Sri Vijaya Puram, April 20: Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Institute of Technology (DBRAIT) has secured a major R&D project for the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering with a sanctioned grant of ₹41 lakh under the DST–TSP Scheme of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, through IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technology Foundation. The project, titled “AI–IoT Enabled Solar-Powered Smart Tender Coconut Vending Machine for Sustainable Tribal Livelihoods in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” is led by Dr. Muthu Kumaran E, Assistant Professor (ECE) as Principal Investigator, with Prof. (Dr.) Sanmukh Kaur, Professor (ECE) as Co-Principal Investigator. The project is to be implemented through a start-up to be incubated, focusing on design, development, and commercialization, with the objective of supporting tribal coconut farmers, youth entrepreneurs, and women self-help groups in the islands.
In addition, another major R&D project titled “Unconventional Superconductivity in Moiré Superlattices Beyond the Honeycomb Lattice” has been sanctioned to DBRAIT under the Prime Minister Early Career Research Grant (PMECRG) by ANRF, Government of India. The project, led by Dr. Rajeshkumar O. Sharma, Assistant Professor (Physics), carries a grant of ₹40 lakh for duration of three years, including provision for one Junior Research Fellow (JRF). The research focuses on exploring the fundamental mechanisms of unconventional superconductivity in non-honeycomb moiré lattice systems, contributing to advancements in frontier areas of condensed matter physics and strengthening the institute’s research ecosystem. This project was also motivated by Prof. (Dr.) Sanmukh Kaur, Professor (ECE) and Dr. Muthu Kumaran E, Assistant Professor (ECE).