1) Development of Aircraft Maintenance Training Simulator : (1986 – till date)

This important Research and Development project was initiated in late 80’s. It is sponsored by Aeronautical Development Agency, as a part of ground support system for the Indian fighter aircraft that has been since developed.
At the time of its inception, hard panel training simulators were available only from western markets and were very costly. One such simulator deployed in an air force station was studied. Proposals for two pilot projects for indigenous development were submitted to ADA as per their request. One for development of a hard panel simulator (by Prof. S. C. Sahasrabuddhe of EE dept), and the other for a soft panel PC based simulator (by me). A professional company was also entrusted with a parallel development of another soft panel simulator. After evaluating the development, ADA decided in favor of PC based simulator development, as it permitted greater flexibility in editing and enhancing various training lessons. IIT Bombay’s pilot was chosen by ADA in preference to the one developed by the industry.
After initial research, the direction and design of the simulator was finalized. In the last twelve years since 1996, this simulator has been developed into a full fledged product, in collaboration with R&D unit of an Indian company (Computer Vision Laboratories headed by Dr Rajarao), and with coordination by Sqn Ldr Srikantha (recently retired). Dr Kota Harinarayana actively encouraged and supported this development. It is deployed in various Air Force Training establishments to train technicians and engineers in the rigorous maintenance procedures of a complex aircraft system. It is showcased in every major demonstration by ADA and appeared in the final short-list for a national award. Honorable Dr. Abdul Kalam specially visited our ADA lab late night during a one day visit to IIT, and complemented the team for the successful efforts.

2) Development of Smart Card Technology : (1996 – till date)

Recognizing that Smart Cards are essentially low cost computers without a monitor and a keyboard, I started development of meaningful affordable applications of this technology. I initiated the first national project in 1996 for deploying this technology for banking debit-credit applications. The project was supported by RBI, SBI and multiple vendors. It was piloted in and around IIT Campus through a special permission by RBI. The standard so evolved was accepted as a national standard in 1998.
I have continued the technology development work designing low cost Point of Sale (PoS) terminals, and a multi-application framework. He was invited to head the national subcommittee for standardization of multi-application Smart Cards for payment systems. Specific security issues were addressed and novel deployment schemes were evolved through Ph D and M Tech level research.
The technology, now using Near Field communication (NFC) feature of modern mobile phones, has been successfully deployed for salary payment to people employed under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

3) Ekalavya Project and e-outreach Program : (2005-2008)

I termed all these people as modern eEkalavyas, and started this Project to help then using modern technology. Initially it aimed to provide web-based mentoring to final year computer engineering students of colleges for their project work. The condition was that they must release their work in open source, as their work can later be built upon by others. The mentors were initially our own Research scholars and some industry professionals. This program started receiving annual funding from the industry. Participation has grown from some 100 students from 12 colleges, to more than 3500 students from over 370 colleges supported by over 200 volunteer mentors from industry and academia.
Another important initiative launched by the project is creation and dissemination of audio-visual educational contents releasing these in open source. I had encouraged Prof. Shishir Jha of our School of Management to set up the India centre for Creative Commons. It provides Open source license terms for such contents. This project has received funding from TIFAC under which 12 workshops have been conducted along with several nut-shell lectures of relevance. Additionally, one semester long course has also been recorded. All of these have been released under the open source creative commons license. Current phase of this project plans to disseminate these contents to over 1500 engineering colleges and to collect feedback on the usability of these contents. ISTE is joining us to participate in these efforts.
Encouraged by the success, I have planned a massive pilot project to run a QIP/ISTE program for up to 1000 engineering teachers across the country in one go. This ambitions project attempts to combine the expertise and experience developed at IIT in two critical areas, namely conducting synchronous live lectures through EDUSAT, and our ability to create and release open source contents. About 50 remote centers will be identified where 20 to 25 teachers from local colleges will congregate daily to a centre to attend lectures in the morning. These will be delivered by Institute faculty and by other experts. Teachers will then participate in the tutorial and lab sessions in the afternoons, conducted locally at the remote centres under IIT supervision. There are hese are being put together, and will be incorporated in a funding request for sustained execution of this initiative. I believe that some 30000 engineering teachers can be trained in next three years in 25 to 30 core engineering courses.

4) indigeneous Development of Clicker Devices

Students Response System (Clicker) optimized for small, medium and large Quiz or presentation environments, the Clicker takes advantage of the latest in audience response technology advancements. The Clicker provides features and functionality that ensure response collection  from 1000 people accurately, timely and effortlessly.
Clicker and receiver fit into a lightweight, custom carrying case. Compact size and lightweight design ensures ease of system transportation whether it be from room to room or around the globe. The result is optimized portability.

• Each student uses a "clicker," a portable, handheld device that allows students to answer by "clicking" on the appropriate option for his/her choice.
• Each instructor uses a receiver that collects answers sent by students’ clickers. Light and portable, the receiver is powered through any computer’s USB port.
• Instructors present a question and enable polling.
• Each student responds by “clicking” the appropriate button for his or her choice.
• A wireless signal is sent immediately from each responding clicker to the receiver.
• The receiver, through easy-to-use software, logs and stores the data of each individual student.
• The instructor can then display voting results in a graph, to the students.
• The results are also available for later analysis, grading, and exporting to any grade book software or course management system.