Drones in India to combat COVID-19

Drones in India have emerged as the go to technology partner when it comes to managing healthcare and identification in densely populated areas, sanitizing large areas with disinfectants, monitoring traffic and lockdown violators and aiding the fight against COVID-19 in the country.

Hyderabad: The COVID-19, a global pandemic make us rethink how governments, organizations, and societies around the world can work with minimum or without physical contact. Today, the front line warriors and heroes of the nation are doctors, medical staff, local police, and private security guards and refuse collectors.

Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, GIS and Mapping, Location Technology and autonomous machines are playing a growing role in responding to COVID-19 pandemic. However, in this war against this invisible enemy, drones play a key role by helping authorities and people in different ways to prevent further spread of the corona virus outbreak.

Let’s look at how drones are being used effectively to combat COVID-19.The introduction of drones at this time of crisis is reducing the risk of getting infected to police officials and other staff since it enables monitoring vast swathe of area without physical engagement. However, the use of drones for surveillance raises a debate about privacy and individual rights on mainstream media as well as social media platforms.

Applications Details

Broadcast In addition to street surveillance, authorities are also using drones to broadcast messages and information about lockdown measures, especially an in rural area that lacks open communication channels for health information. Drones equipped with loudspeakers are used to make public announcements to keep people indoors, take necessary precautions, make social-distancing and wear a mask if stepping outside from home. China and many European countries are using drones for broadcasting messages to public.

Disinfectant Spraying

To disinfect public spaces and prevent the further spread of COVID-19, health authorities are deploying agriculture spray drones to carry out tasks like spraying disinfectant in potentially affected areas. These spraying drones are filled with disinfectants and can cover much more ground in less time and 50 times faster than traditional methods. According to DJI, the world’s largest drone maker company, a spraying UAV can carry around 16 Litre of disinfectant and cover 100,000 sq meter area in an hour.

Medicine and Grocery Deliveries

Doctors and hospitals need medical supplies and laboratory testing more than ever, and drones are the safest and fastest ways to deliver medical supplies and transport samples from hospitals to laboratories. In Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic, a drone is used to deliver medical supplies in the hospital. This technology not only speeds up delivery of essential medical supplies and samples but also reduces the risk of exposure to medical staff and making a major difference in efforts to combat the disease.

Temperature Check

During the peak of the epidemic in China, authorities were carrying out large-scale remote temperature measurement in most apartment complexes through the drones. Since people were worried of catching the infection, to avoid the face to face contact, Chinese authorities used drones equipped with infrared cameras to measure the temperature of people who was lock down in their houses.

Drone industry in India

• Drones in India have emerged as the go to technology partner when it comes to managing healthcare and identification in densely populated areas, sanitizing large areas with disinfectants, monitoring traffic and lockdown violators and aiding the fight against COVID-19 in the country.

• “The pandemic has shown what drones are capable of,” says Smit Shah, director of partnerships at the Drone Federation of India, an industry body with more than 1,000 members. “Earlier drones got a bad rap because they were seen as a threat to security and privacy. But now they are here to stay.”

• As per Shah’s estimates, India has about 50 drone manufacturers, 200 drone service organizations and nearly 5,000 drone pilots, currently operating in the commercial sector. The Indian drone industry is projected to touch nearly $900 million by 2021, according to a July 2018 report by FICCI- Ernst & Young,while the global market is projected at $25 billion.

• There are roughly 200,000 recreational and commercial drones in the country, each costing anywhere from Rs. 200,000 ($2,600) to Rs. 20 million ($26,000) depending on size and functionality. Before the pandemic, drones were deployed for a variety of tasks—from monitoring floods to spraying pesticides over fields, mosquito eradication, inspecting wind turbines and data acquisition for combating climate change.

Drones in Maharashtra

In Maharashtra, the Government is using data analytics, drones and traditional patrolling methods to deal with containment in crowded places. Drones are also monitoring the movement on streets and if a congregation of people is witnessed in any area, police teams are sent to take action.

Enforcing social distancing in Mumbai, Smit Shah, Director of Partnerships at DFI, says surveillance is the most crucial role drones can play right now.

“Following a crowd-sourced surveillance model, DFI has identified around 50 drone pilots across Mumbai. Our team of pilots is working closely with the police to survey parts of the city and check whether people are following social-distancing norms.”

The pilots fly their drones for a couple of hours a day within an area of about 500m around their homes, looking for signs of people gathering. This footage is then uploaded on a dashboard with the time and location, which the Mumbai Police access from their control room and send out teams to disperse crowds accordingly.

In addition to these home-based pilots, there are two on-ground teams equipped with surveillance drones and speaker-enabled drones. The former accompanies the police on their patrols. Once they spot a crowd with their drone, they send out a speaker-enabled drone to relay messages in Hindi, Marathi or Urdu, telling the crowd to disperse through a walkie-talkie or a recorded message.

Drones in Tamil Nadu

Chennai's Drone Army Joins City's Fight Against Coronavirus; Plays Crucial Role In Red Zones.Looking at the effectiveness of drones, Tamil Nadu government has asked Anna University to supply 25 more drones to be used across other cities and towns in Tamil Nadu.

This new technology will also help reduce the risk of workers getting exposed to the virus. As per the plan, drones will be used spray disinfectant, which the Tamil Nadu Government has also approved on March 23. As per the latest reports, the first drone was used to disinfect the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai.

Referring to the use of drones, Garuda Aerospace stated that their drones have been designed to be able to fly with heavy loads and can cover 20 km area in a day. Reportedly, this sanitization campaign will include 300 drones and 500 drone pilots to sanitize the roads, metros, and hospitals across the state.

Drones in Jammu & Kashmir

Jammu and Kashmir police has pressed drones into service in Srinagar as well as other parts of the Valley to monitor the COVID-19 situation and make people aware of the restrictions imposed by administration in response to the current pandemic. These drones are also being used to check whether there are any violations of prohibitory orders.

Drones in New Delhi

Drones are being used in Delhi to enforce social distancing on the roads, spraying disinfectants and are being adopted by the police as an extension to their forces. The Police are also using drones extensively to keep watch on places like grocery shops, banks and religious places. In central Delhi’s Karol Bagh, civic officials were busy filling a drone with disinfectant to conduct an “aerial spray”, as the corporation’s large 3,000-litre tankers could not easily be manoeuvred in the narrow by-lanes. Officials of the Delhi Police and civic agencies say the drones are a success

Drones in Gujarat

While Gujarat Police is using 200 drones across the state to monitor people's movements, Delhi Police has deployed them to ensure people follow social distancing.

Drones in Telangana

In Telangana drones are being equipped with surveillance cameras and thermal imaging payloads. Thermal is providing monitoring abilities to the authorities at night and are helping in strict implementation of the lockdown.

Drones in the state are also bring equipped with sky speakers to keep the public informed. In Telangana, Prem Kumar Vislawath, founder of Marut Drones, is using these devices to spray disinfectants.

“Drones have the capacity to carry up to 10 litres of disinfectant, cover a distance of around 20km and spray 200 litres of it a day,” he points out. The team at Marut has successfully disinfected a stretch of 1,900km across eightdistricts of Telangana. “Drones are the speedier and safer option over-spraying disinfectants manually.

Drones in Kerala

The Kerala State Police has deployed 350 drones for surveillance in the state and has been using drones to monitor the streets for those who are violating the lockdown. The police are then posting these videos on the department’s official social media handles, many of which have gone viral.

Madhya Pradesh

In Bhopal, police officers have now started using drones to overlook law and order. In containment areas, the police officials have been using 19 drones fitted with cameras to nab anyone who violated the COVID-19 lockdown. The drones help the police in keeping an eye on the heavily populated areas.

Drone is Future

The effective use of drones for good causes has helped authorities see them in a new light. There was a lot of negativity in India with regard to drones. But that’s rapidly changing now, Governments are beginning to realize their potential for good. You can deploy 100 people for a task, but 10 drones can cover the same area in 1/5th of the time.