The advent of the 4th industrial revolution (IR4.0) has been hailed as the pivotal point in human history as we begin taking pivotal steps towards digitising our living world through the Internet of Things (IoT). Due to this, unmanned aerial vehicles, more ubiquitously known as drones, have transcended their roles from serving as instruments of IoT proliferation to the nascent enablers of the human-machine interface (HMI) often lauded as the cornerstones of the 5th industrial revolution (IR5.0).
Aerial drones have liberalised the airspace and have transformed a niche hobbyist device into a mainstream autonomous robot, well-suited for various applications from search and rescue to last-mile delivery of goods. Furthermore, the advent of autonomous aerial drones has accelerated the progress of the digital ecosystem meant to expand its field of applications.
Therefore, we are experiencing rapid growth in artificial intelligence (AI), data analytics and the digital space in general. In the Malaysian context, the Malaysian Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has been at the forefront of pushing the IR4.0 agenda on our local shores through the Malaysia Digital (MD) initiative, a strategic blueprint meant to guide us into this new unguided territory.
The sky, once a taboo zone, strictly controlled and rendered inaccessible by the high entry cost of aerial vehicles, has been revolutionised. Furthermore, these autonomous robots have leveraged their mobility, aerial vantage point and the assortment of sensors to redefine the accepted norm. The MDEC-driven Premier Digital Tech Institutions (PDTIs) initiative plays a vital role in infusing these technologies into the curriculum of our tertiary institutions to equip our graduates, the future digital tech-based workforce, with the high-value digital skillsets required to capitalise and harness these technologies to create customised solutions for a plethora of use cases.
The unfettered access to the Malaysian skies (subject to local aviation regulations) has transformed the landscape, leveraging digital technology to provide end-to-end solutions for various industries. Appointed as a Premier Digital Tech Institution (PDTI) by MDEC, Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) - Centre of Research of IoT, has worked with local growers on precision agriculture to implement plant analytics and relegate autonomous tasks previously heavily reliant on the workforce to the aerial drone. Plant analytics, which incorporates a bevvy of IoT sensors to monitor and control various plant growth parameters, also is embedded with deep learning models to optimise fertilisation and irrigation.
These tasks can be performed autonomously by drones and monitored from anywhere in the world. Moreover, in bigger farms, customised thermal sensors can be equipped to scan entire swaths of land and determine their moisture content and parameters to create precise deep-learning models to automate the process.
Search and rescue operations standard practices have been completely overhauled with aerial drones. Their unique capability to commute in the sky facilitates these operations and saves lives. For example, an aerial drone coupled with a thermal camera and light detection and ranging sensor (LiDAR) can glean through smoke and identify victims through thick plumes of smoke or those buried under deep soil in an earthquake. All this pertinent information would allow search and rescue personnel to make better decisions in their operations. Additionally, AI models can teach drones to aid victims or control and extinguish fires autonomously.
At the forefront of these aerial drones is the software that enables them to compute and analyse data. This leverages various elements of AI, such as deep learning, computer vision, and machine learning, among others. PDTIs are crucial to imbibe these skills into their graduates whilst at the campus, ensuring they can build customised AI models depending on their application.
Additionally, in the School of Engineering at APU, as a PDTI, there is an absolute need to bridge the gap between academic theoretical knowledge and hands-on solutions-driven application. Therefore, collaboration with various industries to build solution-specific applications using artificial intelligence is the aim to ensure our graduates meet industrial needs. The institution has worked with multiple companies on leveraging aerial drones with photogrammetry or LiDAR mapping to create digital twins of facilities and populate them with real-time IoT sensors for active modelling and optimisation. They have also worked closely with the industry to develop customised deep or machine learning models trained through edge or cloud computing solutions.
As a brainchild between MDEC, the Ministry of Education (MoE) Malaysia and industry leaders, the PDTIs deliver life-changing solutions to ensure that future graduates are propelled into becoming dynamic members of an innovation-driven and knowledge-powered Malaysian.
Ir. Narendran Ramasenderan is an experienced mechatronics professional engineer with a diverse portfolio of projects from renewable energy to autonomous unmanned vehicles. Narendran is working on enabling the industrial metaverse using autonomous robots towards a sustainable future.
