The Uttar Pradesh Police are is the process of acquiring an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). A committee headed by DGP Karamvir Singh has short-listed two companies, Mumbai-based Ideaforge and Bangalore- based Honeywell Technology Solutions Lab, for the deal.
[indianexpress.com] On Wednesday, Honeywell presented a demonstration of its UAV, named T-MAV, in Chhattisgarh before officials from Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. A joint secretary rank official from the Union home ministry was also present.
The UAV was flown over hilly terrain and roads to detect hidden improvised explosive devices, using sensors.
In UP, four companies have already carried out demonstrations of their products before senior officers in the last three months. Each UAV will cost between Rs 25 and Rs 32 lakh and the UP police will initially place the order for one gadget.
The DGP said the UAV would help the police in counter-insurgency, search and rescue operations, disaster management and border infiltration monitoring in the forest areas of Naxal-affected districts.
Vice-President of Ideaforge Vipul Joshi said they were in the process of presenting the demonstration of their UAV to Naxal-affected states.
Named “Netra”, this UAV weighs 1.5 kg, measures 90 cm x 90 cm and is powered by external swappable batteries. The range of the UAV is 1.5 kilometre and the endurance is 30 minutes per battery charge.
It would have vertical take-off and landing and would be controlled from the ground station by a laptop.
The UAV carries daylight or thermal camera with pan and tilt control for capturing photographs. The company would charge Rs 7 to 9 lakh more for fitting a night-vision camera.
Joshi said the UAV can fly to an optimum height of 300 metres, but give the best results in term of the clarity in photographs when flying at a height of 100 metres.
An ADG rank official, who had attended the demo by both the companies, said they have gone through the details of the UAV’s performance in detecting landmines and hideouts in forest areas in conditions of varying temperature.
The official said they had asked the companies to provide, in addition to the operational control in the area when the UAV is sent in the air, the facility to watch the activity from the district headquarters and issue directions to the person operating the UAV.
Source: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/up-homes-in-on-uav-others-watch-demo/607661/0
