Good day, Ajin R Nair. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Yes.

Could you provide a brief overview of your professional journey in academia?

Yes.

So good morning and thank you for giving me this opportunity.

So my name is Arjun and I hold a degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering.

And my specialization is in VLSI design and I hold a PhD in wireless communications.

So my academic, UMM and research interest actually lies in signal processing.

Especially the signal processing on wireless communications where the systems are having hardware environments.

And I have done the mathematical modeling of a hardware empowerment system which is essentially A simultaneous wireless information and power transfer system.

And the secondly, my research interests would be in the image processing side. That is I have.

Involved in the research of the classification of lung cancer from microarray gene expression data, which is nothing but an high intensity image, which is very high dimensional, and we have done the feature extraction and the dimensionality reduction, the feature selection and finally the classification of.

And we are having a strong research group which performs both these wireless communication aspects as well as we also have a research group which actually works on the AMH processing as well.

Those data sets.

Yeah, I also guided undergraduate and postgraduate students across for various projects.

And as an outcome, we also published various research papers in very reputed journals and conferences.

And also we have patented two of our works and it got published.

And, umm.

Also have got funding.

For their research projects under the KSCST, which is a Kerala state government-funded project, where we have done a smart transportation system, which is essentially an embedded system that we had developed and we have successfully completed that project as well.

Understood,

And moving on to the experience, actually I started my journey in 2013 as an associate system engineer at IBM and I worked for two years in IBM in the telecom sector that is was my client was AT&T Telecommunication Systems. So I worked in the communication side for two years and later on to my interest in.

The teaching I moved to the teaching field in the academia.

Move to academia and it has been 11 years since I am with academia. I was working in different colleges across India in under Electronics and communication department as a faculty. So I had a lot of opportunities with working with students and faculty members.

So I also worked with accreditation that is, umm, from my beginning career, beginning of my career at Halia School of Engineering. So I, I worked, uh.

Uh, from the beginning of my career, I worked with, uh, uh, in, uh, uh, in accreditations, that is in ISO first, that is, uh, ISO creation. I worked with ISO accreditation and then, uh, that is in Hellia and then at Banariam and I worked in NBA accreditation also that we have gone through 2 accreditation processes. That is the first one we got. For six years accreditation for our EC department.

So I was under working under criteria 2 and it was it was a very great working experience, quite challenging as well.

And in the Vauxhall University also, I headed the agitation team, which actually also it's, it's a new department, computer science department. They were going for accreditation. So I was the coordinator for the accreditation team there.

So that's all about my journey. And so I really look forward for this academic job which is offered at bit value. So I wanted to join with the faculty fraternity and do collativity projects and research with them. Looking forward for that. Thank you.

Thank you for sharing that comprehensive overview, Professor. Let's assess your skills and expertise by verifying specific competencies related to the role of a professor. Let’s begin with your knowledge of Image Processing. Can you explain the fundamental principles behind digital image filtering techniques and their practical applications?

OK. So if you look at image processing, so basically so we are looking for information in in that particular image. So not all the data that is associated with the image is an information. So whatever holds something relevant to us is an information. So we have any image processing technique that we use, we are finding out some relevant data or patterns. Or significant.

Information which is hidden in that image. So any process that you take, that's a general psychology of that. So if I take for example my microarray gene expression data, so that data actually represents a high intensity image. So in that high from that high intensity image, I actually have to classify for two of them, that is the mesothelumia cancer and the adenocarcinoma cancer. So I have to actually find patterns which represent this mesothelioma.

Cancer and actually have to find relevant patterns which is representing the adenocarcium cancer and it's a very high, noisy and nonlinear image. So we have to go with different image processing techniques to actually find out the relevant patterns and the data associated to perform the actual classification.

Thank you for that explanation, Professor. Could you now elaborate on the types of filters commonly used in digital image processing and their specific roles in noise reduction or edge detection applications?

Ah, we are having umm uh, the Fobble filters are used in image processing and uh, we also can use the some invalid communications. We can use the the binary filtering and all together. We also try for the morphological methods we can use the. It's a combination of the dilation and erosion techniques. We. Actually, we can filter out the images and the parts that we actually need. We can remove the edges. We can actually remove the.

All the noises in the image.

So-called the candidates detection, that's that's a great work that we can do the Carnegie edges detection in an image, that's something that we can look at and.

And we can also look for the.

Yeah, so.

That's it.

Thank you, Professor. Let’s proceed to your skills in Embedded & Communication. Could you describe the key considerations when designing an embedded system for a real-time application, such as a smart transportation system?

Great.

So that's exciting. So, so we actually have to 1st ask any other project, we have to first look for the requirements, OK, what exactly we need from the project. So we actually will go with the requirements. We will.

Uh, try to, you know, consolidate as those requirements and see, uh, see what kind of processor and architecture will be relevant for that. So we will see. So depending on our requirements, in our case, we actually used a Zigbee system for wireless transmission and the communication. So there we.

The, the person, the standing at the, you know, bust of say bus stops or the shuttle station, they can press a button and that sends a signal to the Zigmi unit. And this zigmi unit will actually, and it's an embedded system where, you know, the, the, there is a processor there and there are peripherals associated with that. So we also had connected the sensors in that. So the module is there, there's a processing unit is there so.

Were taking signals that's that is we were having one station associated.

Everything that constitutes the emirate system there. And so I think first we have to start with the requirements and finally we have to see what kind of the response that we are trying to get from the. Do we really need a supercomputing processor for that? In that case we have to go with the Raspberry Pi or something. And if you don't have much of A processing then we have to go with simple Arduino board will be suction for us. And so we have to decide upon what exactly we are going to looking at and we have to integrate with the sensors.

And finally, we have to just work it out.

Thank you, Professor. Based on your explanation, can you comment further on how you ensured real-time performance and reliability in your smart transportation system?

OK, so.

It's like it was very challenging. So we initially we tried to send some signals from the very near nearby locations like like we were working in the lab. So we tried to send the signals from like say 10 meters. Then we extended 200 meters. We we tried to send the the real time signal there and we see how it was received in the in the receiver perfectly so.

Try to decode that information, the that information, we try to decode that information that has been sent there. So we find that it was working fine. So we tried for different locations with different failing conditions. We tried to keep it in different corners and all that make sure that is working fine. And then then we actually implemented it in a on a much farther distances like 500 meters and all around the campus different locations. We had an exhaustive testing.

That for for sending this signals and analyzing them like how they're really working and whether the the the press button is identified correctly here. That is there are two options of 1 to actually select for a schedule service and there is one option to actually you know, do disengage their service also. So we're trying those two simple those buttons we were trying to send those signals to the system and we were trying to evaluate them and.

Yeah, that was working fine and we were able to successfully show that project to the the the evaluation committee which has come for evaluation later on while we were concluding those project.

Appreciate the detailed account of your testing and validation process, Professor. Now, moving on to your teaching capabilities, how do you ensure that both the theoretical and laboratory components of a course are well-integrated to enhance student understanding?

Yeah. OK so to my opinion.

We should have courses.

Which is interlinked. That means if you take a semester in a certain curriculum.

The the theory subject must be associated with the lab component.

So a theory subject will actually, let's say it is the three credit course. So it has to actually go in depth in a theory concept about the particular subject. Let's say it's suppose it's a data structures and algorithms lab.

So it has to have a theory course first associated in that particular semester so the students can actually learn what is that subject and what are the different data structures and algorithms which is actually being used in practice. And then we should have an associated lab in that particular semester so that it goes well with the subject, so the students can actually learn the theory and put into practice in the lab.

So that will be a great idea to implement these things.

Thank you, Professor. Could you elaborate on how you evaluate both theoretical understanding and practical skills in your students effectively?

If you look at the skills.

So we can evaluate the students in the lab. So, so they will be both following the theory and we will, we can give some small problems exercises in the theory class and ask them to visualize them in the theory. So they will apply their knowledge and skills to actually solve the problem. Let's say if it is a KCL and the KVL problem. So we will have to, you know, teach that in the class.

And the student will actually work out some, you know, some problems in the class and the same thing they will understand in depth when they actually know execute those experiments in the lab and they see the real, you know, the, the working of the circuit and what exactly the current and voltages they receive and what are the drop in voltages and how can they visualize each active and passive components.

Which is there in the circuit. So everything could be visualized in the lab. So they actually learn the skill of solving a problem and also they learn the skill of implementing and visualizing them in the software like Pspice, Hpi's kind of softwares they can use for implementation. So, so that goes well for their understanding as well.

Yeah.

Understood, Professor. Let’s now examine your experience in guiding student research projects. How do you mentor students in aligning their projects with current research trends and ensuring publishable quality?

So let's say recently I'm writing a research scholar.

She's actually in the mathematics department, so she has a very concrete idea about coding. So she does what she did is a cyclic coding. So she has developed a new cyclic code which actually reduces the kind of errors and that that makes, you know round patterns. So, so, so her her work was like limited to the.

Automatics failed. So, so that caught my attention. She was actually presenting in the RAMC conference that is held in Manipal University where I'm working. So I will, I got an opportunity to actually, you know, interact with her now she I have gone to understand her work and we are going to actually extend that particular work to. The actual wireless communication scenario where we are going to. You know the encode those, you know information.

Whatever pattern she had made, she so she had just proved it theoretically. So I just tried in MATLAB yesterday the same thing. So it was working very fine. So I just tried the particular technique that she has adopted and I got very good results. So I assumed basically a really fading and in the receiver side I evaluated the signal to noise ratio and.

Uh, bit error rates and it was interestingly got a better SNR and BER for this particular cyclic code that she had suggested. So now this, since the theory part is, you know, evaluated now the practical evaluation was also done using MATLAB simulation has been done. So I think that's the way we have to integrate the project work. And that's how we should, you know, go on making good publications. So we have to.

So.

You asked me a question like how do you actually go with the research trends which is going on now? OK, so for that I am actually reviewing various papers as a reviewer. I'm I'm reviewing different journals and I am a reviewer for the.

Nature Journal, the Scientific Reports journal, and also the reviewer for IEEE Access Journal and also the reviewer for the Media Communication Springer Journal, and then also review for Helion Journal. So from those different journals, we will actually know what's the current trend. So I'm someone who is actually reviewing the current research works, so I'm actually in track of what is.

What is going on in the current research now and what is the drawback of those research and what are the limitations of that particular research? So I am up to date with that information and also I read different magazines like Digit and those magazines which is electronics for your magazine and the recent trends that is happening in the industry and also out of my curiosity I read different.

Journals also, which is there in both in the wireless communication field and also in the image processing field to be updated.

Yeah.

Thank you, Professor, for the detailed explanation of your approach. Let us now evaluate an important academic skill: providing clear and structured communication during teaching. How do you ensure that complex technical concepts are made understandable for undergraduate students?

So in my opinion.

Yeah.

Please continue, Professor.

If you if there is something complex that you want to teach, so it becomes complex if you don't understand those concepts. So I go to teaching personally, I understand those concepts really well. And if you before we go to class, we will see how it could be simplified. And you know, so they are just graduates. They under the undergraduates are just especially the first year.

So in my opinion.

The academic students, which I was handling the previous semester, they just came out from the, you know, the PUC that is their +2 higher secondary, they were just, you know, just just have a flavor of physics, chemistry and mathematics. So and so when we introduce something, we try to actually associate with the learning that we they already have not to complicate things there. So once they have the very basic understanding of any topic that.

Taking in the class so out of their interest, then they can actually work upon that and they can learn them after our classes. So our as a faculty. So my primary role will be like to know to make the fundamental understanding, to give them the fundamental understanding of the particular topic or the subjects and so-called topic or the complex things that we're going to take the in the class, we're going to give the very.

They they have good capability, The students have a very good mindset and good capability and the rest they will do on their own. That's my ideology.

Thank you, Professor. Now, transitioning to your research background—you've already touched upon publications. Could you briefly discuss the methodology you adopted for one of your most impactful research papers?

Yes.

My work in.

The bio inspired you know, framework for.

Solving the hardware impairment.

And the related, uh, uh, you know, deterioration of performance in wireless communication.

Uh, aspects.

Uh, so in that particular work, umm, uh, I actually used a uh, bio inspired framework.

Uh, for solving the, uh, the, the nonlinearity problems in the wireless communication system, I'll just give you an idea about the system here. So I essentially used a acquaintance system in the transmission side.

There assumed that there is there exists an in-phase and quadrature phase imbalance in the system and it also has a high power amplifier which is will definitely throw.

Pro and nonlinearity in the practical systems.

So my solution was a digital predistar to associate to that particular hardware.

So I evaluated both the uh at the receiver, the signal to error uh, the uh, the uh bit to error where ratio, the signal to noise ratio.

Uh, at the receiver side. So before and after plugging in the predistar system. So I initially I used a conventional Predistar. It's just a simple waner filter if applied.

So basically it had the the least squares as its principle. The the the least squares is was used for inside that it is conventional mathematical model. I got good results from that. I also tried this bioin speed algorithm into that and I essentially used a bind spread algorithms like particle form optimization. Then used harmonic search.

I also used artificial bee colony. I also used invasive weed optimization. Uh, I also used the very new ones called as the, you know, jumping spider optimization, the Black Widow optimization, the dingo optimization. So I tried with various algorithms and uh for the DPD aspect there, the digital pre distorted and uh, interestingly, it got very good.

And the SNR was improved to a very high extent and the Bear was also improved to a very high extent. And so all those are recorded in the publication and it was a really good work. So I still am pursuing that work and trying to integrate different aspects of this conventional mathematical models and the meta heuristics to into the system and yield better.

That was a really challenging work.

Thank you, Professor, for walking me through your methodology and innovative approach for solving hardware impairments in wireless communication. Your integration of bio-inspired algorithms indeed reflects depth in research and exploration. Lastly, could you summarize your experience in collaborating with industry or consultancy projects and how that experience could complement your academic role?

I think industry and academia are very closely related. So we have to always have in touch with the industry. So whatever the curriculum and the subjects that we are framing must be aligned with the industry. And the industry also have to collaborate to us so that we know what's the actual real world problems that is being currently now in the industry so that the students are.

OK, so.

You know, they are encouraged, they are actually skilled up to that particular level to actually solve the problems in the industry. So for that I do have a very good touch with the industry. My previous colleagues while I was working in IBM, they're working in Philips, they are working with Google, they are working in Intel, they are working in synopsis. And they are working in Tata Advanced Materials.

They also, uh, my friends are working in Idea Forge, which is a UAV related company that is working for defense sector. So I actually know, connect with all those people and see what exactly the skills that the students require for, you know, upskilling themselves and, you know, to engage in different, umm, uh, the, the, in the different problems, the active problems in the industry so that, so that they can get place in the industry.

And work with the industry. And also I hold good connection with the university professors so I recently know interacted with. Professor.

Sushita Menon, she is from.

From Malaysia University campus in Malaysia and also I work with closely with Professor Subaru Badiya who is working in university.

Of Sydney and and also.

Work with.

Yeah, tell me.

Yes.

You were discussing collaborations, particularly with Professor Subaru Badiya from the University of Sydney, and others. Please continue sharing how these collaborations enhance your academic and industry-oriented engagements.

Yes, very good question. So actually, uh.

Professor Subar and I actually discussed about my particularly about my research that is my PhD work. So, so my work was completely into the simulation side where I actually developed.

This professor and professor really wanted to work with actually professor I really called me to there to his university and they said having a lab set up there. So they want to really know work in that lab environment and see the practical sides of this system. So what essentially he is working he is working with the 5G and 60 systems. She is working for you know Nokia and Siemens there so. He actually develops.

This hardware, environments and all those things were done in the simulation in MATLAB software. So I have a very good proficiency in MATLAB software where they actually develop all the simulations. It was well appreciated by.

Uh, I don't know different. And the prototypes for them based on their requirements. So he founds that my PhD worker is a very good value add. And actually he invited me to go there and do this experiments and do a practical validation of that and, and probably and those good results could be communicated to the industry. And who knows, like tomorrow there won't be. A self powered wireless energy harvesting network.

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