R Haldorai | ENS SOON, residents living near forest will be relieved from the wild elephant menace. A Kovai-based engineering college and the Forest department have jointly developed a prototype device to detect the intrusion of elephants into agricultural fields, railway tracks or farms. Professors R Jayaparvathy and SJ Sugumar of Coimbatore Institute of Technology (CIT), along with a team of students, have developed the prototype model. The professors explained: "This device consists of a string of vibration sensors which can be placed approximately one-foot below the ground in certain pockets/zones. These sensors will provide an output signal once a vibration is sensed due to the movement of elephants. "The signal will reach a control room from where the information with details of zone is transmitted to the forest officials, who will be alerted through SMSes or call on mobile phone to enable them to initiate steps to drive pachyderms back into forests." The major advantage of the system is that the sensors placed below the ground are not prone to damage by elephants or other animals, the professors said. In recent time, there has been a rise in the mananimal conflict, especially wild elephants entering human habitation. As a result, the Forest officials often felt there was a need for an intelligent elephant surveillance and tracking system. Forest officials in Coimbatore region frequently used powerful searchlights, crackers and drum beats to push the pachyderms back into forests. In hill stations like the Nilgiris, kumkis (trained elephants) are still being used to chase wild animals back to forests. This newly developed system is at an introductory level and it may be put to use soon after getting a nod from the higher authorities.