Drishti system, an instrument to facilitate safe landing of aircraft in very low visibility conditions in civilian airports, will be produced jointly by CSIR and the Met department.
Terming it a ‘milestone’ in the field of aviation safety, the Ministry of Science & Technology said the partnership between CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories (CSIR-NAL), Bangalore and the India Meteorological Department (IMD) will pave the way for a sophisticated instrument for assessment of runway visual range.
“This is a fine example of collaboration between two government sector entities leading to indigenisation of a technology, which so far was the exclusive domain of few developed countries,” the Ministry said in a release.
The indigenous production of this high-end instrument will not only result in substantial saving of foreign exchange but will also make the country self-reliant in the field of front-end technology, it said, after the agreement was signed by Shyam Chetty, Director, CSIR-NAL, and LS Rathore, Director-General of Meteorology, IMD.
“The agreement paves the way for operational deployment of Drishti system at different airports where IMD provides aeronautical meteorological services. A mega project for installing nearly 70 such systems at various airports of the country is being jointly undertaken by the two organisations,” the Ministry said.Seven Drishti systems are already working in three international airports, -- Choudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata and Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.