MeitY and DFI under the SwaYaan Initiative is inviting submissions for National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application & Research 2025. The last date of submission is May 10.
About NIDAR
National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application & Research (NIDAR) is India’s largest national drone innovation challenge hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Drone Federation India (DFI) under the SwaYaan Initiative.
NIDAR motivates students and researchers from academia to build collaborative autonomous drones for solving real-world problems in disaster management and precision agriculture. With INR 40 Lakhs in prizes, startup incubation, and industry mentorship, NIDAR equips students with hands-on skills and career opportunities in India’s growing drone sector.
Missions
Mission 1 – Disaster Management:
A coastal town is flooded, affecting the entire area. Water has entered homes, forcing residents to evacuate or take shelter on rooftops without food, water, or medicines. Severe weather initially hindered relief efforts, but after 48 hours, the rain has stopped, and the wind speed has reduced. However, water levels remain high, leaving many people trapped and stranded on their rooftops. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Local Administration teams are ready to start rescue efforts. Teams must build two drones to:
- Scan an area of 30 hectares to locate survivors while sending real-time video.
- Geotag survivors and communicate to them via a speaker mounted on the drone.
- Deploy a delivery drone to deliver survival kits (Size: 5x10x20cm; Weight: 200 gms).
Each team may build one drone as a “Scout Drone” for scanning and locating survivors and another drone as a “Delivery Drone” for delivering survival kits. Teams may also consider building both drones as a combination of “Scout+Delivery Drone”. The solution strategy shall remain flexible for teams. Both drones must fly autonomously while reporting their status and mission details from a single command and control station. However, teams shall also have the option to operate both drones manually with different command and control stations by accepting a Penalty as outlined in the subsequent section of this document.
Mission 2 – Precision Agriculture:
A village was once a thriving agricultural hotspot. However, as the years passed, most residents migrated to cities for modern, high-tech job opportunities. The village now struggles with labour shortages during peak crop seasons. Furthermore, the soil quality is deteriorating due to the continuous use of pesticides in enormous quantities. It has reached alarming levels, and there is an urgent need to bring pesticide use under control. Residents have decided to adopt modern farming methods and drone technology to implement precision farming techniques. Teams must build two drones to:
- Scan an area of 2 acres to identify crops under stress (depicted by pigmentation on leaves) while avoiding obstacles like trees, poles and wires.
- Geotag plants on a map.
- Deploy a spraying drone to spray pesticides on the specific plants.
Each team may build one drone as a “Scan Drone” to scan and identify stressed crops and another drone as a “Spray Drone” to spray pesticides. Teams may also consider building both drones as a combination of “Scan+Spray Drone”. The solution strategy shall remain flexible for teams. Both drones must fly autonomously while reporting their status and mission details from a single command and control station. However, teams shall also have the option to operate both drones manually with different command and control stations by accepting a Penalty as outlined in the subsequent section of this document.
Eligibility
- Each team member should be a valid student currently pursuing an undergraduate, postgraduate, or doctoral degree from a recognized university, institute, or research body during the NIDAR registration period.
- A team must have a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 10 members.
- Additionally, each team must have a faculty member.
- Each team must be multidisciplinary and must include at least one participant from another academic branch/stream/discipline. Any team composed solely of members from the same academic branch/stream/discipline shall not be eligible to participate.
- Multiple teams can be formed from the same academic institution. However, no team shall be allowed to share participants, team members, faculty members, mentors, drones, components or any other equipment with any other team.
How to Apply?
- Each team must register online by 10th May 2025, 23:59:59 IST.
- In case of an extension of the registration deadline, the same shall be updated on the official website and promptly communicated to all registered members as well.
- Each team can choose only one mission(s) in their online application form.
- Each team shall submit the following documents in their online application:
- Letter of Approval from Academic Institution
- Team Details (along with Govt ID Proof & College ID)
- Proof of Payment of Registration Fee.
Registration Fee & Payment
- The Registration Fee for each team shall be INR 5,000 and shall be deposited in the bank
account as per the details given below:
Account Name: Drone Federation India (DFI)
Bank: ICICI Bank Ltd
Account No: 054401005234
IFSC Code: ICIC0000544
Branch: MIDC, Andheri East - Payment shall not be accepted in Cheque or Demand Draft form.
- The Registration Fee will be non-refundable.
Prizes
NIDAR features the largest-ever cash prize pool of INR 40 Lakhs, rewarding top teams for innovation and execution. It also recognises excellence beyond drone building, offering unique awards for outstanding technology and business presentations. To further support development, five teams under each mission will receive reimbursement assistance.
- INR 6 lakhs- Gold Trophy: Awarded to team which scores the highest overall score.
- INR 4 Lakhs- Silver Trophy: Awarded to team which scores the second highest overall score.
- INR 3 Lakhs- Bronze Trophy: Awarded to team which scores the third highest overall score.
- INR 1 Lakh- Ignite Prize: Awarded to top 5 teams in each mission as reimbursement to their expenses.
- INR 60k- Outstanding Design Gold Award: Awarded to team which scores highest in design review phase.
- INR 40k- Outstanding Design Silver Award: Awarded to team which scores highest in design review phase.
- INR 60k- Outstanding Business Strategy Gold Award: Awarded to team which scores highest in design review phase.
- INR 40k- Outstanding Business Strategy Silver Award: Awarded to team which scores highest in design review phase.
