The original post is the 4th one below. Else this link: http://tarmak007.blogspot.in/2012/02/futuristic-doldier-as-system-undergoes.html
Showing posts with label Centre for Artifical Intelligence and Robotocs (CAIR). Show all posts
Showing posts with label Centre for Artifical Intelligence and Robotocs (CAIR). Show all posts
Monday, February 27, 2012
A formidable Triveni Sangam scripting desi tech thrillers | DRDO, industry, academia script a new chapter
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Express News Service
Bangalore: Success breeds success and Indian defence R&D's is tasting just that. With hand-holding becoming the common norm in aerospace and defence, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) too adopted the model of partnerships for various stages of the product life-cycle, while retaining certain core areas as its niche. The 'CAIR Model' hence became a reasonably unique experiment within the government setup and enabled the projection of its footprint on a larger canvass.
This model is a strategic one of collaboration for capacity and not capability. “Capability and capacity building are the two important facets of a technical organization. Usually, the former is the focus of R&D labs like CAIR and academia, while the latter is the focus of industries that thrive on the our innovations. Research often emanates from the portals of academia. World over, the seeds of research that is likely to culminate in a product are often sown in the precincts of university campuses,” say sources.
Interaction between the CAIR and academia brings in a synergy that helps raise the bar for both players. “Design, engineering and manufacturing are traditional core strengths of industry, and partnering with them on the lines of the CAIR Model would facilitate introduction of cutting-edge technologies into product design making them globally competitive,” say sources.
A recent venture by the CAIR is its participation in activities at the newly established Defence Research Innovation Center, at an adjoining campus of IIT, Madras (IITM). This research park is funded by DRDO and aims to bring faculty of IITM, leading industries, and scientists of DRDO towards a common cause of nurturing innovation. “We have successfully partnered with premier private sector industries and public sector undertakings, who have contributed excess of 1000 man years of support to us. This has very contributed to the long-list of successful systems that have been developed and fielded,” sources said.
Students beneficiaries: IIT Madras | For the last 10 years, IIT Mardas is partnering with CAIR on the electronics front. We are developing intelligent hardware and software for image processing, speech, cryptography, Artificial Intelligence, robotics and large-scale data analytics. Our goal is to make the software in India, tailor-made to DRDO's needs. Our students are the biggest beneficiaries of this unique bonding of all. - Prof Kamakoti, Head, Computer Science Dept, IIT Madras.
Win-Win Situation: Mahindra Satyam | We are engaged with CAIR in developing C4I and NCO systems for our Armed Forces. Our association is now close to three years with an aim to reduce the dependency on foreign companies. Its is a matter of pride for us to share our strengths and build core competence in some critical areas. It's a win-win situation for all. – Karthikeyan Natarajan, Senior VP & Global Head, Integrated Engineering Solutions, Mahindra Satyam.
India Shining Story: DRDO | I have been speaking in one tone so that the DRDO, industry and academia come togther to strengthen our R&D. If we keep on importing, we will neever become a self-reliant nation? DRDO has many futuristic programmes and we are willing to hand-hold with Indian industries and educational institutions. We have the brains who can develop smart systems. To me, this is truly the 'India Shining' story. -- V K Saraswat, Director General, DRDO
This model is a strategic one of collaboration for capacity and not capability. “Capability and capacity building are the two important facets of a technical organization. Usually, the former is the focus of R&D labs like CAIR and academia, while the latter is the focus of industries that thrive on the our innovations. Research often emanates from the portals of academia. World over, the seeds of research that is likely to culminate in a product are often sown in the precincts of university campuses,” say sources.
Interaction between the CAIR and academia brings in a synergy that helps raise the bar for both players. “Design, engineering and manufacturing are traditional core strengths of industry, and partnering with them on the lines of the CAIR Model would facilitate introduction of cutting-edge technologies into product design making them globally competitive,” say sources.
A recent venture by the CAIR is its participation in activities at the newly established Defence Research Innovation Center, at an adjoining campus of IIT, Madras (IITM). This research park is funded by DRDO and aims to bring faculty of IITM, leading industries, and scientists of DRDO towards a common cause of nurturing innovation. “We have successfully partnered with premier private sector industries and public sector undertakings, who have contributed excess of 1000 man years of support to us. This has very contributed to the long-list of successful systems that have been developed and fielded,” sources said.
Students beneficiaries: IIT Madras | For the last 10 years, IIT Mardas is partnering with CAIR on the electronics front. We are developing intelligent hardware and software for image processing, speech, cryptography, Artificial Intelligence, robotics and large-scale data analytics. Our goal is to make the software in India, tailor-made to DRDO's needs. Our students are the biggest beneficiaries of this unique bonding of all. - Prof Kamakoti, Head, Computer Science Dept, IIT Madras.
Win-Win Situation: Mahindra Satyam | We are engaged with CAIR in developing C4I and NCO systems for our Armed Forces. Our association is now close to three years with an aim to reduce the dependency on foreign companies. Its is a matter of pride for us to share our strengths and build core competence in some critical areas. It's a win-win situation for all. – Karthikeyan Natarajan, Senior VP & Global Head, Integrated Engineering Solutions, Mahindra Satyam.
India Shining Story: DRDO | I have been speaking in one tone so that the DRDO, industry and academia come togther to strengthen our R&D. If we keep on importing, we will neever become a self-reliant nation? DRDO has many futuristic programmes and we are willing to hand-hold with Indian industries and educational institutions. We have the brains who can develop smart systems. To me, this is truly the 'India Shining' story. -- V K Saraswat, Director General, DRDO
Copyright@The New Indian Express
(Series concluded)
What you say about Intelligent India series? Email anantha.ak@gmail.com
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Futuristic soldier as a system undergoes skill tests at CAIR
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Bangalore: In tune with Indian Army's massive modernisation plans, defence scientists have gone one step ahead to give birth to a tech-solider as a system. Wrapped in sensors and sporting a combat suit stitched from NBC-clothing (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical), this solider from a la Star War zone is currently undergoing 'skill tests' at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) lab in Bangalore.Express News Service
Sources tell Express that the project-X (not yet named), took birth 18 months back at CAIR. “We are sure that in future there will be a requirement from the Army for similar systems when the modernisation plans embrace the foot solider. By then, we will be ready with a system that is tested in-house, proven and fit for the field trials,” sources said.
For the project, the scientists have designed and developed indigenous wearable computers that can be leveraged to process, display, store and disseminate information received from the sensors. Necessary command and control (C2) applications that would be needed for collaboration between members of the combat team are also ready. These applications provide capabilities of locating self on a map using location based services, red-force and blue-force tracking, streaming video from head mounted and robot mounted cameras. Additionally, the CAIR has also identified power packs with suitable form factors.
“In modern combat, there are increasing demands being placed on the human soldiers along various dimensions. For example, in terms of perception, they are expected to be able to operate at night, in dense foliage and in densely built-up urban areas, where human vision may prove to be inadequate and direction of attack may not be perceptible,” say sources.
In terms of coordination, groups of individuals need to carry out complex coordinated tasks, even in the face of uncertainties and hostilities. In terms of logistics, the soldiers are expected to survive and sustain operations for prolonged durations. These demands can be met only by augmenting human capabilities with technology insertions.
For increasing perceptual capabilities, a number of imaging sensors like night vision sensors, infrared sensors, thermal and through-the-wall imaging sensors are provided to the gen-next solider. “Acoustic and vibration sensors can be harnessed to address sensing of direction of fire. This enables the soldier to become a cybernetic entity with extra-human sensing capabilities. The soldier as a system with one such sensors will be be able to receive the incoming data, store, process, display and disseminate it,” say sources.
Wearable computers along with ad-hoc networking capability are thus a critical necessity. The peer-to-peer networking capability allows the individuals to share sensory inputs, information about own and sensed enemy elements, tasks and plans. “This allows collaboration and coordination between individuals, effectively creating a cybernetic super-organism out of the team,” sources said.
The 'Soldier.ver2' is armed with a modular personal weapon which has thermal sight and greater aiming sight, when compared to some modern spit-fire units. With laser-pointers, nano-target correction modes and radio controls, the CAIR scientists are marching ahead in confidence rubbing shoulders with the mean man-machine. For they know, tomorrow is different.
Copyright@The New Sunday Express
Concluding part-XV, tomorrow: CAIR,
industry & academia partnership
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Ad-hoc network for futuristic warfare scenario warming up
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Bangalore: For over the last one decade, Bangalore has been the hub of R&D in military communication with the scientists from the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) leading the march on this front. Focus has been on the R&D of wireless ad-hoc networks, which are wireless, decentralized and infrastructure less (unlike cellular networks). Ad-hoc network consists of nodes which are capable of executing computations and data exchanges amongst their peers. Hence, the nodes in an ad-hoc network function very much like a router in a conventional computer network.Express News Service
Two important ad-hoc networks of use in military scenario are Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks (MANETs) and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN). The former is characterized by the high mobility of nodes providing data or voice communication amongst nodes, while the latter is a relatively static network with its nodes equipped with sensors whose choice depend on the application.
“MANETs serve to provide voice and data communication amongst roaming entities such as dismounted platoon of soldiers, inter-battlefield tank communications etc. Their role is not limited to application on ground as nodes of a MANET can be located on land, on sea or in the air. Providing such a voice and data communication capability would provide sharing of situational awareness amongst battlefield entities like dismounted soldiers, battlefield tanks and military aircraft,” say sources.
MANET is formed by mobile communicating nodes, interconnected by wireless communication links. It is self-configuring upon changes in topology occurring due to the random movement of communicating nodes. The main features of MANET are: a) routes between nodes may contain multiple hops; b) rapidly deployable due to self-configuring capability; c) dynamic changes in network topology. Among the challenges are: limited wireless transmission range, packet losses due to transmission errors and, operational requirements under energy constraints. Ongoing work in the above area focuses on the development of communication protocols with power awareness.
WSNs serve to provide surveillance capabilities through appropriate sensors located in nodes that are geographically distributed. “This network is characterized by low power, unattended nodes that interact in a cooperative manner to perform their assigned tasks. Introduction of inexpensive, micro-sized devices which serve to act as a node in a WSN has revolutionized the applications of WSN ranging from simple civilian to complex battlefield applications. An important application of WSN is in providing perimeter security for the detection of intrusion by humans and vehicles into a geographical area monitored by a WSN,” say sources.
Scientists say that MANETs and WSNs throw several challenges to those involved in their design. MANETs require complex routing strategy to provide highly reliable communication amongst the nodes. In the case of WSNs the challenge lies in routing under severely constrained energy availability. The R&D efforts of the CAIR are directed towards realization of feasible, reliable, secure MANETs and WSNs.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Part 14, tomorrow: Futuristic Soldier
Friday, February 24, 2012
Reasoning-based Artificial Intelligence to aid military decision-making
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Express News Service
Bangalore: A critical manifestation of human intelligence is the ability to reason, to be able to decide in the face of choices, the ability to discover patterns. These capabilities have a huge payoff in the military context. Hence, a critical application of artificial intelligence (AI) is in the context of reasoning, which is touched upon in simple terms in this part of the series.
Modern military decision making involves choosing between various emerging choices in the backdrop of a continuous stream of abundant information. This complexity is almost paralyzing to the human being and is also called information overload. Reasoning techniques using AI developed at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) can be a great support, as they can automate many of these tasks.
Another important area is that of military planning. This involves creating a winning strategy in the game of war. “Creating a winning strategy in a far simpler game like chess has been an enigma. Winning strategies for military are far more complex problems. Planning begins to fail, if one needs to strategise under severe time constraints – something that an intelligent and resourceful adversary can create. This is another area that can be supported using AI techniques developed at CAIR,” say sources.
Effective and actionable intelligence creation is both a military and a national need. This has been seen both during Kargil as well as Mumbai. The key problems have been that intelligence is a multi-domain problem, and the information from sensors and agents is usually raw. “This requires humongous human effort to categorize, collate and synthesize information into actionable intelligence – leading to issues of timeliness. The CAIR has established tools that can significantly automate this task,” says sources.
Another aspect of intelligence is to be able to decipher the social network of an adversarial organization. Social network analysis provides insights about the key role players as well as the chains of command. This information has very significant military usage. The scientists have developed solutions that can analyse social networks, and visually represent them for military decision-making.
Finally, robotic intelligence, the dream of science fiction – is the amalgamation of AI and robotics into cyborgs. The CAIR has pioneered this effort in India, and has created intelligent robots that can perform a class of complex tasks autonomously.
Modern military decision making involves choosing between various emerging choices in the backdrop of a continuous stream of abundant information. This complexity is almost paralyzing to the human being and is also called information overload. Reasoning techniques using AI developed at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) can be a great support, as they can automate many of these tasks.
Another important area is that of military planning. This involves creating a winning strategy in the game of war. “Creating a winning strategy in a far simpler game like chess has been an enigma. Winning strategies for military are far more complex problems. Planning begins to fail, if one needs to strategise under severe time constraints – something that an intelligent and resourceful adversary can create. This is another area that can be supported using AI techniques developed at CAIR,” say sources.
Effective and actionable intelligence creation is both a military and a national need. This has been seen both during Kargil as well as Mumbai. The key problems have been that intelligence is a multi-domain problem, and the information from sensors and agents is usually raw. “This requires humongous human effort to categorize, collate and synthesize information into actionable intelligence – leading to issues of timeliness. The CAIR has established tools that can significantly automate this task,” says sources.
Another aspect of intelligence is to be able to decipher the social network of an adversarial organization. Social network analysis provides insights about the key role players as well as the chains of command. This information has very significant military usage. The scientists have developed solutions that can analyse social networks, and visually represent them for military decision-making.
Finally, robotic intelligence, the dream of science fiction – is the amalgamation of AI and robotics into cyborgs. The CAIR has pioneered this effort in India, and has created intelligent robots that can perform a class of complex tasks autonomously.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Part 13, tomorrow: Adhoc Sensor Networks
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Inspired by nature, scientists develop artificial neural network models
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Express News Service
Bangalore: Want new ideas? Log on to nature! Well, this could be the in-thing Indian defence scientists are wedded to, while exploring the mesmerising possibilities of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), the focal point of this series, is developing AI network models that emulate the computing style of intelligence inherent in nature. “Nature’s creations consist of highly complex systems. The human brain’s Neural Network is an example. The brain is able to perform complex tasks by simultaneous computations, based on sophisticated signalling between neurons. Swarm Intelligence is another example of collective intelligence seen in nature, most commonly in bees and termites,” say sources.
While computer science has progressed considerably, accurately mimicking nature and making them exhibit any significant degree of perception or intelligence, still remains beyond our reach. Increase in computation power has not yet helped in intelligent cognition. Computational intelligence offers the mechanism of ‘learning’ algorithms that arrive at solutions based on ‘experience’, much like a human does.
“The powerful train-by-example paradigm allows the algorithm to learn based on encountered data, obviating the need for complex classification metrics. In this paradigm, labelled training data is provided to the neural network model, which ‘learns’ to give the correct responses, even for those inputs not previously encountered,” say sources.
Data mining toolbox: A good data mining tool must discover patterns in data. These can then be used to make predictions. However, the biggest problem with military data is that it is unstructured. The state-of-the-art toolbox for doing Pattern Recognition and Knowledge Handling developed at the CAIR is said to be effective for intelligence analysis and decision support in Net Centric Operations.
“It can lend cognitive capabilities to a software defined radio and provide speech and speaker recognition engines. It can autonomously sort the vast amount of information received, impossible for human analysts to collate and analyse. It rejects incorrect or spurious inputs, collates usable inputs and creates inferences under the relevant topic heads,” sources said.
Swarm Intelligence Algorithms are another example of AI mimicking nature. Scientists at the CAIR has developed a site selection algorithm based on the simple, distributed nest construction behaviour of termites with no central control or supervision. “The swarm behaviour has been improvised upon to create a geographical site selection tool used to select suitable sites for any kind of requirement off a digital map, typically military deployments. The algorithm examines a designated area for suitability based on the termite behaviour patterns, using pre-fed logic, and displays selected areas on a geo-spatial information system (GIS) display,” sources said.
While computer science has progressed considerably, accurately mimicking nature and making them exhibit any significant degree of perception or intelligence, still remains beyond our reach. Increase in computation power has not yet helped in intelligent cognition. Computational intelligence offers the mechanism of ‘learning’ algorithms that arrive at solutions based on ‘experience’, much like a human does.
“The powerful train-by-example paradigm allows the algorithm to learn based on encountered data, obviating the need for complex classification metrics. In this paradigm, labelled training data is provided to the neural network model, which ‘learns’ to give the correct responses, even for those inputs not previously encountered,” say sources.
Data mining toolbox: A good data mining tool must discover patterns in data. These can then be used to make predictions. However, the biggest problem with military data is that it is unstructured. The state-of-the-art toolbox for doing Pattern Recognition and Knowledge Handling developed at the CAIR is said to be effective for intelligence analysis and decision support in Net Centric Operations.
“It can lend cognitive capabilities to a software defined radio and provide speech and speaker recognition engines. It can autonomously sort the vast amount of information received, impossible for human analysts to collate and analyse. It rejects incorrect or spurious inputs, collates usable inputs and creates inferences under the relevant topic heads,” sources said.
Swarm Intelligence Algorithms are another example of AI mimicking nature. Scientists at the CAIR has developed a site selection algorithm based on the simple, distributed nest construction behaviour of termites with no central control or supervision. “The swarm behaviour has been improvised upon to create a geographical site selection tool used to select suitable sites for any kind of requirement off a digital map, typically military deployments. The algorithm examines a designated area for suitability based on the termite behaviour patterns, using pre-fed logic, and displays selected areas on a geo-spatial information system (GIS) display,” sources said.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Part 12, tomorrow: Reasoning,
based on Artificial Intelligence
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Smart processing of images & videos that makes the mission menacing
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Bangalore: Photographs and videos are two vital intelligence inputs that make the mission meaningful and menacing. With the advent of digital imagery, the option to process, enhance and disseminate the imagery intelligence opened up. Today, the trend is fast-pacing towards ubiquitous imaging, grabbing of videos rather than still images, and of creating large image collections.
The call of the hour hence is for specific technologies to process, store and exploit large number of images and videos. A comprehensive image and video processing solution that brings together the various processing capabilities that exist in the civilian space. Hence, the technology gets templated into three parts: a) ability to process the raw images and videos and convert them into higher quality or of lesser size; b) ability to create large collections which can be maintained and queried over military networks. [If repositories are not maintained and searchable, they are not useful in times of need.]; c) (iii) ability to automatically characterize images and videos, so as to allow object and action recognition of military interest for the volumes of images and videos likely to be acquired in the future.
Creation of such facilities requires a lot of technology development, integration and product design. There is an ongoing effort at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) towards implementing, improvising and integrating the latest image and video processing methods to create a unified image and video application suite in the defence context.
In the area of computer vision, the CAIR has developed a comprehensive library for image and video processing, including techniques for image enhancement, manipulation, registration, geo-coding, multi-sensor image fusion, mosaicing and 3D reconstruction from multiple views. “The scientists have made inroads in areas like depth from stereo images, motion detection, tracking, progressive image and video transmission formats, super resolution-magnification, segmentation and steganography. In content characterization area, object detection and activity analysis, there is ongoing work using color, texture, key points, visual words, video shot segmentation, video synopsis and activity characterization,” sources said.
Prototype applications have been developed for Progressive Image Transmission, Content Based Image Retrieval, Image Fusion (including change detection) and Image-Map Display. In the area of visualization, the CAIR has developed the interactive 3D Terrain Flythrough software.
Currently, the computer vision team at the CAIR is engaged in a project to develop a number of applications for image and video processing in the net-centric operations (NCO) context. “These applications are designed to address the requirements of smart push and smart pull of images and videos to and from shared repositories across a network. The focus is on enabling preprocessing imagery, meta-data binding to imagery, tag-content-based imagery retrieval and exploitation of retrieved images and videos,” sources said.
AIMS OF NET-CENTRIC OPS
* Noise reductions and enhancement techniques.
* Magnification and super-resolution of images-video frames.
* Mosaicing of images-video frames.
* Fusion of images from different sensors to create composites.
* Processing videos from moving platforms to create stabilized videos with wide field of view and tracking of moving objects.
* Geo-registration and geo-calibration of images and videos to maps.
* 3D calibration and computation of 3D measurements from multiple images of target objects (buildings, bridges and other large objects)
* Automatic video summary generation based on activity periods and key frames to create short digests from long surveillance clips.
* Content-based automatic indexing and retrieval of images-videos.
* Progressive transmission formats for images and videos to cater for truncated transmission over tactical networks due to jamming.
The call of the hour hence is for specific technologies to process, store and exploit large number of images and videos. A comprehensive image and video processing solution that brings together the various processing capabilities that exist in the civilian space. Hence, the technology gets templated into three parts: a) ability to process the raw images and videos and convert them into higher quality or of lesser size; b) ability to create large collections which can be maintained and queried over military networks. [If repositories are not maintained and searchable, they are not useful in times of need.]; c) (iii) ability to automatically characterize images and videos, so as to allow object and action recognition of military interest for the volumes of images and videos likely to be acquired in the future.
Creation of such facilities requires a lot of technology development, integration and product design. There is an ongoing effort at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) towards implementing, improvising and integrating the latest image and video processing methods to create a unified image and video application suite in the defence context.
In the area of computer vision, the CAIR has developed a comprehensive library for image and video processing, including techniques for image enhancement, manipulation, registration, geo-coding, multi-sensor image fusion, mosaicing and 3D reconstruction from multiple views. “The scientists have made inroads in areas like depth from stereo images, motion detection, tracking, progressive image and video transmission formats, super resolution-magnification, segmentation and steganography. In content characterization area, object detection and activity analysis, there is ongoing work using color, texture, key points, visual words, video shot segmentation, video synopsis and activity characterization,” sources said.
Prototype applications have been developed for Progressive Image Transmission, Content Based Image Retrieval, Image Fusion (including change detection) and Image-Map Display. In the area of visualization, the CAIR has developed the interactive 3D Terrain Flythrough software.
Currently, the computer vision team at the CAIR is engaged in a project to develop a number of applications for image and video processing in the net-centric operations (NCO) context. “These applications are designed to address the requirements of smart push and smart pull of images and videos to and from shared repositories across a network. The focus is on enabling preprocessing imagery, meta-data binding to imagery, tag-content-based imagery retrieval and exploitation of retrieved images and videos,” sources said.
AIMS OF NET-CENTRIC OPS
* Noise reductions and enhancement techniques.
* Magnification and super-resolution of images-video frames.
* Mosaicing of images-video frames.
* Fusion of images from different sensors to create composites.
* Processing videos from moving platforms to create stabilized videos with wide field of view and tracking of moving objects.
* Geo-registration and geo-calibration of images and videos to maps.
* 3D calibration and computation of 3D measurements from multiple images of target objects (buildings, bridges and other large objects)
* Automatic video summary generation based on activity periods and key frames to create short digests from long surveillance clips.
* Content-based automatic indexing and retrieval of images-videos.
* Progressive transmission formats for images and videos to cater for truncated transmission over tactical networks due to jamming.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Part XI, Tomorrow: Artificial
intelligence inspired by nature
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Indigenous Geographical Information System for military applications ready
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Bangalore: Geographical Information Systems (GIS) play a crucial role in operation planning, execution and monitoring of progress by Armed Forces by showing all entities of interest in the context of a map. The GIS provides spatial information platform such as digital maps, digital elevation maps and satellite images to visualize the operation scenario. This would help enable the disposition of enemy deployments and better planning of own forces' deployment.
Most of the GIS applications used by Indian armed forces are based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software. These COTS GIS come with strict licensing policy and are prone to technology denial. Their interoperability with other GIS systems for exchange of spatial information is limited. To overcome these challenges and pitfalls of COTS GIS, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) has undertaken a project to develop home-grown GIS software for military applications, christened as INDIGIS.
“The INDIGIS is a suite of GIS components which are customizable, scalable and data centric. It meets the specific GIS requirements of a collaborative defense environment. The INDIGIS component suite can be customized to build military GIS applications to facilitate planning, execution, monitoring and support of military operations. It offers a common platform for display, analysis and decision support involving spatio-temporal data for Net Centric Operation (NCO) systems,” sources said.
Indigenous GIS kernel has been developed as a library of software components to cover the following major function. They are: a) processing of geo-spatial data in various formats of interest to Indian military; b) creation and management of a portable military symbol library; c) geo-spatial data exchange, analysis and visualization with various Tactical Command Control Communication and Intelligence (TacC3I) systems; d) analysis and visualization of data from military sensors like GPS, digital compass, Battlefield Surveillance Radar, echo- sounder and unmanned aerial vehicles; f) support for all the usual features of COTS GIS including analysis and visualization of geo-spatial data in 2D and 3D, management of user created spatial data layers (overlays) and simulation modeling and decision support aids for spatial data analysis.
Most of the GIS applications used by Indian armed forces are based on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software. These COTS GIS come with strict licensing policy and are prone to technology denial. Their interoperability with other GIS systems for exchange of spatial information is limited. To overcome these challenges and pitfalls of COTS GIS, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) has undertaken a project to develop home-grown GIS software for military applications, christened as INDIGIS.
“The INDIGIS is a suite of GIS components which are customizable, scalable and data centric. It meets the specific GIS requirements of a collaborative defense environment. The INDIGIS component suite can be customized to build military GIS applications to facilitate planning, execution, monitoring and support of military operations. It offers a common platform for display, analysis and decision support involving spatio-temporal data for Net Centric Operation (NCO) systems,” sources said.
Indigenous GIS kernel has been developed as a library of software components to cover the following major function. They are: a) processing of geo-spatial data in various formats of interest to Indian military; b) creation and management of a portable military symbol library; c) geo-spatial data exchange, analysis and visualization with various Tactical Command Control Communication and Intelligence (TacC3I) systems; d) analysis and visualization of data from military sensors like GPS, digital compass, Battlefield Surveillance Radar, echo- sounder and unmanned aerial vehicles; f) support for all the usual features of COTS GIS including analysis and visualization of geo-spatial data in 2D and 3D, management of user created spatial data layers (overlays) and simulation modeling and decision support aids for spatial data analysis.
INDIGIS FEATURES
* Spatial data interoperability support for majority of commonly-used map and image data formats.* Scale space visualization for retrieval and rendering of spatial data (raster and vector).* On the fly projection map data with read-outs.* Seamless integrated visualization and analysis of topographic -hydrographic data.* Map updation and trafficabilitity analysis for cross-country movements.* Integrated tools for military specific requirements like image processing, spatial decision support aids, and modeling tools.* Portable military symbol library that caters for the requirements of the 3 Services.* Support for Linux and Windows Operating Systems.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Part X, tomorrow: Computer Vision Group
BLOGGERS' NOTE: The blog was down for a day for fixing some back-end concerns -- all part of the regular house-keeping work. Many registered-members emailed saying they too weren't able to access the account and all that is fixed now. The load on the blog has increased in the last three months with too many hi-res images getting onboard, in addition to regular content. A Tarmak007.Ver2 is in the offing and until then you will have to face these occasional black-outs. Regrets to all regular users for yesterday's shut-down. -- Tarmak007
Monday, February 20, 2012
Gen-next Battlefield Management Systems give combat edge to armed forces
By Anantha Krishnan MExpress News Service
Bangalore: Battlefield Management Systems (BMS) act as force-enablers. It gives combat-advantage to our Armed Forces, enabling a state-of-the-art networked theatre in a spit-fire battlefield environment. The recognition of information dominance in future wars will be based on the global success of information dominated military command and control, in influencing the outcome of the battle. “We are at the threshold of a new era; information must no longer be an enabler but a core war fighting capability,” a senior US naval chief had said. Since the 1980s, Indian defence scientists in general, and specialists at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) in particular, have been playing the back-room boys' role in enabling the transformation of our armed forces. “Third generation war focuses on using speed and surprise to bypass the enemy's lines and collapse their forces. Essentially, this was the end of linear warfare on a tactical level, with units seeking not simply to meet each other face to face but to out-maneuver each other to gain the greatest battlefield advantage. The impact of C2 capabilities kept increasing with each generation of warfare and became an essential ingredient in the third generation and beyond scenarios,” sources said.
The C2 capabilities needed to address the complexities of third generation warfare and spearheaded the digitization of the battlefield. Hence, the sensors interfaces, weapons interfaces, and the communication infrastructure migrated to digital technology. These developments have been driven by the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for supporting the Command and Control chain, or C2 as the military commanders prefer to call it. The units enabling the above are collectively called Battle Management Systems (BMS) or C4I2SR systems. (C4I2SR system means: command, control, communication, computers, information, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.)
The C2 process has been characterized as a series of sequential and interactive steps by a US Air Force strategist Col John Boyd, who termed it the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop. The central tenet of modern BMS is the OODA loop (see image). While this was conceptualized in the context of military operations, its relevance to modern management techniques has been well established. “An entity that can process this cycle quickly, observing and reacting to unfolding events more rapidly than an opponent, can thereby get inside the opponent's decision cycle and gain advantage,” sources said.
In the last two decades, the CAIR has been playing a pivotal role in the design and development of various C2 systems for the Indian Armed Forces. These systems provide better situational awareness, enable and accelerate the planning and decision-making process, assist in establishing fire supremacy in the battle area, and enable better co-ordination among the military commanders.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Software & system sweethearts who captured India's military minds
Women scientists powering India's silent artificial intelligence and robotics sphere during their first-time ever media outing in Bangalore recently. Express Photos: Jithendra M
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Express News Service
Bangalore: They march in step with their male counterparts. Their contributions one notch up than men, many times. They make the men who call the shots aware that the times are changing. The ladies have arrived. And, they are here to stay.
Welcome to the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR). Guests onboard this part of the series are all women. Their stellar contributions over the years have scripted many software and system sagas that went on to aid India's defence and intelligence. These software sweethearts come from star cities like Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, while there are many who represent places like Kadalur, Kasegaon and Kurnool. They have time and again won the heart and soul of the military minds with their smart systems, that make men 'more intelligent.' And, if numbers matter to you on a Sunday morning, they are a healthy 30 per cent of the CAIR's 350-strong research community.
The CAIR stands apart from the rest of DRDO labs in many ways with a modern crèche that facilitates a young mother to swap between the lab and the apple of their eyes. The lab also boasts of a very high number of women scientists who have done their Ph.D, M. Tech and MS at India's best institutes. “Women leaders have an important role to play. They demonstrate an inclusive, team-building style of leadership, problem-solving and decision-making. Their strong people-skills, willingness to see all sides of a situation, coupled with their natural instincts, enables them to empathise better with individual concerns, and incorporate them into the scheme of things when appropriate,,” says DRDO chief V K Saraswat.
The lab's recent acquisition of status as an ISO 9001:2008-certified laboratory owes a great deal to the sheer grit and persuasive qualities of Manimozhi Theodore, Scientist-G, who heads the Software Quality Assurance Group. D Padma, Scientist-F, who heads a team that created Communication Middleware as part of the systems for the Indian Army. Dipti Deodhare, Scientist-F, heads the Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks team, and has established leadership in these esoteric technologies. Their numerous invitations to participate in international scientific forums, publications and collaborations are just glimpses of their hidden prowess.
The next-gen women leaders are groomed to take on the future needs of the armed forces. Persia V and Anshu Bhardwaj, have been in the forefront of cutting-edge R&D, while Chitra Vishwanathan balances her role as the mother of two teenagers admirably with her work. Shyni Thomas keeps a virtual eye on her three-year-old daughter, back in the crèche after a day at the play school, even as she takes on the tough questions of military officers reviewing her work in artificial intelligence, and runs off to face her PhD defence at IISc, balancing it all with practised finesse at multi-tasking. “I have my role models to inspire me,” she said smiling.
Adversities don't seem to stop these women; if at all they seem to motivate them to perform better. "Even under hostile military conditions, in any remote corner of the country, we are more than willing to step up and participate in the fielding of systems that we have helped create," says Smita Srivastava, Scientist-D. "Working on a niche technology like virtual reality is a one-in-a-million opportunity,” feels Sangeeta Shrivastava, Scientist-E, who has contributed to creating a first of its kind terrain fly-through using stereo visualization at the CAIR.
Welcome to the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR). Guests onboard this part of the series are all women. Their stellar contributions over the years have scripted many software and system sagas that went on to aid India's defence and intelligence. These software sweethearts come from star cities like Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai, while there are many who represent places like Kadalur, Kasegaon and Kurnool. They have time and again won the heart and soul of the military minds with their smart systems, that make men 'more intelligent.' And, if numbers matter to you on a Sunday morning, they are a healthy 30 per cent of the CAIR's 350-strong research community.
The CAIR stands apart from the rest of DRDO labs in many ways with a modern crèche that facilitates a young mother to swap between the lab and the apple of their eyes. The lab also boasts of a very high number of women scientists who have done their Ph.D, M. Tech and MS at India's best institutes. “Women leaders have an important role to play. They demonstrate an inclusive, team-building style of leadership, problem-solving and decision-making. Their strong people-skills, willingness to see all sides of a situation, coupled with their natural instincts, enables them to empathise better with individual concerns, and incorporate them into the scheme of things when appropriate,,” says DRDO chief V K Saraswat.
The lab's recent acquisition of status as an ISO 9001:2008-certified laboratory owes a great deal to the sheer grit and persuasive qualities of Manimozhi Theodore, Scientist-G, who heads the Software Quality Assurance Group. D Padma, Scientist-F, who heads a team that created Communication Middleware as part of the systems for the Indian Army. Dipti Deodhare, Scientist-F, heads the Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks team, and has established leadership in these esoteric technologies. Their numerous invitations to participate in international scientific forums, publications and collaborations are just glimpses of their hidden prowess.
The next-gen women leaders are groomed to take on the future needs of the armed forces. Persia V and Anshu Bhardwaj, have been in the forefront of cutting-edge R&D, while Chitra Vishwanathan balances her role as the mother of two teenagers admirably with her work. Shyni Thomas keeps a virtual eye on her three-year-old daughter, back in the crèche after a day at the play school, even as she takes on the tough questions of military officers reviewing her work in artificial intelligence, and runs off to face her PhD defence at IISc, balancing it all with practised finesse at multi-tasking. “I have my role models to inspire me,” she said smiling.
Adversities don't seem to stop these women; if at all they seem to motivate them to perform better. "Even under hostile military conditions, in any remote corner of the country, we are more than willing to step up and participate in the fielding of systems that we have helped create," says Smita Srivastava, Scientist-D. "Working on a niche technology like virtual reality is a one-in-a-million opportunity,” feels Sangeeta Shrivastava, Scientist-E, who has contributed to creating a first of its kind terrain fly-through using stereo visualization at the CAIR.
Copyright@The New Indian Express
Tomorrow, Part 8: Battle Management Systems
Saturday, February 18, 2012
SecOS: Net-worthy solutions for swift & sure military communication
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Express News Service
Bangalore: Every relationship survives on trust. In the virtual world, it's trust that builds security. And in military, it is security and trust that probably acts as a trump-card to triumph. World over, the most common techniques for achieving security in the physical world are signature-based and gate-keeper mechanisms. Equivalently, in the space of computer systems, anti-virus software is an example of signature-based mechanisms for achieving security. It possesses signatures of known viruses, and the signature database needs to be continually updated to incorporate the signature of new viruses. Most anti-virus systems also have heuristic-based mechanisms to detect potentially malicious behavior of software or an external agent. Firewalls are examples of gate-keeper mechanisms.
The crucial aspect in security is the notion of trust. “In the human space, the trust is achieved by various mechanisms. First roots of trust can be defined (Eg: A close friend, a family member etc.) Another strategy to achieve trust could be deterrence. The third strategy is that of containment. In this strategy, the untrustworthy entity is assumed to exist and a context is created that prevents the entity from performing untrusted actions,” sources at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), told Express while explaining the complex concepts of Secure Operating Environment, in layman's terms.
The notion of trust is important, as merely having an anti-virus or firewall is not adequate. It is equally important to be able to trust them for their claimed functionality. Realizing this, the CAIR launched an effort to create an secure operating environment called Secure Operating System (SecOS), based on the third approach. “Our efforts in creating SecOS are based on strong containment strategies. The central theme of the effort is to create strong strategies with respect to the operating system that would allow only the operations or actions that are permitted as per policy. The SecOS is a collection of containment enablers that can be combined for a particular role,” sources said, refusing to give out numbers, OS details and predicted deployment areas.
SecOS is a mature product with CAIR carrying unique security capabilities. There has been a strong interest in SecOS from Defense and Government bodies for widespread deployment. For the benefit of Express readers, a senior Army official puts the role of SecOS in simple terms. “Most senior military and government officials use laptops and connect them to their organizational networks. These laptops potentially contain classified information that is intentionally stored on the hard disk, or unintentionally stored as part of the cached files. When these laptops are connected to the organizational network from inside the organization, they are protected by the information security infrastructure of the organization,” the official said.
However, the role of SecOs comes when the official travels and connect it to organizational network over the Internet, which substantially increases the attack exposure. “In this context, SecOS can provide an environment that isolates the hard disk completely, and yet provides full capability of an operating system, inclusive of Internet access. Today, SecOS is a mature product with CAIR that has been evaluated and found suitable for defense usage” the official said.
The crucial aspect in security is the notion of trust. “In the human space, the trust is achieved by various mechanisms. First roots of trust can be defined (Eg: A close friend, a family member etc.) Another strategy to achieve trust could be deterrence. The third strategy is that of containment. In this strategy, the untrustworthy entity is assumed to exist and a context is created that prevents the entity from performing untrusted actions,” sources at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), told Express while explaining the complex concepts of Secure Operating Environment, in layman's terms.
The notion of trust is important, as merely having an anti-virus or firewall is not adequate. It is equally important to be able to trust them for their claimed functionality. Realizing this, the CAIR launched an effort to create an secure operating environment called Secure Operating System (SecOS), based on the third approach. “Our efforts in creating SecOS are based on strong containment strategies. The central theme of the effort is to create strong strategies with respect to the operating system that would allow only the operations or actions that are permitted as per policy. The SecOS is a collection of containment enablers that can be combined for a particular role,” sources said, refusing to give out numbers, OS details and predicted deployment areas.
SecOS is a mature product with CAIR carrying unique security capabilities. There has been a strong interest in SecOS from Defense and Government bodies for widespread deployment. For the benefit of Express readers, a senior Army official puts the role of SecOS in simple terms. “Most senior military and government officials use laptops and connect them to their organizational networks. These laptops potentially contain classified information that is intentionally stored on the hard disk, or unintentionally stored as part of the cached files. When these laptops are connected to the organizational network from inside the organization, they are protected by the information security infrastructure of the organization,” the official said.
However, the role of SecOs comes when the official travels and connect it to organizational network over the Internet, which substantially increases the attack exposure. “In this context, SecOS can provide an environment that isolates the hard disk completely, and yet provides full capability of an operating system, inclusive of Internet access. Today, SecOS is a mature product with CAIR that has been evaluated and found suitable for defense usage” the official said.
(Copyright@The New Indian Express)
Part VII Tomorrow: Brainy women behind smart systems.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Robo-snake SERP is out | Robotics set to play key role during low-intensity conflicts in India
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Bangalore: The robo-snake SERP is here, sans the hiss! Out of the lab-hole to undertake roaming trials, Indian scientists are confident of releasing it on smart missions soon. Inspired by biological snakes which uses its entire body for locomotion, Bangalore-based Centre for Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) developed SERP capable of carrying variety of sensors and tools suitable for military and civilian operations.
This robo-reptile makes use of 18 independently-controllable joints, battery as power source and a wireless camera for visual feedback. The electronic controller on the robot generates wave motion for locomotion. It has various locomotion gaits which include lateral undulation, side winding and caterpillar gait as observed in the biological snakes. In addition, the robot has unique methods of locomotion not found in nature such as whole body roll and helix gaits.
“The SERP can be easily maneuvered inside narrow opening which are inaccessible by other locomotion techniques. It can relay a video to remote location through its onboard camera. It can be used in search and rescue operations during earthquakes to find survivors under debris. It can be made to sneak into buildings to obtain situational awareness during low-intensity conflict (LIC) operations,” CAIR sources said. Presently, CAIR is working on advanced version of robo-snake with higher maneuverability and payload carrying capacity.
With homeland security becoming prime concern for India, specialized forces trained to deal with terrorist attacks have become much in demand. From the lessons learnt from 26/11 attack in Mumbai, the National Security Guard and Anti-Terrorism Squad are in need of specialized equipment to deal with LIC operations.
“Robots are one such tool which should be available to specialized forces for gathering situational awareness without directly exposing themselves to the enemy fire. The robots can transmit videos during day and night to the commanders located away from the combat zone. They can be fitted with detectors to sniff out the presence of explosive devices and can be mounted with non-lethal weapons to momentarily paralyze the enemy,” sources said.
Today, CAIR’s robot menu includes those capable of climbing wall, stair and walk with hybrid-legged wheels. “The wall-climbing robot can be maneuvered along the external walls of the building and peek inside windows. The stair-climbing robot can be guided inside building to various floors to get a picture of the scenarios. If easy access is not possible then snake robot can sneak inside through pipes and other narrow openings,” say CAIR scientists.
For perimeter surveillance, CAIR’s 'smart sentry robot' can be called in for duty, which can autonomously patrol along a designated path inside a campus while relaying a continuous video feed.
This robo-reptile makes use of 18 independently-controllable joints, battery as power source and a wireless camera for visual feedback. The electronic controller on the robot generates wave motion for locomotion. It has various locomotion gaits which include lateral undulation, side winding and caterpillar gait as observed in the biological snakes. In addition, the robot has unique methods of locomotion not found in nature such as whole body roll and helix gaits.
“The SERP can be easily maneuvered inside narrow opening which are inaccessible by other locomotion techniques. It can relay a video to remote location through its onboard camera. It can be used in search and rescue operations during earthquakes to find survivors under debris. It can be made to sneak into buildings to obtain situational awareness during low-intensity conflict (LIC) operations,” CAIR sources said. Presently, CAIR is working on advanced version of robo-snake with higher maneuverability and payload carrying capacity.
With homeland security becoming prime concern for India, specialized forces trained to deal with terrorist attacks have become much in demand. From the lessons learnt from 26/11 attack in Mumbai, the National Security Guard and Anti-Terrorism Squad are in need of specialized equipment to deal with LIC operations.
“Robots are one such tool which should be available to specialized forces for gathering situational awareness without directly exposing themselves to the enemy fire. The robots can transmit videos during day and night to the commanders located away from the combat zone. They can be fitted with detectors to sniff out the presence of explosive devices and can be mounted with non-lethal weapons to momentarily paralyze the enemy,” sources said.
Today, CAIR’s robot menu includes those capable of climbing wall, stair and walk with hybrid-legged wheels. “The wall-climbing robot can be maneuvered along the external walls of the building and peek inside windows. The stair-climbing robot can be guided inside building to various floors to get a picture of the scenarios. If easy access is not possible then snake robot can sneak inside through pipes and other narrow openings,” say CAIR scientists.
For perimeter surveillance, CAIR’s 'smart sentry robot' can be called in for duty, which can autonomously patrol along a designated path inside a campus while relaying a continuous video feed.
(Copyright@The New Indian Express)
(The story is being uploaded on to Tarmak007 a day late.)
Tomorrow: Robotics for industry & common man
Monday, February 13, 2012
CAIR turns 25 as India marches ahead with smarter tools
The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) facility in Bangalore.
By Anantha Krishnan M
Express News Service
Express News Service
Topping its tempting tech menu are C3I systems (Command, Control, Communication, and Intelligence), Tactical Communication Systems (TCS), Communication Secrecy systems, information assurance technologies. With a strong bonding developed between the industry and research institutions, today CAIR's combined strength stands at 350.
From developing an artificial intelligence expert system shell called nipuNA during its early days, which eventually got ported to a PC, CAIR has spread its wings to smarter solutions aiding the armed forces. “Development work in robotics was one of the priority areas from the inception of the lab. Concentrating on the development of totally indigenous robots, the lab developed a variety of controllers and manipulators for Gantry, Scara, and other types of robots. With the experience gained from these initial years, the lab developed an autonomous guided vehicle (AGV). The expertise in control systems required for robotics was applied to the development of control laws for Tejas fighter,” CAIR director V S Mahalingam told Express.
A neural network-based software for processing application forms was developed by CAIR, which runs on a personal computer. “The software can correct various human errors in handling forms and also correct spelling mistakes committed by the applicants. After processing, the software would automatically update a database,” Mahalingam said.
And, when an expanded charter came calling in early 2000, CAIR began the development of a major command and control system for decision support. “After several rounds of user trials, the system was formally handed over to the Indian Army. In a supportive role, the CAIR has provided software for fusion of sensor information for battlefield surveillance. Today, a versatile geographical information systems (GIS) is emerging from CAIR for the diverse requirements of defence forces,” the CAIR chief said.
In the area of artificial intelligence, CAIR has made significant R&D efforts in natural language text processing, intelligent data mining and inferencing engines. These are expected to benefit the next-generation C3I systems. “We have established a 3D virtual reality terrain visualization system with fly-through capability. The present focus is on miniature and micro miniature mobile robotic platforms. They are vital for futuristic reconnaissance and combat supportive roles,”says Mahalingam.
DRDO chief V K Saraswat says that the future conflicts, however big or small they could be, will be won by the backing of intelligent systems. “Today the confidence CAIR is giving to Indian armed forces in developing intelligent tools and solutions is a proof towards the technological leap we have achieved. With network-centric software set to play a key role in future, CAIR has set its eyes in developing many critical and intelligent systems,” Saraswat said.
In the area of artificial intelligence, CAIR has made significant R&D efforts in natural language text processing, intelligent data mining and inferencing engines. These are expected to benefit the next-generation C3I systems. “We have established a 3D virtual reality terrain visualization system with fly-through capability. The present focus is on miniature and micro miniature mobile robotic platforms. They are vital for futuristic reconnaissance and combat supportive roles,”says Mahalingam.
DRDO chief V K Saraswat says that the future conflicts, however big or small they could be, will be won by the backing of intelligent systems. “Today the confidence CAIR is giving to Indian armed forces in developing intelligent tools and solutions is a proof towards the technological leap we have achieved. With network-centric software set to play a key role in future, CAIR has set its eyes in developing many critical and intelligent systems,” Saraswat said.
Part-2 tomorrow: Cyberspace intrusion and detection
Copyright@The New Indian Express
(Intelligent India is a new series that went live in The New Indian Express today. The series would focus on developments in the fields of artificial intelligence, robotics, network security and computing that's aiding India's armed forces. Enjoy reading the same on Tarmak007.)
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