News and Events, NAL, Bangalore

Dr Jitendra Ratansinh Raol relinquished the office as the Head of Flight Mechanics and Control Division on 31 July, 2007. Hailing from a small town in Gujarat, he graduated in Electrical Engineering (BE) in 1971 and obtained his Masters in 1973 specializing in Automatic Controls. He completed his doctorate from McMaster University, Canada in 1986. Dr Raol began his innings at NAL in Sept 1975 as a Senior Scientific Assistant (SSA) and rose to the position of Sc G / Head, FMCD through sheer hard work and perseverance. The passion and commitment with which he served NAL for 27 long years is difficult to express in words.

He successfully led several projects in the area of system identification, parameter estimation and multi sensor data fusion as a Group Head of Modelling and Identification at FMCD. He has to his credit the development of novel approaches for parameter estimation using recurrent neural networks (RNNs) which won him the distinction of a reviewer for several international journals. He conducted the first ever NAL-UNI course on "Theory and practice of parameter estimation for aerospace dynamical systems" with great élan. Under his leadership the FMCD was awarded the CSIR Shield for Engineering Technology for the year 2003. He had a penchant for encouraging academic excellence and guided eight Masters and six Doctoral theses.

For us who have been closely associated with him, working under his guidance has been an enjoyable and enriching experience due to his untiring enthusiasm and ‘never say die’ attitude. For a person with no aeronautical background, his proficiency in analyzing flight mechanics problems was a revelation. His pioneering work in the area of MSDF stands testimony to his ability to take on new challenges. His mantra was "You need to take a few calculated risks if you want to achieve something". As co-authors of the book "Modelling and Parameter Estimation of Dynamic Systems" which was published by IEE Control Engg. Series in 2004, we have been witnesses to his remarkable sense of determination, dedication, meticulous planning and technical insight.

Apart from his technical interests, he is a ‘poet’ who has penned some very beautiful poems which reveal his deep sensitivity, warmth and caring attitude. People closely associated with him also know that he is an avid reader, his latest penchant being the books written by Richard Dawkins. As we prepare to bid goodbye to Dr Raol, we salute the maestro who taught us how to blend pragmatism with passion and assure him that we will carry forward the legacy from him. We wish him many more successful years of health and happiness in the pursuit of his endeavors.

Eminent space scientist and former ISRO chairman Prof U R Rao received the ISRO’s “Life time achievement award” for 2006.

Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL and his colleagues congratulate Prof U R Rao and wish him the very best in his future endeavours

Science, Rationality and Intuition

The word ‘Science’, although commonplace in usage and apparently obvious in its meaning, becomes highly contentious when philosophers or scientists of different intellectual camps attempt to interpret it. Prof. Roddam Narasimha brought out some aspects of this debate in what has become an annual event that one eagerly looks forward to – his birthday lecture at NAL. The lecture titled “Are there different ways of doing science?” had as its premise that there are at least two ways of doing science: the Greek and the Babylonian methods. Prof. Narasimha in his characteristic understated style builds up the arguments by directly presenting the views of scientists, scholars and philosophers along the course of history.

The Greek method, he says, is one of “first principles”, or essentially an axiomatic approach. One starts with axioms or propositions that are taken as self-evident and indisputable. Then, by applying logical operations on these axioms, conclusions are derived or deduced. The emphasis here is on the consistency of the logical operations and its proof. The Babylonian method on the other hand is one of “relating one thing to another”, borne out of observation and intuition. The emphasis in this method is not on the provability of the method but rather on the validity with respect to observations. The Indian way of thinking and doing science, Prof. Narasimha insisted, is closer to the Babylonian method. He then went further to rally the two camps, and pitted one against the other, each camp led by formidable Generals: Dirac vs Feynman, Einstein vs Euclid, Hardy vs Ramanujam, Ptolemy vs Aryabhata, and so on.

The mathematician S. Ramanujam, for example, developed theorems for which there was “no strictly logical justification” and was based on a “mixture of evidence and intuition”, in the words of the British mathematician Littlewood. Prof. Narasimha cited Indian texts and scholars to reinforce the point that the Indian way of thinking has largely been algorithmic with the intent to be able to predict correctly. Thus, the results, in addition to agreeing with intuition, should also be validated with observations. Another point made by Prof Narasimha is that this is not strictly an East vs West issue. The Dutch mathematician (or logician, if you will), Brouwer, was guided by this mode of thought and is in fact the father of the branch of logic termed as Intuitionist Logic. The fact that he had read and was influenced by the Bhagavad Gita was an interesting piece of detail. Feynman, the great American physicist and a self-professed Babylonian, also used methods for which there was no proof that they were right, but were used nevertheless because they worked! Schwinger, who shared the Nobel Prize with Feynman, called him an “outstanding intuitionist”. Einstein was also disturbed by the certainty assumed by the Euclidean axioms.

Prof. Narasimha thus asks “how do we know what we know is right?” Is it based on proof, observation or intuition? Or a blend of these? Analyses on the philosophy, history, methodology or sociology of science are often coloured with politics, polemics or dense jargon. This lecture was a delightful exception. Also, for someone fed on mainly western fare (simply due to more accessible English translations), Prof. Narasimha’s lectures possess the additional charm of providing an insight into Indian thought and culture. This lecture series has yet again brought out the eclecticism of Prof. Narasimha. Our warm birthday wishes to him! And thanks to Dr. Sinha for continuing to be the prime mover behind this series.

Mr R Rangarajan joined NAL in the year 1968 after obtaining B.Tech from IIT, Madras. Initially he worked on the wind tunnel development projects of NAL. He later developed an expertise for the design and development of wind tunnel balances and worked on the wind tunnel testing of delta wing, AGARD-B, RH 100 and GAF models. He later switched over to software development in aerodynamics and worked on panel methods, shock free aerofoil design, small perturbation methods, full potential and Euler solvers. In the year 1987, he obtained his degree of Master of Science (Engg.) in Aerospace engineering from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Mr Rangarajan then joined the HANSA project team at NAL under Prof. Damania and has contributed immensely to the design, development and certification of the HANSA-3 aircraft. He took over as the Project Director of HANSA in the year 2001 and has significantly contributed to the limited series production of HANSA-3 aircraft for DGCA and in providing the requisite product support to the various flying clubs operating the HANSA-3 aircraft. He and his team have lent admirable support to these flying clubs to keep the HANSA-3 aircraft airworthy. He has also periodically organized training programmes at NAL for the pilots, ground and inspection crews of these flying clubs Mr Rangarajan and his team were instrumental in the successful participation of the HANSA-3 aircraft at the air shows held in Bangalore over the last decade. Under his guidance, the HANSA-3 aircraft also participated in the Australian air show held at Avalon in Melbourne in March 2007. He has established strategic partnership with RMIT, Australia for the development of composite landing gear and for certification of the HANSA-3 aircraft in Australia.

Mr Rangarajan undertook a study of methodology of advanced airfoil and wing design, under the NAL – DAAD bilateral exchange programme, in 1989. He is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers (India) and Aeronautical Society of India. He has received NAL foundation day award for research in 1987 and for design and development in 1994 and also has received the NAL technology shield in 1998 for outstanding achievement for integration and flight testing of HANSA aircraft. He has more than 40 publications in the area of wind tunnel testing, strain gauge balances and design of advanced aerofoil and in software development for aerodynamics.

CSIR Trainer’s Training Program on E-Journals, WoS, Patent Databases

ICAST hosted a two days’ workshop on ‘CSIR E-Journals and Databases Trainer’s Training Program’ during 12-13 July 2007. This event, the third in a continuing series for all the CSIR laboratories at zonal level was organized under the CSIR E-Journals consortia , coordinated by NISCAIR. CMMACS, CFTRI, Mysore, RRL, Trivan-drum and a few scientists of NAL participated.

The main objective of this program was to impart training for accessing the e-journals, databases and standards.

After a brief welcome by Dr I R N Goudar, Mr Prakash Chand, the coordinator of CSIR E-Journals consortium spoke about the conception, inception and the status of this consortium with more than 5500 e-journals held by the major publishers. E-Journals, the consortium has also provided access to important bibliographic databases like Web of Science (WoS), Derwent Innovative Index (DII), Delphion from Thomson Inc., BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) and ASTM standards on CD, a stand alone accessible through ICAST system only.

The program concluded with lots of innovative ideas, shared thoughts for further improvement and new additions from the participants.

NAL’s Foundation Day function scheduled for 23 July 2007 has been postponed due to some unavoidable and unforeseen circumstances.

Mr Shyam Chetty has been appointed as Joint Head, Flight Mechanics & Control Division from 1 August 2007.

As part of OLIC implementation a talk on All India Radio (AIR) on NAL’s Capabilities and Technologies in Hindi by Dr J R Raol, Chairman, HTAC and Dr Anjana Jain will be aired on 29 July 2007 (Sunday) at 9.40 a.m. (Frequency 612khz or 490.1 mts).

Dr K Yegna Narayan has made an outstanding contribution to the cause of aeronautics in India as the Chief Designer and as the Project Director of the 14 seater Light Transport Aircraft (SARAS) project in particular and as Programme Director (Civil Aviation Programme) at NAL in general. SARAS is taken up as a national project spearheaded by NAL and the first prototype had its maiden flight on 29th May 2004 and the second prototype had its maiden flight on 18th April 2007. Dr Yegna Narayan has been leading this effort for more than 15 years and has shown a remarkable sense of determination, dedication and tenacity required in such a leadership position.

As Chief Designer, Dr Yegna Narayan has made very significant technical contributions to overall system studies, system optimization, aircraft integration and aircraft system testing. He has a very good understanding of the multidisciplinary aspects of aircraft design and their complex interactions. Taking an aircraft project from the conceptual study to its first flight is a tremendous achievement for which Dr Yegna Narayan must be given full credit. The Aeronautical Society of India has awarded him the National Aeronautical Prize in 2004 for his contribution to SARAS.

Another area in which Dr Yegna Narayan has made significant contribution to the national scene in

Aeronautics is in the preliminary design studies of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) as the Technical Secretary to the national level LCA committee. These studies were very important for the LCA programme to proceed further with detailed design and development.

Dr Yegna Narayan has an excellent academic background with his BE in Mechanical Engineering from the Bangalore University (Sir M Visweswaraiah Memorial Prize for standing first in the University), ME in Aeronautical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Science (again first), Ph.D. in Aeronautical Engineering from the University of Cambridge, UK and postdoctoral research at NASA Langley Centre. He joined NAL in the year 1977. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. Before taking on the responsibility for the SARAS project, he was a leading research scientist at NAL working on several fluid mechanical problems like delta wing flows, flow separation, configuration aerodynamics of aircraft, heat transfer etc. He has demonstrated a very high level of competence in doing experimental work in fluid mechanics and has published several papers in international journals. He won the Dr Biran Roy Trust Award of the Aeronautical Society of India in 1992 for his work on delta wing flows.

We wish Dr Yegna Narayan a very happy retired life

Mr C R Srinivasa joined NAL at Materials Science Division (Central Design Section) in August 1973 and switched over to Structures Division (Mechancical Design Group) during 1998. Mr Srinivasa has now superannuated in June 2007.

His main strength had been in the design drafting. His contributions to the drafting work is outstanding as evidenced in the indigenous development of large polar filament winding machine, 2.4m autoclave and the 4m x 8m HAL autoclave, creep rupture machine, brake pad test rigs, several versions of carbon composite wind tunnel models of TEJAS aircraft and radomes of different class. In recent times, Mr Srinivasa contributed to the development of the test rig for SARAS stub wing structural teting, in addition to participating in the successful testing of stub wings for the PT1 and PT2 versions of SARAS aircraft.

Mr M R Radhakantha has assumed charge as Controller of Administration at National Aerospace Laboratories from 9 July 2007. Before joining NAL, Mr M R Radhakantha was at CFTRI Mysore.

Mr V Nagarajan, deputy Head, NTAF is blessed with extremely intelligent twins. His daughters who were studying in Kendriya Vidyalaya, Malleswaram have passed the Secondary School Examination 2007 with very high marks. Aparna has scored 93 in English,100 in Sanskrit, 97 in maths and 95 in science and 97 in social science and Apoorva has scored 84 in English, 100 in Sanskrit, 99 in maths, 97 in science and 94 in social science. Our heartiest Congratulations!

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