Scientists have long attempted to use the physics of scattering and computer algorithms to process the resulting data and improve the quality of images. Whereas the improvements are not stark in some cases, computer algorithms require processing large volumes of data, involving ample storage and significant processing time.

Research by a team has offered a solution for improving the image quality without heavy computations. The team from the Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bengaluru, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science and Technology; Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad; Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar; and Université Rennes and Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, France, modulated the light source and demodulated them at the observer’s end to achieve sharper images. The research was published in the journal ‘OSA Continuum’.

The researchers have demonstrated the technique by conducting extensive experiments on foggy winter mornings at Shiv Nadar University, Gautam Buddha Nagar, Uttar Pradesh. They chose ten red LED lights as the source of light. Then, they modulated this source of light by varying the current flowing through the LEDs at a rate of about 15 cycles per second.

The researchers kept a camera at a distance of 150 metres from the LEDs. The camera captured the image and transmitted it to a desktop computer. Then, computer algorithms used the knowledge of the modulation frequency to extract the characteristics of the source. This process is called ‘demodulation’. The demodulation of the image had to be done at a rate that was equal to the rate of modulation of the source of light to get a clear image.

The team saw a marked improvement in the image quality using the modulation-demodulation technique. The time the computer takes to execute the process depends on the image’s size. “For a 2160 × 2160 image, the computational time is about 20 milliseconds,” shares Bapan Debnath, PhD scholar at RRI and a co-author of the study. That is roughly the size of the image containing the LEDs. His colleagues had estimated the rate in 2016.

The team repeated the experiment a few times and observed the improvement each time. Once, when the fog varied in intensity during the observation, they did not record a marked improvement in the image quality. In this case, there was a strong wind, and they observed fog trails across the scene. The density of the water droplets in the air changed as time passed, which rendered the modulation-demodulation technique less effective.

Next, the researchers changed the experimental setup. They made an external material, a piece of cardboard kept at a distance of 20 centimetres from the LEDs, to reflect the light to the camera. The distance between the cardboard and the camera was 75 metres. The modulated light reflected from the cardboard travelled through the fog and was then captured by the camera. They demonstrated how their technique still significantly improved the quality of the resulting image.

Repeating the experiment under sunny conditions, they found that after performing the demodulation of the source, the image quality was high enough to distinguish the LEDs from the strongly reflected sunlight.

The study was partially funded by the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.

The cost of the technique is low, requiring only a few LEDs and an ordinary desktop computer, which can execute the technique within a second. The method can improve the landing techniques of aeroplanes by providing the pilot with a good view of beacons on the runway, significantly better than relying only on reflected radio waves as is presently the case. The technique can help reveal obstacles in the path that would otherwise be hidden by fog in rail, sea, and road transportation and would also help spotting lighthouse beacons. More research can demonstrate the effectiveness in such real-life conditions. The team is investigating whether the technique can apply to moving sources.

The newly established centre will produce state-of-the-art knowledge to address road transport and traffic safety in India and regions with similar socio-economic conditions.It will work towards meeting the national and international needs by focussing on research and postgraduate education on road transport and traffic safety. Three major thematic areas such as road planning and design interventions associated with traffic safety, road user behaviour associated with traffic safety and sustainable transport systems, and safety aspects of new vehicle technology in mixed traffic will be covered under the initiative.

The Institute’s Board has given its approval for the conversion of TRIPP into the centre.TRIP-C would offer academic programmes in the field of transportation and road safety to train professionals who are equipped with the skills for developing and maintaining safe transport infrastructure including vulnerable road users. The centre would be training the human power and produce specialists in safe and sustainable transport. It aims to attract the best faculty, students, and staff.

“The forthcoming centre has a unique template on how to run an interdisciplinary programme successfully, would aim to achieve greater heights through core research themes that would endeavour to develop standards for safe transport and urban mobility options”, said Prof. K. Ramachandra Rao, Coordinator, TRIPP.

Besides continuing with the existing PhD programme, the new centre would offer a ‘Master of Science (M.S.)Research’ programme, which would train the students/professionals in the field of the transportation safety and prepare the students for the research careers.

Prof. K. Ramachandra Rao added, “The Master’s programme will offer a unique blend for professionals from varied backgrounds (Engineering/Planning/Medical/Science/Humanities) to be trained with the knowledge of developing safe and sustainable mobility leading to the enhancement of overall human life quality”.

The Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Programme (TRIPP) at IIT Delhi was founded by Late Prof. Dinesh Mohan, a world-renowned expert on traffic safety and human tolerance to injury.

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Keywords: IIT Delhi,  Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre, TRIP-C  Transportation Research, Injury Prevention, TRIPP, Traffic safety, Road user behaviour, Sustainable transport, Vehicle technology

To tackle this, researchers at the Engines and Unconventional Fuels Laboratory, IIT Delhi developed a new technology and built“Hydrogen fuelled Spark-Ignition Engine Generator”in collaboration with Kirloskar Oil Engines Limited (KOEL), and the Indian Oil R&D Centre for the utilization of hydrogen in internal combustion engines for zero-emission with higher thermal efficiency. A dedicated lubricating oil for the engine was also developed by theIOCL.

The project was mainly funded by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India,and supplementary funded by KOEL and IOCL R&D Centre. IIT Delhi and KOEL havejointly filed a patent application for the technology.

“As Hydrogen does not contain carbon, the hydrogen-fuelled engine does not emit any carbonaceous emissions. The emission ‘oxides of nitrogen’ can be controlled to ultra-low level using the appropriate technologies”, said Dr. K.A.Subramanian, Principal Investigator of the project and professor at the Centre for Energy Studies, IIT Delhi.

Hydrogen is available as a tangible product from industries including chloro-Alkali, ammonia, and refineries.Hydrogen can also be produced from the splitting of water using electrolyzers coupled with renewable energy sources (solar, wind, biomass, etc.). The surplus electricity can be converted into hydrogen using the electrolyzer and then, the electricity can be produced using this engine whenever needed such as meeting peak load demand, no short-term grid power available, emergency, etc.

The hydrogen fuel at up to 4 bar from the gaseous cylinder (150 bar / 350 bar / 700 bar) or the pipeline stored at low pressure (10 bar and above) in the industries will be injected into the intake manifold of the engine.

The technology will be useful to the industries (chloro-Alkali, Ammonia, etc.), those are producing hydrogen as tangible or main products, to generate electrical power to meet their inhouse-power requirement in the industry”.

The developed hydrogen engine can also be used in decentralized power generation for industries, buildings, etc. Thus, the green power with hydrogen can be generated using the multi-cylinderspark-ignition engine generator with the developed technology for strengthening the sustainable energy and environment.”

Dr.Subramanian added,“Ifhydrogen infrastructure can be developed and made available in the future,diesel generators can be replaced withhydrogen generators for electrical power generation.It will help to control air pollution, especially in urban areas.”

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Keywords: Diesel Engines, fuel,Combustion engine, Electrical Power,Carbon monoxide (CO), Hydrocarbon (HC), Smoke, Particulate Matter (PM), Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), Carbon dioxide (CO₂), Emissions,Pollution, Unconventional Fuels, IIT Delhi,Hydrogen fuel, Spark-Ignition Engine,KOEL, IOCL, MNRE

The knowledge of remaining capacity helps to optimize the battery’s capacity utilization, prevent overcharging and undercharging of the battery, increases its lifespan, reduces cost, and ensures the safety of the battery and its surroundings. Unfortunately, such a vital parameter cannot be directly measured by any sensor. We can only infer SOC by using the available measured quantities such as battery terminal voltage and current. However, the highly non-linear characteristic of the lithium-ion battery makes it difficult to estimate the SOC accurately. Hence, a well-developed estimation algorithm is crucial, which can ensure precise, reliable, and cost-effective SOC estimation, says IIT, Guwahati statement.

In recent years, lithium-ion batteries are widely recognized in various applications due to their low carbon emission, high energy density, low self-discharge rate, and low maintenance cost. Apart from the various day-to-day small devices such as cell phones, laptops, etc., they have been also widely used in various other important applications such as electric vehicles, Renewable Energy Sources (RES) integrated smart grids, micro grids, etc.

The emission of greenhouse gases in burning fossil fuel in the combustion engine has made the transportation sector the highest contributor in increasing air pollution. The greenhouse gases are known to be heat-trapping and thus cause global warming. Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming the most suitable alternatives to conventional fossil fuel-based vehicles. The battery acts as the prime energy source of electric vehicles.

In the RES integrated smart grid, the availability of solar and wind energy is intermittent. Hence, an energy storage system such as a battery is required to store the energy when available and use it later when needed. In smart-grid, batteries can be used for peak shaving, voltage regulation and frequency regulation by storing or feeding energy. In micro-grids, intermittent RES is integrated with the battery so that it can store energy in off-peak hours and supply energy in peak hours or during the unavailability of renewable energy. It can also assist in some emergencies.  In all these applications, the precise estimation of SOC plays a vital role in their efficient operation.

Researchersdivided the problem into two parts. The first was to derive the mathematical model of the lithium-ion battery, which can closely exhibit its dynamic characteristics. Then, using a few advanced system control and mathematical concepts such as sliding mode theory, they have tried to estimate the battery’s internal states precisely. The proposed technique shows the highly robust characteristics and works accurately even in the presence of various external disturbances such as sensor inaccuracy, temperature variation, etc. Compared to the existing techniques, the proposed technique not only increases the accuracy but also reduces the computational time and hence needs a cost-effective microcontroller chip for its implementation/commercialization.

The research team consists of ProfessorSomanathMajhi, Dr. Sisir Kumar Nayak, Associate Professor, and GautamSethia, Research Scholar. All of them are associated with the Department of Electronics and Electrical Engineering, IIT Guwahati.

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Keywords: Indian Institute of Technology, IIT Guwahati, Battery, Lithium-ion battery, Electric Vehicles

Dr Sharad K. Pradhan, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research (NITTTR), Bhopal, has developed a Multifunctional Railway Track Scavenging Vehicle with support from the Advanced Manufacturing Technologies programme of the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India aligned with the ‘Make in India’ initiative. A national patent has been published for this technology.

This self-propelled Road cum Rail vehicle equipped with dry and wet suction systems, air and water spraying nozzles, control system, and road cum rail attachment is multifunctional and easy to operate. A display unit is provided for real-time control of the cleaning in a drastically changing environment. It requires only one person along with the driver to carry out the automatic cleaning of the railway track.

Once the dry and wet suction is over, the water nozzles start spraying water jets to clear off any human waste or semi-solid garbage present on the track floor. Another set of nozzles spray disinfectants on the track to get rid of flies, rats, and other insects. Water jets completely remove the human waste and other wet garbage from the inter rail space zone.

Both dry and wet garbage is collected in different tanks, and once filled, it can be decanted at the appropriate local municipal garbage collection point. A joystick-controlled telescoping suction pipe is fitted to clear the slurry from the trench parallel to the track. The telescoping suction pipe can easily be placed at an appropriate position in the side trench to suck the sewage slurry.

As this is a rail cum road vehicle, it can be used as a material/ garbage transport vehicle from track to the road by Indian railways. It can also be used as a maintenance/inspection vehicle and disinfectant spraying vehicle by Indian railways. In non-scavenging mode, it can also be used as a transportation and inspection vehicle by Indian Railways.

After successful development and testing, the developed vehicle can be adopted by Indian railways as a scavenging vehicle for all of its stations. The developed vehicle having low maintenance cost, compact size, reverse and forward movement, and continuous and intermittent action, make it better and effective as compared to existing research endeavours.

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Keywords: self-propelled, railway track, scavenging vehicle, manual scavenging, human waste, railway tracks, Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and Research, NITTTR, DST

Tata Motors, India’s leading automobile company, today announced that it had accelerated its drive for engineering excellence and innovation in 2020 by filing 80 and receiving 98 patents in 2020. These patents predominantly relate to the megatrend of CESS (connected, electrified, sustainable and safe) automobiles and encompass an eclectic mix of improvements in automotive electronics, noise vibration and harshness, conventional and advanced powertrain systems, and crash safety under various categories of Industrial Designs, Copyrights and Notarizations.

Over the years, Tata Motors dedicated focus on R&D has led to a consistent introduction of new technologies, practices and processes that have since become front runners in the automotive world.

Speaking about Tata Motors’ commitment and focus on R&D, Rajendra Petkar, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Motors, said “At Tata Motors, we have a rich history of introducing innovations that develop to become industry benchmarks. We encourage our talented team to think afresh and challenge the status quo in our consistent pursuit of excellence. A carefully curated solution oriented approach enables us to collectively ideate, innovate and collaborate to evolve new technologies, products and processes to delight customers. Consistently developing intellectual capabilities and properties at an institutional level is key for the advancing India’s auto industry’s role in building ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’. At Tata Motors, our objective is to create best in class ‘Make in India’ products that offer global standards design, safety, comfort and driveability.”

Tata Motors’ focus and thrust on building intellectual property is regularly acknowledged with prestigious awards and recognitions. Amongst the recent recognitions won are the 6th CII’s Industrial IP Award for ‘Best Patents Portfolio for a Large (Manufacturing/Engineering) Organization’ for 2020;  the IP Excellence Recognition award at 2019 Questel Executive IP Summit and being acknowledged amongst India’s Top 15 Innovative Companies by Clarivate Analytics in 2019.