9-Oct-2019: Low cost device for ocean states forecast and mapping potential fishing zones launched

For seamless and effective dissemination of emergency information and communication on disaster warnings, Potential Fishing Zones (PFZ) and Ocean States Forecasts (OSF) to fishermen, the Government launched the Gagan Enabled Mariner’s Instrument for Navigation and Information (GEMINI) device.

While PFZ Advisories provide information on the probable locations on fish aggregation in the seas, OSF provide the accurate state of the ocean. Ocean State Forecasts include the forecasts on winds, waves, ocean currents, water temperature, etc. at every 6 hrs. on daily basis for next 5 days helping fishermen in maximizing their earnings, ensuring safety and in planning of fishing activities.

Though the advisories and forecasts are disseminated through multiple communication modes, none of them could provide such information, including the disaster warnings when the fishermen move away from the coast beyond 10-12 km (typical ranges of mobile phones and VHF). That remained as a major limitation in disseminating the information to fishermen who go in the sea beyond 50 nautical miles; sometimes up to 300 nautical miles and beyond to conduct multiday fishing.

This lacuna was severely felt during the Ockhi cyclone in 2017, when fishermen went out, for deep sea fishing before the onset of the cyclone and could not be informed about the developing cyclone. This communication gap resulted in loss of life, serious injuries to those rescued and severe damages to fishing boats and fishing gear.

To overcome this difficulty, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), an autonomous body under the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) joined hands with Airports Authority of India (AAI) to utilize the GAGAN (GPS Aided Geo Augmented Navigation) satellite system to transmit the PFZ, OSF and disaster warnings to fishermen with GAGAN system consisting of three geosynchronous satellites (GSAT-8, GSAT-10 and GSAT-15).  GAGAN foot-print covers the entire Indian Ocean round the clock. To receive the messages transmitted through the GAGAN satellites, INCOIS together with AAI developed a low-cost GAGAN system-enabled GEMINI (GAGAN Enabled Mariner's Instrument for Navigation and Information) device and electronically designed and manufactured by a private industry M/S Acord, Bangalore under Make in India Program. The GEMINI device receives and transfers the data received from GAGAN satellite/s to a mobile through Bluetooth communication. A mobile application developed by INCOIS decodes and displays the information in nine regional languages. 

On the occasion, Dr. Harsh Vardhan also inaugurated the PFZ forecasts, newly developed by INCOIS which will provide advisories on PFZ to fishermen 3 days in advance. The Minister stated “PFZ advisories have become part of the value chain of the fishing community, over 6 lakh fishermen are regularly accessing advisories directly through their mobiles to avoid the wastage of time for searching shoals of fish”. The PFZ forecasts are generated using numerical models operationalized by INCOIS and helps overcome the operational difficulties in providing the PFZ advisories during overcast skies based on satellite data.

17-Oct-2019: Project Soli keeps Google Pixel 4 out of India

Google Pixel 4 will use a radar-based Soli chip to introduce Motion Sense, a feature that provides touchless gesture-based controls. Soli also enables a Face Unlock feature on the Pixel 4. But the Soli chipset could also be the reason why the Pixel 4 phones are not making their way to India, the only growing smartphone market globally.

Project Soli: Project Soli, driven by Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) team, was first showcased back in 2015. The idea is that a radar chip can be used to detect hand movements and gestures to interpret what they could mean. It’s only recently that Google figured out how to reduce the size of this radar chip and fit it on the front of the smartphone, still ensuring accuracy. And that’s why it is coming to Pixel 4.

Soli is a dedicated radar chip on the front of the Pixel to collect raw data of hand gestures and then interpret them correctly for the right commands. Google says the miniature radar understands human motions at various scales, from the tap of a finger to the movements of the body. It is always sensing for movement while maintaining a low footprint — keep in mind Soli is not a camera and doesn’t capture any visual images.

Soli relies on a custom-built machine learning (ML) model to understand a large range of possible movements. Google says these models run on the device and sensor data is never sent to their servers.

The Soli radar chip emits electromagnetic waves in a broad beam and when a human hand interacts with this, some of these waves are reflected back to the antenna. The ML-model quickly interprets the properties of the reflected signal to carry out the required command.

This Motion Sense technology allows Pixel 4 users to wave their hands to snooze an alarm or skip songs or go back to the last song without touching the screen. Users will have the option of going to settings to turn Motion Sense on or off.

However, Motion Sense will only work in countries where this radar tech has been approved for consumer use. The list includes “US, Canada, Singapore, Australia, Taiwan, and most European countries.” India has not yet given a go-ahead for this technology.

The Soli radar chip works on the 60 GHz spectrum frequency as it has the least interference for the kind of minute movements Google wants to track. However, the 60 GHz spectrum is not commercially usable in India.

In a consultation paper titled “Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks,” the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India wrote that “most countries have already delicensed the 60 GHz band and this band has a good device ecosystem. The 60 GHz band is also known as V-band or WiGig band (Wi-Fi at 60 GHz) using IEEE 802.11ad protocol.”

The TRAI also recommends that the V-band (57-64 GHz) may be explored for allocation to the telecom service providers. But that is yet to happen. Without this USP available in the country, it would not have made much sense for Google to bring the pricey Pixel 4 to India.