Some of the focus areas of the Centres will be - a holistic approach to removing bottlenecks in accurate and precise sensing/imaging in healthcare, creating algorithms for vision enabled AR and new 3D experiences in mobile cameras, state-of-the-art technologies such as ubiquitious sensing, continuous distributed sensing, etc., and understanding the interaction challenges in touch-enabled experiences and VR systems.
Biosensing
Accurate and precise sensing/imaging is a critical requirement in healthcare and water quality monitoring, specifically with a focus on bio-chemical analytes. Conventional solutions lack either one or more of the following requirements – sensitivity, specificity, resolution, deep-imaging capability, fast response, and nano-scale chemical fingerprints. Photonic modalities are capable of providing elegant and efficient solutions to the above issues, but are limited by light scattering or poor interaction with analytes l eading to signal to noise ratio issues, and background interference leading to false positives.
Our CoE aims to address the above fundamental physical bottlenecks by pursuing a holistic approach, based on cutting edge enablers such as whispering gallery modes (WGMs), multi-photon excitation based fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) with Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) phenomenon, optics directly written on fiber- tip, MEMS and meta-surfaces based endoscopy, Optogenetics and Neural Imaging, polaritons, nano-scale Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (Nano-FTIR), and two-dimensional (2D) materials.
Principal Investigator: Prem Bisht
Computer Vision
The objective of this project is to achieve excellence in research in the areas of Multimodal learning, Intelligent large-scale visual surveillance, and Computer vision for Augmented Reality in smartphones. These three problems are of immense contemporary interest and owe their status to the spate of multimedia content over the internet in the last few years, tremendous advances that have ben made in recent years in high-level computer vision, the re-emergence of VR/AR as smartphones penetrate every household, and proliferation of cameras for making roads generally safer around the world.
Principal Investigator: A. N. Rajagopalan
Nondestructive Evaluation, Asset Integrity and Health Monitoring
The 5 themes of the proposed NDE 5.0 work efforts along with the
For the current state of the technology on the proposed NDE 5.0 topics, while several of these technologies are in the infancy, it is proposed through the CoE to mature these from TRL(Technology Readiness Level) of TRL0 to a TRL4 during the first 4 years in the proposed 5 year timeframe. In the 5th year, one technology from each of the 5 themes will be selected to be translated into IMPACT for the SOCIETY/INDUSTRY. The technology transfer efforts as well as evangelization of the technological breakthroughs will be emphasized in the final 12 months of the project though a well- planned and sustained outreach campaign.The current state of the Art for the technologies proposed in the NDE 5.0 framework are listed briefly as below:
- Theme 1: Ubiquitous Sensing Continuous Distributed Sensing using Fiber Optic Sensors:
- Theme 2: Structured Materials for Imaging Metamaterials-based Ultrasonic/Acoustic imaging & sensors
- Theme 3: Edge Intelligence & Soft-Sensing
- Theme 4: Pervasive Inspection
- Theme 5: Remote Large Area Inspection
Principal Investigator: Krishnan Balasubramanian
Virtual Reality and Haptics
This is the first transdisciplinary center in India dedicated to advancing XR in the field of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and Haptics, emphasizing innovations in hardware, software and systems. Major focus of research will be understating human perception and engineering of the perception for XR.
Principal Investigator: M. Manivannan