Andhra Pradesh is coming up with an alerting system that will warn against lightning -- the first of its kind in the country. A team of five girl students of Kuppam Engineering college are working on the development of the app which alerts people about impending lightning strikes. The project is taken up by AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) with ISRO. The developed app is expected to be launched in the next 10-15 days and likely to be named as Vajrapath.
The Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) has tied up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to share satellite services required for weather forecasts, which will be used to monitor and alert against possible lightening strikes.
At present three sensors have been set up in the State at Anantapur, Kuppam and Visakhapatnam to test the lightning alert system. To add to these, eight more sensors are being shipped and may be set up in the next 10 days. Each sensor tower has a range of 200 km, which has been installed in a zigzag pattern. The partnering organisation, ISRO has also successfully roped in US-based company Earth Networks to analyse the electromagnetic waves to spot the exact location of the lightning.
“The system helps us predict lightning, wind speed, rainfall and temperature, but mainly focuses on the detection of lightning. As according to NCRB data, a majority of the people dying in natural calamities die due to lightning. In order to save the lives of the people, livestock and monuments, we have come up with the app which will save many lives. The project is the first in the country and is being developed at a low cost to train students,” said S Varadarajan, APSCHE secretary.
This is how the system works: proximity sensors assess electromagnetic waves and send data to the cloud network of Earth Networks, which is then analyses and determines details of the lightning's latitude, longitude and directions of travel and time of strike. The processed data will then be sent through Application Program Interface and the information converted to regional languages, voice messages before being sent to the public through the app and voice messages.
“We are working for more than one and half years on his project. We feel really great to have come up with such an idea, which will help in saving lives and also protecting monuments and heritage structures in the State. We are engaging students in the development of the app and also for surveying works of lightning.” said Prof Kodandaramaiah, HOD ECE Kuppam Engineering College.
The team of five students are currently working on the development of the app which alerts the people in that particular region 30 minutes before the lightning strikes. The app sends text and voice messages. Apart from the app, the alerts will also be sent to feature phones through voice message and Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
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M Bindu Madhuri, a third year ECE Student of Kuppam Engineering College says that her passion towards saving lives being lost has made her work on the project. “It's really a proud feeling to take part in such a great project and I feel it's a stepping stone to my dream future. We have been working since last four months and soon it would be launched.” Bindu, said, sharing her joy of working on the app and concludes saying that her dream is to work in SHAR and take up the research works.
Sources of ISRO said that the project would also be used for alerting the flights and ships, which are highly damaged due to the lightning. Once the project gets completed, the airlines and ships companies could seek lightning alerts. This would also generate income to the State government, the source said.