Principal Investigator

Dr. Chetan Singh Thakur

Assistant Professor; Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore-560012

Adjunct Faculty; International Centre for Neuromorphic Systems, Western Sydney University, Australia

Associated with the following research clusters at IISc:

Brain, Computation, and Data Research Group

Initiative on Quantum Technologies

Artificial Intelligence Group (AI@IISc)

Microelectronics & VLSI Design

Dr. Chetan Singh Thakur (Senior Member, IEEE) received his PhD in neuromorphic engineering at the MARCS Research Institute (Brain, Behaviour and Development), Western Sydney University in 2016 with Prof. André van Schaik‬. He then worked briefly as a research fellow for Defence Science and Technology, Australia. He completed his MTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay in 2007. Dr. Thakur worked as a research fellow at the Johns Hopkins University with Prof. Ralph Etienne-Cummings and Prof. Ernst Niebur for a year before joining IISc as an Assistant Professor. In addition, Dr. Thakur has extensive industrial experience. He worked for 6 years with Texas Instruments Singapore as a senior Integrated Circuit Design Engineer, designing IPs for mobile processors. He has been trained by world leaders in the field of neuromorphic engineering, and his research expertise lies in neuromorphic computing, mixed-signal VLSI systems, computational neuroscience, probabilistic signal processing, and machine learning. His research interest is to understand the signal processing aspects of the brain and apply those to build novel intelligent systems. He is recipients of several awards such as Young Investigator Award from Pratiksha Trust, Early Career Research Award by Science and Engineering Research Board- India, Inspire Faculty Award by Department of Science and Technology- India.

Editorial board member : Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering (IOP Publishing)

Associate Editor: Frontiers in Neuroscience (Neuromorphic Section)

Scientist/Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr. S.C.G. Kiruba Daniel is a SERB – National Post Doctoral Fellow of NeuRonICS Lab. He has completed his Ph.D in Nanotechnology from Anna University in the year 2015 and completed his Post-Doc from Instrumentation and Applied Physics Department, IISc in the year 2016. He has been trained by Academia Industry Training (AIT) Camp in EPFL, Switzerland sponsored by Switzerland and Indian Government. He got Gandhian Young technology Innovator Award with his team for his work on melamine sensing from milk in 2017. He led his start-up JK Nanosolutions to win National Level Dev Tech award (2016) from DFID, UK and DST India, Elevate 100 Award (2017) with a grant of 25 Lakhs INR, Tata Social Enterprise Challenge Award (2018) and Titan Design Impact Award (2018) with a grant of 65 lakhs.. He has around 20 publications and 8 patents contributing to 1052 citations (Google Scholar) and h-index of 16. His research interests are in the development of low power and low cost nanotechnology based sensing devices.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-s-c-g-kiruba-daniel-a50a8940/

Kalipatnapu Shantharam is a Research associate in NeuRonICS Lab at IISc. He did his Ph.D from Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering of IIT Kharagpur. His research interests include VLSI Architectures for Error Correction Decoders, Signal Processing and Machine learning systems.

Abhishek Nair is a Post Doctoral Researcher at NeuRonICS Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Machine Learning Hardware Accelerators at NeuRonICS Lab, DESE, IISc. He received his M.S. in Embedded Systems from Manipal University and B.E. in Electronics from Mumbai University. He has work experience of about 6 years in the semiconductor industry in hardware architecture design and validation at companies like Intel and Qualcomm. His research interests include the implementation of novel low power machine learning algorithms and neural networks on resource-constrained devices including digital hardware and embedded systems.

PhD Students

Kundan Kumar is a Ph.D. student in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. He received his M.E in Microelectronics from BITS Pilani University (Goa Campus) in 2016. Then he worked for a year at Thomson Reuters IP & Science division, Mumbai, which later became an independent company Clarivate Analytics. He is experienced in Prior Art Searches, Patent landscaping and analytics and has worked on various landscape projects in the domain of Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, IOT and Automation. His research areas include Neuromorphic Computing, Analog IC Designs, Machine Learning and Game theory. He is also an avid traveler and a MOOC Enthusiast.

Prince Philip is PhD student in the Neuronics Lab. Prior to joining Neuronics Lab, he worked in the areas of analog/ digital integrated circuits in academia and industry. He taught UG level courses such as microelectronic circuits, analog and mixed signal IC design, control engineering and electrical circuits. In industry, he designed and developed OFDM based Transceiver Chip and several other circuits for wireless and biomedical applications. In addition, he worked as a consultant for a US based semiconductor company. He graduated in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University. His interests are in neuromorphic engineering, theoretical neuroscience, analog IC design and signal processing

A. Lakshmi is a Ph.D. student in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. She graduated in Electronics and Communication Engineering from University of Madras. In the early years of her career, she was working in the signal processing division of Naval Physical and oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), DRDO, Kochi. In NPOL, she has been working in array signal processing. Currently she is working as scientist in Intelligent Systems and Robotics Division (ISRD) in Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), DRDO. Her research interests include computer vision algorithms which includes image de-blurring, simultaneous localization and mapping, content based image and video retrieval, relevance feedback, pedestrian detection, object detection and anomaly detection.

Pratik Kumar is a Ph.D. candidate in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. He received his M.Tech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Dhanbad, specializing in Microelectronics and VLSI. His area of interest includes hardware-software Co-Design of high-performance mixed-mode computational architectures for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tasks. His research includes the design of sub-threshold and deep sub-threshold (fA) computational architectures for energy-efficient and high-throughput computing. The research also focusses on the design of hybrid architectures utilizing novel multi-state memory elements. He has an industry experience of 2 Years in TCS Research.

Portfolio: https://sites.google.com/view/pratikkumar

Banhimitra Kundu has an industry experience of 10 years in HAL . He has completed his BTECH in 2008 in ECE from WBUT. Prior to joining IISC as a PhD Student , he has worked in HAL on development of mission computers(Level B) and control computers(Level A)for fixed wing and rotary wing platforms on both software and hardware front . In software ,he has hands on experience in developing of application softwares and device drivers with/without using RTOS.In hardware he has developed hardware for analog sensor conditioning and single board computers using SOC’s.His research interest lies in neuromorphic computing and its hardware implementation.

Ankita Nandi is a Ph.D. student in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. She has completed her B.Tech. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from the National Institute of Technology Meghalaya in 2018. She was awarded the prestigious President’s Gold Medal and the Institute Gold Medal for her performance in B.Tech. in 2018. She continued to pursue her education from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar and received her M.Tech. degree in 2020. At IIT Gandhinagar, she was attached with the nanoDC lab, where she explored approximate computing for the design of low energy compute circuits for image processing applications. She is familiar with MATLAB, Verilog, and C languages. Her research enthusiasm lies in the design and implementation of low power circuits using analog, digital, or mixed-mode approaches for neuromorphic systems. Further, she takes a keen interest in low power circuit design techniques for in-memory computing, signal processing, and error correction codes. Her profile can be found on https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankita-nandi-603029191/.

Gitesh Kulkarni, a Senior Scientist from TCS Research joins us as a Ph.D. student. He is an accomplished designer of embedded systems design and a Maker at heart. He has completed his Master of Science in Electrical engineering from Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA, and a Bachelor of Engineering from Pune University. Gitesh has created embedded systems and systems products for leading technology companies in his career. In one of his pioneering works, he was the lead designer of the world’s first industrial safety watch for the TATA group. His research interests are at the cusp of edge computing, computer architectures, and sensing. He has filed and granted patents in edge computing and wearable devices. Gitesh is a member of IEEE and ACM. When not playing with Linux or a soldering gun, he is busy reading science fictions, comics, and musing about philosophy. He is a licensed Ham radio operator as well.

Madhuvanthi Srivatsav R is a Ph.D. student in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. She has completed her Btech (Hons) and Mtech in VLSI and Electronics Systems Design from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Design, and Manufacturing, Kancheepuram. She is a GATE rank holder and was awarded the Institute Gold Medal for the All-Rounder of the Graduating Batch at IIITDM, in 2021. At IIITDM, her research work was in the field of Neuromorphic Engineering, and Low-Power VLSI design. In addition, she has worked for a year at SiFive, Bangalore in the domain of Physical Design. She is familiar with Cadence tools, Matlab, Verilog, and Python coding. Her research interests include Machine Learning, Neuromorphic computing, Analog, and Digital IC design, and hardware implementation of AI.

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madhuvanthi-srivatsav-r-906300155/

Ketan Sanjay Chaudhari is a Ph.D student in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. He has completed his B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati in 2021. He is familiar with Matlab, Verilog, VHDL and Python coding. His research interests include Digital VLSI design, Neural Networks and hardware implementation of Brain Inspired algorithms.

Pradeep Kumar Gautam has completed his B. Tech in Electronics and Communication engineering from NIT Jaipur. He is working as a Scientist with DRDO. He was part of DRDO’s Processor design center (ANURAG) and is currently working at the Centre for Artificial Intelligence (CAIR). He has worked on Processor design and development involving design of multi-core network processors. His expertise is processor customization and architecture development for embedded applications. Currently he is working on development of hardware implementation of Machine Learning algorithms for fast and energy efficient inference. His research interests are hardware assisted application accelerators, processor architecture and machine learning algorithm inference on FPGAs.

Master Students

Rownick Pyne is a Mtech Research student in the NeuRonICS lab at IISc. He has received his B.E. in Electrical Engineering from Jadavpur University in 2013. Prior to joining IISc, he had worked as a Research Associate at IIT Delhi, working in the area of wideband matching network design and energy harvesting from ambient sources for wireless sensor nodes. He was also a Junior Research Fellow at IIT Kharagpur, working in the area of Compressed Sensing based fetal ECG monitoring for point-of-care applications. His research interests include Signal Processing, Machine Learning, Neuromorphic circuits and systems and Brain computer interfacing. He is currently working in the area of neuroelectronic hybrid systems.

P. Sai Surya Srinivas is currently pursuing MTech in Electronic Systems Engineering at IISc, Bangalore. He has completed his BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering and graduated in 2020 from Anil Neerukonda Institute of Technology and Sciences, Visakhapatnam. His research interests include Neuromorphic hardware Architecture and Embedded systems. He is working under Dr. Chetan Singh Thakur on Neuromorphic Hardware Architecture for Auditory Tasks.

Aaditya Garg
I am Aaditya Garg. Currently pursuing Mtech in Artificial Intelligence from Indian Institute of Science, 2020-2022 batch. I have completed my BTech in Computer Engineering from Institute of Engineering & Management, Kolkata in 2020. I am confident in C++ and Python programming and my fields of interest include applications of ML and AI.

Vaibhav Venkata Lakshmi Pabbisetty
I am Vaibhav, completed my BTech in Electronics and communication engineering in 2020 from JNTU Kakinada currently pursuing Mtech in Microelectronics and VLSI design at Indian institute of science, Bangalore.my areas of interest is digital system design. I am presently working under Chetan Singh Thakur sir in Neuronics lab.

Mamta Singh is pursuing MTech in Artificial Intelligence from IISc Bangalore. She completed her BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIITDM Jabalpur. Her interests include applications of Machine learning and Deep learning across various domains such as Edge Computing and Computer Vision etc.
Linkedin : https://www.linkedin.com/in/mamta26/

N. Srikanth Rohit, graduated from NIT Trichy in 2018 from the Dept. of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. Worked in Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd. for 1year as Electrical Maintenance Team Leader at Sri Kalahasti Plant. Currently Pursuing MTech in Department of Electronic Systems Engineering, IISc Bengaluru. Interested in developing Hardware Architecture for Machine Learning Applications and Edge Computing.

Chandana DG.
I am Chandana DG, currently pursuing MTech in Electronic Systems Engineering at IISc, Bangalore. I completed my BTech in Electronics and Communication Engineering and graduated in 2019 from BMS College of Engineering, Bangalore. My interest lies in the field of developing Hardware Architecture for Machine Learning Applications and Edge Computing.

Sonam Kumari
My name is Sonam Kumari and I am currently pursuing MTech in Microelectronics and VLSI design at IISc Bangalore. I have completed my BTech in Electronics and Communication from NIT Allahabad in 2018. I have worked in HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited for 2.3 years as an Instrumentation Engineer in the Petrochemical Maintenance Department. I have hands on experience of building interlock logics on Yokogawa’s PLC. My areas of interests are ML, Deep Neural Networks and Neuromorphic Computing.

Arnab Nandy is currently pursuing Microelectronics and VLSI Design from IISc, Bangalore. He completed his BTech from IIEST, Shibpur in 2020 and happens to be a JBNSTS Senior Scholar. His broad research interests are in Digital Electronics and Computer Architecture for AI and also Solid State Physics.

Kola Bharath
I am Kola Bharath. Currently pursuing M.Tech in Electronic Systems Engineering at IISc, Bangalore. I completed B.Tech in 2016 from RGUKT-NUZVID in Electronics and Communication Engineering. I worked as a Junior Telecommunications Officer at BSNL Kerala, Kasaragod in the field of Mobile Communications for 2.8 years. Areas of interests include Edge Computing, applications of Radar, and Machine Learning.

Sujeet Kumar Maurya
I am Sujeet Kumar Maurya. Completed my B.Tech in Electronics & Communication Engineering in 2017 from GIET Gunupr. I worked in the IT industry for a couple of years and currently pursuing M.Tech in Micro-Electronics & VLSI Design stream. My area of interest includes Digital System Design, Machine Learning, and Testing.

Satyapreet Singh is pursuing M.Tech in Electronic Systems Engineering (2020-2022). She completed her BTech in Electronics and communication from NIT Calicut in 2014. She has an industrial experience of 7 years. She is currently employed with Space Applications Centre (ISRO). Her interests lie in the field of microwave sensors and machine learning applications.
Linkedin: http://linkedin.com/in/satyapreet-singh-378541100

Suraj Das K is currently pursuing MTech in Electronic Systems Engineering at IISc Banglore. He completed his Btech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from NIT Jamshedpur. Previously, He worked on VDCC based circuits. And is familiar with C , Verilog, MATLAB .His research interests include Machine Learning and Neuromorphic Hardware architecture for vision/auditory tasks. He is presently working under Dr.Chetan Singh Thakur in Neuronics Lab.

Radha Agarwal
I am currently pursuing M.Tech in Microelectronics and VLSI Design at IISc Bangalore. I have completed B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Institute of Engineering and Technology, Lucknow in 2020. I am familiar with MATLAB, Verilog, Python and C. My fields of interest include applications of machine learning and embedded systems. Currently I am working on mmWave radar signal processing project under the guidance of Dr. Chetan Singh Thakur.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/radha-agarwal-492093141

Research Assistants

Aditya K received a B.E degree in Electronics and communication engineering from PES University in 2017. Obtained a summer fellowship from IIT-Hyderabad under Indian Academy of Sciences in 2016. Currently working on FPGA based hardware implementation of particle filters. Research interests include design of VLSI architectures for signal processing, satellite communication and cryptographic applications

Vignesh Ramanathan is a research assistant working on the topics of predictive modelling. He has completed his BE in electronics and communication engineering from Sir MVIT in 2015. Post bachelors he worked in the powertrain division of Robert Bosch for 3 years. He has work experience in developing embedded systems, automation systems, computer vision applications, natural language processing, big data analytics, time series analysis. He is also a ISTQB certified test engineer.

Hemanth Sabbella is a B.Tech graduate from IIIT-Delhi in Electronics and Communication Engineering. He is currently working under Prof. Chetan in Circuit Designing and FPGA design for Ultrasound imaging. His research interests lie in VLSI design and embedded hardware. He worked as an Intern on designing an Electromagnetic Interference(EMI) sensor in Energy lab, IIITD and he designed 4th order Switch capacitor bandpass filter in his final year course project. He has an active mind on doing hands-on electronics hence, established Electroholics club in IIITD and also, contributed to organizing Delhi Mini Maker Faire. In addition, he has an industry experience of one year in hyper-automation. He wishes to pursue his higher studies and also, interested in building his own venture in the long term.

Pritesh Dwivedi is a B.Tech graduate from IET Lucknow in Computer Science and Engineering.He is working under Dr. Chetan Singh Thakur on projects involving computer vision and machine learning. He has worked on biomedical image analysis in a start-up prior to joining the lab. His interests include the application of machine learning across various domains such as computer vision , biomedical images (CT Scans, MRI’s) , edge computing etc.

Poojitha S Pai
Currently working on Nanoparticle-based biosensors for the detection of heavy metals and complex biological molecules under the guidance of Prof. Chetan and Dr. Daniel. Gold Medalist for securing first rank in M.Sc Microbiology from Bangalore University in 2019. Obtained Diploma in Biology under the Project-Oriented Biological Education (POBE) programme from JNCASR in 2017. Qualified national level competitive exams such as GATE 2020 and K-SET 2020 in Life Sciences. Interested to pursue Ph.D in the interdisciplinary field of Microbiology and Nanotechnology.

Shreyas K has completed his BE in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from SJEC, Mangalore. He is currently working under Dr Chetan Singh Thakur and Mr Haresh Dagale on system design for “Tiny Brain” an ultra-low-power FPGA based cognition machine. He has worked as a System Design Engineer with Fluxgen Engineering Technologies and was an active member of Terrorbull Robotics. He is an enthusiastic Maker who managed Make at CFAL, a makerspace in Mangalore. His interests include electronics design, product prototyping and creative design.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyaskulur/