Urbanisation is taking over most parts of the world today and amid the growing population, technology seems to be the only way forward to tackle the growing challenges all the while reducing the environmental footprint. Across metro cities of the world, smart city projects are being undertaken to solve the problem of congestion. Unmanned systems are being used as an integral part of smart cities across the world, one of the latest trends of which is drones. From being solely used for security purpose initially, drones have gradually opened a new world of possibilities for other industries as well. 

However, the questions remains, how can drone technologies come in handy for smart cities? One such application is the smart management of traffic and crowd. Having a bird’s eye view of everything that is happening on the ground, UAVs can facilitate better traffic management and smarter policing when it comes to monitoring crowds but, with the rapid advancement in unmanned vehicles come the potential risks and threats as well from malicious sources. This is where the role of anti-drone technology comes in! 

In its bid to counter the alarming rise of drone intrusions across various sectors, Cerbair has been offering anti-drone solutions in stationary, mobile and portable versions. Its state-of-the-art radiofrequency technology is used to secure sensitive and vulnerable sites. After having received seed investment of over € 1.5 million from various VCs, the most recent investor that it has roped in is the Luxembourg-based Boundary Holding founded by Rajat Khare. 

In addition to managing crowd and traffic, drones can also be leveraged to analyse life threatening situations and be used to deploy help in disaster-hit areas where delivering assistance in person is unfeasible. One such example can be taken from the recent cases amid the pandemic where drones are being used to deliver medicines to elderly people since they cannot travel afar especially in crowded places where getting infected is highly likely. 

Thus, owing to their flexibility in performing tasks, convenience in use and high coverage performance, drones have become one of the requisites in boosting and actualising smart cities across the world. However, as the futuristic cities get more advanced, addressing the inherent challenges like privacy and security concerns becomes imperative.