India to produce runway visual range assessment system

In a bid to provide information for safe landing and takeoff to pilots, India Thursday announced the production of its indigenously developed high-tech runway visual range assessment system -- 'Drishti'.

The Ministry of Science and Technology said the new system will be jointly produced by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bangalore and India Meteorological Department (IMD) which signed a partnership agreement.

"The agreement paves the way for operational deployment of Drishti system at different airports where IMD provides aeronautical meteorological services," the ministry said in a statement.

"A mega project for installing nearly 70 such systems at various Airports of the country is being jointly undertaken by the two organisations."

According to the ministry, 'Drishti Transmissometer' is a visibility measuring system designed and developed to cover lowest to highest visibility levels aiding pilots for landing and take-off.

Seven such systems are already working in three international airports, at New Delhi, Kolkata and Lucknow.

The visibility measuring systems are a mandatory requirement at all airports as per International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).

Other important features of the system includes web enabled health monitoring, remote control of the system from any location in the country for accessing the data and for maintenance.