IIIT- H, Bharat Dynamics Limited announce Centre Of Excellence

Hyderabad: IIIT-Hyderabad and Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) announced today the establishment of a Center of Excellence (COE) for AI in Missile Tech. The COE was formally launched by the Director of IIIT Hyderabad, Prof PJ Narayanan and CMD of BDL, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd).

The COE will take up projects relating to AI activities in missiles, manufacturing, inspection and allied areas. It will function as an AI Laboratory for BDL, building an understanding of BDL's products and business, within IIIT-H research groups. The COE will undertake upto five projects in a year as per mutually agreed scope, including both software and hardware.

According to Prof. P. J. Narayanan, Director of IIIT-Hyderabad, "As a research university, we are always happy to see this kind of interest in our deep-tech research. The top-ranked AI research group at our Kohli Centre for Intelligent Systems is very well positioned to enable the use of AI in BDL products. It's also a matter of pride for us to be a part of products of national importance."

Commenting on the occasion, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd) CMD, BDL said, "BDL being a central DPSU, meeting the ever-changing requirements of Indian armed forces, would like to be always at the forefront of emerging technologies. As part of this effort, BDL would like to integrate AI in its products and processes. BDL with its partnership with IIIT-H, one of the top ranked AI research groups, will be able to integrate AI strategy in our products to accelerate the journey of producing efficient and user-friendly defense equipment."

The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) is an autonomous research university founded in 1998 that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through interdisciplinary research that has a greater social impact. Kohli Center on Intelligent Systems (KCIS) at IIIT-H was established in 2015 to give a fillip to research, teaching and entrepreneurship in the Broad Intelligent Systems Area. It has the #1 rated Machine Learning Lab in India and acts as an umbrella organization at the institute to both strengthen the existing groups and facilitate new activities in related areas. It also acts as a force multiplier in attracting projects and funding from the government and industry sectors, coordinating research in related domains across different IIIT-H centers, as well as in the institute's research collaboration with other academic institutions in the country.

Bharat Dynamics Limited since its inception in July 1970 is engaged in the manufacture and supply of Guided Missile and Defence Equipment. BDL began its journey with single product (SS11B1-ATGM), single customer and graduated to multi product, multi customer which include Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM), Surface to Air (SAM) missiles, Air Defence Systems and Under Water Weapons for the Indian Armed Forces. BDL has also now embarked on an ambitious program to export Defence Products to friendly foreign countries.

BDL has produced and supplied approx. 1.24 Lakh ATGMs and 2000 plus SAMs in addition to other missiles and Ground Support Equipment. BDL is the nominated prime production agency for the missiles of Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme (IGMDP) launched by Govt of India.