What’s the news: Tired of frequent call drops in their own campus, four engineering students developed a software that “uses artificial intelligence to optimise cellular antenna orientation based on cluster strength” reported Economic Times (ET). Students Niranjan Akella, Arumalla Koushik Reddy, Yeseswi Sree Neeli and Bachu Sai Nikheel first presented this software during their final semester project. Later, with the help of their professor, the group decided to patent the technology. According to the report, the patent has already been published and is awaiting a request for examination. Moreover, the students have also held initial talks with telecom operators, meaning the software may soon be available in the market as well. Why it matters: As per the explanatory note of the Telecom Bill, 2022, “developing telecom manufacturing ecosystem” is part of the government’s commitment to digital inclusion. Technologies like the one created by these students improve the quality of life of citizens living in densely-populated areas. It is also worth keeping an eye on how the government reacts to such technological developments that provide another source of anonymised data via telecom, in the absence of a data protection law. How does the software work? The software is deployed at the base transmitter station (BTS) which studies cluster patterns in the region for a certain some days, said the report. At the same time, a “motorised apparatus” is fitted to the antennae to realign its position. Once all the data is collected, the software instructs the antennae on the cell tower…
