Tech as the answer to city’s woes

lLw enforcement agencies could also benefit from this database for investigation purposes

KARACHI:

Students at the Usman Institute of Technology institute have developed a surveillance system to manage a smooth flow of traffic, prevent violation of rules, and control street crime in the metropolitan city.

More than 70 students exhibited their creations on Saturday. The students explained that the surveillance system could be installed in parking lots, at toll plazas, and on borders.

It would record data of all vehicles through CCTV cameras, which would be converted into text through digital image processing.

All the information would be saved in a database which could then be used as per need, according to them. The law enforcement agencies could also benefit from this database for investigation purposes.

“We can even record the registration number of a vehicle through digital image processing to protect it against theft,” said Anas Zahid, one of the students who developed the system. “This can also be used to ensure compliance with traffic rules and prevent violations.”

About the automatic streetlight, Muhammad Rizwan, a student of electrical engineering, said that it goes off automatically during daylight and switches back on when night falls. “This could help save electricity,” he added. Rizwan, who is 24, said it’s much cheaper than those available in the market. The students also developed an electric motorcycle, which they said could mitigate the country’s perennial energy crisis if they were produced on an industrial scale.

A student, who developed the electric bicycle, said that it could considerably cut the fuel cost of the riders after the recent spike in petrol price. “A lithium-ion battery energises this bike and it can travel up to 25km, or for up to 3 hours, on a single charge,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2023.