These are basically unmanned aircrafts used to gather still images, video recordings or live video of targets such as people, vehicles or specific areas.

It helps in surreptitiously gathering information about a target as it can capture from a distance. It has features like flight capability, small size and it can tolerate harsh environments .Which makes them capable of working for any kind of subject under any kind of environment.

Drone are basically flying robots combined with computer vision, face recognition, object recognition and other tracking technologies which is called ubiquitous robotics ,being enabled by the amalgamation of networking, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI). Drones that are advanced AI-capable can adapt to any environment and perform many autonomous tasks.

For drones under certain weight limit no special permits are but beyond those special flight operations certificates are required. Personal drones over that weight are rare, however.

Drone surveillance is mainly being used for intelligence services against terrorist attacks; others are like law enforcement, private investigation, spying, disaster recovery, search and rescue, drone journalism, photography, Lidar surveys and military reconnaissance etc. In some especial cases of military operations, the surveillance drones may also be weaponized.

It is equipped with various types of surveillance equipment to collect high definition video and still images in both day and night. Surveillance drones can be equipped with technology to do tasks such as intercepting cell phone calls, determining GPS locations, and gathering license plate information. Drones can determine armed persons and even can do facial recognition.

Surveillance Drones can carry various types of equipments like live-feed video cameras, infrared cameras, heat sensors, and radar etc. Some even can stay in air the hours for hours or days at a time, and their high-tech cameras can scan huge areas and the zoom capability can track things or people from thousands feet above the ground. Some advanced ones can carry wifi crackers and fake cell phone towers to determine targets location or intercept texts and phone calls.

There are two types of drones being used for survelliance, that is fixed-wing and multi-rotor drones may be used for surveillance. Fixed-wing have great flight endurance and can cover long distances without recharging or refueling ,thus are being used to patrol vast areas like coastlines, borders and long sections of road and infrastructure.

For the multirotor drone with persistent surveillance capabilities, can hovers in place, and are attached to a source of power on the ground via a tethering cable. This can also transfers images and video to ground operators .

Surveillance drones equipped with advanced surveillance payloads can act as an alternative to satellites. A good verity of payloads is available in the market for different surveillance needs, like military battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, border patrol and force protection.

Optical camera payloads can provide vivid images and clear HD videos. In these cameras the thermal cameras are used to capture night photos. Here the detecting infrared radiation emitted by an objects. Both optical and IR cameras are being used for the same payload to make the drone surveillance system active during both the day and at night.

Application:

1. Air base
2. Border
3. Defense premises
4. Parking zone