Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore Emerge Winner of the TECHgium 2019 for PoC on Worker Activity Assessment Wearable

L&T Technology Services Limited, a leading global pure-play engineering services company, has announced the winners of the third edition of its national futuristic technology-based innovation competition TECHgium. Kickstarting in January, the event received record-surpassing 19,000 applications from over 270 reputed colleges & universities across India clocking a 200% increase in participants from its inception year 2016.

On this special occasion, the Postmaster General of Bengaluru HQ Region, Col. Arvind Varma, launched the TECHgium stamp to mark the successful conclusion of the 3rd season of TECHgium. The one-of-its-kind stamp bears the hallmark of LTTS’ culture of engineering excellence and innovation. The artwork of the stamp is an ode to the potential that engineering students in India hold and how industry-academia collaborations such as TECHgium can propel this talent to greater heights.

The winning teams are facilitated with awards worth over ₹10 lacs with additional benefits such as continuation of work on the PoCs of interest as a paid project, pre-placement offer and recognition by reputed industry professionals.

The winners of TECHgium were selected by a distinguished jury of industry experts including Dr Ranganath Navalgund, Distinguished Professor at ISRO, Mr Vikas Bhalla, Director (Ultrasound) Philips India, Mr Rakesh S, Director at Antrix, Mr R Ganapathi Raman, Country Manager India at ARC Advisory and Mr Pareekh Jain, Founder of Pareekh Consulting.

“LTTS has always been a big proponent of the student-scientist culture to enable engineering students rise above curriculum and stand out. In my discussion with our global customers, the requirement for industry-ready talent with high digital & innovation acumen is a top priority. The continued overwhelming response to TECHgium’s third season is a testament to the fact the students are willing to go the extra mile to differentiate themselves,” said Dr. Keshab Panda, CEO & Managing Director, L&T Technology Services Limited. “TECHgium is dedicated to bringing the brightest minds together and innovate the next-gen solutions that can make a real difference to how organizations operate in the age of Industry 4.0. I wish heartiest congratulations to the winners and hope that TECHgium continues its legacy of excellence.”

TECHgium’s third season saw 68 innovative PoCs on real life technical challenges pertaining to emerging technologies such as AI, Machine Learning & Deep Learning, 5G, Wearables Devices, Solar Technology, Video Analytics, Blockchain and Face Detection among others.

Unity Technologies Enables World’s Top Auto OEMs Towards the Future of the Automotive Industry with Real-Time Simulation

Unity Technologies, the market-leading platform for developing a broad range of applications in the field of real-time 3D, and AR/VR, recently showcased how a real-time simulation can create virtual environments allowing developers to test autonomous vehicles in simulated real-world situations at VRTECH 2019.

Unity displayed revolutionary demos around how it is enabling eight of the 10 largest OEMs in the world by helping improve the way they design, build, service and sell automobiles and cut down cost in design and sales.

Unity also revealed that the company is strengthening the OEMs through-

Bringing the real-time revolution to automotive- Unity’s flexibility and support for 25+ platforms is transforming how OEMs execute designing, training, marketing, autonomous driving, and human-machine interaction. OEMs already save on average of $3-5 million Euros for each model designed using Unity.

Unlocking interactivity demanded by today’s car buying audience through real-time technology- Unity is powering the future of car buying experiences, helping car dealerships reduce inventory on lots, and increasing attach rates for dealer options. Using Unity’s real-time technology, Lexus gave prospective customers the power to configure, experience and buy the Lexus LC500 in VR, before the physical car was available in retail.

Advancing towards level 4 and level 5 autonomy safer and smarter with Unity’s machine learning capabilities- Unity’s simulation environment is allowing OEMs to drive millions of miles in a virtual environment, running 100,000s of scenarios at a time, all without endangering lives. OEMs are witnessing the ability to conceptualize autonomy to advanced levels without undergoing physical testing.

Enabling OEMs to innovate and deploy human-machine interfaces (HMI) for the next generation of vehicles through Unity’s real-time 3D development platform- As part of its growing autonomy efforts, Unity has recently collaborated with brands including Baidu and Microsoft to support artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning for autonomous systems, as well as its recently launched SimViz Solution Template: a package that provides OEMs and other brands with autonomous driving simulations solutions.

Unity, being the global leader's in-game engine is being used in all industries, particularly in education, film and furthering towards the automotive sector enormously. On the occasion, Mr. Anumukonda Ramesh, County Manager: India, Unity Technologies said, “We are already on the journey of advancing towards the future of automotive. We are enthralled to be part of the real-time revolution of the automotive sector by equipping the automakers through our real-time rendering technology. The ability to design, market, train and accurately conduct autonomous testing in a simulated environment allows for millions of simulations to simultaneously occur, providing automakers with a competitive advantage while helping to keep their business costs down.”

The mega-successful event witnessed 150+ delegates from the industry. Delegates from Tata, HCL, Mercedes- Benz, CHRP and many more joined the conference to share insights on how companies are building new competitive advantage using AR/VR and 3D technologies.

Unity is the creator of the world's most widely used real-time 3D (RT3D) development platform that gives developers around the world the tools to create rich, interactive 2D, 3D, VR and AR experiences. Unite is Unity’s global developer conference hosted in 8 countries and is the most important gathering of Unity developers, artists, publishers, educators, and enthusiasts.  

Bengaluru City May Plunge into Digital Darkness Due to Indiscriminate Cutting of Fiber Cables by Authorities

India’s IT capital city, Bengaluru is staring at potential blackout of its digital services across-the-board as BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has resorted to large-scale cutting of Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) of telecom and internet service providers. This random cutting of OFC across areas like Sarjapur Road, Whitefield, Marathahalli, Bellandur, Sarjapur etc. without any prior intimation of telecom and internet service providers is leading to huge outages and inconvenience to the citizens in densely populated areas across the city. Such coercive actions will have huge impact on the connectivity for a State like Karnataka which is popularly known as the IT Capital of India and needs uninterrupted and seamless telecom services.

The telecom industry has made immense investments in setting-up infrastructure in the Karnataka circle to provide fast connectivity to the citizens, as well as to the IT industry.  Over 1,47,200 Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) on approximately 34,700 towers have been installed in Karnataka state to support telephone, mobile and internet communications. This alone equals INR 14,500 crores in network investments. The sector also generates approx. INR 10,000 crores per annum in revenue in Karnataka alone, from which it contributes over approx. INR 1,700 crores to the State exchequer by way of levies and taxes. Such coercive actions from BBMP are expected to bring the entire city to a virtual halt and cause immense setback to its robust digital economy, while bringing no benefit to the BBMP government.

BBMP is treating all over-the-ground cables as unauthorized, though the industry had obtained all necessary permissions and had originally laid them underground. However, the service providers were constrained to lay them overhead with the permission of BBMP as and when the same were unintentionally cut/removed during various civil works carried out by BBMP, BESCOM, BWSSB etc. The disconnection of the cable by BBMP is a huge blow to the Digital Bengaluru plan, which has the potential to cripple essential services including Point of sale purchase applications at retail outlets and various Government services in Bengaluru.

Speaking on the crisis that would bring the city to a virtual halt, Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India), stated, “We are deeply disappointed with the unwarranted action by the BBMP to remove the OFC cables, which has led to network outages and caused inconvenience to customers, many of whom are without connectivity. This impulsive action will also impact overall internet connectivity and businesses, especially IT firms in the city. We would once again like to highlight that all our members are fully compliant with the rules and regulations of the concerned authorities. While the industry has been trying to discuss and resolve the issue, BBMP has chosen to remove this key last mile connectivity infrastructure rather than work with telecom companies to find an amicable solution. We once again appeal to the Government of Karnataka and to the BBMP to immediately allow the restoration of the infrastructure and develop a future ready framework to enable deliver world-class digital connectivity to citizens in the IT capital of India. We once again reiterate that we are open to discussing the issue in a threadbare manner for the larger benefit of Bengaluru’s netizens and wide range of essential digital services.”

In a city that takes pride in its digital superhighways, it will also result in a complete communication black-out threatening emergency situations if calls can’t be connected and data connectivity is lost. This action will not only jeopardise the operations of companies/industries at India’s Silicon Valley, but will also have a huge impact on consumers and citizens.

BBMP must stop this retrograde and regressive fibre cutting drive immediately, as it is damaging operations of businesses and individual customers. At present, there is no comprehensive policy in Bengaluru which can ensure smooth provisioning of telecom infrastructure. Hence, Karnataka Government should formulate a comprehensive State RoW policy that is aligned with Right of Way rules dated November 2016 issued by the Government of India to facilitate smooth deployment of telecom infrastructure across the city.

The Right of Way rules, 2016 issued by the Central Government for provisioning of the underground/over the ground telecom infrastructure has enabling features such as no restriction on location of telecom towers, single window clearance mechanism, defined time-period for approvals, appointment of Nodal officers, nominal administrative fees and deemed approval etc. extensively supporting the Digital India mission.

In order to streamline the issue, the telecom industry is ready to help and Municipal body to provide and discuss the best practices being followed in other states regarding RoW rules, 2016.

India’s First 3D LED Screen Launched at ‘Cinépolis Onyx 3D’ at DLF Place Saket, New Delhi

Cinépolis, India’s 1st international and the world’s 2nd largest movie theatre circuit by attendance, today launched, ‘Cinépolis Onyx 3D’, a revolutionary ‘Onyx’ LED technology supporting 3D. The launch reaffirms the brands’ commitment to innovation and offering world class cinematic experience to its patrons. Powered by Samsung, the technology is equipped with advanced cinematic technologies that will transform the experience of ‘going to the movies’.

Cinépolis Onyx 3D LED screen will deliver the most advanced graphics and redefine the cinema viewing experience in India. By bringing the visual power of LED picture quality to the big screen, the new screen will offer viewers more powerful, compelling and memorable content. Backed by brilliant LED picture quality and an infinite contrast ratio, the LED screen will ensure movie clarity like never before.

Cinépolis Asia & Middle East, Managing Director, Javier Sotomayor, commented on the launch, “Since our inception in the cinema industry, we have endeavored to remain at the forefront of innovation and constantly introduce newer technologies. As Cinépolis expands its footprint in India, it maintains a keen eye on the latest digital innovations. We are delighted to once again revolutionise the movie experience with the launch of ‘Cinepolis Onyx 3D’ powered with 3D LED screens.”

The futuristic Cinépolis LED screen eliminates the need for projection-based systems, introducing remarkable enhancement to the movie viewing experience since the industry's commencement. It ensures HDR support, truer blacks, enhanced brightness and sharper sound.

Speaking on the occasion, Devang Sampat, Director – Strategic Initiatives, Cinépolis India, said, “We aim to introduce the most innovative cinema technology in our cinemas to bring movie magic into people’s lives. This new screen has the ability to showcase cinematic content with true black colors and the 3D version of Samsung Onyx truly elevates the experience – making 3D cinema content even more vivid and realistic.”

Cinépolis is poised to introduce innovations and offer unparalleled cinematic experience as it continues to create great moments for moviegoers. Cinépolis cinemas are armed with the latest technology and digital projection systems such as RealD 3D and 4DX, set to offer consumers the best in-cinema experience. The large legroom, a standard in all Cinépolis cinemas is designed to offer utmost comfort to patrons while they enjoy their movie. Uplifting the in-theatre experience, the flagship F&B brand from Cinépolis, Coffee Tree offers a wide selection of gourmet food. The brand also offers a continuous customer engagement program through ‘Club Cinépolis Program’ that allows the patron to earn and burn points on movie tickets and F&B and has exclusive benefits of special screenings, meet & greet with stars and much more.

Cinépolis India has created a strong footprint across 61 Indian cities with strong presence in major metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Bengaluru. Cinépolis extends a contemporary approach which seamlessly weaves the entire range of cherry-picked cinema formats from across the world under one roof offering an unmatched experience to all movie patrons.

Godrej's Interio Index Reveals True Alpha Decision-Makers in Households Across India

About 65% of Kolkata and 58% of Bangalore households involve the entire family when selecting furniture and décor for their homes compared to an all-India average of 45%, according to the latest findings of Godrej’s Interio Index. 

These figures contrast sharply with responses from Hyderabad (55%) and Chandigarh (48%) which reveal women have the final word on home interiors.  The research also highlights cities where the men of the house retain the power of veto; for instance, nearly a third of Mumbai households (31%) and Ahmedabad (30%) believe men are the ultimate decision-makers.

Even in the kitchen, which has traditionally been a woman’s domain, Bangalore (58%) and Kolkata (65%) state they follow a democratic and inclusive approach when deciding on furniture for home.

Godrej’s Interio Index[1] is a light hearted survey designed to understand the decision-making process behind Indians’ choice of home furnishings. It also revealed that while Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Pune, Lucknnow, Bangalore and Mumbai to be more male centric in their home décor decision-making, compared with slightly more feminine-oriented households in Chennai, Delhi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad.

For instance, a third of respondents (31%) in Mumbai are certain of men’s veto on furniture compared to 17% of those who believe women have the final say. In contrast, 48% Chandigarh respondents claim that women have the final say in selecting furniture at home while only 19% respondents observe men sharing the same privilege.

According to the data, this contrast in decision-making styles is prevalent even in the different rooms within the home. In the living room, men have the final say in Ahmedabad (23%), Chennai (39%), and Bangalore (26%) compared to women, 11%, 23% and 13% in each city, respectively. For the same room, in Chandigarh (32%), Delhi (36%), and Hyderabad (39%) women dominate furniture decisions compared to men 17%, 13%, and 9% in each city respectively.

According to Anil Mathur, Chief Operating Officer, Godrej Interio, the Interio Index, in a fun way, helps determine the gender towards which decision-making is skewed across India cities.

“As per our data, Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Mumbai tend to take an ‘alpha male’ approach with 29%, 26%, and 29% respondents in each city claiming men make most of the bedroom furniture decisions compared to 6%, 13% and 19% respondents in each city who claim it is the women who decide. When it comes to decisions about the same room, in Chandigarh (54%), Hyderabad (61%), Kolkata (31%), and Chennai (37%) it is the women who have the final say compared to men 28%, 25%, 15%, and 22% in each city respectively. This is a reflection of a larger trend towards collective decisions in a domestic environment,” he said.

“As a brand, our objective is to maintain consistency in the quality of our products and services, and the attitude with which we tend to our customers. At Godrej Interio, we make a conscious effort to appeal to all members of the family, giving equal importance to both men and women,” he concluded.

Amazon.in Announces Summer Sale Starting 12 Noon on May 03, 2019

Amazon.in has announced its annual Summer Sale from May 04 to 07, 2019. Prime members will get early access to the sale starting 12 noon on May 03. With thousands of deals on Smartphones, Consumer Electronics, Fashion, Large Appliances, TVs, Sports & Fitness and more, customers can shop from over 170 million products across hundreds of categories on Amazon.in.

“As the most trusted and visited ecommerce destination, we look forward to celebrating every occasion with our customers. Amazon Summer Sale has been curated to offer everything customers are looking for this season and more! With great deals, instant discounts, no cost EMI and convenient exchange options, customers can look forward to celebrating the joys of summer on Amazon.in.” said Manish Tiwary, Vice President - Category Management, Amazon India.

Customers shopping during the Amazon Summer Sale can enjoy great deals across brands such as OnePlus, Apple, Samsung, Realme, OPPO, Xiaomi, Levi’s, Arrow, Hush Puppies, Symbol, UCB, Puma, Vero Moda, Fossil, US Polo, Being Human, Jack & Jones, Wrangler, BIBA, Aurelia, JBL, Bose, Sony, LG, BPL, TCL, Bosch, Whirlpool, Voltas, Nivia and more. Extra discounts will be offered on Amazon Echo devices, Fire TV Stick, Kindle eReaders and more throughout the Summer Sale.

Customers shopping during the Summer Sale can save more by getting extra 10% instant discount with SBI Debit & Credit cards. Customers can shop for more than 10 crore products with no-cost EMI using Bajaj Finserv EMI card and select Debit & Credit cards.

Suez Water Technologies & Solutions Leverages Digital DNA to Meet India’s Energy Production Requirements

Greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants have been a critical challenge for India and it is a challenge that needs to be addressed head on given the country’s increasing demand for electricity. For example, electricity consumption grew from 375.39 billion kilowatt hours in 2000 to 1.108 trillion kilowatt hours in 2018. Additionally, electric power generation grew from 529.12 billion kilowatt hours in 2000 to 1.311 trillion kilowatt hours in 2018. The aspiration for rapid economic growth leading to industrialization, accelerated urbanization, and mechanization of agriculture is responsible for this growth in demand.

As part of India’s growth in solar energy, Adani Mundra Solar PV Limited manufactures solar cells for the Indian market. To obtain successful operational and financial performance, Adani Mundra Solar PV’s 1-gigawatt solar PV cell manufacturing project requires the continuous and reliable production of ultra-pure water 24 hours per day, 365 days per year. Ultra-pure water (UPW) systems are often referred to as the “life blood” of modern solar cell production facilities. The cell products will encounter UPW on many occasions during their production cycle, and any disruption of service and/or “out-of-spec” water can seriously compromise their yield, costing perhaps millions of dollars in lost production.

Suez Water Technologies & Solutions (SWTS) is the worldwide industry leader in the UPW systems business to both the semiconductor and solar industries. SWTS’ patented UPW generation using membranes and filters produces 1-gigawatt-capacity PV cells and modules for solar power plants, enabling the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions. Adani Mundra Solar PV contracted SWTS to design, engineer, procure, supply, erect, commission, and performance test a new solar PV manufacturing facility. The facility was required to produce 1,560 cubic meters per day in UPW production, plus 2,280 cubic meters per day in the UPW loop. This was made more complicated for SWTS because of the need to take influent flow from an existing 20 milliliters-per-day seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) plant, which has a high total-organic-carbon (TOC) -5.9 ppm, very high chlorides (380 ppm), and very low hardness/alkalinity, which would cause severe corrosion in carbon-steel and stainless-steel materials. As a result, this project required innovative, one-of-a-kind thinking in both materials, manufacturing techniques, and in new, improved design modeling and project delivery methodologies.

Using a variety of Bentley applications, including OpenPlant, AutoPIPE, Navigator, ProSteel, and STAAD, SWTS created and implemented a digital model for managing this project. From performing structural analysis of polypropylene (PP) tanks to performing stress analysis, performing detailed civil, concrete, and tank design, managing multidiscipline design reviews, and producing detailed bills of materials directly from the digital model, SWTS was able to revolutionize their digital workflows and leverage the digital DNA they have created. Moreover, remote offices were connected via Bentley’s Connected Data Environment (CDE), based on ProjectWise, to ensure that the latest version of drawings and deliverables were always shared by the customer and site teams.

SWTS realized significant ROI by implementing these technologies and techniques. Savings include approximately USD 70,000 through optimized pipe routings and reduced field rework and 30-percent savings in resource hours during the design modeling phase (USD 35,000).

Utilizing Bentley software also lessened the civil, structural, piping, and cable tray site execution time by 60 days, resulting in a flawless construction of civil foundations, concrete and steel structures, equipment, piping plus allied supports, cable tray, and instrumentation within the stipulated project schedule.

A Suez Water Technologies & Solutions Engineering spokesperson said, “Bentley as a single solution provider successfully paved the way for analysis, modeling, designing, detailing, and documenting in a more prudent way, which met SWTS’s patented ultra-pure water generation using membranes and filters for solar power plant execution, on time and with high quality. SWTS’ efforts to industrialize their project delivery have enabled the company to reinforce its position as one of the world’s leading providers of UPW systems.”