B↗ BareMetal
SMART INDIA HACKATHON 2026 PS / SIH26026
TRINETRA
An idea by Team BareMetal

One core.
Every platform.

A detachable sensing system for safer railway journeys. THz screening and VOC evidence, brought together to help security teams decide what needs a closer look.

Hardware proposal · Team 119910 · Preliminary screening

FIG. 01 / TWO SIGNALS. ONE CORE.
THz SPECTRAL FEATURES
VOC CHEMICAL RESPONSE
+ DETACHABLE SENSOR CORE Sense.
Think. Flag.
EDGE FUSION / OFFLINE CAPABLE
ROBOT HANDHELD FIXED NODE
Concept architecture · no live sensor data

A moving network.
A continuous
screening gap.

A railway journey passes through platforms, coaches and parcel areas. Manual inspection cannot cover every space, all the time.

Our proposal adds a preliminary sensing layer to help the Railway Protection Force prioritise further checks. It brings complementary measurements to the places where staff need them.

919 kg

Ganja seized across South Western Railway in 2025, reported in January 2026. Increased seizures also reflected stronger enforcement—not necessarily a rise in trafficking. Read the report ↗

This motivates the screening problem; it is not evidence that our proposed device works.

Different incidents. A wider view.

Reported cases across passenger, parcel and goods operations.

NARCOTICS Aluva · Kerala

Heroin intercepted at a railway station

The Times of India reported that RPF seized heroin at Aluva and arrested two people. The case was handed to the railway police for further proceedings.

Why it matters here

Station checks remain part of the wider narcotics-screening challenge.

The Times of India · 29 Jul 2026
204 g reported seized
TOBACCO Yeshwantpur · Bengaluru

Cigarette consignment seized from a parcel train

RPF reported a seizure of foreign-manufactured cigarettes at Yeshwantpur. Customs authorities received the consignment for investigation into suspected smuggling.

Why it matters here

Parcel screening presents a different inspection setting from passenger-coach checks.

The Times of India · 28 May 2026
1,99,600 cigarette sticks
SMOKING JAN–21 MAY 2026 Vijayawada Division

Smoking enforcement across the railway network

The New Indian Express reported intensified RPF action against smoking, with 1,186 cases registered by 21 May. The report also describes the division’s broader fire-prevention effort.

Why it matters here

This is a fire-safety context, not evidence that a general VOC sensor can reliably identify smoking.

The New Indian Express · 23 May 2026
1,186 cases reported
EXPLOSIVES Kantabanji · Odisha

Explosives recovered during a goods-wagon inspection

The Indian Express reported that explosives belonging to an ordnance factory were recovered from a goods wagon and returned to the factory. Officials opened an inquiry into possible negligence.

Why it matters here

A documented handling lapse—not a confirmed terror plot—shows why goods-yard checks also matter.

The Indian Express · 5 Feb 2025
Goods yard inspection context

Dates above describe the incident or reporting period; publication dates appear beside each source. These reports motivate the problem. They do not validate BareMetal’s detection capability or establish guilt.

How an observation
becomes a decision.

Explore each stage of the proposed pipeline.
The system supports trained personnel.

01
COLLECT TWO TYPES OF EVIDENCE

Different signals. A fuller picture.

THz sensing captures selected spectral features. A VOC sensor array captures a complementary chemical response. Temperature, humidity and scan quality provide context.

The selected sensor hardware and operating band still need to be specified and tested.

What should the system say?

Choose an illustrative evidence pattern and see why an uncertainty-aware system keeps an Unknown outcome.

Scripted teaching examples—not a detector, trained model, measured result or validation simulation.

BAREMETAL / EVIDENCE DESK ILLUSTRATIVE

Choose a pattern, then play it through the four stages.

  1. Screen
  2. Corroborate
  3. Decide
  4. Review

Ready · play the walkthrough or advance one step at a time.

THz evidence Awaiting walkthrough
VOC evidence Awaiting walkthrough
Observation quality Awaiting walkthrough
Ready to explore

Play a scenario to see how the evidence is interpreted.

Evidence arrives in stages. No real sensor is connected.

See the concept
in action.

From the detachable sensing core to the proposed screening workflow—watch the explanation and simulation.

Starts muted when visible. Enable sound for the explanation.

Mount. Detach.
Keep screening.

A / MOBILE Patrol companion
B / PORTABLE Handheld scanner
C / STATIONARY Fixed screening node

Proposed enclosure concepts · Blue identifies the shared detachable sensing core. Final dimensions and sensor packaging remain under development.

A

Robot-mounted

Proposed quadruped deployment for patrol coverage across coaches, platforms and yards. Mobility, vibration and power requirements need separate validation.

MOVING COVERAGE
B

Handheld

The same sensing core in an enclosure for targeted checks by trained RPF personnel. Weight, ergonomics and scan repeatability are engineering priorities.

TARGETED CHECKS
C

Fixed node

Repeated screening at selected locations. Installation geometry, power and maintenance determine where this mode is practical.

REPEATED OBSERVATION

If the robot is unavailable, the core still has a role.

Big terms.
Plain explanations.

Start with the science, then explore the measurements and system choices.

An ambitious idea.
A testable path.

The deck defines an architecture. It does not yet establish field accuracy, a final bill of materials, battery life or deployment readiness.

01

Bench feasibility

Select modules, establish repeatable measurements and characterise environmental effects through an institution-led testing programme.

02

Evidence fusion

Compare individual sensors with the combined model on held-out data. Track false alerts, missed detections and Unknown rates.

03

Integrated prototype

Measure latency, power, weight, mounting repeatability and offline logging. Validate the handheld core before expanding robot integration.

04

Authorised field evaluation

Evaluate with railway and institutional partners under approved procedures. Record performance in realistic operating conditions and refine the operator workflow.

PROPOSED ROLLOUT

Indian Railways → Public infrastructure → Connected screening network

Let's open up
the hard questions.

Answers grounded in the proposal, including the parts that remain unresolved.

Built on questions.
Backed by reading.

Project architecture and team details come from the supplied six-slide BareMetal submission. Research supports the sensing direction, not a claim of validated BareMetal performance.

  1. NIST · Terahertz imaging and sources ↗

    Background on non-ionising THz imaging and chemical spectroscopy.

  2. US EPA · Technical overview of VOCs ↗

    Why volatile organic compounds enter the air and how definitions differ by context.

  3. Jiang et al. · THz-TDS and deep learning ↗

    Research on chemical imaging under specified experimental conditions. Results cannot be transferred to our proposed hardware.

  4. Study on the THz spectrum of methamphetamine · 2005 ↗

    Experimental research reporting characteristic spectral absorption. It supports studying reference signatures; it does not establish our device’s field performance.

  5. Wideband terahertz spectroscopy of explosives · 2007 ↗

    Research on THz absorption spectra of RDX, HMX, PETN and TNT. Laboratory characterisation informs the research direction, not a universal detection claim.

Team BareMetal.

Six students. One shared engineering challenge.

SIH 2026 / TEAM 119910
Vahnivesh S Shine

Vahnivesh S Shine

Team BareMetal

Sarang Warudkar

Sarang Warudkar

Team BareMetal

Om Spandan Patnaik

Om Spandan Patnaik

Team BareMetal

Macha Raghunandan

Macha Raghunandan

Team BareMetal

Shreya Nayak

Shreya Nayak

Team BareMetal

Smitha Mallya

Smitha Mallya

Team BareMetal