One of the key components of managing a mine is the ability to monitor the various aspects of its operations as well as ensuring that the mines are being run as defined by their lease agreements. The use of IT interventions have managed to make most of these operations seamless and efficient, there are various emerging technologies that can ensure minimal human interventions in conducting periodic audits like land-use patterns, inspections of lease boundaries and managing violations.

The UAV Surveillance system has been built to enable both the mine owners and the administrators to have real-time/automated data available as part of their decision & compliance requirements.

Using UAV Surveillance leads to the following benefits for the end-users

• Faster Surveys: Compared to conventional survey methods, drones can cover around 20-25 Hectare in half an hour of automated flight. Drones can help in covering huge mines quickly with a minimal amount of manpower and effort.
• Worksite Visualization: Provide a birds eye view of land use, changes over time and comparative views, enabling the monitoring authorities to take accurate decisions in ensuring the land use norms as submitted in the mining plan is adhered to.
• Volume Estimation: The visualizations help to check the accurate quantum of extraction as reported in the Mines & Management System. This is a critical aspect of the monitoring system as it has a direct impact on the royalty payable to the government.
• Lease Boundary Monitoring: Drones offer accessibility to regions which are tough to access manually. Mine lease area can be monitored and inspected with the help of high-resolution videos captured by the drone.

UAV Surveillance is the key to making the entire system fool proof. The visual data, with its high level of accuracy, makes the usability of drone technology and the subsequent analysis of the captured data will open a lot of avenues for mining governance and regulation.

The system is capable of the following functions: