NASA develops software that helps drones in safe crash-landing

Washington : NASA scientists have developed a new software that will help drones in automatically picking up a safe location to crash-land in case of an emergency, without hurting anyone on the ground.

With increasing number of drones in the sky, there is also increasing risk of them hurting humans in case of any mechanical problems.

Patricia Glaab, an aerospace technologist at NASA Langley Research Centre in the US, with his colleagues has developed a new kind of software that will crash-land the drone at the safest possible location.

Eight test flights have shown a positive result for the software; taking drones to safer landing sites as swamps or drainage.

The software links on-board drone components like batteries and motors to monitor their health, Fortune.Com reported.

The software works on a simple idea, as soon as a mechanical problem is spotted, crash landing mode on the drone gets activated and it lands on surface avoiding humans.

It also incorporates technology that lets drones recognise and avoid objects on the ground using on- board cameras, Glaab said.