ROLE OF ELECTRICAL, ELECTRONICS AND COMPUTING TECHNOLOGIES IN SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

#Sustainable #Development #Artificial #Intelligence #Machine #Learning #Blockchain.

The introductory cum interactive session on the ‘Role of Electrical, Electronics and
Computing Technologies in Sustainable Development’ was held on this day with the goal to interact with
first-year students, to encourage them into joining IEEE SIGHT and contributing to its goal of sustainable
development and humanitarian needs by leveraging technology. This session was an initiative by the IEEE
SIGHT Section of the IEEE AMU Student Branch organized by SIGHT Coordinators Mr Modabbir
Mohammad and Ms. Tayyibah Khanam. The technologies briefed in this session were – ‘Power Electronics
and Smart Grids’ by Mr. Modabbir Mohammad, ‘ Internet of Things’ by Ms. Pakhil Singh, ‘Data Science and
Machine Learning’ by Ms. Tayyibah Khanam and ‘Blockchain Technology’ by Mr. Abbas Syed Nooruddin.

Next, Mr. Modabbir Mohammad (BTech Final year, IEEE SIGHT Coordinator) briefed about the IEEE
SIGHT group and further emphasized the goal of leveraging different technologies and assisting as a
volunteer for sustainable development and humanitarian needs under the SIGHT section. Further, he also
mentioned the committee support given to IEEE volunteers for humanitarian activities, such as financial
support for relevant and feasible research projects and the promotion as well as assistance to volunteers
under the SIGHT program. Lastly, he also briefed about the ongoing research projects – sanctioned and
funded by the Department of Electrical Engineering as well as guided by the IEEE SIGHT professor in
Chair – Dr. Mohd Tariq in the session 2020-2021 on ‘Internet of Things based Smart Agriculture System’
lead by Ms. Pakhil Singh and her team and ‘Reliability and Fault Analysis of Power Electronics Converter
for Sustainable Energy System’ led by Mr. Modabbir Mohammad, Ms. Tayyibah Khanam and their team.
After a brief introduction about IEEE SIGHT and its objectives, Mr. Modabbir’s talk mainly focused on the
Smart Grid and Power Electronics technology that merge power, information and the telecommunication
systems altogether in order to optimize the Electric Grid and shape the future of how energy is distributed,
managed and utilized. Following this, he also introduced the concept of Power Electronics Converters,
specifically the DC-DC high gain converters and the advantages of utilizing them in various applications of
power management. With the basic background on such converters and their needs, students were able to
connect the dots of overall power management through these technologies, essential for sustainable
development in smart cities.
Ms. Pakhil Singh (BTech Final year, Former SIGHT Coordinator) took charge of briefing about the
Internet of Things (widely known as IoT) Technology to fellow students. She started with the brief
introduction of IoT technology that can connect devices of various embedded systems to the Internet,
where objects and devices represent themselves digitally and hence can be controlled from anywhere. The
working of IoT was explained from the Industry 4.0 point of view in a smart city, with its primary application
being monitoring and automation through sensors. She further explained IoT from the application point of
view in various real-world examples such as – automation in Self Driving Cars, real-time health monitoring
in the Sydney Harbour Bridge (Australia) etc.
Following the lead of all those interconnected things, collectively called the Internet of Things which
produce huge amounts of data, Ms. Tayyibah Khanam introduced the concept of Data Science and
Machine Learning. She started by explaining the difference between traditional data and big data
considering the volume, variety, and velocity of datasets. Further, she cleared the air between different
processes in the field of data science, which incorporates everything from data ingestion, storage, data preprocessing to data analytics, machine learning and visualization. She also demonstrated results from her
previous research projects based on data analytics and machine learning to help students understand how
data sciences overall give deeper insights in understanding the scenario and thus, influence decision
making processes. Lastly, she also explained real-world applications of data science and machine learning
in the fields of power and/or energy management by showcasing works of Google’s DeepMind.
Our last speaker for the session was Mr. Abbas Syed Nooruddin (BTech 3rd year, Secretary, IEEE AMU
Student Branch) who briefed on Blockchain fundamentals, the famous cryptocurrency Bitcoin and the
hence the applications of Blockchain in various sectors of the informational economy that need to be
tracked and recorded such as financial transactions and medical records. He also explained the three
properties that have led to the widespread popularity of blockchain technology – Decentralization,
Transparency, and Immutability. Overall, students were proclaimed with the applications of blockchain
technology majorly through the economical pillar of sustainable development.

Finally, the speakers answered any questions raised by students following which Mr. Modabbir Mohammad
delivered the vote of thanks and concluded the session.