NIDAR 2.0
Why in News?
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Drone Federation of India (DFI) launched NIDAR 2.0 on July 13, 2026, aimed at shifting drone technology from assembling parts to building "the drone's brain" locally.
About NIDAR 2.0
- NIDAR Stand For: National Innovation Challenge for Drone Application and Research
- Parent Initiative: It operates under SwaYaan, an ₹89.87 crore national capacity-building program aimed at training human resources in drone technology.
- Target Audience: The challenge is primarily designed for student innovators, engineers, and academic researchers across India.
- Core Microprocessor: Hardware development will center around the VEGA processor, developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) using open-standard RISC-V architecture.
- Strategic Goal: It aims to drastically reduce reliance on foreign chip designs and eliminate heavy licensing costs, advancing Atmanirbhar Bharat.
- Dual-Use Applications: Solutions designed under this framework will strengthen both civilian and defence technologies.
The Two Competition Tracks
- Track 1 (Drone Innovation): Student teams must create fully autonomous swarm drones for disaster-hit zones to find survivors without external communication networks.
- Track 1 Alternative Challenge: Teams are tasked with engineering GPS-denied drones tailored for indoor industrial mapping and confined-space rescue operations.
- Track 2 (Component Innovation): Teams are challenged to design a customized, indigenous flight controller and autopilot board around the native VEGA chip.
- Hardware Support: Following initial technical evaluations, the top 100 teams will each receive two VEGA processor kits for hardware implementation and testing.
Incentives and Rewards
- Increased Prize Pool: Total cash rewards have expanded to over ₹65 lakh.
- Startup Incubation: Winning teams get incubation support to scale their engineering prototypes into actual commercial businesses.
- Career and Tech Pipelines: Finalists will be granted corporate internships, cloud computing credits, and direct software ecosystem assistance.
