A mythical dream: Founding team of a deep tech startup

Imagine a hypothetical situation, you want to realize your dream of unfurling a gizmo. More specifically,? you want to develop a molecular machine that mimics a biochemical system just like living organisms. Where would you want to start?

Today, I am fascinated by the infinite possibilities with digitally controlled electromechanical control systems. But my journey into electronics started from analog television, radio and audio systems. As Steve Jobs once rightly said, “You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards”.??

I must have been 10 years old. My father, my non-certified engineering Guru since childhood, introduced me to a mysterious phenomenon. On touching the pre-amplifier input of a car audio amplifier, it suddenly started receiving local AM radio broadcasts. It took me several years into becoming an engineer, to understand how the human body can work like an antenna. For more tech savvy, here is the link mathematical model of Human Body as an Antenna. From a very young age, I have been fascinated by antennas, radio waves, amplifiers and pressure transducers (speakers).

My first year in engineering college rewired my synaptic connections. As if it were my psychological resurrection by sudden exposure to all branches of engineering. I was introduced to many interesting things that I did not know yet.

During my second year of engineering, some of our lab experiments were related to transistor biasing and power amplifiers. The most challenging of all lab experiments, even to the brightest of my classmates, was the Class C amplifier. I took it as a personal challenge to find a practical application for this class of tuned amplifiers. Although we had an awesome library in our college, JNNCE, Shimoga, as a big blessing, the dud in me did not know where to look. Also, I could not yet afford a personal desktop computer.

Image courtesy: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Winamp-is-rising-from-the-dead-version-6-coming-in-2019.338766.0.html

A moment of gratitude?

Sumeet Mulani (aka ‘Slipstream’ Sumeet, “teemus”, Mullu)

I stayed along with several others in the college hostels on campus. Tunga hostel was the bigger of the other two, Bhadra and Sharavathi. It was a 4-bed per room hostel. Sharavathi was for the “brightest” so to speak, with a single bed per room. All new admissions to the hostel were supposed to stay in Tunga hostel while the academic performance in the first year was under observation. Sumeet, being more than just a decent performer in the first year, was allowed to move to Sharavathi in the third semester itself. It was Sumeet who introduced me to his personal desktop right from when he assembled it in 2002. Being a single bed room, he could play music any time he wanted. Due to our common interests being in music, audio amplifiers and him being “very choosy” about WINAMP equalizer settings, I was introduced to digital audio processing in the early days of my engineering. Back in 2002, internet access in India was quite expensive and I was very new to search queries. With Kishi’s Cyber Café just outside our college, Sumeet guided me towards better search results using advanced search operators. This seemingly small support led me to stumble on a webpage providing a detailed design of direct modulated, 2-stage, tuned amplifier based FM transmitter.

During the vacations that followed, I built a quick prototype of an FM transmitter back in my DIY homelab. Noticing my infatuation towards the topic, my Uncle (Retd.) Gp. Capt. Dr. H. N. Chaturvedi (KC, VM) Indian Airforce, gifted me a set of old but powerful British RAF (UHF band) walkie talkies, for my foray into radio communication. Not able to control my drive, I returned back to college two weeks before the scheduled end of vacation. To my surprise, our then Head of Department of ECE, Dr. Kunte, noticed my early presence in the college. He helped me access lab infrastructure for further tinkering as no one else was around.

Two weeks later, all hostel mates started pouring in, on schedule. While I was not yet able to explain the concept of dead zones for reception (antenna radiation pattern), I was able to ascertain that my FM transmitter was able to cover two-thirds of the college campus. I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of enthusiasm Sumeet showed towards my pain during field tests, so much so that he agreed to keep his desktop (with backup power from a UPS) running for more than half a day for several days altogether! My field strength trials with UHF radios led to interference with signals from the local police control room, and further warnings by my HOD. Now, that is another story for another day.

Thanks to Sumeet again, during some of these trials, I was introduced to digital audio processing.

Image courtesy: https://jan.newmarch.name/LinuxSound/Sampled/Alsa/

The Advanced Linux Sound Architecture mixer was the tool used for this purpose. Trying to stay clear of cognitive overloads, I did not delve much into the topic other than enjoying occasional musical nights with Sumeet.?

Noticing issues with my 2-stage FM transmitter, I decided to go for more experiential learning and went on to attend vocational trainings for Wireless in Local Loop at a BSNL installation in my hometown, professional FM transmitter installation at All India Radio, Chandigarh and Digital Microwave Link, North Western Railways. Another long story short, 1 year later, I was able to improvise my discrete design with a temperature compensated, 50 MHz crystal oscillator based, indirectly modulated using a BB109 varicap diode for frequency modulation, 2nd harmonic tuned, 3-stage FM transmitter. This was also the basis of our final year engineering project!

All through this time, I noticed how Sumeet was developing his practical understanding on topics related to computer science and engineering. His depth of understanding of the topic was quite developed - He could provide mobile internet access (from a CDMA-powered device) to many computers connected over a LAN network. It took me another year and a half to understand and unfold this mystery when I was introduced to Computer Networks, Tanenbaum in our final year of engineering.

With the luck of having professional experience in electro-mechanical control systems of over a decade and half, I am thrilled at the possibilities of knowing what people have made possible already. Take an example of Carbon Dioxide to Methane via artificial photosynthesis. I too have started a quest on Bionics: biologically inspired engineering. I wonder if I know what I don't know. How much of it can I learn, to make it all by myself? How much time will I need to accomplish a minimum viable product? This is where having a team could bring a world of difference.?

Ever since the experience of Sumeet’s DIY LAN at Sharavathi hostel, it has been my dream to develop an integrated network of intelligent machines. My journey starts from the basic understanding of electro-mechanical control with sensors and actuators. Bringing out the interfaces to a remote end user for configurability, adaptability, repeatability and above all, data consistency. I suddenly noticed, the mere front end for networked embedded systems; cannot do this alone. A back end that securely provides availability, productivity and cognitive intelligence will need a whole new set of skills. I know, I do not have these skills yet. It might take a long time for me to get there. Hopefully, I will find someone interested to join the journey.?

?I am not sure if I will ever be able to realize this dream of either a great founding team or this Gizmo, “the molecular machine”. But, I will remain indebted to Sumeet Mulani, for those countless occasions, he showed the light to righteous path! Kudos to your spirit buddy! Keep up the great zeal!

Peace.