Birds of steel: City agencies give a push to chopper technology

BENGALURU: Inderjit Chopra, director of Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center in the University of Maryland, was always interested with flying. Nature was a constant source of amazement for him -from hummingbirds to dragonflies. He studied their flight patterns intensely . All these to create a human-powered helicopter.

And he did create one along with his students. Gamera I took off successfully in May 2011, hovering a few inches above the ground for four seconds. An improved version, Gamera IIXR, flew for as long as 65 seconds rising up to eight feet a year later. Gamera is one of a few such experiments worldwide. Chopra was a keynote speaker at the fourth Asian-Australian Rotorcraft Forum, held at his alma mater Indian Institute of Science in the city by the American Helicopter Society (AHS) International. “When you look at birds, you start imagining how it is to fly. It is an engineering challenge too. The students, if they are excited by the idea, can do so ow Gamera happened,“ much. That's how Gamera happened,“ said Chopra.

Bengaluru has always had a history with flights. From being home to Hindustan Aeronautics as well as the present-day startups that have drones as their main offering, this city has seen it all.

Bengaluru is one of few cities in India that actively promotes aerospace engineering, said Dineshkumar Harursampath, professor, aerospace engineering, IISc and the lead organiser of the conference. “Now the city also has startups that are focussing their energies into this sector. Drone technology will have a lot of practical realtime applications from rescue missions to better policing to defence,“ he said.

Harursampath leads a team of present and former students who have developed technologies to extract energy from vibrations to power helicopters.

National aerospace companies such as HAL have shown interest in partnering with educational institutions like IISc for developing better technology . “Technology initiatives with academic institutions will establish the much-required ecosystem in the field of helicopter technology ,“ said M Vijaya Kumar, general manager, rotary wing research and design centre, HAL. Another impetus for this sector is the Union government's `Make in India' ini iative. “There is a huge market here hanks to the sheer length and breadth of he country,“ said Ranjan Ganguli, pro essor, aerospace engineering department, IISc. “Big players like Bell Helicopter and Airbus are set up in the city. There are also regional players like Mahindra Aerospace and Tata Advanced Materials.“