Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

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DRDO aims for 6th sense

BANGALORE: If the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) succeeds in developing this gen-next technology, then not only will we have efficient network centric infantrymen guarding our borders but also well informed secret agents who will be masters in espionage and intelligence gathering.


The technology, at a nascent stage of development, is the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System — an artificial cognitive science programme designed to analyse sensory data and alert foot soldiers against any possible threat, passive or direct, says scientific advisor to defence minister VK Saraswat.

Saraswat says that to study cognitive behaviour, DRDO has laid a lot of stress especially in the R&D, apart from initiating efforts to sensitise academicians and students.

"Imagine a situation when a person comes and talks to you and one can sense what is in his mind. This will help a great deal when it comes to political espionage and army intelligence gathering,” he said.

Other countries have already started working on this technology and this being a very complex science, India is still in the primary stage of its development. “Since a variety of situations have to be analysed, it is a complex technology and will take time. May be 50 years from now, we can come out with one such technology,” he said. The US department of defence is already working on it, Saraswat added.

 

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India developing solutions to deal with low intensity conflict - Express India

Bangalore Defence Research and Development
Organisation today said unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) will play a key role in dealing with low intensity conflicts abetted by both internal elements and unfriendly neighbours.
“Our (India’s) great neighbours not being really friendly be it in the west (Pakistan) or in the north-east (China),” P S Krishnan, Director of Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), a lab under DRDO, said.

In addition, he also touched upon internal challenges such as insurgency, militancy and naxal activities in parts of the state, all of which are grouped together as low intensity conflicts.

He was speaking at the 23rd national convention of aerospace engineers here.

Krishnan said one of the Chief Controllers of the DRDO had been specifically asked to look at low intensity conflicts and what solutions he can give.

“Obviously UAVs are going to play a very important role,” he said.

ADE is the only lab in India which looks at the full spectrum of UAVs. The focus is also on “Nishant surveillance and reconnaissance UAV” developed by India to counter low intensity conflicts, Krishnan said.

UAVs also play a key role in disaster and flood management, he said.

Stressing the importance of UAVs, Krishnan said they provide uninterrupted surveillance on areas of interest. Spy satellites provide episodic coverage of area of interest, whereas UAVs have high battlefield persistence, he said.

Referring to the recent crash of a Technology Demonstrator-1 of the Rs 1,000 crore Rustom medium altitude long endurance UAV programme during its inaugural flight, Krishnan said it was a reasonably successful flight.

“We had a good flight. We gained a lot from this. We were able to prove on-board flight control system and dual redundant system,” he said.

“Everything worked.... in terms of hardware and software,” he said, adding, the UAV, under development at ADE, “will be in the business of flying very soon”.

The remote-controlled TD-1 crashed into a coconut grove after the ‘pilot’ misjudged the altitude and erroneously gave an engine kill command during the flight near Hosur ten days ago. DRDO earlier said the TD-1’s engine was switched off from the ground command which caused the crash.

 

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DRDO develops H1N1 testing kit - Chandigarh - City - The Times of India

CHANDIGARH: With the advent of winter H1N1 cases are on the rise across the country. Keeping this and the high cost of the WHO testing kit in mind an indigenous rapid testing kit has been developed by the DRDO, which shall not only cut down the cost by one tenth of the existing WHO-approved kit, but also reduce the testing time from a day to 15-20 minutes. Moreover, it is not bulky and can be carried to the field or home for diagnosis.

Informing the The Times of India about the latest development, Dr W Selvamurthy, chief controller, research and development, ministry of defence, DRDO, said, “The kit has been sent to the National Institute of Communicable Diseases, Delhi, by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) for validation. It shall be available
in the market after the transfer of technology by the ICMR. It took us just six months for the kit’s production.”

Three months ago 10 indigenous companies had presented their rapid-testing kits to the ICMR. Firms Auroprobe, Genomic Diagnostics and Ocimmum were found to be testing an effective kit with real samples. “Only two of them have been sent for validation. With the DRDO also in the queue, we have more options for the approval,” VM Katoch, director general, ICMR, stated.

Unlike the WHO kit, the DRDO one is based on real-time LAMP (Loop-mediated isothermal amplification) technique which reduces the testing time. Terming this development on a par with international kits as far as economy is concerned, Selvamurthy added, “The polymerase-based WHO kit makes the testing less specific which requires more sophisticated tools also. Moreover, the cost of the DRDO kit is Rs 1,000 while that of the WHO kit is Rs 10,000.

According to a ministry of health and family welfare update, till date 15,926 have been tested positive with the flu with 534 deaths reported across the country.

 

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DRDO pitches for Netra for anti-insurgency operations

It is called ‘Netra’. It’s a small eye zooming in the sky to gather real time intelligence on the ground. This unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), shaped like a spider and weighing less than 1.5 kg, is only a speck when flying at a height of 50 km but it can give real time inputs to the team that is controlling it on the ground.



The developers, DRDO’s Research and Development Establishment (Engineers) and Idea Forge, a small start-up company incubated by IIT Bombay, are pitching the Netra as a device for “anti-terrorist and counter-insurgency operations”.



It was exhibited at the College of Military Engineering in the city on Tuesday and Wednesday at a workshop to combat Improvised Explosive Devices using technology. The UAV was also presented before the Ministry of Home Affairs at an exhibition in Delhi last month. In February, it will be showcased at the Defence Expo in Delhi.


“It’s useful in aerial patrol; it can help soldiers gather advance intelligence and avoid ambush. A lot of times, officers tell us, that they would like to see what’s happening on the other side of the boundary wall,” said Alok Mukherjee, a scientist at the DRDO. He said the reaction to the UAV had been positive till now.


“One of the concerns expressed at the exhibition last month was that it could easily be shot down. But at a height of 50 km in the sky it looks smaller than a bird and is a very difficult target to shoot at,” Mukherjee said. At a time, it can stay in air for around 30 minutes and can travel up to 2 km at a stretch.


Although the payload is a camera, now weighing 300 gm, the main aim of Netra being surveillance, Mukherjee said other payloads could also get attached, depending upon the requirement. However, he said this would increase the cost of Netra, which is now priced at around Rs 15 lakh.


“It has quick deployment time and vertical take-off and landing ability. It finds application in anti-terrorist operations, counter-insurgency in forested areas, hostage situations, border infiltration monitoring, local law enforcement operations, search and rescue operations, disaster management and aerial photography,” said Rahul Singh, director, Idea Forge.


An institute involved in the study of snow and avalanche has already placed an order for the UAV. “They want prior information on snow conditions so that they can warn their staff on the ground once an avalanche begins. Several local law enforcement agencies have also expressed keen interest,” Singh said.

 

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Versions of Daksh to be displayed at Defence Expo

A few months ago, the Indian Army placed orders for an Improvised Explosives Device (IED) handling robot - Daksh - a two feet tall remote controlled machine used for removing improvised explosive devises. It can handle the IED from a distance, scan it to see if it contains a bomb and then disrupt it using a on-board water jet disrupter.



Now, the DRDO is coming out with varying versions of Daksh, which will be show-cased at the Defence Expo to be held in Delhi on February.



It is trying to build a smaller, more compact version which could be used by local law enforcement agencies like the CRPF, or the National Security Guard.



The R & D wing of the Indian Army is also working on a Gun mounted Robot. Instead of an IED handler, the robot will have a rifle, an LMG and a grenade launcher. This is designed somewhat along the lines of the Talon, a US made robot; around 1000 Talons have already been deployed by the US in the Iraq, said Alok Mukherjee, DRDO scientist.

This could be useful in hostage situations. Instead of posting personnel on each and every corner, a robot loaded with arms could be sent to save lives,” he said.


Another version of the Daksh is the disrupter-mounted robot. While the original arm of the Daksh is used in handing IEDs, the disrupter-mounted version has no such appendage, reducing its weight. While Daksh is useful in handling suspect explosive objects before they are defused, the disrupter-mounted robot is designed just to destroy the suspect IED from a distance.


“It is a more inexpensive method. Instead of handling it and then defusing the explosive, the disrupter mounted robot defuses the explosive directly,” said Alok Mukherjee, DRDO scientist.


While the Daksh has already gone through stringent military trials, if the varying versions of the Daksh are to be inducted into the Armed Forces, they would have to go through the entire procedure.

 

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Defence works to unmanned vehicle production, DEMA comes of age - Express India

By 2010, DEMA Mechatronics plans to build up the capacity to produce around 100 UAV’s and 2 lakh variable time fuses and around 50,000 proximity fuses per year. “We will initially manufacture around 2 lakh variable time fuses and gradually increase the number to 5 lakh per year,” said Kamlapurkar. “We are also venturing into indigenous production of proximity fuses.”

“The UAV will be an upgraded version of the Vihanga Netra, the first effort of the DEMA consortium using Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) funds,” said Yogendra Jagirdar of Jagirdar Aeroproducts, which is in charge of designing and making the UAV aircraft, its field-testing and operation. “This will be our second attempt at manufacturing UAVs after the Vihang Netras,” he added.

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There will be additional features like night vision compatibility, map overlays and the ability to lock on to a target. It will be a wheeled version, compact compared to the Vihang Netra, and weighing 25-40 kg. It will possess a range of 10 km, an altitude of 1.5 km and a speed of 100 km per hour.

Dema is planning the UAV for the civil sector as well. “The UAV can be used for non-defence forces as well, like the police or even paramilitary troops for surveillance,” said Kamlapurkar.

While fuses and UAVs are DEMA’s priority projects for full-fledged production right now, some of its members are also involved in producing moving targets and the association will gradually delve into the production of smart weapons.

“At present the Vihang Netra is being used as a moving target and we are planning to produce more targets for defence use. We also plan to produce smart mines, which are activated by remote, shoulder rocket launchers etc. The technology is already a part of some other products and we will just have to adapt them to develop the proposed products,” explained Kamlapurkar.

 

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The LRDE develops for the armed forces sensors meant for surveillance, tracking and weapons control.



Revathi, a 3D, medium-range surveillance radar, mounted on a naval vessel.

THE Electronics and Radar Development Establishment (LRDE) in Bangalore has been spearheading the development of radar systems and related technologies for the defence forces. A Ministry of Defence research laboratory under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), the LRDE’s genealogy goes back to the Inspectorate of Scientific Stores set up in 1939 at Rawalpindi.

In 1946, it was re-designated as the Technical Development Establishment (Instruments and Electronics) and relocated in Dehradun. The electronics component was relocated to Bangalore in 1962 and the LRDE’s role was redefined to develop indigenous and state-of-the-art military radar and communication systems. Today the LRDE is a premier radar systems laboratory with a core competence to build advanced systems in the L to X bands.

According to S. Varadarajan, Director, LRDE, the laboratory develops a range of products from short- to long-range sensors for ground, air and sea surface surveillance, tracking, and weapons control. Besides this, the LRDE has developed advanced radar technologies, including transmit and receive (TR) modules, slotted waveguide array antenna, high-power transmitters, programmable signal and data processors, radar controllers and multi-beam antenna.

The LRDE was roundly criticised for not successfully developing, in collaboration with Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, the multi-mode radar for the Light Combat Aircraft Tejas. But the Israeli radar now being fitted on the Tejas has an antenna designed by the LRDE – the slotted waveguide array antenna. The LRDE is also undertaking the design and development of the active electronically scanned array (AESA) technology. The AESA technology allows ships and aircraft to broadcast powerful radar signals while they themselves remain under stealth. The AESA’s basic building block is the TR module, a self-contained, miniaturised transmitter and receiver that makes up one of the AESA antenna elements. In a bid to develop the AESA, the LRDE has developed L and S band TR modules.

According to B.V. Ramesh, project director of LRDE’s LSTAR programme, an LRDE-developed X-band AESA radar could be fitted on the Tejas by 2014. Two modules of the AESA radar have already been launched. Ramesh also disclosed that the LSTAR (Long-range Solid State Active Phase Array Radar), which is a sort of a forerunner to India’s Airborne Early Warning and Control System programme, has been approved by the Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification, integrated and tested on ground-based systems, and qualified for airborne applications. And a production agency, Astra Microwave, has been identified for it.

Among the LRDE’s foremost products is Indra-1, a radar that works on the Doppler principle. It has a 50-km range and is integrated with the fire control radar. It is in deployment with the Army and the Indian Air Force (IAF) as part of their air defence network. Indira-2, an improvement over Indira-1, was designed as per the needs of the IAF, which wanted a radar that can identify dense-formation targets, such as a group of aircraft flying wing tip to wing tip, and can be used even at high altitudes.



Bharani, a portable, short-range, light-weight radar. It provides 2D surveillance, mainly in mountainous terrain, against aerial targets.

The LRDE’s portable Battle Field Surveillance Radar (BFSR) - Short Range was developed after the Kargil conflict, when the inadequacies of binoculars were felt. An all-weather, automated detection of intrusions system was needed. Over 1,400 BFSRs are now being used by the Army against moving surface targets. A BFSR radar that offers foliage penetration is under development. The LRDE has also developed a coherent, electronically scanned C-Band Doppler Weapon Locating Radar for use by the Artillery Corps. Rohini is a 3D, medium-range, vehicle-mounted surveillance radar that offers 360 degree coverage and has a range of 150 to 180 km, and is used against low-, medium- and high-flying targets. It can measure the range, azimuth and the height of the target. It is designed for the IAF and will also be part of the Akash missile system. The LRDE is also developing the Revathi, a 3D, medium-range surveillance radar that will give the Navy cover against air and sea targets.

An off-shoot of the Rohini is the Aslesha, a 3D low-level, light-weight radar designed for use in mountainous terrain and against aerial targets. The LRDE developed this radar when the Army wanted a system that could be transported by animals. It has been evaluated at 15,000 feet (4,572 metres) and cleared for induction. The Bharani is another portable, short-range, low-level, light-weight radar. It provides 2D surveillance, mainly in mountainous terrain, against aerial targets such as unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft flying at low and medium altitudes.

The Rajendra, a multi-function, phased array radar, is the primary sensor at the battery level for the Akash weapon system, which is to be used for air defence by the IAF and the Army. It can perform extensive searches, track multiple targets and missiles, and command and guide multiple missiles concurrently. Says Varadarajan: “It can be mounted on a T-52 tank bed or as per the IAF’s requirements on a low-bed trailer.”

Having realised the importance of timelines and technology obsolescence in the development of radar systems, the LRDE has decided to “knit the user with the programme at the design stage itself”. Says Varadarajan: “An early association of the user helps fasten the programme. As for production, we want to be involved only with critical design and system engineering, capturing the user’s requirements. It is for industry to realise the prototype, prove the concept and also be the lead integrator.”

 

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The DRDO’s life sciences laboratories work to increase the efficiency of soldiers.



The reconaissance vehicle, which is designed to detect and demarcate areas affected by nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and transmit data to the control centre.

IT has been a silent march for five decades by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), which shuns the limelight and prefers to let its work do the talking. Its mission: self-reliance in defence technologies. In the past 10 years alone, DRDO-developed systems have won production orders worth around Rs.40,000 crore. They cover a wide range: battle tanks, missiles, radars, electronic warfare systems, sonars, mini-submarines, unmanned aerial vehicles, explosives, propellants, armaments, bridge-laying tanks, heavy-duty parachutes, and defence technologies against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) warfare.

Other DRDO-developed products include strategically important material such as Kanchan armour used in the main battle tank Arjun, steel for building weapon-platforms on ships, titanium sponge which has medical applications, and composites for use in the nose-cone of missiles.

The DRDO’s nine life sciences laboratories have developed portable bags for treatment of high-altitude pulmonary oedema, escape suits for submariners, protective clothing for soldiers posted in Siachen and integrated life-support systems, including helmets, flying overalls and anti-G suits for Indian Air Force pilots. They have also developed diagnostic kits for dengue, malaria, typhoid and leptospirosis. The Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR) in Leh has bred a hybrid broiler sheep for round-the-year availability of fresh meat at high altitudes for soldiers.

The other laboratories are Defence Bio-engineering and Electro-Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bangalore; Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research (DIBER), Haldwani, Uttarakhand; Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore; Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), Delhi; Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), Delhi; Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior; Defence Research Laboratory (DRL), Tezpur, Assam; and Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi.



The integrated field shelter, which can accommodate up to 30 people for four days in the event of an NBC attack.

The DRDO considers the Army, the Navy and the Air Force as “partners in development and not merely users”, said W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, R&D (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO.

The DRDO began its journey on January 1, 1958, as an organisation to advise the armed forces on its needs. Today, it is a generator, integrator and deliverer of systems and also provides spin-off technologies to society at large. “The DRDO plays a vital role in providing cutting-edge technologies to the services, in the development of industries, and in academic growth as well,” said Selvamurthy.

Its network of 52 laboratories and centres makes the DRDO one of the finest R&D organisations in the world. In the coming years, said Selvamurthy, the DRDO’s thrust would be to involve the private sector in R&D work, such as the preparation of engineering drawings, the integration of defence systems, testing and evaluation, and in the manufacturing of products. “In the 11th Plan (2007-2012), we will involve small and medium industries in R&D activities,” he said.

LINKS WITH ACADEMIA

The DRDO involves academic institutions, too, in R&D by providing them extramural projects. It has research boards in the areas of aeronautics, naval technology, armaments and life sciences, which fund basic research in academic institutions. Centres of excellence set up by it in Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, the University of Hyderabad, and the University of Calcutta focus on life sciences, high energy materials and microwaves and matter respectively.

In the area of NBC defence technologies, the DRDO has helped India achieve a high level of self-reliance. Of the 60 products it has developed, about 45 are in use in the services. These fall into five categories: systems for early detection, equipment for personal protection, systems for collective protection, equipment for decontamination, and products for medical management. Said Selvamurthy: “In the past five years, we have developed [NBC defence] systems and products worth more than Rs.500 crore, which have been inducted into the services.”




A suit developed for protection against NBC agents.

A radar to detect attacks by NBC material is under development. “This is a futuristic development for the 11th and 12th Plans,” Selvamurthy said. A Rs.300-crore project to develop new NBC defence equipment and products, where small and medium industries will be stake-holders in production, is on the anvil.DRDO-developed systems and sensors that monitor the environment can warn of a nuclear weapon strike. They include pocket dosimeters and portable dose rate metres to measure gamma radiation; radiac metre personnel locket (RPL) dosimeter to measure the gamma and neutron radiation received by a soldier in nuclear warfare; an integrated control panel to provide early warnings against NBC threats; and a Roentgenometer with a flash sensor that will detect the flash of light that accompanies the explosion of a nuclear weapon.

“In the event of the use of chemical weapons, we have developed a portable gas chromotograph which can detect 20 chemicals at a time,” said Selvamurthy. These chemical warfare agents include nerve agents such as Suman, Serin and Tabun, blister-causing agents and cyanide. The DRDO has developed a kit to detect residual vapour of chemical agents and nerve agents and a kit to find out whether water sources have been poisoned by cyanide or nerve agents.

“We have developed a three-coloured paper to find out whether a chemical agent has been used. Just by noticing the change in the colour of the paper, a jawan will know whether a chemical agent has been used and wear protective clothing,” the Chief Controller said.




W. Selvamurthy, Chief Controller, R&D (Life Sciences and Human Resources), DRDO.

The DRDO has also fabricated a protective clothing ensemble in the event of the use of NBC warfare agents. It includes a canister with a respiratory mask to prevent the inhalation of radiation or chemical or biological warfare agent particles. The canister and mask are powerful enough to filter agents up to 0.13 microns. For collective protection against NBC agents, there are integrated field shelters that can be assembled underground. Each unit can accommodate 30 individuals and has essential supplies that can last four days. The armed forces have bought them in large numbers. An interesting product is the sturdy reconnaissance vehicle that can detect NBC-contaminated areas and transmit data to control centres. There is also a mobile nuclear field laboratory to measure radioactivity in the environment. Technologies, solutions and apparatus have rolled out of the DRDO laboratories for decontaminating personnel, terrain, vehicles, aircraft and equipment in the event of an NBC attack. A decontamination system mounted on a Tatra vehicle can clean affected areas. There are medical management products, too, including an auto-jet injector. Soldiers exposed to nerve agents can inject themselves with twin antidotes – atrophine sulphate and PAM (pralidoxime chloride).

FOOD AND HEALTH

The Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences has devised 18 ration-scales to meet the nutritional and energy requirements of personnel operating in various weather conditions. It has also developed survival rations and nutrition scales for Sainik school pupils.

The DFRL has developed a wide range of ready-to-eat food products that can be consumed after a little warming. They include flavoured chappattis, sooji halwa, vegetable pulav, potato peas curry, aloo paratha, composite pack rations for mountaineers and trekkers, instant basmati rice and rajma curry, and tender coconut water (named Coco Jal).

If DIHAR at Leh has devised trench technologies for cultivating vegetables during extreme winters at high altitudes, the DIBER at Haldwani has designed greenhouses for cultivating vegetables round the year in snow-bound areas. Vegetables cultivated include tomato, cucumber, cabbage and capsicum. While the Army currently uses the DRDO’s three-stage acclimatisation procedure for soldiers posted in high altitude areas, the DRDO is now working on rapid induction. Said Selvamurthy: “We have taken it up as a major programme in the 11th Plan.”

 

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Breaking new ground

The Defence Terrain Research Laboratory focusses on providing state-of-the-art terrain intelligence to the armed forces.


"WE are proud of our laboratory and the excellent work we are doing for the Army and the Directorate General of the Border Roads Organisation [BRO]," said Major General Umang Kapoor, Director, Defence Terrain Research Laboratory (DTRL), a unit of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Situated adjacent to the majestic Meltcalfe House in New Delhi, the building that houses the DTRL looks a trifie utilitarian. However, as Maj. Gen. Kapoor and Sunil Dhar, Joint Director, DTRL, talked about how terrain could be a potent weapon in modern warfare, the importance of the work being done by the DTRL unfolded with clarity.

KNOWLEDGE OF TERRAIN

Said Maj. Gen. Kapoor: "With knowledge of the terrain, you can force the enemy into a certain area. A lot of deception can take place with the help of terrain. An Army commander, by knowing the terrain, can work out whether he should attack, defend or move forward." Knowledge of India's varied terrain, aided by images taken by remote-sensing satellites, shapes the Army's logistics to a large extent.

The DTRL's origin dates back to 1964 when a Terrain Evaluation Cell was set up as a unit of the DRDO. The cell's objectives were to develop techniques needed for evaluating terrain and assessing the mobility potential in inaccessible areas. It became a full-pledged laboratory in 1981, and was renamed the Defence Terrain Research Laboratory.

Said Sunil Dhar: "Our mission is to become technologically self-reliant in using high-resolution terrain-intelligence products. This will involve creating and updating thematic maps and terrain intelligence reports for the services."

LANDSLIDE ZONATION MAPS

An important work done by the scientists is the preparation of landslide zonation maps.

"When there is a landslide, we should know what can be skirted and what cannot be. This leads us to the question whether it is possible to have an early warning system in these areas," said Sunil Dhar.

The scientists are now working on a project called Unique Research Undertaken for Systems Development for Landslides Warning and Terrain Intelligence (URUSWATI). It involves mapping landslide-prone zones for the BRO. This is the second such project the DTRL is doing for the BRO. The first one covered the National Highways (NH) in the northeastern region and the North Sikkim Highway and provided the BRO with atlases.

The current project will cover landslide-prone areas in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir. The DTRL will provide landslide atlases for seven roads in this region. The information will include data, digital and otherwise, on landslide zonations so that relief can be provided when landslides occur.

Landslides occur in India only in three areas - the Himalayas, the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats. Of these, only the Himalayas are strategically important.

In the first phase of URUSWATI, the DTRL covered the Himalayas up to Sikkim. It is now preparing landslide hazard zonation maps for the remaining areas, in north Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Kashmir. "[The maps] will show the severity of the landslides - whether it is critical, less critical, or poor. Based on these zonations, the BRO will plan roads," said Sunil Dhar, who is also the Project Director of URUSWATI.

These zonations acquire importance in the context of India's plan to build a 1,200-km trans-Himalayan highway from Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh to Kashmir. This highway is strategically important because it will be close to Azad Kashmir, China-occupied Kashmir and the Pakistan border and will enable movement of men and weapons. Some of the highways have already been zoned. They include the NH 31A, which leads to Sikkim; the NH 21, which is the lifeline of the Spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh; and the NH 1A, which connects Jammu and Srinagar.

EARLY WARNING SYSTEM

"We have taken a landslide on the highway between Rishikesh and Badrinath as a representative one to develop an early warning system, which is the first in India," Sunil Dhar said. The concept has already been proven in the Himalayas in Sikkim. It will have three components: (1) instruments to acquire data periodically on landslides; (2) measurement of the threshold values of rainfall, the occurrence of earthquakes, the rate of deforestation, the periodicity of landslides, and so on, which will be transmitted to the DTRL for modelling; and (3) suggestions on the measures to be taken to control these landslides.

The warning system will be useful in areas such as Nasri on the NH 1A, which is perennially prone to landslides. Nasri first experienced a landslide about 200 years ago, and landslides continue to plague the area to date, jamming the highway and the bypass. Some landslides lie dormant for several years.

"We are collecting historical data about the periodicity of these landslides so that we can create models of them and suggest measures to arrest them. We can erect a breast wall or form a stream so that water passes through [without eroding the hillside], we can plant quick-growing trees that will have deep roots, etc..," said Sunil Dhar.

Mats made of textiles can be introduced into the earth so that the soil will not erode. Long nails made of iron and fibre can be driven into weak zones.

An interesting phenomenon no- ticed in landslide-prone areas in Sikkim is that in places where the Thar plant grows, the landslides did not recur.

GEOSPATIAL INTELLIGENCE

The biggest project that the DTRL has bagged so far is the Geospatial Intelligence Mission (GIM). The Rs.25- crore project, which is being executed by B.G. Prusty, a scientist, will gather terrain intelligence for the Army using images sent by spacecraft and the digital elevation model (DEM). The DEM will provide information on the height of hills, the depth of valleys, and so on.

The GIM will enable automatic extraction of data on man-made and natural terrain features, including roads, habitations, forests, hills and rivers. Flood mapping for strategic perception and geo-visualisation will also be done. "We are developing two software systems for this - Vasundhara GIS and Dhara Globe," said Prusty.

Visualisation and Analysis Systems for Terrain Utilisation (VASTU) is a project that the DTRL scientist S.P. Mishra has completed. In order to visualise data of the Army or the DTRL, the Army wanted the DTRL to create a Google Maps-like application that would not compromise on secrecy.

"Suppose I want to know how many villages are there on a 100-km stretch of a road, it is not available in Google [Maps]. We should also be able to search certain features, including similarly spelt names," Mishra said.

So the DTRL developed a search engine that was capable of working on the DTRL's own data and doing spatial analysis, and had capabilities similar to the Google search engine. It was customised for the Army. "This was a challenging task and we did it on a war footing, in nine months. The Army is happy and wants us to do an advanced version called VASTU 2," Mishra said.

FOR MBT ARJUN

Another project, completed by the team headed by M.K. Kalra, is called Visualisation with Enhanced Digital Elevation Model and Soil Profile Analysis for MBT Arjun Simulator (VEDSAR).

This related to how the main battle tank Arjun performed in different kinds of terrain, including desert sands and riverine areas. The project was done through the DEM using Cartosat-1A data and took into account the response of the soil to the tanks in different kinds of terrain. The Central Building Research Institute in Roorkee helped the DTRL to execute this project.

On the basis of the success of this project, Kalra will start a new project named Vehicular Interaction with Soil for Trafficability Assessment and Route-decision Aid (VISTAR). This system will come up with maps that provide the Army with information on the shortest possible distance between two points, the kind of obstacles present on the terrain, the elevation of certain terrain features such as hills, and if there is loose soil, how many tanks can pass over it, and so on.

THAR, named after the Thar desert, is a project that the Army has agreed in principle that DTRL scientists should do. The aim is to develop a system that generates a DEM of the sand dunes of the desert and locates groundwater.

"We are interacting with the Army and we have demonstrated our capability in these areas. Future warfare will be based on DEMs. Cruise missiles will fiy on elevation models. So knowledge of DEMs is crucial," said V.K. Panchal, Associate Director, DTRL, who heads the project.

A nascent but innovative project, which will be completed in five years, is the System for Information Extraction for Spatial Terrain Intelligence (SRISTI). The project demanded computer software that was not commercially available.

P. Roy Chowdhury, a scientist, said the Army approached the DTRL to provide them with information on certain features because the information was not available in the market. For instance, the depth of water at a given location, which cannot be measured using space-borne data. This will be done by using simple and generic software solutions. "The inputs include space-borne data plus ground truths," he said.

 

[RPK]

Of men and minds

“TOMORROW’S war will be a war of minds,” says Manas K. Mandal, Director, Defence Institute of Psychological Research (DIPR), New Delhi, a premier institute of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). “So the importance of our laboratory has gone up. The range of activities we do with a small band of people is enormous.” The DIPR, according to its Director, has the largest number of psychologists under one umbrella. Its staff includes 45 psychologists, 30 scientists and six officers belonging to the services. They psychologically fortify soldiers to face low-intensity conflicts, devise tests for the selection of officers of the armed forces, test the aptitude of those aspiring to be sharpshooters or drivers of battle tanks, carry out personality profiling of National Security Guard (NSG) commandos and conduct mass counselling for victims of natural disasters. Mandal himself is a reputed psychologist who was a professor of psychology at the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kharagpur before taking over as Director of the DIPR in January 2004. A Fulbright Fellow, he was a researcher in cognition and experimental neuropsychology, and a Fulbright lecturer at Harvard University.

The DIPR began in 1943 as an experimental board in Dehradun to select officers for the armed forces. After Independence, when the armed forces were reorganised, a need was felt to establish a dedicated research cell that would look into not only the scientific aspects of officer selection but also the psychological requirements. So in 1949, the experimental board, renamed the Psychological Research Wing, was mandated to devise tests to probe the intelligence and persona of those aspiring to become officers in the services, to follow up on candidates during training, and to assess on-job performance. In 1962, the Psychological Research Wing was redesignated Directorate of Psychological Research (DPR) to carry out research on soldiers’ morale, ideological convictions, job satisfaction, behaviour in high-altitude tests, civil-military relationship, and so on.

In 1982, the DPR was renamed the DIPR. Since then, “it has emerged as a centre of importance in military psychology, dealing with research activities pertaining to personnel selection, placement and trade allocation”, said Mandal. However, what makes the DIPR’s job difficult is that India’s armed forces are man-intensive. “Besides, this job cannot be outsourced,” Mandal noted. Over a period of time, the DIPR has standardised a battery of tests to assess the intelligence and personality of those wanting to become officers and to allocate a trade to them. These tests are validated constantly. The DIPR interacts with the headquarters of the Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force and with the 15 service selection boards and the Air Force selection boards, providing them with psychological inputs in the selection of officers and personnel.

Arunima Gupta, scientist, DIPR, said, “There is no hire and fire in the armed forces. So the right kind of selection is crucial.”

According to Arunima Gupta, the DIPR assists soldiers to cope with extreme conditions such as the icy winds of high-altitude Siachen, the heat waves of Rajasthan and the confined atmosphere of submarines. It prepares soldiers to face qualitatively different situations in non-conventional warfare. “Psychologically training people to fight at high altitudes and in low-intensity conflict areas is not a joke,” said Mandal.

Low-intensity conflicts pose special challenges to soldiers. “It is not clear who the enemy is. It is not a declared war. The DIPR has to look into all this and how to match the human resources with these situations,” said Arunima Gupta. The main thing in such situations is maintaining the morale of soldiers. “We give psychological inputs to young commanders and soldiers and tell them to be on the lookout for warning signals [of aberrant behaviour] and how to manage a crisis,” she said. They are trained to manage combat-related stress.

K. Ramachandran, Additional Director, DIPR, said the DIPR takes the help of priests in temples attached to Army cantonments or camps to counsel stressed-out soldiers. “We have trained them to play the role of counsellors for soldiers under stress,” he said.

Mass trauma

During times of mass trauma, the DIPR’s experts play a critical role. Mandal said: “When there is a bomb blast, 10 persons may die, but hundreds around are traumatised.” In such situations, groups of DIPR psychologists visit the injured persons or the families of the victims of mass trauma, speak to them, get to know their problems and counsel them. “We take care of their psychological problems while the DRDO’s doctors take care of the victims’ medical problems,” said Ramachandran. Psychologists of the DIPR made repeated visits to Latur in Maharashtra after the earthquake in September 1993, to Orissa after the super cyclone of October 1999 and to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu after the tsunami in December 2004 and counselled hundreds of traumatised people. For soldiers posted in the icy expanse of Siachen, “our role is to help them adapt quickly”, said Ramachandran. For those who are on the threshold of breaking down, “we provide stress inoculation courses – the mental stubbornness that is needed during their stay in Siachen”.

The DIPR has devised a computerised pilot selection system (CPSS). As a booklet on it points out, a fighter pilot in addition to having flying skills should be a systems manager. The CPSS evaluates qualities such as psychomotor and information-processing skills and the candidates’ ability to perform multiple tasks simultaneously. It entails 12 tests to assess psychomotor skills and nine cognitive tests.

The main controller unit, that is, the Black Box, for the CPSS was developed by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore, and the DIPR. The Black Box is “a kind of password” because the tests cannot be run without it. The tests are backed by 20 years of research and development of DIPR scientists. The simulator on which the CPSS is run received the Agni award in 2005 from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for self-reliance in technology.

The DIPR has a number of publications to its credit. Its psychologists and scientists have brought out manuals such as “Stress and its Management”, “Deceit Detection and Interrogation”, “Suicide and Fratricide: Dynamics and Management: A Field Manual for Officers”, “Managing Emotions in Daily Life and at Workplace”, “Propaganda – Field Manual for Armed Forces”, and “Overcoming Obsolescence and Becoming Creative in R&D Environment”.

Said Mandal: “We began our journey with a selection system in 1943. We have now spread our wings.”

 

[RPK]

cross posting


Indigenous technology for Arjun tank and Tejas Aircraft

PIB Press Release

In Main Battle Tank, Arjun, the powerpack consisting of engine and transmission is imported from Germany, whereas the armament system, has been indigenously developed.

The engine used in Tejas Aircraft is imported from USA, whereas 70% of avionic systems integrated on Tejas is indigenous and 30% has been imported from Israel, France, Italy, United Kingdom and USA. Parallel efforts are being made for indigenizing remaining 30% of the avionic systems.

Only few countries in the world are currently capable of design and development of engines for aircraft and tank. These are exceptionally complex technologies and involve many disciplines and vast industrial base and capabilities. Hence development of these technologies take longer time.

Indigenous Kaveri engine development program for the Tejas aircraft is already under progress. To cater to the additional thrust requirement within the same engine envelope, co-development with an established and reputed international engine house is being contemplated.

A Project has also been proposed to develop indigenous engine and transmission on joint venture basis partnering with potential Indian Industries for Arjun Tank. DRDO has already commenced pre-project activities associated with this new development.

 

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Use of traditional materials vital to DRDO programme

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 9 (PTI) Use of traditional materials is vital in DRDO programmes for applications in a variety of critical areas, leading DRDO scientist Dipankar Banejree said here today.

He was delivering the keynote address at the International Conference on Advanced Functional Materials (ICAFM-2009) here.

The conference was organised jointly by National Institute of Inter-disciplinary Science and Technology (NIST), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Kerala chapter of Indian Ceramic Society.

The focus of the conference is on use of advanced functional materials like microwave ceramics, tunable dielectrics, ferroelectrics, magnetic material, electronic packaging materials, embedded capacitors, gate dielectrics, thermo electrics and transparent ceramics.

Banerjee, who coordinates the aeronautics and materials programmes of DRDO, said these materials could be used in stealth and camouflage for protection against radars and infrared cameras.

 

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DRDO working hard to develop UAV to meet forces requirement: Antony

New Delhi, Dec 14 (ANI): Defence Minister A K Antony on Monday informed the Lok Sabha that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is taking up the development Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) against confirmed Qualitative Requirements (QRs) to meet tri-services requirements.

The medium altitude, long endurance, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) is being developed indigenously by the DRDO.

Relying to a question in the Lok Sabha Antony informed that the UAV has been named as ‘RUSTOM-H.’

“Indian Industry would be the development-cum-production partner for this programme. The project is proposed to be completed in 78 months after formal sanction,” he said.

Relying to another question Antony said the proposal on the Kaveri-Snecma engine joint venture for the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is under government’s consideration.

“Request for Proposal (RFP) for procuring 99 engines have been sent to two short-listed engine manufacturers, namely GE F414 from General Electric Aviation, USA and EJ200 from Eurojet Germany,” Antony informed the members.

He said the engine houses have responded to the RFP.

“Both commercial and technical responses have been received for procurement of 99 engines along with Transfer of Technology,” Antony said. (ANI)

 

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Campaign by DRDO to meet country’s defence requirements

Achieving self-reliance for military hardware and software for the Defence Forces is a joint responsibility of Ministry of Defence, Defence Industries (both public and private), Ordnance Factories (OFs) and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). As per provisions in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) for “MAKE” Category, DRDO is concentrating only on development of strategic, complex and security sensitive systems. Provisions have also been made in DPP for the development. “High Technology Complex System & upgrades under “MAKE” category” to share the fund between MoD and Indian Defence Industries is in the ratio of 80:20.

The percentage of budgetary allocation during the year 2007-08 and 2008-09 for Department of Defence Research and Development was about 6% of the total Defence Budget. The Department of Defence Research and Development achieved 97.57% and 99.44% of expenditure during the year 2007-08 and 2008-09, respectively out of total allocated budget.