The prize was received from President of India Droupadi Murmu on 22 August 2024 in New Delhi.

They were selected for this award, formerly known as the ‘Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar’ Prize, in recognition of their outstanding work in science and technology.

He has made seminal contributions to remote Non-destructive Evaluation of structures and processes through advances in ultrasonics and robotics, as well as guiding multiple start-ups in taking these innovations to the field, say sources from IIT Madras.

Prof Radhakrishna Ganti

Prof. Radhakrishna Ganti focuses on indigenous hardware and wireless communications stack development. In the first-of-its-kind facility in India.

Prof. Radhakrishna Ganti led the development of 5G radio systems at IIT Madras. His team is currently designing 6G technologies.

Prof. Ganti made several contributions to global standards bodies and spearheaded the development of Rural use cases in ITU (International Telecom Union) to provide modern telecom access and connectivity to remote and rural areas.

His work on stochastic geometry for the analysis of wireless and cellular networks is globally recognized, say sources from IIT Madras.

Director of IIT Madras

Director of IIT Madras Prof V Kamakoti congratulated the professor on winning the award.

‘Faculty of IIT Madras are involved in transformational research for at least the last two decades.’

The outputs of these efforts have led to products of great national importance, he said.

I am very proud that two of my colleagues have been awarded the Bhatnagar prize this year for their stellar contributions in their respective fields that have led to technology of great national and societal relevance, he said.

Being passionate about fundamental ‘blue sky’ research as well as technology translation to solve practical real-world problems in industry and society.

I am happy to note that this award underlines my work in technology and innovation.

This award is an affirmation to young scientists and technologists across India, that stepping forward to solve pressing challenges such as access to scalable technologies for healthcare, sanitation and industrial process efficiency is appreciated, he said.

He further said ‘I take this opportunity to thank my mentors, industry collaborators, students and start-up co-founders and investors who have guided and anchored my journey over the years.’

My sincere appreciation to the administrators at IIT Madras including former and current Directors, Deans and HoDs who have nurtured a culture of excellence and support for Innovation and Entrepreneurship creating one of the best ecosystems for deep-tech startups in India, he said.

My gratitude to my parents, brother (and his little son who always comes to my Laboratory with wonder eyes) and wife Dr. Tamaswati Ghosh who have patiently supported me and endured the years of seemingly unending hours at work, he said.

I am grateful that my work in developing and building wireless systems is recognized and I hope that it would encourage more researchers and faculty to do systems work, he said.

Prof further said he had the privilege of working with excellent researchers who have helped me at various stages to significantly contribute to the vision of India-led wireless standards and lay the foundation for an indigenous wireless ecosystem in India.

I want to thank my mentors, teachers, colleagues and friends who encouraged me to pursue what I enjoyed and helped me along the way, he said.

I wish to express my sincere gratitude to Prof. Bhaskar Ramamuthi and Prof. V. Kamakoti as well as the entire IIT Madras administration for their excellent support throughout the years and for their invaluable advice.

I deeply appreciate the support of MeiTY and DOT for their financial grants as well as their steadfast support in the development of indigenous technologies and standards, he said.

I want to thank my parents for their belief and confidence in me and my in-laws for their constant support.

My special thanks to my wife Sambhavi and my son Eswar Prakash who always stood with me, supported me through the journey and share my dream and passion for Atmanirbhar Bharath, he said.

About Prof Prabhu Rajagopal

Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal has studied bio-inspired propulsion leading to new tools for homogenising sludges eventually forming the basis for robots for mechanised cleaning of septic tanks.

His work on ultrasonic metamaterials has immense possibilities for high-resolution imaging and structural shielding from environmental and seismic disturbances.

His research contributions include:

Ø ALID, the most widely used technique across the world for simulating unbounded domains

Ø Discovery of novel feature-guided wave modes leading to new methods for condition monitoring of pipelines, bent structures and composite joints

Ø Robots including, SepOYE (septic tank inspection), m-Hull (AUV) and Shobot (human-assistive cobot)

Ø Distributed ledger based management of bone healing using ultrasonics

Key startups to emerge from his work include

Ø Planys Technologies (National Entrepreneruship Award 2019, National Startup Award 2020, Aegis Graham Bell Award 2021)

Ø Solinas Integrity (Economic Times Startup Award 2022, Shark Tank India, Ashirwad THE/Nudge Prize 2023)

Ø Xyma Analytics (Aegis Graham Bell Award 2022, National Technology Award 2023)

Ø Plenome Technologies (AWS Campus Challenge 2023)

Prof. Prabhu Rajagopal is working on several areas including Distributed and quantum AI technologies offer novel ways of improving upon the security and training limitations of classical AI.

Key products commercialised through the startups:

Ø Mike, Mikros and Beluga series of tethered robots for submerged asset inspections (deployed at 50+ locations in India, Middle East and Europe through Planys)

Ø Svayatt series of automated underwater vehicles for surveillance, water body mapping and defence applications (being commercialised through Planys)

Ø Endobot series for robots for inspections of water and sewer pipelines – (deployed at over half a dozen smart cities across India through Solinas)

Ø Globus robot for passive monitoring of pipelines (commercialised through Solinas)

Ø HomoSEP series of robots for mechanised cleaning of septic tanks and elimination of manual scavenging (deployed over 25 locations across India through Solinas)

Ø BlockTrack Hub and Plenome Ayush app for digitization and data integrity management in healthcare and voting (commercialised through Plenome and currently deployed or being piloted at several hospitals and student elections)

Ø Xero series of XR models for real estate and plant site management (deployed at several projects across Chennai through Xeroscape)

He is an expert in the area of wireless system design, 5G cellular systems, wireless hardware systems, and stochastic geometry.

He has built a state-of-the massive-MIMO radios and its associated software towards indigenisation efforts.

Prof. Radhakrishna has been continuously working with DRDO (and other defence organisations) and helping them develop local capabilities in wireless communications.

An example of this is the Tropo-scatter OFDM modem designed, developed and tested (by him and two of his colleagues) which has been manufactured and now is being used by armed forces.

In fact, from importing troposcatter modems, India is now exporting these modems to other countries

His Research Contributions include

1) Application of stochastic geometry to the analysis of wireless networks

2) Development of key technologies like full-duplex, pilotless Massive MIMO systems and newer algorithms and architectures for 5G and 6G systems

3) Instrumental in driving the Low Mobility Large Cell (LMLC) requirement in ITU which focused on improving rural coverage

4) Development of indigenous 5G systems (hardware and software) in collaboration with other IITs and other research institutions.

This technology has been transferred to companies for commercialization.

The 5G infrastructure (hardware and software) developed at IIT Madras is a state-of-the art system and provides a basis for starts-ups and smaller companies in India to build their 5G products.

Prof. Radhakrishna Ganti’s future goals include working on the development of next-generation wireless systems like 6G with an emphasis on AI/ML and the development of systems to meet the Indian requirements in commercial and defense applications.

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This collaboration agreement seeks to capitalize on the strengths of both institutions, broadening the learning experience for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Science (BS) programs at IIT Madras and undergraduate programs at IIT Palakkad.

To date, over 30,000 students are actively participating in this program, fostering a vibrant and interactive learning community, say sources from IIT Palakkad.

Director of IIT Madras

Welcoming this collaboration, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said IIT Madras is committed to reach quality education to every deserving student in our country. This initiative with IIT Palakkad is a very significant step towards reaching the goals.

We are enthusiastic about mentoring these bright minds. Our courses and internships have a strong emphasis on hands-on learning and innovation, said director of IIT Palakkad.

This collaboration with IIT Madras will build a robust foundation that equips students with the skills, insights, and networks they need to excel, he said.

Key features

The key features of this collaboration include:

Ø Credit Transfer from IITPkd Courses: IIT Madras BS (Data Science and Applications) students who meet the eligibility criteria can fulfil their credit requirements by taking courses at IIT Palakkad, promoting an exchange of academic resources and expertise.

Ø Access to IIT Madras Courses for IIT Palakkad Students: The MoU allows undergraduate students at IIT Palakkad to enrol in courses on Data Science and Programming from the IIT Madras BS program, ensuring equitable access to these cutting-edge skills.

Ø Support for Additional Initiatives: The collaboration will also facilitate student exchange programs, internship opportunities, and other joint initiatives.

Commitment

This collaboration between IIT Madras and IITPkd highlights the commitment of both institutions to enrich student experiences through cross-disciplinary exposure, practical learning, and research opportunities.

It aims to create a robust academic ecosystem that utilizes the expertise and infrastructure of both IITs.

Collaboration

IIT Madras has been collaborating with other leading institutions in the country to provide in-person learning opportunities for final-year students in the BS program.

IIT Gandhinagar, IIIT Hyderabad, and Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) have already made their campus courses available to eligible students from the IIT Madras BS (Data Science) degree program.

About IIT Palakkad

Established in 2015, the Indian Institute of Technology, Palakkad is dedicated to creating an environment that enables students and faculty to engage in the pursuit of knowledge, to dream, think, and innovate thereby becoming change agents for a better world.

Having begun with just 120 students in July 2015, IIT Palakkad has since grown into an establishment that is about a thousand students strong and with the best manpower in key positions.

IITPkd aims to become a multi-disciplinary institution with 5000 students by its 10th year. The Institute recognizes collective growth, in collaboration with industry and other academic institutions, as the need of the time and emphasizes blue-sky research and directed research as two essential pillars of technology development.

The Institute embraces a vision to be a leader in cross-disciplinary inquiries, and to contribute to the potential that India’s demographic dividend represents for the country and the world, which is embodied in the motto of the institute “Nurturing minds for a better world”.

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