Developed by IIT-Mandi, landslide monitoring system reviewed

Mandi, December 27

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed the Landslide Monitoring and Early Warning System developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi during his visit to Himachal Pradesh.

Developed by IIT Mandi’s Associate Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, Dr Varun Dutt and Assistant Professor, School of Engineering, Dr K.V. Uday, the device is a low-cost alternative to conventionally used monitoring systems and reduces landslides by predicting the soil movement in advance.

“The Landslide Monitoring System provides soil movement alerts via hooters and blinkers installed on the road remotely via text message. Additionally, the system sends rainfall alerts in advance if more than 5 mm of rain is predicted. Landslides are predicted 10 minutes before they actually occur by monitoring changes in soil movement. The system also predicts extreme weather events with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning,” said a release from IIT, Mandi.

The prototypical device was first deployed in July-August 2017 at an active landslide area on the Gharpa hill near IIT Mandi’s Kamand campus. The first field deployment was at Kotropi Landslide in 2018 with the support from the Mandi district administration.

The device’s utility was witnessed on July 27, 2018, when a tragedy was averted at Kotropi along the Mandi-Joginder Nagar national highway due to rains and a flash flood by the system. — IANS