NIT Rourkela and TIH IIT Patna Secures Patent for BHU-MANACHITRA, India’s First Autonomous Drone System for Real-Time Land Mapping!
NIT Rourkela researchers have invented 'BHU-MANACHITRA', or earth map, an autonomous real-time land mapping drone system. The developed system uses Artificial Intelligence and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology to automatically generate land maps without the need for internet connectivity, external computers, or manual interventions.
The research team comprises Prof. Sambit Bakshi (Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering), along with research graduates Dr. Tanmay Kumar Behera, Dr. Debbrota Paul Chowdhury, and research scholar Ms. Camellia Ray from NIT Rourkela, invented this patented system (Patent No. 573507). IIT Patna Vishlesan I-Hub Foundation (TIH IIT Patna) Patna has sponsored this research through the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical System (NM-ICPS) of DST, Government of India. Unlike conventional drones that only collect images for later analysis, BHU-MANACHITRA performs all processing onboard. The invented methodology uses a lightweight AI model with as few as 2.48 million parameters, which makes BHU-MANACHITRA suitable for on-board processing in drones. This makes it self-sufficient and especially valuable in remote locations, disaster-hit regions, or areas with no communication networks.
With its potential use in a diverse range of sectors, BHU-MANACHITRA is expected to benefit multiple sectors, including government agencies involved in land record modernisation and urban planning, agriculture departments requiring real-time insights on crop and soil conditions, disaster management authorities needing immediate terrain assessments during floods or landslides, and environmental and forest departments responsible for monitoring deforestation, encroachments, and biodiversity changes.
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