IIT Ropar, Indian Army tie up to set up centre of excellence

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Ropar and the Army Training Command (ARTRAC) of the Indian Army signed an agreement to set up a centre of excellence (CoE) for studies and applied research in defence and security at the premier institute.  

As per a statement issued by IIT Ropar, the CoE will be set up with an aim to leverage IIT Ropar’s technical expertise and ARTRAC's operational expertise in advanced materials and manufacturing, design and development of deep learning algorithms, multipath and wireless networks, data transmission tools, remote sensing and forecasting, cyber security and some other areas. 

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by IIT Ropar Director Rajeev Ahuja and General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the ARTRAC Lt Gen SS Mahal. 

IIT Ropar will curate training programmes as exchange of information on educational programmes for security practitioners of the armed forces, Central Armed Police Forces, intelligence agencies and state police forces run by it as part of its on-campus and off-campus programmes on research and innovation, it said. 

The ARTRAC will sponsor officers to undergo on-campus and off-campus educational programmes. Collaborative research and innovation will be done in areas of mutual interest in management, and social sciences and visits by faculty and students of IIT Ropar will be undertaken to Army establishments to better understand educational, research and technology needs of the Army and visits by Army officers to IIT Ropar to engage in research and innovation, it said. 

While signing the agreement, Ahuja said, “IIT Ropar has the best of infrastructure and young and dynamic faculty, and we are ready to set up this centre in cooperation with the Army and will establish CoE on the IIT Ropar campus. It will provide a platform to foster and promote several forms of initiatives, including collaborative research, formal education of Army officers, short-term training and short visits (exchange programmes) by personnel from IIT Ropar and Army."

The CoE will be named ‘Centre of Excellence for Studies & Applied Research in Defence and Security’. It will focus on emerging areas of research and technology, including Information Warfare or Security (quadcopters and drones, medium and light weaponry, missile technologies, body armour, force survivability, hypersonic applications, energy directed weapons, etc.), wireless communication; and many other fields in the larger domain of defence and security, the statement said. 

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