This slide deck accompanied an April 2019 Flying Labs webinar, available here: https://youtu.be/PoieOfLFhf4 In this presentation, Uttam shares some insights about participating in the WeRobotics Global Conference and organizing the first-ever drone meetup in collaboration with India Flying Labs, Dronepal and Airlift (the latter two being Nepalese drone startups). Uttam also updates us on Nepal Flying Labs on-going projects, such as monitoring reconstruction works and Drone Observed Therapy System (DroTS), and Nepal Flying Labs progress on becoming a legally registered nonprofit organization in their country. 

1. Nepal Flying Labs Update : 2019
Uttam Puadasaini
Coordinator- NFL

2. Presentation Title
 Some Highlights : 2019
 NFL Projects
 WeR Global 2019
 Drone Meetup 1.0 ,Association of Drone Professionals Initiative
 UASG 2019 -IIT Roorkee ,Some Highlights
 Drone Observed Therapy Systems (DRoTS)
 UAV Flight Regulations V 2.0- 2075
 Future Plans

3. Some Highlights 2019,

4. 1. Drones for Volume Calculation
 Naxa, Dronepal in Partnership with Nepal Flying Labs
 Client : IBN Nepal
 Major Outputs : Orthophotos Maps, Topographical map, Cadastral Map

5. Only recently, in a
meeting held among
the cabinet of
ministers on
November 3, 2018,
the government
decided to green-
light the site
construction for
relying on wastage
dumping of major
parts of the valley in
Banchare Danda.

6. 2. WeR Global 2019
March 1, 2019
 Team Retreat and Official Planning

7. 3. Drone Meetup 1.0
March 23, 2019
Nepal Flying Labs and Nepalese drone
startups Dronepal and Airlift together
with India Flying Labs organized the first-
ever drone meetup.
30+ UAV enthusiasts all agreeing towards
forming a formal community to advocate
the drone facilitation and regulation in
context of Nepal.
“Association of Drone
Professionals in Nepal”
Plannings ongoing for Meetup 2.0

8. 4. UASG 2019 –IIT Roorkee, India

9. Some Major Ongoing Projects

10. A. Monitoring Ongoing Reconstruction Works

11. B. Drone Observed Therapy Systems (DRoTS)
Project Rationale :
 TB is the 4th leading cause of death and leading infectious disease cause of death in
Nepal.
 Nepal is a high TB burden country with an estimated 44,000 new TB cases occurring
annually.
 Of the 44,000 annual cases, around 10,000 cases are missed from diagnosis and
hence go untreated.
Major Objective:
 Improving TB case detection and treatment through
 Active Case Finding (ACF) of TB,
 Drone transport of specimens and supplies and rapid molecular diagnostics,
 Improve TB treatment completion through electronic reminders and video
curriculums.

12. DRoTS: Project Team
Partners Involved :
 Stony Brook Global Health Institute
 Birat Nepal Medical Trust : Local HealthCare Partner with 50+ years of experience
 WeRobotics ,Dronepal, Nepal Flying Labs : All technical works related to Drone Flights
Locally Supported by:
 National Tuberculosis Center
 BNMT –MoU with- Ministry of Health
 All provincial governments & Local governments

13. DRoTS : Technical Details

14. DRoTS Update: Securing Permissions
 Permission from Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal
 December 20,2019
 Frequency License from Ministry of Information
 February 13,2019
 Flight Permission from Home Ministry
 February 11, 2019
 Drone Import: April 18,2019
Permission and Support Letters from All Local governments
It took us 5 months to secure all necessary Permissions…

15. DRoTS Update: Aerial Mapping for Planning
Aerial Survey : April 11-17

16. DRoTS Timeline
 Cargo delivery Field work to begin from May 22, 2019
 Phase 1 : May 22 to September 15

17. Some Legal Changes – Drone Regulations in Nepal

18. UAV Flight Regulations 2015
Flight Operations Directives No.7- CAAN (May 2015)
 Issued in accordance to the power conferred by Rule 82 of CAAN, Civil Aviation
Regulation, 2058.
Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Flight Procedure, 2015
 Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA) on the behalf of GON
…Regulations
 No system for registration of Drones.
 No classification as per the type of the Drones.
 Generic provision for Restricted areas for flight with no accurate
bounds.
 No fully Autonomous flights.
 Flights to be limited to
 300 m Horizontal Distance & 100 m Altitude (Home Ministry)
 Within 500m horizontally and 400 ft vertically (Civil Aviation)
UAV Regulations 2015

19. UAV Regulations 2075
Constructive amendments
 Categorization of Drones on the basis of
their total weights and capacity.
 Authority to grant permission transferred
to local bodies for small mapping drones
–supporting decentralization.
 Provisions to tag all drones flying through
the introduction of Unique registration
system.
 Blanket permission for research institutes
and project.
Need Improvements
 Entire process from registration to getting
permit is still manual.
 Lacking when it comes to thorough
monitoring of drones.
 Provision for Pilot license without proper
institutional framework for licensing
authority

20. NFL FUTURE PLANS
 Organize Meetup in a regular basis and formally establish the
association.
 Legally register Nepal Flying Labs as a Not for profit Company.
 Phase 2 of the DRoTS project.

21. THANK YOU uttam@flyinglabs.org @utm_geopd 9851216126

22. Backup slides