This 'Make In India' Black Box By DRDO Can Self-Eject, Help Save Vital Data

Several aircraft have gone missing in mysterious circumstances ¡ª some never to be traced again, others found only after decades, like the remains of two airplanes that an amateur investigator found on Mont Blanc in the French Alps last week, which experts believe could be those of one of the aircraft that Air India lost in two crashes in 1950 and 1966.

Representational Image

But military R&D agency Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) has now developed a self-ejectable black box for airplanes.

The device ejects from aircraft when it sinks after an accident and self-activates when it comes in contact with water, with a homing signal that can help rescuers easily locate the device. Built as part of `Make in India' initiative, the product, aimed for use on planes and submarines, has received "notice of allowance for patent" in the US and Russia.

BSAT, Ejectable Black Box Recorder with Satellite Transmitter -has been developed and tested by Naval Science and Technology Laboratory of DRDO in Visakhapatnam. It attracted attention from experts at an exhibition "Science for Soldiers & Society" organised in Chennai at the CVRDE in Avadi.

ALSO READ: 13 Pictures That Take You Through The History Of Black Boxes

Reuters/Representational Image

Officials said the black box was developed based on the tracking technology currently used to detect torpedoes. DRDO decided to develop it further and has perfected it for an aircraft. It aims to export the product after receiving approvals.

"In most of the air crashes in the sea, the conventional black boxes fail probably because they sink to the bottom of the ocean which could be thousands of metres deep and also get affected by the currents or damaged in the impact of the crash," an official said. "BSAT is designed to overcome all these hassles. It will eject the moment an aircraft touches the water and floats on the surface. It can also be tethered to the flight so that some portion of the debris be retrieved," the official added.

The floating black box has a good use in defence as it can send out signals when a submarine goes below its prescribed depth and sinks, but its chief use would be in civil aviation. "The invention is good because it can the crash site and save flight information," said air safety expert and former pilot Captain Mohan Ranganathan.

Reuters/Representational Image

A black box stores data including speed, altitude and other parameters of the flight of an aircraft. The information is crucial to piece together the cause of an accident. Airbus and European aviation regulator are planning to have ejectable black boxes on commercial airliners in the next two years.