The Department of Avionics has developed this lab for UG, PG, and research graduate students. This lab consists of ten entry-level workstations, a thermal imaging camera, stereo vision camera, and a 4 GigE vision high-speed camera for various image processing related activities. The lab uses both open-source platforms as well as licensed application software such as MATLAB and Visual Studio Professional 2012 for various lab-related activities. Students use this facility for labs in courses like Digital Image Processing, Video Processing, Pattern Recognition, and Computer Vision. UG and PG students also use this facility to do their final year projects in various areas such as image retrieval, speech processing, computer vision, image and video processing, soft computing, and machine learning.

Our lab is actively engaged in various research projects utilizing advanced machine learning techniques. Some of the key areas of focus include:

Epileptic Seizure Detection: Our research involves the development of deep learning models for the detection of epileptic seizures through time series analysis. By employing spatial modeling techniques using graph neural networks, we aim to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of seizure detection, contributing to improved patient outcomes.

The Department of Avionics is establishing a center of excellence in Virtual Reality for various space and scientific applications. The development is planned in three phases. The first phase consists of a desktop VR lab, which includes a high-end workstation with the latest graphic capabilities, 3D monitors, 3D vision-pro glasses, and application software such as Vizard, Blender, Google Sketch, Adobe Master Suite collection, 3ds Max, and Maya. The facility will be further upgraded by creating an immersive studio-type Virtual Reality center in phases 2 and 3. The proposed facility will be supported by advanced haptic devices, sensors, and force feedback systems for various real-life applications such as navigation, fly-throughs, etc. Some of the objectives for establishing the center of excellence in Virtual Reality at the Department of Avionics, IIST Trivandrum, are as follows:

• Research in Space Applications
• Planetary Exploration
• Indigenous Software Development
• Design of VR Test Bed Prototype
• Virtual Prototyping of Space Shuttle
• Virtual Walk/Fly-through

General Research Areas:

Disaster modeling and simulation, 3D VR visualization of compounds and chemicals for theoretical and nonlinear dynamical studies. Developing VR teaching simulations for better understanding of concepts in different key subjects of Avionics, aerospace, physical science, and humanities.

Every year, UG/PG students carry out their internship projects and B.Tech projects with existing facilities. Work is underway to procure several Virtual Reality peripherals to augment the existing Desktop Virtual Reality setup. These devices will be capable of being used with the Virtual Reality software development toolkit, WorldViz Vizard. They will be configured to seamlessly integrate with the existing setup and can be driven from the workstations present in the lab. As of now, one set of Virtual Reality data gloves for interaction with objects in the virtual world has been procured and added to existing facilities.