual-drone swarm system to survey 30 hectares, detect 10 survivors using onboard computer vision, and deliver emergency payloads within a 30-minute mission window.

🏆 1st Place — Disaster Management
350+ teams · IITs included · GBU, Greater Noida
0 ha
Area Surveyed
0
Survivors Detected
0 min
Allotted Window
0+
Teams Competed
0–3 m
Geotag Accuracy
<50 cm
Drop Accuracy

System of Systems

How It Works

Two specialized drones under a shared mission state — scouting and delivering in parallel, coordinated by a ROS pipeline that guarantees zero task overlap.

🛸
Scout + Delivery Drone

RUDRA

  • 100 ft altitude · 15 m/s cruise speed
  • KML-driven lawnmower path, GSD-calibrated
  • Onboard CV — real-time survivor detection
  • 2–3 m geotag accuracy (GPS + camera fusion)
  • Live parallel clustering during flight
  • Targets pushed to shared state instantly
  • Post-scan: transitions to delivery (4 drops)
state
📦
Delivery Drone

BARBARIK

  • 6 payload capacity · 200g each
  • Begins delivery on first confirmed target
  • GPS nav → Visual Repositioning routine
  • Sub-cm centering accuracy above survivor
  • Tethered drop — smooth, controlled release
  • Atomic task claim: never duplicates a target
GCS
🖥️
Ground Control

GCS WEB UI

  • Custom responsive web app
  • Detection image review + target management
  • Full mission override at any time
  • LTE primary Communication
  • Real-time state synchronization

Flight Testing

Dual-Drone
Field Tests

Months of iterative testing — validating coordinated flight pipelines, onboard CV detection, geotag accuracy, and tethered payload delivery before the national finals.

Payload Drop

Visual repositioning and tethered drop sequence

Dual-Drone Coordination

Both drones live — shared state and task deconfliction

Competition Footage

Finals at
Gautam Buddha University

The final mission — live at NIDAR 2025. Real terrain, real pressure, 350+ teams. Rudra scanning + delivering, Barbarik delivering, GCS monitoring — all running simultaneously.

Mission Launch
Payload Drop
Barbarik TakeOff
Payload Drop

Ground Control Station

Full Situational
Awareness

🗺️
Live Mission Status
Both drone status and detected targets in real time
📷
Detection Image Feed
Live CV imagery streams allows operators to review, confirm, or reject detections pre-dispatch and perform real-time edits during delivery.
🎛️
Mission Override
Full control at any point — reassign targets, reprioritize delivery order, or trigger emergency RTL independently per drone.
📡
Dual-Channel Comms
LTE for state sync and Web UI. RFD modules - multi-comm for Telemetry.
Edhitha GCS — Mission Flow
RUDRABARBARIK
Mission
● ACTIVE
Targets
6 / 10
Delivered
2
Time Left
18:42
LTE
● STRONG

Mission Execution

Mission
Sequence

The allotted window was 30 minutes. We completed the entire mission — Complete Area surveyed, 6 survivors detected, all payloads delivered — in under 15 minutes. The pipeline was built around parallel execution from the start: Barbarik begins delivering before Rudra even finishes scanning, leaving no drone idle at any point.

Rudra Takes Off
KML loaded, lawnmower path computed on-device and uploaded. Rudra begins survey at 100 ft.
First Detection
CV model flags first survivor mid-flight. Coordinate geotagged and pushed to shared state immediately.
Barbarik Takes Off
Without waiting for a full scan, Barbarik claims the first target and begins autonomous navigation.
First Payload Dropped
Barbarik arrives, visual repositioning locks sub-cm, tethered payload released smoothly.
Scan Complete
Rudra finishes 20 ha. 6 targets confirmed. Immediately transitions to delivery mode.
Mission Complete
6 payloads delivered, zero duplicates. Both drones home — 15 minutes in, 15 minutes to spare.

Built to Perform

From disaster zones to delivery corridors — pushing the boundaries of what autonomous drone systems can do.

Autonomous Systems
Computer Vision
Swarm Robotics
ROS Pipeline
Mission Planning
Web UI
Payload Delivery
Multi-Drone Coordination