Going Aatma-Nirbhar With Surveillance

Soon after the announcement of the Defence Procurement Procedure in 2016, Optimized Electrotech Private Limited (OEPL) started up as an indigenous tech company, focusing on image surveillance. The company aims to keep artificial intelligence at its core and bring true Aatma-Nirbharta to the surveillance domain.

Vaishali Yadav from Electronics For You recently interacted with Sandeep Shah, the co-founder and Managing Director of Optimized Electrotech. While talking about OEPL, he also shared his thoughts on the start-up ecosystem in India, privacy concerns and the Chinese challenge. Here are the excerpts…

Q. Which market does your company cater to and what is its significance?

A. The market we’re serving is that of surveillance. Surveillance, as you would know, is the need of the hour. Everybody wants to know what’s going on around them. 

There are different types of surveillance, including digital surveillance, which is snooping on somebody’s phone. There is cyber surveillance, where you log into the email storage servers and try to snoop. And then, there is imaging surveillance, where you actually keep looking at what’s happening around you.

Q. We would like to know what your company intends to do.

A. We are into imaging surveillance. So, we build systems which have got multiple types of sensors, which acquire the information around them through different spectral wavelengths, including visible light (for the colour cameras), shortwave imaging and medium-wave imaging. We combine all of them to come up with an assessment of all the happenings. This is called situational awareness.

Q. What are the Indian market prospects in this sector?

A. So far, India was dependent on the US, China and Israel for situational awareness-related products. China, for the civilian market or the smart cities market, and border surveillance was mostly done by Israeli industry.

India has now decided that we will try to be as indigenous as possible. Also, intellectual property must reside in India. With this mindset, it is now imperative that we build something in India, which can be as good as what the Israelis are making, and as cost-effective as what China is offering. 

It is where we come into the picture. Optimized Electrotech builds products which are multispectral imaging systems and can be used for knowing the situation around you through Artificial Intelligence, and using that, we can tell the customer, automatically, that this is what’s happening, instead of giving a video feed and then the user discovering that by himself. We have an AI-based system and it can review directly what’s happening.

Q. How did the name ‘Optimized Electrotech’ happen?

A. The name ‘Optimized Electrotech’ means that we provide solutions which are neither expensive nor below international quality level, i.e., with ‘optimal’ conditions. Electro because it is pure electronics based. And, we are eventually a technology products company, so, tech. That is how Optimized Electrotech happens to be.

Q. How did your team come up with this idea of imaging surveillance? 

A. The idea was quite old, and it goes to the time when I was heading another company called Optimized Solutions, which I still head, where we were serving different customers including ISRO.

ISRO had thought of long-distance imaging system technology, but unfortunately, the defence does not have it. And ISRO was only focused on their own activity related to space. And India was buying everything for security, which is where we realized that there is a potential to actually make something for defence also in India.

Q. What was the starting journey like?

A. I embarked upon that journey in 2012. But, at that time, the start-up policy was not in existence. It was extremely difficult for us to contend or compete against the biggies. At the same time, there was no indigenisation policy, so we had to compete against everybody in the world. That was just too difficult for anybody to start from zero.

The moment the startup idea policy was announced in 2016, and later in December 2016, the defence procurement procedure was announced, it was very clear that now our defence is going to give more importance to indigenous content, while also allowing startups to participate. With these two pieces of information, in early 2017, I started with this and all my co-founders joined within a few months of time.

Q. Tell us about your team and the background of the team members. 

A. All the co-founding members of Optimized Electrotech come from different domains. For example, Dharin Shah is an electronics expert, an IISc postgraduate, worked at Texas Instruments, then co-founded one company, worked with MediaTek, and then joined this company. So, he came with a very rich experience in electronics. Similarly, Anil Kumar Yekkala is also from IISC Bangalore. He’s a double postgraduate and he has worked with NXP Semiconductors, Philips, and Motorola, in which he has been able to do several activities on image processing. Kuldeep Saxena is from ISRO and is an IIT-Delhi graduate, with an optics and optomechanics background. Given the nature of this particular business of imaging surveillance systems, it is required that you have all these checkmarks— optics, optomechanics, imaging, electronics, AI, detection etc.

Q. How did you build the first prototype?

A. With that kind of team that we had put together, we started working on the first prototype. The first prototype needs to have an appropriate assembly, and also a cleanroom required for making these kinds of systems. So, we set up the first ISO-Class 7 cleanroom in Bangalore. Once we had the cleanroom, we set up the Optical and Electronics bays for our expert team to work, we were able to build a proof of concept which was demonstrated to a few people from ISRO and DRDO, and they approved it.

Then, we started working on a prototype. The first prototype was developed in early 2019 and based on that, we were able to secure ourselves the first round of funding. We were able to get an investment from an equity investor that helped us to convert the prototype into a product

Q. Is Optimized Electrotech based out of Bangalore?

A. We are based in two locations, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. We have the R&D activities and prototype development being done in Bangalore. But our corporate office, sales, marketing accounts, finance and branding—all are located in Ahmedabad.

Q. What do you think is the one innovation that is the USP of Optimized Electrotech?

A. We bring AI to multispectral fusion. Now, artificial intelligence is not present in every imaging system. Very, very few imaging systems have it. And all of our systems have it. 

Secondly, we use multispectral imaging, which means that for every image we take, we use two different types of sensors—visible and thermal, to build the image. With this multispectral fusion and AI onboard, all of our products can directly identify a person, count the number and direction of persons, and tell you the type and direction of the vehicle along with its license plate—and all this is done automatically without any human input.

Q. Would you like to highlight any particular product of Optimized Electrotech?

A. We have a product called ‘NoctVision’, which is an automated day and night surveillance system. It has multiple uses. The applications vary from border surveillance all the way to critical infrastructure protection. The product has got multiple elements and we are able to do the 360-degree movement of the camera. It has got a visible as well as a thermal imaging system, along with a compass. In addition to the ability to do distance measurement, it has a built-in NavIC board, which is India’s own Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

NoctVision becomes your sentry for managing your premises. It will continuously keep doing surveillance of any particular area/location of interest. You can see up to seven kilometres in completely dark conditions. It can even do face recognition from around 300-400 feet. A lot of classification goes on board. Also, it is AI-enabled.

Q. What has been the commercialization story of Optimized Electrotech?

A. We had a terrible time during COVID, especially because we were focused on building systems for defence and border surveillance, and these things take time. Therefore, we were forced to reinvent ourselves; we immediately moved to build civilian products.

As our entire team is mostly electronics, for us, it was more about just assembling the modules again. So, we used different types of systems within our system. We had one processor, one FPGA, one GPU, multiple interface boards and all. But these are all modules. 

What we did is, simply put together the modules and instead of going for military-grade compliance, we went for standard industrial compliance. It reduced the cost significantly and we were able to come up with different types of products. With prior certification from a NABL-certified lab, our first product was easily procured by the Indian railways as well as by companies within India.

Q. Are you hiring people right now? What talent do you seek, generally?

A. We’re continuously hiring. We’re looking for FPGA programmers, that is VHDL programmers. We are looking for AI specialists. We’re also looking for a support team and a general manager (finance) for navigating all the fund-raise. We are also looking for an optomechanics person to augment the team. We have built our own optics and optomechanics and currently, we have lots of projects from the Indian Army that we are working on. Our current team is not sufficient for that we are looking for more people.

Q. Are you willing to hire freshers, or provide any kind of internship?

A. We don’t hire freshers and provide no internships. We are looking for people who have at least got four to five years of experience with them in the same product line. We want to immediately convert ideas into products. We don’t have the time.

Q. Are you partnering with some other firms?

A. We have partnered for technology services with some of the Indian firms. We partnered with a couple of firms in Bangalore and Hyderabad, who are currently helping us out by providing human resources. And these people are supporting us with the development. But the intellectual property is ours. And the support that is required is also quite niche. 

For technology development, no partnership because we would like to keep technology close to our hearts. So, we develop it inside and don’t go outside. In fact, we have got two patents and we are defending two more. All of these are internally developed.

 We have partnerships for the manufacturing and co-development of AI engines. We partnered with Bharat Dynamics Limited, a Hyderabad-based PSU, for one development. We are working with India Optel Limited for the co-development and manufacturing of certain products.

Q. What about partnering firms enabling you to expand your customer base?

A. We’re doing it outside of India, not within India. We don’t have the infrastructure outside of India. So, we are partnering with firms outside of India, that can directly bring us customers from their region. For within India, I think, our own team is good enough for right now.

Maybe two years later, we will require those kinds of partners. We have already got three distributors and we are good to go with that.

Q. As you mentioned that you might partner with Indian firms in future, what would you seek in them and how would you choose? 

A. For the people who can bring us technology, they have to be great at electronic design and AI. Also, people who have workshops for the manufacturing of optics, for example, diamond turning machines, polishing machines, etc, will be sought after, because we don’t do all this by ourselves. We only design, test and integrate. We don’t manufacture. So, we will require people who have these capacities and capabilities.

Q. And what about those that can bring you customers?

A. I think it will be too early for me to say that but eventually, we will be looking for companies that have got very good IT solutions for smart cities, or those who are working in access control systems. These integrators will also be our good partners because we sell through system integrators as well as OEMs.

Q. How are you planning to expand in India?

A. Within India, we have massive expansion plans. We are currently having one Prototype Development Facility in Bangalore, and we will soon come up with another larger manufacturing or assembly facility somewhere in Gujarat or Bangalore. We have already secured three rounds of funding so far, and we will be going for more funding.

We also have complementary technology tie-ups with a few non-Indian companies.

Q. And any plans for going abroad…?

A. With respect to going abroad, we will only export products, and not set up any facilities outside of India. We’d like to have connections and partnerships with companies outside of India, who would be selling our products in those countries.

We already have started speaking to eight countries. Selling these kinds of products is an uphill task. We are hopeful that within a maximum of one year or so, we should be able to get into at least two countries.

Q. Would you please share some of the challenges you faced in your journey so far?

A. We faced multiple challenges, and we have made numerous mistakes. So, I will only pick a few. 

The number one challenge is that the defence does not buy that easily. So, even if you have gone through a trial, you need to make sure that they are fully satisfied, not partially.

The second challenge is that because revenues are delayed, it’s very difficult to convince your investor, employees and bankers that you are in good shape and you will be lasting long.

Some of the biggest challenges we faced were during COVID. If your customer does not even allow you to present your product to them, how are you ever going to sell them? But that luckily worked out as we switched the entire thing from defence to the civilian market.

Q. What were some of the mistakes that you made on this path of entrepreneurship?

A. The first mistake we made is that we tried to work on too many challenges together. We could have probably delayed one challenge so that we could address only one at a time. But we wanted to do all of it together. So, we worked on the latest quality sensors in the market, we worked on the completely indigenous electronics, and simultaneously we started working on our own optics. The result was that with so many moving parts, our first prototype was delayed by a long time.

Given a chance, we would always want to now solve smaller problems first and try to get to the next step, instead of solving all the problems. 

Secondly, we invested an equal proportion of effort in all the areas that are required in this domain. But, we found that the customers don’t care about all of them, but about very few aspects of the product. So later on, we decided to only focus on those areas where the customer is willing to pay the price. 

So, we could have saved some money in the process, I believe, if we had known it beforehand. So the learning was to be more proactive with the customers, knowing whether our efforts are of use to the market.

Q. In the surveillance market, China holds a very significant chunk of the Indian market. What are your thoughts on it?

A. I believe we will have to establish the fact that Chinese products have a lot of malicious code inside. And therefore, they need to be avoided in all circumstances. Many government organizations have already realized that and have banned them. But the private sector is oblivious to it, they don’t care enough about it. They don’t actually understand the underlying threat. That needs to be told to people.

Q. Don’t you think people go for Chinese products mainly because they are cheaper than Made-in-India products?

A. The only way to make cheaper products is by making volume. And volumes can only be generated if you have a market. And the market can only be there if you protect it. For example, if the Indians don’t mind buying Chinese, then the Chinese people who have already invested hugely in such kinds of products will continue to grow. But if the Indians actively disengage with the Chinese stuff and demand local products, only then can an ecosystem for the production of cheaper products be created.

Then, the Indian investors and enterprises would know that we are going to always have the Indian market and therefore it is worth investing in it. That’s the way to go. We cannot beat China at prices, definitely not in the next two-three years.

Every country is moving in the same direction. Europe is doing ‘Rebuild Europe’, where they are protecting the enterprises within Europe by providing them with subsidies and high priority in purchases. Likewise, the US is working towards that same goal. And I’m sure that India also is working quite well right now, with initiatives like Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Make in India initiative, Gati shakti etc.

Q. Coming to face recognition, there has always been a privacy debate around the facial database in India. What are your thoughts on that? 

A. Whatever the law will be, we will follow it. As we speak, there is no law. Now, there is a spectrum, on the left of which lies the GDPR law, which is what Europe has enacted, which says that you will not save any data of any individual without condition, which obviously covers the face data. On the very far right is the Chinese, where there are companies like SenseTime, which continuously monitor the citizens. So, they continuously keep watching whether you are being a good citizen or they need to penalize you.

The benefit of surveillance is that it gives you information about your surroundings. If you are okay with your surroundings being open, then why would you invest in surveillance? There is no reason. Therefore, you will always have some reason to get this. It may be for an ordnance factory, legislative assembly, parliament, DRDO labs or ISRO premises. They have a reason to protect themselves. Therefore, they can always have a list of positive people who are allowed around, and they keep track. If you have that, you will have to match it, in some way, to the one you are seeing in front of you. The only thing you can do is, you may choose not to save that data. But, we’ll at least be able to say whether it was from the positive list or the negative one.

When it comes to, say, a Smart City, one fantastic use case here is to actually find out missing persons, and vehicles. Instead of chasing law-violating vehicles, you can locate them and simply land up there. These are some of the applications which can’t do it if we can’t recognize people and vehicles. 

So, I’m sure that lawmakers are going to be cognizant of what they want. We can’t be naive and open ourselves to all the fragility that comes along with the ban on such kind of data. At the same time, if you want to protect your citizens, you can always set a time limit for its storage.

Q. As you are a new-age start-up experiencing the current ecosystem, are there any lessons that you would like to share with the upcoming startups in this field?

A. I think, one important lesson is to not start a company or build a product just because you believe that you have the technical capability or specific skill sets. That’s not how it works. It’s always great to go to customers and try to find out what is it that they need. Is that problem not solved already? If it is not solved, then you attempt to solve it. And if it is solved already, then you ask yourself again, is my skill going to help the customer in a better way? Only then can you get into this. Otherwise, it is too much of a waste of time and money.

I have seen so many startups come up just because it is cool to ‘start-up’. And then they end up making a product that nobody wants.

Q. What’s next for Optimized Electrotech?

A. We are currently making electronic modules with AI and firmware. One of the biggest milestones for us would be to actually make a single module compatible with the acquisition and processing of images from space, from vehicles, from naval ships as well as on a simple civilian-type camera. If a single module can do all of that, I think we would have achieved our own vision, the vision of being ubiquitous, the vision of being at all the places by virtue of our values, without at all being dependent on other countries. We are making such a kind of universal model. It can take maybe a single-digit number of years to get there. But that’s what we’re working on.