R&D Newsletter

July 2019Volume 7, Issue 2

IITK to set up

National Centre of

Excellence in Geodesy

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

www.iitk.ac.in/dord

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Lecture SeriesIITKanpur BureauofIndianStandards(BIS)signedanMoUwiththe forcollaboration in standards education, standards based research andcontributionstonational&internationalstandards.TheMoUwassignedbyProf.AbhaykarandikarDirector,IITKanpurandSmt.SurinaRajan,DirectorGeneral,BIS.

R&D News

AnMoUwassignedbetween and todoresearchonIITKanpur UPPolicedataanalytics,AI,DronesandSurveillance technologies.Thiswillhelp toaddresstheproblemsofpolicing.

IITKanpur PrasarBhartisignedanMoUwith for settingupa centerofexcellence in next generation broadcast and broadband. Other areas ofcollaborationincludesettingupAIIncubator,manpowertraining&capacitybuildingandpolicy,regulationandstandardizationstudies.PrasarBharatiCEO,ShashiShekharVempatiexchangedtheMoUwithDirector,IITKanpur,Prof.AbhayKarandikarinNewDelhionJuly10,2019.

KritsnamTechnologiesWinnerofSmartCitiesTechnologyShowcaseandreceivedLoIfromNewDelhiMunicipalCouncil(NDMC)

WinnerofPitchSessionatSmartCitiesIndiaExpo2019

KrishiHubSelectedforsponsoredparticipationatFacebookDeveloperConference&GlobalStartupSummit

CofounderJyotiskawasselectedfortheprestigiousForbes30under30Asialist

SaptkritshiSelectedattheNepalInnovationChallenge(Agritech)bytheUNCapitalDevelopmentFund

GarvToiletGarvToiletswinsinthe‘SustainableCities’categoryoftheGlobalMakerChallenge.

CDSpaceRoboticsReceivedappreciationfromAmitabhKantforfirstofitskindbloodsamplestransportationusingUAVwithTehriDistrictAdministration

BioScanResearchSemifinalistintheLufthansaRunwaySeason5

HelpUsGreenAppreciatedbySachinTendulkaronWorldEnvironmentDayinitiativeofDBSBank

Success Stories of Incubated Companies

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Institute Lecture (April 2019 - July 2019)

NationalTechnologyDay is

celebratedinIndiatomark

thetechnologicaladvance-

ment in the country. Like every

year, I IT Kanpur ce lebrated

NationalTechnologyDayonMay11

2019. This year the event was

coordinated by Space Technology

Cell (STC). The theme ofNational

TechnologyDayforyear2019was

"Space Technologies & ISRO." In

keeping with this theme, STC

invited twowell-known scientists

inthefieldofspacetechnologyfor

presentation. The first talk was

deliveredbyDr.B.SMunjal,Space

ApplicationsCentre (SAC), ISRO.Dr.Munjal spokeon"TechnologyApplications inSpace/GroundSegmentof

SATCOMDomain".ThiswasfollowedbyatalkbyDr.MehulRPandya,SAC,ISRO,whospokeon"EyeinSpacefor

EarthandPlanetaryObservations".

Itwasfollowedbythedemonstration/displayoftechnologiesdevelopedatIITKanpur.Agroupofschoolchildren

fromthecityparticipatedintheevent.

Prof. Debraj Ray

Title: Similarity, Difference, and Social Conflict

New York University

Shri Ajit Kumar Seth

Former Cabinet Secretary, Government of India

Title: The Challenge of Climate Change and India’s response

Prof. Tooraj Jamasb

Durham University Business School

Title: Energy Systems Integration: Economics of a "Network of Networks”

National Technology Day Celebration

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Development and Demonstration of a Fibre-Optic Sensor-based System for Aircraft Loads and Usage Monitoring

PI: Prof. G.M. Kamath (gmkamath@iitk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Science & Engineering Research Board

Recent Project

Department of Aerospace Engineering

Healthmonitoringofcriticalassetssuchasaircraftisbecomingareality.Thisisachievedbyinstall-inganetworkofsensorswithinthestructurenot

unlike thehumannervoussystem.Ahealthmonitoringsystem provides enhanced awareness of structuralintegrity.Oneapproachistomonitoractualloadsonthestructure to estimate deterioration due to fatigue andtherebycalculateremainingusefullife.Thisisespeciallyusefulformakingrationaldecisionsregardingretirementof aging aircraft. In practice, strains aremeasured andmonitored at some chosen locations, and the loadsestimatedusing regression-basedormachine learning-basedtechniques.However,onlya fewlocationscanbemonitoredduetothecumbersomewiringandinstrumen-tationassociatedwithconventional straingages.Fibre-opticsensors,ontheotherhand,provideamoreefficientsolution,sinceanopticalfibrecancarryseveralstrainsensorsinasinglefibre.

Thisprojectwilldevelopafibre-opticsystemcomprisingFibreBraggGrating(FBG)sensors,sensorinstrumenta-tion combined with load-monitoring algorithms. The system will be demonstrated first with ground tests.Subsequently,subjecttotheapprovalofthecertificationauthorityDGCA,thesystemwouldbeusedforflighttrialsusingtheHansaaircraft(seepicabove)oftheFlightLaboratory,IITKanpur.ThisprojectisbeingcarriedoutincollaborationwithCSIR-NationalAerospaceLaboratories,Bangalore.

Hansa-3Aircraft,FlightLaboratory,IITKanpur

Towards Realization of Additive Manufacturing of Aerospace Structural Component in IndiaPI: Prof. Arvind Kumar (arvindkr@iitk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Science & Engineering Research Board (IMPRINT II scheme)

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Co-PI: Prof. P.D. Mangalgiri (pdmgiri@iitk.ac.in),

Thisprojectwilldeveloparobustplatformforprocessdesign,developmentandoptimizationfor metal additive manufacturing (AM) of

aerospace structural components by integratingdesign with process physics, structure and defectsformation,basedonavalidatedintegratednumerical-experimentalanalysis.Themanufacturingofindustry-standard aerospace products via AM remains achallenge unlike the established conventional pro-cesses.Consideringthelimiteddataforprocessdesignandcharacterization,itbecomesvitaltoestablishthe

technology for aerospace structural components byaddressing the underlying processing issues.Significantchallengesrelatingtoprocessparametersand build quality are critical to understand andovercome.

The demonstration of proof of concept to additivemanufactureaerospacestructuralcomponentsusingthedesign/processdevelopedinthisprojectwilllaythe foundation for technology and manufacturingmaturation.

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Structural Basis of Activation, Signaling and Regulationof the Human Complement Receptor, C5ar1: A Gpcr Drug Target In Sepsis And InflammationPI: Prof. Arun K. Shukla (arshukla@iitk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Department of BioTechnology (DBT)

Whendeadlypathogensattackhumanbody,thefirstlineofdefenseknownasthe“innateimmunesystem”comestotherescue.Akeycomponentofthisprotectivemechanism

is known as the “complement system”. The complement systemgenerates several peptideswhich triggermany different signalingcascadesincellsleadingtoclearanceofpathogens.

Amajorcomponentof thecomplementsystem is “C5a”which isahighlypotentpro-inflammatorymediatoranditplaysacentralroleinclearing the exogenouspathogens from thebody. C5a activates anintegralmembranereceptorknownasC5aR1whichbelongstothesuperfamilyofGprotein-coupledreceptors(GPCRs),thelargestclassofdrugtargetsinthehumangenome.

Thisprojectaimstocaptureandvisualizeasignalingcomplexconsist-ingofC5a,C5aR1andtheheterotrimericG-proteinatatomicresolu-tionusing cryo-electronmicroscopy (cryo-EM).Weanticipate thatsuch information will provide a currently lacking framework todesignnoveltherapeuticsagainstvariousinflammatorydisorders.

Recent Project

Department of Biological Sciences & Bioengineering

The Department of Science & Technology hasapprovedtheNationalCentreofExcellenceinGeodesy at IIT Kanpur starting from July 1,

2019 for five years with a budgetary support of Rs.21.14Crores.

Geodesyisthescienceofmeasuringthesizeandshapeoftheearthincludingitsgravityfieldandtheirtempo-ralvariations.TheobjectiveoftheCentreistonucleateandstrengtheneducation,capacitybuildingandR&Dactivities in Geodesy by imparting regular trainingprogrammesthroughvariouscoursesandbysupport-ingmastersanddoctoralprogramswithfellowshipstoresearchersworkinginGeodesy.

TheCentrewillactasahubforextendinglaboratoryand resource support for students and researchersfrom universities and institutions and advisestate/central government departments on issuesrelatedtoGeodesy.

The Centre will take up R&D projects in the entirespectrum of geodesy, viz., geoid modelling, heightreferencesystem,polarmotion,estimatingtotalwaterstorageandcrustaldeformation.TheCentrewillalsoestablish a network of permanent GNSS stationsincludingoneIGSstationalongwithautomaticweatherandmeteorologicalsensors.

cryo-EMbasedstructureofthecalcitoninreceptor(a GPCR) in complex with its signaling partnerheterotrimericG-protein.Theimageisreproducedfrom a previous research publication of ourcollaborators on this project (Nature. 2017 Jun1;546(7656):118-123)(EMD-8623).

PI: Prof. Onkar Dikshit (onkar@itk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Department of Science & Technology

Department of Civil Engineering

NationalCentreofExcellenceinGeodesy

Co-PI: Prof. Balaji Devaraju (dbalaji@iitk.ac.in)

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Automated Synthesis of Motion Plans for Large Scale Multi-Robot Systems from Complex Specifications

PI: Prof. Indranil Saha (isaha@cse.iitk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO)

Numerous applications such asmonitoring, surveillance,anddisasterresponse involve tasks thatareperformedbetterbyateamofrobotsratherthanbyasinglerobot.

Collision-freemotionplanningforsuchsystemsisafundamentalprobleminrobotics.Thoughtheproblemofmotionplansynthesisis being studied for decades, the available algorithms are notmatureenoughtobeapplicabletosystemsconsistingofalargenumberofrobotsandhavingacomplexlogicalspecification.

Thisprojectaimsatprogressingthestateoftheartformulti-robotsystemsinthefollowingdimensions:

Complexityinthespecifications Complexityinthedynamicsoftherobotsand Thescaleofthemulti-robotsystem

Apartfromtheaboveaspects,theprojectwouldalsocontributetothe robotics domain by adopting a system-oriented approachsupportedbyformalmethods.Thesoftwaresystemdevelopedinthisprojectwillbeabletoproducemotionplansthatareprovablycorrectwithrespecttothespecification,andalsocanbeinstalledintheroboticsystemseasilyintheformofembed-dedsoftware.Inthisproject,theresearchteamatIITKanpuriscollaboratingwiththeresearchersattheCenterofArtificialIntelligenceandRobotics,DRDO,Bangalore.

Recent Project

Department of Computer Science & Engineering

GroundrobotsandUAVsparticipatinginsurveillanceactivities

he Board of Governors (BoG) IIT Kanpur has approved the proposal for the creation of aT Centre forTechnologyforSustainableDevelopmentatIITKanpur.TheCenterwillleverageitsresearchstrengthinkeyareas toaddressselectedSustainableDevelopmentGoals (SDGs) fromtheUNCharter toallow for

developmentoftechnologiesorsolutionsforUP/IndianGovernment.

Inparticular,itispossibletoprovideleadershipinthefollowingareasofSDGmandate: Interventionforhealthylivesandwell-being Qualityeducationandoutreach Clean,accessiblewaterandsanitation Sustainableandmodernenergysolutions Industries,innovationandinfrastructure Climateaction

CentreforTechnologyforSustainableDevelopment

VariousdepartmentsatIITKanpurwillbeinvolvedforachievingsuccessandforcreatingimpactinaddressingchallengesconcerningTechnologyforSustainableDevelopment.

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Development of Solid-state Thermoelectric Power Generator for Electricity Generation from Waste Heat in Steel Plant

PI: Prof. Tanmoy Maiti (tmaiti@iitk.ac.in)

The Aim of this project is to design,fabricate and test thermoelectric(TE)modulesforelectricitygenera-

tionfromwasteheatinSteelplant.Inordertotaphugeamountofwasteheatgeneratedin steel plant, it is required to develop ahighly efficient TE materials, which arestablechemicallyaswellasthermallyabove1000K.

The project intends to use the recentlydeveloped novel perovskites-based oxidesandnanocompositestodesignTEgenerator.Furthermore, finite elementmodeling willbeperformedtooptimizethesize,geometryandotherdesignparametersofTElegsinordertoreduceenergylossformaximizingpoweroutputandefficiency.Astate-of-the-art testing facility will be developed to evaluate the performance of TE generator especially athightemperature.

Development of Energy Harvesting Device with Giant Power Density (~10 mW/cm²) using Thin-Film Multiferroic Composites

PI: Prof. Ashish Garg (ashishg@iitk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Science and Engineering Research Board, DST (Imprint-II)

Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Department of Materials Science & Engineering

Development of energy harvesting devices is a very research active area due to their potential to utilize the energy available in the ambient,

which is usually wasted. These devices are needed to support a wide variety of wireless applications including internet of things as well as plethora of other low power applications where alternative to batteries is essential.

The project is aimed at achieving this objective by developing composites using magnetic and ferroelectric

materials to fabricate flexible energy harvetsors.

The project will be in collaboration with Jadavpur University and CGCRI Kolkata.

Co-PI: Prof. Dipak Mazumdar (dipak@iitk.ac.in)

Sponsor: Science and Engineering Research Board, DST (Imprint-II)

Recent Project

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Dean, Research & Development

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur

Kanpur 208016

dord@iitk.ac.in

Phone: +91-512-259 7578

Address for Correspondencedord@iitk.ac.inadrd@iitk.ac.inpublications_dord@iitk.ac.in

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