News and Events, NAL, Bangalore

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#IP 914 29 Mar - 4 Apr 2010

Pressure data monitoring unit(PDMU) handed over to ADA

The weight optimized PDMU designed and developed by Structural Dynamics Group, Structural Technologies Division, NAL was officially handed over to ADA by Director, Dr. A.R. Upadhya on 11th March, 2010 at a small function held at Director’s Conference Hall. The embedded unit, weighing 91gms and designed around PIC32 microcontroller can cater to In - flight Pressure data monitoring of about 8 hours. The pressure data sensed using MEMS sensors spread over the wing of a military aircraft is got on the I2C bus. The main contribution is in the design of the prototype and also the embedded firmware ie., the indigenous development of customized software. It was a great learning experience to bring out a product, that too in a short span of ten months. Director, NAL congratulated the team for the successful execution of a challenging project which apart from embedded hardware design involved data acquisition, data transfer, data storage, data retrieval & data conversion. The project thus required expertise in hardware as well as software. The Graphic User Interface (GUI) provided helps in the ease of operation. Before the unit is tried on the aircraft some testing is planned in the NAL’s Trisonic wind tunnel. Dr. Sajeer Ahmed, Advisor (M&A) & Dr. Ranjan Moodithaya, Head (KTMD) graced the occasion.

Shashikala Prakash

#IP 913 22-28 Mar 2010

International Women’s Day 2010

Women’s Day was celebrated on 19th March 2010 at the S R Valluri Auditorium. The melodious invocation describing “Sthree” (the woman) by Dr. Sandhya Rao and Ms Kshama, provided a meaningful beginning to the function, which was efficiently compered by Dr. Rajani. Dr Girija Gopalarathnam, Chairperson, International Women Day in her Welcome address discussed the need to celebrate Womens’ day and introduced the Chief Guest, Ms Madhura Chatrapathi, of Food Associates an entrepreneur who has not only distinguished herself as an industry leader in the area of dehydrated food ingredients but also is the founder of ASCENT – (The Asian Centre for Entrepreneurial Initiatives) which fosters entrepreneurship development amongst women at grassroots level.

Ms Madhura Chatrapathi’s graceful entry to the mike to deliver the lecture entitled “Enterpreneuring Women – transcending Gender” grabbed the attention of one and all in the audience. She emphasized the “Enterpreneuring mindset” which is required to create successful entrepreneurs. Ms Madhura explained how women in spite of taking up the responsibility at home, can become successful entrepreneurs by quoting the example of a small scale industry “Toe Hold” near Belgaum, where two rural women run a multi crore business enterprise making Kolhapuri Chappals.

Ms Madhura’s quote dream…do… dare clearly explains her ideas that an entrepreneur should dream big, which costs nothing, do honestly whatever you believe is right and dare to enter into this competitive market. Ms Madhura’s presentation was replete with many examples like the Sticker Bindi and the plastic folder which were innovations of creative entrepreneurs. She concluded her talk by explaining with a cascading doll that a tiny entrepreneur is there in every person waiting for opportunity to get out and that these opportunities are to be created by us.

As part of her talk, she introduced one Ms Suma, a successful woman entrepreneur who is a leading tissue synthesizer. On the request of Dr Rajani, Ms Suma shared her experiences and spoke about the problems and solutions faced by her in her entrepreneurial journey. Dr Anjana Jain announced the awards to the meritorious girl children of NAL employees which are distributed every year on the occasion of International Women’s Day. The chief guest distributed the awards to Ms Nagashree (daughter of Ranganayakamma S N, NTAF) and Ms Prathiba Shree (daughter of S Suresh Babu, ELB) and congratulated them for their academic achievements.

Dr. Upadhya, Director, in his presidential address, emphasized that women react better than men under challenging conditions, with examples from his experience. He also mentioned that CSIR encourages entrepreneurship and that the women should make use of these opportunities. The function concluded with a Vote of thanks by Ms Gomathi Sankaran.

Anjana Jain

#IP 912, 15-21 Mar 2010

Ph.D Degree for T Padmavathi, FRP Division

Ms. T.Padmavathi, Technical Officer ‘B’, FRP Division has been qualified for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, by Sri Krishnadevaraya University (SKU), for her research work on Natural Fiber Composites (NFC) titled 'Preparation and Characterization of Sisal Fiber Reinforced Composites for Advanced Applications' under the guidance of Prof. S. Venkata Naidu, Department of Polymer Science and technology, SKU, Anantapur, A.P and Dr. RMVGK Rao, FNAE, Former Head, FRP Division, NAL, Bengaluru, Karnataka.

NAL promotions

The following have been promoted from the grade of Scientist F to Scientist G

Dr. G Ramesh	EAD
Dr. Rakesh Mohan Jha	ALD
Dr. S. Selvarajan	CAD
Dr(Ms) Dinah Geethalathai C	CSS
Shri. V. Shankar	STTD
Shri. M Jayaraman	PR
Shri. N. G. Vijaya Vittala	STTD

#IP 911, 8-14 Mar 2010

Magic of Aerofest

Aerofest 2010 was jointly organized by CSIR-National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore and BLDEA’s V P Dr P G Halkatti College of Engineering and Technology, Bijapur at Bijapur on the 19-20 February 2010.

Dr. Arwikar, Principal, BLDEA, welcomed the gathering. This was followed by formal introduction of persons on dais (Dr V Mudkavi, Mr Giriraj, Dr. Khincha, Vice Chancellor, VTU and Mr. Patil, President, BLDEA and MLA). Mr. Giriraj gave a programme overview. He stated the objectives of Aerofest and detailed on the components of the same, viz., technology exhibition, one day seminar, paper plane contest and aeroquiz.

Next Dr V Mudkavi spoke on activities of NAL. He said that NAL was started in 1959 at Delhi and moved to Bangalore and was housed in Maharaja's stables to start with. The mission of NAL was to develop technologies. However, the mission has changed recently and NAL has started to build civil aircraft as well as a major focus in recent years. Then he said that the aerospace sector is highly interdisciplinary and requires high science content. Switching to related topic, Dr Mudkavi said that while aviation has received a boost in our country, aeronautics has still not received the same kind of boost. There are several opportunities for all engineering students since the country has embarked on major aerospace projects in the recent years.

Dr. Khincha spoke on learning perspectives. He dealt with student perspective and faculty perspective. He spoke on the important role of the faculty and the institution. He also said that aerospace is highly

multidisciplinary in nature. He was very appreciative of the fact that NAL has come to regions like Bijapur which should provide a good exposure.

As part of Aerofest 2010 on February 20, 2010 a one day seminar on NAL technologies was held. I chaired the first technical session. The papers presented were How Things Fly presented by Dr V Y Mudkavi, Failure Analysis and Aircraft Accident investigation, Programme by Dr Subir Kumar Bhaumik, Wind Tunnel Testing of Aerospace Structures by Mr Gireesh Yanamasheeti and Flosolver Technologies by Dr T N Venkatesh. The papers were very much appreciated and well received by the delegates. The student community evinced great interest in NAL’s technologies and they were mighty impressed with our technologies, programmes and exhibits. They were eager to know if they could pursue projects at NAL. It was not only the students even the faculty were keen to do doctoral and post doctoral under our scientist. The magic of Aerofest was so much that I found a few teachers telling me they want their kids to grow up and become scientist. For me personally to be part of the Aerofest team was a very satisfying experience. I hope, in future we could organize programmes like these periodically in different universities for students. A comprehensive and systematic presentation of our technologies programmes and facilities in different areas will immensely help the student community.

The programme was very well organized by Dr V Mudkavi and Mr C V Giri Raj.

Girija Gopalrathnam with Vidyadhar Mudkavi

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Aero fest – Educating aerospace programme

The Bijapur chapter of aero fest 2010 was an eventful and knowledge focused event. Though the climate was dry but not the hearts of the organizers. The flying show of NAL MAVs/UAVs not only attracted the students community but also had imported the objectives of NAL mission into their mind, that their contributions would be very much essential for the growth of aeronautics in the country.

Exhibition stall were informative in the sense they had displayed the various technologies and expertise NAL has had developed in the past; as well as they conveyed the road map to go further in our future mission. Technical session had covered both basic and applied aerospace technologies; interestingly, the engineering students/faculties were more responsive and attentive.

In totality, this event has brought immense satisfaction in me, seeing that we at NAL are doing research that could motivate young minds.

S Raja

NAL retains the Volley Ball Championship

The finals of the 41st SSBMT for Cricket and Volley ball were held at CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh from 19-21 Feb 2010. NAL participated in Volley ball tournament and won the match and the tournament. NAL team has successfully retained the Volley Ball Championship which it had won for the first time in Jan 2008 at RRL, Jorhat.

Prof Samir K Brahmachari, DG-CSIR was the chief guest for the finals. Dr P G Rao, Director - RRL, Johrat, Dr Pawan Kapur, Director - CSIO, Members from SPB were the delegates who witnessed the match. Mr Raghavendra Swamy M of NAL was adjudged “THE BEST PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT”. This is the second time he has achieved this title in the SSBMT tournament.

The Tournament concluded with a Valedictory Function and prize distribution on 21st Feb.2010 with Mrs Dr Vani Brahmachari as the chief guest.

A Hearty Congratulations from Director and staff of NAL to all the volleyball team members for winning the 41 SSBMT Volleyball finals.

The Team : Mr. Vardharajan R - Captain, Mr. Ramanaiah B - Vice Captain, Mr. Raghavendra Swamy M, Mr. Suresh V, Mr. Mohan Kumar K , Mr. Nataraj T S, Mr. Pradeep M S

Mr Pradeep

Dr S Srikanth has assumed charge as Director, National Metallurgical Laboratory, Jamshedpur from 2 Mar 2010

#IP 910, 1- 7 Mar 2010

Dr. Sridevi Jade received the National Mineral Award 2008

sridevi Dr. Sridevi Jade was awarded National Mineral Award 2008 by Ministry of Mines in recognition of her significant contribution in the field of Disaster Management which included GPS based research studies in Indian subcontinent related to understanding of earthquake Hazard under the Applied Geosciences discipline. The award carries a cash prize, trophy, certificate and citation. The award was presented at an award presentation ceremony held on 27th February 2010 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi by Hon'ble Minister of Mines.

She has made extraordinary contributions in hazard mitigation projects for past 21 years at CSIR and has been extremely successful in completing them within the time frame. For the past one decade she has been extensively involved in the development of GPS (Global Positioning System) geodesy in India, leading to several firsts in quantifying the kinematics of the Indian Plate. She had extensively worked in the GPS related research activities to determine the displacement and strain rate fields in some significant tectonic provinces of the Indian continent to determine their seismogenic potential. Her contributions are marked by rigour, thoroughness and perseverance and an admirable quality of extending her scientific endeavors to enrich Indian Science.

Dr. Sridevi Jade has her Masters and Ph.d in Engineering from Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. She is also a recipient of Sir C. V. Raman Young Scientist Award 2002 in appreciation and recognition of her exceptional contribution to Earth Science.

The Union Minister for Mines and Development of North-East Region, DoNER, Shri B. K. Handique presenting the National Mineral Award-2008 to one of the awardee, at a function, in New Delhi on February 27, 2010. The Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Smt. Shanta Sheela Nair is also seen.

Consolation prize for Poster presented at International Conference on Current Trends in Chemistry & Biochemistry (ICCTCB)

The poster titled “Preparation and characterization of Superhydrophobic coatings” authored by Ms R V Lakshmi and Dr Bharathibai J Basu of Surface Engineering Division, NAL won the consolation prize at ICCTCB held at Central College, Bangalore University, Bangalore during 18-19 December 2009.

Ian Dean

Ian Dean
You are the Kimberly Mine!
A treasure of wisdom,
Knowledge and humility//

Ian’s magic wand of prudence
Dug out the unraveled NAL`s Mine
In a fortnight time
Adding sixty glittering L2SPian diamonds
To NAL`s future leadership crown//

Ian you gave us thy first lesson
Do it well otherwise don’t do it!
You have got only one chance to make the first impression
To love thy self
To under promise and over deliver
And be a student for life//

Ian gave us the mantra
Practice man practice
The OB2T maxim
The problem solving technique
To demand relentless feedback
And the punctuality punch
And not to forget celebrations//

Personal mastery and proficiency
Never give less than what you can
You have added the essence of fun amidst work
Truly you have transformed the mice to Maverick
Thank you Ian for the Meta Noia!//

You have bestowed the Maverick’s
With your warmth and RAPTURE
Your lessons will be the keys for our success
With a hope that the transformation
Will be reminiscent of the eternal sunshine
And not a streak of lightning that fades with the moment
Thank you Ian-Thank you//

……..S.T. Aruna (Feb-2010)