Category: Information Technology (IT & Software)

NATIONAL: KARNATAKA: TELECOM/CABLE NETWORKS: 1st Time in India – Bengaluru Hosts ‘International Telecommunication Union ITU-T Study Group 9 (SG-9)’ Meeting to Advance International Standards for Television Technology

The meeting on Broadband Cable and Television/Audiovisual content transmission and integrated broadband cable networks, is currently being held at the IISc.

The meeting of International Telecommunication Union ITU-T Study Group 9 (SG-9) is being hosted in India for the first time.

The meeting of SG-9 on “Broadband Cable and Television/Audiovisual content transmission and integrated broadband cable networks” is currently being held at the Indian Institute of Science.

First physical meeting

This is the first physical meeting of the SG-9 after the pandemic and the event was attended by delegates and representatives from Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Congo, Egypt, France, Gambia, Germany, India, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Myanmar, Nepal, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Syria, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, and other countries. In addition, representatives of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN organisation, and many other experts attended the meeting.

ITU is the oldest UN agency, found in 1865, to facilitate international connectivity in communications networks. ITU allocates global radio spectrum and satellite orbits, develops the technical standards that ensure networks and technologies seamlessly interconnect, and strives to improve access to Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to underserved communities worldwide.

The SG-9 at ITU is responsible for telecommunication systems for primary and secondary distribution of audiovisual content, including accessibility services and emerging interactive media.

The Study Group meeting also comprised the ITU Workshop on The Future of Television for South Asia, Arab and Africa Regions, covering regulatory and policy frameworks, emerging and convergent ICT infrastructures and services, as well as user interfaces and human factors.

Transitioning from analog

“At the workshop, while the future technologies of digital broadcasting were discussed, it was also highlighted that many countries are still facing challenges in transitioning from analog to digital broadcasting. I hope that the ITU workshop will serve as a platform for sharing best practices and help bridge the gap,” Seizo Oneo, director, Telecommunication Standardization Bureau (TSB) said.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

Tech blog winner’s programme to identify plants may prove a game changer in Ayurvedic pharma sector

Dr K V N Rajesh, a certified trainer on the Azure platform and holds a doctorate in deep learning, says that his model has achieved 95 per cent accuracy in identifying images of leaves available on the internet, based on the plant “flavia”.

With Ayurveda making rapid strides in the Indian pharmaceutical industry, the winning entry by Dr K V N Rajesh in the first phase of the ongoing Microsoft Azure Blogathon contest may prove to bring dynamic change rooted in this direction. The programme, written in the Python programming language and using Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, is intended to help distinguish between different types of plants.

Rajesh, who is a certified trainer on the Azure platform and holds a doctorate in deep learning, said that there are many species of plants and identifying them based on the leaves is a task that needs to be solved. “Many companies making Ayurvedic products use leaves in their products, and identifying the exact species is a crucial problem,” he says. He also explains that the same concept can be applied in the agricultural field, specifically with regard to dealing with plant diseases and pests.

“Plant leaves have attributes such as colour, shape, texture etc. based on which you can identify them. I developed an architecture based on a deep learning model, a subset of artificial intelligence which will automatically grasp these attributes. The model which is generated is trained with images of leaves. When the model training is complete, it is validated based on the data set of the leaves,” he points out.

The second phase of testing involves testing the accuracy of the model. According to Rajesh, his model has achieved 95 per cent accuracy in identifying images of leaves available on the internet, based on the plant “flavia”.

“Thirty per cent of the images were used to train the model, and the rest were used to test it,” he says. He intends to take the programme further by incorporating it into a mobile application.

source/content: indianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA : NATIONAL: Indigenous Chip for NavIC-based Satellite Navigation launched by Elena Geo Systems, Bengaluru

The processor will give India a huge edge as both government and private sector can move away from their dependence on the American Global Positioning System, says founder of Elena Geo Systems.

In a step towards expanding usage of indigenous satellite-based Navigation, NavIC, a chip that can form the core of the Navigation, Positioning and Timing applications developed by Elena Geo Systems, a Bengaluru-based space technology company, was unveiled at the Defence Space Symposium on Thursday. The chip works using Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) or the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) satellites.

A chip was formally handed over by Lt. Col. V.S. Velan (retd.), founder and Chief Technology Officer of Elena Geo Systems, to Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan.

“We are thrilled to present India’s first fully designed and developed NavIC chip. The processor will give India a huge edge as both the government and private sector can move away from their dependence on the American Global Positioning System (GPS). Elena is in the process of patenting the technology and the product which has been developed by our dedicated R&D team,” Lt. Col. Velan said.

The chip has many cores that service the requirements of signal acquisition, regeneration, processing and the output interface and hence it is has been named as the NavIC processor, he stated. “We will be manufacturing 10,000 chips in the first batch,” he told The Hindu. He said they had demonstrated several of their products to the armed forces and were supplying 200 NavIC receivers to the Army through Bharat Electronics Limited.

High precision

The chips will enable high precision and accuracy for all the three types of applications such as navigation, positioning and timing, providing self-reliance, Lt. Col. Vasan said, adding that they have been pursuing advance technologies to manufacture these chips and modules; some of which have been supplied to the Indian Army and some private entities.

Elena Geo Systems was incubated at IIT-Kharagpur in 2012 and is now a member of the Delhi-based Indian Space Association (InSA) which organised the symposium in association with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Elena demonstrated its first processor in April 2019, which could receive and process signals of NavIC S-band, L5 band, GAGAN, GPS and Russian GLONASS. In the last two years, Elena successfully demonstrated its capability across devices and applications for reference stations, DSM map display system with IRNSS for the Army, map display system for patrol boats, marine NavIC receivers, intelligent vehicle tracking devices, NavIC drone navigation units and NavIC-based atomic clock, Lt. Col. Velan added.

source / content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY / COMMUNICATIONS: For the 1st time in India, Raman Research Institute Researchers Successfully Demonstrate Secure Communication between Stationary Source and Moving Receiver using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD)

The technology could help India design secure communication channels, especially for defence and strategic purposes, enhance cyber security and make online transactions safer.

For the first time in India, researchers at the Raman Research Institute (RRI) have successfully demonstrated secure communication established between a stationary source and a moving receiver using Quantum Key Distribution (QKD).

Prof. Urbasi Sinha, who led the team of researchers, said that this breakthrough demonstration could pave the way for ground-to-satellite-based secure quantum communication.

The successful experimental demonstration, which was performed at the institute in March, could also help India design and provide secure communication channels, especially for defence and strategic purposes, enhance cyber security and make online transactions safer.

In order to achieve this feat, Prof. Sinha and her team at the Quantum Information and ComputingI (QuIC) lab deployed an indigenously deployed Pointing, Acquisition and Tracking (PAT) system.

This PAT system assisted the ground-based source in tracking the moving receiver, in this case, a terrestrial vehicle, a few metres apart.

Prof Sinha added that the present demonstration is in continuation to the QuIC lab’s February 2021 demonstration of QKD between two buildings using an atmospheric free space channel.

“Just like our team achieved the first secure quantum communication between two buildings for the first time in India, we are equally delighted to be the first Indian team to achieve secure quantum communication between a stationary source and a moving platform, a critical milestone in our quest towards satellite-based quantum communications,” Prof Sinha added.

Relevance of quantum technology

While present-day classical cryptography follows the encryption and decryption of messages, its security gets challenged by quantum computers and other revolutionary algorithmic breakthroughs.

According to RRI, the obvious solution then is to use quantum cryptography.

“Security based on laws of quantum mechanics is a paradigm change from the current means of security based on mathematical hardness of problems. Quantum Key Distribution is currently the most secure means of facing any threats from algorithmic breakthroughs in classical computing as well as the advent of quantum computers,” Prof Sinha said, sharing the relevance of quantum technology in the increasing online mode of transactions.

This research by Prof Sinha’s team is part of Quantum Experiments using Satellite Technology (QuEST), for which RRI has been collaborating with the U.R. Rao Satellite Centre of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since 2017.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

NATIONAL: AI and IT in LAW & COURTS : Courting Success: Bengaluru-based startup ‘Nomology Technology’ attempts to modernise legal proceedings 

“Real-time transcription brings an element of accountability from all the stakeholders. Judges and litigators can no longer make off-the-cuff remarks.

Last week, the Supreme Court witnessed a historic moment in the Indian legal landscape. The proceedings of the case pertaining to the Election Commission’s order on the Shiv Sena party symbol and name were transcribed in real-time using an Artificial Intelligence-based tool. Developed by a Bengaluru-based startup Nomology Technology, the tool attempts to modernise the legal proceedings in the country. 

“Real-time transcription brings an element of accountability from all the stakeholders. Judges and litigators can no longer make off-the-cuff remarks. Now, their actions are under scrutiny. It also makes it easier for litigators to review arguments from the day and avoid repeating themselves, enabling translations of the proceedings, thereby making it more accessible to people who might not speak English.

Most importantly, it makes the proceeding efficient. Currently, each question during a cross-examination might take about five minutes, as the questions and answers from the lawyers and the person testifying is summarised by the judge to the stenographer to be recorded. With real-time transcription, that can be avoided,” says Vikas Mahendra, co-founder of Nomology Technology.

With several years of experience as an arbitration practitioner in England, France and Singapore, Mahendra was taken aback by the lack of proper infrastructure to record court proceedings when he returned home to start a domestic practice in 2015. “A lot of the support mechanisms that were available internationally are not available here. The lack of transcription was glaring. The situation was such that if you wanted transcription, the only choice was to fly down trained transcribers abroad. I sat down with my brother Vinay [Mahendra] and brother-in-law Badarivishal [Kinhal] –both with engineering backgrounds and started discussing what it is that we can do,” he shares. 

Currently, only a minuscule portion of a court proceeding is recorded across the different forums in the country. In lower courts, especially, apart from evidence presentation, virtually nothing else is recorded. Even the miniscule portion that is recorded is often summarised, and as dictated by the judge to the stenographer. Essentially making it hard to piece together the exact happenings of a proceeding.

However, Mahendra feels that recording every single detail from a proceeding is not worthwhile given the sheer volume of cases that pass through the system each year. But, for certain elements, such as witness cross-examination, judgements and evidence presentation, recording and proper transcription can play a crucial role. “We recently had a case where a witness statement was recorded, as summarised by the judge. Later, when the same witness was asked to sign their statement, they refused, saying that’s not what they had said. In such cases, it’s the judge’s word against the witness’, and usually, the judge’s word prevails,” he explains. 

Founded in 2018, Nomology Technology built the transcription engine based on an open-source natural language model. The resulting platform, ‘Technology Enabled Resolution’ has various facets to suit different needs, from live transcription to post-recording transcription, as well as the ability to accurately detect different accents of people across the country and has undergone over 1,500 hours of testing in arbitration hearings. “The platform is constantly evolving. We are also not married on one particular language model,” explains Badarivishal Kinha, operations head and co-founder.

Yet adoption had remained slow until a chance encounter with Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud in Delhi this month helped change minds. “We decided to transcribe the Delhi arbitration weekend, the flagship event of the Delhi High Court, this month. One of the keynote speakers was Chandrachud, who incidentally, spoke about the need for transcription. That prompted us to speak to him on the sidelines, during which we told him about our work. He asked us to connect with his office. Within a few days, we had set up the infrastructure and did our first transcription,” shares Mahendra, adding they didn’t seek financial compensation for the trial, which helped accelerate the process. 

The Supreme Court recently deployed an Artificial Intelligence -based live transcription tool during court proceedings on an experimental basis. Behind the initiative are city-based startup founders who share how the tech can modernise the legal landscape.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ’19th Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) Awards 2023′ Ceremony returns to Stage, February 18th

The 19th edition of the Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) awards recognised 10 winners across various categories, including literature, music, short film, photography, and digital art.

Dadapeer Jyman, a promising talent in the Kannada literary scene, could hardly contain his emotion as he accepted the award for creative writing in Kannada at the 19th edition of the Toto Funds the Arts (TFA) awards ceremony held at Bangalore International Centre on February 18. With a tremulous voice, Jyman expressed his joy at winning the prize. “I’ve dreamt of winning a Toto for three to four years now. I’ve been longlisted and shortlisted… It feels like finally being accepted after pursuing a loved one for long,” he said.

Having won the Sahitya Akademi’s Yuva Puraskar in 2022, Jyman is making a name for himself as a rising star in Kannada literature. His award-winning story, Taha’s Letter, explores the clash between two worlds, through the lens of two close friends, Dileep and Taha. One is stuck in the village, while the other has become an activist in the city. Taha is queer, and, as the story unfolds, we see how two worlds collide and get a chance to examine why it did not work out between them.

Following two years of virtual editions, the Toto Awards finally made a return to the physical stage. “Nothing compares to meeting young artists in person and hearing a live audience cheer them on. All of us at TFA were excited to do an on-ground event,” said CK Meena, chaiperson, TFA.

The TFA is a non-profit trust that was founded in 2004 to commemorate the passing of Angirus ‘Toto’ Vellani, a 20-year-old art and literature lover. Every year, the trust awards prizes in a range of categories, including literature, music, short film, and photography, and hosts workshops, talks, readings, film screenings, and intimate addas to discuss arts-related topics.

A new category was established this year to pay tribute to the memory of abstract artist Mehlli Gobhai, dedicated to digital art, and an additional award was presented for music. The ceremony included a short ghatam performance by Sumana Chandrashekar.

“It is a great platform for youngsters riddled with self doubt about their potential,” said chief guest MS Sriram, Kannada writer and chairperson of the Centre for Public Policy at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. “This award is a big endorsement from the community. While there are several language-based art communities in Bengaluru, what makes this one unique is its diversity. I was amazed by the different regions the award winners came from, as usually in these gatherings we only see local talent.”

Moachiba Jamir, who won the award in the creative writing in the English category, said, “The story, Expecting Caterpillars, talks about grief in a way that also touches the culture that I come from, where very strong emotions such as grief and happiness are not really shared. We don’t really hug people, we don’t say we are sorry… I wanted to explore that in my story,” said Jamir.

A native of the Ao tribe in Kohima, Nagaland, Jamir includes his cultural roots in his writing. “I am inspired by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, who said there’s not just one story. So, I am not the only story from my culture; I am just a little voice out of all the voices that are around.”

This year’s ceremony recognised 10 winners across various categories, each of whom received a cash prize. In the music category, both Dindūn and Rudy Mukta were awarded ₹60,000 each. The creative writing in the English category saw Moachiba Jamir and Aparna Chivukula winning ₹50,000 each. Dadapeer Jyman won ₹50,000 in creative writing in the Kannada category. The photography category was won by Aswin Sharma and Anuja Dasgupta, with each of them receiving ₹50,000. In the short film category, Pratik Girish Bhoyar and Nikhil Vinay received ₹50,000 . Sankalpa Raychaudhury won the digital art category, receiving a cash prize of ₹50,000.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: HEALTHCARE / NEUROSCIENCE RESEARCH: Pratiksha Trust signs MoU with Indian Institute of Science (IISc) & Centre for Brain Research (CBR)

CBR is uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of tackling this impending healthcare and socioeconomic crisis.”

The Pratiksha Trust signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Science (IISC) and Centre for Brain Research (CBR), an autonomous centre of IISC, to accelerate breakthrough discoveries and translational research on neurodegenerative diseases.

Under this MoU, the charitable trust, founded by Infosys co-founder Kris Gopalkrishnan, has agreed to provide support to CBR in perpetuity with an initial outlay to the tune of Rs 450.27 crore over the next 10 years, for research, innovation and translation.

IISC Director Prof G Rangarajan said, “India’s elderly population is expected to grow rapidly to a staggering 32 crore by 2050, leading to a corresponding increase in the burden of dementia and other age-related neurodegenerative diseases. CBR is uniquely positioned to take on the challenge of tackling this impending healthcare and socioeconomic crisis.”

Gopalakrishnan said, “The human brain is one of the world’s biggest mysteries, which is yet to be fully understood. By funding this centre, we are working towards creating and sustaining a globally recognised, state-of-the-art research and innovation hub that will be at the cutting edge of research on the human brain.”

CBR has already been pursuing research in this area and this MoU will help scale up the research and activities at the centre.

It is also a part of nation-wide initiative involving 20 institutions called “Genome-India” (supported by the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India), which aims to discover India-specific genetic basis for diseases through whole genome sequencing of 10,000 samples collected from across the country.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE: Int’l Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) Develops Platform to provide Aadhaar-like Digital Identities for 9 Countries

Citizens of Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso and Togolese Republic will enrol on the platform.

Around 70 million citizens in Philippines (80% of the population) have enrolled themselves on their national digital identity programme rolled out by Modular Open-Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), a digital identity platform developed by a team at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB).

Upon the request of World Bank to initiate research and development, the project provides digital identities similar to Aadhaar to underdeveloped and developing countries. So far, 16 lakh lines of codes have been developed and used by countries, free of cost.

People of 9 nations to enroll

Although the project was first aimed at providing MOSIP to five countries, it has now been extended to nine countries. Philippines, Morocco, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Ethiopia, Republic of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, and Togolese Republic are the countries whose citizens will enroll on the platform. A team of 30 people, comprising top designers and others from software, database design, security and privacy departments, are working on the project at IIITB.

“Along with technical know-how, we will also help the countries with technological training. Data, privacy, and security will all be within their own country and their policy, we will not interfere with it. We are providing digital identity for the world in a modular nature so that it can be customised to their needs. For instance, in Philippines, English, and Filipino are the languages which used, while in Morocco, it is French and Arabic. Different countries have separate biometric needs and accordingly, the modular biometrics will be used,” explained Debabrata Das, Director, IIITB, who is also the Chairman of Executive Committee for the project.

Scalable. secure

Prof. Rajagopalan, President of MOSIP project, added that the project is highly scalable and secure. The developers have also figured out a way to operate in 5,000+ habitable islands of Philippines where there is no good internet connection.

“We have developed a new technology to identify people where there is no internet or low bandwidth connection. A lot of research went into it and we developed a secure QR code which can be stored in local servers and mobiles and can be used to authenticate each other. Later, when they get internet connection, the information can be exchanged and authenticated,” he further said.

The project is also being funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Norad, Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Pratiksha Trust and Omidyar Network.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

KARNATAKA: ARTS & CULTURE / METAVERSE: Kannada film ‘Made in Bengaluru’ released in Metaverse

Made in Bengaluru is written and directed by Pradeep Sastry. The cast includes Madhusudan Govind in the lead role, and Anant Nag, Saikumar and Prakash Belawadi in pivotal roles.

Interality, an engine for mixed reality (AR & VR) worlds, has announced the release of ‘Made in Bengaluru’, a Kannada film on metaverse.

Made in Bengaluru is written and directed by Pradeep Sastry. The cast includes Madhusudan Govind in the lead role, and Anant Nag, Saikumar and Prakash Belawadi in pivotal roles. The story follows the journey of three dreamy-eyed middle class boys who venture into setting up their start-up.

Movie enthusiasts can meet the cast on the metaverse take selfies with a drone camera. They can also participate in a movie quiz, win tickets to the exclusive film premiere on December 29 in Bengaluru.

“We’re thrilled to power the launch of the film Made in Bengaluru in Metaverse.

Metaverse has massive opportunities for the cinema and entertainment industry as the future of content distribution,” said Farheen Ahmad, CEO, interality. 

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL: AIRPORTS / TRAVEL/ METAVERSE: Kempegowda Intl Airport’s Terminal-2 (KIA T-2) is One of the First in the World that can be Experienced on the Metaverse. First phase of ‘BLR Metaport’ Launched

The Kempegowda International Airport’s Terminal-2 has become one of the first terminals in the world that can be experienced on the metaverse, after Bangalore International Airport Limited, operator of the KIA, on Tuesday announced the first phase launch of the BLR Metaport.

The Kempegowda International Airport’s (KIA) Terminal-2 has become one of the first terminals in the world that can be experienced on the metaverse, after Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL), operator of the KIA, on Tuesday announced the first phase launch of the BLR Metaport.

Built in collaboration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Polygon, the BLR Metaport offers an immersive, three-dimensional (3D) virtual experience of the newly launched terminal.

Interested travellers and members of the public can log on to www.blrmetaport.com and virtually tour and navigate the new terminal using their smart devices.

The BLR Metaport is an outcome of the Joint Innovation Centre (JIC), announced in April 2022 by BIAL, AWS, and Intel. The JIC focuses on driving the development and adoption of digital solutions in aviation.

“For BIAL, the mission of the JIC is to leverage emerging technologies to build new business models and passenger experiences and be at the forefront of technology innovation in India’s commercial aviation,” BIAL added.

Developed in line with this mission, the BLR Metaport is one of the first airport metaverse experiences, designed to deliver an enhanced digital experience.

A 3D interface will offer customers new ways to interact with the airport, such as checking into flights, navigating terminals, shopping, and social aspects like connecting with other travellers.

BLR Metaport brings the virtual and physical worlds together to provide consistent engagement, and aims to excite travellers with new, unique, and immersive experiences.

BIAL’s Chief Strategy and Development Officer, Satyaki Raghunath said, “We are very excited that BIAL is entering into the new world of metaverse through the BLR Metaport.

This is our first foray into the world of Web3 and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and we aim to delight travellers with a unique, immersive, and virtual experience. We believe that it is important to connect with a new generation of our global audience through the metaverse.

We also have several initiatives planned around the BLR Metaport, which promise to increase ways in which we can engage with our global audience and enhance business impact over the next few years.”

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)