India’s First DRDO-Built Aerosol Lidar to Revolutionize Weather and Air Pollution Monitoring
In a major step towards advanced environmental monitoring, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed India’s first indigenous aerosol lidar system. Built by the Dehradun-based Instruments Research and Development Establishment (IRDE), this cutting-edge technology will significantly improve the Indian Meteorological Department's (IMD) ability to predict weather patterns and assess air pollution levels with greater accuracy.
Aerosol lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) is a remote sensing technology that measures atmospheric aerosols—tiny particles suspended in the air, such as dust, smoke, and pollutants. The system provides critical data on aerosol concentration, distribution, and composition, which are essential for understanding their impact on climate change, weather forecasting, and air quality.
India, being the third most polluted country in the world, has long required advanced tools to track atmospheric changes more effectively. This indigenous lidar system will help bridge the gap by providing real-time vertical profiling of aerosols and clouds, allowing scientists to analyze their behavior at different altitudes. The system was officially handed over to IMD Director General Mrutyunjay Mohapatra by DRDO’s Director General of Electronics and Communication Systems, Binay Kumar Das, marking a significant milestone in India’s self-reliance in environmental monitoring technology.
The DRDO aerosol lidar integrates Mie, depolarisation, and Raman channels, operating with a high-energy fixed laser wavelength and a large-aperture receiver telescope. It can analyze aerosols and clouds up to 20 km in altitude, while the Raman channel specifically provides data on water vapor mixing up to 5 km. This advanced profiling capability will play a crucial role in improving rainfall predictions, cloud formation studies, and even forecasting lightning events by detecting ice crystal clouds at high altitudes.
Until now, India’s air quality monitoring has depended mainly on surface sensors and satellite observations, which provide limited vertical distribution data. While IMD operates a sky radiometer network to track overall aerosol load, it has lacked high-resolution vertical measurements. The introduction of DRDO’s aerosol lidar will now enable IMD to assess radiative forcing—the impact of aerosols on atmospheric energy balance—more accurately, strengthening its research on climate change.
One of the major advantages of this indigenous system is cost-effectiveness. Imported aerosol lidar systems are not only expensive but also significantly heavier. In contrast, DRDO’s lidar, priced at ₹1.25 crore and weighing around 270 kg, offers a more economical and efficient alternative, reducing India’s reliance on foreign technology.
With this breakthrough, India has taken a decisive step towards enhancing its weather forecasting accuracy, improving air pollution studies, and contributing to global climate research, all while promoting indigenous innovation in environmental technology.
