THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As part of initiatives to achieve self-reliance in the semiconductor sector, two application-specific integrated circuit (IC) chips designed by a college in Kerala have been successfully fabricated at the Union government’s Semiconductor Laboratory (SCL) in Punjab.
The chips, relating to advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) in vehicles, were designed at IHRD Model Engineering College (MEC), Kochi. The fabricated chips were handed over to the MEC project team by Union Minister of Electronics & IT Ashwini Vaishnaw at SCL last week.
Even though IC chips are widely designed in India, their fabrication is mostly carried out outside the country. The completion of the entire process from design to fabrication within India is part of efforts at building a self-reliant semiconductor ecosystem in the country.
According to IHRD director V A Arun Kumar, the chips were designed by MEC as part of the ‘Chips to Startup’ project of the central ministry. The college received approval for the five-year-long research project on January 15, 2024, with a grant of `86 lakh.
“The two fabricated IC chips are designed for object detection and object tracking. They are developed as the initial phase of the ongoing research project on ADAS,” explained Jobymol Jacob, chief investigator of the project and head of the electronics engineering department at MEC. Faculty members Jagdeesh Kumar P, Rashid ME, research scholars, project staff and MTech and BTech students of the institution are also part of the project team.
According to Jobymol, the project employs AI to assess data collected by cameras, radar and LiDAR (light detection and ranging) to detect and also track moving objects so as to make necessary decisions.
Besides MEC, six other institutions in the state are undertaking research under the ‘Chips to Startup’ programme. “It is noteworthy that our team was able to complete the design of the two crucial chips in 16 months and cross the fabrication stage in 22 months,” Jobymol said.
The development of the first set of chips has come as a shot in the arm for the MEC team, that has plans to design similar units as part of their research project.
The story is reported by Sovi Vidyadharan of The New Indian Express.
