Aerial Services & Data Management

Aerial Services & Data Management Area (AS&DMA) is the aerial remote-sensing facility of the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), ISRO, in Hyderabad. It plans and flies survey campaigns and turns the data into large-scale geospatial products for public agencies that need accurate terrain and base-map data, for example for flood modelling, urban planning and route alignment.

The facility operates two Beechcraft Super King Air B-200 aircraft and a fleet of UAVs carrying multispectral sensors (up to 2 cm resolution). Its main sensors include a large format digital camera (PAN, red, green, blue and NIR bands, 5 cm GSD) and an airborne laser scanner (1064 nm) paired with a digital camera; projects have also used airborne SAR. The camera and laser scanner are integrated with high-precision GNSS and inertial measurement systems to produce georeferenced images and point clouds. Ground surveys use geodetic-grade multi-constellation GNSS receivers, GPS L1 receivers with GAGAN-SBAS tracking, and DGPS/KGPS processing. NRSC also maintains a library of about 15,000 ground control points (ITRF97) used for processing Indian Remote Sensing Satellite data.

Outputs include geospatial databases at up to 1:500 scale, digital elevation models with accuracies of up to 5 cm, orthoimages with a GSD of up to 2 cm, volumetric analysis, corridor alignment studies and 3D visualisation.

Published projects include LiDAR terrain models for 66,200 sq km of six major river basins under ISRO's Disaster Management Support Programme, coastal topography over 24,020 sq km for INCOIS storm-surge and tsunami modelling, and flood-management mapping for the Government of Bihar. Listed users also include the Town and Country Planning Organisation, Bangalore Development Authority, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Central Water Commission and CMPDI (Coal India). NRSC reports around five decades of aerial survey experience.