Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman addresses the gathering of Indian defence manufacturers and talks about the importance of the indigenization of the defence industry

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) seems to be seeking new ways of encouraging bright minds in the country and the upcoming Defexpo - 2018 seems like an apt location. Proposing an open challenge for 'solutions to the problems' from innovators, students, professionals, participants and even foreign nationals who are attending the event, the MoD has floated four problems that interested people can solve for them. There are three prizes and two consolation prizes too with the winner walking away with 50,000. The names of the winners will be published on DEFEXPO 2018 website. The move comes in.

Get the thinking caps on

It's time to put your opinions to good use. From helicopters to drones, whatever may be your field of expertise or interest, MoD can use your help. Check out their 'challenges' below and decide for yourself. The participants are encouraged to write solutions on one of these:

Ejection Mechanism for Helicopters

Due to the clearance problems with the rotating blades, pilot ejection from helicopter is extremely difficult than the ejection from Fixed Wing Aircraft. So, design a safe ejection mechanism for Helicopters. Or

Nap of the Earth / Valley Flying using auto pilot due to GPS signal corruption in hilly areas / high rise buildings

GPS/Satellite Navigation is a universal navigation tool employed heavily by Aircraft/Helicopter/UAV navigation. Under normal flying conditions, GPS signal is usually uninterrupted and the accuracy of the system is generally adequate. However, GPS system has a few problems and the first one is that the system is owned by a foreign government and therefore susceptible to political upheavals. Secondly, factors such as multi bounce, atmospheric effects, etc corrupt GPS signal and this gives an erroneous navigation solution which may cause serious problems specially when flying NOE (Nap Of Earth) or while flying around valleys in poor visibility conditions. So, device a mechanism which would assist in carrying out the aforementioned tasks effectively even in a GPS denied environment. The system can either be an independent sensor or may make use of existing self-contained systems (Accelerometers, Gyros, Magnetometer, etc). Or

The defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman at a recent ammunitions expo stressed on the inclusion of MSMEs to produce products of defence interest indigenously.

Location based tactical messaging collaboration platform:

Providing real time location of a group of troops on a single screen has many advantages.The group of people can be member of an elite force who are infiltrating a terrorist/Naxalite location. Their real time location can provide them situational awareness and upper edge in decision making. Text to speech and speech to text is an important requirement for many of modern warfare applications. Mobile based application can be developed that will help the troops to locate other members of group in real time using GPS technology. Proposed architecture should also provision exchange of real time multimedia streaming among the group members. Real time marking/notification on the map will help other members to identify the treat and act accordingly. Or

Auto Identification of Drones/UAV

Over the decade, the popularity & accessibility of drones/UAVs have increased. Drones/UAVs are now gaining high interests from both military and civil market. Due to this, the misuse of technology is also reported all over the world. This initiates a need for identification of the drone before an action is initiated to destroy its mission. Methods to implement real time/automatic identification of drones/UAVs need to be evolved/proposed.

Modus Operandi

Got your brain's cogwheels turning? Then, send in the solution in about 5000 words and a Power Point Presentation of not more than 15 slides along with your bio, copy of government ID, Address, Contact No., email address and self-certification of originality. The last date of submission is April 8, 2018 by noon at defexplg@defexpoindia.in, written in English and the subject of your email should be "Open Challenge Competition - DEFEXPO 2018". As is the wont of any competition, plagiarism will not be tolerated and your references to any material should be properly listed.

The defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has recently stressed on the inclusion of MSMEs to produce products of defence interest indigenously. At a recent ammunitions event this month, she had even invited suggestions from the participants to make the process more transparent and accessible.

The Defence industry has modified the current "Make Procedure" in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016 that will enlarge the scope of industry, at the approval of which the service headquarter will issue an expression of interest, inviting companies to make samples within 12-30 weeks. Entry of players is not restricted under the norms as many no of industry players can enter the market to offer samples. Following this, a commercial request for proposal will be issued which will not be drawn back once it is issued and the industry who wins the bid will get the order between 69-103 weeks from the day of issuing request for proposal.