They determined that the ideal height for capturing imagery for these types of events was between 20 to 25 meters (65 to 82 ft.) as well as the diverse possibilities of obtaining high resolution photographic images.

“This, besides being quicker, also eliminates corruption opportunities as it avoids involving accident participants. Through use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) a judge could have a more effective way to establish the responsibilities from the objective proof obtained,” said Universidad Nacional de Colombia (UNal) in Palmira Industrial Designer and author of the initiative Diego Alejandro Vargas Romero, whom carried out this undergraduate project under the leadership of Professor John Cardozo.

Vargas developed this project from a different than usual approach, and as he says, “Design is conceptualizing objects, but it is also the opportunity to solve issues with high prospective value, combining tangible and intangible concepts, in technological terms.”

He also said that his interest in this project was added to the possibility of getting onboard other ideas of the world where drone technology has been thought also for “picking up trash from the sea or tending to medical emergencies.” 

Professor Cardozo says that the work of Vargas, “is a great opportunity for Palmira, as the city has a very narrow street network that collapses with accidents while police officers arrive at the scene and take control of the situation, although this can take up to two hours.

The whole process between the moment the police are called and they arrive is tedious as they have to complete a series of procedures including filling out reports for IPAT, with has multiple features to fill out and then draw a map of the accident to explain the scenario.

For the city of Palmira, using this technology is viable because the winds do not surpass 150 m/s, plus the land is flat, therefore these favorable conditions would enable easy handling and optimal flight conditions for UAV technologies.

To build the proposal, they used an Air Parrot Drone 1.0 with 720 pixel 3 fps HD camera with wide angle 92° diagonal lens. They carried out three tests simulating a traffic accident in one of the streets of UNal-Palmira.

The analysis of the images obtain was performed using photogravimetry and photointerpretation techniques, which helped calculate the distances of all the objects involved in the incident.

Drone technology began in 1920 with Croatian inventor Nikola Tesla, and is more relevant now with the conflict between the US and the Middle East.

Agencia Noticias Unal