LTI & VJTI’s IIoT labs develop multiple disruptive innovations solving social problems

Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. and Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), showcased the projects implemented by the alliance’s unique IIoT test bed, which was launched three years ago as a part of LTI’s CSR focus to support education of students from marginalized backgrounds. The state-of-the-art lab established at VJTI Mumbai focuses on technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, deep learning, cyber security to solve for society.

To name a few, here are a few successful projects that the alliance has implemented:

§ Water Treatment Plant: an industry 4.0 test-bed for effluent treatment plant (ETP) with acid dosing process fully integrated with industrial IoT panel comprising of PLCs and DCS

§ Waste Management: another IoT project developed on LoRa WAN deals with timely maintenance of geo-tagged bins across facilities by indicating when they are nearly filled and need to be cleared.

§ A Blind Navigation project: helps visually challenged people move around without assistance.

§ Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) development: for IT+OT integrated log management and analytics for IIoT applications.

§ Wind turbines maintenance systems: Condition monitoring and predictive maintenance of wind turbines.

With the setting up of the IIoT lab, the LTI-VJTI tie-up aims to enhance awareness and generate interest in putting into use advanced and emerging technologies for solving social problems. This initiative supports deserving meritorious students from financially weak backgrounds. This lab comprises a future-ready test bed with new-age devices and simulators. It uses multiple standard IoT platforms for immediate use cases involving smart cities and energy sector.

Dr Faruk Kazi, Dean of Research & Development, VJTI & coordinator, VJTI-LTI Lab said: “The IoT lab has provided a platform for students to explore their potential and learn new skills to solve problems faced by society. It is one of the more successful academia-industry partnerships in our country. This model has the potential to be replicated to other institutes to bridge the gap between the aspirations of researchers and industry needs.”

Some of the noteworthy achievements of the lab include:

· Winner in Global Cyber Challenge 2017

· Teams Pushpac and AVITRA won a cash prize of INR.50,000 each under MHA-USAID and UNDP Partnership project on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) Innovation Challenge

· Team AVITRA won the Public Choice award in the NVIDIA Jetson Developer Challenge 2018. They were awarded with a cash prize of USD 1,000 and an NVIDIA Titan XP GPU

· Team AVITRA also reached the Zonal Rounds of the DRDO Robotics and Unmanned Systems Exposition. They were awarded INR 10,000 cash prize for the same

· VJTI team won 2nd runner-up trophy and a prize of INR 50,000 in Smart India Hackathon 2018

· It was one of the 20 teams selected from all over India for India Singapore Hackathon 2018

Sudhir Chaturvedi, President Sales and Executive Board Member, LTI commented: “The relevance of new-age technologies in addressing age-old social issues is immense. Students and their ‘beginners mind’ combined with the academic inputs can magnify the potential outcomes of these technologies. We are pleased to partner with VJTI on this unique academia-industry initiative and are earnest to launch more such initiatives that can be of use to a large section of society.”

Presently the lab is accessible to over 70 students including PhD, MTech and BTech students. Fellowships to doctoral and master students of VJTI from socio-economically challenged backgrounds are provided through CSR initiative of LTI. Till date, 1 master and 3 doctoral students are supported with the fellowships to fulfill their dream of pursuing research in the cutting-edge technologies. The research facilities created under VJTI-LTI collaboration are also made available to other than VJTI students/researchers through summer and winter internships.