North Central Railway set to use UAVs to monitor assets, for crowd management

New Delhi: The North Central Railway (NCR) is all set to go the aerial way in a bid to better monitor and maintain its assets and for better crowd management and enhanced safety in train operations.

On Friday, a meeting was held in this connection with experts in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles, chaired by GM/NCR, M C Chauhan in order to explore the potential of UAVs in making the train journey of an average passenger. The discussion was held on the potential applications of both on the fixed-wing UAVs (colloquially known as 'aeroplanes') and rotary wing aircraft (better known as 'multicopters'). The expert on UAVs, Squadron Leader VS Srinivas (Retired) advised that while both the platforms had their own benefits, the fixed-wing platform was a better choice for operations requiring longer range, better stability & wind resistance, and longer endurance. During the discussions, it emerged that there were a number of UAV-platforms available for application from range as low as 3km and endurance as little as 15 minutes to range as high as 50km and endurance as high as 6 hours.

The expert informed that the UAVs currently being used by the industry are electrically powered, using Lithium Polymer rechargeable batteries which offer high energy density with low weight.