Traffic movement in chosen areas of Bengaluru is set to be managed with the help of drones from next week. A pilot project was launched in the city on Thursday by IT/BT and Science & Technology Minister K.J. George.
Under the Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) scheme, vehicular movement in chosen parts of the city would be monitored through drones during peak hours.
Real-time data
Akash Sinha, CEO of Delhi-based Omnipresent Robot Tech, which has been chosen to execute the project, told reporters that drones would help traffic police in not only identifying the number of vehicles passing through a particular stretch, the speed of vehicles and their category, but also their number plates.
“The real-time data will be passed on to the police officers concerned who would take a call on methods of traffic management,” he said.
Drone surveillance would also help in maintaining the law and order situation, particularly crowd management, he pointed out. This could help in initiating public safety measures during incidents of fire, he said, and noted that video footage as well as photos would be passed on to the authorities concerned from drones.
From 2 to 20 soon
To begin with, Bengaluru would get two drones. The number could go up to 20 depending upon the requirement, he said. Such management of vehicular traffic through drone surveillance had already been implemented in Andhra Pradesh, he said.
Karnataka State Natural Disaster Management Centre Director G.S. Srinivas Reddy said drone surveillance could also help in assessing damage during urban floods and other natural disasters.
Drones in agri, urban development and policing
Karnataka has joined the ranks of States using Unmanned Aerial System (UAS), or drones, in governance. The State on Thursday launched a pilot project to use drones in agriculture, urban development and policing.
Demonstrative application projects using drones would be taken up in Kasaba hobli of Haveri district to conduct a survey of the extent of crops, their health status and yield in 200 square kilometres. The operations would be carried out in three months during the crop life-cycle in the present kharif season.
In Bantwal town of Dakshina Kannada district, a survey of 60 sq. km. would be carried out through drones to prepare a detailed base map to provide inputs for evolving a master plan for the town.
The third application of drones would be in policing in Bengaluru.
Karnataka Science & Technology Promotion Society (KSTePS) will implement the pilot projects in co-ordination with the other departments concerned.
Participating at the launch of the pilot project, IT & BT Principal Secretary Gaurav Gupta said the Karnataka Knowledge Commission, headed by space scientist Dr. K. Kasthurirangan, had recommended to the government to take up specific applications to demonstrate end-to-end practices for use of drones in governance.
Agriculture Minister N.H. Shivashankar Reddy said the government is particularly interested in using drones for conducting a Statewide survey of crops and land-holding to get accurate data.
Policy to promote use of drones
IT&BT Minister K.J. George announced that the State would shortly announce a policy for use of drones.
The policy will promote their use in agriculture, urban development and police operations, he said. The policy would look into design and manufacturing of drones locally.
