Drones are currently employed in a wide variety of civilian applications, including search and rescue, surveillance, traffic monitoring, weather monitoring, and firefighting, as well as personal drones and commercial drone-based photography, videography, agricultural, and even delivery services. Transportation, agriculture, defense, law enforcement, surveillance, and emergency response are just a few of the businesses that benefit from drones. In recent years, consumer interest has expanded as the demand for aerial photography and a wide range of business applications has grown in India’s B2B sector.
Quality Council of India (QCI) is an authority that adheres to the quality standards to improve the quality of human life and the well-being of every citizen of India. QCI has laid certain quality checks for drones that every drone OEM and drone user has to follow. Certain rules and regulations laid by the Government of India and mandatory checks laid by QCI must be followed when flying a drone in India, which will be explained further in this article.

The Drone Rule: Type Certification is a must to fly a drone which must be approved by the Government of India. Every drone model must be Type Certified by DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation). Once drone model type certification is done, then every drone must have UIN (Unique Identification Number) to fly it. The pilot who flies the drone must be a certificate holder to fly a drone and he must fly drone in green zone or yellow zone (with additional permission) defined by the law.

Classification of unmanned aircraft systems: Based on the maximum all-up weight including payload unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are classified as follows:
Nano UAS: weighing less than or equal to 250 grams.
Micro UAS: weighing more than 250 grams, but less than or equal to 2 kilograms.
Small UAS: weighing more than 2 kilograms, but less than or equal to 25 kilograms.
Medium UAS: weighing more than 25 kilograms, but less than or equal to 150 kilograms.
Large UAS: weighing more than 150 kilograms.

Drone Pilot Certificate: A drone remote pilot certificate is essential for anyone flying a drone in civil airspace. To earn a pilot certificate, a person must be at least of 18 years old, have passed the tenth-grade exams, and have completed the required training at an approved Remote Pilot Training Organization (RPTO). After acquiring a training certificate from an RPTO, the DGCA will issue a remote pilot certificate to a person through Digital Sky within 15 days. Operating nano and micro drones for recreational purposes does not require a remote pilot certificate.

Category of Flying Zones: The Drone Rules 2021 associated airspace maps classify Indian airspace into three zones as follows:

“Red Zone” means the airspace of defined dimensions, above the land areas or territorial waters of India, or any installation or notified port limits specified by the Central Government beyond the territorial waters of India, within which unmanned aircraft system operations shall be permitted only by the Central Government.

“Yellow Zone” means the airspace of defined dimensions above the land areas or territorial waters of India within which unmanned aircraft system operations are restricted and shall require permission from the concerned air traffic control authority. The airspace above 400 feet or 120 meters in the designated green zone and the airspace above 200 feet or 60 meters in the area located between the lateral distance of 8 kilometers and 12 kilometers from the perimeter of an operational airport, shall be designated as a yellow zone.

“Green Zone” means the airspace of defined dimensions above the land areas or territorial waters of India, up to a vertical distance of 400 feet or 120 meters that have not been designated as a red zone or yellow zone in the airspace map for unmanned aircraft system operations and the airspace up to a vertical distance of 200 feet or 60 meters above the area located between a lateral distance of 8 kilometers and 12 kilometers from the perimeter of an operational airport.

Drone Type Certification: In India, no drone can be operated unless it has a certificate of airworthiness or is exempted from the requirement under these laws. On an application filed by a manufacturer or importer of that type of drone on the digital sky platform, the Quality Council of India (QCI) or a certification entity authorized by the QCI or the Central Government may issue a certificate of airworthiness for that type of drone if it meets the specified certification standards. These standards may promote the use of made-in India technologies, designs, components, and drones; and India’s regional navigation satellite system named Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC).
Any manufacturer or importer seeking a certificate of airworthiness should apply through Form D-1 on the digital sky platform, to the QCI or any other certification entity authorized by these rules, providing the following:
a) Name, contact details, and GSTIN of the applicant.
b) Details and required documents in respect of the prototype drone.
c) Proof of payment of the prescribed fees; and
d) Prototype drone that shall be physically handed over to the certification entity.

Software Compliance Requirements for Type Certification
The software plays a crucial part in operating the RPAS as it is a remotely piloted aerial system that is to be operated remotely through the software. The software review process helps both the certification authority and the applicant to determine whether a drone model will meet the certification requirements. For each test conducted for certification credit, the conformity of the test article, test setup, test procedures used, and the validity of the test results should be established. It becomes mandatory to check the correct software version has been loaded into the system with the correct system hardware (part numbers and serial numbers) has been installed on the RPAS. When the software loading procedure or ground support equipment detects a mismatch in part and version numbers or an unsuccessful load, an error indication should be displayed. Here is a list of software compliance requirements.

1. Communication Link is Active and Working: Data link loss should be declared if the link is lost for more than the time specified by the manufacturer’s recommendations.
2. Correct GPS location of the drone: Ensure that the GCS software is showing the correct GPS location of the drone flying in flying view.

3. Secure Boot:
a.Flight Module Security: It is expected that the flight module security should be of level 0 or level 1; where communication between the Flight controller and companion computer must be encrypted usin128-bit symmetric encryption keys.
b. Calculations of Checksums: Initially, the OEM should submit the registered checksums for code and data checksums separately.
c. Power on self – test: On every boot of the drone, the checksum i.e. data and code checksum of the firmware must be checked by the drone. It must ensure that the checksum is matching with the previously updated checksum and upon successful verification of the checksum, it must allow the drone to operate further.
d. Firmware changes: All firmware changes should be recorded in the logs. On GCS’s side, a firmware update should be recorded in the file. After the RPAS is upgraded, the registered checksum should be securely updated on the flight. The checksums of the updated firmware (code and data) are to be digitally signed by the CB. RPAS should be able to verify the authenticity of the update by verifying it with the public key of the manufacturer. The public key can be retained from Flight Module (FM) and can be further used for verifying the origin of the logs generated by FM.

4. Firmware Tamper proof: UAS should not function if the firmware is changed by any procedure other than the authorized update procedure defined by the drone manufacturer.
a. Secure Firmware Upgrade facility available: Firmware is the software that is a brain of a drone. Everything from flight inputs to energy management and everything in between is controlled by it. As a result, having secure firmware is critical if you want to operate your drone securely and reliably. When updating your device, make sure you select the proper model because installing the wrong firmware can cause your drone to malfunction. There should be a proper firmware upgrade procedure defined so that only digitally signed firmware can be upgraded in the drone. There should be a provision of having a private key of the drone manufacturer’s digital certificate at the ‘Update server’ and each drone should hold the public key of the digital certificate. During the update of the firmware, the public key and private exchange must be done. Upon successful exchange of keys only, the firmware update must be allowed. The firmware needs to be upgraded only if new features are added or if any bugs are found in the earlier version. The OEM will release the notification regarding the firmware upgradation and accordingly the user should upgrade the firmware.

5. Geofence capabilities: Geofencing is virtual boundaries or invisible force fields around physical locations. This is the technology that prevents a drone from flying into a sensitive no-fly zone, such as an airport, nuclear power plant, or a high-profile event. Horizontal, vertical, and time geofencing are to be set for every flight. The maximum limit for vertical geofencing is 120 meters. The drone is allowed to fly vertically within 120 meters or 400 feet only. AeroGCS provides these settings in the mission plan flight settings.

6. RTH: Manufacturer to demonstrate with flight the implementation of Autonomous Flight Termination System or Return Home (RH) option and document the functionality about the same in RPAS Flight Manual.

Compliance Matrix Template
Compliance is the fact of obeying a particular law or rule or acting according to an agreement. The hardware and software developed for drones should follow all the rules mentioned above. To have a type certificate the Drone OEM should provide the evidence and proof of complying for all the rules and regulations. There are various parameters to comply with the product. These are broadly classified into hardware, software-related, safety and security of firmware and hardware also, environmental-related, area of application, etc.

QCI Compliance Matrix with AeroGCS KEA
A compliance matrix will show you how each requirement of compliance is addressed. A compliance matrix can assist you in creating a compliance outline that includes everything the certifying body expects to see. AeroGCS KEA provides the outline and essential documentation required to get your compliance.

1. Data link loss (Section 6.1): The user can set the link loss time as per the user’s choice in AeroGCS. In communication link settings under the advanced button, the user can see the disconnection time feature.