Ankola landslide: Iboard drone can generate point cloud data on truck's position, says expert

Kozhikode: Amid the rescue operations to find the missing Kozhikode man, a team from the Indian Army, led by retired Major General Indrapal Nambiar, is preparing to launch an advanced iBoard-based drone to detect the truck trapped under the Gangavali River. Sooraj P Nath, a drone expert, told Manorama News that the drone search will provide crucial information about the truck's position. He clarified that the drone will generate only a point cloud data of the truck in the riverbed.

" We will not get a 3D image of the object under the river by using the drone. It will generate a point cloud data that features measurement of the object. We need to analyse this data to confirm the truck's location," he added.

Equipped with Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) can give accurate details of the truck, including its distance from the riverbank and the exact depth of its position. By assessing these details, scuba divers will be able to plan their approach to retrieve the truck from the river.

"Though the strong current and poor visibility due to water mixed with mud pose challenges to the scuba divers, the drone can obtain accurate position of the truck," said Sooraj.
He added that bad weather conditions would not interrupt the drone's operation.

The Army team plans to launch the drone around 1'o clock on Thursday. They have already set up a drone control centre on the riverbank to operate the drone. Once the drone confirms the position of the truck, the scuba divers can expedite their efforts to search for Arjun inside the truck and lift it from the riverbed.

Kozhikode native Arjun went missing following the massive landside in Shirur of Uttara Kananda's Ankola on July 16. On Wednesday, the rescue team located the truck under Gangavalli river during a search with most advanced machines including Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR).