News and Events, NAL, Bangalore

The 1st US-Asian Demonstration and Assessment of Micro-Aerial and Unmanned Ground Vehicle Technology, also known as MAV08, was held in Agra from 10-15 March 2008. The event was organized by NAL jointly with ADRDE, Agra. The support for this event came from many agencies including US army. Teams from US, Japan, France, Germany, Netherland and India participated in the event.

There is no formal definition for the Micro Aerial Vehicles (MAVs). One desires them to be as small as you please. That is the way technology is heading anyway. For the current meeting, a size restriction of 300 mm was adopted. There was no weight restriction. Only those MAVs which satisfied this requirement were considered for a competition and the rest were allowed to participate in demo mode.

The competition referred above was the primary aspect of the meeting. It was also the most interesting and informative. Therefore, it is worth discussing this aspect alone. This competition was held over three days at the Drop Zone, about one square kilimeter area near Agra which is used for para-jumping and para-dropping. A mission scenario was defined which required each of the competing team to launch its MAVs about 1 km and save a "hostage" in a "Bank Building" held by "terrorists". The MAVs would fly the terrain and send video (or any other information) to the launch pad. This information was to be made use of in sending unmanned ground vehicle and commmandos to reach the bank building safely by avoiding a number of "mines" on the way. There were six levels, A to F, of shelter points for commandos on the way. The mission, therefore, was tough. But it was delightful to see that many teams came well prepared. Among the notable ones, teams from MIT and University of Arizona from U. S., Martin Mueller Engineering from Germany and France made quite an impression. They also won awards. IIT Bombay won an award for their construction of hovering MAV. They did not compete since the size was not within 300 mm. Japanese team, NAL team and Drone (a private player from India) had tough time. Weather also played its role. The first day was hot and dusty, the second day was cold and rainy and the third day was foggy! But the spirit was very high.

A number of lectures were also arranged as part of the event. The topics were very wide including one lecture on human brain!!

In conclusion, the event was extremely useful. We got to see where the technology stands and we also got understand which directions to follow.

The AROGYA team of NAL successfully implemented the software at the Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun a constituent of CSIR on 12 January 2008. This is the first time AROGYA has been implemented at an organisation other than NAL. The team consisting of Dr D Amarnarayan, Mr R Balamurugan and Mr M A Khan were at IIP from 6-12 January 2008. During the stay they made some major customization changes in the software to suit the requirements of the IIP health center, The fact that AROGYA has received appreciation from IIP, testifies to its usefulness. The support of the medical officers Dr Lalita Bakaya, Dr Adarsh Kumar, staff from the health centre and Mr Saini, Mr Suryadev and team from the IT division of IIP helped the AROGYA team in its first successful implementation.

The software was conceived, developed and tested over a period of three years to streamline the functions of the health centers at NAL. The practical difficulties of running two health centers situated at Kodihalli and Belur campuses separated by a distance of 5 km, led to development of AROGYA - a user friendly software, incorporating most of the requirements of an out patient dispensary. Many improvements and enhancements have been planned for the future.

The District Magistrate of Dehradun, Dr Rakesh Kumar, a medical doctor himself, formally inaugurated the AROGYA software at IIP on 19 February 2008. The DM praised the Director, IIP for being innovative and bringing in information technology to the health centre, and taking a bold step in creating electronic medical records. He further emphasized that such facilities were to be made available at other health centers within the state. He suggested some additional utilities to be incorporated in the software that would help the district health administration to keep a close watch for early detection and prevention of various epidemics, and also generate statistical reports.

The Director, IIP informed the DM that the software was developed by NAL, a constituent of CSIR, and was implemented free of cost at IIP. He thanked the Director, NAL for the gesture. Dr Adarsh Kumar gave a detailed description of the software. He praised the functionality that was built into the software and its user friendliness. He also pointed out that the records of about 1400 families and 1300 medicines were now available in the database. The software was very helpful in keeping track of medicines inventory, previous records of the beneficiaries and generating various reports. One could access the family medical history around the globe anytime through a secured internet connection. Dr Bakaya thanked the Director NAL and the AROGYA team of NAL for their efforts in customizing the software according to the needs of IIP. There was wide coverage of the event in the print media. Several newspapers both English and Hindi originating from Dehradun reported the implementation of the software at IIP.

The AROGYA software has been demonstrated at many CSIR and non-CSIR organizations, and is likely to be implemented at some CSIR laboratories soon.

As part of the Cultural Evening KSS, NAL organized music and Yakshagana programs on Friday, 7 March 2008 at the S R Valluri Auditorium, NAL.

The music program titled “Tatva ManjariI” comprised of compositions from Purandaradasa, Kanakadasa, Sharanas and Shishunala Shareefa. Mr M S Kamaleshaiah directed the musical concert. Dr A Vanaja, Ms R Jyothi, Ms Jayanthi Krishna, Ms Sandhya and Ms Rekha Deepak, artists of KSS performed. The selection of the songs was significant as they depicted the “Jeevana Tatva” (Principles of life) to lead life with a purpose and make every living being happy. The songs were well rendered and the audience enjoyed them.

Yakshagana is the traditional Folk theatre dance drama of coastal Karnataka. “Krishna Leela and Kamsa Vadhe” was selected for this occasion. This narrates the story of Lord Krishna’s childhood, his actions towards destroying the evil characters, bestowing devotees, uplifting Dharma and finally how he ends his uncle the cruel King Kamsa. The program led by Dr R Ramachandra Rao, member of the managing committee of the KSS was entertaining and the audience was spell bound for 90 minutes. The role of Kamsa enacted by Ms Veena Ramachandra Rao, Junior Krishna by Adithya Rao and Senior Krishna by Deepak Rao were the centre of attraction. The audience appreciated the “Himmela” in the form of melodious singing of Baghavata by Mr Ganesh Bhat.

Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL, the chief guest of the function, appreciated the artists and distributed flower bouquets. The artists were inspired by the presence of the Director and his family throughout the program and they were encouraged to come out with their best performance.

K N Sanjeeva Rao

NAL celebrated International Women’s Day on 7 March 2008. Dr Vijayalakshmi Basavaraj, Director, All India Institute of Speech and Hearing, Manasa-gangothri, Mysore delivered the Women’s Day Lecture, on Role of women in prevention and control of communication disorders.

In her welcome address Mrs Padma Madhuranath, Head, FMCD, elucidated the importance of women's day celebration. She remarked, that the concept of a girl child being a liability should be wiped out and added that today's women were not seeking any favors or recommendation, but only due recognition.

Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL greeted all his women colleagues and in a lighter vain said that he had agreed to the idea of NAL celebrating International Women’s Day one day in advance as he did not want to be labeled as a ‘MCP’. He gave a brief of how in 1908, 15,000 women made an inspiring impression when they marched through New York City demanding things that were important to most women: such as shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. He opined that, remarkable change has occurred in the women’s status today but largely the bias does continue against women and it would take another century to have all the issues addressed.

Dr Vijaylakshmi in her lecture highlighted the importance of women, defining them more powerful than men. She said communication was transmission of information and the process involved the sender, receiver, message and media. She spoke about the communication disorders like the speech disorder and language disorder and the different levels of preventions like the primary prevention of the impairment, secondary prevention of disability and tertiary prevention of handicap. Women had a role in all these levels. They had to tackle the causes of communication disorders, which could be at various stages, such as prenatal (genetic, infection toxic drugs…), natal (birth complications) and postnatal (infection, metabolic disorders). Precautions like avoiding consanguineous marriage and acceptance of the disorder at an early stage are essential for managing the problem. A host of related causes had to be addressed by the women in the family. She concluded her lecture stating women had a large role in tackling these issues and “Let us empower ourselves to communicate effectively’.

The chief guest distributed prizes to two girl children of NAL employees for excelling in the field of academics. The function concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Ms Gomathy Sankaran.

Rema and Shailaja Menon

A workshop is being organized to create a forum to exchange information on the latest advances in the technologies that can lead to the development of Enhanced and Synthetic Vision (ESV) for Transport Aircraft. It is intended to provide a platform for national / international R&D organizations, academia, and industries to present their achievements and explore the possibility of deriving synergies. The workshop will include presentations by eminent invited speakers from organizations within India and abroad. The idea is to have discussions and dialogues involving all participants. This will be achieved through thematic panel discussions around key topics including interaction with the audience at the end of each session.

A website for this conference ‘Enhanced and Synthetic Vision for Transport Aircraft’ was launched on 7 March 2008. The website can be accessed at http://www.nal.res.in/esv

Report on the technology network meeting held on 29 February 2008 for technology development for the regional transport aircraft program (RTA 70)

A meeting was held on the 29 February 2008 with the Directors and senior scientists of various laboratories/institutes of CSIR, DRDO, DAE. The meeting was intended to appraise the various R & D organizations of the technology needs of the Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA 70).

The meeting commenced with Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL welcoming the Directors and senior scientists to the meeting. He described the genesis of the civil aviation program at NAL, the efforts starting from the LCRA to product development associated with HANSA and SARAS. He said that the Indian Air Force was interested in the SARAS and an initial requirement of 15 aircraft had been received. An industry partner was being identified. He noted that Dr Kota Harinarayana had joined NAL as a Raja Ramanna Fellow and was spearheading the Regional Transport Aircraft project. Dr Upadhya mentioned that the spectacular growth in air traffic augurs well for product development in the country as viability issues for civil aviation operations exist and it appears appropriate that aircraft with high level of efficiencies enabling lower operating costs will further promote civil aviation in the country. This could be achieved with the use of advanced technologies.

Dr Kota Harinarayana presented an overview of the regional transport aircraft program detailing the need for a new generation aircraft based on a market demand for an aircraft with low fuel burn, ownership and maintenance costs. Technologies required in the form of a laminar flow wing, hydrophobic coatings, use of low cost composites, fly-by-wire controls, advanced avionics that will enable use of ill-equipped airfields, integrated vehicle health monitoring etc. Presentations from NAL scientists and consultants from the RTA group followed on RTA aerodynamics, super hydrophobic coatings, morphing and the use of SMA for high lift devices and maintenance for civil aircraft. On the airframe, presentations on structural technologies required, use of piezo and SMA related smart materials for flutter and gust control, structural topology, structural health monitoring (SHM) and low cost composites were made. Architectures for avionics, active noise control systems flight control systems (fly by wire) and synthetic vision were described. Utility systems including ECS, all electric systems etc, were also described.

Participants from the invited organizations described possible areas where collaborations and technology development networking was possible. Organisations represented by Directors and senior scientists from CSIO, IGCAR, ARCI, CMERI, RCI, NML, SERC, DMSRDE, R&D Engrs, CGCRI, AMPRI, CEERI, NPL, ADE, DARE, NID, CAIR, MTRDC, DMRL made short presentations on their expertise, interests and identified areas for technology development. The Director NAL in his closing remarks thanked all the participants, especially all the Directors and senior staff of the various laboratories who participated in the meeting and showed their keenness to collaborate in the technology network. He asked them to send brief write up on possible contributions in near /medium terms to the project. He thanked the organizers of the meeting, the RTA group and KTMD for organization of the meeting.

As a part of NAL’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, an International Conference is being organized on Product Life cycle Modeling, Simulation and Synthesis (PLMSS), jointly with ADA, DRDO, HAL and IISc. Product innovation is increasingly becoming the main tool for competitive advantage and a crucial driver for economic growth. In this scenario, organizations strive to quickly realize superior quality and cost effective products by adapting to the state of art technologies in product development. Computer based tools available today have contributed to increased productivity in specific task domains (design and manufacturing in particular) in most organisations. In order to make the transition from being efficient to being innovative, the entire product life cycle has to be managed better to enable collaboration between the various stakeholders in the product. Managing the life cycle activities of the product development is a major challenge because of the lack of integration between the tools used to perform various product development and delivery functions, between the digital world where the product takes shape and the real world where the product is made, used and serviced. This conference aims at bringing academicians, researchers and practitioners from industry together on a common platform to share their solutions to address the above challenges, best practices and new trends in all disciplines of product development life cycle.

A website for this conference ‘Product Life cycle Modeling, Simulation and Synthesis’ was launched on 28 Feb 2008 by Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL. The website can be accessed at
http://www.nal.res.in/nal50/plmss08

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