Industries
We design the electronics inside drones and other unmanned aircraft: flight-controller and avionics boards, power distribution and motor controllers, battery, hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell power systems, telemetry links and payload electronics. Every board is designed for weight, vibration and EMC, and for the certification route the aircraft will follow, including type certification under India's Drone Rules, 2021.
What we build
Flight-controller and companion-computer boards: IMU, barometer, magnetometer and GNSS, redundant power inputs, and the interfaces PX4 or ArduPilot expect.
Power distribution boards with current and voltage sensing, and electronic speed controllers for brushless propulsion motors using field-oriented control.
Battery management, and power management for hybrid and hydrogen fuel-cell aircraft: DC-DC conversion between the fuel cell, buffer battery and propulsion bus, with monitoring and protection.
Sub-GHz, 2.4 GHz and cellular telemetry and command links with MAVLink integration, and the ground-station interfaces that go with them.
Gimbal control, camera and sensor payload boards, and on-board edge-AI processing for detection and inspection tasks.
Vibration-tolerant layout and mounting, conformal coating, thermal design and EMC control, so radios, GNSS and the compass keep working next to the power system.
Applications
Standards
The applicable set depends on the aircraft, its market and whether the programme is civil or defence. We design to these requirements and prepare for testing and certification; we do not issue certificates.
India type certification
Civil drones in India are type-certified under the Drone Rules, 2021. We design and document the electronics for that assessment; the certificate is issued for your aircraft. A draft Civil Drone (Promotion and Regulation) Bill, 2025 proposes to replace the Rules; we track the final text.
Airborne equipment environment
Vibration, temperature, power-input and EMC test categories used as design targets where the programme requires them.
Defence environment and EMC
Environmental and EMC requirements for defence programmes, designed to where specified and tested at accredited laboratories.
Radios on board and EU class marking
Radio requirements for the telemetry, video and command links in each target market, and, for EU buyers, the drone class-marking regime of Regulation (EU) 2019/945 (C0–C6).
How we work
Mission profile, weight and power budget, operating environment and the certification route.
Flight, power, telemetry and payload electronics partitioned, with an off-the-shelf flight controller used wherever it meets the requirement.
Schematics, PCB layout and firmware, with vibration, thermal and EMC risks handled in layout and mounting.
Bench and hardware-in-the-loop tests before flight, then support for your flight-test team.
Documentation for type certification or defence qualification, and the manufacturing release.
Proof
Hydrogen Drone Power System
Hydrogen-powertrain venture in which our founder is CTO (related party)
FAQ
Use an off-the-shelf Pixhawk-class controller running PX4 or ArduPilot unless size, weight, integration, redundancy or supply-chain requirements rule it out: it is faster and already flight-proven. A custom board makes sense when the controller has to be integrated with power, payload or telemetry electronics, or when component sourcing must be controlled. In most programmes the custom work is in power distribution, payload and telemetry boards.
Yes. We design the power management between the fuel cell, the buffer battery and the propulsion bus: DC-DC conversion, battery management, monitoring and protection, with power-system telemetry to the flight controller and ground station.
Under the Drone Rules, 2021, the manufacturer applies for a type certificate on DGCA's Digital Sky platform. A certification body approved by the Quality Council of India reviews the design documents and test reports and inspects and flight-tests the drone, and DGCA then issues the type certificate. We design and document the electronics for that review; the certificate is issued for your aircraft. A draft Civil Drone (Promotion and Regulation) Bill, 2025 proposes to replace the Rules; we track the final text.
Vibration is handled through component choice and placement, board mounting, conformal coating and isolation of the IMU. EMC is handled by separating high-current motor and ESC wiring from the GNSS, compass and radio receivers, with filtering and layout that keep switching noise out of the sensors.
Each project is quoted as a fixed-scope proposal: a statement of work with milestones, deliverables and pricing, sent within 3–5 business days of the discovery call. The price depends on the requirements, how mature the design is, technical complexity, the number of prototype iterations and the validation scope. Longer engagements can also run as a retainer or a hybrid of both. For budgeting before you contact us, our hardware development cost benchmarks and the PCB design, firmware and IoT cost guides give indicative ranges with their assumptions stated. They are planning ranges, not quotes.
It depends on the scope and on what already exists when we start. As planning ranges from our cost benchmarks: a single PCB layout takes 2–6 weeks per board and embedded firmware 4–16 weeks. A connected (IoT) product takes 3–12 months from concept to a production-ready design, and a regulated medical device 12–24 months to a 510(k) submission-ready package; from idea to mass production, a typical connected product takes 9–18 months. The proposal sets out a dated milestone plan, and you receive weekly progress updates during the project.
You do. Our contracts assign the intellectual property in the project work product (schematics, PCB design files, firmware source code and documentation) to you on payment, and we hand over the source files, not only fabrication outputs or compiled binaries. The exact terms are set out in the signed agreement for each engagement.
Yes. We sign a mutual NDA before any technical discussion of your project. Send your standard NDA or use ours; we return it signed within one business day.
Yes. We are based in Hyderabad, India, and work with product teams in India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Australia, the Middle East and other markets. Our office hours are 10:30–19:00 India Standard Time (UTC+5:30), Monday to Saturday, and we schedule design reviews across time zones, typically from US Pacific to Central European time. Japan is 3.5 hours ahead of India, so our first four hours overlap the Japanese afternoon. Prototypes and documentation ship by international courier such as DHL or FedEx. Our hardware outsourcing guide covers what to agree before an international project starts.
Yes. We prepare the manufacturing release package — fabrication and assembly drawings, the BOM with approved manufacturers, programming files and test specifications — and hand it over to the contract manufacturer (EMS) you choose. If you have not chosen one, we help you evaluate candidates through technical capability assessments and a pilot build. See manufacturing support.
No. Rapid Circuitry does not hold ISO 9001, ISO 13485 or other certificates. Our processes are aligned with ISO 9001:2015, and we design products to the requirements of the standards that apply to them — for example IEC 60601-1 and IEC 62304 for medical devices (with design documentation structured so your ISO 13485 quality system can absorb it) and IEC 61000 for EMC — and we specify IPC-A-610 workmanship classes for assembly. We prepare the product and its documentation for certification testing at accredited laboratories; the certificate or approval is issued for your product by the laboratory, notified body or regulator.
A short, non-confidential description of the product and what it must do (sensors, connectivity, on-device processing), the target production volume and unit cost, the markets and regulations it must meet (for example FDA, CE or FCC), your timeline, and what already exists: a concept, a proof of concept, schematics, PCB files or firmware. After the NDA, the next step is a 30-minute discovery call with the engineers who would work on the project, followed by the fixed-scope proposal. Send a project brief to begin.
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