CHENNAI: The Centre for Aerospace Research (CASR) of Anna University will soon help the northeastern states in construction of roads in difficult terrains by providing accurate information to them by using spatial technology. The CASR, which has expertise of preparing and handling unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), is likely to start the project from October 25, said officials of the centre.
In the first phase, at least five UAVs will be sent to Meghalaya for carrying out ground survey work for construction of roads in inaccessible areas and in subsequent phases, the project will be extended to other northeastern states. "We signed an agreement with North Eastern Space Application Centre (NESAC) in January. Under the project, we have to provide them UAV-related support in carrying out different developmental projects in northeastern region and the survey work for road construction is our first project there," CASR director K Senthil Kumar said, adding that the UAVs, which have the capacity to fly at high altitude, have been specially designed for the project.
"Flying UAVs at high altitude is not an easy job. The higher the UAV goes, the more problems it faces as the air density decreases and atmospheric pressure also changes," said an official, adding that keeping all these things in mind, the UAVs for this project had been designed and a special team of experts would handle the project.
The CASR officials said that earlier, satellites were used in conducting survey work but the accuracy of the information was not proper as images collected through satellites were of poor resolution. The images collected by UAVs will be of good quality and appropriate analysis can be done using it.