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IIT Roorkee researchers develop hassle-free driving under fog

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Roorkee,  A team of researchers at IIT Roorkee has developed an efficient architecture and algorithm to enable better driving experience and lower the risks of accidents in low visibility scenario. This research has been published in the IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems.

The presence of fog decreases the visibility distance exponentially, thus making it one of the most dangerous weather conditions for driving. The drivers tend to overestimate the visibility distance while travelling in fog and tend to speed. Also, different components of an automatic driver assistance system (ADAS) such as blind-spot detection, lane departure warning, and collision warning require clear image data. Therefore, every year hundreds of vehicle accidents are reported that claim thousands of lives.

“The objective of this research was to design a system for real-time defogging that produces a clear image stream from the input foggy frames. In addition to that, a high frame rate is essential in transportation to avoid frame lag or drop,” said Prof. Brajesh Kumar Kaushik – Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

“Operations such as exponential function, floating-point multiplication and division, full image buffer, data transactions between the processor and dynamic random access memory (DRAM), deteriorate the performance. To circumvent these challenges, they developed an efficient method and architecture for real-time video defogging that are co-designed to attain high performance and image restoration quality while reducing the power and memory requirements,” he added.

The team used several standard foggy datasets containing a variety of fogs from light to dense. They devised an approach for atmospheric light and transmission map estimation that is suitable for high-speed parallel hardware such as field-programmable gate array (FPGA). They also utilized a flicker reduction technique to ensure temporal consistency among the video frames. To validate the design, they have used the Xilinx FPGA development kit and FMC card.

“The collision of vehicles due to poor visibility caused by fog leads to numerous fatalities annually. This advanced defogging system will aid drivers by providing real-time information and minimize the risks of road and train mishaps due to fog,” said Prof. Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee

The research team comprised three members namely Prof. Brajesh Kumar Kaushik, Department of Electronics and Communication, IIT Roorkee, Prof. Balasubramanian Raman, Department of Computer Science, IIT Roorkee, and Mr. Rahul Kumar, Department of Electronics and Communication, IIT Roorkee.

The team is also working on prototyping and commercializing this technology.

IIT Roorkee collaborates with the University of Alberta for Joint Doctoral Degree Programs

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IIT Roorkee

Roorkee: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee has signed an agreement with the University of Alberta, Canada, to provide Joint Doctoral Degree Programs (JDPs). Under this collaboration, the JDPs create a two-way flow for academic exchange, giving University of Alberta and IIT students the chance to undertake research at the partner institution for six months up to a year and providing them with international experience and special certification upon graduation.

IIT Roorkee is one of the three IITs partnering to provide Indian and Canadian students with JDPs others being IIT Bombay and IIT Kharagpur. Under the program, each collaborating institution will admit up to a maximum of two (2) Joint Degree students each academic year for the Joint Degree Program.

Elated with the alliance, Prof. Ajit Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said “This agreement will begin a new chapter in strengthening India-Canada ties in the education sector. IIT Roorkee looks forward to bolster and formalize our long-standing research collaboration with UAlberta since the 1980s. Apart from improving the quality of exposure of our students, the JDP agreement will hopefully catapult our research collaboration to greater heights”

During their JDPs, collaborating professors from the University and the IITs will serve as joint supervisors, identifying research projects for students to pursue during their doctoral studies. Both Alberta and participating IITs have agreed to create doctoral fellowships that will provide financial support in the form of a monthly stipend to cover the cost of accommodation and meals for JDP students during the duration of their visit.

Taking note of the benefits, Dr. David H. Turpin, President, UAlberta said “These programs create new opportunities to equip doctoral students with perspectives and skills that will benefit a global society. When we connect with leading international institutions such as the IITs, we’re fuelling new capacity for teaching, learning, and research.”

“The University of Alberta’s overall relationship with India is of key importance and a high priority in achieving innovative solutions to global issues,” said Dr. Cen Huang, Vice-Provost & Associate Vice-President (International) at UAlberta. “I am encouraged that the launch of the Joint Degree Programs with IITs Bombay, Kharagpur and Roorkee will help further establish academic relations with India in Canada and allow our students to enhance their global learning and perspectives.”

“In recent times, our academic collaboration with UAlberta, is witnessing a progressive exchange of students and faculty. This agreement will ensure a stable avenue for the aspiring scholars as well as for established researchers having an overlap with the research interests of UAlberta. The thrust will be given on providing adequate advice and support to the Joint Degree students for seamless study during the course” said Prof. P Arumugam, (Dean of International Relations), IIT Roorkee.

UAlberta has a rich history of academic collaboration with India, holding various partnership agreements to support academic mobility and joint research in place with IIT Roorkee since 2011, IIT Bombay since 2009, and IIT Kharagpur since 2013.

“Engage India was launched in April 2019 with the aim of promoting academic exchange and relations between U of A and India,” said Dr. Amit Kumar. “Our membership has expressed considerable interest in collaborating on joint research with Indian partners as well as recruiting high-quality graduate students from India. The Joint Doctoral Degree Programs with the IITs will help us accomplish both of these goals.”

Picketing Uttarkashi with Messages

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Tania Saili
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Dateline Uttarkashi: No sooner do you enter the hill-district of Uttarkashi from Dharasu’s Nagur entry point, as you await your turn for the compulsory medical check-up and registration formalities, you will find it hard not to miss the colourful public awareness police pickets or barriers put up to welcome the visitor.

Over a dozen such barriers with Corona related slogans now dot all police stations across the district. An innovative SP Uttarkashi Pankaj Bhatt talks to us about the thought behind the initiative: “We realized that when people read awareness slogans in their regional language, it makes a better connect and has a deeper impact on them. It makes them feel motivated enough to follow do’s and don’t’s that need to be followed in these times. ”

Corona awareness slogans and their designs were shared with local talent in Uttarkashi by the police administration. These artists in turn let their imagination run free through the gamut of their creativity. The result of this novel are these on view: short, crisp slogans in Garhwali remind people to wear face-masks, use sanitizers, maintain social distancing, to take care of elderly and young children alike. You will find slogans splashed across police barriers, strategically placed at entry points. These pickets not only add more than just colour to the place but also help in motivating and spreading awareness amongst its citizenry entering the district.

Images of three police pickets at Dharasu have gone viral on the Internet. Citizens have applauded the efforts of this unique approach by a friendly police force in spreading public awareness in times of the present pandemic.

SP Pankaj Bhatt assures us: “Seventeen more such barriers are being readied by local artists out of which twelve are ready and waiting to be placed at various police stations in the district.”

No storm in this Teacup

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Tania Saili
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Dateline Chamoli: Three kilometers beyond the Badrinath Temple, in Maana Village, stands ‘Bharat ki Antim Chai Ki Dukan,’ or India’s Last Tea Shop on the India-China border.

Started in 1992 as a rudimentary shack by a young entrepreneur Chandera Badwal, the tea stall serves hot tea, biscuits, hand-made savories and fritters to those who come visiting six months a year, from 5:00 a.m. to late at night.

Over the years, ‘Bharat ki Antim Chai Ki Dukan has become an iconic landmark which attracts tourists including cricketers, actors, artists, politicians and many others who have made their way here.

Chandera Badwal remembers: “I was all of fifteen when I started selling tea for just one rupee. Sometimes I used to make fifteen-twenty rupees in a day, all of which I used in making the shop more comfortable.”

The opening and closing of the shop is synced with the opening and closing of the portals of the holy shrine of Badrinath. Chandera served his last tea at the shop on the 16th of November 2019. It had been a good season for Chandera and his family of eight who solely depend on the earnings from his shop.

Amid many a disruptions on the phone line, Chandera tells me how the 2020 pandemic has hit ‘Bharat ki Antim Chai Ki Dukan’ too. “Post 2013 Kedarnath deluge, business took a battering but we still had a few stranded tourists and also those who came here after the disaster. But the present pandemic has been worse, hitting business hard: “We haven’t opened the shop since November 2019. There are no tourists or locals venturing out. We are surviving on our savings which are slowly beginning to dry up.”

How does he see the future? I ask. “Each night, before we sleep, the family prays that our country soon overcomes this epidemic soon. As for us, it’s all in the hands of the Gods!’ he says before disconnecting the faltering phone line.

A Trunk Full of Fun

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Tania Saili
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Having fun

Dateline Haridwar: Elephants are modest. They always bathe with their trunks! At least Johnny, Sultan and Rani do and who could possibly ask for a healthier start to an otherwise mundane day when they have a rigorous fitness regime at their personal open-air gymnasium, shared with three other adults. This ensures they remain fit and fine.

These gentle giants are no ordinary five to six year olds, but simply adorable safari elephants living at the Chila Range of the Rajaji National Park.

Talking to Newspost, Anil Painuly, Range Officer, Chila Range, adds: “Our six elephants go from a six-year-old to thirty and all of them are like our own children. They depend solely upon us for everything and we too try to make sure that we pamper them in every which way.”

Fit and Fab

While in the wild, elephants walk close to eighteen hours a day foraging for fodder and water. Here, in the range these six elephants are used for patrolling, carrying fodder back to their enclosure when they are not taking tourists out on a jungle safari. The last task, sadly, has come to a grinding halt due to the present contagion.

To ensure that these elephants do not face boredom, and remain healthy and happy, the Forest Department of the Rajaji National Park took fitness tracking to a whole other mammoth level: “we came up with a unique open-air gymnasium consisting of a mud bath, dangling objects like footballs or discarded tyres; tangled nets with holes or empty barrels. The incentives – fruits and hay – are tucked away, hidden from the view inside these props. They are exercised and entertained.’ explains Anil Painuly.

Less than a month old, the gym has become a favourite haunt of these mammoth mammals. The young ones mimic the elderly captive elephants but always under the watchful eye of their mahawats or minders as the pachyderms sweat it out every day. Believe you me! It keeps them physically fit, mentally agile as they strive to stay ahead of never forgetting anything.

The Many Melodies of Uttarakhand

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Tania Saili
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Dateline Dehradun: Where would one begin to search about the upcoming music scene in Uttarakhand? Rappers to Hip-Hop artists are now just a click away. A ninety minute conversation with over thirty musical talents, which took over four hundred days of research, travel and work, is now available on YouTube.

Famous YouTuber, Hip Hop Journalist & Former Radio Jockey, Raaj Jones put his talent to look for scattered artists across the State in order to record their musical journey for posterity.

The first episode of the documentary features thirty-seven rappers, and has been appreciated by the likes of Raftaar, Raghav Juyal, Ikka, Ishq Bector, Haji Springer, Phenom who have shared it on their Instagram account.

An Uttarakhandi by birth, Raaj was born and brought up in Bhowali, Nainital. For eight years he worked in the Radio Industry but kept an eye out for budding talent in various fields. Raaj explains: “There are generally five elements i.e. Dancing, Rapping, Graffiti, Djying, Beat Boxing but in my home-state of Uttarakhand there is a sixth element which is Extreme Sports. We have covered all these interesting fields. The first episode is dedicated to home-grown, talented thirty-seven Rappers including two female artists.”

About the Rap  scene in Uttarakhand, he confesses: “There is a lot of talent here. The lyrics, music, video production, flow and rhythm are at par with anyone else in those fields, but unfortunately their talent goes unsung. He adds: “But what moves me the most, is the unity amongst the artists, who encourage and motivate each other all the time.”

Raaj Jones feels his documentation would have been incomplete without the help of Team Evolution, Nashua Films Studio and Khanna Saab Productions. They helped him in this search for talent that cut across all genres and has brought their inspirational stories on to a common platform for all to see.

Watch the episode here:

https://youtu.be/jK6tMjX1DdE

CLARION CALL: UTTARAKHAND CALLING

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Tania Saili
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Dateline Pauri: 1:30 min song. Half a crore views with many asking for a longer version. With migrants returning to their home in the hills, some inspired Uttarakhand’s iconic singer Narendra Singh Negi to compose his latest song, “Lagi Baduli,’ a part of the ‘Geet bhi aur Geet ki baat bhi,’ web-series on folk songs.

The original 1:30 second song, composed in early 2019 was the theme for Baduli, an annual event put together by the Uttarakhand Association of New Zealand. Speaking to us, Narendra Singh Negi remembers, “I was requested by the organizers to compose a song that would bring together Uttarakhandi’s scattered all over New Zealand for the event.”

A year later, sitting in his home in Pauri, Narendra Singh Negi reminisces that while going through the comments section of his video, he came across many a fan asking for an extended version of the Lagi Baduli song in particular. It seemed that the song was a tad too short, something more was needed to round it off. That single thought spark set the proverbial ball rolling.

When the Muses returned, the lyrics were written and the result is the new song in its longer version of five minutes. It has found release on YouTube.

“Lagi Baduli’ is a song that talks to the soul of those who are far away from their home-state. It exhorts them; pleads with them to return to their childhood haunts, where everyone including the gods and goddesses miss them. It is oozes love and nostalgia for what was good in the past,” Narendra Singh Negi signs off!

One of the six songs that is part of his latest release “Geet bhi and Geet ki baat bhi,” explains the story or the idea behind each song sung by Narendra Singh Negi. It has left his followers breathless as they gasp for more.

To watch the video, click here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDzplL53toQ&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR3f7IWuOfLlgyM078UrTME9jX30yXfJ3868mLqY9JSbeSRt6zrmf9gpS2k

Half a Crore year old elephant fossil found in the Siwalik Ranges

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Tania Saili
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Pic Courtesy: Sanjay Kumar

Dateline Saharanpur: 1830’s Mussoorie. Two unlikely neighbours, Dr Hugh Falconer, a botanist setting up the the famous Saharanpur Botanical Garden Royal (he was here to start Mussoorie’s Company Bagh. Two of his Ginseng trees burst out in blossom to this day) and the other an engineer, Proby Cautley of the Ganga Canal fame who built the Ganga Canal which turned the Doab from a famine prone region to a Garden of Plenty. This tale is about their singular hobby that saw them excavate fossils along the length and breadth of the ancient Siwalik Ranges. You will find the results of their stellar efforts on display in the Calcutta Museum.

Retracing their footsteps, while carrying out special survey during a Wildlife census, team lead by V. K. Jain, Chief Conservator of Forest, Saharanpur Circle and Dr. I. P. Bopanna, landscape co-ordinator, WWF, India, accompanied by Devvrat Panwar, Senior Programme Officer and others, chanced upon a fossil of jaws of a young Elephant calf discovered in Badshahibagh area of Siwalik.

The present fossil specimen is from the DhokPathan formation of the Siwalik of the extinct Stegodon Elephant species. The sandstone embedded on the fossil is medium grained, salt and pepper in nature and clearly shows nine well developed ridges on its surface view, with the length of the molar being nearly 24 cms. The enamel of the molar is very thick.

The sample was shown to Dr. R. K. Sehgal Scientist at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun while taking the expert opinion of Dr. A. C. Nanda. Experts confirm that the specimen is at least 50 lakh years ( 5-10 million years old). This fossil belongs to Miocene era when Elephants had tusks that were more than 10 feet long.

Sharing the images of this precious find is avid photographer and wildlife specialist Sanjay Kumar IAS, Commissioner Saharanpur, who congratulated the team stating: ‘A huge congratulations to Conservator Forest, Saharanpur V.K. Jain and P. Bopanna from World Wildlife India.’

Unravelling these finds confirms the belief that half a crore years ago the Doon valley was a forty five miles long and fifteen miles wide fresh-water lake, where alongside in the Siwaliks, roamed pre-historic life forms— dinosaurs, the woolly mammoth; saber-tooth tigers and three-toed ancestors of the horse.

Tying the Knot in the Times of Contagion

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Tania Saili
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Representational image

Dateline Dehradun: Three months into this lockdown has seen authorities busy sorting through hundreds of applications of wanna-be-brides and grooms asking for permission so that their wedding bells can start chiming.

Post April the 20th 2020, the City Magistrate’s Office in Dehradun has received close to eleven hundred applications requesting permission for weddings to be held within the city’s limit alone.

Adding to this SDM Gopal Chandar, Dehradun Sadar, tells us: “We give hand-to-hand permission for weddings with mandatory rules and regulations highlighted.”

All set to tie the knot in early May, local entrepreneur Viplav Goel, says: “This lockdown has stalled plans. Venues aren’t available, temples were closed, large gatherings are banned. Mine is an inter-state wedding which requires travel permits. All in all it has thrown a massive damper over all plans.”

Even the pandits are predicting an auspicious constellation of stars in June and early July that in the past were no-go months for tying-the-knot.

Anukriti of Plan-Your-Memories, an event and wedding management firm in Dehradun, is trying to convert regrets into a great experience. They say: “In a few days from now, we shall be showcasing our first marriage after the present lockdown. A decent wedding package for 70-100 people would be around 6-7 lakhs pre-covid days, but now with only fifty persons allowed in one wedding, the cost cutting will lead to a drastic fall in pricing. We will be looking at around one and a half lakhs or so. It attracts more clients for sure.”

Of course a few would-be-couples aren’t willing to compromise and postponing their dday for better times ahead while others have now started looking for substance behind the style.

‘Ding-dong the bells are going to chime, and many will be going to the mandap in time!’

Higher Education 2.0 : Steps by Central University of Gujarat  

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Prof. Rama Shanker Dubey
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Higher education since the swearing-in of the new government in 2019 has taken two major pathways: one, the strengthening and continuation of  the schemes and policies that had been introduced in 2014-19 and second, a graded and gradual introduction of new schemes and initiatives to further boost the higher education system of the country. In this regard, the government has taken manifold steps through focusing on quality improvement, enhancing learning opportunities, and providing research impetus to institutions of higher education through various schemes and support structures. The vision of the Hon’ble Prime Minister and the efforts of the HRD Ministry in this regard are laudable. Keeping in line with these new initiatives, the Central University of Gujarat (CUG) too has been proactively involved in implementing the initiatives taken by the government.

One of the areas that higher education has made a valuable contribution  is its engagement in innovative academic and research initiatives. The IITs have seen a remarkable growth in the number of patents filed over the last 5 years. Similarly, the introduction of various research initiatives like STARS in basic sciences, IMPRESS in Social Sciences, IMPRINT in translation of innovation to technology, SPARC in promoting academic and research collaborations, and STRIDE for promoting transdisciplinary research has already seen an impressive number of about 1600 projects to the tune of approximately rupees 700 crores. These schemes as undertaken by the HRD Ministry have opened up the possibilities of carrying out research in areas that are of national relevance and are, most importantly, driven by the spirit of local needs and global concerns.

Further, knowledge generation cannot be in a vacuum. It must be ideally blended with the soil of the nation. The vision contained in the New Education Policy to deliver on principles of Access, Inclusion, Quality, Excellence and enhancing employability in Higher Education by implementing strategic interventions in the sector over the next five years (2019-2024) needs to be understood as a bold step in this direction.

Besides, the social commitment of the higher educational institutions through Honourable P.M.’s initiatives like Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Smart India Hackathon and Unnat Bharat Abhiyan provides it with the right blend of inclusiveness and greater community and stakeholder engagement.

To fulfil this vision, CUG has taken major steps towards strengthening interdisciplinary and inter-institutional collaborations in teaching and research with major national and international institutions. The University has Central Instrumentation Facility, one of the most advanced in the country. Moving with the tune of innovation in research CUG has developed an innovative technology for quantitative elucidation of intramolecular structural changes that occur in proteins and biopolymers under various transition states. European Patent no. EP313720A2 has been recently granted to it. An instrument to simultaneously measure viscosity and surface tension of liquid, named Survismeter (Singapore patent 126089), fabricated by a senior Chemistry Professor of CUG, is a green-tech based equipment, which is booming in global market in consonance with the concept  of Hon’ble PM ‘Be vocal about local’. The students at CUG have proved themselves ably by not only attaining recognition at national and international levels but also bringing laurels to the university by achieving higher academic goals.

In order to march ahead towards building of a new India of the 21st century and making use of enormous e-resources made available recently by MHRD and UGC,  the University has implemented blended learning methods with use of more e-contents. During COVID-19 crisis academic activities of the university have been successfully completed via online learning.  Library and information science department at CUG has mapped and integrated all possible e-resources available on various platforms for the relevance of students on a single portal at university website. With the help of Information Library Network (INFLIBNET) located at Gandhinagar, a dedicated and unique Learning Management System (LMS) platform has been developed for the various courses taught at CUG  where e-resources available at various ends have been aggregated and populated at one place as ‘Moodle’. E-content delivery to the students via Moodle provides an exciting teaching learning experience.

The University is in the process of charting out a plan for  end-semester examinations based on the guidelines of UGC and MHRD. Most importantly, the teachers of the University are in regular touch with the students and are making sure that they are counselled and provided emotional support during these testing times.

The most crucial pillar of a nation is its education system. History has shown us that it is only through holistic and integrated education that a society can prosper. The initiatives taken by Hon’ble Prime Minister and the HRD Minister, I believe, have opened many possibilities towards achieving a socially equitable and inclusive education system. We, in the higher education sector, have a moral responsibility towards the society and it is through this sense of commitment that we can take our nation forward. As Bharat Ratna Babasaheb Ambedkar noted “cultivation of mind should be the ultimate aim of human existence”. We at the helm of the University systems should be able to achieve the vision of Higher Education 2.0 by cultivating young minds for a strong nation.

(Author: Prof. Rama Shanker Dubey, Vice Chancellor, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar)

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