Centre for Aerospace Research, Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, has developed a sleek fixed-wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) for disaster management and is using it for security management for the first time during Thevar jayanthi at Pasumpon.
The centre had developed the UAV with the funding of Rs. 20 crore by Tamil Nadu Planning Commission under Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiative (TNII) Scheme, K. Senthil Kumar, Director of the centre, said.
The UAV, which could be launched with the help of a launcher in a ‘single click’, was developed mainly for disaster management and during research, they found that the vehicle could also be used for security management and aerial mapping, he said.
Unlike other UAVs, which had rotary wings, this was developed with single wing and the major advantage of the UAV was that it could be launched from any terrain with the help of launcher and landed at designated places by opening the inbuilt parachute, Mr. Senthil told The Hindu on Friday.
For survey
The vehicle was first test-flown in Dharmapuri area for taking a survey on integration of lakes, he said, adding the hi-tech camera presented images with resolutions in centimetres.
The UAV would be airborne for about an hour, cover an area of five square kilometre, and send thousands of photos, Mr. Senthil said. The research team was working to enhance the airborne time to over three hours and the coverage area up to 10 square kilometre, he said.
S. Thamarai Selvi, Director, Centre for Technology Development and Transfer, Anna University, was present at Pasumpon.
The mission could not have been possible but for the encouragement from Director General of Police T. K. Rajendran and Inspector General of Police (Technical) S. Sarangan, they said.
