Raurkela: The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Raurkela on Friday inaugurated the 1st IEEE International Conference on Instrumentation (INSTCon 2026), bringing together researchers, academicians and industry experts from India and abroad to deliberate on the latest advances in instrumentation, measurement technologies and smart engineering solutions.
The two-day conference, being held on July 24 and 25, is jointly organised by the Departments of Electronics and Communication Engineering and Electrical Engineering under the aegis of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society (IMS) Raurkela Chapter, in association with the IEEE Raurkela Subsection and the IEEE Kolkata Section.
Sudip Pal Choudhury, Executive Director (Projects) of Raurkela Steel Plant, inaugurated the conference as the chief guest, while Prof. Pradip Sarkar, Director-in-Charge of NIT Raurkela, presided over the inaugural session. The event was attended by Prof. Poonam Singh, Chairperson of the IEEE Raurkela Subsection; Prof. Umesh Chandra Pati, General Chair of INSTCon 2026 and Head of the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering; Prof. Pravat Kumar Ray, Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering; organising chairs Prof. Sougata Kumar Kar and Prof. Saptarshi Chatterjee; besides faculty members, researchers, students and delegates from India and overseas.
Welcoming the participants, Prof. Umesh Chandra Pati said the conference received 1,630 research paper submissions from India and abroad. After a rigorous peer-review process, 306 papers were accepted. The conference features seven technical tracks, with 115 papers being presented offline and 60 online. It also includes a plenary lecture, five keynote lectures, four invited talks and a panel discussion jointly organised by IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) and the IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT).
Addressing the gathering, Sudip Pal Choudhury highlighted the growing significance of instrumentation in the era of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0. He said accurate sensing and reliable measurement systems are fundamental to advancements in artificial intelligence, automation, healthcare, renewable energy, defence, manufacturing and smart infrastructure. Drawing from his experience in the steel industry, he noted that smart sensors, predictive maintenance, digital twins, machine learning and real-time analytics are transforming industrial operations and urged young researchers to use the conference as a platform for innovation and collaboration.
In his presidential address, Prof. Pradip Sarkar stressed the increasing role of instrumentation across engineering disciplines and emphasised the need to develop indigenous technologies to strengthen India’s self-reliance. He urged researchers and industry leaders to translate scientific research into commercially viable technologies while enhancing international collaborations and the global visibility of Indian research.
A highlight of the inaugural ceremony was the presentation of the INSTCon 2026 Luminary Awards, instituted to honour eminent academicians for their lifetime contributions to instrumentation and measurement. The awardees included Prof. D. Patranabish and Prof. Sugata Munshi of Jadavpur University, Prof. Sidharatha Sen and Prof. P. K. Dutta of IIT Kharagpur, Prof. T. K. Dan of NIT Raurkela and Prof. V. Jagadeesh Kumar of IIT Madras.
The inaugural session concluded with the release of the conference proceedings, formally marking the commencement of the technical sessions and showcasing research contributions from academia and industry.
