Hyderabad: TiHAN set to achieve Aatmanirbhar Bharat

Hyderabad: The TiHAN (Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation) Foundation established in IIT-Hyderabad is a great step for achieving the objective of 'Aatmanirbhar Bharat', 'Skill India', and 'Digital India', said Union Minister of Education Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank'.

After laying the foundation stone for TiHAN, the minister said, "TiHAN Foundation at IIT Hyderabad is a multi-department initiative, including researchers from electrical, computer science, mechanical and aerospace, civil, mathematics and design with collaboration and support from reputed institutions and industry." He said that the 'TiHAN Foundation' has been incorporated as a Section-8 company by the institute in June 2020.

It will essentially focus on the research and development of interdisciplinary technologies in the specific domain area of Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems.

The hub focuses on addressing various challenges hindering the real-time adoption of unmanned autonomous vehicles for both terrestrial and aerial applications, he said.

Union Minister of State for Education Sanjay Dhotre appreciated the remarkable initiative taken by the IIT-Hyderabad team. Dr BVR Mohan Reddy, Chairman Board of Governors, IIT-Hyderabad, lauded the efforts and hard work of the faculty for this gigantic project.

Sounding a caution on the unmanned and connected vehicles, Director IIT-Hyderabad, Prof BS Murty said one major requirement to make these vehicles acceptable to consumers is to demonstrate its performance in real-life scenarios.

"It may become dangerous, especially in terms of safety, to directly use the operational roadway facilities as experimental test tracks for unmanned and connected vehicles. In general, both UAV and UGV testing may include crashes and collisions with obstacles, resulting in damage to costly sensors and other components. Hence, it is important to test new technologies developed in a safe, controlled environment before deployment," said Dr Murty.

TiHAN Project Director and Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Dr P Rajalakshmi said, "Several organizations worldwide have developed test beds or proving grounds to investigate the functioning of unmanned and connected vehicles in a controlled environment. At present, there is no such test bed facility in India to evaluate the autonomous navigation of vehicles."

TiHAN will address this gap by developing a fully functional and exemplary test bed facility dedicated to the connected autonomous vehicles (CAVs) in two acres of land allocated on the IIT-Hyderabad campus, she said.