Kerala - Alappuzha

Innovative thinking fetches award

C.S. Ananthakrishnan

ALAPPUZHA: For those who scorn government engineering colleges, here is an award-winning rejoinder. An engineering student from the Government College of Engineering, Cherthala, has bagged the first prize in the 2007-2008 Motorola Scholar awards.

C.S. Ananthakrishnan, a seventh semester Electronics & Communication student at the college and resident of Palarivattom, in Kochi, won the Rs.1 lakh worth award for an innovative Epilepsy Prediction and Life-Saver Device. Ananthakrishnan, who developed the device along with his batchmate Rajesh T. Remanan with guidance from College principal T.K. Mani, was the only one from Kerala to participate in the annual contest instituted by the Motorola Foundation, USA.

“Epilepsy patients are warned by doctors not to swim, drive and to be careful even while sleeping since bouts of epilepsy during such activities can have dangerous results. That is why a prediction system is necessary,” explains Ananthakrishnan, son of C.K. Sudarshan, an employee at the Naval Institute of Aeronautical Technology, Kochi Naval Base and D. Saroja.

“I read in an international journal that sudden fluctuations in heartbeats occur at least two to three minutes before the onset of epilepsy. So to sense these fluctuations, I have used a Pulse OxyMeter along with a Micro-Electro-Mechanical System sensor. While the oxymeter will constantly watch heartbeats, the MEMS sensor detects muscular convulsions,” he said.

“When the device is mounted on the patient’s body, it synchronises with the heartbeat and senses sudden variations. “Then a vibratory signal is given to the patient. If the patient is awake, he can take precautionary measures. If he is asleep, the device gets signals from the MEMS sensor and sends coded signals to a transmitter. This signal is decoded to make necessary control actions likesending SMS to the doctor,” he said.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu