DRDO Awards Function 2014 – A Curtain Raiser

DRDO AWARDS for the year 2013 for outstanding contribution in various areas of technology will be given away by the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in the august presence of Hon’ble Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley and a galaxy of dignitaries on 20th August 2014 in a brief ceremony to be held at Kothari Auditorium, DRDO Bhawan. The DRDO awards in 10 categories are being given to honour individual Scientists/Teams of DRDO, partners of DRDO from other sectors for their outstanding contributions in furthering DRDO’s efforts in achieving self-reliance. DRDO Life Time Achievement Award 2013 is being conferred on Dr. Dipankar Banerjee formerly Director, DMRL and Chief Controller R&D of DRDO for his distinguished contributions to the field of Metallurgy, Materials science & Combat Aircraft Program. Technology Leadership Award: In recognition of outstanding contributions and leadership qualities, the Technology Leadership Award for the year 2013 is being awarded to Shri S Anantha Narayanan, Distinguished Scientist & Director Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi towards development of underwater surveillance systems, new technologies in underwater transducers, onboard processors and deployment mechanisms and fostering industrial partnerships leading to proliferation of a large number of systems in the Indian Navy. ACADEMY EXCELLENCE AWARDS are given to members from academia associated with DRDO for research in emerging areas. The two Academy Excellence Awards for the year 2013 are being conferred on Emeritus Prof. S Mohan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru for his noteworthy contributions to several projects of DRDO. His innovative ideas and advice have helped DEBEL to successfully carry out technology demonstration of the concept of TDLAS Oxygen Sensor for Air Borne application, Ammonia Sensor, Micro needle Array for EEG and MEMS based pressure Sensor and Prof. V Kamakoti, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai for his outstanding contributions to the area of Computer Architecture, Reconfigurable System Design and Indigenous VLSI/EDA software, Secure Operating Systems, Indigenous IPs and to improve the performance of ANURAG developed ANUPAMA/ABACUS processors using higher level design abstraction. Silicon Trophy for the Best Systems Laboratory of DRDO is being awarded to Defence Research & Development Laboratory (DRDL), Hyderabad for outstanding contributions towards development of tactical and underwater launched guided weapon systems. TITANIUM TROPHY for the Best Science Laboratory of DRDO is being awarded to Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS), Delhi for outstanding contributions in improving performance and health of the soldiers deployed at high altitude and other operational environments. DRDO awards for PATH BREAKING RESEARCH AND OUTSTANDING TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT for the year 2013 are being conferred upon: ·         Dr. SC Sati,Director, Aerial Delivery Research & Development Establishment (ADRDE), Agra and his team for their outstanding contributions towards design, development, realisation and testing of P-16 Heavy Drop System comprising multi stage parachutes and platform. ·         Dr. S Guruprasad, Scientist ‘H’, and Director, Research & Development Establishment (Engineers) (R&DE (E)), Pune and his team for their outstanding contributions towards development of a cost effective manufacturing technology for composites, Resin Film Infusion and materials for the same, leading to realisation of large size, light weight and multifunctional structural components for military applications. ·         Shri RS Chandrasekhar, Scientist ‘F’, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad and his team have made outstanding contributions in developing innovative and robust Alignment methodologies for Inertial Navigation Systems for Air-to-Air tactical weapon and Ship-launched Strategic weapon. DRDO AWARD FOR PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE are being conferred on Shri PS Subramanyam, Distinguished Scientist & Director, Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Bengaluru and his team along with Dr. K Tamilmani, former Chief Executive, CEMILAC  and his team towards accomplishing an unprecedented milestone in Defence Aviation through indigenous design, development and certification of a state-of-the-art fighter aircraft, Tejas for induction into services. Tejas has been granted Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) in Dec 2013. This rare feat of the team has catapulted India into the elite club of nations which possess the technological capabilities and infrastructure to build and roll out their own fighter aircraft with state-of-the-art technologies. SPECIAL AWARD FOR STRATEGIC CONTRIBUTION 2013 is being conferred on: ·         Smt. U Jeya Santhi, Scientist ‘F’ and her team for significant contributions towards successful design, development, erection and commissioning of Strategic Command and Control infrastructure comprising a secured, multi-layered, Strategic Communication Network and specialised Blast and EMP hardened structures. ·         Shri K Ravi Sankar, Scientist 'F', Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR), Bengaluru and his team for outstanding contributions to the development of Security Solutions for Strategic Communication Networks (SCN) for securing sensitive data transmitted over PSTN links, high-speed point-to-point links which incorporate indigenous high grade encryption algorithms, automated and fast robust synchronization, user friendly end-to-end key management, innovative capture resiliency techniques with robust authentication mechanisms.  ·         Shri Rajeev Thaman, Scientist 'F', Scientific Analysis Group (SAG), Delhi and his team have made significant contributions in developing various indigenous information security SW Solutions for Cyber Defence, which have been deployed at various Defence Establishments, Strategic Programmes and other Intelligence Agencies providing high level of security assurance. Defence Technology Absorption Award is given to DRDO’s industrial partners for their support in transformation of technologies developed by DRDO into products/systems/processes for Armed forces. The award is being given to:- ·         M/s Accord Software & Systems Ltd., Bengaluru, has immensely contributed towards indigenous design, development and production of advanced high dynamics GPS+GLONASS+GAGAN receivers with state-of-the-art technologies and features in multiple configurations to the specific requirements/ specifications of Indian Defence programmes in close coordination with DRDO laboratories. ·         M/s Aerospace Engineers, Salem, Tamil Nadu, has displayed profound technical expertise in absorbing various technologies and has delivered high-precision and quality elastomeric products manufactured out of these technologies for use on various airborne systems developed by DRDO that include LCA, Lakshya, Nishant, Missiles, Life Saving Systems, aircrafts and helicopters. ·         M/s Krishna Industries, Mumbai has displayed pioneering efforts towards indigenous production of “Bulb Bars” of various sections of DMR-249A grade steel, on industrial scale, in association with DRDO for construction of warships by devising ingenious roll design, rolling parameters and novel heat treatment technique.  Their sustained efforts have culminated in producing high quality bulb bars for the first time in the country, thereby meeting the requirements of the Indian Navy in a timely and cost effective manner. DEFENCE TECHNOLOGY SPIN-OFF AWARD 2013 is being awarded to Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL), Mysore for significant extension work in the rural sector for the benefit of tomato farmers & women entrepreneurs by means of commercialization of tomato-based value-added products