The Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Institute of Technology, Nirma University has organised a national conference on, ?Advancement in Communication, Electronics, Computers, and Automation Technology? during February 12?13, 2021. The conference was exclusively for the students of UG and PG courses from the disciplines of Electronics & Communication, Instrumentation and Control, Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering. The conference was sponsored by the GUJCOST, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat. The IETE, Gujarat and IEEE, Antenna Section, Gujarat were the technical collaborators of the conference.
The alumni members of the department were involved in the various organizing aspects of the conference. There was an Advisory Committee comprised of several alumni members across the globe. Some of the alumni have provided partial support for the conference. Alumni members acted as reviewers for the conference as well as for the scrutiny of the papers. A few alumni members served as experts for the technical sessions.
There were 62 papers from more than 90 authors were received across the country. After the similarity check and twofold reviews, 36 papers were selected for the oral presentation. Total 54 authors have registered for the paper presentation and 236 students have registered as participants for the conference. The selected papers were divided into four technical sessions namely: (i) Signal and Image Processing, (ii) Computer Vision, AI and Machine Learning, (iii)
VLSI and Embedded Systems, (iv) Communication Systems and Standards. All the sessions had plenary talks followed by oral presentation sessions. Looking at the current pandemic situation, the entire conference was organised in online mode. To save time and to avoid technical issues, video-recorded presentations were collected from all the authors well in advance.
The conference started at 1:00 pm on February 12, 2021, on the WebEx online platform. Shri Rajeev Jyoti, Dy Director, MRAS, SAC, ISRO, Ahmedabad inaugurated the conference as the Chief Guest. Dr R N Patel, Director, Institute of Technology, Nirma University presided over the function. In the beginning, Dr Dhaval Pujara, HoD ? EC, welcomed the gathering. Dr Akash Mecwan, Coordinator, ACECAT, introduced the audience to the conference and the proceedings of the next two days. Mr Rajeev Jyoti advised the students to take a maximum benefit of the conference and also appraised the efforts of the department towards the betterment of students. Dr Rajesh Patel also appreciated the efforts of the department. Dr Patel also unveiled the first issue of the second volume of department magazine-Spectrum.
The first technical session on, ?Signal and Image Processing? started at 2:00 pm on February 12, 2021. Dr Chirag Paunwala, Dean, Research SCET, Surat was the expert of the session. Dr Paunwala delivered a plenary talk on, ?Non-Invasive COVID 19 Detection Technique?. In the oral presentation, Dr Paunwala was accompanied by Mr Vishal Mehta, Head, Image Processing Section, Jakson Vision, Ahmedabad (alumni member of EC), and Dr N P Gajjar, Professor, EC, IT, NU as judges of the oral presentation session. A total of 8 papers were presented during the session.
The second session on February 12, 2021 was on, ?Computer Vision, AI and Machine Learning?. Dr Karunakar Kotegar, Head, Computer Department, Manipal University was the expert for the session. Dr Karunakar discussed ?Computer Vision using Deep Learning? in the plenary session. The plenary session was followed by an oral presentation session. Dr Kotegar and Dr Samarth Bhrahmbhatt, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Intel Intelligence lab and alumni of EC judged the session. Mr Jaimin Patel, Manager, Palo Alto, USA other alumni of EC Department joined them for the session as a judge. A total of 9 papers were presented in the session.
The third session was organised on February 13, 2021. The session was on, ?VLSI and Embedded Systems?. Alumni member of EC Department – Dr Gaurnag Upasani, Commuter Architect, Google, USA was the expert for the plenary session. He discussed the ?Computer Architecture Challenges and Trends? in his session. The session was followed by the third oral presentation session. Yet another alumnus of the department Mr Nilav Choksi, Principal Engineer, Volensys, Ahmedabad served as a judge with Dr Dilip Kothari, Professor, EC, IT, NU. A total of 10 papers were presented in the session.
The final session on, ?Communication Systems and Standard? started at 3:00 pm on February 13, 2021 with the plenary talk on, ?Index Modulation for the Next Generation Wireless Communication? by Dr Yash Vasavada, Associate Professor, DAIICT. Dr Yogesh Trivedi, Professor, EC and alumnus of the EC department, Mr Dhaval Upadhyay, Scientist, SAC ? ISRO, Ahmedabad judged the oral presentation session with Dr Vasavada. A total of 9 papers were presented in the session.
Mr Ramji Makwana, Chairman, IETE, Ahmedabad was a Guest of Honor in the valedictory function of the conference on February 13, 2021. He encouraged students to be innovative in life and to participate in such activities in the future. He also briefed the students about the IETE and the activities carried out by their center. Three prizes per session were awarded for the three best papers. The first prize of Rs 5000/-, second prize of Rs 3000/- and the third prize of Rs 750/- were awarded in each technical session. The Electronics and Communication Students? Organization (ECO) of the Department was also an active part of the entire organisation. The student members of the ECO engaged the students during the breaks in the event and also awarded prizes for on-the-spot events. Total prizes worth Rs 37000/- were awarded to the winners in the conference. Student participants appreciated the organisation of
the conference and requested to continue with the future versions of the event on a large scale.