The Business Bytes
TBB BUREAU
BENGALURU, MAR 23, 2023
Leading Indian end-to-end drone solutions start-up Aereo (formerly Aarav Unmanned Systems) has the largest drone solutions contract from Coal India Limited (CIL). The $1 million contract is part of a bigger digital initiative that is being undertaken by Coal India Limited.
Aereo will provide advanced analytics through its proprietary web platform and indigenous survey-grade PPK drones to 7 mines in Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) and South Eastern Coalfields (SECL) under CIL for a tenure of 3 years. This will help improve mining safety, environmental compliance, and overall efficiency of the open cast mines.
Prior to this landmark project, Aereo was also given a result validation contract from Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDI), a subsidiary of CIL. Aereo validated the accuracy of photogrammetry data across 50 mining sites and computed results. Based on the favorable outcome of these results and other subsequent efforts made by the CMPDI, an amendment has been made to the Yellow Book of Coal India.
Under the new Yellow Book amendment and CIL’s latest contract, Aereo will be the first company to regularly render its drone solutions to India’s largest coal mines.
This will be the first ever drone usage of this scale to be undertaken for mining in India. The contract with CIL marks Aereo’s second biggest success after a long-term engagement with Tata Steel to jointly develop and offer sustainable end-to-end drone solutions that will focus on the efficiency, safety, and productivity of open cast mining operations.
