Team Avlokan from IITB wins at Smart India Hackathon 2023!

Team Avlokan from IIT Bombay triumphed in Smart India Hackathon 2023, addressing the challenge of ‘Drone-based Intelligent Magnetic Sensing System and Metallic Anomaly Detection.’ The team, consisting of students from the Department of Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering, presented a solution involving a Quadplane VTOL aircraft and a magnetic anomaly detection suite, offering a robust and cost-effective method for national security through long-range maritime surveillance. To know more about their journey and the team, read this article by Yashodhan Tingne, a team member from Team Avlokan. 

I am Yashodhan Tingne, a third-year student from the Aerospace Department. This article will brief you on the team that won at Smart India Hackathon 2023 for the Problem Statement by the Ministry of Defence. We built a Quadplane VTOL prototype with a boom deployable magnetic anomaly detection sensor suite for finding submarines.

We heard about the SIH opportunity and prepared for it with all our efforts. We swiftly cleared the initial round and got selected for the Grand Finale at Mysore. We were thrilled. But even before we started our journey, our first hurdle appeared—the Team. Many of our initial team members had to leave this opportunity for various reasons. While I, too, had entertained thoughts of postponing the task for the future, our team leader remained resolute, expressing his determination to assemble a winning team that would bring home the trophy. And he kept his word.

I never imagined that this newly born team has so much potential and experience to triumph in the Smart India Hackathon 2023. So let me introduce you to all the sailors and our Captain on board for our journey:

Fearless Captain: Ameya Marakarkandy. He is a third-year student from the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering. His attitude towards work is always systematic. No one can match his decision-making capability, which is quick and firm enough for everyone to believe his ideology to succeed. As the upcoming Project Manager of the Student Satellite Program, he is filled with leadership qualities and knows how the system and subsystem levels hierarchies work best in such Hackathons. With considerable experience with drones, he successfully operated our drone in flight.

Jack of all trades: Abhishek P M is a fourth-year student from the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering; as a senior, a mentor, and an advisor, he plays all the roles that a team requires at crucial times. As a team lead of Team Rakshak, he is an expert in making a functional prototype for an RC plane, which includes overall knowledge of Avionics, Structures and Electronics. As the wise seer of the team, he possesses a remarkable gift of foresight that significantly contributes to the group’s overall success. His expertise extends to both the electrical and mechanical aspects of the team’s work.

Enthusiastic Director: Anupsa Swain is a third-year student from the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering. Filled with joy and eagerness for fresh experiences, she does the spick and span work for the team. Drawing from vast experience in communications and sensor technologies, she oversaw the entire sensor subsystem for the team, managing everything from testing to integrating sensors and telemetry with authoritative command.

The Quiet Achiever: Arkadeep Saha, a sophomore from the Electrical Dept., is a gem of a person who’s always ready to work for the system‘s every electrical aspect. Working alongside Anupsa, he is responsible for the appropriate testing for the integration of the codes of the sensor subsystem. Being a part of the Student Satellite Program, his experience with the practicality of the work was crucial in the Hackathon.

Nonconformist Craftsman: Kanak Dudi, a sophomore from the Electrical Dept. She’s our minion, the backslapper, and an excellent craftsman on the team. She worked as the backbone of the Mechanical subsystem. Right from building the aircraft to giving it new life to fly, she has proved the skills and experience one needs to work in a hackathon like this.

And lastly, I, Yashodhan Tingne, am the designer of the team. I mainly worked on the deployment mechanisms for the prototype to deploy the sensors away from the aircraft. Along with the rest of the team, I worked on the step-wise integration of all the systems onboard to make the final working model of the sensor-deploying Quadcopter.  

Unity, skills, and co-ordination. This team has it all. We designed, planned, and executed the plan in a way that was as efficient as possible. This Hackathon has tested all our limits. Working tirelessly for five days, skipping sleep and even meals if required, this last day of the Hackathon was utterly worth it as we received a well-deserved reward for our hard work. The teams and judges alike were captivated by witnessing Avlokan, our team, successfully craft and fly a drone within a remarkable five-day timeframe.

We are committed to continuing our work on the prototype, focusing on testing and optimising the design further. We aim to achieve greater heights in terms of reliability, efficiency, and market readiness.