News and Events, NAL, Bangalore

23rd August at the office was naturally hectic. First priority was to quickly digitize the recorded video onto the Non-Linear Video Editing Station (NLVES) and finally port the SARAS documentary on the NAL Home Page.

The road to host the SARAS transmission on the Home Page had its own ‘steep turns’. Here are some interesting moments:

Finally, using appropriate CODECS (compressors and decompressors), the VCD file was exported as a Flash .SWF file. File size came down to 11 MB at no quality loss.

Compressed video that was initially hosted on the web site was playing without any play controls to the end user. The end user needs play controls on the video clip to facilitate him in playing and controlling the video better. These are easily achievable through Flash Scripts and is a must when you host video on your web-site.

The road ahead is undoubtedly challenging. With sufficiently good bandwidth available now, and rapid advances in Flash technology, we need to go the ‘Google‘ way in managing our ‘digital content’, (both static and dynamic).

To recollect the old adage, that if “a picture is worth a thousand words”, then it wouldn’t be totally wrong to say that “a movie is worth a thousand pictures” in todays digital realm.

R Guruprasad

Karnataka Rajyotsava was celebrated on 1st November with the usual gaiety and pomp. The function started with the Flag hoisting by the acting Director Dr J J Isaac. Mr K Sanjeeva Rao, Secretary of the Kannada Sanskritika Sangha (KSS) welcomed the chief guest and the gathering. Mr. Prathap Nayak, president of KSS delivered the Rajyotsava speech. Dr J J Isaac in his address praised the KSS for carrying out this function in a memorable way for more than three decades. He read out a short message in Kannada wishing KSS on the occasion.

The audience appreciated the invocation song and the other songs by the children from NAL campus. This was followed by light music by the members of KSS. Mr K Sanjeeva Rao compered the programme.

The function concluded with distribution of sweets and vote of thanks by Mr H S Subramanya, Vice president, Cultural activity, KSS.

Patent No.195194 was granted to Dr. RMVGK Rao, Mr.Kandasamy Natarajan and Dr. Adoni Padma on 9 March 2007 for ‘A process for the synthesis of a new tetraglycidyl paraphenylene diamine (TGPPD) epoxy resin’.

The invention provides a process for synthesis of TGPPD resin having low viscosity, which offers superior processing characteristics to those of commercially available resins.

Fifth seminar on Flight Testing postponed

The fifth seminar on Flight Testing has been postponed from 13 November 2007 to 29 November 2007.

A familiarization programme was started a few years back for all the new employees of NAL. The aim of the programme was to make the new entrants acquaint themselves with the various activities of NAL, build a rapport with the divisions and staff members and feel that they belong to the NAL/CSIR family.

The inaugural function for the twenty first familiarization programme was held on 26 October 2007. Dr J J Isaac, Head Propulsion and Wind Energy Division welcomed the new entrants with a brief and inspiring speech. He said that the former Director General of CSIR Dr R A Mashelkar had called NAL the Kohinoor of CSIR. All the new entrants should consider themselves very privileged for having become a part of a great organization like NAL. He added that NAL was a place where youngsters were encouraged to upgrade their skills and qualification and advised the youngsters to make use of this opportunity.

Dr M N Sathyanarayana, Joint Head, KTMD made a presentation ‘ About KTMD’. He gave a brief introduction of CSIR and NAL. He referred to Knowledge and Technology Management Division (KTMD) of NAL as the ‘information arm’ of the Director. KTMD was formed merging the Technical Secretariat (TS), Project Monitoring and Evaluation Division (PMED) and Information Management Division (IMD). He touched on the objectives and coreactivities of KTMD.

Dr Shaleen Raizada, MD & CEO, Sanshadow Consultants Pvt. Ltd, Delhi spoke on “IPR - Focus on Technical Analysis and Evaluation” on 25 October 2007 at the KTMD Seminar Hall.

Dr Raizada highlighted the importance of intellectual property for research and development organization. The lecture covered the importance of technology mapping, infringement analysis, claim analysis and some cautions while preparing the licensing agreements. She stressed on the need of commercial aspects of patented technology. Technological gap and advantages, evolution according to needs of target group and collaborative work decides the commercial potentials of patent. The idea of “Patent Pool” was first brought to practice by establishing the Aircraft Manufacturing Association at international level. This was required because no company held all the patents in a finished product and also the patent provided rights only to avoid the unauthorized use of invention. Evolution of DVD players to market is an example of patent pool that happened during 1998.

Dr Kota Harinarayana, Raman Research Fellow and Dr M R Nayak, Advisor (M&A) attended the lecture. Dr M N Sathya-narayana, Joint Head, KTMD proposed the vote of thanks.

NAL participated in the XV National Seminar on Aerospace Structures (NASAS) held at Park College of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore. At the exhibition the stall set up by National Aerospace laboratories, Indian Air force and Indian Space Research Organsiation were the major attraction for the student community.

Prof Peter Hodgson, ARC Federation Fellow and Alfred Deakin Professor of the Centre for Material and Fiber innovation, Faculty of Science and Technology, Deakin University, Australia visited NAL on 17 October 2007.

A report on the 10th international conference on advanced materials (IUMRS-ICAM)

The International Conference on Advanced Materials (ICAM) is one of the prestigious conferences of the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) and is held once in two years. The 2007 International Conference on Advanced Materials (IUMRS-ICAM) was a mega science mela with approximately one thousand delegates across the globe participating in the deliberations. It was held in Hotel Grand Ashoka, Bangalore from 8-13th October organised by MRSI in association with IISc and JNCASR. About 250 invited talks were delivered under fourteen theme symposia highlighting a range of topics of contemporary importance for science, engineering and technology of materials. The conference was organised in such a way that there was one plenary talk in the morning, and the rest of the day was devoted to symposia presentation sessions and poster sessions in the afternoon. Some of the important theme symposia were on intelligent materials, MEMS, functional materials, Self assemble and Nanomaterials, Polymer materials, Energy materials, Composite materials, Magnetic and Spintronics, Semiconductors for optoelectronics, multilayered materials, Hybrid materials, High performance structural materials, Materials for catalysis, Characterization of materials, Microscopy, Sensor materials, Materials synthesis, Novel approaches, Nanomaterials and devices etc. Since the hotel could not conduct so many symposia simultaneously, two temporary structures housing various lecture rooms and a large auditorium were set-up.

Some of the important plenary lectures were delivered by eminent scientists from India and abroad. The first day plenary talk was delivered by Prof. C.N. R. Rao on “Half a century of oxide materials”. He talked about the gamut of oxide materials which have been studied mostly by his group and world-wide along with their interesting properties including superconductivity and giant-magnetoresistance (GMR). It is also noteworthy to mention that just after two days of this talk, Albert Fert (Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/THALES, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France) and Peter Grünberg (Forschungszentrum Jülich,Germany) were awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize for Physics "For the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance". This truly is a materials-related topic, and giant magnetoresistance and collossal magnetoresistance were the subject of several talks at this conference, as was nanotechnology.

       The other plenary lectures were delivered by Prof. Fred Wudl from University of California,on ‘Organic Electronics - Applications and Challenges’. Micehele Parrinello from ETH Zurich, Switzerland gave a plenary lecture on “Challenges and progress in Ab-initio molecular dynamics simulation”. The plenary lecture on “Japanese Strategy of Nano technology and Nims activity” gave an overall view of the kind of projects and funding for Nanotechnology in Japan.

            The last plenary lecture was delivered by Prof. Jacques Livage of the Collège de France, Paris, on “Vanadium Oxide Gels, Versatile Precursors for Nanostructured Materials”. He described the versatile range of nanostructures that can be obtained using this material ranging from fibers, ribbons, nano rods, nano belts, scroll–like, nano-urchin.and nano-dandelion. These materials exhibit fascinating properties like mixed conduction (which can be used as anti-static coating), host matrix for intercalation (use in Li batteries) etc. This lecture was well received and it totally took us into the amazing world of nano architecture.

            A large number of scientists from NAL, mostly from MT and SED attended the conference. The presentations and posters presented by NAL scientists were well received. The conference gave an opportunity to interact with scientists from India and abroad, other CSIR laboratories.

Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research represented by National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore have signed an agreement (MoU) on 5 October 2007 for ushering and strengthening better R&D Institute.

An MoU has been entered between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research represented by National Aerospace Laboratories, Bangalore and Mysore University, Mysore on the 19 of October 2007 for Co-operative Programme in Academic Training and Research.

A brief report on 108th Semi-annual meeting of the
Supersonic Tunnel Association International (STAI)

The 108th semi-annual meeting of the STAI was hosted by NAL at Eagleton Golf Resorts during 7-9 October 2007. This was for the first time since NAL became a member in 1978, that an STAI meeting was held in NAL. 15 delegates from USA, Japan, France, Germany, England, Belgium, Russia and South Africa participated in the deliberations. About 50 participants from NAL, DRDO, ADA and VSSC also took part. After inauguration by Director, NAL, 17 technical papers were presented in 5 technical sessions. NAL had the largest number of presentations. The meeting focused on topics related to test facility operations, maintenance issues, instrumentation, data acquisition and control systems, development of flow diagnostic tools, etc.

The meeting ended with a visit of the foreign delegates to the 1.2m wind tunnel, the Hansa and SARAS hangars and the Acoustic Test Facility. One of the delegates, who owns and flies an Ultralight airplane in Europe, was quite impressed with the Hansa.

Very high starting and stopping transient loads are the bane of blowdown wind tunnels operating at high supersonic Mach numbers all over the world. The origin of starting transient loads is the passage of the starting normal shock (also called terminal shock), which occurs when air at high pressure is suddenly released in to the wind tunnel when the Pressure Regulating Valve (PRV) is opened. If the second throat area is appropriately set, the starting shock settles down downstream of the second throat and supersonic flow in the test section gets stabilized. The process lasts typically for 0.3 to 0.5 seconds. The origin of stopping transient loads is the break down of steady supersonic flow, which occurs when the PRV is suddenly closed during a blowdown. When the supply pressure is cut off, the terminal shock moves upstream of the second throat, becomes unstable and rapidly travels upstream towards the settling chamber. Strong pressure waves rapidly travel up and down the test section for a few seconds till viscous dissipation stabilizes the oscillatory flow and ambient conditions are reached in the test section. Stopping loads are usually more severe than starting loads because of absence of aerodynamic damping during stopping.

Various techniques have been implemented in wind tunnel facilities to minimize the starting and stopping loads. Among them is the use of a Variable Mach number Flexible Nozzle (VMFN)

When the idea of enhancing the testing capability of NAL 0.6m wind tunnel from transonic to supersonic Mach numbers came up as a part of NTAF augmentation, the VMFN was construed as the best option, considering the cost, time and technology factors. The operational philosophy of VMFN is to start the wind tunnel at a low Mach number and a low stagnation pressure and then reach the required high supersonic Mach number along with synchronous increase in stagnation pressure. In this process, supersonic Mach number in the test section can be achieved with the minimum stagnation pressure (running pressure). After completion of tests at the required high Mach number, the VMFN can be reverted to a low Mach number condition and low stagnation pressure and then stopped.

While the concept of a VMFN appears reasonably simple, there are several engineering challenges in practically realizing such a nozzle, some of which are listed below:

One of the interesting problems associated with the operation of such a nozzle is the on-line matching of two different time-varying systems, viz., the stagnation pressure controlled by the PRV and the nozzle throat controlled by the drive system. An improper matching can lead to catastrophic results.

NAL celebrated the CSIR Foundation Day on 26 Sep 2007. The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), set up in September 1942, is the premier R&D institution of the country. We at NAL pay special tribute to its founder Dr Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar, who played a crucial role in laying down India’s science and technology policies.

Dr A R Upadhya, the Director of NAL, welcomed the chief guest, Vice Admiral Raman Puri (Retd) PVSM, AVSM, VSM, the distinguished guests, members of the media and his colleagues. He spoke about the achievements of CSIR in the area of research and development. He also briefly mentioned the path-breaking role played by NAL in R&D in the aviation sector.

Vice Admiral Puri delivered the Foundation day lecture, on Strategy for IndigenousCapabilityBuilding in Aeronautics. He said thatinnovation led to productivity enhancement and hence to substantial increase in output levels both at the micro and macro level. In essence ”Innovation was the Catalyst for Growth”. According to him the status of a country’s aeronautical prowess was a general indication of the country’s technological capabilities. He was in favour of developing sophisticated technology in India Vice Admiral Raman Puri launched NAL’s Hindi website. Ms Poornima Narayan, Deputy Head, ICAST, spoke about the salient features of the Hindi website and thanked her colleagues for their efforts in the creation of the website.

Dr T G Ramesh, Head, Material Science Division delivered the tenth CSIR Foundation Day Business Lecture on Instrumentation and Materials Technology. He spoke about DRISHTI, the state of the art technology indigenously developed transmissometer for measurement of runway visibility — a parameter of central importance in flying operations.

The chief guest distributed CSIR Outstanding Performance Awards in non R&D areas to NAL employees and prizes to children of NAL’s employees for excellent achievements in the field of academics, sports and extra- curricular activities.

The function concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Dr M R Nayak, Adv.(M&A). Dr MN Sathyanaraya Jt. Head KTMD compered the programme.

Rema and Shailaja

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham recently organized a Faculty Development Programme (FDP) with “Modern Design Practices in Aerospace and Allied Areas” as its main theme. The event at the Amrita Institute, Coimbatore was oraganized in collaboration with NAL and HAL. Dr. S Viswanath, Former Head, Structures Division, Dr. S Sridhara Murthy, Jt. Head Structures, Dr. Manoj Nair, Scientist, CTFD Division and Dr. Kidambi Rangachari, Scientist, CTFD Division delivered a series of lectures. Dr. Balakrishna, General Manager and Mr. K. S. Narayana Rao, Chief Designer of HAL also delivered lectures. The lectures covered aspects of failure investigation, re-qualification of dynamic components, ceramic structures, finite element modelling, low Reynolds number flows and design optimization. The FDP is essentially aimed to highlight modern practices in the area of engineering design with a view to bridge the gap between what is being taught in classrooms and what is being practiced in industry and R & D establishments. Indeed, it is a remarkable step by Amrita.

Amrita institute is proving to be very forward looking with its intention to enter into an MoU with NAL in order to introduce cooperative programme in training and research. The MoU will be signed soon. This will enable students from Amrita institute to avail research facilities at NAL and tap the expertise available with the scientists. In return, Amrita institute will recognize NAL as a research centre. Thus, the MoU will be mutually beneficial. The scope of the MoU is expected to include possibility for some NAL scientists to register for degree courses at Amrita and provide an opportunity for others to serve as guest faculty. NAL scientists can also play role in selection of students, avail e-learning facilities and so on. It would truly be a win-win situation.

Dr A R Upadhya, Director, NAL has been elected as a corresponding member of Section 4 (Social Science) of the International Academy of Astronautics. The diploma was handed over to Dr Upadhya in the Academy meeting at Hyderabad on 23 September 2007 during the International Astronautical Congress.

NAL received Best Exhibitor Award in the category “Most Informative Display” at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) and Space exhibition held during September 24-28, 2007 at Hyderabad.

The international expo provided an opportunity to NAL to showcase its capabilities and technologies. The exhibition witnessed the participation and presence of internationally renowned organizations from aerospace and astronautic industry. Many visitors showed keen interest in radome technologies. Student community of the aeronautical engineering were also very keen in taking up projects at NAL.

The 58th session of IAC was hosted together by ISRO and Astronautical Society of India, at the International Convention Centre in Hyderabad. The International Space exhibition was at the HITEX complex adjacent to the Convention Center

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Joy of Digital Video Compression

The NAL Information Pasteboard carried an announcement that the Discovery Channel would be broadcasting the SARAS documentary under its ‘Planet Earth Comes to India – India Unleashed’ programme on 22/8/07 at 8:00 p.m. There was an urgent need to record this transmission.