DA-IICT offers a unique four-year undergraduate program in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) leading to the degree of:

• B.Tech. (ICT)
• B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with minor in Robotics and Autonomous Systems

ICT embodies the convergence of Computer and Communication systems and has obtained wide acceptance as a distinct discipline. It is also expected that ICT graduates would enjoy a special niche only if they have certain performance capabilities not found in conventional CSE and/or ECE graduates. Logically this convergence takes place at the systems level, but at the same time it is necessary to accept a certain level of granularity as one goes down to the level of circuits, devices and materials. All programs are designed to operate on a semester-based framework that follows choice-based credit system.

The B.Tech. (ICT) program provides a lot of flexibility and choice to students. Students may choose to do more coursework and graduate with

B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with Minor in a Particular Area

Depending on the faculty resources and student interest, the institute offers a Minor in a particular area to students of the B.Tech. (ICT) program. This will enable students to pursue an in-depth study into an area within ICT or get introduced to an area which complements ICT.

Apart from satisfying all credit/course/internship/project requirements stipulated for the B.Tech(ICT) program, the B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with Minor requires a student to complete a minimum of 15 additional credits (and a minimum of five additional courses) in the form of electives which are aligned with the area in which the Minor is offered. The courses under any Minor begin in Semester 4 and can culminate in Semester 7, and may involve a sequence of Core courses, Elective courses, and/or project based courses. The first Minors program offered by the Institute is the Minor in Robotics and Autonomous Systems(RAS), and was offered to the batch of B.Tech. (ICT) 2021 students. The eligibility criteria to enrol in each Minor and criteria to successfully complete the Minor are specific to each Minor. It is to be noted that the B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with Minor in Computational Science is a separate program, and should not be considered as a Minor under this section for all operational purposes. The description, benefits, eligibility criteria, criteria for successful completion, and detailed course content for each Minor can be found here.

Programme Outcomes (POs)

PO No.	Programme Outcomes
PO1	Engineering knowledge: Apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering fundamentals, and an engineering specialization to the solution of complex engineering problems.
PO2	Problem analysis: Identify, formulate, review research literature, and analyze complex engineering problems reaching substantiated conclusions using first principles of mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering sciences
PO3	Design/development of solutions: Design solutions for complex engineering problems and design system components or processes that meet the specified needs with appropriate consideration for the public health and safety, and the cultural, societal, and environmental considerations.
PO4	Conduct investigations of complex problems: Use research-based knowledge and research methods including design of experiments, analysis and interpretation of data, and synthesis of the information to provide valid conclusions.
PO5	Modern tool usage: Create, select, and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern engineering and IT tools including prediction and modeling to complex engineering activities with an understanding of the limitations.
PO6	The engineer and society: Apply reasoning informed by the contextual knowledge to assess societal, health, safety, legal and cultural issues and the consequent responsibilities relevant to the professional engineering practice.
PO7	Environment and sustainability: Understand the impact of the professional engineering solutions in societal and environmental contexts, and demonstrate the knowledge of, and need for sustainable development.
PO8	Ethics: Apply ethical principles and commit to professional ethics and responsibilities and norms of the engineering practice.
PO9	Individual and team work: Function effectively as an individual, and as a member or leader in diverse teams, and in multidisciplinary settings.
PO10	Communication: Communicate effectively on complex engineering activities with the engineering community and with society at large, such as, being able to comprehend and write effective reports and design documentation, make effective presentations, and give and receive clear instructions.
PO11	Project management and finance: Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the engineering and management principles and apply these to one’s own work, as a member and leader in a team, to manage projects and in multidisciplinary environments.
PO12	Life-long learning: Recognize the need for, and have the preparation and ability to engage in independent and life-long learning in the broadest context of technological change.

The Programme Specific Outcomes (PSOs) set the following goal:

After the successful completion of the BTech (ICT) programme, students will have:

PSO No.	Program Specific Outcomes (PSOs)
PSO1	To apply the theoretical concepts of computer engineering and practical knowledge in analysis, design and development of computing systems and interdisciplinary applications.
PSO2	Develop system solutions involving both hardware and software modules
PSO3	To work as a socially responsible professional by applying ICT principles in real-world problems.

Program Outcomes (POs) & Course Outcomes (COs) of The Program

Syllabus of The Program

The course structure of the curriculum is broadly classified into four categories.

Foundation or Core Courses

Set of compulsory courses taken by every student for first five semesters. These courses are from the technical areas of Computer Science and Information Technology, Electronics and Communication, as well as courses in Humanities, Mathematics and Basic Sciences

Elective Courses

These courses add to both, the technical strength and humanities and social science skills of the program. The students can choose the elective courses from the available ones from fifth semester onwards. The elective courses are grouped into the following categories

• Program Elective (PE)
• Free Elective (FE)

Internships and BTech Projects

Students will do a rural internship during the third semester winter break at NGO or Government Organization. The students will do an industrial or research internship during the summer break in the end of their 6th semester. Finally the student will take a semester long on-campus project (BTP) or the off-campus project – Industrial Training Project (ITP).

Co-curricular Activities and Exploration Project

Co-curricular activities are non-class activities like sports, cultural and technical club activities. These courses run over the first four semesters and are graded Pass/Fail.

Exploration projects allow students to explore their surroundings to identify interesting problems that admit a design based and/or hardware based solution and make such a product by leveraging the introduction to ICT skills learnt in the first semester. Students are expected to work in groups of 8 to 10 under a faculty mentor over two semesters - second and third semester. This course will be graded on a Pass/Fail basis.

A unique feature of the program is the mandatory rural internship, which is expected to give the student a feel of his/her social milieu and is typically carried out with an NGO and Govt. organizations. The rural internship is offered in the Winter break after the 3rd semester. After the completion of foundation courses, the student is required to take a 6-8 week mandatory industrial/research internship, which is offered in the summer break after the 6th semester. The student has a choice of taking an industrial internship or a research internship depending on his/her career goals. The student is required to take at least a semester long BTech project (BTP), during which he/she is required to demonstrate his/her ability to learn current areas of research and/or industrial interest. Furthermore, a student has option to do BTP as on-campus or off-campus mode, where the on-campus mode allows the student to explore his/her research interest under the supervision of a faculty, whereas the off-campus mode allows the student in getting exposure to industry and/or other R&D organizations/universities.

Most of the foundation courses are offered in the first four semesters and a part of the fifth semester. These courses are from the technical areas of Computer Science and Information Technology, Electronics and Communication, as well as courses in Humanities, Mathematics and Basic Sciences. In the remaining 3 and a half semesters, students take elective courses and do internships and projects.

Honours in ICT with Minor

The B.Tech. (ICT) program offers an option to interested students to pursue additional course work and graduate with an Honours degree. Upon successfully completing the requirements of the B.Tech. (ICT) program and the additional course work requirements, the student graduates with a B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with a Minor in the particular area.

Semester-wise course sequence

Each course is associated with a fixed number of credits. Credits are awarded on an L-T-P-C system (C=L+T+P/2) per semester, that is, the number of contact hours for Lectures (L), Tutorials (T) and Practical (P) in a week. Nominally, since a semester has around 13–14 weeks of classes, therefore, a 3 credit lecture course would amount to approximately 40 lecture hours in a semester.

Representative list of electives

Application Process

Details on the application process, admission criteria, fee structure and financial assistance can be found here

B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with Minor in Robotics and Autonomous Systems

Robotics and Autonomous Systems(RAS) are a fascinating and fast-paced field that is changing how we work and live. Robotics and autonomous systems is an interdisciplinary technology that significantly impacts many vital applications, such as Industry 4.0, Cyber-physical systems, transportation, aerospace, defence, and healthcare. Robots are typically physical systems that carry out predetermined operations. On the other hand, autonomous systems are sophisticated systems that can operate alone in their environment and complete various challenging tasks. Examples include autonomous vehicles, intelligent manufacturing robots, drones, wheeled mobile robots, humanoid robots, and surgical robots. These fields have grown significantly in the last five years and are expected to increase further. As a result, the demand for qualified professionals with an in-depth understanding of computer science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, adaptive control, multi-agent systems, electronics, and many other cutting-edge disciplines are acute in both industry and academia

This minor degree provides an extensive theoretical understanding and hands-on experience in developing, controlling and programming robotic platforms and autonomous systems. The students must take core/group-elective courses in the areas of robotics and autonomous systems such as Robot Programming, Mechatronics, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, Edge Computing, Computer Vision, and AR-VR. The minor will provide you with expertise in

• Robot Operating Systems
• Robot Programming
• Drone Technology
• Automation devices and sensors
• Intelligent Systems
• Embedded Systems for Robotics
• Artificial Intelligence
• Augmented and Virtual Reality

The B.Tech. (Honours) in ICT with minor in RAS requires a student to complete additional min. 15 credits (5 courses which includes one minor mini project ) in the core and elective components of RAS in addition to the B.Tech. in ICT program requirement.

Career Opportunities

Industry: GE, Siemens, TCS, VOLVO, NISSAN, ABB Robotics, AeroVironment, Boeing, Bosch, Caterpillar, TOSHIBA, HONDA, SONY, BOSCH, ATS Automation, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Rockwell, L&T Technology, Rakuten, Hitachi, Bharati Robotic Systems, and many start-up companies etc.

Academia: More than 40 major Universities in the USA provides master and PhD degree courses in the field of RAS. Similarly, Canada, Australia and Europe have numerous universities and institutes for further study in the field.

Start-up: According to recent reports, the market turnover for RAS in India is expected to increase by more than 15,000 crores in the next five years. Therefore, RAS has a lot of potential for start-ups. The institute provides guidance, opportunities, and funding for entrepreneurship and start-up for this purpose.

Laboratory facilities in RAS at DAIICT

The institute has a state-of-the-art lab facility for teaching, experiments and research in RAS. The lab is equipped with

• Wheeled Mobile Robots
• Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
• Robotic Manipulators
• Sensors and Actuators
• Advanced Microcontrollers

Number of seats

Total number of seats for Minor in RAS limited to 30.

Policies, Procedures and Guidelines

The following rules are applicable only to the RAS Minor

• Students get an option to enrol in the RAS minor at the beginning of Semester 4.
• A maximum of 30 students will be allowed to enroll for the minor. In case more than 30 applications are received, selection will be done based on the Cumulative Performance Index(CPI).
• Students may choose to drop out of the minor in any semester. Once the student drops out, he/she cannot re-enroll for the minor.
• Lateral entry to the minor is not allowed. An option to enroll for the minor (RAS) will be available in Semester 4 only. However, the minor core courses and minor elective courses will be open for all students under the Technical Elective category.
• A student must obtain passing grades in the five designated honours (three core and two electives) courses for the minor to graduate with the BTech (Hons.) in ICT with a Minor in Robotics and Autonomous Systems degree.
• One of the electives in the RAS Minor can be a project – henceforth referred to as Minor Mini Project (MMP). This needs to be approved by the minor’s coordinator in consultation with the UG convener. The project has to be strictly in the area of Robotics, Autonomous systems, Cyber physical systems, Robotic vision, and Machine vision.
• Pertaining to B.Tech Project, there is no restriction on the area of work for the students enrolled in the minor (RAS). A student can choose a topic within the interest of the RAS group or any other area from the ICT domain.

Additional Graduation Requirement – BTech (Honours) in ICT with a Minor in Robotics and Autonomous Systems.

• Minimum number of RAS courses: 5 (Core: 3 and Electives: 2)
• Minimum RAS course credits: 15
• Minimum CPI: 6.5

RAS Course Sequence

• Introduction to Robotics (3-0-2-4) – Semester 4 - RAS Core
• Introduction to Autonomous Systems (3-0-2-4) – Semester 5 – RAS Core
• Robot Programming (1-0-2-3) – Semester 6 – RAS Core
• RAS Elective 1 (3-0-0/2-3/4) – Semester 5/6 – RAS Elective
• RAS Elective 2 (3-0-0/2-3/4) – Semester 6/7 – RAS Elective.

• The Minor electives can be done in any two Semesters from Semester 5, 6, and 7.
• The elective courses basket for the minor electives will be notified to the students of semesters 5, 6 and 7 (at the start of the respective semester) by the minor’s coordinator in consultation with the UG convener and the RAS group.
• A student can opt for a Minor-Mini-Project(MMP), as RAS Elective 1 or 2. MMP will be of 3 credits(0-0-6-3). A student can do at most one MMP.

RAS Core Course Content

Introduction to Robotics

Course Overview, History of Robotics, Robot Arm, Kinematic Structure of Human Arm and Humanoid Robot; Coordinate Frames, Rotation Matrix, Translations, Euler Angles, Quaternion; Homogeneous Transform, Compound Transformations, Jacobians, Denavit-Hartenberg (D-H) Parameters; Inverse Kinematics, Inverse Kinematics for Position/Orientation/ Velocities, Redundancy, Singularities; Equation of Motion, Euler-Lagrange Formulation, Newton-Euler Formulation; Sensors, Actuators, Control Overview, Joint Space Control, Trajectory Generation.

References:

• Saeed B. Niku, Introduction to Robotics: Analysis, Control, Applications, (2nd ed.), John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2010, ISBN: 978-0-470-60446-5
• John Craig, Introduction to Robotics, Mechanics and Control (3 ed.), Prentice Hall, 2003. ISBN 978-0201543612

Introduction to Autonomous Systems

Understanding of dynamic of robot manipulators, mobile robots, and drones (quadrotors), controls for robotic systems for motion-planning, collision avoidance, trajectory optimization, grasping and manipulating objects. Simulation and experiments related to dynamics, trajectory generation, motion planning, and control of autonomous systems, such as robots, manipulators and drones.

References:

• Illah R. Nourbaksh and Roland Siegwart, Introduction to Autonomous Mobile Robots, The MIT Press, First Edition, 2004.
• Steven M. Lavalle, Planning Algorithms, Cambridge University Press, First Edition, 2006.
• Mark W. Spong, Seth Hutchinson, and M. Vidyasagar, Robot Dynamics and Control, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Second edition, 2004.

Robot Programming

This course introduces students to the Robot Operating System (ROS) as well as to many of the available tools commonly used in robotics. Course focus on theory and hands-on, whereas hands-on will focus on applications and implementations. Students learn how to create software and simulations, interface to sensors and actuators, and integrate control algorithms. The course works through exercises involving a number of autonomous robots (i.e., ground) that students could eventually use in their future robotics research.

References:

YoonSeok Pyo, HanCheol Cho, RyuWoon Jung, and TaeHoon Lim, Robot Programming (1st eds), ROBOTIS Co., Ltd. 2017, ISBN 979-11-962307-1-5