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World class in avionics
The Research Centre Imarat is a global frontrunner in developing avionics and navigation systems for missiles.
G. KRISHNASWAMY
Dr S.K. Chaudhuri, Director of the Research Centre Imarat.
Everything about the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), situated on the outskirts of Hyderabad, is outsized: its campus, its deer population, the density of trees, the buildings that house its laboratories, its arched main entrance, and so on. Its scientists dream big too. If S.K. Chaudhuri, its Director, is fond of recalling how the RCI is the brainchild of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President and a missile technologist himself, the young G. Satheesh Reddy, its Associate Director, is articulate about the dream that drives the centre and has made it a world-class laboratory in avionics today. The dream was that new ideas should always be floating in the air of the RCI, Satheesh Reddy said.
If the RCI engineers know how to dream, it has paid off. For it is today a global frontrunner in developing avionics for Indias missiles. Its goal, according to Satheesh Reddy, is to do research in the frontier technological area of avionics and produce highly accurate, reliable and miniaturised avionics systems for the countrys defence. The RCIs avionics include inertial navigation systems (INS), mission computers, radio frequency and imaging seekers, battery systems, control actuation systems, and telemetry and telecommand systems. In other words, the entire electronics in a missile system is developed at the RCI and incorporated in every type of missile that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) produces. The navigation system itself includes accelerometers, gyroscopes, on-board computers (OBCs) and seekers. The RCI makes all these not only for missiles but for ships, submarines, battle tanks, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and torpedos. Avionics is unique whether we do it for aircraft, helicopters, ships, submarines, tanks or unmanned aerial vehicles, Satheesh Reddy, who is a specialist in avionics, said.
The DRDO has a troika of missile-making laboratories in Hyderabadthe Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) and the RCI. While the DRDL has designed and developed missiles such as Akash, Nag, Prithvi, Astra, the submarine-launched K-15 and its land version Shourya, the ASL has developed the strategic Agni-I, II, III, IV and V missiles, which are armed with nuclear warheads. The RCI develops the avionics for all these missiles and also for BrahMos, the supersonic cruise missile which is a product of the Indo-Russian cooperation.
Kalam motivated Chaudhuri to move from the DRDL to the RCI. The RCI is the umbilical cord that connects the other two missile laboratories, said Chaudhuri. In a missile, the energy is from the DRDL and the ASL because they provide the propulsion (motors). The brain, eyes and the heart are from the RCI, he explained. In other words, while the DRDL and the ASL provide the shakti, that is, propulsion to the DRDO missiles, the RCI imparts them with gnana, that is, it develops the sensors, the navigation systems and the seekers for them. Chaudhuri said the RCIs guidance systems gave them the ichchait tells them where they should go; and steering is kria.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
G. Satheesh Reddy, Associate Director of the RCI in Hyderabad.
Our challenge is in the atmospheric phase of the missiles flight, where there are aerodynamic forces, said Chaudhuri. Our [a missiles] mission is over in 12 minutes, chipped in Satheesh Reddy. We do not have any correction mechanism to control the missile from the ground except in air defence applications. So we rely on avionics to take the missile to the target accurately.
In terms of size and manpower, the RCI is the largest of the 52 DRDO laboratories situated across the country. Its campus is spread over 920 hectares of thick scrub jungles, with hills, ponds and a lake too. About 1.5 lakh trees make it a densely wooded campus. About 500 deer and scores of peacocks roam the campus. The RCI was set up in 1988 with Kalam as its founder-Director. Imarat is the name of the village where it was set up, and Kalam was keen that Imarat should be added to the Research Centre so that the village would find recognition on the world map. Kalam visualised the RCI as a hub of interaction between its scientists, and professors and research scholars from the academia.
More than 100 industries work with the RCI. About 2,000 personnel, including 500 scientists, work in its network of laboratories, which include the Information Technology Command and Data Centre for Enterprise, Resource and Planning, the Advanced Simulation Centre, the Remote Simulation Laboratory, the INS Calibration Laboratory, the Advanced Hardware In-loop Simulation Centre and the Radar-seeker Development Centre.
The centrepiece of these laboratories is the Navigation and Embedded Computers Complex (NECC). While the complex itself occupies six hectares, the built-up area is spread over 18,000 square metres. If Satheesh Reddy has lavished his attention and time in building this massive complex, it shows. Its spacious laboratories, wide corridors and broad glass doors and windows are spotlessly clean. Its facade is attractive. A big model of a gimbal, a device used in missiles/civilian rockets, welcomes the visitor. Huge murals depict the history of the development of the navigation systems in India and its pioneers such as D. Burman and Paritosh Banerjee. The work initiated by Burman was taken forward by Banerjee, and later by Avinash Chander, Ramana Sai, G. Vidya Sagar, Venkateshwarlu and now by Satheesh Reddy. Avinash Chander is Chief Controller, Missiles and Strategic Systems, DRDO.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
The RCI has produced highly accurate accelerometers.
Satheesh Reddy is not only the RCIs Associate Director but also Director of the Inertial Navigation Laboratory and Fibre Optics Centre. He recently won the Astronautical Society of Indias Rocketry Award for his pioneering contributions and path-breaking work in rocket and related technologies. Satheesh Reddy is a specialist in navigation systems and he developed the avionics, including the ring-laser gyroscope navigation system for the target missile (Prithvi), for the DRDOs missile interceptor programme and the fibre-optic gyroscope-based INS for the interceptor.
Chaudhuri said: We not only do research but produce the systems. We started working on the INS in the late 1970s when we did not have any of these sensors and systems and were importing them. In parallel, we started working on the sensorshow to make them. For without the navigation systems, you do not know where you are.
The INS consists of three accelerometers and three gyroscopes, all of which are sensors. The accelerometers measure the missiles acceleration. The gyroscopes measure its rate of angular rotation. The gyroscopes will pick up even a small change/variation in the missiles flight. The acceleration and angular rotation provide the missiles velocity, position and orientation every millisecond, which are used by the missiles guidance and control systems. The robustness of the gyroscopes and accelerometers determine the accuracy of the missiles flight.
The RCIs forte is its ability to manufacture mechanical gyroscopes, laser gyroscopes and fibre-optic gyroscopes. The challenge in making them is that they should be able to perform in a dynamic environment. The mechanical gyroscopes have remained our workhorse from the late 1980s. They are world class, Chaudhuri said. RCI engineers, headed by Satheesh Reddy, have developed the latest ring-laser gyroscopes too, which were used in the Agni-IV and Agni-V missions in 2012. There are plans to set up a government-owned-company-operated (GOCO) facility to produce the ring-laser gyroscopes.
K. Ram Babu, Technology Director of the Laser Systems, said the development of a variety of gyroscopes was an important achievement. Ring is a system, he said. It has three gyroscopes. We produce them. Gyroscope technology has a lot of optical, mechanical and electronic components. A number of technologies are involved in it. The optical blocks used in the gyroscopes are made of glass ceramics and they are so ultra-smooth that when these optical blocks are brought close to each other, they stick together. We have overcome all the challenges and we are able to produce gyroscopes in numbers. We can produce 15 gyroscopes a month, said Ram Babu and his colleague M. Sree Ramana.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
Dynamically tuned gyroscopes.
Satheesh Reddy said the RCI, battling a technology-denial environment, had produced fibre-optic gyroscopes, ring-laser gyroscopes, dynamically tuned gyroscopes, and highly accurate accelerometers, which were all world class in terms of technology. We indigenously developed and produced these sensors. We developed the algorithms on our own. The sophisticated software is completely developed by us. They have put India on a par with any advanced nation in the area of navigation systems for missiles, he asserted. The technology for producing these navigation sensors has been transferred to the industry.
In the Remote Simulation Laboratory (RSL), the entire avionics system is simulated for the Agni series. Since they are fire-and-forget missiles, if any of their systems malfunction in flight it cannot not be rectified, according to Pulak Halder, scientist at the RSL.
The nerve centre of the RCI is the most advanced NECC, which develops the avionic systems for the DRDOs missiles. The driving force behind the realisation of the complex is Satheesh Reddy and it is not surprising that he and his colleagues working in the various laboratories in the complex are proud of its accomplishments. In its big Exposition Hall are on display the array of systems that constitute the core avionics: mechanical gyroscopes, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) gyroscopes, quartz gyroscopes, ring-laser gyroscopes, missile interface units (MIUs) for Agni and the underwater launched K-15 missiles, the OBCs, System on Chips, and launch processors for Astra, control and coding units for Indias Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, and precision optical components for the INS alignment with GPS receiver. Also on display are the optical components of the ring-laser gyroscopes, prototypes of micro-INS, gyroscopes used in submarines, navigation systems for ships and high-temperature antenna used in the re-entry vehicles of the strategic Agni missiles. These re-entry vehicles should withstand more than 1,800° Celsius when they re-enter the earths atmosphere. The NECC developed every one of these items, which lie in the area of cutting-edge technologies.
In a nutshell, said M. Kannan, scientist at the NECC, this building has developed the inertial navigation systems and the spacecraft navigation receiver systems for Agni- I, II, III, IV and V; Prithvi; Astra; BrahMos; the missiles used in our Ballistic Missile Defence shield programme and the underwater launched missile. The Navigation Laboratory has state-of-the-art equipment, facilities and infrastructure supporting several DRDO organisations, including the Aeronautical Development Establishment and the Aeronautical Development Agency, both located in Bangalore; the Naval Science and Technology Laboratory in Visakhapatnam, for torpedos and high-speed and low-drag bombs; and for the Services different needs.
Another top product from the NECC is the System on Chips, which is the OBC itself, weighing less than 10 grams. The development of the System on Chips is a feather in the cap of the RCI. We are proud that we have these cutting-edge technologies, B.H.V.S. Narayana Murthy, Director, Real-Time Embedded Computers, said.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
A panoramic view of the RCI campus.
In the massive hall of the Testing and Calibration Laboratory of the NECC, the various components of the avionics package of the DRDOs missiles are tested. In fact, all the systems that finally go into a missile are tested in this facility. They are subjected to real-time trajectory simulation with both flight motion simulator and GPS-GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) simulator. Each and every avionics package undergoes temperature and stress tests here to ensure that the quality of their systems is good. Since any navigation system is built around gyroscopes and accelerometers, which are sensors with error-sources inherent in them, calibration is done here to determine the errors, quantify them and remove them.
Today, the RCI has diversified into making navigation systems for the Indian Navy and the Armys battle tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and aircraft. These systems will replace imported systems. In the past four years, the Navy has given many projects to the RCI. They include developing navigation systems for gun control and radar control for use in the Navys vessels.
If India is self-reliant and world class in the avionics systems for its family of missiles, it is because the RCI has produced a variety of OBCs and MIUs with medium speed to very high computational power, multiprocess systems, and reliable communication network. It has developed and produced a variety of electromagnetic actuators, hydraulic actuators and servo valves for controlling the movement of missiles. In fact, the servo valves produced in large numbers by the RCI offers a new model for production by GOCO facilities, said Satheesh Reddy.
The RCI has produced OBCs and MIUs on two single chips, called SOC-computer and SOC-interface, under the leadership of Narayana Murthy. It has produced, under Satheesh Reddys leadership, a small GPS-GLONASS-GAGAN module, weighing just 17 grams, which can be used for satellite-aided navigation of aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), micro-air vehicles and short-range tactical missiles. Reducing the size of the navigation systems, including miniaturising the OBCs and MIUs, has resulted in small-sized avionics package, thereby reducing the missiles weight and, therefore, giving them a longer range. This has given the DRDO missile technologists confidence to design and develop in five years missiles weighing only 10 tonnes but with a range of 2,000 km.
The RCI is striving to become a world leader in navigation systems and avionics by pursuing continuous R&D in advanced technologies such as micro-nano sensors, multiple types of high-accuracy sensors, and multiple navigation methodologies and systems. It is trying to realise the entire avionics on a single module.
The Research Centre Imarat is a global frontrunner in developing avionics and navigation systems for missiles.
G. KRISHNASWAMY
Dr S.K. Chaudhuri, Director of the Research Centre Imarat.
Everything about the Research Centre Imarat (RCI), situated on the outskirts of Hyderabad, is outsized: its campus, its deer population, the density of trees, the buildings that house its laboratories, its arched main entrance, and so on. Its scientists dream big too. If S.K. Chaudhuri, its Director, is fond of recalling how the RCI is the brainchild of A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President and a missile technologist himself, the young G. Satheesh Reddy, its Associate Director, is articulate about the dream that drives the centre and has made it a world-class laboratory in avionics today. The dream was that new ideas should always be floating in the air of the RCI, Satheesh Reddy said.
If the RCI engineers know how to dream, it has paid off. For it is today a global frontrunner in developing avionics for Indias missiles. Its goal, according to Satheesh Reddy, is to do research in the frontier technological area of avionics and produce highly accurate, reliable and miniaturised avionics systems for the countrys defence. The RCIs avionics include inertial navigation systems (INS), mission computers, radio frequency and imaging seekers, battery systems, control actuation systems, and telemetry and telecommand systems. In other words, the entire electronics in a missile system is developed at the RCI and incorporated in every type of missile that the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) produces. The navigation system itself includes accelerometers, gyroscopes, on-board computers (OBCs) and seekers. The RCI makes all these not only for missiles but for ships, submarines, battle tanks, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and torpedos. Avionics is unique whether we do it for aircraft, helicopters, ships, submarines, tanks or unmanned aerial vehicles, Satheesh Reddy, who is a specialist in avionics, said.
The DRDO has a troika of missile-making laboratories in Hyderabadthe Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), the Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL) and the RCI. While the DRDL has designed and developed missiles such as Akash, Nag, Prithvi, Astra, the submarine-launched K-15 and its land version Shourya, the ASL has developed the strategic Agni-I, II, III, IV and V missiles, which are armed with nuclear warheads. The RCI develops the avionics for all these missiles and also for BrahMos, the supersonic cruise missile which is a product of the Indo-Russian cooperation.
Kalam motivated Chaudhuri to move from the DRDL to the RCI. The RCI is the umbilical cord that connects the other two missile laboratories, said Chaudhuri. In a missile, the energy is from the DRDL and the ASL because they provide the propulsion (motors). The brain, eyes and the heart are from the RCI, he explained. In other words, while the DRDL and the ASL provide the shakti, that is, propulsion to the DRDO missiles, the RCI imparts them with gnana, that is, it develops the sensors, the navigation systems and the seekers for them. Chaudhuri said the RCIs guidance systems gave them the ichchait tells them where they should go; and steering is kria.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
G. Satheesh Reddy, Associate Director of the RCI in Hyderabad.
Our challenge is in the atmospheric phase of the missiles flight, where there are aerodynamic forces, said Chaudhuri. Our [a missiles] mission is over in 12 minutes, chipped in Satheesh Reddy. We do not have any correction mechanism to control the missile from the ground except in air defence applications. So we rely on avionics to take the missile to the target accurately.
In terms of size and manpower, the RCI is the largest of the 52 DRDO laboratories situated across the country. Its campus is spread over 920 hectares of thick scrub jungles, with hills, ponds and a lake too. About 1.5 lakh trees make it a densely wooded campus. About 500 deer and scores of peacocks roam the campus. The RCI was set up in 1988 with Kalam as its founder-Director. Imarat is the name of the village where it was set up, and Kalam was keen that Imarat should be added to the Research Centre so that the village would find recognition on the world map. Kalam visualised the RCI as a hub of interaction between its scientists, and professors and research scholars from the academia.
More than 100 industries work with the RCI. About 2,000 personnel, including 500 scientists, work in its network of laboratories, which include the Information Technology Command and Data Centre for Enterprise, Resource and Planning, the Advanced Simulation Centre, the Remote Simulation Laboratory, the INS Calibration Laboratory, the Advanced Hardware In-loop Simulation Centre and the Radar-seeker Development Centre.
The centrepiece of these laboratories is the Navigation and Embedded Computers Complex (NECC). While the complex itself occupies six hectares, the built-up area is spread over 18,000 square metres. If Satheesh Reddy has lavished his attention and time in building this massive complex, it shows. Its spacious laboratories, wide corridors and broad glass doors and windows are spotlessly clean. Its facade is attractive. A big model of a gimbal, a device used in missiles/civilian rockets, welcomes the visitor. Huge murals depict the history of the development of the navigation systems in India and its pioneers such as D. Burman and Paritosh Banerjee. The work initiated by Burman was taken forward by Banerjee, and later by Avinash Chander, Ramana Sai, G. Vidya Sagar, Venkateshwarlu and now by Satheesh Reddy. Avinash Chander is Chief Controller, Missiles and Strategic Systems, DRDO.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
The RCI has produced highly accurate accelerometers.
Satheesh Reddy is not only the RCIs Associate Director but also Director of the Inertial Navigation Laboratory and Fibre Optics Centre. He recently won the Astronautical Society of Indias Rocketry Award for his pioneering contributions and path-breaking work in rocket and related technologies. Satheesh Reddy is a specialist in navigation systems and he developed the avionics, including the ring-laser gyroscope navigation system for the target missile (Prithvi), for the DRDOs missile interceptor programme and the fibre-optic gyroscope-based INS for the interceptor.
Chaudhuri said: We not only do research but produce the systems. We started working on the INS in the late 1970s when we did not have any of these sensors and systems and were importing them. In parallel, we started working on the sensorshow to make them. For without the navigation systems, you do not know where you are.
The INS consists of three accelerometers and three gyroscopes, all of which are sensors. The accelerometers measure the missiles acceleration. The gyroscopes measure its rate of angular rotation. The gyroscopes will pick up even a small change/variation in the missiles flight. The acceleration and angular rotation provide the missiles velocity, position and orientation every millisecond, which are used by the missiles guidance and control systems. The robustness of the gyroscopes and accelerometers determine the accuracy of the missiles flight.
The RCIs forte is its ability to manufacture mechanical gyroscopes, laser gyroscopes and fibre-optic gyroscopes. The challenge in making them is that they should be able to perform in a dynamic environment. The mechanical gyroscopes have remained our workhorse from the late 1980s. They are world class, Chaudhuri said. RCI engineers, headed by Satheesh Reddy, have developed the latest ring-laser gyroscopes too, which were used in the Agni-IV and Agni-V missions in 2012. There are plans to set up a government-owned-company-operated (GOCO) facility to produce the ring-laser gyroscopes.
K. Ram Babu, Technology Director of the Laser Systems, said the development of a variety of gyroscopes was an important achievement. Ring is a system, he said. It has three gyroscopes. We produce them. Gyroscope technology has a lot of optical, mechanical and electronic components. A number of technologies are involved in it. The optical blocks used in the gyroscopes are made of glass ceramics and they are so ultra-smooth that when these optical blocks are brought close to each other, they stick together. We have overcome all the challenges and we are able to produce gyroscopes in numbers. We can produce 15 gyroscopes a month, said Ram Babu and his colleague M. Sree Ramana.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
Dynamically tuned gyroscopes.
Satheesh Reddy said the RCI, battling a technology-denial environment, had produced fibre-optic gyroscopes, ring-laser gyroscopes, dynamically tuned gyroscopes, and highly accurate accelerometers, which were all world class in terms of technology. We indigenously developed and produced these sensors. We developed the algorithms on our own. The sophisticated software is completely developed by us. They have put India on a par with any advanced nation in the area of navigation systems for missiles, he asserted. The technology for producing these navigation sensors has been transferred to the industry.
In the Remote Simulation Laboratory (RSL), the entire avionics system is simulated for the Agni series. Since they are fire-and-forget missiles, if any of their systems malfunction in flight it cannot not be rectified, according to Pulak Halder, scientist at the RSL.
The nerve centre of the RCI is the most advanced NECC, which develops the avionic systems for the DRDOs missiles. The driving force behind the realisation of the complex is Satheesh Reddy and it is not surprising that he and his colleagues working in the various laboratories in the complex are proud of its accomplishments. In its big Exposition Hall are on display the array of systems that constitute the core avionics: mechanical gyroscopes, micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) gyroscopes, quartz gyroscopes, ring-laser gyroscopes, missile interface units (MIUs) for Agni and the underwater launched K-15 missiles, the OBCs, System on Chips, and launch processors for Astra, control and coding units for Indias Light Combat Aircraft Tejas, and precision optical components for the INS alignment with GPS receiver. Also on display are the optical components of the ring-laser gyroscopes, prototypes of micro-INS, gyroscopes used in submarines, navigation systems for ships and high-temperature antenna used in the re-entry vehicles of the strategic Agni missiles. These re-entry vehicles should withstand more than 1,800° Celsius when they re-enter the earths atmosphere. The NECC developed every one of these items, which lie in the area of cutting-edge technologies.
In a nutshell, said M. Kannan, scientist at the NECC, this building has developed the inertial navigation systems and the spacecraft navigation receiver systems for Agni- I, II, III, IV and V; Prithvi; Astra; BrahMos; the missiles used in our Ballistic Missile Defence shield programme and the underwater launched missile. The Navigation Laboratory has state-of-the-art equipment, facilities and infrastructure supporting several DRDO organisations, including the Aeronautical Development Establishment and the Aeronautical Development Agency, both located in Bangalore; the Naval Science and Technology Laboratory in Visakhapatnam, for torpedos and high-speed and low-drag bombs; and for the Services different needs.
Another top product from the NECC is the System on Chips, which is the OBC itself, weighing less than 10 grams. The development of the System on Chips is a feather in the cap of the RCI. We are proud that we have these cutting-edge technologies, B.H.V.S. Narayana Murthy, Director, Real-Time Embedded Computers, said.
G. RAMAKRISHNA
A panoramic view of the RCI campus.
In the massive hall of the Testing and Calibration Laboratory of the NECC, the various components of the avionics package of the DRDOs missiles are tested. In fact, all the systems that finally go into a missile are tested in this facility. They are subjected to real-time trajectory simulation with both flight motion simulator and GPS-GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) simulator. Each and every avionics package undergoes temperature and stress tests here to ensure that the quality of their systems is good. Since any navigation system is built around gyroscopes and accelerometers, which are sensors with error-sources inherent in them, calibration is done here to determine the errors, quantify them and remove them.
Today, the RCI has diversified into making navigation systems for the Indian Navy and the Armys battle tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles, helicopters and aircraft. These systems will replace imported systems. In the past four years, the Navy has given many projects to the RCI. They include developing navigation systems for gun control and radar control for use in the Navys vessels.
If India is self-reliant and world class in the avionics systems for its family of missiles, it is because the RCI has produced a variety of OBCs and MIUs with medium speed to very high computational power, multiprocess systems, and reliable communication network. It has developed and produced a variety of electromagnetic actuators, hydraulic actuators and servo valves for controlling the movement of missiles. In fact, the servo valves produced in large numbers by the RCI offers a new model for production by GOCO facilities, said Satheesh Reddy.
The RCI has produced OBCs and MIUs on two single chips, called SOC-computer and SOC-interface, under the leadership of Narayana Murthy. It has produced, under Satheesh Reddys leadership, a small GPS-GLONASS-GAGAN module, weighing just 17 grams, which can be used for satellite-aided navigation of aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), micro-air vehicles and short-range tactical missiles. Reducing the size of the navigation systems, including miniaturising the OBCs and MIUs, has resulted in small-sized avionics package, thereby reducing the missiles weight and, therefore, giving them a longer range. This has given the DRDO missile technologists confidence to design and develop in five years missiles weighing only 10 tonnes but with a range of 2,000 km.
The RCI is striving to become a world leader in navigation systems and avionics by pursuing continuous R&D in advanced technologies such as micro-nano sensors, multiple types of high-accuracy sensors, and multiple navigation methodologies and systems. It is trying to realise the entire avionics on a single module.
