BLIMP-ASSIST

Solar Powered Airship Research Team

(SPART)

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Details Team Members
Sr. Name Degree Year Institution
No. program
1 Henil Agrawal B. Tech Aero 4 IIT Bombay
2 Soham Patil DD Energy 3 IIT Bombay
3 Aryan Gargi B. Tech Mech 3 IIT Bombay
4 Taha Kachwala DD Energy 3 IIT Bombay

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The Problem
• The Brahmaputra Valley that encompasses the Northeast part of India witnesses floods
almost every year, leaving behind a tale of death and destruction.
• This annual disaster leads to losses in life, especially because of the slow speed of rescue operations.
Despite the efforts of the Indian government to build embankments, no long-term measures have been
undertaken [1].

• Nearly 2 lakh people were affected by the Assam floods in 2023 as of 29th August 2023, and this project
will help make their relief easier [2].

• In situations after natural calamities, like Earthquakes and Landslides, rescue and relief
are of utmost importance to help the affected people.

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Idea
• Airships can help in providing real time detection of casualties and basic network services
after the disaster has struck.
• The current methods include usage of helicopters and motor boats for the relief and rescue of the
survivors [3]. However, these can take time as the rescuers have to look for the survivors everywhere.
Airships can help scan a large chunk of the affected area and report the real time movement of
casualties aiding in easy rescue, they can also stay stable in one spot and provide basic calling services
to the affected, making them feel safer and keeping them informed with the recent news.
• A total of 73 NDRF teams have been deployed till now in flood- affected areas for rescue and relief work
in coordination with the State Administration [4] and Indian government is putting a lot of efforts to
develop better strategies.
• Surveillance algorithms and deployment mechanism can be patented.
• No related patent is available on the inPASS (Indian Patent Advanced Search System) [5] website and no
such product is present in the market.

• Our solution is a part solution to a much bigger problem of providing timely relief to
people affected by various natural calamities.

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Idea
Blimp-Assist will work in the following steps -

1. Folded structure and helium cylinder is transported by the rescue team to the zone.
2. Expand the structure and fill it with helium via the valve.
3. Deploy the airship to the disaster location.
4. Conduct a continuous 2 to 5-hour survey of the area.
5. Return to the base for a battery change/charge.
6. Deploy the airship for an additional survey.
7. Retrieve the helium and return the airship to the base after the mission is complete.

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The Size and Nature of Market
• No long term measures have been taken by the government yet and the number of people affected is high,
this technology can be of use to the government (National Disaster Response Force) as well as NGOs
(Hindrise, Rapid Response, Care India, etc) that strive to help those affected by the floods.

• The solution that we strive to provide is superior to the existing methods because of its ability to be in the air
for much longer than any other device available. We believe that our solution will revolutionize the way we
deal with rescue and relief during natural calamities.

• The solution is also much greener than all the methods in use (helicopters, motorboats, etc) as it uses much
less fuel than all the alternatives

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 Design Ideation - Shape Analysis

Shape Analysis was done for various Airship shape available to find the
best possible for our purpose.
Robustness calculations were also done based on this analysis.
Velocity profiles and Pressure contours are used to estimate drags
encountered for 12 m/s winds profiles across various shapes. Results are
shown below.
Endurance against constant 3 m/s, 6 m/s and 12 m/s wind speed is 283
mins, 212 mins and 75 minutes respectively.
Lotte shape has been finalised based on the basis of simulation data to
fly at a 3 deg of AOA.
Sizing Details:
Length : 7.56 m
Fineness Ratio : 4.00
Volume : 11 cubic m
Net effective lift : 10 kg
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Simulation and Fabrication
A basic CAD model of the airship has been ideated,
Balsa wood PU coated Nylon (TPU) was
in which the folding mechanism of the airship is to
be installed such that the airship can be expanded procurement (for finalised for envelope material
and contracted on will. The gondola and control internal structure after discussion with DRDO.
surfaces would be attached after helium is filled strips) Fabrication testing has also
into the envelope. been completed.

Structural analysis of the airship’s internal structure

Internal structure for rings and, a maximum deformation of 4mm was observed
at the maximum load.
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Components and Surveillance Algorithms
Component Weight Deep convolutional framework for abnormal
GPS 30-40gm behavior detection in a smart surveillance
Gyroscope 5gm system includes three sections -
Compass 10gm 1. Human subject detection and discrimination
Accelerometers 5gm 2. A posture classification module
Inclinometers 100gm 3. An abnormal behavior detection module
Pixhawk 40 gm The models used for above three sections are -
IR Sensor 15 gm 1. You only look once (YOLO) network
Battery 1500 gm 2. VGG-16 Net
A 360 view Camera for capturing the view. 3. Long short-term memory (LSTM)

All are connected to a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi is

responsible for sending all sensor readings to the computer,
and for sending commands to the actuators.
The command is given to the actuators based on the input
from the camera after detecting any “Help” situation through
some AI algorithms. [6] [7]
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Practical Tests Conducted -
The purpose of this 3m long prototype is to test the internal structure strength, attachments,
and controls. It has an internal structure through which the gondola and motor mounts are
attached. It uses differential thrust system by making use of two motors to control the thrust
and yaw motion.
Its envelope is fabricated using metallic polymer material and internal structure is fabricated
using balsa wood and depron foam. Apart from that, sealing, leakages and fabrication of
envelope has been tested out but the results will vary with the new envelope material.

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Challenges
We have been trying to overcome some major challenges, and they’re listed below -
Problems faced during the prototype building phase -
• Payload capacity: The weight of an Antenna that can relay network for the people affected is about 2-3 kg,
we are trying to go around this problem by trying to find other systems that can fulfill the minimum
communication requirements.
• Retrieving Helium: There is no efficient method for retrieving the helium gas once it has been used to
inflate the airship, it leads to wastage of the gas. Inefficiency of current methods to retrieve helium using
a compressor make ground handling of airships difficult.
• Procuring balsa wood: Procuring a material with appropriate dimensions is difficult for such a large and
unconventional structure. We are trying various attachments methods to overcome this challenge.
Major technical challenges that might affect the adoption of this technology -
• Size: An airship which will be close to 8m will require a relatively big base for it’s deployment. To overcome
this, we are trying to come up with a foldable structure that can be conveniently stored when not in use.
Multiple hinge joints will also be used in the internal structure to serve this purpose. This allows us to
make the launching base for our system to be portable.
• Buoyancy control: Buoyancy control will be a major challenge if we try to have some deploying
mechanism (to drop first aid kits, etc). But, as of now the idea to deploy packages is on hold and we will be
attempting to overcome it using the ballonets in the near future.
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References

1. https://waterresources.assam.gov.in/portlets/flood-management
2. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/assam-floods-nearly-2-lakh-people-affected-death-count-rises-to-15-4
337893
3. https://ndrf.gov.in/sites/default/files/FLOOD.pdf
4. https://ndrf.gov.in/pressrelease/monsoon-2023-flood-water-rescue-operations-ndrf-continue-dated-16th
-july-2023
5. https://iprsearch.ipindia.gov.in/publicsearch
6. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Result-of-landslide-detection-by-the-CNN-Pre-disaster-aerial-image
-a-Post-disaster_fig4_323187472
7. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Result-of-landslide-detection-by-the-CNN-Pre-disaster-aerial-image
-a-Post-disaster_fig4_323187472

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