Projects for 2014-2015:
For the academic year 2014-2015 in collaboration with Amrita University YUVA/IDM would like to propose the following projects for EPFL and UNIL students:
Target Students: Motivated Students at EPFL and UNIL to work on challenging and innovative projects
Duration: 3 to 6 months (to be discussed with Amrita University and YUVA)
Project Further Details: To be discussed with Amrita University and YUVA
Travel Grant: Provided by IDM
Project Descriptions
1. Implementation of micro grid for the rural village (Project in Progress)
Student: Mr. Luca Tomasini, graduate in M.Sc in Electrical and Electronical Engineering, EPFL
The goal of this research work is to solve the electricity problem in at least one village. In this research work you are expected to design, develop, and deploy a micro grid in a pre-selected village. As part of this an in depth study and analysis of the power consumption requirements, power sources, environmental conditions, logistics, etc., for the village will be performed. Using that data the micro grid design will be proposed.
Project duration : 3 months ends in April 2015
2. Diabetes prevalence among Tuberculosis patients in Rural and Urban communities in India
Student: Ms. Mathilde Puginier, M.Sc student in Molecular Medicine, EPFL
Participating Team: Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS, Kochi)
The aim of this retrospective observational project is to put in evidence the correlation between Diabetes and Tuberculosis (TB), which constitutes a threat for India, the country with the highest global number of TB cases in the world. Indeed, as a consequence of population growth, aging, changed lifestyle and urbanisation, the country is also experiencing an escalating epidemic of Diabetes Mellitus (DM), which
definitively hampers TB control efforts. Many scientific reviews already proved that DM is a risk factor for TB and that treatment outcomes of both diseases are worsened if the comorbidity is present. Many studies on the subject were already carried out in India and national control programs are already taking measures to cross-screen the two diseases and take into consideration the link between them for treatments. This link is however very complex and research in this field needs to be further developed to answer more complex questions. This initial pilot study provides background information of the current situation at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) and its context, in view of a potential more in depth research.
Project duration : 3 months successfully ended in January 2015
3. Development of Rural Sanitation model (Project in Progress)
Students:
- Mr. Klinger Marius, M.Sc student in Environmental Engineering, EPFL
- Ms. Johanna Fernandez, M.Sc student in Environmental Engineering, EPFL
- Mr. Alexandre Bouchet, B.Sc student in Environmental Engineering, EPFL
- Mr. Marc-Edouard Shultheiss, B.Sc student in Civil Engineering, EPFL
- Mr Elia Morciano, M.Sc student in Environmental Engineering, EPFL
Participating Team : Amrita school of Biotechnology , Ammachi Labs (https://www.amrita.edu/center/ammachi )
The student team will be part of the Biotechnology team, which are developing the bio control technologies of disinfection using bacteriophage catering to the needs of developing nations where poor sanitation causes huge malnutrition problem. You will be designing on lytics/virus broadcasting system (LBS) which is basically a filtration system (sand and charcoal filter) by which bacteria & bigger microbes get filtered and viruses and smaller lytic agents pass through the filter. So this mixture of lytics will be used to kill the enteric pathogens in sewage. They will be involved in the design of the sand/charcoal filter for different volume of wastewater and also work on the stabilization of bacteriophages with different additives so that they can be stored in room temperature for longer time. These systems will be tested on the Amrita campus test toilets/sewage in contained environment. So in brief, one part will be design of different sizes of prototype filters and their testing in laboratory and “test sewage/toliet”. Some quantitative model can be developed if enough data is generated.
Also they will be working with the Ammachi Labs (which train the women across India to build their on toliet). The team will be visiting one of deployment center of Ammachi Labs to understand the ground conditions and will be in the village from two to three weeks in the last week of Feb/ 1st week of March (https://www.amrita.edu/research/project/empowering-women-communities-through-sustainable-solutions) .
Project duration : 3 – 6 months, project ends in September 2015
4. Low Power Cooling Systems (Project in Progress)
Student: Mr. Aurélien Vanhollebeke, B.Sc Mechanical Engineering, EPFL
Building low cost cooling systems for use in areas that have low power loads. The project will involve on-site trips that will enhance understanding of the rural settings and spending time in designing an optimized solution for multiple applications. The design should be efficient without being power intensive.
5. Sustainable home for rural village (Project available)
The goal of this research work is to design, develop, and deploy a renewable energy source for a home in the village. This system will be integrated with appropriate real-time algorithms that will provide sustainability in this home. This research work also needs an initial, study and analysis of the village conditions, energy sources, energy consumption levels etc. These details will be used for designing the system.
6. Context aware wireless sensor network for agriculture monitoring and early warning (Project available)
The goal of this research work is to design, develop, and deploy a wireless sensor network for monitoring and enhancing the crop yield in an agriculture land. This is highly necessary since Indian rural population highly depend on their agriculture income to cater to their day-to-day needs. Initially a study and analysis of the crops used for agriculture, climatic conditions, soil properties, knowledge collection from older population etc., has to be performed. These data will be used in designing a wireless sensor network for monitoring the crop yield and for providing suggestions over mobile phones, TV, radio etc., for a small group of farmers.
7. Affordable Heterogeneous Communication System for the rural village (Project available)
The goal of this research work is to design, develop, and deploy an effective low cost communication network for a rural village. This communication network will be used for enhancing their education levels, skill development, job opportunities, enhancing healthcare etc. An initial analysis of the rural village will be performed to collect the details of villager’s requirements, maximum bandwidth needed, distributed/centralized network, affordability, power availability etc. Using these data an efficient low cost communication network will be provided.
8. Real-Time Healthcare Services (Project available)
The goal of this research work is to design, develop, and deploy an effective healthcare services using mobile phones. Wearable devices and mobile apps will be developed to provide real-time healthcare services from the urban hospitals and experienced doctors. Initial analysis will performed to determine the healthcare facility in the village, major diseases, areas where improvements are required etc. This knowledge will be used in designing, developing, and deploying the remote healthcare services system
9. Technologies for Water (Project available)
Building innovative water conservation systems for rural India. This will include harvesting systems, low cost, low power highly efficient systems that could be scaled across communities. The project will include comparison of existing technologies and enhancing or creating improved systems.
To know more about the Live-in-lab programme at Amrita university please click here
Selection by: Interview with YUVA team
If you are interested by any of the project kindly mail with eventual questions: [email protected]
Contacts:
1. Mr. Renjith Mohan
Amrita Center for International Programs
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (AMRITA University)
Amritapuri, Kollam, 690525, Kerala, INDIA
Tel:+91-476-280-4152 (office)
2. Mr. Rajasundar Chandran,
For YIP Team
tel: + 0041 789259542