Indian Railways introduces Drone based surveillance technologies which has emerged as an important and cost effective tool for security surveillance over a large area with limited manpower.
Central Railway’s Mumbai Division of the Indian Railways procured 2 Ninja Unmanned Aerial Vehicles(UAV) to increase the security and surveillance in the Railway premises like the station, tracks, yards and workshops.
Ninja UAV:
i.The Ninja UAV drones are capable of real time tracking and video streaming.
ii.They can be operated on Automatic Fail Safe mode.
Railway Protection Force and Drone surveillance:
i.The Railway Protection Force (RPF) procured 9 drones at a cost of Rs.31.87 lakhs at the South Eastern Railways, Central Railway, Modern Coaching Factory, Raebareli and South Western Railway, for the use of security purposes.
ii.RPF has proposed to procure an additional 17 drones at a cost of Rs.97.52 lakhs.
Training of RPF personnels:
i.A 4-member team of RPF, Mumbai have been trained and received the licence to fly the drone, surveillance and maintenance.
ii.19 personnels of RPF are being trained in the operation and maintenance of drones and 6 more are being trained.
Purpose of drones:
i.To provide a force multiplier and to support effectiveness of the deployed security personnels.
ii.Intimate the nearest RPF post division on any suspicious and illegal activities like gambling, throwing of garbage, hawking and others in the railway premises.
iii.Support the data collection analysis which can be used for safe operation of trains in vulnerable sections.
iv.During COVID-19 pandemic, the drones are Used to enforce law and monitor the movement of the migrants.
Advantages of drones:
i.The drones cover a large area that requires 8 to 10 RPF personnels, which will improve the utilisation of the limited manpower.
ii.These will act as an “Eye in the Sky” which supports in monitoring the whole area, Supports rescue, recovery and restoration and coordination the efforts of multiple agencies at disaster sites.
iii.In large scale crowd management efforts, they provide inputs like crowd magnitude, probable time of arrival and dispersal based on which crowd regulation efforts may be planned and executed.
Recent Related News:
i.Maharashtra State Electricity Transmission Company Limited(MSETCL) has started to use drones for aerial surveillance and inspection of extra high voltage(EHV) power transmission lines and towers. Maharashtra becomes the 1st state to do so.
ii.India’s First No-Permission No-Takeoff (NPNT) compliant drone flight on the A200 Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) has been completed successfully by Quidich Innovation Labs and Asteria Aerospace in the green zone identified by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), near Tumkur in Karnataka.
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