SoDIUM

Software Development the Catalyst for the Indian Un-manned Dreams

The Future of Drones are Software Defined
…A major step that India needs to address in becoming the drone hub for the world

As per the Forbes Business Insights, the global drone software market size was USD 1,165.3 million in
2019 and is projected to reach USD 5,961.6 million in 2027, exhibiting a CAGR of 25.05% during the forecast
period.
As drone hardware reaches a state of little or no change following a period of rapid progress and activity,
it is well versed that the software domain will enable the industry to drive and help reach the industry forward
with new applications for drones. Software not only makes the use case autonomous, but it enables and
transforms the drone usage easier and more convenient to use.

Drone Industry is in a State of Transformation:

Drone hardware is a critical part of any drone operation; the software platform is the
one that powers it and the services they are connected to. Unlike in the automotive
industry 100 years ago, having thousands of manufacturers building components to
their unique specification will not help in scaling. Hence standardization is
necessary to achieve scale.

Open Source – Easily available for users across the globe
free of cost which will enable full segment growth. Ex: Px4,
ArduPilot.
Closed Source – Higher CAGR in the market due to growing
demands for secured and customized architecture software
for commercial and military users.
Analytics –High demand for photogrammetry software in 3D
map generation.
Image Processing – Increasing demand for UAV software
due to effective battle management & analytics systems
providing with accurate information.
Control & Data Capture – UAV software is exclusively
used to control the flight operations from remote sensing.
The transmission of radio signals to UAVs in performing
various flight modes are provided through the GCS.

ARCHITECTURE PLATFORM APPLICATIONS GEOGRAPHY

App based software – High demand for mobile based
platforms in various industries as it provides cost effective
solutions for many end-users due to high convenience.
Desktop based software – high preference for desktop
software in the computers for data collection, processing &
analysis applications
In order to standardise the drone ecosystem,
the software domains can be categorised into
FOUR segmentations
North America – High demand due to increased number of
companies providing commercial & military software development
solutions.
Europe – Expected to grow at a moderate rate owing to rising
demand in commercial & military drones. Companies are focused on
developing cost effective & advanced UAVs with self take off &
landing capabilities.
Asia Pacific – Expected to exhibit strong growth due to increased
adoption of UAV in different industries. Heavy investments for
acquisition & development
Rest of World – lower drone market share owing to limited
opportunities for the companies.
Learn from Switzerland
…Becoming the world’s leading location for development of core technology and high-end applications for drones
Interventions that India must taken into consideration in the computing
and software domain to reach our goal.…
a. An easy to use interface to be developed
b. An open-source software architecture to be developed by India which will be compatible for
connecting the Air Traffic Services (ATS), Digital Sky platform (DSP) operators through the
Unmanned Traffic Management (UTM).
c. This open-source software can be deployed or be enforced to be used by the Flight Training
Organisations (FTOs) | Remote Pilot Training Organisation (RPTO). As the same UI/UX will
help in the scalability of the operations.
d. Eliminates the need for manual updates for changing the behaviour & capability of system
e. Update and Maintain the drone like a smartphone

f. Enabling and increasing the level of standardization and scalability