The year 2020 was predicted to be a big year for drones in India. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle market was expected to be close to a billion-dollar industry by the end of 2021. The arrival of the deadly CoronaVirus, though, has sent many industries into chaos, with little insight on their futures. Some Industries stand to gain a little recognition, through it all. For starters, it is safe to assume that we will be focussing on better healthcare, sanitation and hygiene due the virus’s wake up call. For the drone Industry, too, not everything seems so bleak.
The advantages of using drones have never been more clear, with people confined to houses and forced to keep the distance from each other, the drones offer a safe alternative to the transportation of small goods, making them a lucrative commodity. The usage of drones has already been documented in India by the authorities en-masse. In crowd dispersals, sanitization, surveillance and disaster management, drones have been part of the front-line, effectively tackling the virus.
Officials of Delhi police and various other civic agencies have been vocal in their praise for drone technology. DCP Dinesh Gupta of Shahdara(Delhi) says that because congested and densely populated areas like Shahdara and Seemapuri are tough to navigate, the employment of drones seemed the last resort. Reports showed a 45% decrease in response time by authorities, whether it be to crack down on violators or for emergency help. Gupta claims that on sighting a drone, people are reminded of their responsibilities to stay indoors and promptly do it.
The thermal imagery offered by drones is also a life-saving boon used for rescue operations. The drones, when fully charged can go up to 40 minutes with a single battery, and pilots usually carry extras. They can fly up to 800 m away from the pilot and 400m high up into the sky. They employ cameras with 5,10 and 20x optical zoom features, giving clear HD images without having to move around a lot. Authorities have many avenues to employ drones beneficially. Here are a few:
City Mapping:
Knowledge of the layout and terrain of an area is sometimes invaluable to authorities. They can make or break efforts to keep order during emergencies. Where helicopters are expensive and satellites aren’t clear, drones shine!
Traffic Management:
Ground units have trouble getting to places blocked by excess traffic, that’s where drones can be useful, to assess situations in real-time and provide solutions.
Search and Rescue:
The most heroic and life-saving aspects to drones can be in their search and rescue operations. Often used to find people missing in woods, hills etc, they are becoming more common each year. With fairly frequent natural calamities, India can benefit greatly from drones.
In conclusion, the benefits of having drones are far too many to miss out on, due to the enormous potential that drones have on offer, especially for the Indian market and government. So the drone industry, for now is in a rather comfortable place despite the situation with the CoronaVirus.