MAHARASHTRA STATE BOARD OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION, MUMBAI

PROJECT REPORT
On

“Covid & Multipurpose Drone”

Submitted By

Mr. RUPESH S. WARUDKAR Mr. NIKHIL S. AMBULKAR

Ms. POOJA P. ROY

For the partial fulfilment of a Diploma in Engineering in

Computer Science and Engineering
Under the Guidance of
Prof. HEENA B. KACHHELA

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

ABHA GAIKWAD-PATIL COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY, NAGPUR
POLYTECHNIC
2023-24

ABHA GAIKWAD-PATIL
of Engineering & Technology –
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
With profound feelings of immense gratitude and affection, we would like to
thank our guide Ms. Heena Kacchela, Department of Computer Science and
Engineering for her continuous support, motivation, enthusiasm, and guidance. Her
encouragement, supervision constructive criticism, and confidence enabled us to
complete this project.
We also wish to extend our reverence to Prof. Abhay Rewatkar, Head of
Computer Science and Engineering for providing the necessary facilities to complete
our project.
We are also thankful to all the faculty members and all non-teaching staff of
the department & college for their cooperation throughout the project work.
We also put forth our deepest sense of gratitude towards Dr. P.L.Naktode and
Prof. Niteen Kakde, Dean of Polytechnic for their constant motivation and for
providing the necessary infrastructure.

PROJECTEES
MR. RUPESH S. WARUDKAR
MR. NIKHIL S. AMBULKAR
MS. POOJA P. ROY

–
 CONTENTS
Certificate
Declaration
Acknowledgment
Abstract
Figure Index
CHAPTER-1
Introduction 07-12
1.1 The main objective of this work 09
1.2 Related Work 10

CHAPTER-2
Literature Review 13-16
CHAPTER-3
Critical Analysis 17-18
3.1 A drone-based architecture for smart health care system 18

CHAPTER-4
19-22
Thermal Imaging System
19
4.1 Wearable sensor system 20
4.2 Edge network and computing system 20
4.3 Fog network and computing system 21
4.4 Cloud network and computing system 21
4.5 Drone-system 21
4.6 COVID-19 monitoring & control room system. 22
4.7 Information capturing, processing and security flow.

CHAPTER-5 23-33
Algorithms And Operational Strategies
24
5.1 Single layer zone-transfer algorithms 28
5.2 multi-layer zone transfer algorithms 30
5.3 Social-distancing algorithms 32
5.4 Performance evolution

–
 CHAPTER-6
Development & Hardware of The Project 34-44
6.1 Standard prop 34
6.2 Pusher prop 34
6.3 Brushless motor 35
6.4 Motor mount 35
6.5 Landing gear 36
6.6 Main drone body parts 36
6.7 Electronic speed controller 37
6.8 Flight controller 37
6.9 GSP module 38
6.10 Receiver 38
6.11 Antenna 39
6.12 Battery 40
6.13 Battery monitor 40
6.14 Gimbal 41
6.15 Gimbal controller unit 41
6.16 Camara 42
6.17 Sensors 42
6.18 Collision avoidance Sensors 44

CHAPTER-7
Outcomes & Drone-based simulation for social 45-52
distancing
7.1 Outcomes 45
7.2 Drone-based simulations for COVID-19 operations in indoor 47
monitoring
7.3 Drone-based simulation for performance analysis in COVID-19 50
7.4 Assumptions 51
7.5 Outcomes & discussions 51
7.6 Number of drones used. 52
CHAPTER-8
Conclusion & References 53-60
8.1 Open challenges and future directions 53
8.2 References 56

–
 INDEX

Sr. Content Page No

No.
1
Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 08
2
Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 13
3
Chapter 3: Social Distancing & Monitoring

4
Chapter 4: Critical Analysis 18

5
Chapter 5: Thermal Imaging System 20

6
Chapter 6: Algorithms and operational strategies 25
7
Chapter 7: Development & Hardware Of the Project 38

8 Chapter 8: Outcomes & Drone-based simulation for social

distancing

9
Chapter 9: CONCLUSION & RFERENCES 58

–
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

CHAPTER-1

INTRODUCTION
Corona virus disease (COVID-19) is a transferable illness that has recently been.
identified. This infection was unfamiliar before the occurrence of the Wuhan chain in
December 2019 and within eight months (by August 2020), over 24.0 million persons are
infected and over 824,162 have died. COVID-19’s most recognized symptoms are fever,
tiredness, and dry cough and some of the people suffered from throbbing pain, nasal clog,
runny nose, sore throat, or diarrhea. The old people with medical conditions such as
hypertension, heart issues, or diabetes are enduring illness; individuals with fever, cough, and
trouble breathing should seek immediate medical care. This virus spreads between people
during close contact, i.e. at a minimum distance of one meter (3 ft), through small beads
during hacking, sniffling, or talking. These beads are delivered during exhalation, usually
falling to the ground or to the surface instead of being contaminated over long distances. The
virus can survive up to 72 hours on most surfaces. Recommended protective measures
include hand washing, closing the mouth while hacking, keeping away from others,
observing, and self-isolating of persons associated with being infected. This led to usage of
transportation restrictions, isolations, lockdowns, stay at occupational risk assessments and
the closures of facilities. The Corona virus has evolved as a significant global virus since
2002 in different forms affecting thousands of people in multiple countries.

Drone-based COVID-19 health and respiratory monitoring platforms creation is being

explored by the Australian Department of Defense for health monitoring and detection of
infectious and respiratory conditions including monitoring temperatures, heart and respiratory
rates, amongst crowds, workforces, airlines, cruise ships, potential at-risk groups, i.e., seniors
in care facilities, convention centers, border crossings or critical infrastructure facilities.
‘Drone’ a term usually used for an air vehicle that flies like other aviation craft (airplane/pilot)
but with a difference of pilot. Traditional aircraft are timely operated by pilots (Autopilot
mode is not distinct), this is what makes drones different. Under condition when an unmanned
aerial vehicle is in aerospace, it is termed as “Platform”. When external hardware or
embedded systems are implemented, it is termed as “Payload”. Attaching payload to platform
results in a drone that can be used in various applications with increased efficiency and
accuracy. In, it is found that drones are widely. Used in the present COVID-19 pandemic. It is

AGPCET 1
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
used for monitoring, vigilance, thermal scanning, medication, food supply, alter system etc. In
their use, data collection centralization and analysis are a major challenge. The features of
present drone-based systems can further be enhanced by integrating the features of measuring
social distancing, COVID-19 monitoring, and data collection using artificial intelligence (AI),
thermal imaging, sanitization with data analytics, record keeping etc. Understanding the
necessity and requirements of drone-based system enhancements for the smart healthcare
system,

1.1 The main objectives of this work are:

 To propose collision-free zone-based single and multi-layered drones’ movement

strategies.
 To propose an artificial intelligence-based system that collects the data through drones,
analyse and provides the necessary security measures.
 To propose a multi-layered architecture that collects the information from drones and
exchanges with edge, fog and cloud servers for necessary computing, data sharing, and
analytics.
 To simulate the drone-based system for COVID-19 operations such as monitoring,
control, thermal imaging, sanitization, social distancing, medication, data analytics, and
statistics generation for the control room.
 To implement a real-time drone-based system for sanitization, monitoring, vigilance, face
recognition, thermal scanning etc. in COVID-19 hotspots.
 To design and display the statistics of the drone-based smart healthcare system in a
control room.

This work starts with reviewing the necessity to design, develop, simulate, and implement a
drone-based healthcare system for COVID-19 scenario. In consideration of existing drone-
based systems and their features, a drone-based system suitable for COVID-19 or other
influenza viruses’ pandemic situation is proposed. The proposed approach integrates artificial
intelligence processes for data collection, analysis, and statistical. Visualization, sharing, and
decision-making. In this work, both simulation and real-time implementation are carried out
for COVID-19 operations (sanitization, medication, monitoring, thermal imaging, etc.). In the
real-time drone-based implementation, a drone is designed, developed and tested for COVID-
19 operations in the Delhi/NCR, India with the approval of government authorities. In the

AGPCET 2
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
simulation, multiple drone scenarios are considered for COVID-19 operations. Further,
multiple drones’ collision-resistant strategies and their COVID-19 operation in outdoor and
indoor activities are proposed and experimented on for evaluation. We observed that the
drone-based approach can cover a wide area in a short duration, and it is an effective approach
in pandemic situations and indoor patient statistics.

The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents the start-of-the-art over
drone-based systems, COVID-19, drone-based movement tracking systems, and usage of
drone-based systems in healthcare. Section 3 presents the proposed drone-based architecture
for the smart healthcare system using artificial intelligence processes, fog, edge, and cloud
computing services. Section 4 presents the collision avoidance algorithms used in drones’
network. Section 5 presents the real-time drone-based evaluation scenario along with a
simulation approach for proposed drone-based system for various COVID- 19 operations.
Finally, the paper is concluded in Section 6 along with presenting open challenges and
promising new research directions.

1.2 Related work

Extending the use of a drone from mission-centric, science, or defense sector to social
health is of critical importance especially for dealing with COVID-19 epidemic facing the
world. This work supports the argument that drones have influenced health quality and relief
measures in real life at a significant level. People are living in unprecedented times where the
almost whole world has been affected by COVID-19. Worldwide, doctors and medical
professionals are working hard to help diagnose patients, nation leaders are suggesting
maintaining social distancing, police and health caring units are inspecting areas trying to
sensitize the public along with many other measures being taken at all levels. Drones are
proving to be of great assistance in all these areas at varying levels. Countries are considering
drones to be of great use through various measures. A few scenarios where drones have
effectively escorted society with health supplements are briefly explained as follows.

 In Australia, a drone flight across cities detects if someone has a “doubtful” respiratory
pattern or not. Sensors fitted in the drone’s record body-temperature, heart pulse rate,
respiratory rate, and other abnormalities. These measurements are taken in different
areas, especially in overcrowded areas. Here, a network of the camera is used for.

AGPCET 3
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
monitoring and medication, and it is found to be effective and useful as well. The
designed technology for epidemic and disaster control is saving lives, helping people
working in critical infrastructure, and deployment of this technology over a large
domain is in progress.

 China is practicing surveillance with more than 100 drones (The Micro Multi Copter
company) over many cities. This measure is useful to prevent viral transmission by
alarming people if the inter-personal distance between individuals becomes less than a
“specific” value or if people are walking in public places without a mask (similar
practices were also followed in Spain, Kuwait, and UAE). Most of the countries are
supporting the drone-based approach for sanitization, monitoring, thermal scanning,
governance, vigilance etc. because it provides a safe way to help humanity.

 Sanitization is regulated in China by spraying disinfectant over mass (Terra drone). In

this experimentation, medicine delivery in fixed areas, sanitization, monitoring, and
analysis is performed. This approach is tested with at least 1000 patients and effective in
a real-time environment. The proposed approach is found to be more effective in rural
areas where resources are scarce especially medical supplies. Further, the drone-based
system helps in teaching the people how to wear mass and stop spreading the virus.
Lastly, the potential patients are identified, counted, and analysed using thermal images
and measuring the body temperatures. Thus, the proposed approach is found to be very
effective in smart healthcare systems.

 In the United States, a personal medical kit for COVID-19 is being delivered by UAVs
to remote locations. Like the other drone-based systems, this system is found to be
effective in delivering medical and other necessary supplies. In the US, it is found to be
effective in rural areas where corona symptoms are found in patients. Likewise, it is
recommended that the use of this technology should be increased to a large scale to
overcome the situations and help humanity in every aspect that we can do for saving the
lives, providing them with their necessities, and establishing healthy communication
with everyone in all aspect.

AGPCET 4
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
 In India, states like Delhi, Kerala, and Assam are making announcements during
surveillance across cities via drones. Maharashtra is a step ahead as it has generated data
analysis reports of the area being covered via drones. In overall observations, government
authorities in India have given special permissions to their bureaucrats and police
officials to use drone-based technology for vigilance, monitoring, medication,
sanitization, data analysis, reporting, and future decision-makings.

 Here, top officials in the government and senior ranked officials are monitoring and
taking control over COVID-19 hotspot positions through various means. Drone- based
systems are made an advance to handle individual patients or thermal scanning a large
area in short as well. Further, they are used for delivering medicines, food supplies, and
other necessary equipment weighing a few kilograms. Thousands of drones are
deployed in each state of India for similar actions with government permissions and it is
observed that the success rate these drone-based systems and networks is very high.

AGPCET 5
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter-2
Literature review

After the rise of the COVID-19 pandemic since late December 2019, Social distancing
is deemed to be an utmost reliable practice to prevent contagious virus transmission and opted
as standard practice on January 23, 2020. For one month, the number of cases rises
exceptionally, with two thousand to four thousand new confirmed cases reported per day in
the first week of February 2020. Later, there has been a sign of relief for the first time for five
successive days up to March 23, 2020, with no new confirmed cases. This is because of the
social distance practice initiated in China and, latterly, adopted by worldwide to control
COVID-19. Investigated the relationship between the region's economic situation and the
social distancing strictness. The study revealed that moderate stages of exercise could be
allowed for evading a large outbreak. So far, many countries have used technology-based
solutions to overcome the pandemic loss. Several developed countries are employing GPS
technology to monitor the movements of infected and suspected individuals. Provides a
survey of different emerging technologies, including Wi-fi, Bluetooth, smartphones, and GPS,
positioning (localization), computer vision, and deep learning that can play a crucial role in
several practical social distancing scenarios. Some researchers utilize drones and other
surveillance cameras to detect crowd gatherings.

Until now researchers have done considerable work for detection, some provide an smart
healthcare system for pandemic using Internet of Medical Things studied the social distancing
impacts on the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. The studies concluded that the early and
immediate practice of social distancing could gradually reduce the peak of virus attack. As we
all know, although social distancing is crucial for flattening the infection curve, it is an
economically unpleasant step. In Adolph et al. highlighted the United States of America's
condition during the pandemic. Due to a lack of general support by decision-makers, it was
not implemented at an initial stage, starting harm to public health. However, social distancing
influenced economic productivity; even then, numerous scholars sought alternatives that
overcame the loss.

AGPCET 6
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Researchers provide effective solutions for social distance measuring using surveillance
videos along with computer vision, machine learning, and deep learning-based approaches.
proposed a framework using the YOLOv3 model to detect humans and the Deep sort of
approach to track the detected people using bounding boxes and assigned IDs information.
They used an open image data set (OID) repository, and a frontal view data set. The authors
also compared results with faster-RCNN and SSD. developed an autonomous drone-based
model for social distance monitoring. They trained the YOLOv3 model with the custom data
set. The data set is composed of frontal and side view images of limited people. The work is
also extended for the monitoring of facial masks. The drone camera and the YOLOv3
algorithm help identify the social distance and monitor people from the side or frontal view in
public wearing masks. suggested an efficient graph-based monitoring framework for physical
distancing and crowd management. Performed human detection in a crowded situation. The
model is designed for individuals who do not obey a social distance restriction, i.e., 6 feet of
space between them. The authors used a mobile robot with an RGB-D camera and a 2-D lidar
to make collision-free navigation in mass gatherings.

From the literature, we concluded that the researcher had done a considerable amount
of work for monitoring of social distance in public environments. But most of the work is
focused on the frontal or side view camera perspective. Therefore, in this work, we presented
an overhead view social distance monitoring framework that offers a better field of view and
overcomes the issues of occlusion, thereby playing a key role in social distance monitoring to
compute the distance between peoples.

Go to: Researchers use a frontal or side perspective for social distance monitoring, as
discussed in Section. In this work, a deep learning-based social distance monitoring
framework using an overhead perspective has been introduced. The flow diagram of the
framework is shown in. The recorded overhead data set is split into training and testing sets.
A deep learning-based detection paradigm is used to detect individuals in sequences. There
are a variety of object detection models available, such as Due to the best performance results
for generic object detection, in this work, YOLOv3 is used. The model used single-stage
network architecture to estimate the bounding boxes and class probabilities. The model was
originally trained on the COCO (Common objects in context) data set. For overhead view
person detection, transfer learning is implemented to enhance the detection model's
efficiency, and a new layer of overhead training is added with the existing architecture.

AGPCET 7
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

formation, is used to compute each bounding box centroid distance. We used

Euclidean distance and calculated the distance between each detected bounding box of
people. Following computing centroid distance, a predefined threshold is used to check the
distance.

among any two bounding box centroids is less than the configured number of pixels or
not. If two people are close to each other and the distance value violates the minimum social
distance threshold. The bounding box information is stored in a violation set, as seen in Fig. 1,
and the color of the bounding box is updated/changed to red. A centroid tracking algorithm is
adopted for tracking so that it helps in tracking of those people who violate/breach the social
distancing threshold. At the output, the model displays the information about the total number
of social distancing violations along with detected people bounding boxes and centroids.

AGPCET 8
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

In this work, YOLOv3 is used for human detection as it improves predictive accuracy,
particularly for small-scale objects. The main advantage is that it has adjusted network
structure for multi-scale object detection. Furthermore, for object classification, it uses various
independent logistics rather than SoftMax. The model's overall architecture is presented in
feature learning is performed using the convolutional layers, also called Residual Blocks. The
blocks are made up of many convolutional layers and skip connections. The model's unique
characteristic is that it performs detection at three separate scales, as depicted in. The
convolutional layers with a given stride are practiced to down sample the feature map and
transfer invariant-sized features. Three feature maps, as shown in, are utilized for object
detection.

AGPCET 9
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter-3

Critical Analysis
In the existing literature, various drone-based approaches are proposed for smart
healthcare or mission-oriented systems. This approach can be realized from COVID-19

pandemic situations as well. Various challenges and requirements in establishing drone- based
smart healthcare design, simulation, implementation, or analysis include:

(i) the construction, designing, and analysis of drone-networks for healthcare or other
applications are least practiced,

(ii) performance and QoS improvement in a resource constraint drone device

collecting medical data from heterogeneous sensor,

(iii) collision-free drones-based network and routing,

(iv) multi-layered drone flying, collision detection and resistance strategies,

(v) solar-based environment-friendly in-air drone-charging system,

(vi) testing of the drone-based system in pandemic situations (such as COVID-19) can be
performed for various operations like monitoring, vigilance, sanitization, medication,
thermal imaging etc.,

(vii) applying artificial intelligence in drone-operations,

(viii) integration of drone-level federated learning for self-governed processes and

analysing changing COVID-19 viruses, symptoms and strategies.

(ix) Address the e-government privacy-preserving concerns that trace the infected and
suspected cases nationwide and securely transmit data. It should handle privacy
concerns, gives an option to voluntary or mandatory use the application, limits data
collection, and usage, handles data destruction diligently, system transparency, and
minimal data collection.

AGPCET 10
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
3.1 A drone Based architecture for smart health care system.

This section proposes a drone-based architecture for the smart healthcare system. In
this architecture, Artificial Intelligence trends are integrated. This integration includes
machine learning, and deep learning for data analysis, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial IoT
(IIoT), Internet of Medical Things (IoMT), and Internet of Drones (IoD) for data collection or
instruction-based services. AI is applied to design, develop, and make internal processes more
efficient. Thereafter, cloud, fog, and edge computing approaches are applied for efficient data
storage and processing starting from nearby locations to a distant secure position. Likewise,
other technological aspects including commuter movement, profiling, monitoring etc. are
recovered, observed, and analyzed for pandemic spreading.

shows the proposed architecture for drone-based COVID-19 monitoring, control, and
analytics in a smart healthcare system. In this architecture, there are six systems, which are
discussed below:

AGPCET 11
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter-4
Thermal Imaging System

An alternative to sensor deployment-based test data collection, drone-based

Cameras can capture a person’s images and can be useful in social distancing measurements
and density-based thermal imaging. Using this system, the camera scanner detects the object
and signal for the thermal image display. If the image is not clear for thermal display, then it
is made clear through detection and unit system.

4.1 Wearable Sensor System

sensor includes wearable sensors, or movement detection sensors at the ground near to
target monitoring/serving areas. This helps construct an IoT network using sensors, increase
the scale of interconnection and construct IIoT, or IoMT. All these deployments help in
collecting the required data, data analysis, and generating statistics. The wearable sensors,
movement detection sensors, image processing etc. can be used to monitor the COVID-19
pandemics. shows a drone-based person monitoring system using wearable sensors. A
person under observation is monitored continuously through wearable sensors. Drones
placed closer to the population for collecting the patient’s data from wearable sensors or
thermal imaging receive and store data in drone memory. The stored data is forwarded to big
data storage through multiple servers. These servers use edge, fog, and

cloud computing for processing, modeling, profiling, and analyzing the data. The
analyzed and refined data is shared with hospitals with the proper policies and procedures,
controlled and governed by the medical board and the federal government. This way, it would
be much more convenient for both the federal government and hospital to pre-plan the
resources in emergency cases. Patient data is securely transferred to the doctor/hospital as and
when required. This proposal is found to be very handy to tackle pandemic situations such as

AGPCET 12
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
COVID-19. In pandemic situations, when data such as time and location of collecting data,
population size, person’s profiling, methods of collecting data etc. is available then it would
be much more convenient for everyone to govern the activities and events. This way, it would
be much more convenient to identify the zero COVID-19 patient and the chain of the
pandemic. The integration of wearable sensors and drones are considered in IoT. An IIoT is
formulated when multiple stakeholders (e.g. hospital, drug, and equipment supplier,
government, medical board etc.) are involved. Further, IoMT is considered to interconnect the
medical equipment, drug, patient, and doctor system for clinical trial data fetching and
storage. Similar or different clinical trials data is helpful for analysis and advancements.

4.2 Edge Network and Computing System:

This system applies edge computing for data modeling and initial decision-making.
Edge computing does not fetch all drone data. The drone does the self-processing and keeps
the data discrete. Edge computing saves time and resources while maintaining the data
collection, pre-processing, and analysis in real-time. Thus, edge computing is helpful to
drones in making quick real-time decisions. Those initial level decisions are helpful for
drones that need instructions and operate within a stipulated time. Here, the major challenge
for edge computing is to balance the performance in handling drone-system and fog
computing tasks. In the proposed system, edge computing system sometimes needs to make
the decision locally and other times it has to send the data to fog servers for further detailed
processing. The cost of transferring data to fog servers increases with an increase in the
scalability of sensors, IoT, and drone networks. Large data would require resources and
intelligence. Here, edge computing shreds its load by performing data aggregation at the
initial level and transferring the necessary data to fog or cloud networks as and when required.

4.3 Fog Network and Computing System:

This system adds fog computing services in the architecture for commuter profiling,
monitoring, and decision-making processes executed in the initial phase. Thereafter, data
analytics helps in smart and intelligent commuter trajectory profiling, monitoring, and
decision-making. In the system, multiple drones collect person’s information that differs in
attributes. This way of collecting the data is much convenient to make a person’s profile.
Likewise, a COVID person’s profile helps in tracking the COVID-19 cases’ chain.

AGPCET 13
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

4.4 Cloud Network and Computing System:

This system applies application-level services for activities such as pattern recognition,
monitoring, decision making, and large-scale sanitization are created. High-end cloud
computing resources offer capabilities for comprehensive analytics and decision making
compared to the other layers.

4.5 Drone-System:

Drone-based healthcare system is having various advantages over CCTV-based

monitoring including (I) it can cover those areas which are hidden in CCTV footage, (ii)
drones are multipurpose, they can be used for medicine delivery, sanitization, thermal
imaging, scanning, etc., and (iii) drones can monitor the patient from a close position as
compared to CCTV. Medical sensors attached to a drone (such as accelerometers, biosensors,
MEMS etc.) can measure the patient’s conditions more closely and accurately compared to
CCTV, and (iv) loud noise is not there in every type of drone. There are quite drones (like DJI
Mavic Pro Platinum, Parrot Mambo, and DJI Phantom 3 Pro) designs that are more beneficial
for indoor hospital systems. In the proposed system, one or more drones move-around and
push/pull the required information/instructions from sensors as and when required. The data is
processed initially at the drone for initial instructions. Thereafter, it is shared with other
systems for further detailed processing. The internet of drones is constituted for longer data
transfer and analysis. This internet of drones avoids collisions through either Radar/LiDAR
systems or collision avoidance strategies. Apart from Radar/optical systems, collision
avoidance strategies are required if many drones are used for different services. Each of these
services governs their strategy for drone movement. Using collision avoidance strategies, a
pre-planned drone movement strategy could be implemented, and short distance-based
collisions could further be avoided with Radar/Optical systems.

4.6 COVID-19 Monitoring & Control Room System:

In this system, drones and areas under observation, and their associated statistics are
observed. This system helps in monitoring COVID-19 hotspots remotely and planning for
necessary actions. Further, individual drone’s performance and movement can also be
measured and controlled.

AGPCET 14
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
4.7 Information Capturing, Processing and Security Flow:

The proposed drone- based smart healthcare system aims to capture the person’s
information using drones and then transmit it to the hospital remotely. However, there are
data processing, security, and privacy concerns that need to be addressed for successful
implementation/considerations. Fig. 3 shows the drone-based information capturing,
processing, and security flow in the proposed smart healthcare system. The COVID-19
operation starts with data processing and protection agreement between the Resident Welfare
Association (RWA) and the government. In Delhi/NCR region, RWA is a body that represents
the interest of people (such as managing facilities, providing safeguards, and organizing
events) living in a specified area or society. In this work, RWA appointed Indian Robotics
Solution (IRS) for COVID-19 operations after an agreement. A team of IRS used a drone
system for data collection. The IRS and Local drone data collectors operate the drone and
collect the data using a secure tunnel. This secure tunnel uses end-to-end data encryption
(using Lightbridge application) for data sharing. Lightbridge application in the drone system
ensures that only authenticated devices receive the data. In Lightbridge application, multiple
drones in distributed architecture can receive the data in a secure tunnel. Local drone data
collector uses cryptographic primitives and protocols for secure data storage. The collected
data is shared with. The government-appointed medical board either using manual data
sharing or automated data sharing process. In the manual data sharing process, a government
official collects the data. Whereas automated data sharing uses end-to-end secure data
sharing tunnel. Hospitals collect the data from the government’s system using end-to-end
secure data sharing tunnel.

AGPCET 15
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter-5

Algorithms and operational strategies

AI-based drones capture raw data from IoT networks and can turn them into useful
and actionable outcomes. Our approach helps in multiple drones to collaborate, share, and
process the data and trace the pandemic. AI-powered drones are useful in gathering.

pandemic ground intelligence, assess the COVID-19 virus spreading, thermal imaging
for pinpoint, and diagnose issues. All these COVID-19 operation statistics can be efficiently
computed if data is collected systemically. Thus, a geographical area is divided into multiple
zones for drone-based COVID-19 operations as shown in Fig. 4. Here, square zones of τ
distance are formed and each zone is planned to have an area that can be covered by a single
drone. The algorithm shows the drone’s federated learning process before sharing its training
data with an edge, fog, or cloud network computing. Thus, each drone can monitor its zone
based on individual experiences. However, the average value of observations from all zones is
Algorithm 1
collected at the edge computing side for collective decision. suggested applying the
patient monitoring, thermal scanning, and image identification followed by the patient’s body
temperature measurement. The scalability of applying a unique solution to drones increases as
the decision process moves from edge computing towards cloud computing. In the drone-
system (shown in Fig. 1), sensor and IoT-enabled infrastructure can be monitored by drones,
and the movements of drones are important to observe for collision avoidance. Thus, the
zone-based approach does not allow any collision. In every zone, there is a collision
feasibility area. If any drones move to the collision feasibility area, then it will send a signal
(through LiDAR/RADAR/beam systems) to all neighboring drones for collision avoidance.
Now, if any drone wants to transfer its zones due to various reasons such as high-battery
drone requirement, longer operation time drone requirement, malfunctioning of certain
drones, specialized drones’ requirement, rotation of drone shifts etc. then zone transfer
algorithms with artificial intelligence components-based experiences can be applied. The
zone- transfer strategies are divided into single or multi-layered algorithms. These algorithms
are explained in the following sections.

AGPCET 16
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Algorithm 1

Federated learning for drone-based zone operations (monitoring, sanitization, vigilance etc.)

Goal: To integrate an individual drone’s zone-based self-learning for COVID-19 experiences

and securely exchange with an edge, fog, and cloud servers.

Premises: Let Nl represents the lth drone-network, Zi represents the ith zone in the area,
Dij shows the jth drone in ith zone and Pik represents the kth patient in ith zone.
τ indicates the length and width of a single zone. δ is a time interval of the drone’ zone
scanning process. QNlZi shows the QoS measurements for Zi in Nl. CNlZi is the COVID-19
experiences for Dij in Zi of Nl. ENl represents the edge server used for computing Nl
statistics. Here, Zi+n+1=Zi.

5.1. Single layer zone-transfer algorithms

This section presents three zone-transfer algorithms: fixed-area transfer, zigzag transfer,
parallel movements and zone-transfer. Fig. 5 proposes a single-layered fixed-zone transfer
strategy. In this proposed approach, drones are allowed to change or exchange their zones
using a zone transfer area. This area is pre-planned to have storage of at least one drone. The
exchange is allowed if both the transfer zones (left to right and right to left) linking each other
is empty. The details of the proposed single-layered zone transfer strategy are explained in
Algorithm 2
. Fig. 6 shows the simulation of the single- layered zone transfer strategy (in
execution). For example, if one drone is present in each zone-1 and zone-3, and they want to
exchange their positions then zones transfer areas marked with arrows help them to swap the
position without collision.

AGPCET 17
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Algorithm 2: Single-layer fixed-area drone’s zone transfer strategy

Goal: To transfer or exchange the drones from one zone to another zone without any collision
with a fixed transfer/exchange area.

AGPCET 18
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
Premises: Same as Algorithm 1. Additionally, TLRo and TRLo represents oth zone transfer area
from left to right zone and from right to left zone respectively.

the zigzag movement and zone-transfer strategy. Here, drones enter the area through
an entry zone and follow a zigzag strategy for transferring the zone. explains this strategy in
detail. Additionally, helps in identifying any drone’s current zone by passing the index value.
This index value could be mapped to (latitude, longitude) value as well. Further, the collision
feasibility zone in each zone will avoid small distance collisions. shows a single-layer drone
movement strategy where multiple drones can enter the area through multiple and parallel
zone’s entry points. explains this strategy in detail.

AGPCET 19
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Algorithm 3: Zigzag zone transfer strategy

Goal: To transfer or exchange the drones from one zone to another zone in a zig-zag strategy
Algorithm 2
Premises: Same as . Additionally, (a, b) represents the index value in n × n zone
matrix and δ is an interval between two drone’s movements.
Assumptions: The given area is divided into n × n-zone matrix and each zone have an area
τ2.

Algorithm 4: Identify drone’s current location in a zig-zag zone transfer strategy.

Goal: To identify the drone’s current zone for operational control
Premises: Same as Algorithm 3.

Algorithm 5: Single layer parallel movement strategy

Goal: To transfer or exchange drones from one zone to another zone in a parallel drone
movement strategy.

AGPCET 20
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
5.2 Multi-layer Zone Transfer Algorithms
This section presents two multi-layered zone-transfer algorithms: two-layer zone
transfer and hybrid zone-transfer. Fig. 9 shows a two-layered drone transfer strategy. Here,
two- layers are proposed to have different drone-based COVID-19 activities (at different
layers). The top-layer is considered as a zone-transfer layer and the bottom layer is
considered as the COVID-19

AGPCET 21
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

operation layer. Now, transfer from one layer to another layer for collision avoidance
happens through movements from the operation layer (layer-2) to the zone-transfer layer
(layer-1). For example, drones present in zone-2 and zone-4 want to swap their positions.
Thus, zone-2 and zone 4 drones will move from layer-2 to layer-1. Thereafter, zone-3 drone
from layer-1 will move to zone-2 of layer-2, and zone-1 drone from layer-1 will move to
zone-4 of layer-2. This approach can be extended to multiple layers for different COVID-19
or other services’ operations/activities and/or working on uneven building structures. Every
second layer in the multi-layered architecture is considered as a zone-transfer layer. explains
the multi-layer drone transfer strategy in detail and the simulation of the two-layered drone-
based approach in 2D and 3D views respectively (in execution).

AGPCET 22
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Algorithm 6: Multi-layered zone transfer strategy

Goal: To transfer or exchange the drones from one zone to another zone without any
collision with the usage of multi-layered air zones
Premises: Same s Algorithm 1. Additionally, Lm represents MTh layer.

5.3 Social-distancing Algorithms

This section shows two different approaches to maintain social distancing in COVID-
19 operation. This system helps in generating alerts/alarms through drones when social-
Algorithm 7
distance is not maintained in an observational area. proposed an approach that ensures
Algorithm 8
the symmetric distance between any two persons standing in a queue.
proposed an approach that ensures the symmetric distance between any two persons when the
Algorithm7 Algorithm 8
population is randomly distributed in a geographical region. , uses the
following four functions of COVID-19 social distancing.

 Max_Person_Calculation (): This function measures the number of people allowed in

a geographical area. If the number of people is greater than a certain threshold then it
intimates the people through a wearable sensor or speaker-based alert generation system
for spreading out.
 Distance Measurement (): This function calculates the distance between two persons
using various distance measurement formulas. Initially, the distance is recommended to
be measured using acoustic, acoustic, laser, radio, infrared or mono/stereo distance
sensors but if none of these choices are available then it measures the distance from
longitude and latitude measurements. For example, tunnel-based distance measurements
are preferred only for those cases when the distance between two persons is very long.
In COVID-19 cases, tunnel-based distance formula can be used for data analytics in two
different places and then comparing the results.
 Person Intimation (): This function uses the intimation system to people through
wearable sensors or alert generation-based system.
 Control_Room_Notification (): This function is used to measure the functionalities of
an individual drone as well as the drone-based network. Further, this function measures
the COVID-19 social distancing and hotspot identification as well.

AGPCET 23
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
Algorithm 7: Symmetric distance between any two people standing in a queue.
Goal: To measure the distance between two people standing consecutively in a queue, ensure
minimum distance and intimate through a wearable device, if necessary.
Premises: Let Pji represents ith person standing in jth queue. Where I∈ {1, 2…, n} and j∈
{1, 2,…, m} i.e. there is a maximum of n-persons and m-queues. Dijk is the distance between
ith person and kth person when standing in jth queue. Here, k=i+1 or i-1.

Let ∅Pji and ∅Pjk represents the latitude, and λPji and λPjk represents the longitude of ith
person and kth person respectively. R represents the radius of the earth, e(Dji,k) is the
maximum error in computing Dji,k. F is the foot point width of the camera image taken over
the earth, d is the ground sample distance and it is used to measure the distance between two
adjacent pixels values, ϑ and μw represents the pixel width in image and image width
respectively, Pji(r) is the distance between the camera and
person/object, Pji(L) represents the length of ith person standing in jth queue. Cji represents
ith control room for jth queue. δ is drone utilization measurement.

Algorithm 8: Symmetric distance between any two persons when the population is randomly
distributed in a geographical region.
Goal: To measure the distance between two people standing consecutively when people are
randomly distributed over a geographical region and intimate through wearable devices, if
necessary.
Premises: same as

AGPCET 24
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

5.4 Performance evaluation

This section discusses real-time and simulation-based realization of proposed system

architecture incorporating algorithms. It presents these evaluation cases adopted for COVID-
19 scanning, sanitization, monitoring, analysis, and statistics for the control room.

Case 1: Drone-based real-time system for COVID-19

We present a real-time drone system for COVID-19 developed by the Indian Robotics
Solution (IRS). It is used for sanitizing, monitoring, and controlling COVID-19 pandemic in
Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) of India.

Thermal Corona Combat Drone (TCCD) This system is deployed in-practice for
object identification and thermal scanning over many areas in Delhi and NCR and found it as
a suitable help to fight against COVID-19. This is real-time implementation. Table 3 shows
the complete specifications and features of the build and used a TCCD system [17].

AGPCET 25
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Working of TCCD: TCCD takes off vertically from the ground and no explicit launching
pad is required. First, the team finalizes the area to be surveyed (densely populated areas
usually) and takes clearances from relevant government authorities. When the drone is at a
suitable height inside a society (suburban area), it makes announcements requesting the
residents to come out on their balconies. Once the people are standing on their balconies then
thermal scanning begins for one person at a time where the body temperature is recorded.
Thermal scanning can be done of a person within 20 ft range. If the recorded temperature of
any person is greater by at least 2 °C than normal body temperature, an alarm beeps and an
announcement is made over the loudspeaker fitted on the drone. To take action, the person
having higher temperature may come down otherwise an official from the outreach team may
go up for more check-ups. A high temperature is one of the common symptoms of
coronavirus and temperature screening is used at many international borders and hospitals for
initial symptomatic detection [3]. This temperature measurement is followed by the healthcare
system where other COVID-19 symptoms including nausea, headaches, fatigue, loss of taste
or smell etc. are identified. Further, immunodiagnostic tests are performed for confirming
COVID-19. This multipurpose UAV facilitates society by sanitizing the entire area via built-
in spray functionality and providing medical supplies (if required). Two cameras help in
thermal image sensing and a video recording of the survey site even in the night using night
vision mode. Thermal image sensor recording, and video of live scanning are visible on a
connected portable digital assistant like a mobile phone or phablet.

AGPCET 26
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter 6

Development & Hardware of the Project

6.1 Standard prop:

1. Our standard propellers are manufactured according to standards ISO484-2 and ISO484-
1In tolerance Class

2. We can offer these propellers with tighter tolerances, Class 1 or Class S, on request. All
our propellers are statically and can be dynamically balanced for specific applications
(high speed) or on request.

6.2 Pusher prop:

AGPCET 27
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
In an aircraft with a pusher configuration (as opposed to a tractor configuration),
the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). According to British aviation
author Bill Gunston, a "pusher propeller" is one mounted behind the engine, so that the drive
shaft is in compression in normal operation. Pusher configuration describes this specific
(propeller or ducted fan) thrust device attached to a craft, either aerostat (airship)
or aerodyne (aircraft, WIG, paramotor, rotorcraft) or others types such as hovercraft, airboat
and propeller-driven snowmobiles.

6.3 Brushless Motor:

A brushless DC electric motor (BLDC motor or BL motor), also known as an

electronically commutated motor (ECM or EC motor) or synchronous DC motor, is a
synchronous motor using a direct current (DC) electric power supply. It uses an electronic
closed loop controller to switch DC currents to the motor windings producing magnetic fields
which effectively rotate in space and which the permanent magnet rotor follows. The
controller adjusts the phase and amplitude of the DC current pulses to control the speed and
torque of the motor. This control system is an alternative to the mechanical commutator
(brushes) used in many conventional electric motors.

6.4 Motor Mount:

AGPCET 28
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
Motor mounts carry the static and dynamic loads of the motor throughout its entire
service life and are also an important factor for isolating low to high frequency vibrations.
Downsized and turbocharged motors are state-of-the-art to reduce fuel consumption but lead
to high vibration levels.

6.5 Landing gear:

The technology consists of a landing gear for aircraft, for electric aircraft with vertical
take-off such as drones, which in addition to having a structural support function can be used
for additional features, such as charging the batteries of the aircraft by cable (wired) or
wireless.

6.6 Main drone body parts:

Main Drone Body Part. This is the central hub from which booms radiate like spokes
on a wheel. It houses batteries, main boards, processors avionics, cameras, and sensors. Tip:
Most drones are not waterproof, so it is vital that the internal components of the main body do
not get wet.

AGPCET 29
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

6.7 Electronic speed controller:

An electronic speed control (ESC) is an electronic circuit that controls and regulates
the speed of an electric motor. It may also provide reversing of the motor and dynamic
braking. Miniature electronic speed controls are used in electrically powered radio controlled
models. Full-size electric vehicles also have systems to control the speed of their drive motors.

6.8 Flight Controller:

A flight controller is nothing more than a circuit board with electronic chips on them.
You can compare them to the motherboard and processor in your laptop. The flight controller
is the brain of a drone. A small box filled with intelligent electronics and software, which
monitors and controls everything the drone does. And just like the brains of different
organisms, flight controllers also vary in size and complexity. (picture of different flight
controllers)

AGPCET 30
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
6.9 GSP Module:

GPS modules any flight controllers with GPS systems built in. GPS systems allow you
to plot your flight plan of time and perform actions based on precise location data. Automate
and set safeguards with GPS systems.

6.10 Receiver:

AGPCET 31
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
As a quality-driven organization in India; we believe in providing the best quality drone
transmitter and receiver at a low price. Meanwhile, we are the leading supplier of transmitter
and receiver for drone in India. We have a variety of RC transmitters to choose the best of
them visit following remote controller and match your specification.

Radio transmitters and receivers are electronic devices that manipulate electricity resulting
in the transmission of useful information through the atmosphere or space. The transmitter
sends a signal over a frequency to the receiver. The transmitter has a power source, that
provides the power for the controls and transmission of the signal.

6.11 Antenna:

Antennas are used in first person view (FPV) systems where a camera streams real-time
video from onboard a drone to a pilot or driver on the ground. This on-board view can
eliminate line of sight (LOS) problems caused by obstacles, but designers still need an
antenna that performs reliably under NLOS conditions. Our UAV UGV and drone antennas
also provide you with agility and precision control.

AGPCET 32
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

6.12 Battery:

The most used battery technologies in unmanned systems are lithium-based, as they have a
higher energy density than the older nickel- based technologies so they can provide more useful
power per unit weight. The two most popular lithium chemistries are lithium polymer (LiPo) and
lithium ion. Lithium sulphur technologies are currently being developed which promise new
breakthroughs in battery performance.

6.13 Battery Monitor:

Do you plan on flying a quad copter? Well, you’ll need a way to monitor your battery level!
Otherwise, you will get excited and fly it and then the battery voltage will drop enough such
that the current will drop and then your quad copter will crash and there will go hundreds of
dollars to waste because you didn’t buy insurance. How about that landing? Would you like

AGPCET 33
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
to have the power to switch a laser on to determine where you are in reference to the ground?
No worries! We will create a device that wirelessly displays your current voltage level, status
messages, an LED light that displays the battery percent remaining, and you will even have
the power to turn a quad copter mounted laser on or off wirelessly with the control of a
switch, all on one device using Arduino and Digi XBee radio technology. After all, Arduino
and XBee are best friends in the electrical engineering world! Why else would an XBee
shield exist?

6.14 Gimbal

Equip your drone with a camera and gimble for smooth and flawless real-time video
footage or to record FHD video without vibrational noise.

Here we have all required accessories like gimbal motor, gimbal driver, and mechanical
set up to build the gimbal for your DIY Drone

6.15Gimbal Controller Unit:

The Gimbal Control Unit, also referred to as a GCU, is essentially a simple computer

AGPCET 34
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
that takes data from the gyros and responds by telling the gimbal motors which way to mov

AGPCET 35
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
6.16 Camera

Get the Best top 20+ high quality camera at India’s Trusted Online store at Lowest Price!
Great things happen with high quality right Product so get the wide variety of camera for
drone with enormous performance. We believe in providing vibrant customer support, so get
your hands on our FPV camera for the best price.

First-person view, also known as remote-person view, or simply video piloting. This
method is useful to control a radio-controlled vehicle from the driver or pilot’s viewpoint. Most
commonly it is useful to pilot unmanned aerial vehicles. The drone camera can be mounted
onto a drone; meanwhile it can send real time video down to the ground using a video
transmitter. The quadcopter camera allows you to see where the drone is flying and what it is
seeing as if it had its own eyes.

6.17 Sensors

AGPCET 36
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
 Drones equipped with thermal sensors have shown ability to overcome some of the
limitations often associated with traditional human-occupied aerial surveys (e.g., low
detection, high operational cost, human safety risk).

 However, their accuracy and reliability as a valid population technique have not been
adequately tested. We tested the effectiveness of using a miniaturized thermal sensor
equipped to a drone (thermal drone) for surveying white-tailed deer (Odocoileus
virginianus) populations using a captive deer population with a highly constrained
(hereafter, known) abundance (151–163 deer, midpoint 157 [87– 94 deer/km 2, midpoint
90 deer/km2]) at Auburn University's deer research facility, Alabama, USA, 16–17
March 2017.

 We flew 3 flights beginning 30 minutes prior to sunrise and sunset (1 morning and 2
evening) consisting of 15 nonoverlapping parallel transects (18.8 km) using a small
fixed-wing aircraft equipped with a nonradiometric thermal infrared imager. Deer were
identified by 2 separate observers by their contrast against background thermal radiation
and body shape. Our average thermal drone density estimate (69.8 deer/km2, 95% CI =
52.2–87.6), was 78% of the mean known value of 90.2 deer/km2, exceeding most sighting
probabilities observed with thermal surveys conducted using human-occupied aircraft. Thermal
contrast between animals and background was improved during evening flights and our drone-
based density estimate (82.7 deer/km2) was 92% of the mean known value.

 This indicates that time of flight, in conjunction with local vegetation types, determines
thermal contrast and influence’s ability to distinguish deer.

 The method provides the ability to perform accurate and reliable population surveys in a
safe and cost-effective manner compared with traditional aerial surveys and is only
expected to continue to improve as sensor technology and machine learning analytics
continue to advance.

 Furthermore, the precise replicability of autonomous flights at future dates results in

methodology with superior spatial precision that increases statistical power to detect
population trends across surveys. © 2020 The Wildlife Society.

AGPCET 37
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

6.18 Collision avoidance Sensors:

Drone collision avoidance and obstacle detection are key focus points in the

booming global UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) market. The industry is prospected
to top $11.2 billion in 2020, as hobbyists and professionals alike come to understand
the attraction to, and commercial benefits of drone technology. Yet costly impacts
still represent a real concern for commercial and industrial users alike.

AGPCET 38
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter-7

Outcomes & Drone-Based Simulation for Social Distancing

7.1 Outcomes

Testing of TCCD has been completed in more than 15 densely populated areas (mostly
slum areas) where the roads are not good, and reachability is an issue for the officials. Around
1 million people live in these areas (Delhi, India), which include Keshav Puram, Narela, Sadar
Bazaar, Slum areas of Civil Lines, Majnu ka Tile, Paschim Vihar, and Dwarka. A sample of
the scanned images, which can be seen on the PDA device, is the temperature reading
measurement over a PDA device from a long and short distance respectively. (c) shows the
drone designed and used for COVID-19 operations. (d) shows the thermal image-based
surface scanning. Scanning and sanitization of these areas has been done in just 7 days. It is
observed that an area of 2 km radius can be sanitized within 10 min. Thereafter, IRS teams
scaled-up this experimentation to a large area with proposed artificial intelligence and fast
image processing. Further, the experimentation is enhanced by using electrostatic spray. The
electrostatic spray helps droplets of sanitizer to be more centric and overlapping thus making
it more effective and avoids wastage.
Case 2:
Drone-based simulation for COVID-19 operations (monitoring, sanitizing, and thermal
imaging) in outdoor slum or overused areas.

We have developed a simulation-based drone system for COVID-19 using AnyLogic

[40]
and Jassim Simulators . In this simulation, multimedia modeling, agent- based modeling,
discrete event modeling, and system dynamics are applied over an area variation of 250 m 2 to
1000 m2. the drone-based simulation when people are living or moving in close locations like
in slum areas. The chances of sharing toilets, bathrooms, water supply, and other public
resources are very high. Thus, this increases the chances of COVID-19 pandemic as well. To
avoid spreading COVID-19 cases, regular monitoring and sanitization are required. The side
view of the area where drones are used for sanitizing the space. Here, two drones are shown
that can move freely and sanitize the area with instructions. Drone-based thermal image of
people’s movement monitoring and image processing. Here, people’s movements are
monitored, and density-based analysis is performed with the help of proposed multi-layered
architecture.

AGPCET 39
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

The high- density movement area needs frequent sanitization as compared to low-
density movement area. The single-day observations and severity of experimentation
increases with the darkness of the red color. This indicates that sanitization is required at
those places. The circuit is used for simulating drone-based COVID-19 operations. Various
components of this circuit are briefly explained as follows.

 ped Source ensures (i) significant passengers travel, and (ii) passengers increase with
services and type of services.
 ped Go To: ensures randomness and free-pedestrian movements.
 ped Wait: ensures (i) significant and random stay-time, and (ii) social-distancing.
 ped Sink ensures smooth pedestrian removal.

The comparative analysis of the time required to sanitize 100–1200 kilometers of the
area with variations in the number of drones. Results show that 18 900, 9390, 3680, and2293
min are required to cover 1200 kilometers of the area with 3, 10, 20, and 30 drones
respectively. The drone recharging and sanitizer filling time are additional.

AGPCET 40
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
7.2 Drone-based simulation for COVID-19 operations in indoor monitoring.
The experimentation for drone-based simulation for inspecting indoor COVID-19
patients. This is a simulation-based study of indoor COVID-19 operations. In an indoor
activity, nano or low altitude drones are preferred because of their various advantages . The
hospital’s internal building and multiple patient wards for admission. This drone’s camera is
programmed for inspecting the patients based on their movements and density. It is assumed
that irrespective of drone-based special sanitization service, the wards are sanitized (manually)
after regular intervals or after patient discharge. Thus, drone-based sanitization is made
mandatory in those areas where the movement of people/patients is higher.

The drone camera-enabled hospital room gives real-statistics to proposed architecture

for data analysis and instructions are given back to the drone for the operation of sanitization
and medication in the predefined area. The drone’s camera used for COVID-19 operations
shows that the accuracy of the proposed simulation is higher (93% approx.). The simulation’s
thermal image of density-based areas that need sanitization. An increase in darkness of red
color indicates urgent sanitization.

Drone-based simulation for social distancing.

AGPCET 41
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
This section presents the drone-based simulation of social distancing experiments. In the
experiments, is used for ensuring symmetric distance between two people. computes the
number of persons standing in a geographical area in its initial calculations. If the number of
people standing in an area is more than the acceptable limit, then an alert is generated to
reduce the count or stop the services. Thereafter, a distance measurement process starts. Now,
distance can be measured in multiple ways and through different formulas. The application of
the proposed approach in simulation. A road where people are free to move through the front-
view camera. In this view, three drones are shown to monitor the movement of people. Social
distancing in practice and the queue formation process. Here, people have formed a queue,
and they are served for their necessity as well. This queue ensures that if certain people are
not following the social distance rules, then they will not be served, and they must go back to
the queue-end for their turns. The circuit diagram was designed and programmed for social
distancing simulations. Various components of this diagram are explained as follows.

 Ped Source This generates the number of pedestrians for experimentation from a pre-
defined and fixed line. The pedestrians are free to move randomly and in any direction in
the pre-defined area. However, everyone must follow the queue and social distancing
otherwise they must go back at the start of the queue and follows the current position.
 at Faregates: As the number of pedestrians increases with time but space does not allow
to move above a fixed number of passengers. Thus, a crowd is generated at the entry
gates. To avoid the pandemics, all people are alerted to go back or follow the social
distancing here as well.

AGPCET 42
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
 Pedoto: specifies the number of pedestrians that are moving from the entry gate to service
point. This component does not allow multiple people to serve at a time. However, the
services resumed only if all are following the social distancing experiment.
 Ped Service: This component ensures that each person following the social distancing
experiment is served through a queue. The serving and time duration is fixed and pre-
defined.

 Ped Sink: This component removes the pedestrians from observational space after they are
served and at the position of the exit gates.

The comparative analysis of the number of persons checked for social distancing with
variations in the number of drones. In this experimentation, 3, 10, 20 and 30 drones are taken
to check the social distancing. Results show that the number of persons checked with drones
over simulation time variations increases exponentially. Results show that around 3389 people
can be checked in 55 min with 3 drones. Similarly, 13398, 16298, and 19697 persons can be
checked in 55 min with 10, 20 and 30 drones respectively. Further, A comparative analysis of
the number of persons served with medicine supply after a social distancing check. It is
observed that 1612, 10073, 13129, and 16166 persons can be served along with social
distance checking when the maximum number of working parallel medicine supply units =
20, and the maximum time taken to supply a medicine = 120 s.

Drone-based system and simulation for police monitoring and COVID control room.

AGPCET 43
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
The results that can be displayed in the control room in addition to the statistics shown
in other cases. These statistics are simulated using AnyLogic simulator.

The variations in drones used over the number of simulation days in the sanitization
process. This statistic is variable, and it varies with simulation. However, a static view of
statistics between 0 to 600 days. Here, it is observed that 120 to 356 drones (cumulative) are
used for the sanitization process. The cumulative drone number over the simulation time (in
days) shows the drone usage variations. In this experiment, the same drone is counted twice if
it is re-used for sanitization.

The percentage of drone utilization. Results show that the percentage of drone
utilization varies from 0% to 80% approximately. These statistics are variable as well and they
vary with simulation. The results for 30-drones. These statistics can be helpful to control room
officials for analyzing the drone situation and instructions could be passed accordingly. If the
utilization is higher than the chance of drone to deplete its battery, at a much faster rate, is
higher as well. Thus, the minimum utilized drones can be used for subsequent operations.

7.3 Drone-based simulation for performance analysis in COVID-19

Scenario Simulation Model The drone-based sanitization system designed and

programmed for simulating the sanitization process in the COVID-19 system with a sequential
drone-movement strategy. This model is simulated using the Jassim simulator.

AGPCET 44
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

7.4 Assumptions:

It is assumed that the maximum time taken to send a signal to the drone is 10 s. Here,
triangular distribution (compared to a normal distribution) is used for setting the signal time
variation in the simulation model because distribution is expected to be skewed with
completion of the area under observation at the minimum, maximum and moral values.

7.5 Outcomes & Discussions:

This sub-section explains the various parameters used for performance measurement.
These are explained as follows. Ground to Drones Signal Transmission Time Analysis: the
variations in signal transmission time from a ground transmitter to the drone’s receiver. This
variation is observed for an infinite period. The variations for the past one hour (0 to 3600 s).
Here, “-” sign is an indication of past time only. Results show that signal duration varies from
0 (minimum) to 9 s (maximum). Mean and standard deviation values of time variation are
found to be 4.1 s and 3.7 s for 10 h.

AGPCET 45
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
7.6 Number of Drones Used:

The number of drones used over simulation time. In the proposed simulation model, it is
observed that a minimum of 25 and a maximum of 55 drones are used at a time. This usage
includes drones while operating inside+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-the zone, filling the
sanitizer, flying with no operation, and landing operations.

The average throughput variation analysis. Equation (i) is used to compute the
throughput. Here, Bit Error Ratio (BER) is the ratio of the number of bits errors by the total
number of transmitted bits during the total transmission time. With an average number of
drones usage around 22, average throughput varies from 35 Mbps (minimum) to 70 Mbps
(maximum).

A drone-based sanitization system with parallel drone movements. In this experimentation, it

is realized that the average throughput lies between 35 Mbps to 80 Mbps with an average
number of drones’ usage around

AGPCET 46
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

Chapter-8
Conclusions and References

This paper proposed a UAV-based smart healthcare system for COVID-19monitoring,

sanitization, social distancing, data analysis, and statistics generation for the control room.
Our framework gathers data by either wearable sensors, movement sensors deployed in the
targeted areas, or through thermal image processing. The data is processed through a
multilayered architecture for analysis and decision-making. In multilayered architecture,
edge computing controls the proposed drones’ collision- resistant strategies. Whereas fog
and cloud computing techniques build commuters and patient profiles before making
decisions. The proposed approach is demonstrated with implementation and simulation. In
an implementation, it is observed that a large distance can be covered within a short period
and the proposed drone-based healthcare system is effective for COVID-19 operations in
Delhi/NCR regions. In the simulation, the proposed approach is tested for indoor and
outdoor activities. Results show that 1200 kilometers can be covered in 2293 to 18 900 min
with a variation of 3–30 drones. In an indoor activity, thermal image-based patient
identification is found to be very effective for COVID-19 pandemic.

The simulation studies (Case-2 to Case-6) in the proposed drone-based smart healthcare
system have limitations such as it considers the movement of drones in an ideal scenario. In
the real-scenario, environmental conditions affect its movement and can change the statistics
of its usage. Further, it is assumed that the drone used for indoor imaging and sanitization is
compatible with its operations. In the real scenario, a compact drone is required for similar
operations. Thus, compact-drone design aspects should be considered to analyze the real-facts.

8.1 Open challenges and future directions

Although the proposed drone-based networked system and methods facilitate in

combating COVID-19, it can be further enhanced in a large scope keeping the following
aspects into consideration.

1. Large scale medicine delivery: In recent times, chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine

are delivered using drone-based system to fight against COVID-19. The COVID-19
medicines are under trial. In the future, the feasibility of large-scale medicine delivery

AGPCET 47
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
with different collision-resistant strategies can be explored keeping infrastructure
constraints in consideration.

2. Residents’ records and scanning: Resident record is another important parameter to

ensure that every person living in an area is scanned. Although resident welfare
association keeps the records of every resident, but many people live outside resident
societies as well. Thus, it is important to keep the record of everyone and match with
scanned population. This way, we can ensure that there is no resident with initial
symptoms of COVID-19.

3. Scanning services in case of lack of medical infrastructure: It has been observed that
many doctors were reluctant to handle patients when COVID-19 pandemic started.
This is because of lack of medicine facilities, patient behaviours, and long-distance
travel to provide services. Maximum private hospitals shut their services or
overcharged. In such cases, non-medical person capable of flying drones to facilitate
COVID-19 scanning or medicine supply can help and speed up the scanning and
testing processes.

4. Normal (Manual) vs drone-based thermal scanning statistics: The comparative analysis

of manual vs drone-based thermal scanning is required to show the importance of both
types of systems in medical system. For example, normal (manual) system is preferred
if all medical facilities (including personal protection equipment, a surgical gown,
gloves, respiratory protection, eye protection, face shield etc.) are timely available. It
has been observed that drone-based system is preferred in case of scarcity of medical
facilities (like at initial stages of COVID- 19 pandemic).

5. Large deployment of mini drones for indoor operations: We have used drones too.
perform thermal scanning in both real-time and simulation-based experimentations. In
both cases, residential areas are considered for scanning. Here, drones are used to scan
people in both high-rise buildings and pedestrians in real-time experimentation.
Simulation considered the scanning of pedestrians and indoor areas. However,
multiple mini drones flying machines are required to perform indoor scanning
operation in case people do not take self-initiatives to come to balconies for scanning.

AGPCET 48
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

6. Smart mini-drones and accessibility in internal boundaries of the home/hospital: There

is a need to test the drones capable to operate at a long distance with indoor operations.
The accessibility to operate such drones and data collection without interruption is a
major issue that need to be tackled in future.
7. Efficient framework implementation: We used different subsystems of the proposed
system with temporary arrangements with major concentration over combating
COVID-19 pandemic and its cases. For example, a group of machines at scanning sites
were used as edge network and computing system for filtering the required data and
sharing with hospital under federal government monitoring and control. However,
there is a need to standardize such computing platforms and their efficiencies before
actual use. Thus, sub-system services including the use of computing infrastructure,
security primitives and protocols, and long term secure big data storage will be
implemented.

8. Fool-Proof COVID-19 system and comparative analysis: In the proposed system, the
comparative analysis with state-of-the artwork is limited to collision avoidance
algorithms. However, there is a need to perform more such comparative analysis like
performance analysis of proposed system with other pandemic and medical systems,
and comparative security analysis of medical systems.

9. Large scale medical infrastructure integration: There is a need to develop an integrated

medical system for fast monitoring and collective support system that. Can collect
long distant patient data and provide services at large scale. Such systems can consider
environmental conditions and other barriers in flying drones, collecting data, and
maintaining data security as per government policies.

AGPCET 49
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
8.2 References

1. Li L., Zhang Q., Wang X., Zhang J., Wang T., Gao T.L., Duan W., Fai Tsoi K.K., Wang
F.Y. Characterizing the propagation of situational information in social media during
COVID-19 epidemic: A case study on Weibo. IEEE Trans. Compute. Soc. Syst.
2020;7(2):556–562. [Google Scholar]
2. Hopkins C., Kumar N. Ent UK; 2020. Loss of Sense of Smell as Marker of
COVID-19 Infection; pp. 19–20. [Google Scholar]
3. Wu J.T., Leung K., Leung G.M. Nowcasting and forecasting the potential domestic
and international spread of the 2019-nCoV outbreak originating in Wuhan, China: a
modelling study. Lancet. 2019;395(10225):689–697. [PMC free article] [PubMed]
[Google Scholar]
4. Dragonfly selected to globally integrate breakthrough health diagnosis technology
immediately onto autonomous cameras and specialized drones to combat coronavirus
(covid19) and future health emergencies. [Online]. Available:
https://apnews.com/Globe%20Newswire/dc01344350423d7d64c99eb be8fb7548.
5. Drones and the coronavirus: How drones are helping containment efforts. [Online].
Available: https://uavcoach.com/drones-coronavirus/.
6. Lum M.J., Rosen J., King H., Friedman D.C., Donlin G., Sankaranarayanan G.,
Harnett B., Huffman L., Doran C., Broderick T., Hannaford B. Telesurgery via
unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a field deployable surgical robot. Stud. Health
Technol. Inform. 2007; 125:313–315. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
7. D. CΩ Aimara, Cavalry to the rescue: Drones fleet to help rescuers operations over
disasters scenarios, 2014 IEEE Conference on Antenna Measurements and
Applications, CAMA 2014, (2014), pp. 1–4.
8. Kim S.J., Lim G.J., Cho J., Cote M.J. Drone-aided healthcare services for patients with
chronic diseases in rural areas. J. Intel. Robot. Syst., Theory Appl.
2017;88(1):163–180. [Google Scholar]
9. Graboyes R.F., Skorup B. Medical drones in the United States and a survey of
technical and policy challenges. SSRN Electron. J. 2020 [Google Scholar]
10. C.F. Peng, J.W. Hsieh, S.W. Leu, C.H. Chuang, Drone-based vacant parking space
detection, Proceedings - 32nd IEEE International Conference on Advanced
Information Networking and Applications Workshops, WAINA 2018, vol. 2018-

AGPCET 50
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
January, (2018) pp. 618–622.
11. Pirbhulal S., Wu W., Li G., Sangaiah A.K. Medical information security for wearable
body sensor networks in smart healthcare. IEEE Consume. Electron.

Mag. 2019;8(5):37–41. [Google Scholar]

12. Ullah H., Gopalakrishnan Nair N., Moore A., Nugent C., Muschamp P., Cuevas
M. 5G Communication: An overview of vehicle-to-everything drones, and health
care use cases. IEEE Access. 2019; 7:37251–37268. [Google Scholar]
13. R.W. Jones, G. Despotic, Unmanned aerial systems and healthcare: Possibilities and
challenges, in 2019 14th IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications
(ICIEA), 2019, pp. 189–194.
14. Islam A., Young Shin S. A blockchain-based secure healthcare scheme with the
assistance of unmanned aerial vehicle in Internet of Things. compute. Electr. Eng.
2020; 84:106627. [Google Scholar]
15. Sethuraman S.C., Vijayakumar V., Walczak S. Cyber-attacks on healthcare devices
using unmanned aerial vehicles. J Med Syst. 2020;44(1) [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
16. Tuli S., Tuli S., Tuli R., Gill S.S. Elsevier; 2020. Predicting the Growth and Trend of
COVID-19 Pandemic using Machine Learning and Cloud Computing Internet of
Things, vol. 11. [Cross Ref] [Google Scholar]
17. Corona combat drone: Indian robotics solution launches corona combat drone to
fight covid-19, government news, et government. [Online].
Available: https://government.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/technology/i
ndianrobotics-solution-launches-corona-combat-drone-to-fightcovid- 19/75077517.
18. Drone technology: A new ally in the fight against COVID-
19. https://www.mdlinx.com/internal-medicine/article/6767
(Accessed 15 April 2020).
Drone Association of Kerala: Latest News & Videos, Photos about Drone
Association of Kerala | The Economic
Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/topic/Drone-Association-of-
Kerala (Accessed 15 April 2020).

Covid-19 lockdown: Authorities rely on drone eye to maintain vigil - The

Economic Times. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-
and-nation/covid-19- lockdown-authorities-rely-on-drone-eye-to-

AGPCET 51
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
maintain- vigil/article show/75112745.cms (Accessed 15 April 2020).
20. Chiang M., Zhang T. Fog and iot: An overview of research opportunities. IEEE
Internet Things J. 2016;3(6):854–864. [Google Scholar]
21. Wickramasinghe N., F T., Bodendorf R. Springer International Publishing; 2020.
Delivering Superior Health and Wellness Management with Iot and
Analytics. [Google Scholar]
22. Pelosi D., Loureiro A., Conti F., Flamand E., Scaramuzza D., Benini L. A 64-
mW DNN-based visual navigation engine for autonomous nano-drones. IEEE
Internet Things J. 2019;6(5):8357–8371. [Google Scholar]
23. Hossein Motlagh N., Taleb T., Anouk O. Low-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles-
based Internet of Things Services: Comprehensive survey and future
perspectives. IEEE Internet Things J. 2016;3(6):899–922. [Google Scholar]
24. Pereira A.A., Espada J.P., Crespo R.G., Aguilar S.R. Platform for controlling and
getting data from network connected drones in indoor environments. Future
Gener. compute. Syst. 2019; 92:656–662. [Google Scholar]
25. Mohammad A., Al-Ali A., Mohamed A., Khattab T., Ebrard A. RF-Based drone
detection and identification using deep learning approaches: An initiative
towards a large open-source drone database. Future Gener. compute. Syst. 2019;
100:86–
97. [Google Scholar]
26. Li Y., Lu H., Nakayama Y., Kim H., Serizawa S. Automatic Road detection
system for an air–land amphibious car drone. Future Gener. compute. Syst.
2018; 85:51–
59. [Google Scholar]
27. Benedetti M.D., D’Urso F., Fortino G., Messina F., Pappalardo G., Santoro C. A
fault-tolerant self-organizing flocking approach for UAV aerial survey. J. New.
compute. Appl. 2017; 96:14–30. [Google Scholar]
28. Pace P., Aloi G., Caligiuri G., Fortino G. A mission-oriented coordination
framework for teams of mobile aerial and terrestrial smart objects. Mob. New.
Appl. 2016;21(4):708–725. [Google Scholar]

29. Whaiduzzaman M., Hossain M., Shovon A.R., Roy S., Laszka A., Buyya R.,
Barros A. A Privacy-Preserving Mobile and Fog Computing Framework to Trace
and Prevent COVID-19 Community Transmission. 2020. arXiv

AGPCET 52
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
preprint arXiv:2006.13364. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

30. Gubbi J., Buyya R., Marusic S., Palaniswami M. Internet of things (IoT): A vision,
architectural elements, and future directions. Future Gener. Compute. Syst.
2013;(7):1645–1660. [Google Scholar]
31. Lee K., Park J. Application of geospatial information of neighbourhood park for
healthcare of residents. J. Med. Imaging and Health Inform. 2017;7(06):674– 679.
[Google Scholar]
32. Ullah S., Kim K.I., Kim K.H., Imran M., Khan P., Tovar E., Ali F. UAV-Enabled
healthcare architecture: Issues and challenges. Future Gener. Compute. Syst.
2019; 97:425–432. Doi: 10.1016/j.future.2019.01.028. [Online]. Available: [CrossRef]
[Google Scholar]
33. Skorup B., Haaland C. How drones can help fight the coronavirus. SSRN Electron.
J. 2020 [Google Scholar]
1. Harnett B.M., Doarn C.R., Rosen J., Hannaford B., Broderick T.J. Evaluation of
unmanned airborne vehicles and mobile robotic telesurgery in an extreme
environment. Telemedicine and e-Health.
2008;14(6):539–
544. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
2. Todd C., Watfa M., El Mouden Y., Sahir S., Ali A., Niavarani A., Lutfi A., Copiaco
A., Agarwal V., Afsari K., Johnathon C., Okafor O., Ayad M. A proposed UAV for
indoor patient care. Technol. Health Care: Off. J. Eur. Soc. Eng. and Med. 2015;
1:1–8. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
3. Thiels C.A., Aho J.M., Zietlow S.P., Jenkins D.H. Use of unmanned aerial vehicles
for medical product transport. Air Med. J. 2015;34(2):104–
108. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
4. How fast can drones fly? max speed of drones - 3d insider. [Online]. Available:
https://3dinsider.com/drone-speed/.

Anylogic Simulator https://www.anylogic com/ [Last Accessed on: May 03, 2020].
5. JaamSim Simulator, https://jaamsim.com/ [Last Accessed on: May 03, 2020].
6. Y. Shi, R. Enami, J. Wens witch, J. Camp, Measurement-based characterization of
LOS and NLOS drone-to-ground channels, In: 2018 IEEE Wireless

AGPCET 53
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)
Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), 2018, pp. 1-6.
7. Naeli T., Meier L., Domahidi A., Alonso-Mora J., Hillies O. Real-time planning for
automated multi-view drone cinematography. ACM Trans. Graph. (TOG)
2017;36(4):1–10. [Google Scholar]
43 Nandini planning for automated multi-view drone cinematography. ACM Trans.
Graph. (TOG) 2017;36(4):1–10. [Google Scholar]

AGPCET 54
 COVID & MULTIPURPOSE DRONE (CMD)

AGPCET
55