Name Roll No.

Contribution
Shaumya Bharti 1802189 Manan Suri – Research, Intro,
Priyanka Sachan 1801076 Transition Points, Report
Preparation
Shashank Jaiswal 1802186 Prasant Misra – Research, Intro,
Shivam Saini 1802191 Transition Points, Report
Preparation
Satya Prakash Paswan 1802184 Review and Compilation
 Innovator of the year (2018) – MANAN SURI

Current 1. Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Previous 1. HueHealth,
2. NXP Semiconductors,
3. CEA
Education 1. Institut national polytechnique de Grenoble

• Manan Suri has built key elements of computer chips that mimic the learning
ability and energy efficiency of the brain. And he did it by harnessing a quirk of
next-generation memory technology.
• That technology is known as emerging non-volatile memory (eNVM). Because of
peculiarities in their nanoscale physics, eNVM devices often behave in random
ways, which in computers is usually a flaw. But Suri realized that this irregularity
could help researchers build so-called neuromorphic chips, which emulate the
neurons and synapses in our brains.
• Suri recognized that he could harness the inherent variability of eNVMs to build
large-scale neuromorphic systems capable of doing supervised and unsupervised
learning. He’s exploited that irregular behavior for cybersecurity and advanced
sensing applications.

Idea behind the innovation

 • They worked on semiconductor hardware building blocks (device & circuits) that
may be helpful in realizing future brain-inspired computing chips. The initial
motivation was to learn from nature and see if they could emulate the energy
efficiency of computations happening inside mammalian brains using
nanoelectronic devices. Even though they knew or understood very little about
the brain, still the few insights that it provided are quite valuable for designing
energy efficient computing systems. Specifically this sub-field of brain inspired
computing is defined as Neuromorphic Computing.

Fundamental technology and challenges

• Fundamental aspects in the flow of the research direction are following;
• Memory and Computing are not separate or isolated tasks. Memory can
Compute and Compute can Store
• Emerging semiconductor non-volatile memory (NVM) devices offer great promise
for exploring such memory centric computing fields.
• One major challenge is lack of standardization in the field.
• Another challenge was lack of relevant benchmarks to position against.

TRANSITION POINTS

• Change in technology
While transistors store information as 1s and 0s, the biological synapses that store
information in the brain can take multiple states. That means building computers that
behave like the brain traditionally required complicated artificial synapses that can also
take multiple states. Suri recognized that he could harness the inherent variability of
eNVMs to build large-scale neuromorphic systems capable of doing supervised and
unsupervised learning. He’s exploited that irregular behavior for cybersecurity and
advanced sensing applications.
 • Change in competitive context

Because of peculiarities in their nanoscale physics, eNVM devices often behave in

random ways, which in computers is usually a flaw. But Suri realized that this irregularity
could help researchers build so-called neuromorphic chips, which emulate the neurons
and synapses in our brains.

• Change in management tools

Suri quotes "the bran is an amazingly sustainable device, it consumes only ~ 20 W of
power, occupies less that 2 litres of volume, doesn't need to connect to any cloud and
excels at performing complex computations in real time." Suri founded Cyran Tech
Solutions with an aim to develop commercial solutions based on the neuromorphic AI
R&D he has been doing.
 Prasant Misra
PhD; Scientist, TCS (R&I) | MIT TR35 India | ERCIM AB & Marie Curie Fellow | AusAID ALA

Prasant is a computer scientist, passionate about building systems "at scale" that can extend
human and machine capabilities with newer and better ways of perceiving the physical world.
His research cuts across various aspects of computational sensing and optimization for
intelligent cyber-physical systems. He also has a background in middleware for wireless sensor
networks and low-power networked embedded systems.

Prasant has more than 10 years of experience in scientific and industrial research. He has worked
in different roles and capabilities across a diverse range of projects and organizations, and has
published over 35 peer reviewed articles in premier systems research forums.

Prasant has received several recognitions for his work, of which it is noteworthy to mention the :
MIT TR35 ("Top 10 Innovators under 35") India and TCS “Exemplary Contribution Award” in
2017, ERCIM "Alain Bensoussan" and EC "Marie Curie" Fellowships in 2012, and the Australian
Government's AusAID "Australian Leadership Awards" Scholarship in 2008.

Prasant is an active volunteer. He has served on the organizing and technical committee of a
number of international conferences / events. He is a contributor to National standardization
forums on Smart Cities and Infrastructure. He is an active speaker, educator, and mentor on
various aspects of Full Stack IoT. He is a senior member of IEEE and ACM, member of the
executive committees of IEEE Bangalore Section and COMSNETS Association, and an Associate
Technical Editor of IEEE Communication Magazine. His volunteering excellence has been
felicitated by the : IEEE Bangalore Section "Outstanding Volunteer Award for the year 2017".
 Transition point : Change in technological context

Disruptive Discovery:
Prasant Misra has been focusing his research efforts around building “spatially
intelligent systems”. His current work pertains to the auditory sensing technology
for micro unmanned aerial vehicles (MUAVs, more popularly known as drones). It’s
like “growing the ears” for intelligent things, as he puts it. “It is part of a grand vision
to equip this category of flying robots with a sensory gamut that is on par with
humans,” he says. This will not only enable such “things” to derive better spatial
intelligence, but also drive cognition to a better level of autonomy by combining
auditory sensing with vision.
The impact of the work Misra is doing is far-reaching. It will not only force us to
rethink the current model of aerial sensing (which is primarily vision dominated),
but will also open up newer applications and usage scenarios for the betterment of
society.
Change in focus of innovation:
The current drone sensing technology is predominately vision-centric. While the
advantages are clearly obvious in visual inspection and monitoring applications, on
the flip side, they become unusable in camera-obstructed or low-light conditions,
or in scenarios that offer non-visual clues such as those based on sound. In fact,
these conditions are a norm in high-stress environments (dense canopy or fog,
structures on fire, underground mines, etc.).
MUAVs with acoustic sensing system design are hence needed in these
environment.