Role of drdo in various fields (other than weapons)
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency of the Republic of India, charged with the military’s research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India. It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation. It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
DRDO has identified the following topics for future research & development.
Low Observable Technologies
The whole spectrum of techniques used to reduce electromagnetic signature, be it Infra red, electromagnetic emission, Radar or Sonar form a part of such technology, which encompasses materials, shapes or finishes for absorption, reflection and/or deflection of radar waves in directions other than the sensors etc.
GaN Devices
GaN being the most important Direct-bandgap semiconductor material, it is useful in Opto-electronic, higher frequency and high power devices.
SiC based Technology
Silicon carbide (SiC) a very hard and strong material, previously used as an excellent abrasive is now being developed as material because of its ability to function in high temperature, high frequency, high power and high radiation conditions which will enable large performance enhancements in a wide variety of systems and applications.
Technologies for Soldier support
Soldier modernization is a set of activities to enhance an Infantrymans lethality, survivability, tactical situational awareness, C4I, sustainability and mobility. To enhance the Infantrymans role as a platform and a system of systems of his own, expanding his capability to receive, send, analyse and display data is aimed at.
Nanotechnology
Nano science and Technology is an emerging field with scope for the advancement, upgradation and value addition of various defence systems.
TeraHertz
Terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum provides tangible solution to important practical problems such as concealed explosive detection, forgery and fake currency identification, non destructive testing on non metallic devices and many similar applications.
Sensors
Sensors are devices that receive and respond to a signal or stimulus, form an integral part of signal processing, communication and control systems. Besides being rapidly deployable, self organizing and fault tolerant they should cater to a variety of requirements such as acoustic, seismic, IR, magnetometers, imagers, micro radars etc.
Laser
The unprecedented precision and speed of lasers make them an integral part of any system to provide dominance over adversary. Lasers have exceptional characteristics like low divergence, short pulse width and speed of light which enable to intercept and interrogate the far off targets almost in real time. New technologies in material growth and diode lasers produce high peak and average power at various wavelength.
Functional materials
The functional materials are distinctly different from structural materials and their physical and chemical properties are sensitive to changes in the environment such as pressure, temperature, electric and magnetic field, optical wavelength, adsorbed gas molecules, pH value etc.
Solar Energy
Solar Energy plays an important role towards achieving long lasting, sustainable, environment friendly renewable energy resource to fulfill the energy needs for mankind. Multiband Conformal Antennas Miniature wireless communication devices operating in multiband/multimode, compact antenna for mobile satellite terminals require conformal antennas to enhance multiband performance in terms of impedence matching characteristics as well as radiation patterns, easy installation, providing wider bandwidth and eliminating visual signature.
Gasturbine Technologies
Design construct and operate reliable and efficient gas turbines to meet the needs and respect environment.
Hypersonics
The air-breathing hypersonic technologies and the development of hypersonic cruise vehicles are attracting the attention of the aerospace community all over the world because they have potential of application in the areas of space, civil and military sectors.In the military sector, the technologies would enable the development of hypersonic cruise missiles, which are ideal weapons against time critical targets and buried/hardened targets.
Nanophotonics
Utilizing light-matter interactions on the nanometer-scale, offers the ability to break through the diffraction limit of light and open the door to novel optical technologies. The unique nature of optical near-fields, allowing interactions at high density free from the classical diffraction limit, nanophotonics has enabled “miniaturization” of light-matter interactions, impacting various areas such as spectroscopy, optical memories, and so on. Nanophotonics can provide high bandwidth, high speed and ultra-small optoelectronic components.
High Energy Materials
The high energy materials have low calorific values compared to conventional fuels like coal or petrol; however, they release energy at millisecond (propellants) to microsecond (high explosives) scale.
High Power Microwave
High Power Microwaves (HPM) is a potential technology area that offers innovative approaches to existing defence applications. HPM means peak powers of the order or more of 100 MW, with typical values upto ten GWs, in the microwave frequency band of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Network Centric Operations
Technologies that support the new war-fighting doctrines that are emerging in the era of ubiquitous sensing, connectivity and computation form the backbone of NCO.
MEMS
These micro scale mechanics integrated on si-chip capabilities to work as a sensor & actuator coupled with C-Mos signal conditioning circuits to be studied for their use in control, guidance, telemetry, radar, acoustics etc.
High Efficiency Aerodynamics
Design to improve high cruise efficiency, low-speed performance and safety and impeccable handling characteristics for near ideal aerodynamics