Taking the security cover to a new high, the Centre for Aerospace Research (CASR) of Madras Institute of Technology, Anna University, has deployed the newly developed Tethered Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to provide aerial surveillance during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Rameswaram island on Thursday to inaugurate the memorial of former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.
While the Tamil Nadu police tested three Quad Copter UAVs, the CASR team, led by its Director K. Senthil Kumar, deployed two Quad Copter UAVs along with the Tethered UAV on Wednesday.
“Tethered UAV is the most sophisticated vehicle, which could remain airborne for six hours, covering a radius of three kms from an altitude of 100 metres and transmitting vital details,” Mr. Senthil Kumar told The Hindu .
It was extremely useful for the police to get finer details of the mountain terrain when Prime Minister visited Coimbatore to open Isha yoga centre in February.
The UAV was test-flown near the public meeting venue at Mandapam in the presence of J. K. Tripathy, ADGP (Law and Order). Sathish Reddy, scientific advisor to the Defence Minister, was also present and he too was impressed with its performance, he said.
As the UAV was connected to the ground power supply through a cable, it would have longer flight endurance and could be operated after keeping the generator in a mobile vehicle. The state-of-the-art camera fitted to the UAV would capture all minute details on earth and the police could keep surveillance from a control room, he said.
The Quad Coptor UAVs, test-flown by the police and the CASR beamed videos of the entire stretch to be covered by the Prime Minister and transmitted live videos to the police control room, he said.
Through content delivery networks methodology, the videos were also transmitted to the mobile phones of senior police officials, he added.
