LUMS Team Shines at IEEE Final Year Projects Competition

Lahore, The LUMS team was declared as the competitors at the IEEE Lahore Section ending of its Final Year Projects Competition at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore which was organized on July 14, 2012.

Their project was titled “SONAR Tracking of Indus River Dolphins.” The LUMS team comprised Muhammad Asif Rana, Muhammad Usama Bin Sikandar, Talal Ahmed and Aneeq Zia.

The final round was fought by 10 teams from all over Punjab who were asked after an initial short-listing of Final Year Projects from five chapters under IEEE Lahore Section. Prof. Dr. Noor M. Sheikh (Dean, Department of Electrical Engineering, UET, Lahore) was the Chief Guest at the occasion.

The project presented by LUMS students aimed at using the echolocation clicks/SONAR of Indus River Dolphins to track their movement underwater. The project was managed by Dr. Abubakr Muhammad (Assistant Professor, LUMS Department of Electrical Engineering) and was funded by WWF-Pakistan.

These dolphins, like other dolphin species, produce trains of clicks and use their reflection from surroundings to direct through the river. Due to the exceptional amount of previous study on these rare dolphins, students faced a tough time in getting and analysing the echolocation clicks of these dolphins.

Several trips to Sukkur were conducted and urbane data acquisition system was developed and employed to eventually record the dolphin clicks for analysis. An array of hydrophones was also instigated underwater to focus the dolphins and track them with time. A detailed analysis of the dolphin signals and a prototype real-time tracking system was presented by the students. The audience and the evaluators were highly impressed by the efforts of the students involved in this unique project.

The IEEE Lahore Section is a subsidiary of the IEEE worldwide. It is one of the three full sections operating in Pakistan others being Karachi and Islamabad. The IEEE is a non-profit professional association headquartered in New York City that is dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence. It has more than 400,000 members in more than 160 countries, about 51.4% of whom exist in the United States.