Rourkela: Innovators from National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, have developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered autonomous system for monitoring and cleaning solar panels, ensuring peak power generation without regular human intervention. The research team of assistant professor Arun Kumar, professor Bibhudatta Sahoo, and PhD graduates Lopamudra Hota and Biraja Prasad Nayak from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering has secured an Indian patent for this, the NIT said in a press release on Monday.The Indian patent is titled ‘Federated Learning Based Autonomous System and Method for Monitoring and Cleaning Solar Plant’.The release said as solar energy capacity in India is expanding rapidly, large-scale solar farms, particularly in arid and dusty regions, face energy losses of up to 40% caused by dust, bird droppings, industrial pollutants and other debris accumulated on the panels. “Conventional methods/practices used to clean the solar panels are labour-intensive and require a large amount of water. Such practices usually rely on scheduled maintenance of the panels rather than on their conditions. To address these limitations, the NIT research team has developed an autonomous mechanism powered by Federated Learning (FL), providing an AI-driven framework to enable intelligent, privacy-preserving monitoring, fault detection and optimised cleaning recommendations for solar panels. The technology has been validated through simulation and is currently at Technology Readiness Level (TRL)-3,” said the release.Arun said the patented system combines federated learning, edge computing, artificial intelligence, autonomous cleaning and predictive maintenance into a single integrated sandbox platform. Notable features, including reduced water consumption and lower maintenance costs, make it a one-of-a-kind system, he added.About the cost-effectiveness of the technology, Bibhudatta said their system features at approximately 10% of the cost of existing systems. “The research team plans to test the invention for the development of a hardware prototype integrated with an IoT sensing infrastructure. Also, they target to collaborate with govt agencies and industry partners to undertake field deployments,” said the release, adding the developed technology supports the Govt of India’s National Solar Mission and Net Zero ambition.
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