[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":144},["ShallowReactive",2],{"profile":3,"work-autonomous-aerial-systems":14},{"name":4,"role":5,"tagline":6,"location":7,"contact":8},"Sankar Vema","AI Builder & Architect of Agentic Systems","I help enterprise leaders turn AI ambition into capability that actually ships.","India · open to global advisory engagements",{"email":9,"linkedin":10,"github":11,"blog":12,"twitter":13},"sankar.vema@gmail.com","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.linkedin.com\u002Fin\u002Fsankarvema\u002F","http:\u002F\u002Fsankarvema.github.io\u002F","http:\u002F\u002Fsankarvema.blogspot.com\u002F","https:\u002F\u002Ftwitter.com\u002Fsansvema",{"id":15,"title":16,"body":17,"context":116,"description":108,"domain":117,"draft":118,"extension":119,"hero":120,"impact":121,"meta":122,"navigation":123,"path":124,"role":125,"scale":126,"seo":127,"slug":128,"stack":129,"status":135,"stem":136,"tags":137,"year":142,"__hash__":143},"work\u002Fwork\u002Fautonomous-aerial-systems.md","Autonomous Aerial Systems: Heavy-Lift, High-Altitude and Survey",{"type":18,"value":19,"toc":107},"minimark",[20,25,29,33,62,66,86,90,93,96],[21,22,24],"h2",{"id":23},"the-mandate","The mandate",[26,27,28],"p",{},"I have designed, built and flown drones since 2016, not as a hobby but as a series of\nreal missions with real payloads and real constraints. The through-line is engineering a\nplatform that survives the field: heavy loads, thin air, long range and results a\ngovernment or a scientific program will actually use.",[21,30,32],{"id":31},"the-missions","The missions",[34,35,36,44,50,56],"ul",{},[37,38,39,43],"li",{},[40,41,42],"strong",{},"Heavy-lift Falcon platform."," A drone built to carry roughly 15 kg of payload, which\ncompleted a 46 km flight carrying a 10 kg load. Range and lift together, which is the hard\ncombination.",[37,45,46,49],{},[40,47,48],{},"High-altitude trials, Siachen."," Flown in Himalayan conditions to a maximum altitude of\nabout 14,500 ft, where thin air punishes every assumption a lowland design makes.",[37,51,52,55],{},[40,53,54],{},"Nation-scale land survey."," Piloted a land-revenue survey program for the Andhra Pradesh\ngovernment, mapping 25 villages across roughly 600 sq km in three days, work that would take\nground teams far longer.",[37,57,58,61],{},[40,59,60],{},"Ecological survey."," Built my first drone in 2016 for ecological studies in collaboration\nwith the Australian government's maritime department.",[21,63,65],{"id":64},"why-this-is-hard","Why this is hard",[34,67,68,74,80],{},[37,69,70,73],{},[40,71,72],{},"Payload versus range."," Lift costs energy and energy costs range. Carrying 10 kg for\n46 km is a design compromise won at the airframe, propulsion and power level, not bought off\na shelf.",[37,75,76,79],{},[40,77,78],{},"Altitude."," At 14,500 ft the air that provides lift and cooling is thin. A platform that\nflies at sea level is a different machine in the Himalayas.",[37,81,82,85],{},[40,83,84],{},"Field reliability."," A survey that has to cover 600 sq km in three days cannot afford the\nfailure rate a demo tolerates. The engineering standard is the mission, not the flight.",[21,87,89],{"id":88},"what-it-proves","What it proves",[26,91,92],{},"Owning an autonomous system from airframe to flight to delivered survey data is full-stack\nin the most literal sense. The drones are the physical proof of the same instinct that runs\nthrough the software work: build the thing, then make it survive contact with the real world.",[94,95],"hr",{},[26,97,98,101,102],{},[40,99,100],{},"Related work:"," ",[103,104,106],"a",{"href":105},"\u002Fwork\u002Fdrone-swarm-surveillance","Autonomous Drone Swarm for Surveillance",{"title":108,"searchDepth":109,"depth":109,"links":110},"",3,[111,113,114,115],{"id":23,"depth":112,"text":24},2,{"id":31,"depth":112,"text":32},{"id":64,"depth":112,"text":65},{"id":88,"depth":112,"text":89},"Self-directed and government programs","autonomous",false,"md","Custom drones designed, built and flown across real missions, from a heavy-lift Falcon platform and high-altitude Himalayan trials to nation-scale land-survey and ecological work.","10 kg payload over 46 km, flown at 14,500 ft",{},true,"\u002Fwork\u002Fautonomous-aerial-systems","Designer, Builder and Pilot","Prototype to field missions",{"title":16,"description":108},"autonomous-aerial-systems",[130,131,132,133,134],"Drone Design","Flight Systems","Autonomy","Payload Engineering","Geospatial","shipped","work\u002Fautonomous-aerial-systems",[138,139,140,141],"build","drones","robotics","autonomy","2016-2022","D1F1BdFNDvMbWFkijfO4eEGErv-7gdTYOaBfIk14MFo",1790601541959]