Research and Development Project

1) Development of Aircraft Maintenance Training Simulator
2) Development of Smart Card Technology
3) Surveillance System for SEBI
4) Ekalavya Project and e-outreach Program

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. I 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) Surveillance System for SEBI :(2004-2007)

In order to prevent and catch malpractices such as insider trading in stock markets, the Securities and Exchange Board of India wanted to deploy a state of art surveillance system. An existing system operational in USA was recommended by USAID experts who were advising SEBI. The chairman SEBI, Shri Bajpai, asked my opinion on the matter. I observed that the system was rather costly and its architecture was old. This could lead to problems and delays in customization and also pose a question mark on the longevity of the solution./span>
A technical committee was set up by SEBI and I was invited to Chair it. The mandate was to find a solution which used modern technology and then get the solution customized to Indian regulatory provisions. This task was successfully completed by identifying the best technical solution framework and getting it customized and implemented. Our national surveillance system which has since been implemented, is considered today as one of the best in the world. It has cost less than one third of the original estimate of over Rs. 50 Crores, and handles world's third largest volume of daily trades.

4) 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 courses have 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 several other novel and important paradigms which have emerged in my discussions with several principals and vice chancellors. These 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.