A computer screen showing readings of the splitter

being used with simulation lungs at Manipal Hospital. (Photo credit:IISc)

Screenshot of the app (Photo credit:IISc)

Screenshot of the app (Photo credit:IISc)

BENAGLURU: Different teams at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) together have offered 11 different technologies that they feel can aid India’s fight against Covid-19.From drones that can be used for disinfection to contact tracing app and network analytics, and from different ventilator projects to mobile diagnostic testing lab, a variety of projects, some of which are ready for testing, and the others are at the design stage are on offer.“There are several important projects going on at IISc to tackle problems related to Covid-19. However, due to the lockdown, there are difficulties in sourcing appropriate help, information as well as disseminating results of ongoing work,” a collective statement from the teams read.The TOI has already reported about one of the ventilators and the mobile diagnostic lab. Among the others, Abhishek Barman and his team from General Aeronautics (GA), a startup incubated by the Society for Innovation and Development (SID) at IISc is already helping the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) in accelerating the process by using drones to disinfect hard-to-reach areas.The team, however, has sought financial support to scale the activity and also help in evaluating efficacy of spray using drones using different disinfectants.Another team led by Akshay Naik has developed 3D-printed valves for split use of ventilators to serve multiple patients. The first of these splitter valves has been delivered to Manipal Hospital and tested there.Tarun Rambha and Yogesh Simmhan’s ‘GoCoronaGo’ contact tracing app and network analytics will help identify people who may have crossed paths with Covid-19 positive subjects by tracking their interactions in the past using bluetooth and GPS.“It uses temporal network analytics in the backend to understand the risk propensity even for distant contacts, understand disease spread and identify high-risk people who are likely to contract and spread the virus. It also provides alerts on isolation and proximity scores, and helps enhance social distancing. It also has a geo-fencing feature for those who are under quarantine, and has the ability to provide their symptoms which is used in the risk evaluation,” the team said.At present the app’s version vo.2 has been deployed at the IISc campus for faculty and staff to use. This is expected to be installed by 100-1000 users. The contact graph is being constructed and the proximity and isolation scores are being reported.“Next, we will be including news alerts, integrating with the IISc health center, providing more detailed visual analytics, and offering predictive analytics. The app will soon be hosted on the Google Playstore. An iPhone version is also being considered,” the team said, adding that they are looking for expert programmers.Rajesh Sundaresan is leading another project that aims to model the epidemic spread taking Indian urban conditions into account. The goal is to assist epidemiologists and decision makers with understanding the effectiveness of imposing and lifting various kinds of restrictions; anticipating hospital needs and devising testing strategies.“Agent-based simulator with several interventions has already been implemented at the level of 2 lakh residents in 1/50 version of Bengaluru. Scaling up, connecting multiple cities, testing strategies and assessment of hospital needs, are in progress,” the team said.Among other projects are one to enable oil droplet system as part of the ongoing IISc ventilator development effort, led by Santosh Hemachandra, another project led by Praveen C Ramamurthy aims to develop a UV-based disinfecting device that can be deployed in hospitals and other critical places.Of the last three projects, one relates to a method that, in the event of a shortfall of N95 masks, can clean them without affecting their specifications. This will enable re-use. The two others are also relating to ventilators.