Rescue operations in landslides, mudslips or flood-affected areas are usually risky and tough to implement. Kerala-based startup Augsenselab has come up with drone-mounted sensor technology to enhance the efficiency and safety of search operations in such difficult terrain.
Established in 2019, Augsenselab is the creation of a team of researchers — Kannan Keshava Pillai, Naveen Francis, Hari Nataraj, Jinu Sukumaran, and Sudheer Krishnankutty Nair — who specialise in next-generation technologies like augmented sensing and RF (radio frequency) sensing. These technologies are used across various sectors, such as helping defence forces locate landmines and other concealed dangers.
As Sudheer Krishnankutty Nair explains the core agenda of the team is to create RF sensing solutions that can penetrate debris and sense the presence of human bodies beneath it, they are also leveraging the developments in quantum sensing technology to miniaturise their payloads to compact, energy-efficient, and deployable via drones. This is enabling rapid scanning of disaster-struck areas to find survivors more effectively.
Prior to Augsenselab, the team had a background in medical imaging, with specific expertise in software development for CT scanners, MRI machines, and X-ray machines. They expanded into environmental sensing with an initial project involving improving weather forecasting algorithms. At the time, weather forecasting was based primarily on sparse data from weather balloons, which was not enough considering the rising volatility of weather conditions due to climate change. This identified need prompted the team to look into more scalable, real-time-based solutions.
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They recognised the demand for hyperlocal, real-time atmospheric monitoring and looked to GNSS tomography— a technique employing satellite signals to identify atmospheric changes. In 2023, they constructed their initial prototype based on the approach. The startup remained bootstrapped until 2024, being funded by personal capital of its founders. As Sudheer describes, their initial key innovation was the passively sensing of satellite signals to recover atmospheric information, a low-cost solution as opposed to expensive radars.
Initiatives by the Kerala Startup Mission and the Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (KDISC) assisted them in scaling further. One of their major milestones occurred during the 2022 landslide in Kannur's Kanichar, when the Kerala government initiated a better prediction model for the area.
Augsenselab's hyperlocal weather observation technology is being tested as pilot now as part of an umbrella initiative in association with IIT Roorkee, which is utilising this information to improve its landslide prediction models.
Seeing beyond the constraints of traditional RF receivers, the team has since then explored quantum sensing technologies, which hold varied promise outside disaster management. Their technologies can aid infrastructure management across industries like urban planning, mining, oil and gas, and utilities. For example, the same principles of sensing can be used to identify buried pipelines, leak detection, or trace structural vulnerability— all by drone-based platforms.
Defence continues to be a significant area of focus. Augsenselab is now a part of iDEX, which is a government programme for innovation in the aerospace and defence industries. Their proposal was shortlisted by the Indian Air Force earlier this year, and they have signed an agreement to initiate product development under the scheme.
Their five-year ambition is to create sensing products that can image as much as 50 meters beneath the Earth's surface up to 500 kilometres above. With increasing support from the Kerala government and the Ministry of Defence, the group is now in an active period of scale-up, extending the limits of what is achievable in real-time environmental and subsurface sensing.
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