By News Karnataka
Copyright newskarnataka
Surathkal, 19 September 2025 — The IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) Club of NITK Surathkal has been declared runners-up in the prestigious Video and Image Processing (VIP) Cup 2025, a global student challenge hosted as part of the IEEE International Conference on Image Processing (ICIP) in Anchorage, Alaska, USA. This year’s challenge was to develop a Infrared-Visual Fusion for Enhanced Drone Detection, Tracking and Payload Identification in Surveillance Videos. The competition, organized by the IEEE Signal Processing Society, drew undergraduate teams from across the world to solve a real-world AI problem in drone surveillance.
The NITK team was shortlisted as one of the top four finalists globally, earning an invitation to present their work at ICIP 2025. The students received free registration, sponsored travel, and a cash prize of $2,500 USD in recognition of their achievement.
The challenge focused on building an AI system to detect, track, and identify payloads in drones from surveillance videos—particularly in privacy-sensitive and high-security zones. The NITK team’s solution integrated inputs from both visible and infrared cameras to overcome limitations posed by adverse weather conditions such as fog and rain. The system also addressed the critical task of identifying malicious drones based on payload analysis.
Third-year B.Tech students Guhan Balaji and Asrith Singampalli from the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering represented NITK Surathkal on the global stage, guided by Prof. Deepu Vijayasenan, Professor, Department of ECE. Prof. B. Ravi, Director of NITK Surathkal, congratulated the team and emphasized the significance of student-led research in advancing both the Institute’s and India’s standing in global academic and innovation forums.
