IIT-Ropar, Army sign MoU on projects

Tribune News Service

Ropar, November 2

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Army with an objective to enhance critical technology transfers. IIT-Ropar director SK Das and the director general of perspective planning of Army, Lt Gen KJS Dhillon, signed the MoU at the campus here on Friday.

Das said the objective of the MoU was to share professional and technical knowledge and to achieve a better understanding of the critical technology requirements of the Army through seamless interaction.

He said the team would identify areas that required research and development and student projects. Such projects would be initiated jointly by both the IIT-Ropar and the Army. “There are also plans to commercialise Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) achieved through this collaboration,” he said.

“The Armymen, particularly those posted in harsh weather conditions, face diverse problems and we want to address these problems. The plan is to have a research centre at IIT-Ropar through which our students and faculty can be in continuous touch with the Army. This is just the beginning of the academia-Army relationship,” he said.

He said the IIT-Ropar was already working on developing a prototype that would give soldiers a real-time information in various situations. It was a modern combat helmet fitted with identification and communication devices, having thermal imaging and night vision capability that would provide the Army with the state-of-the-art technological support system. The name of the product is Raksh 1.0 (a helmet) that provides a soldier with real-time information of the surroundings, especially at the war front. Friendly and enemy troops will be identifiable through geotagging. Within six months, the prototype would be ready for launch, said the director.