Tethered Drones Enhance Elephant Railway Safety

Tamil Nadu Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Corporation launched trial operations of three tethered drones from January 20, 2026, to surveil elephants near railway tracks in the Solakkarai reserve forest, Madukkarai range, Coimbatore. The tethered units, powered via ground cable with six-hour generator backup and flying at 100–150 feet with 30x200m zoom cameras, augment a February 2024 AI early-warning system and feed alerts to a control room to reduce collisions; TNUAVC will operate them for three years under an ₹8.3 crore project.