New Delhi: Zuppa Geo Navigation Technologies Pvt Ltd., better known as ZUPPA has been making rapid strides in keeping with the government’s policy of self-reliance. The company recently featured in the documentary series – Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Makers of Indian Defence – being aired on ET Now channel.
ZUPPA, founded in 2008 by father- son duo, Sai Pattabiram and Venkatesh Sai is a completely India grown company manufacturing a range of 5th Generation embedded electronics products for Drones, IoT and connected mobility applications from PCB Design to manufacturing.
ZUPPA’s Founder Director Venkatesh Sai participating in the second episode (March 26 and March 27) of the documentary said that “in 2012 we started working with National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) and Aeronautics Development Establishment (ADE) on a Man Backpack UAV project it was during this time that we realized that it was the Autopilot or flight controller that was the key enabler of unmanned or driverless technologies. If we wanted to manufacture a Drone the key component was the Autopilot. Hence we invested resources as well as manpower into creating the core computing architecture called DPCC (Disseminated Parallel Control Computing) for real time environment and this technology is an electronic Bio Mimicry of the Human Brain.”
The company is unique in that it is probably the only Deep Technology company in India that is capable of leading the country’s march towards realizing the National Objective of India emerging as a global drone Hub by 2030.
As Venkatesh Sai said “being the only Indian manufacturer of Drone Autopilots based on its proprietary technology ZUPPA offers Indian Armed forces a solution that is fully secure from End to End, no other Indian manufacturer can offer this level of security and visibility.”
He said the company has built competencies in PCB hardware design, firmware development as well as manufacturing to ensure reliable, robust & rugged embedded products that can withstand the diverse climatic conditions across India.
Taking the conversation forward, ZUPPA’s Managing Director, Sai Pattabiram said that the company is working on filling the gap for “Buy & Fly“ Drones in a Box with the soon to be launched “Ajeet Mini“.
Ajeet Mini is designed to be a direct replacement of Chinese DJI Drones that have effectively filled this gap with their drones over the past 4-5 years with the import of an estimated 8 lac pieces at an average import of 1.5 lac pieces per year.
These Buy & Fly Chinese Drones have even penetrated the difficult to enter Armed Forces procurement system with an estimated 1.5 – 2 lac pieces. What make this all the more interesting is the fact that none of these drones comply to stringent MIL Standards normally the basis of all defence purchases. This is the gap that Zuppa is working on to fill with the soon to be launched Ajeet Mini,” commented Sai Pattabiram.
The company is leading the nation’s push into the future Fifth Generation Technology and has set its foot print in the defence technology market.
“In terms of heavy lift drones, we are enabling them by offering our autopilot chip to control and fly their drones autonomously,“ concludes Venkatesh Sai.
ZUPPA’s sights are set on emerging as India’s first fully atmanirbhar silicon wafer manufacturer for its Edge and NavGati system on modules.
