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#IP 897, 30 Nov - 6 Dec 2009

Report on visit of Shri Prithviraj Chavan,  H’ble Minister for S & T and ES (I/c), Govt. of India, & VP, CSIR to C-MMACS and IFCAP On 14 November 2009

To provide a quick but comprehensive view of the major research activities at C-MMACS, a poster display of about 30 posters was organized. These posters highlighted the main research programmes, major projects and significant results of C-MMACS research. In terms of specific results, the Hon’ble minister was appraised of the multi-institutional project on climate modelling with focus on integrated analysis for impact, mitigation and sustainability, geo-hazard modelling, CO2 flux and industrial flow;  the structure and power of C-MMACS computing platform and research related to network security were also highlighted. The Hon’ble minister was also briefed on the significant on-going efforts to develop a mathematical modelling enabled CSIR through networking of CSIR laboratories through C-MMACS

The Hon’ble minister then addressed the scientists and the staff of C-MMACS, and expressed his appreciation of the spectrum and depth of research carried out at  C-MMACS. The Hon’ble minister emphasized the criticality of research on climate change, and especially climate modelling, and expressed his satisfaction at the comprehensive effort by C-MMACS in this area; he called for a concerted and critical effort combing modelling observation and analysis to enable India to face the challenge of climate change through reliable and quantitative regional analysis and modelling. He also emphasized the need to keep applications of research results in focus, and suggested exploration of productization of the findings. The Hon’ble minister in his concluding remark congratulated the C-MMACS scientists for employing the growing power of High Performance Computing to real-world applications.

The Hon’ble Minister also visited the Integrated Facility for Carbon Fiber and Prepregs (IFCAP) and showed keen interest in the carbon fibres, acrylic fibres and polymers developed in the facility. He was briefed about the technical know how transfer of carbon Fibre technology to M/s Kemrock Industries of Baroda.

 

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#IP 896, 23 - 29 Nov 2009

NAL FOUNDATION DAY

 Saturday, 14th Nov 2009 was a three times memorable day for NAL as it marked three major events – NAL Foundation Day, Curtains down for the year long Golden Jubilee Celebrations and Inauguration of the splendid golden jubilee Aircraft Hangar at  NAL, Belur campus built by CPWD, backed by the unstinted support from the DG-CSIR. The atmosphere at the well decorated Belur hangar was vibrant and packed with the excited and enthusiastic NALites. It reminded us of the bride, which Dr. Valluri mentioned several years ago, but this time, it truly had places to go! The event began with Mrs Gomathy Sankaran, Group Head, PRRM welcoming the dignitaries – The Chief Guest, Shri Prithviraj Chavan, Hon’ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, Prime Minister’s Office / Personnel, PG & Pensions, Parliamentary Affairs & Vice President, CSIR, the President of the function,  Dr G Madhavan Nair, Vikram Sarabhai distinguished professor, Chairman, Research Council, NAL & the then Chairman, ISRO and Secretary, DOS,  Dr. A.R.Upadhya, Director, NAL, Dr. Nayak, Adviser(M&A), Mr. Chidananda, Head, CCADD and Dr. Ranjan Moodithaya, Head, ATF & KTMD.  Dr. Upadhya in his welcome address specially welcomed and introduced the chief guest, Sri. Prithviraj Chavan. Sri Prithviraj Chavan is an alumni of BITS, Pilani and holds a Masters degree in engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and presently a visiting Professor at BITS and founder of a company in India to develop defense electronic equipments and special purpose computers. It was indeed a matter of pride that the Honorable minister had chosen NAL as one of the first CSIR labs to visit after he took over as the Minister of State (IC) for Science and Technology. Completing 50 years of fruitful and meaningful existence was a great milestone in the road map of any Institution.  This was made possible by the vision of the first Director of NAL, Late Dr. P. Nilakantan and the planning and hard work of all the subsequent Directors of NAL – Dr. SR Valluri, Dr. TS Prahalad, Prof. R Narasimha, Dr. KN Raju and Dr. BR Pai who nurtured the dream of Late Dr. Nilakantan into a reality, and the encouragement and support from DGs of CSIR.  Kudos to the NAL family, who have kept up the tempo and have not failed their predecessors. The coincidence of this eventful day with the birthday of Late Prime Minister Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru was a tribute to his dream of an S&T led India which led to the establishment of several R&D labs in different areas of science, including CSIR.

The Golden Jubilee year was celebrated with gusto but not in an ostentatious manner. Dr. M.R. Nayak informed the august gathering, in his wrap up report of the Golden Jubilee celebrations that two international conferences, three international workshops, seventeen national events including seminars in Hindi and Kannada and the first ever SC-ST conference in the country were held during the year. Open days and aerofests were conducted to create awareness in students which included mobile exhibitions, workshops, aeroquiz and glider flying to name a few. This day was also marked by the inauguration of the classic supersonic test section in the existing 0.6m wind tunnel to enhance the aerodynamic testing capability from transonic to supersonic Mach numbers upto 4.0 at NTAF, NAL, Bangalore. NTAF and L&T, Mumbai have executed the project funded by the CSIR, ISRO and DRDO. The Variable Mach Number Flexible Nozzle  (VMFN) was designed and developed by L&T, Mumbai according to the specifications of NTAF. For the first time in India, a VMFN which allows continuous on – line change of Mach number from Mach 1 to 4 has been designed, manufactured, installed and commissioned. The first supersonic blow down was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister in the presence of  Dr. G. Madhavan Nair and Dr. A.R. Upadhya.  

Sri. Prithviraj Chavan congratulated NAL on being a front-ranking member of the CSIR family, and on its five decades of dedicated service to the nation in the advanced and strategic area of aerospace.  He lauded the efforts of NAL in setting up state of art, world class wind tunnels and other testing facilities, and contributions to nation’s S&T, civil, military and space programs. Full preparedness with indigenous technologies was the only way to overcome technology denials, which generally come at crucial times, he cautioned. The strength from knowledge and innovation could propel India to be a major economic and technological power, – the India of Nehru’s dreams. S&T innovations, as declared by the Honorable President of India Mrs. Prathibha Patil, should touch the lives of a million common Indians and help better their quality of life.  Dr Madhavan Nair commended NAL’s S&T contributions, and the timely support given by NAL to most of the space programs, especially the aerodynamic configuration testing of the Chandrayan prior to its launch.  He wished CSIR-NAL a bright future.

  Mr. Chidananda gave an overview of NAL’s civil aviation program and the background to the modern aircraft hangar which will accommodate three SARAS class aircraft.  After the unfortunate accident to SARAS PT- II, efforts are on to speedily complete the third prototype with decreased weight using composite wing and empennage. The hangar is proposed to be used to produce the first two aircrafts of the initial 15 required by the IAF as part and production by HAL. He also mentioned that the Indian Postal Department has shown an interest in using SARAS for light cargo and courier service across India. It was also encouraging to note the progress in the first Public – Private partnership with Mahindra for the production of NM-5, a 5 seat Gneral Aviation Aircraft.

 The NAL Annual Report for the year 2008-09 was released by the Hon. Minister Sri. Prithviraj Chavan.

            The achievements of the scientists of NAL during the year 2008-09 were acknowledged by way of awards such as NAL Technology Shield for Outstanding Group Achievement, BEST WOMAN SCIENTIST, EXCELLENCE in RESEARCH, EXCELLENCE in Design, Development and Project Execution and a One Time SPECIAL AWARD for Disseminating the technologies of NAL to common man through Media and Publicity. Awards were also distributed to the children of employees for excellence in academics, sports and extra / co-curricular activities. The last word – the vote of thanks was proposed by Dr. Ranjan Moodithaya, Head ATF and KTMD.

NAL S&T Awards:

Mr A Udayakumar, Ms. R Bhuvana and Mr P Kumara for Development of SiCf/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMC) through chemical vapour infiltration technology

Dr (Ms) C Kamali, FMCD for Design, Development and Evaluation of algorithms for real time parameter estimation and navigation algorithms for aircraft applications

Dr VPS Naidu, for Design, Development and Evaluation of kinematic and image data fusion techniques for tracking a moving target.

A One Time “SPECIAL AWARD”

Ms Gomathy Sankaran, Mr A Somanarayanan, Ms Jyothi R, A L Sangeetha,PRRM Group, KTMD for Event Management and all Logistic support for all laboratory / national / international Conferences, held as part of Golden Jubilee Celebrations

and Mr C V Giriraj, Ms N Shailaja Menon, Mr A S Rajasekar, Mr P Kannan, Mr D Freddy, Mr D V Gopalakrishnan, Mr ABS Vijai, Mr Sankar Ganguly, MPM, KTMD for Disseminating the technologies of NAL to common man through Media and Publicity

NAL Awards to wards of NAL employees dor excellence in sports & studies:

Category, Name of the children with details

I. Excellence in Studies :

1. Master V Ashwin Kalyan,S/o Shri P S Vijayakumar, STTD
2. Master R Srinivas Rao,S/o Shri V Ramesh, CTFD
3. Kum R M Anjana,D/o Shri Raghavendra V Maralihalli, KTMD
4. Master Rakesh G R,S/o Mr G Ravindra, NTAF
5. Master Aditya,S/o Mr Vinod Kumar Vyas, Propulsion

II. Excellence in Sports :

1. Master Aniruddh Gopinath Puranic,S/o Shri P R Gopinath, NTAF
2. Kum S Revathi,D/o Shri Suresh, Estt.Section (B)
3. Kum N Anitha,D/o Shri K Natarajan, FRPD
4. Master C Sumanth,S/o Shri C Channaiah, EBS
5. Kum R Shruthi,D/o Smt R K Prema, CTFD

III. Excellence in Extracurricular activities

Master V Ashwin Kalyan,: S/o Shri P S Vijayakumar, STTD

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#IP 895, 16 - 22 Nov 2009

Shri Prithviraj Chavan Hon’ble Minister of State (IC) for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences and Vice President, CSIR remarks in NAL Visitors Book :

1) On the occasion of conclusion of Golden Jubilee year Celebrations, the inauguration of the Golden Jubilee Hanger and the Foundation day, I offer my greetings and best wishes to the Director, Dr Upadhya and the entire NAL family.  Being the largest lab of the CSIR system the nation is proud of NAL’s contribution to India’s National Security, Space programme and Civilian aircraft industry. The Test facilities and expertise developed here is invaluable. My best wishes for a greater success of NAL and launch of Civilian Aircraft industry led by NAL.

2) Congratulations for successfully implementing augmentation of 0.6 m Transonic Wind Tunnel Facility. It is a successful example of Public Private partnership in high technology.

Dr G Madhavan Nair,  Vikram Sarabhai Distinguished Professor andChairman, Research Council, NAL & Former Chairman, ISRO, Department of Space remarks in NAL Visitors Book : 

1) Remarkable achievement in realizing the variable nozzle facility which can provide accurate data over a large range of operating parameters. My Heartiest congratulations to the teams specially from NAL, L&T and institutions who have made significant contributions.

2) My heartiest congratulations to the NAL family on the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebrations.  I am extremely impressed with the phenomenal growth in technology and Knowledge base at this unique laboratories.

May god bless you to excel and become the national institution for R&D in Aeronautics.

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Dr D K Bhattacharya has been appointed as Acting Director of CGCRI

Dr D K Bhattacharya, has been appointed as Acting Director of CGCRI, Kolkata subsequent to  the superannuation of Dr H S Maiti, Director, CGCRI, Kolkata. 

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Awards for paper presentation

The following papers from Surface Engineering Division won award in the 23rd International Conference on Surface Modification Technologies (SMT 23) held between 2-5 Nov 2009 by IGCAR at Mamallapuram, Chennai, India.

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NAL's  Vigilance Awareness Week 2009 

The valedictory function of NAL's  Vigilance Awareness Week 2009  had a very distinguished guest, Swamy Bodhamayananda, Swamiji, Ramakrishan Mission, Chennai. The function was held on 9 Nov 2009 at the S R Valluri auditorium.

Swamy Bodhamayananda gave a scintillating lecture on Spirituality in Management. He said management is needed at home, office, factory, institution and government utilization of resources, finance, people and so on. Lack of management principles will be chaos, disorder, confusion, wastage, delay, destruction and even depression. Of late there is a surge in use of spirituality in management for two reasons:one  the employees need meaningful existence in personal and professional life and second-Corporate leadership is looking for better ways of motivating the employees and seeking innovative solutions. He described the different level of needs the physiological needs, safety needs, social needs, self esteem needs and finally self actualization.

Ms Rama Mahadev, Sr COA welcomed the gathering  and introduced the chief guest. Dr A R Upadhya, Director NAL in his  presidential address spoke about importance of vigilance. He narrated few short stories to highlight the importance of self supervision and dedication in work.

As part of the vigilance week competitions were conducted and Chief Guest distributed prizes to winners at the end of the function.

The programme ended with a vote of thanks by Ms Vimala.

Vimala and Shailaja

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#IP 894, 9 - 15 Nov 2009

INAUGURATION OF NEW CRECHE BUILDING

On seeing a beautiful building coming up adjacent to the Vidyodaya School, many used to wonder what the building was meant for!  It is the new building to house the NAL Creche, very tastefully christened as “Nanda Gokula” by the Chairperson of Creche, Prof. Sarala Upadhya.

When Dr.A R Upadhya inaugurated the new building on 21st October 2009 by cutting the ribbon, the pink interiors of the building beautifully unfolded in front of all the invitees, making some gasp with awe!  Sprawling over almost 400 sq meters, the new Creche building contains the centre portion of the corridor open to sky letting in lot of sunlight and fresh air and flanked by spacious rooms.

It was an emotional moment when the traditional lamp was lit by Director, joined by Dr S R Valluri, former Chairpersons Mrs Shyamala Valluri, Mrs Shakuntal Pai and present Chairperson Prof. Sarala Upadhya with pretty Sunaina singing “sharanu sharanu siddhi Vinayaka” in the background. The Chairperson welcomed the gathering and recalled the origin of the Creche followed by Dr Upadhya’s address.

“Odi Baraiyya Vaikuntapathi” beckoned talented Chaitra with her abhinaya, who presented a very impressive Bhartnatyam performance.  Neha, Chaitra, Sunaina, Reshmi, and Chaitali, presented a group song praising Lord Ganapathi for giving them such a beautiful new Creche building!

“We are really proud now that what was started with 4 children way back in the early nineties has grown so big” was Dr Valluri’s reaction.  Mrs Valluri was very kind enough to donate a good sum for purchasing books for the Creche.  On hearing this, never to be left behind, Dr Valluri announced that he would also donate a good sum for buying toys for the Creche. The room rocked with applause from everyone.

“I would like to come very often and love to spend time with the children” was Mrs Shakuntala Pai’s appreciation.

Dr Kalyani Vijayan, former Chairperson, Mrs Saraswathi Lakshmikantha, Mr Suresh Kumar, former Secretaries and Mrs Rema Thomas. who graced the occasion said that they were elated to see the new facilities.  It was a well-attended function by the HoDs, and lot of invitees who were associated with the Creche.

Some photographs of the recently held Creche Day Celebrations at the Rupi’s Resort are also displayed.

Sasikala G R Murthy, Secretary

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#IP 893, 2 - 8 Nov 2009

CSIR Foundation Day 2009

CSIR-NAL celebrated the sixty-seventh CSIR Foundation Day at the S R Valluri auditorium on 30th Sep 2009.Dr A R Upadhya, Director, CSIR-NAL welcomed the gathering and  introduced the chief guest , Mr Ashok Nayak, Chairman, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bangalore, who  delivered the CSIR Foundation Day Lecture titled  Indian Aerospace Industry - An Odyssey. 

Mr Nayak traced the road map of the evolution and growth of Indian Aerospace Industry.  Hindustan Aircraft Limited was conceptualized in the skies in 1939 by the pioneering industrialist Late Seth Walchand Hirachand. Mr. Nayak’s reflections of the achievements of Indian aerospace industry were introspection to many at NAL, as the collaboration between NAL and HAL was almost 5 decades old. Initially HAL collaborated with the Inter Continental Company, USA for the manufacture of Harlow trainer and fox fighter and took up the repair and overall belonging to allied forces during the Second World War. After its takeover by the Government of India, the mission of HAL was self reliance, design, development and production design of aircraft to serve the country’s growing needs. Production of HT-2, a two-seater by HAL and used by IAF, put India on the aerospace map, after which there were the Pushpak, Krishak, Pasand, an agricultural aircraft, the fighter aircrafts such as Marut, Ajit and trainer aircrafts such as Kiran Mark I and II. Mr. Nayak categorically stated that a country’s military strategy should be seamlessly intertwined with research organizations and industry. The launch of the light Combat aircraft in 1980 boosted the military aviation industry under the aegis of ADA. The fighter aircraft and helicopter MIG-21 and SUKHOI series have been produced under license from foreign companies. Despite denial of critical technologies and support, Indian aviation industry has been able to extend the vital support through indigenous efforts and the old generation aircrafts such as AVRO, DART and KIRAN continue to fly through midlife upgrade and long time support. It is sad that we still look upon the western world for advanced technologies such as sensors, actuators and radars. With his wisdom of many years, Mr. Nayak cautioned that no country can remain strong with borrowed capabilities and India with its immense strength in material and human resources should be self sufficient and move forward.   Thrust in the defense fields – militarization of space advanced communication networking systems, antiballistic missiles, electronic intelligence systems etc was essential. Mr. Nayak urged DRDO labs, NAL and HAL to enter these areas and complimented NAL on its composite, carbon fibre and structural expertise. HAL is looking forward to use the carbon fibres in ALH. The LCA has truly been a state of art aircraft with significant contributions from institutions such as NAL, HAL, ADA and DRDO to develop it. HAL has new joint ventures with companies in the areas of multifunctional display, engine components, simulation, miniaturizing of electronics and software to name a few. The nation is looking forward to see SARAS rolling out of its Hangars, (for which HAL is the production partner).  HAL –NAL were a true example of a lab and industry synergy, using the resources optimally for mutual growth of aviation capabilities. Private industries should not be looked upon as competitors. On the contrary more players would help set up a robust aviation industry. The Government’s investment initiative has   attracted TATA, L&T, Mahindra and Godrej into the aviation industry. These major players would develop as centers’ of excellence in niche areas and lead to a healthy growth of the aviation industry. Mr. Nayak concluded that the aviation sector in India is poised for a quantum leap to meet the dynamic and emerging aviation needs.

Dr Satish Chandra, Scientist, Structural Technologies Division, NAL, delivered the Twelfth NAL Business Lecture on “RTA as a Business Proposition.”From the past two years the RTA team led by Dr. Kota Harinarayan has been working on this concept, deliberating and working out the best strategies in the areas of marketability, feasibility, operations and technical perspective. The civil aircraft is extremely complex and set to take off in an even more complex Indian environment. He quoted the Alliance “In aviation industry to make a million, start with a billon, as the returns are razor edge thin.”  True to this there have been a number of mergers and acquisitions in the component manufacturers and no private quarters have entered into this due to long gestation periods. Each stakeholder looks at RTA as a business proposition, while for the Government it is an economic proposition. Unfortunately, of the total 450 airfields which are LTA compatible (3000-5000ft) only 66 were being utilized. A conjoint analysis with IIT’s has indicated that the growth rate in air would be exponential compared to rail/road, with the right price tag! Onboard equipment/infrastructure would help in reducing ground infrastructure costs. A detailed analysis of the route network and sector wise load revealed that ATR-72 operates on smaller routes while the regional jets operate on longer routes. The global market for the regional transport aircraft is expected to be more than 7000 during 2013-2027. Detailed discussions with the operators suggested the best way forward would be to have 30% decrease in fuel burn, 25% decrease in ownership costs, speed higher than ATR ,maintenance cost and above all the ability to use airfields with minimum ground facilities. NAL has initiated research in the areas of aircraft design, health monitoring to bring down the maintenance cost (both prognostic and diagnostic), coatings to increase the laminar flow, complete composites, active and vibration noise control, GPS for comfortable aircraft and fly-by systems. Collaboration with other R&D institutions in Flow dynamics studies, Digital fly- by wire and scouting of new materials like CRR with regard to crashworthiness is ongoing. On an end note it is suggested that the best business model would be the Public – Private model and foreign collaboration would leverage certification.

Awards were presented to the following children of employees of NAL, who have excelled in academics and sports during the year 2008-09.

1. Master Anish T Moncy, S/o Shri Moncy T Thomas, Scientist, FMCD, NAL

2. Kum N Apoorva,D/o Shri V Nagarajan, Head, NTAF

3. Kum N Aparna,D/o Shri V Nagarajan, Head, NTAF

4. Kum Sneha Chattopadhyay, D/o Dr K Lalitha Chattopadhyay, Scientist, STTD

Excellence in sports :

1. Kum N Anitha ,D/o Shri K Natarajan, FRPD

2. Kum V Ranjini, D/o Shri K Viswanathan, Engg. Services

3. Kum R Shruthi,D/o Smt R K Prema, CTFD

4. Kum S Revathi, D/o Shri J Suresh, ADB

5. Master C Sumanth ,S/o Shri C Channaiah, EBU

 Patent Certificates were presented to inventors for all the PATENTS GRANTED.

The programme concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr M R Nayak , Adviser, M&A . The programme was compered by Ms Gomathy Sankaran, Group Leader,PRRM.

Amitha B E

CSIR Foundation day Lectures

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