IIT KGP to become country's first smart college campus
IIT Kharagpur today claimed to have taken a step towards becoming the country's first smart college campus, in which students can operate equipment inside their hostel rooms remotely using a smartphone app. A smart switch module was installed in 100 of its hostel-rooms and from now on when a student leaves the room, the fan, and light in it would automatically be turned off.
With the smart system, IIT-KGP is now expected to save about 20% of its monthly electricity expenditure, an official said. The entire 2,100-acre campus is Wi-Fi-enabled and the institute has over 5,000 hostel rooms of which 100 have come under the smart electrification module. The product has been developed for B2B and B2C commercial use by Alive Home, a green start-up by IIT KGP.
The development and assembling of the hardware and software were done in-house at Innovation Lab of the institute and the product was tested and cleared by the Electrical and Maintenance Works of IIT-KGP for safety and operational ease for installation at the campus. The product's price is 50% low compared to similar products available in the market, Prof PK Dan, faculty at IIT-KGP said.
