1April 2011Home

A monthly house bulletin of Defence Research & Development Organisation ■ Vol. 31 No. 4 ■ April 2011

In this issue...

National Science Day Celebrations by Defence Science Forum 2011

Har Govind, Dy Dir, DOP, DRDO HQrs; and Third prize - Shri Sunny Manchanda, Sc ‘B’, CABS, Bengaluru.

A DRDO-level National Poster Making Competition on the theme Technology for Homeland Security was conducted. There were 44 entries from 31 DRDO Labs/Estts. The final winners were: First prize - Ms Archana Singh, STA B, DECS, DRDO HQrs; Second prize - Shri Vineeth, P R, Sc B, NPOL Kochi; and Third prize - Shri Sumit Goswami, Jt Director, DMIST, DRDO HQrs. Shri Sanjay Pal, Sc ‘F’, RAC, was awarded Appreciation Certificate for being a generous voluntary blood donor (63 times, till date). Best Performance Award during RAC Assessment was presented to Dr A Bhattacharyya, now Sc F, RCI.

Defence Science Forum (DSF), organised National Science Day 2011 celebrations at Dr Bhagavantam Auditorium, Metcalfe House, Delhi, on 28 February 2011. Shri AK Maini, Director, LASTEC and Convener, DSF, welcomed the Chief Guest, the orator, invitees and the audience. The National Science Day Oration, A History of Indian Mathematics, was delivered by Prof Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi. Later, Dr VK Saraswat, SA to RM; DG, DRDO; and Secretary, Defence R&D and Chief Guest of the function released the DRDO Science Spectrum-2011, which was compiled and edited by DESIDOC, Delhi. About 800 scientists and staff from all Delhi-based labs participated. Dr Rajeev Vij, Secretary, DSF, proposed the vote of thanks.

As part of National Science Day celebrations, DSF also organised DRDO-level quiz competition, poster-making competition, science presentation, lectures, and many more events. DRDO–level National Science Day Quiz was conducted on 4 February for all categories of DRDO officers and staff, where 3100 officers and staff from all categories of DRDO participated. The winners were: First prize - Dr SV Kamat, Sc G, DMRL Hyderabad; Second prize - Shri

Dr Saraswat, SA to RM, releasing DRDO Science Spectrum 2011

National Science Day Celebrations 2011

Synergy between DRDO, DGNAI, and OFB

International Women’s Day Celebrations

Popular Science Article: Spintronics

Dr (Mrs) TS Vasundhara Memorial Lecture

EMU (R&D) wins trophies at Pusa Horticulture Show 2011

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the definition of Science by Edwin Powell Hubble - ‘Equipped with five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure science’ to reiterate the need to observe nature for exploring science.

LRDE, Bengaluru Shri Paramananda Jena, Sc ‘E’, delivered

the National Science Day oration on, ‘Design of Waveform Diversity in the context of MIMO Radar’.

MTRDC, BengaluruDr Sushant Chhotray,

Sc ‘D’, delivered the National Science Day oration titled, `High Power Microwave: A potential weapon for future War’.

ARDE, Pune Shri AK Roy, Sc ‘D’, gave National Science Day

oration on ‘Smart Recoil System for Tank/Arty Gun’ followed by a Guest lecture on ‘Current Trends in Plant Sciences’. Prof Dr GS Chinchnikar, University of Pune was the Chief Guest.

CVRDE, ChennaiThe recipient of National Science Day oration

for 2011 was Dr U Soloman, Sc ‘F’. He presented an exhaustive lecture on ‘Vehicle Dynamics’ followed by a presentation on ‘Arjun MBT Mk II Developments’ by Shri GK Kumaravel, Sc ‘F’.

DFRL, Mysore, Dr VA Sajeev kumar, Sc ‘F’, delivered the

National Science Day oration on ‘Raman Scattering Techniques for Analysis - Molecules to Living Cells’. Dr AS Bawa, Director, DFRL, awarded the medal and citation to the orator.

DRDE, GwaliorDr Subodh Kumar, Sc ‘E’, delivered the National

Science Day oration on ‘Biodefence Vaccines’. Prof MP Kaushik, OS and Sc ‘H’ awarded the medal to the orator.

HEMRL, Pune

Shri Pankaaj Verma, Sc ‘C’ delivered the National Science Day oration on ‘Development of Advanced Fuel-rich Propellant for Ducted Rocket Ramjet’. Dr A Subhananda Rao, DS and Director, HEMRL, in his presidential address recalled

National Science Day was celebrated on 28 February 2011 at various labs/Estts. of DRDO. The orations delivered by various labs/estts are:

CVRDE

CABS

CAIR

R&DE MTRDC HEMRLVRDE

DFRL LRDE

National Sc day Quiz

National Science Day Celebrations

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NMRL, AmbernathDr Swati S

Rao, Sc ‘D’, gave the National Science

Day oration titled ‘Polymer Electrolyte Membranes in

Electro-chemical Devices’. Shri RS Hastak, Director, NMRL presented

the Science Day medal and citation.

R&DE(E), PuneShri DJ Makwana, Sc ‘C’, delivered an oration

on ‘Acoustic sensor for detecting buried objects’. Dr Sanjeev Galande, Professor and Head, Dept of Epigenetics, IISER, Pune, and recipient of Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award was the Chief Guest. He delivered an informative presentation on ‘Genome to Epigenome’.

VRDE, AhmednagarVehicles Research and Development

Establishment celebrated the National Science Day, where an invited talk by Dr GJ Gyani, Secretary General, Quality Council of India (QCI), New Delhi, was organised.

Importance of team work needs no elaboration. Perfectly and precisely made components when assembled may create unknown trouble spots, which unless resolved, stall the machine. The recent success story of indigenisation of Rocket RGB-60, Rocket RGB-12, 140 mm Rockets, and Chaff Launcher Kavach MOD-I brings forth the perfect synergy that

exists between PXE, IHQ, MOD (Navy) / Directorate General of Naval Armament Inspection (DGNAI), and the Ordnance Factories. The narrow time gap between ‘conceptualisation’ to ‘bulk production clearance’ of these Naval Armament stores speaks volumes about the team spirit of all the stake-holders (Table below).

The drawing board stage saw numerous

breakdown and analyses trials by DRDO and OFB in association with DGNAI. Ordnance Factories (Ammunition Factory, Kirkee; Heavy Alloy Penetration Project, Trichy; and Gun Carriage Factory, Jabalpur) and DGNAI pooled in their expertise and resources to remodel the paper particulars to suit the production aspect. The material specifications were upgraded to

incorporate the best available material. The final and the most critical stage involved

amalgamation of various sub-components of these Naval Armament Stores to get the final form of the armaments. The culminating stretch of successful proof and analysis at Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) during various stretches of the year 2010 brought forth the team work of DRDO,

DGNAI, and OFB. The synergy and innovative approach

of all the three organisations brought down the lead time drastically and enabled early development of Rocket RGB-60 System, Rocket RGB-12, 140 mm Rocket, and Chaff Launcher Kavach MOD-I. Bulk Production Clearance for all the above armaments has been accorded.

Synergy between DRDO, DGNAI, and OFB: A Success Story

Rocket RGB-60System

Rocket RGB-12

140 mm Rocket Rocket 140 mm Kavach Counter

Storedescription

Design formulation

Prototype trials

Final trial/salvo mode firing/BPC

Rocket RGB-60 Mar 2005 Jun 2008 Jul 2010Rocket RGB-12 Jan 2009 Nov 2009 Jul 2010Rocket 140 mm Jul 2006 Sep 2008 Sep 2010Kavach Chaff

Launcher System Feb 2006 Dec 2008 Dec 2010

National Science Day Celebrations

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To commemmorate the Centenary year of International Women’s Day (IWD) on 08 March 2011, a one-day workshop was organised by the Women’s Cell, DRDO HQrs in collaboration with DIPAS on 16 March, at Kothari Auditorium, Delhi. The topic of the Workshop was, ‘Worldwide Women’s Leadership and Critical Success Factors for R&D’.

‘When women are excluded from science and technology in any culture, that culture is bereft of half of its talent and ability to solve social problems and improve its people’s quality of life’, stated Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, SA to RM, advocating more active participation of women in DRDO at all levels. He also

stated that, ‘The world needs science; science needs women’. Smt Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, was the Chief Guest and released the souvenir on the occasion. She delivered

International Women’s Day Celebrations08 March 2011

a talk on ‘Role of Women in Public Services’. Ms Akila Krishnakumar, Country Head and COO, Sunguard Technology Services, Bengaluru, was among the other dignitaries present on the occasion. Dr Shashi Bala Singh, Director, DIPAS, welcomed all and introduced the invited speakers, Prof Sohini Basu, Administrative Staff College of India, Hyderabad; Dr Aruna Broota, Clinical Psychologist; Dr Manju Sharma, Former Secy, Dept of Biotechnology; and

Dr Indrani Chandrasekharan, Advisor (E&F), Planning Commission.

A debate on, ‘Professional Satisfaction: Career in Life or Life in Career’ was conducted. DRDO Women’s Cell took a major initiative for strengthening women-friendly policies under the aegis of this workshop by having a plenary session to discuss, ‘Flexi-working in DRDO: time and/or place’. The session was chaired by Dr W Selvamurthy, DS and CC R&D (L&S) along with Dr Chitra Rajagopal, Sc ‘G’, CFEES; Shri SC Narang, Chairman, CEPTAM; Dr Arun Kumar, OS and Director, Personnel; and Smt Rohini

Devi, OS and Programme Director, Agni, ASL. The workshop was attended by a large number

of women scientists and other women employees of DRDO.

DRDO Workshop on ‘Worldwide Women’s Leadership and Critical Success Factors for R&D’

Dr Saraswat lighting the lamp at the DRDO Workshop on the occasion of IWD 2011.

Dignitaries with the Souvenir at the DRDO Workshop.

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ADE, Bengaluru

ADE celebrated International Women’s Day (IWD) on 24 March 2011. Shri G Natarajan, Officiating Director, presided over the function. Dr Madhura M Chhatrapathy, Trustee Director, ASCENT was the Chief Guest and Smt Anupama Hoskere, Director, Dhaatu Centre for Sharing

Life Skills and Traditional Wisdoms, was the Guest of Honour. ADE Women’s Cell, Chairperson, Smt V Bala, Sc-F, gave the welcome address. Smt Mythili Krishnan, President, Mahila Kalyan Manch, Bengaluru Centre also participated in the celebrations.

ARDE, Pune

A R D E Womens’ Cell c e l e b r a t e d IWD on 08 March 2011. Smt Suchitra Avachat, Sc ‘F’, Chairperson, Womens’ Cell delivered the inaugural address. A cultural programme was arranged with the enthusiastic participation of ARDE women employees of all cadres. An essay competition in English, Hindi and Marathi on ‘Do we need a Women’s Day?’ and a rangoli competition were conducted. A new Women’s Blog on ARDE Intranet named ‘Ayudh Sakhi’ was inaugurated.

Shri Kapil Deo,Officiating Director, ARDE lightning the lamp.

Shri P Shivakumar, Director, CVRDE addressing on IWD.

The office of DRDO Estate Management Unit - EMU (R&D), Chandigarh is newly formed vide Govt of India, Ministry of Defence letter number DHRD/76682/CCE(E)/C/M/01/893, dated 09/04/2010, and has started functioning wef 01 January 2011. The office of the EMU (R&D), has been set up at Sector 29-A, Chandigarh for management of estates and facilities of the DRDO labs/offices at Chandigarh, Ramgarh, Leh, Manali, and Jammu. Dr Satish Kumar, OS and Director, TBRL, inaugurated the Unit. Shri Anil Khurana, Sc ‘E’, is the Estate Manager. The Estate Management Unit (R&D) will function as a self- accounting independent unit under the administrative and technical control of Chief Construction Engineer - CCE (R&D) Estates, Hyderabad.

Establishment of Estate Management Unit (R&D), Chandigarh

Safety Award 2010 for NPOL

The Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), the only Defence Research and Development Organisation under the Ministry of Defence in Kochi, Kerala; has received ‘Safety Award for 2010’, instituted by the Factories and Boilers Department of Kerala. The award is in the category Small Factories Engineering. The laboratory’ handles many electronic equipment materials and chemicals in its day-to-day activities.

Lighting the lamp.

CVRDE, Chennai T h e

c e n t e n a r y In te rna t iona l Women’s Day was celebrated at CVRDE on 8 March 2011. The function was presided over by Director, CVRDE. Smt Nalini Sivakumar, Chairperson, WWA-CVRDE, was the Guest of Honour. Smt R Prabhavathi, Sc ’F’, gave a lecture on, ‘Does Glass Ceiling Exist for Women in Science and Technology’.

HEMRL, Pune

HEMRL celebrated IWD on 08 March 2011. Dr Madhavi R Mehendaley, ophthalmologist, Prakash Eye Hospital, Pune, was the Chief Guest. Dr A Subhananda Rao, DS and Director, HEMRL, delivered the inaugural address. ‘Urja’, annual in-house magazine of HEMRL, was released by the Chief Guest. The function ended with a cultural p r o g r a m m e organised and participated by HEMRL women employees.

Release of in-house magazine ‘Urja’.

6 April 2011 Home

IntroductIon

Electrons belong to a class of fundamental particles called fermions. All fermions carry spin and this spin can have two states, called ‘up’ and ‘down’ states The spin state of electrons is quite distinct from their charge state. The word ‘Spintronics’ refers to a branch of Physics that concerns itself with manipulating, storing, and transferring of information using the inherent spin associated with electrons along with or even without using the charge associated with electrons. The term was coined by S Wolf in 1996 while managing a Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) project. The binary nature of spin lends itself naturally to applications in the area of binary logic based devices and systems.

AdvAntAges

Technology is expensive and converting new ideas in Physics into workable devices is a more expensive task. Such a task would not be undertaken by an industry where profit margins are shrinking day by day and competition is becoming severe every hour, unless vastly improved performance levels and corresponding profits to industry is foreseen. The fact is Spintronics is seen to provide this edge, and therefore, a lot of research is being funded in this area by Government bodies and also by the private industry. Using spin to carry information has two main advantages, namely:

Spin can be easily manipulated using externally 1. applied magnetic fields. This property is already in use in magnetic storage technology.The spin state of electrons has a large 2. coherence or relaxation time. What this means is that once created, the spin state stays stable for a relatively long time. These times are especially large in comparison with charge states of electrons that lose their stability fast due to different destroying effects like

scattering or collision with impurities, defects and other charges.

These two advantages enable researchers and device engineers to plan devices that are much smaller, more powerful, and consume far less power than devices that use the electron’s charge. Spintronics could also lead to seamless integration between electronic, opto-electronic, and magneto-electronic components of complete systems.

some devIces And concepts

Some concepts in spintronics are discussed that are either already a reality or could lay the foundation for future realities.

One of the first concepts proposed by Supriyo �Datta and Biswajit Das, Purdue University, 1989 was called the ‘field effect spin transistor’. This was based on the popular metal-oxide-semiconductor technology and used a channel made out of indium–aluminium–arsenide and indium–gallium–arsenide placed between two ferromagnetic electrodes. One of the electrodes acts as an emitter and the other as a collector. The electrons emitted by the emitter have their spins oriented along the emitter’s magnetisation direction. The collector electrode accepts electrons with the same spin only. In the absence of any voltage on the gate electrode, all the electrons emitted by the emitter are collected by the collector. An applied voltage on the gate generates a field that leads to precession in the electron spin. The degree of precession can be controlled by modulating the field generated by the gate electrode. The electron current would in turn depend upon the modulation produced in the degree of precession of the electron spin. The efficiency of spin precession would depend upon the magnitude of spin-orbit interaction and is therefore expected to be high for narrow band-gap semiconductors like InGaAs. Unfortunately,

POPULAR SCIENCE ARTICLE

Spintronics

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this elegant concept is yet to be demonstrated experimentally in a convincing manner. The key to development of such devices lies in having ferromagnetic materials whose conductivities closely match the semiconductors used. One way of getting over this requirement is to use tunnelling contacts between ferromagnetic materials and semiconductor component. Another interesting option is to use semiconductors that exhibit ferromagnetism. Some materials that have demonstrated some potential are GaMnAs with a Curie temperature of about 110 K and TiCoO2 that has demonstrated ferromagnetism at room temperature.

The phenomenon of giant magneto-resistive �(GMR) effect is also linked to the magnetic moment associated with electron spin. To observe this effect, a sandwich structure consisting of alternate layers of ferromagnetic and nonmagnetic layers is first obtained. The resistance of this sandwich structure is then found to be the lowest when the magnetic moments in the ferromagnetic materials are all aligned in the same direction. The resistance of the structure is found to be the highest when the magnetic moments of the individual ferromagnetic layers are anti-aligned. This high resistance is observed because the spin aligned currents entering from one layer are strongly scattered as they encounter a layer that is magnetically aligned in the opposite direction. This scattering leads to higher resistance values. These resistance changes can be produced using externally applied magnetic fields. Extremely small external magnetic fields can create large resistance changes, making the phenomenon useful for developing GMR-based magnetic field sensors. High performance disc drives use GMR-based read heads to detect magnetic fields. Very high magnetic storage densities are now achievable using this phenomenon.

Spin-dependent tunnelling device utilises a �sandwich structure consisting of two ferromagnetic layers sandwich with a very thin insulating layer. In the state where the magnetic orientations in the two magnetic layers are aligned with respect to each other, electrons can tunnel through the insulating layer. This tunnelling results in large

difference in resistance of the structure between the spin-aligned and non-spin-aligned states. The difference in resistance is extremely large as compared to the conventional magnetoresistive device. So much so that the high-resistance state can be used as the ‘0’ level and the low-resistance state can be used as the ‘1’ level. The spin-dependent tunnelling device (SDT) has been used for commercial magneto-resistive random access memory (MRAM) devices. MRAMs are fast and non-volatile, that is, they do not require power to retain the stored information.

The angular momentum of spin-polarised �current has been observed to exert a torque on the magnetisation of a magnetic film with a magnetisation in any non-parallel direction. This effect is called the spin momentum transfer effect (SMT) and has been experimentally verified. SMT switching can significantly lower the switching currents required by MRAMs. This order of magnitude lowering can in turn lead to significantly lowered energy per bit while transferring data. SMT switching can also lead to improved performance of MRAMs. In comparison with its competitor, flash memory, the SMT-MRAM is better placed due to higher speed, energy, and endurance.

Momentum of spin-polarised current can be �converted into coherent spin waves in a host magnetic material that is subject to magnetic field. The spin waves can radiate power with frequencies in the range of tens to hundreds of gigahertz. Such frequency agile nanoscale sources can find applications in phased-array transceivers, chip-to-chip and on-chip clocks and local oscillators for handheld wideband radios.

A quantum well sandwiched between two �insulating barriers can serve as a very fast responding switch. A current flow will result only when the applied voltage is appropriate to allow the existence of a quantum-mechanically resonant state within the quantum well. The effective barrier height is dependent upon the spin state of the electrons due to Zeeman splitting. This results in two resonant voltages, one for either spin state. Ferromagnetic contacts can be used to control the spin state of the electrons and thus

8 April 2011 Home

control the current flowing through the structure. This effectively converts the two-terminal switch to a three-terminal transistor like device. This principle is utilised to develop spin-resonant tunnelling diode (RTD) with ultrafast responses. These devices are much faster than the CMOS devices currently being used.

The extremely challenging field of quantum �computing can also be benefitted from the spin properties of elementary particles. The twin spin states of electrons or other spin-1/2 particles can be used for implementation of a qubit, which is a quantum bit or the unit of quantum information. The encoding of the information can use polarisation of the spin. The stored information can then be manipulated for computation using externally applied magnetic fields or laser pulses. Finally spin-dependent transport can be used for readout. A basic quantum computer first executes a set of simple unitary operations on one or two qubits at a time. During computation, a sequence of unitary transformations of an initial state of a set of qubits is implemented. The cubits are then measured after the computation is over and this measured result is the output of the quantum computer. Quantum effects like interference and entanglement are used as computational resources to speed up the solutions. Quantum-computing algorithms have been developed for several special problems like exhaustive database searches and these have demonstrated significant speed increase and reduction in complexity. For some calculations, a 30-logical-qubit quantum

computer has been shown to take the same computation time as a 109-bit conventional computer. One essential requirement of quantum computers is the availability of quantum-mechanical two-state systems with appreciably long dephasing times. Electron spins in coupled quantum dots is an attractive option. There is however competition from other options like NMR, excited states of ions in traps, cavity quantum electro-dynamic systems, Josephson junctions and superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDS).

conclusIon

We have thus seen that the spin properties of electrons and other particles can help in not only understanding a lot about the underlying physics but also look at advances in the technology roadmap. This field of Spintronics has some inherent advantages in terms of speed and storage times. Some extremely novel devices like field effect spin transistor, GMR-based magnetic sensors, MRAMS, SMT switching, and RTD are likely to make deep impacts on developing technologies. Spintronics can also be an important tool for developing quantum computers, which would greatly enhance computational speeds. Several challenges however remain both in terms of the Physics involved and technology needed before the full potential of Spintronics can be fully realised.

(Contributed by Dr DK Bhattacharya, Sc ‘G’, from Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL), Delhi)

DEPA (a molecule developed by a DRDE scientist) cream, (called Maxo Military) was launched recently by Jyothi Laboratories. The product is being promoted in a big way in villages for its effectiveness to prevent malaria. Incidentally, DEPA and its other products amounting to Rs 35 crore have been sold by several companies to the Services, especially DEPA spray cans, till date.

Launch of DEPA cream by Jyothi Laboratory

Launch of DEPA cream.

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Training Courses

Manpower Development Activities

NMRL, Ambernath

Naval Materials Research Laboratory (NMRL) organised a National Seminar and Exhibition on ‘Polymeric Materials in Defence’: POMADE–2011 during 4–5 February 2011. Vice Admiral Ganesh Mahadevan, AVSM, PVSM, inaugurated the seminar. Dr J Narayana Das, OS and CC R&D (NS M & HR), delivered the presidential address. Other dignitaries included Guest of Honour, Dr LM Patnaik, Vice Chancellor, DIAT, Pune, and Mrs G Rohini Devi, Associate Director, ASL, Hyderabad. The seminar

covered a broad area of research on advanced polymers and composites with focus on defence applications. About 200 delegates from academia, industries, national research institutes, and the Armed Forces participated in the Seminar. An exhibition was arranged to showcase the products, etc. of industry partners in this occasion. A panel discussion chaired by Dr K Sekhar, CC R&D (MS & LIC), DRDO, was held during the Seminar. The panel reviewed the deliberations and suggested the roadmap for future areas of research in polymers and composites for defence applications.

PXE, Chandipur

Proof and Experimental Establishment (PXE) organised a course on ‘Trends in Armaments System and its Evaluation Process’ during 21–25 February

2011. Maj Gen Praveen Mathur, Director, PXE, graced the inaugural function. Important topics covered by expert faculties from PXE were philosophy and methodology of armament systems, role of modelling and simulation in the development and evaluation of weapons systems, Naval armament systems and its evaluation, role of high-speed photography and its applications in trial and evaluation of armaments, methodology of armour testing, trend in ballistics instruments, safety practice during trial and evaluation, role of radar in evaluation of armaments, etc.

Shri V Anguswamy, Associated Director, PXE, addressed the valedictory function and distributed certificates to the participants. Shri KK Chand, Sc ‘E’ was the course coordinator.

RCMA, Chandigarh

A National Scientific and Technical Seminar was organised by RCMA (Chd), CEMILAC, on, ‘Modern Scientific Equipment and Systems’. Delegates from all over India participated. Air Cmde Ravinder Sharma, VSM, AOC, 3BRD, AF, Chandigarh, was the Chief Guest. Dr Baijnath Prasad, Asst Professor, Punjab University, was the Guest of Honour. The Chief Guest in his inaugural address appreciated the contribution made by RCMA (Chd) for technical activities and for the progress of Rajbhasha Hindi. Around 135 delegates from CEMILAC, ADE, and DARE, all from Bengaluru; and RCMA and SASE, both from Chandigarh presented their papers and participated in the Seminar.

Dignitaries at POMADE-2011.

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PERSONNEL NEWS

Awards

Best Paper Award

Dr A Suresh, Sc ‘C’, presented a paper in the Forty-sixth National and Fifteenth International Conference of Indian Academy of Applied Psychology on ‘Life Skills for Quality of Life’ at the University of Mysore during 4-6 February 2011 and was conferred the Best Paper Award.

Best Poster Presentation Award

A paper titled ‘Nanofluids: Future Industrial Coolants’ written by Ms Sakshi Arora, Sc ‘B’, Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh, with Dr (Ms) Sunita Srivastava, Punjab University and Ms Rajesh Kumari, TBRL was given the Best Poster Presentation Award in an International Conference on, ’Advances in Condensed and Nano Materials’, held during 23–26 February 2011 in the Department of Physics, Punjab University, Chandigarh.

Hall of Fame

Shri K Jayaprakash Rao, Regional Public Relations Officer [RPRO], DRDO, Bengaluru, was conferred with ‘The Hall of Fame’, the highest professional award by the Public Relations Council

of India on 17 March 2011 during the National Public Relations Conference Global PR Conclave 2011 at Chandigarh. Shri Seva Singh Fekhawan, Minister of Education, Govt of Punjab gave away the Prestigious Award to Shri Jayaprakash Rao.

Dr AL Moorthy, Director, Defence Scientific Information and Documentation Centre (DESIDOC), Delhi was conferred the Ranganathan–Kaula Award for the year 2009 by Prof. Kaula Endowment for Library and Information Science on 10 March 2011,

RANGANATHAN – KAULA AWARD - 2009

Hon. CM Shri Naveen Patnaik presenting the award to Dr Parida.

Shri Fekhawan presenting the ‘Hall of Fame’ to Shri Jayaprakash Rao.

Samantha Chandra Sekhar Award

Orissa Bigyan Academy, Bhubaneshwar, recently awarded the prestigious Samantha Chandra

Dr AL Moorthy receiving the Ranganathan-Kaula Award – 2009.

at Delhi Library Association (DLA), in recognition of his yeoman services and meritorious activities to the Library profession. On that occassion, he delivered the Thirteenth Prof S Dasgupta Memorial Lecture on Intellectual Property Rights in Digital Environment’, at the DLA Seminar Hall, New Delhi.

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Higher Qualification Acquired

ASL, Hyderabad

Shri Vemana Venkateshwara Rao, Sc ‘G’, has been awarded PhD in Mechanical Engineering from JNTU, Hyderabad, for his thesis titled, ‘Mechanical and metallurgical characterisation of managing steel to low alloy steel elements.

DRDE, Gwalior

Dr Rakesh Bhargava, Sc ‘D’, has been awarded PhD for his thesis titled, ‘Production and characterisation of monoclonal antibodies against domain III envelope protein of Japanese encephalitis virus for diagnostic potential’ by Jiwaji University, Gwalior.

DTRL, Delhi

Dr Amitanshu Pattanaik, Sc ‘C’ has been awarded PhD in Physics by the University of Delhi, for his thesis titled, ‘Luminescence properties of some organic laser dye solutions for their applications as Optical Sensors’.

HEMRL, Pune

Mrs Paramita Saha Chowdhury, Sc ’C’, has been awarded PhD (Chemistry) by Jadavpur University, Kolkata, for her thesis titled, ‘Optical studies of semiconducting nanoparticles.

Shri SM Pande, Sc ’E’, has been awarded PhD (Chemistry) by University of Pune, Pune, for his thesis titled, ‘Advanced propellants based on energetic binders for case-bonded applications’.

R&DE(E), Pune

Shri Ramadas Chennamsetti, Sc ‘D’, Pune, has been awarded PhD in Engineering from the Department of Mechanical Engineering, from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, for his thesis titled, ‘Interaction of Lamb waves with discontinuities in composite structures’, a new phenomenon of propagation of Lamb mode termed as ‘Turning Lamb Mode’.

This monograph provides an overview of the design and development of thin films and the deposition techniques for various applications. Thin films possess a wide range of applications in both civil as well as military sectors. This includes their use for protection of materials from corrosion, oxidation, a wear, increasing transmission or reflection in a certain

wavelength region, and also in filters, separation, fire-resistant coatings, high-temperature superconductors, silicon devices, anti-fog, and memory devices. This book also provides an overview of the R&D efforts of LASTEC in the area of thin films. This book may be useful for engineers, researchers and young scientists.The authors are Dr Kamal Nain Chopra, (retd) Sc ‘G’, and Shri Anil Kumar Maini, Director, LASTEC, DRDO.

Thin Film and their Application in the Military and Civil Sectors

DRDO MONOGRAPH SERIES PUBLICATION

Year: 2010 Price: Rs 200 $ 30 £ 20 ISBN: 81-86514-32-0

Sekhar award to DRDE scientist Dr MM Parida for 2008 for his outstanding research work in the field of medical virology for dengue, chikungunya, and Japanese encephalitis. The award carrying Rs 50,000/- cash and certificate was given away by Shri Naveen Patnaik, the honourable Chief Minister of Orissa to Dr Parida.

12 April 2011 Home

RAISING DAY CELEBRATIONS

CABS, Bengaluru

Centre for Airborne Systems (CABS), celebrated its Twentieth Raising Day on 28 February 2011. Air Marshal RK Sharma AVSM VM, Deputy Chief of Air Staff was the Chief Guest, and Air Cmde BR Krishna SC, Commandant ASTEn and Gp Capt PV Satish, ASTE from Indian Air Force as special invitees graced the occasion. Active Antenna Array Unit (AAAU) was unveiled as the product of the year. The Chief Guest in his address, appreciated the employees’ sincere efforts and complemented CABS for the professional work done in design and development of Airborne Early Warning and Control System (AEW&C). Based on the trust in CABS, IAF has agreed to support the Phase II of the programme of AEW&C by contributing 80 per cent of the funds.

HEMRL, Pune High Energy Materials Research Laboratory

(HEMRL), celebrated its Annual Day on 01 March 2011. Dr A Subhananda Rao, DS and Director, HEMRL in his address, briefed the achievements of the lab in 2010 and expressed satisfaction onthe overall progress of the laboratory. Forty-two employees were felicitated for completion of 25 years in DRDO. The Technology Group Award was given to Shri A Apparao, Associate Director and his team. The Laboratory Scientist of the Year Award was given to Shri Arvind Kumar, Sc ‘E’ and Shri Nitin AN Ahire, Sc

Director, HEMRL, presenting memento to Dr Sinha, for completing 25 years in DRDO.

Dr Subhananda Rao presenting the Technology Group Award to Shri Apparao.

Dignitaries on CABS Raising Day Celebrations.

‘C’, ACEM, Nasik. The Laboratory Award for DRTC cadre was given to Shri SR Gaikwad, TO ’C’ and Shri U Thanigaivelan, STA B, while Laboratory Award for Admin and Allied Categories was conferred on Shri VD Shaligram, Admin Officer, ACEM, Nasik and Shri J Ganesh, Sr Stores Asst. In addition 80 officers/staff were given cash awards for their outstanding performances.

A patent on ‘An air induction melting process for preparation of intermetallic alloy (Patent document No.242438) has been granted by the Indian Patent Office, New Delhi. Dr Rachappa Gurasiddappa Baligidad, Dr Ujjwal Prakash, and Shri Atluri Radhakrishna, all from Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory, Hyderabad, are the inventors.

Patent Granted

13April 2011Home

Dr VV Rao, Director, SPRITE, Hyderabad, releasing SHE Bulletin.

ARDE, Pune

Fortieth National Safety Week was celebrated during 4–11 March 2011 at Armament Research and Development Establishment (ARDE), Pune. Dr Beer Singh, Sc ‘G’, DRDE, Gwalior, delivered a lecture on ‘Nuclear Biological and Chemical Warfare–Crisis Management’. ARDE conducted various safety week competitions such as safety quiz, safety slogan, and safety drawing as part of the celebrations. Winners were awarded Cash Prizes during the occasion.

HEMRL, Pune

National Safety Week was celebrated at High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune, during 4–10 March 2011. Chief Guest Dr VV Rao, Director, SPRITE, Hyderabad, delivered the address on, ‘Risk Analysis during Processing of Solid Rocket Propellant’.

Safety badges and key chains were distributed to all employees. Safety Awareness training programme for new recruits was conducted on 7–8 March 2011. A fire-fighting demo was organised for the employees of HEMRL on 09 March 2011. On the concluding day,

SHE Bulletin containing various articles pertaining to Safety, Health and Environment was published and the best three articles from the bulletin were awarded. Slogan competition in English, Hindi, and Marathi on Safety, Health and Environment were conductedand the best three slogans from each language awarded.

The Combustible Cartridge Case (CCC) Division was awarded Safety Rolling Trophy for Best Project Division and the Chemical Analysis and Instrumentation Division (CAID) was awarded Safety Rolling Trophy for Best Support Division for safety performance.

EVENTS: National Safety Week

Dr (Mrs) TS Vasundhara Memorial LectureDefence Food

Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore, hosted the Twelfth Dr TS Vasundhara Memorial Lecture on 28 February 2011. Mrs KV Kumudavally, Scientist and Secretary, Seminar Club, DFRL, welcomed the chief guest and the gathering. Dr (Mrs) DK Suneetha, MBBS, MD, Assistant Professor, Mysore Medical College, Mysore, was the Chief Guest. Dr Suneetha delivered the memorial lecture on ‘Dengue and Chickunguinea: An Overview’. On this occasion, Dr TS Vasundhara Memorial Best Scientific

Research Paper Award for the Life Science Group of DRDO was also presented.

The award was given for the paper titled, ‘Effect of glucose on the stability of fresh mutton during storage at ambient temperature’ authored by KV Kumudavally, Aisha Tabassum,

K Radhakrishna, and AS Bawa of DFRL, Mysore, published in Food Chemistry, 112 (2010), 131–136. Shri PK Nagaraju, Joint Secretary, Seminar Club proposed the vote of thanks.

Recipients receiving the Best Scientific Research Paper Award.

14 April 2011 Home

SPORTS

Cycle Rally at CVRDE, Chennai

Adventure Club CVRDE, Chennai organised a Cycle Rally to INS Rajali, Arakkonam and back to CVRDE during 24–28 February 2011 to create awareness among the academic community, general public, and school students about DRDO’s activities and products of CVRDE. A contingent comprising of 26 personnel drawn from DRDO labs such as DMRL, Hyderabad; NPOL, Cochin; ARDE, Pune; and CVRDE participated in the rally. About 20 officials along with two heavy vehicles depicting the posters and models of Arjun Tank accompanied the cycling delegation. The rally was flagged-off by Shri P Sivakumar, Director, CVRDE and Shri K Krishnamurthy, Associate Director, CVRDE on 24 February. Shri AV Raghupathy, Chairman, Sports Council gave a presentation on the design activities and products developed by CVRDE for the Services. The valedictory function was organised on 28 February to commemorate all the participants.

DRDO Intrazone Kabaddi Tournament

CVRDE, Chennai, organised the Intrazone Kabaddi tournament among the southern zone teams during 2–4 March 2011. Teams from ADE, Bengaluru; LRDE, Bengaluru; NPOL, Kochi; and CVRDE participated in the tournament. CVRDE won the Intrazone Kabaddi tournament defeating LRDE in the finals. Shri Senthil (Troops) and Shri R Krishnaiah were declared the ‘Best All rounder’ and the ‘Best Rider’, respectively, from CVRDE and Shri Janaradhana, LRDE, Bengaluru, declared the ‘Best Catcher’.

DRDO Inter Zone Kabaddi Tournament

The National DRDO Inter Zone Kabaddi Tournament was conducted by CVRDE during 7–9 March 2011. Teams from west zone, central zone, north zone, and south zone participated in the tournament. The tournament was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Shri P Sivakumar, Director, CVRDE in the august presence of the Guest of Honour Ms Kavitha Selvaraj, Captain of the Indian Women’s Kabaddi team. South zone won the tournament beating the west zone team, and the south zone team has been winning this title for the 18th year in succession.

DRDO Intra (Zonal West Zone) Basket Ball Tournament 2011

Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Ahmednagar, organised the tournament during 22–24 February 2011. Teams from Pune region, i.e., ARDE, HEMRL, R&DE(E), and VRDE participated in the tournament. HEMRL emerged the winner, while VRDE was the runners-up. Dr CP Ramanarayanan, Director, VRDE, inaugurated the event and gave away the trophies and medals, on culmination of the tournament.

South Zone Kabaddi team with the Winners Trophy.

Flagging off the cycle rally.

HEMRL, Pune, with the Winner’s Trophy.

SPORTS

15April 2011Home

Visits to DRDO Labs/Estts

ARDE, Pune

Shri G Elangovan, DS and CC R&D (R&M) and Shri S Sundaresh, DS and CC R&D (ACE), on 23 February 2011.

CAIR, Bengaluru

Lt Gen SN Handa, PVSM, AVSM, VSM, DG �Infantry, on 03 February 2011.

Maj Gen (Retd) Narasimha Murthy on 08 February �2011.

Vice Admiral Satish Soni, AVSM, NM OSD to �CNS, on 11 February 2011.

Maj Gen (Retd) Narasimha Murthy interacting with Director, CAIR.

ISD group demonstrating to Vice Adm Satish Soni.NCW&SG ‘D’ group demonstrating to Lt. Gen S N Handa.

EMU (R&D), Delhi, has won 72 prizes in arboriculture and landscaping during the Garden Competition organised by Delhi Agri-Horticultural Society at Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), Pusa, New Delhi, from 21 to 27 February 2011. The following trophies were won by EMU (R&D) during the Pusa Horticulture Show 2011.

Best Large Institutional Garden Trophy for �Metcalfe House, Delhi.

Best Large Residential Garden (Second prize) �for Central Park DRDO Residential Complex, Timarpur Delhi.

Best Medium Institutional Garden for DRDO �Bhawan, Delhi.

Best Mini Institutional Garden Trophy for Estate �Management Unit (EMU) Delhi.

68 Prizes for best potted plants, cut flowers, �rangoli, etc.

The prizes won by EMU, Delhi, during the Flower, Vegetable and Fruits Exibition, Agra, in 2011.

Best Garden Trophy for ADRDE Guest House, �Agra.Best Garden Trophy for Community Centre �ADRDE, Agra.

EMU (R&D) wins trophies at Pusa Horticulture Show 2011

16 April 2011 Home

ISSN:0971-4391

EDITORIAL TEAM

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CVRDE, Chennai

Lt Gen DS Sidhu, AVSM, VSM, DGMF, on 09 March 2011.

LRDE, Bengaluru

Dr PS Goel, Chairman, RAC, on 25 �February 2011.

MTRDC, Bengaluru

Dr Baruch Levuch, Head, Naval Research Laboratory, USA, on 25 February 2011.

Cmde S Govind, DACIDS (Land/ �Amph), HQ IDS, on 24 February 2011.

HEMRL, Pune

Cmde S Govind, DACIDS (Land/ AMPH), HQ Integrated Defence Staff, PP&FD (WSOI), on 21 February 2011.

ISSA, Delhi

Lt Gen K Surendra Nath, AVSM, VSM, GOC-IN-C, ARTRAC, on 23 February 2011.

Lt Gen Sidhu showing keen interest in the Gun Control Systems of Arjun MBT.

Cmde Govind visiting the radars developed by LRDE.

Dr Levuch delivering a talk..

Dr Goel visiting EMI/EMC Testing Laboratory.

Cmde Govind, evincing keen interest in the Combustible Cartridge Case Exhibits.

Lt Gen Surendra Nath interacting with Director ISSA and senior scientists of ISSA.

The Editorial Team thanks all the DRDO Newsletter Correspondents for their contributions.