The many use cases of IoT in Telangana

Telangana launched its IT policy in 2016, which had identified eight focus areas: blockchain, AI, IoT, cloud, 3D printing, VR/AR, robotics and big data. A separate policy was announced for each of these areas. The state has a three pillar policy on IoT.

Develop world class infrastructure for IoT products
The Government of Telangana has setup T-Hub, an incubator for startups and it has the necessary arrangements to mentor startups on the hardware and electronics related to many areas including IoT. T-Hub provides state of the art prototyping capabilities. Moreover, ancillary facilities like early stage funding, mentoring and other necessities are fulfilled.

“Although this began as a facility specific for hardware startups, one of the main areas that was focussed was IoT,” says Rama Devi Lanka, Director – Emerging Technologies, Officer on Special Duty (OSD), ITE&C Department, Government of Telangana.

Promote manufacturing and procurement of IoT based solutions
A custom facilitation cell will be set up to seamlessly clear processes to import products. The Government will back the electronics component distributors to set up electronics component distribution centres in the state. The IoT products and services will also be procured from the startup companies. The required permissions will be provided by the state for doing connected PoCs in the zones of Hyderabad, Warangal and Tiruchirappalli.

Provide startups to raise capital
T-Hub helps startups to get access to markets and capital. IoT is a key area of focus.

IoT use cases in Telangana

• IoT in the Police Department: An integrated traffic management system is being implemented for the police and law enforcement department. It’s an Automatic Counter and Classification Traffic (ACCT) software that adjusts traffic signal timings after calculating the speed and volume of traffic. It’s done by an algorithm based on IoT and AI. Secondly, IoT is being used for penalising riders jumping signals. It’s being done through the automatic number plate recognition system. The challan given to the rider also has a photo attached, when the violation happened.
• Agriculture: For the department of agriculture, a pilot is being run in precision agriculture using drones. Data from the satellite, water availability, climatic conditions and drone data about the crop characteristics, helps in releasing advisory to farmers on when and which crops to sow.

“I have personally visited a pilot conducted in a village in Nalgonda district. The farmers were really happy after applying these technologies, which saw the yield increase in the farms,” says Lanka.

In the future, drone, IoT and AI will be used to track and issue advisories on crop. Drones and IoT will capture the data and AI will be used to recommend action to be taken.

• IoT enabled predictive maintenance and vehicle health management solution: A recent use case is on using IoT for engine management for Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC).

“There are many cases of the buses unable to reach their destination because of engine failure. Soon, PoC will be done on how IoT can help in predictive maintenance of engines for the buses of TSRTC. These solutions are all planned to be procured from startup comp-anies,” mentions Lanka.

• Disaster management: The disaster management control portal has been able to reduce the number of deaths occurring due to heat wave using information relayed from the 885 sensors deployed across Telangana. The information from global systems is also used for the prediction. The temperature in Telangana can go upwards of 45 during summer and weather advisories become important for the citizens. The Karimnagar Municipal Corporation has deployed sensors to measure the air quality index (AQI).