JOHOR BAHARU: Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology, normally used in combat operations for surveillance and observation from the air, especially in countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine, is set to reach new heights through the efforts of a local company.
Geo Sense Sdn Bhd claimed, the UAV technology was not limited to combat operations alone but can be used for other purposes like monitoring development in some areas, search and rescue operations, etc.
“The UAV technology can not only serve in a war zone but it can be utilised for many other purposes,” its chief executive officer Ismail Ibrahim told Bernama during an interview.
He added that high resolution images taken through the UAV can be useful to plan or survey land earmarked for development or conduct surveys to determine the type of development that can take place in an identified location. UAV’s can also be used to capture images on assets belonging to local councils and to monitor the upkeep of some buildings and also reduce risks and costs involved in taking pictures from the air, using helicopters or light aircraft, said Ismail.
According to him, Geo Sense, in association with the Iskandar Research Centre-Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, would introduce various uses of the UAV technology to the public, especially those in Johor.
“We have briefed the Johor state government, local councils and government agencies on the various uses of UAV and the feedback has been very encouraging,” he said.
UAVs are normally used to spy on enemy locations during a war because it elevates the use of human for such tasks and can also give high resolution images.
Ismail added that the current trend was to use satellite technology like ‘Google Earth’ or helicopter and light aircraft to capture images for a specific task but ‘Google Earth’ does not provide up to date information while using the helicopter or light aircraft would incur a huge cost due to the need for specific ability and expertise to carry out such task using expensive cameras.
“Images captured are also not guaranteed to be of high quality while the use of satellites will have limitations due to certain guidelines imposed by countries who own the satellites.
“Using UAV is very much cheaper and does not need much time to prepare for such tasks compared with the normal procedures,” he said. — Bernama