AP to acquire drones

​Hyderabad: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has decided to acquire 10 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones to be deployed for a variety of police and civilian applications.

These drones will used especially for crime control, crowd control and continuous monitoring of dharnas, riots, strikes, rasta rokos, religious processions, disaster management, tracking and training of the movements of drug smugglers and a host of other things.

The Chief Minister took the decision after the demo of various types of drones used for civilian purposes was shown to DGP JV Ramudu and advisor Dr Gandhi P C Kaza.

• Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu decided to buy 10 drones to be used for police and civilian applications
• To be deployed to monitor crowd during Krishna Pushkaralu

These cameras will be used across the State for obtaining panoramic views of crowd gathered at key areas and to keep watch on impending natural calamities such as floods, cyclones and other natural disasters. It is learnt that the government is keen to use the services of drones during Krishna Pushkaralu.

The police applications include use of advanced software for facial recognition and identification of known offenders from out of the video footage available from the public places obtained through CCTV cameras and drone cameras fitted with high-resolution infrared cameras, thermal cameras capable of distinguishing the faces out of the database of such known offenders.

It is also proposed to make use of this technology for the location of lost or abandoned vehicles, goods, missing persons and other unattended materials coming under its purview.

Both the tethered and un-tethered systems which are capable of carrying the latest cameras with an endurance of remaining in the air up to one hour flying at an altitude of 100 m and above covering a radius up to 5 km.

It is expected that use of this high technology UAVs will bring down crime, reduce road accidents and improve traffic flow.