Report of the Director - National Aerospace Laboratories

Report of the Director 

“In science, the credit goes to the man who convinces the 

world, not to the man to whom the idea first occurs”. 

William Osier 

It is with immense pleasure and pride that I present the 

Annual Report of the Council of Scientific and Industrial 

Research - National Aerospace Laboratories for the 

year 2010-11. At the very outset, I would like to 

acknowledge that it is the contributions of my CSIR-NAL 

team that has given life and substance to this report. 

HIGHLIGHTS 

The year 2010 -11 was the year of introspection for 

CSIR-NAL, particularly after the release of the SARAS 

PT2 accident investigation report by DGCA in April 

2010; the report did not find any major deficiencies in 

the structural design or maintenance of the aircraft or its 

systems. The probable cause of the accident was stated 

to be incorrect procedures defined and adopted for the 

particular flight test. A contributing factor towards this 

was suggested to be the lack of clarity from the concerned 

system OEM with regard to the operational 

procedure. The report made recommendations regarding 

operational procedures, upgrading of telemetry 

system, monitoring & management, documentation 

etc., Actions on these recommendations were taken up 

earnestly and would be completed before the resumption 

of flight tests on the SARAS. The programme 

recovery plan includes conversion of the first prototype 

SARAS PT1 to SARAS PT-N, which corresponds to SARAS 

PT2 standards, with higher powered engines PW PT6- 

67A as was in PT2, new engine stub wing and nacelle, 

landing gear actuators, and with some improvements to 

the flight control and flap systems. The SARAS Production 

Standard Aircraft (PSA), whose all-up weight was 

reduced by 500 kg using advanced composite components 

such as wings, empennage, pressure bulkhead, 

fuselage top skin etc and weight-optimized fuselage 

structure, is currently under fabrication at CSIR-NAL. 

The carbon composite wing is being fabricated using, 

for the first time, a fully in-house developed technology 

called VERITy (Vacuum Enhanced Resin Infusion Technology). 

Also, the SARAS-PSA will be fully equipped with 

a digital cockpit and advanced avionics and flight 

control systems that includes MFDs (Multi-function Displays), 

a fully digital autopilot, an EICAS (The Engine 

Instruments and Crew Alerting System), system and an 

all-moving horizontal tail. The aircraft, which is under 

assembly, is expected to fly in the last quarter of 2012, 

and expected to be certified by end 2013 under FAR-23 

regulations. 

CSIR-NAL is in continuous touch with IAF and HAL for 

the proposed induction of SARAS by the IAF, and series 

production at the HAL Kanpur facilities; a MoU on 

production of SARAS aircraft for the IAF requirements 

was signed with HAL. CSIR-NAL is grateful to IAF and 

HAL for their continued and unwavering support to the 

SARAS programme. 

Following the DGCA report, a Special Review Committee 

with Dr. V. K. Aatre, Former SA to RM as Chairman, 

Air Marshal P. Rajkumar (Retd.), former Director, ADA 

as Co-chairman and with members drawn from different 

aerospace and certification organizations was constituted 

by DG-SIR to review both the Civil Aircraft 

Development and the R&D programmes of CSIR-NAL. 

The Committee in its report strongly recommended that 

the SARAS programme and the civil aircraft D&D activity 

at CSIR-NAL be continued with tighter review & monitoring 

and other checks and balances; we have already 

acted upon these recommendations. A high level 

Programme Review Committee with DCAS as Chairman 

and members drawn from all concerned organizations 

has been constituted by DG, CSIR for this purpose. 

The Committee also stressed on the need for a second 

SARAS PSA for speeding up SARAS certification efforts. 

This has been taken up under the second revised cost 

and time estimates which is being considered by the 

CSIR. Further, the Committee also recommended clustering 

of various Scientific Divisions of CSIR-NAL to 

bring greater synergy, coordination and cooperation 

within and between them in the execution of the increasingly 

inter- and multi-disciplinary S&T programmes of 

the Laboratories. In response, we have now grouped 

our scientific Divisions into four clusters: (i) Aero- 

Thermal Sciences, (ii) Structural and Material Sciences 

NAL NAL NAL Annual Annual Annual Report Report Report 2010-2011 

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Fig. 1 POA Certificate under CAR 21 subpart-G. 

(iii) Systems and Electronics engineering and (iv) Societal 

Missions. Each cluster is generally headed by a 

Chairman and assisted by a Co-Chairman. It is gratifying 

to note that this arrangement is working satisfactorily 

and has already begun to yield good results. We are 

also thankful to Prof. S. K. Brahmachari, DG-SIR for 

offering valuable suggestions with regard to the conduct 

of our programmes and his unstinted support to 

our R&D and aircraft D&D activities. 

CSIR-NAL has been in the forefront of developing many 

technologies which have direct or indirect relevance and 

use for the society; in order to strengthen and bring 

focus to this effort, a new Centre called “Centre for 

Societal Missions and Special Technologies (CSMST)” 

was created during the year under the Societal Missions 

Cluster. The CSMST was created combining the erstwhile 

Wind Energy Division, Fibre Reinforced Plastic 

Division and part of the Advanced Composites Division, 

Fig. 2 Dr A R Upadhya, Director, 

receiving award from Hon'ble Minister 

for Civil Aviation Mr Vayalar Ravi. 

R2 R2 Report Report of of the the Director 

Director 

keeping in view the need for greater synergy in their 

activities. The new Centre would aim at providing 

technologies of direct and immediate relevance to the 

society like turbines for wind energy harvesting, costeffective 

technologies for solar applications, composites 

for low cost housing and bio-medical applications and 

special technologies like radome design and development, 

smart materials, autoclaves and many such others. 

This year was a memorable one for CSIR-NAL as an 

aircraft design and development organisation; a major 

and proud achievement during the year was obtaining 

the Production Organization Approval (POA) for CSIR- 

NAL under the new CAR 21regulations, Subpart-G, 

from the DGCA (Fig.1) which vests greater authority 

with the organization with regard to ensuring quality of 

the components, assemblies, systems and products 

manufactured/used in the production of an aircraft. 

With the receipt of this approval, CSIR-NAL is now 

authorized to take up the manufacturing activities pertaining 

to SARAS, NM5-100 and Hansa-3 aircraft 

under the new regulations. I would like to offer my 

sincere thanks to the DGCA authorities and concerned 

colleagues at CSIR-NAL who have spent countless hours 

together in the last one year in the realization of this 

authorisation. 

I am happy to report good progress in our joint 

programme on design and development of NM-5, the 

5-seater General Aviation Aircraft, with the Mahindra 

Group as the Industry partner. On completion of the 

Critical Design Review, manufacturing of the first prototype 

was launched at the Mahindra Facility (Gipps Aero) 

in Australia in 2010. Thanks to the vast experience of the 

professionals at Gipps Aero, manufacture of the prototype 

has progressed very fast, and the aircraft is expected 

to have its first flight in August/Sept 2011. This 

would indeed be a great day for this first P-P-P venture 

in civil aircraft design and development in India. 

I am indeed very happy and proud to report to you that 

Fig. 3 (a) Handing over of Hansa-3 to Amritsar Aviation Club on January 29, 2011. 

(b) Hansa-3 flight demonstration in Aero India 2011. 

(a) 

(b)

Fig. 4 Dr APJ Abdul Kalam inaugurating of 

Carbon Fiber Production Plant at 

M/s Kemrock Limited, Vadodara on May 9, 

2010. 

in recognition of the contributions of CSIR-NAL for the 

growth of civil aviation in the country, CSIR-NAL was 

felicitated by the Hon’ble Union Minister for Overseas 

Indian Affairs and Minister of Civil Aviation, Shri Vayalar 

Ravi on the occasion of the launching of the Centenary 

Celebrations of Civil Aviation in India on February 18, 

2011 at New Delhi (Fig. 2). In another milestone 

achievement, one more Hansa-3 aircraft of CSIR-NAL, 

bearing Registration VT-HOE, was allotted to the Amritsar 

Aviation Club (AAC), Amritsar, by the DGCA on January 

29, 2011. This is the third HANSA-3 aircraft acquired by 

AAC through DGCA for training student pilots; 

HANSA-3 is reported to be very popular amongst the 

student pilots of the club. On behalf of CSIR-NAL, AAC 

gave flight demonstrations of this aircraft in the air show 

at the prestigious Aero India 2011 International Exposition 

held at Bangalore during 9-13 February, 2011 

(Fig. 3 a, b). 

There were many other moments of pride and satisfaction 

for the CSIR-NAL team during the year; Firstly, 

when the carbon fibre production plant of 400 TPA 

capacity established by Kemrock Industries, Baroda, 

with the technology and plant design from CSIR-NAL, 

was inaugurated by the Hon’ble former President of the 

Republic of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam on May 9, 2010 

(Fig. 4). Inaugurating the plant Dr. Kalam appreciated 

the efforts of CSIR-NAL in developing the technology 

and complimented M/s Kemrock for accepting the 

challenge to commercialize the technology. Secondly, 

when Dr. K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO / Secretary, 

DOS inaugurated the state-of-the art “ISITE Acoustic 

Test Facility”, designed and commissioned by 

CSIR-NAL, for the ISRO Satellite Centre (ISAC), Bangalore 

(with active support and participation from ISAC), 

on April 7, 2011 (Fig. 5). This facility, consisting of a 

1500 Cu. M volume Isolated Reverberation Chamber 

and capable of qualifying satellites for sound levels up 

to 156dB in an inert Nitrogen atmosphere, is the largest 

and one-of-its kind in India. Thirdly, on November 2, 

2010, a historic day for CSIR-NAL’s NTAF, when its 

1.2m Trisonic wind tunnel completed its 40,000 th blow 

Fig. 5 Inauguration of ISITE Acoustic 

Test Facility designed and 

commissioned by CSIR-NAL for ISRO 

on April 7, 2011. 

Fig.6 Dr Prahalada, Distinguished 

Scientist, Chief Controller, R & D(SI), 

DRDO inaugurating 40,000 blow 

down of the NAL’s trisonic wind tunnel. 

down, a landmark achievement for any wind tunnel 

facility in the world. The facility completed more than 

one thousand eight hundred blow downs during 2010- 

11 itself (Fig. 6). The forth is when the Aerospace Theme 

Pavilion, led by CSIR-NAL, won the highest award, the 

CSIR Platinum Shield(along with the Healthcare 

Pavilion)in the first ever CSIR Technofest organized as a 

part of the India International Trade Fair in New Delhi 

in November, 2010. I would like to compliment all my 

colleagues and collaborating organizations involved in 

these successful efforts. 

Another significant development was the projected 

requirement from HAL for the supply of LCA-TEJAS 

composite parts for the series production of the 

aircraft. HAL approached CSIR-NAL with a formal 

proposal for production and supply of twenty sets of 

thirteen composite parts for the series production of 

Tejas aircraft for the IAF. These parts were earlier 

produced and supplied by the Advanced Composites 

Division of CSIR-NAL for LCA Technology Demonstrators, 

Prototype Vehicles and Limited Series Production 

aircraft. I must stress here that CSIR-NAL has 

taken up this major responsibility on a special request 

from HAL only because of the project’s national 

importance and the tight delivery schedules 

involved. We have hence brought in Tata Advanced 

Materials Limited (TAML), Bangalore, a prestigious 

Tata Group Company in Bangalore, as the production 

partner to execute this project. 

Further, CSIR-NAL, DRDO-ADE and IMOD (Israeli Ministry 

of Defense) jointly conducted flight trials on UAV 

Nishant on October 28, 2010 at the Kolar Airfield in 

which the Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) technology 

of CSIR-NAL using fibre optic sensors was successfully 

demonstrated. This technology would be useful for 

the monitoring of structural health parameters of the 

UAV in-flight (Figs. 7a, b, and c). This was indeed a 

moment to reckon with, as, perhaps, this was the first 

flight trial of an on-board SHM system on any UAV in the 

world. 


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Fig. 7 (a) FBG Sensor Instrumentation on aircraft mounting fixture. (b) SHM system assembled in Nishant aircraft. (c) Nishant 

in flight. 

One of the significant highlights during the year 

2010 -11 was that, based on the extensive pre-feasibility 

work done by CSIR-NAL on defining the need and 

requirements for a regional aircraft development 

programme and a possible configuration for the same, 

the government approved a one-year feasibility study 

for a National Civil Aircraft Development (NCAD) 

programme under the guidance of a fourteen-member 

High Power Committee (HPC) led by Dr. G. Madhavan 

Nair, Former Chairman, ISRO, as its Chairman and 

Director General, CSIR as its Co-chairman with CSIR- 

NAL acting as the lead agency. The programme is 

aimed at fulfilling the country’s need for an aircraft in 

the 70 to 90 passenger category for providing regional 

connectivity within the country, and, also in the process, 

providing a platform for propelling the civil aviation 

industry in India. CSIR-NAL provided the support for 

establishing a NCAD design group which would grow 

into a full-fledged civil aircraft design bureau. It was a 

very happy moment for us at CSIR-NAL when the HPC 

submitted the Feasibility Study Report on schedule to the 

government for its consideration and approval. The 

Report contains market assessment, configuration and 

systems definition and studies, development plan and a 

management structure for development, certification 

and production of NCA. We would like to thank the 

Chairman, Co-Chairman and members of the HPC for 

their focused direction and guidance to the NCAD team 

at CSIR-NAL and also the chairmen and members of the 

various sub-committees of the HPC for their valuable 

support. Further, I must acknowledge with gratitude the 

contributions of Dr. Kota Harinarayana, DAE Raja 

Ramanna Fellow at CSIR-NAL who seeded and nurtured 

the idea of a Regional Transport Aircraft (RTA) for 

the country through CSIR-NAL, which finally led to the 

initiation of the Feasibility Study under the guidance of 

the HPC. CSIR-NAL has definitely benefited from his 

association with us. 

It is worth noting that one of the outcomes of initiation 

of RTA related activities at CSIR-NAL was the signing of 

a MoU with the internationally reputed aerospace R&D 

Organisation, DLR of Germany in July 2010 for cooperation 

in R&D in civil aircraft related technologies. This 



MoU revived the long standing cooperation programme 

between CSIR-NAL and DLR, and I am sure that it would 

benefit both the organizations apart from supporting 

the NCAD programme. 

CSIR-NAL played a major role in the CSIR-NAL/DRDO- 

ADE project on the ‘Development of Fixed Wing Micro 

Air Vehicles’ which is in the final phase of its completion. 

The project is aimed at developing sub-300mm span, 

sub-300gm weight class micro air vehicles for strategic 

and societal applications. After the successful demonstration 

of three types of MAVs to members of the 

Integrated Defense Services (IDS) in May 2010, Golden 

Hawk 450 and Black kite 300 were chosen for user 

trials. Further, it is gratifying to note that state security 

agencies like Chandigarh Police have shown a keen 

interest in using these vehicles for surveillance purposes. 

One of the major outcomes of this effort was the 

sanction of NP-MICAV, the “National Program on Micro 

Air Vehicles” jointly sponsored by DRDO and DST and 

executed by DRDO-ADE, CSIR-NAL , IITs, IISc and 

National Design and Research Forum of the Institution 

of Engineers (coordinating the work of some universities 

and SMEs). This program envisages the development of 

various enabling advanced technologies and facilities 

related to MAVs. CSIR-NAL is expected to play a pivotal 

role in this program, along with academia and industries. 

Based on the CSIR-NAL team’s effort on the Micro 

Air Vehicles, CSIR-NAL and DRDO-ADE took up a joint 

project for the development of a “Two-Kg Class Fixed 

Wing Mini Unmanned Air Vehicle” (FWMUAV) for a 

specific user application. This fully autonomous mini 

UAV would have a range of ten km, an endurance of 

sixty minutes and provide real-time video surveillance 

by day-light electro-optic and thermal imaging sensors. 

A sign of the confidence in and maturity of this technology 

at CSIR- NAL is that a full composite airframe for the 

prototype Slybird mini UAV was quickly developed 

(Fig. 8). Although Slybird mini UAV was designed to fly 

in high-altitude conditions (14,000 ft), preliminary flight 

tests conducted at sea level and at 3,000 ft altitude 

demonstrated very encouraging flight performance of 

the UAV. In a significant related development, feasibility 

of a pulsejet engine as a possible propulsion system for

Fig. 8 Prototype of Slybird Mini UAV. Fig. 9 MAV test flight with Pulsejet engine. 

MAVs was demonstrated with both valved and valveless 

engines at higher scales. A suitable air frame was 

designed, fabricated and successfully test flown (Fig.9) 

with an in-house developed valved pulsejet engine. 

It is the endeavour of CSIR-NAL to continue to support 

the national strategic sector programmes in a big way. 

The National Control Law team led by CSIR-NAL continued 

to play a pre-eminent role in activities leading to 

the Initial Operational Clearance (IOC) of the LCA 

TEJAS Air force variants. The achievements of the year 

include successful validation and update of the wind 

tunnel aero database of TEJAS Aircraft from flight test 

data using system identification techniques, release of 

the IOC version of flight control laws and air data system 

algorithms. It was a proud moment indeed for all the 

institutions and individuals including CSIR-NAL and its 

scientists associated with the Tejas programme when 

the Defense Minister formally announced induction of 

Tejas into the IAF on the completion of IOC. The 

aeroelastic studies on LCA-Tejas flutter prediction made 

excellent progress, thus paving the way for its application 

to LCA wing. CSIR-NAL also took up wake modeling 

studies towards Tejas IOC and FOC clearance. 

Recently, ADA also awarded a project on CFD-based 

configuration studies for the Advanced Medium Combat 

Aircraft (AMCA) to CSIR-NAL. CSIR-NAL’s CLOCTER 

team successfully completed the thermal performance 

evaluation of pre-coolers and regenerative heat exchangers 

used in ECS of Tejas; the tests were carried out 

towards flight certification. CSIR-NAL also successfully 

completed development of the split composite inner 

shell of the payload bay of the HSTDV launcher for 

DRDO-DRDL. Further, continued support was given to 

DRDO and ADA on Wind Tunnel (WT) testing of their 

vehicle models during the year. 

CSIR-NAL continues to support and contribute to the 

space programmes of the country with all its might. The 

application of pressure sensitive paint technique successfully 

to the WT model of the Reusable Launch 

Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) of VSSC in 

the 1.2 m tunnel using the in-house developed pressure 

sensitive paint was one such initiative. This perhaps 

marks the beginning of routine deployment of this 

advanced technique using CSIR-NAL’s own PSP for 

pressure measurements at CSIR-NAL. Further, supersonic 

combustion with hydrogen fuel was successfully 

achieved for the VSSC combustor which eventually finds 

its applications in the ISRO’s flight technology demonstrator. 

Supersonic ignition and sustained supersonic 

combustion were successfully achieved at Mach 2 conditions 

with 1700K, eight bar inlet conditions with 

appropriate quantity of oxygen replenishments in the 

newly established High Speed Combustor Test Facility. 

The concept of endothermic cooling was also successfully 

demonstrated which is an important step towards 

development of efficient cooling system for scramjet 

combustors. The Acoustic Test Facility continued to 

support the environmental qualification requirements 

of satellites, launch-vehicle stages and their subsystems 

for the Indian space programme. During year, CSIR- 

NAL successfully completed acoustic tests on the GSAT- 

4 (FM), GSAT-5P (FM), Avanti-Hylas communication 

satellites and Cartosat-2B (FM) remote sensing satellite. 

As usual, WT testing support was continued to be given 

to ISRO for the testing of launch vehicle models, sometimes 

at very short notice, to meet their programme 

needs. 

The R&D achievements by CSIR-NAL in the area of 

special materials during the year were noteworthy. 

CSIR-NAL developed a new class of Shape Memory 

Alloys which has potential for use as actuators in the 

temperature range 270 - 370°C. Under the project on 

“Feasibility studies on the development of super hydrophobic 

coatings for aerospace applications”, sprayable 

super hydrophobic coating formulations suitable for 

application over large areas of glass, metal or painted 

substrates were developed. These coatings were found 

to have self-cleaning property, and weather resistance 

for more than six months. Failure analyses of engineer- 


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ing components and related systems/structures were 

carried out for all major aerospace organizations in the 

country. During the year, about fifty investigations 

referred to the laboratory were taken up and successfully 

completed; majority of these investigations were 

related to fighter aircraft engine failures. The scientists 

made valuable contributions by identifying the primary 

cause(s) of failures and by suggesting remedial measures 

in case of similar failures in the future. 

For the first time in the country, a thirty-metre baseline 

Drishti Chopper-less model (A significantly upgraded 

version of the existing Drishti Model-I) was installed at 

the Lucknow Airport in November 2010 to measure 

runway visibility under foggy conditions. The visibility 

data during the fog season of December 2010 and 

January 2011 from Drishti were compared with manual 

observation data by counting runway lights; the comparison 

was found to be excellent. Presently, Drishti 

data is being used by the Air Traffic Control for operational 

purposes. CSIR-NAL would be supplying three 

more of these systems under an MOU with IMD for 

further evaluation in the ensuing fog season. 

We are happy to share the significant progress made 

under the Societal Mission. The trials of CSIR- NAL’s 

500 kW wind turbine continued for several days during 

the last wind season, logging a total of nine hours and 

adding 1624 units of electrical power into the Tamil 

Nadu Electricity Board grid. On September 18, 2010, 

the wind turbine operation was successfully demonstrated 

to the NMITLI Monitoring Committee. The MNRE 

sponsored project on TiAlN- based high temperature 

solar selective coatings was successfully completed. The 

coating has excellent potential for augmenting the 

country’s efforts in finding appropriate technological 

routes for solar energy utilisation. In the other NMITLI 

programme under the societal mission involving development 

of the Met code, VARSHA, with finer grid and ten 

Tera FLOP HPC system, the inter-process communication 

system comprising of reconfigurable FPGA-based 

FloSwitch and PCI cards were fully integrated with a 

256- processor system which is part of the ten Tera 

FLOPS machine; the endurance test was also completed 

successfully. The resolution of Varsha GCM was enhanced 

to 40/20 KM and successfully ported to the 256processor 

system. Monsoon onset for 2010 was captured 

well by the Varsha GCM. The summer and monsoon 

2010 forecasts of Varsha GCM were regularly communicated 

to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, the Prime 

Minister’s Office, the Agriculture Ministry and IMD. This 

data is being used for crop planning and drought 

mitigation. In a similar effort of societal benefit, making 

use of an inexpensive base vessel made-up of bamboo 

material, a six seat air ferry system named ‘AAM Rath’ 

powered by a 33-Hp aero engine, and a three seat FRP 



Fig. 10 (a) AAM Rath (b) LAL Hamsa. 

base vessel with a 17-Hp aero engine named ‘LAL 

HAMSA’ were developed and tested. These air ferry 

systems (Fig. 10) find applications in rescue missions 

during floods. Under the CSIR-800 network project on 

‘Precipitation enhancement and modification through 

ground based cloud seeding’, the first prototype Particle 

Burner Assembly was indigenously designed and tested 

for sustained cloud seeding by CSIR-NAL. 

The support of all the Service Divisions was commendable. 

The High Level Committee of National Knowledge 

Network (NKN) approved NKN connectivity to CSIR- 

NAL for which National Informatics Centre (NIC) was 

the implementing agency and Power Grid Corporation 

of India was the service provider. CSIR-NAL put up an 

impressive and informative Aerospace theme pavilion 

at CSIR Technofest 2010, a “first of its kind” event 

organized by CSIR as a part of the India International 

Trade Fair where mature CSIR technologies were demonstrated 

to the general public as well as to the business 

segment. The Aerospace theme pavilion led by CSIR- 

NAL received the highest Platinum award jointly with the 

Healthcare theme amongst the fifteen theme pavilions. 

AROGYA, the web-based health care information system 

developed at CSIR-NAL was implemented in the 

Central Leather Research Institute, Chennai; and is now 

proposed to be made operational at every CSIR Laboratory 

under the One-CSIR e-governance initiative by 

CSIR. It was very encouraging to note that NAL’s 

Institutional Repository was ranked at a sound position 

amongst the world’s leading 800 repositories as evaluated 

by M/s Sigmetrics, Spain, a firm engaged in web 

metric studies. The CSIR-PGRPE (Post Graduate Research 

Programme in Engineering) students in the 

discipline of “Engineering of Structures” moved into 

their second year, and will be graduating with a twoyear 

Post Graduate Diploma in Engineering during 

September 2011; CSIR-NAL launched the second batch 

of the Programme with ‘Engineering of Flight Vehicles’ 

as the discipline with twelve new students. 

During the year, CSIR-NAL initiated sixty six new sponsored/grant 

in aid projects worth Rs. 37 Crore. NAL’s 

external cash flow was at its maximum with Rs.45.54 

Crore, of which Rs. 2.82 Crore was in FE earning. 

Further, during the year, thirty MOUs/agreements were 

signed with external agencies, six new patents were filed 

(five in India and one in US), and three patents were

granted. Also, two copyrights were filed and ten were 

granted. The total number of publications was 247, with 

121 journal papers and 126 conference papers. These 

measures of achievements indicate the significant contribution 

of CSIR-NAL to the national aerospace programmes. 

Towards organisational image building and dissemination 

of knowledge generated by CSIR-NAL, presentations 

were made in many forums like conferences/ 

seminars/workshops by Director, CSIR-NAL. The major 

among them are: (i) Evolution of Materials for Aeronautical 

Applications, International Conference on World 

Class Materials and Manufacturing Technologies (M&MT 

2011), March 9,2011 Mumbai; (ii) R&D programmes in 

Aeronautics and Technologies Developed, IISS & T, 

Conscientia-2011, March 6, 2011 Thiruvananthapuram; 

(iii) Composite Airframes – Opportunities, Options 

and Issues, International Conference on Composites 

for 21st Century: Current & Future Trends (ICC-CFT 

2011), IISc, January 8, 2011 Bangalore; (iv) Overview 

of CSIR-NAL’s R&D and Technology Activities, January 

20, 2011, IIT, Bhubaneshwar; (v) Aeroelasticity - A 

Design Consideration in Modern Combat Aircraft, 2010 

Annual Convention of the INAE, 10-12 December 

2010, NSTL, Vizag; (vi) Development of Indigenous 

Civil Transport and Trainer aircraft, Centenary of aviation 

in India : 2010, Organised by the Society for 

Aerospace Studies, December 2, 2010, New Delhi; (vii) 

Overview of NAL’s R&D and Technology Activities, Air 

Show at SDM UTSAV, Dharwad, November 25, 2010; 

(viii) A Case for a civil Aviation Industry for India, 

Aviation Conclave 2010 - International Conference and 

Exhibition on “Aviation in the millennium: are we geared 

up?”, Ae.S.l. Hyderabad, November 20, 2010, 

Hyderabad; (ix) Market Potential and Challenges in 

Small Regional Transport Aircraft Development, Ae.S. l. 

Conference on “Emerging Trends and Technologies in 

Fig. 11 Cp contours and streamlines a typical advanced 

fighter configuration at M ∞ = 0.5 and α = 15°. 

Aerospace, Aeronautics and Propulsion systems - An 

Indian Perspective”, November 8, 2010, Bangalore; (x) 

Information Technology Applications in Aviation, in the 

conference “Bangalore Information Technology (IT), 

BIZ”, October 29, 2010, Bangalore; and (xi) Challenges 

in Indian Civil Aviation, Seminar on “ Technological 

Challenges in Indian Aeronautics” SEMAA-2010, 

Ae.S. l, October 23, 2010, Bangalore. 

As a part of establishing S&T co-operation with other 

countries, I, along with concerned senior colleagues, 

visited DLR Germany during July 18-29, 2010 and an 

MoU was signed for mutual co-operation and collaborative 

research in the field of aerospace science & 

technology, with particular reference to civil aeronautics. 

During the visit, discussions were also initiated with 

Fraunhofer Institute, Dresden; Airbus-Toulouse; 

SAFRAN-Paris, and Dassault System-Paris for possible 

cooperation in our programmes. Also, during the year, 

visits were made to various R&D institutions and aircraft 

industries of the Czech Republic, Israel Aerospace 

Industries, and Astronautics, Israel for possible linkages 

and co-operation between the two countries in our 

aircraft D&D programmes. 

IN THE DISCIPLINES 

Aero Thermal Sciences 

Major focus in the computational and fluid dynamics 

were: contributions to design of Regional Transport 

Aircraft under the National Civil Aircraft Development 

program; CFD inputs for Micro Air Vehicles; development 

of CFD tools using grid-less approach under the 

sponsored project of Boeing Aircraft Company; Recently 

aerodynamic configuration studies were carried 

out for a typical Advanced Fighter configuration. The inhouse 

Euler codes were used to analyse flow past the 

Fig. 12 Three dimensional reconstructed density field of a 

micro explosion. 


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Fig. 13 A photograph of the flexure balance for hingemoment 

measurements. 

fighter wing, as well as the full aircraft configurations, 

and the computed results have been validated with 

experimental data (Fig. 11). These codes have also 

been used, along with the Transonic Small Perturbation 

code, to estimate the wave drag of the equivalent body 

of revolution. 

The Experimental Aerodynamics R&D activities were 

directed towards the experimental investigation on a 

rudimentary four-wheel landing gear arrangement to 

understand the flow physics in order to reduce aeroacoustic 

noise generation. The surface visualizations, 

steady and unsteady pressure data generated were 

used as a validation database for a multinational 

simulation effort in landing gear aero-acoustics. The 

Background Oriented Schlieren (BOS) technique provided 

the capability for capturing the three-dimensional 

density fields. An attempt to quantify, for the first time, 

the density flow field of a micro-explosion using BOS 

was carried out at CSIR-NAL. In this study, a microexplosion 

was generated using non-electrical NONEL® 

tube and a detonating device. The spatio-temporally 

evolving density field was captured at several instants by 

means of a precise triggering circuit used to control the 

illumination and imaging. Using the axisymmetry, the 

flow field density was successfully reconstructed (Fig.12). 

The National Trisonic Aerodynamic Facilities (NTAF) 

provides support to the major national aerospace projects 

undertaken by the Departments of Space and Defense. 

During the year NTAF introduced the concept of Variable 

Mach number Flexible Nozzle (VMFN) to reduce 

start-and-stop loads (SSL) that occur at high supersonic 

Mach numbers in blow down wind tunnels. In order to 

assess the actual extent of SSL reduction achievable with 

VMFN, force measurements were carried out on a 

Fig. 15 Combat aircraft model with various stores. 



Fig. 14 Photograph of the model with instrumented fin. 

typical cone-cylinder body with fins by operating the 

wind tunnel in preset mode and in VMFN mode. 

Comparable reductions were observed in all the channels 

thereby proving the efficacy of the concept; accomplishment 

of substantial reductions in SSL was gratifying. 

Measurement of small values of hinge moment on 

control surfaces was one of the challenges faced in wind 

tunnel testing, involving extraction of small loads in one 

plane in the presence of large loads in other planes. A 

flexure-based balance was specially designed, manufactured, 

strain gauged, extensively calibrated and 

used in the tests; Figure 13 shows a photograph of the 

balance. This balance was used together with a sixcomponent 

balance to apply corrections to the flexure 

balance data for accurate hinge-moment measurements 

on a typical missile model (Fig. 14). Large 

number of the tests involving aerodynamic force and 

moment measurements were carried out on models of 

combat aircraft configurations in the transonic to lowsupersonic 

Mach number range to determine the effect 

of various stores mounted under the wing at various 

span-wise locations; Fig. 15 shows some of the configurations 

tested. 

The Propulsion Division’s R&D activities involved both 

basic and applied research related to different aspects 

of aerospace propulsion covering a wide range of 

problems which included compressor, combustor, turbine, 

heat transfer, mechanical aspects of gas turbines 

and energy systems. As part of MAV programme, the 

Fig. 16 (a) Black Kite in Autonomous Flight. (b) Screen shot 

from Black Kite video.

Fig. 17 Photograph of the Active Magnetic Bearing Test Rig. 

Black Kite MAVs of 300mm and 430mm span were 

designed and test flown in both remote-controlled and 

autonomous modes; Black Kite 300 weighs around 

265g including the autopilot. The MAV is capable of 

flying autonomously and performing the required mission 

and also has loitering capabilities which would be 

useful for surveillance. Its range of operation is up to two 

Km, and has an endurance of thirty minutes. The Black 

Kite 300 in autonomous flights with a belly mounted 

video camera is shown in Figures 16a, b. During the 

year, a significant milestone was achieved by completing 

100 hours of fatigue testing of the Kaveri Engine 

bearing #1 in the new National Facility for Testing 

Bearings and Lubricants. Several critical aspects of 

bearing test such as under-race lubrication and huge 

unbalanced load on the test bearing were attempted for 

the first time during fatigue testing. 

For IGCAR, Kalpakkam, the thrust and radial, smart, 

air-suspended magnetic bearing system weighing 

around 105 kg, was retrofitted to a vertically-configured 

rotor; the magnetic bearing was completely designed, 

fabricated and tested under simulated conditions up to 

the design speed of 2900 rpm at the Propulsion Division; 

The magnetic bearing was successfully installed 

and commissioned in the sodium pump set up and 

demonstrated up to the design speed (Fig.17). 

Structural and Material Sciences 

This year saw the successful trial assembly of SARAS HT, 

Fin and Rear Pressure Bulkhead. The complex centrewing 

top skin (Fig18) was successfully realized through 

the VERITy process. Further studies on fibre metal 

laminate for the energy absorbing applications such as 

bird strike at leading edges of wing and empennage 

Fig. 18 Centre top skin of composite wing of SARAS. 

structures were continued. Nano-composites R & D 

activities were initiated with the goal of improving the 

surface properties of carbon composites using carbon 

nano-tubes. The particular objective of this work was to 

improve the electrical conductivity of carbon composites 

using carbon nano-tubes. It is well known that carbon 

composites are not good conductors of electricity, and, 

thus, the design and development of composite airframe 

structures for withstanding lightning strike without 

metallic meshes continues to be a challenge, and 

thus the research was initiated in this direction. 

Under the special technology segment, the second set 

of DWR MK II Radome was successfully installed on top 

of a three storey IMD building at Bhuj, Gujarat (Fig. 19). 

The panels were assembled using chain and pulley 

arrangement without the support of crane. The total 

assembly of the Radome was a smooth operation 

without any mismatch of bolt holes (3700 bolts & nuts) 

and the most significant aspect was that the top most 

pentagon panel, which was placed at the end after all 

the panels were assembled, matched exactly to the 

opening at the top of the Radome. In a significant 

achievement, indigenized Polyurethane-based radome 

paint was exposed to driving-rain test as per Joint 

Service Specifications. Eight types of paint coatings 

(both anti static and anti rain erosion) developed at 

CSIR-NAL were coated on to the composite substrates 

Fig. 19 Installation of Mark-II Radome at Bhuj-Gujarat. 


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Fig. 20 Photograph of the fabricated APA- 60mm amplified 

actuator. 

and exposed to driving rain for one hour at a rain speed 

of 378 liter/ hr. No physical damage was observed, and 

paint remained intact after the test in all the cases. In the 

technology transfer front, this year saw major achievements 

with an MoU signed between CSIR-NAL and 

M/s. Unique Chemoplant Equipments, Mumbai and 

M/s. Datasol, Bangalore on April 28, 2010 and September 

15, 2010 respectively, for marketing CSIR-NAL 

designed and developed aerospace-class autoclaves.; 

Thus began a new era in the manufacturing of high-end 

autoclaves in India with the joining of hands between 

the industry and CSIR-NAL. An agreement for the 

Licensing of Radome Manufacturing Technology was 

also signed between CSIR-NAL and HAL on February 

10, 2010. A Know-how Document for Fabrication of 

Composite Nose Radome for the Fire Control Radar of 

Jaguar Maritime Aircraft was handed over to Overhaul 

Division of HAL on April 16, 2010. 

Functional materials development made considerable 

progress with the processing of NiTi – SMA, starting 

from its casting stage to the study of the behavior of SMA 

wires. NiTiPt wires of 263µm diameter and 5m length 

were successfully fabricated. The activity on fabrication 

of piezo actuators was continued, and amplified Piezo 

Actuators (APA) of different width (20mm, 40mm and 

60mm) were fabricated and characterized for displacement. 

A typical photograph of APA-60 is displayed in 

(Fig. 20). 

Fig. 21 (a) Fabrication of Active Strut. (b) Engine Mount with Active Tie Rods and Stub wing (experimental setup) 

R10 R10 R10 Report Report of of of the the Director 


Indigenously developed CSIR-NAL binary PSP (Pressure 

Sensitive Paint) was spray coated for the first time on a 

large geometric scale wind tunnel model (surface area 

- 3500 Sq. cm) from VSSC; the calibration coupons 

were also spray-coated with PSP. The analysis of results 

showed that the pressure data obtained with PSP was 

comparable to that obtained by pressure taps. The 

preparation of nickel composite coating containing insitu 

impregnated spray-dried alumina particles was 

reported for the first time; this was realized through 

electro-deposition with micro-hardness values of 

670±20 HK. This study suggested that the use of 

porous particles may be a preferred route to improve 

the adhesion of particles and micro-hardness in electrodeposited 

metal matrix composites, and in turn the wear 

resistance of the coatings; this effort was aimed at its 

application to the indigenously developed CSIR-NAL’s 

Wankel engine. In an attempt to develop eco-friendly 

treatments for aerospace aluminum alloys, studies on 

corrosion protection of sol-gel hybrid coatings doped 

with different amounts of cerium nitrate revealed that an 

optimum concentration of cerium ions in the sol resulted 

in an improved corrosion resistance ten times better 

than that of un-doped sol-gel coatings, and 600 times 

better than the bare untreated substrate. The coating 

showed corrosion protection even after 168 hour immersion 

in 3.5 percent sodium chloride solution. 

Towards the development of smart structures and active 

vibration control, an active engine mount system using 

PZT actuators for low speed transport aircraft was 

developed. The PZT- based stack actuation was utilized 

for developing an active strut concept. As a case study, 

the developed active struts (Fig.21a) were integrated 

onto the SARAS stub wing model (Fig.21b), and vibration 

control of engine-dominated modes was demonstrated. 

Significant progress was made in the evaluation 

of repair technology of the airframe structures under 

structural fatigue and fracture core-area. The experimental 

results carried out showed that the addition of 

micron rubber and nano silica particles to epoxy matrix 

of Glass Fibre Reinforced Plastics composites improved 

the fatigue life significantly. Under the structural analy-

Fig. 22 High-lift pressure model for IIT – Kanpur wind 

tunnel studies. 

sis, design and development activities, gust response 

analysis of RLV-TD of ISRO was carried out. A high-lift 

pressure model was designed for an International 

Company to carry out pressure measurements at the 

National Wind Tunnel facility at IIT-Kanpur (Fig. 22). 

One of the major challenges faced during the design 

was to accommodate and route seventy numbers of 

pressure ports on the flap. The structural testing facilities 

at CSIR-NAL continued to support the industry for 

vibration testing and qualification of structural/mechanical 

components, material testing and evaluation 

of aerospace materials. 

Systems Engineering 

CSIR-NAL has got expertise in the field of avionics/ 

electronics, system and software engineering including 

certification standards like DO160, DO254, DO178, 

electromagnetics for aerospace applications and signal 

processing. During the year, the Engine Instruments 

and Crew Alerting System (EICAS), designed and developed 

for SARAS, successfully completed its Test-Readiness 

Review and obtained clearance by the expert 

committee constituted by DGCA for its integration with 

the aircraft (Fig. 23). The reporting period also witnessed 

the successful completion of Phase-1of CSIR- 

NAL-Boeing Collaborative Electromagnetic (EM) projects, 

certification of frequency selective surfaces (FSS)-characterization 

system, and EM material characterization 

system. Also the development of an engineering model 

of an active noise control system for the Tejas Pilot 

Fig. 24 Block diagram of a vision navigation system. 

(a) 

(b) 

Fig. 23 (a) Successful integration tests on the engine part 

of EGR. (b) Complete avionics display system. 

Helmet and its laboratory level demonstrations were 

also completed. 

With the general objective of developing technologies to 

enable MAVs to operate autonomously in urban environment, 

vision-based guidance and navigation was 

attempted using images collected from onboard cameras 

(Fig. 24) to estimate the motion of the vehicle as 

well as the locations of obstacles in a three-dimensional 

environment; this information was then used for path 

planning and control. Methods were also developed to 

track and localize objects using a ground camera; Fig. 

25 shows MAV tracked in each of the camera images. 

The location of the moving MAV was then used to selfcalibrate 

the relative positions and orientations of the 

Fig. 25 MAV tracking and localization of the hand launched 

NAL MAV. 

NAL NAL NAL Annual Annual Annual Report Report 2010-2011 2010-2011 R11 

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Fig. 26 Desktop Simulator – 01. 

camera while estimating the 3-D trajectory of the MAV 

with respect to the camera. Research activities are 

continuing in the area of Vision-based GNC with different 

approaches. 

The Acoustic Test Facility (ATF) continued to play a 

crucial role in the environmental qualification of satellites, 

launch vehicle interstages and their subsystems for 

the Indian Space Programme. During the year, ATF 

successfully completed acoustic test programmes on the 

Avanti-Hylas (FM) a satellite built by ISRO for EADS- 

ASTRIUM, GSAT-5P (FM), Resourcesat-2 (FM) and the 

GSAT-8 (FM). The new state-of-the-art, nitrogen-based, 

acoustic test facility built by CSIR-NAL at ISRO’s ISITE 

Complex was inaugurated on April 7, 2011, and would 

soon be ready for acoustic tests on spacecrafts. 

The National Control Law team jointly with the different 

groups of CSIR-NAL continued to play leadership role in 

the activities related to IOC of the TEJAS variants. 

Distributed Engineer-in-Loop Simulator (DELS) was extensively 

used for the design and validation of the 

various versions of Control Laws of LCA TEJAS variants. 

Head-Up-Display Symbologies were updated for testing 

of Auto Pilot software. LCA TEJAS studies on excursions 

in the flight parameters during drop tank jettisoning, 

and R73 missile firing were undertaken. A rapid 

prototyping system called Desktop Flight Simulator 

(DFS) for flight controller design was also developed 

(Fig. 26). The DFS exploits standard x86-based computing 

platforms, running Windows operating system in 

combination with commercial Computer-Aided Control 

System Design software (Matlab/Simulink). Rapid 

prototyping techniques allow implementation and validation 

of flight control strategies during the development 

process. The users can work using a single 

integrated environment for all design phases starting 

from requirement analysis, controller design, flight 

simulation testing and on-board implementation. A 

Low cost visualization platform for pilot visual cues and 



Fig. 27 Performance trials of a 1 kW commercial wind 

turbine system at HAL airport. 

displays were integrated into the system. Runway visibility 

evaluation and airport infrastructure studies required 

for evolving the CONOPS (Concept of Operations) for 

Integrated Enhanced Vision System development was 

carried out for typical airports which include Bangalore 

HAL, BIAL, New Delhi, Vishakapatnam and Leng Pui. 

Societal Missions 

Continuing the development of systems for societal 

applications, making use of an inexpensive base vessel 

made up of bamboo material, a six-seat air ferry system 

was developed and tested at the MEG Center, Bangalore. 

As apart of the ongoing research activity under the 

Eleventh Five Year Plan on development of a standalone 

aero generator of the 500 W class, tow-testing 

was carried out to quantify the field performance of this 

class of turbine systems (Fig. 27). Interactions in this 

regard were initiated with DRDO for remote areas and 

with the Centre for Wind Energy Technology (C-WET), 

Chennai, for Urban Wind Turbines of 5 kW class. CSIR- 

NAL developed an all-composite mobile van for speech 

and hearing evaluation. This van can function as a kind 

of “traveling laboratory and clinic” to rehabilitate patients, 

especially in rural areas, who suffer from hearing 

disabilities. 

Further, in the area of energy sector, HfMoN/HfoN 

tandem absorbers for high temperature solar thermal 

applications were deposited on stainless steel (SS) 

substrates using a magnetron sputtering system; the 

optimized tandem absorber on SS substrate exhibited 

high solar absorptance and low thermal emittance. 

Under the societal mission network project(led by CSIR- 

CMMACS) on “Precipitation enhancement and modification 

through ground based cloud seeding”, a first 

prototype particle burner assembly was developed and 

tested for sustained seeding (Fig.28a ); this was necessitated 

as no indigenous state-of-the-art silver iodide 

generator suitable for ground based cloud seeding was

Fig. 28 (a) Indigenously fabricated particle burner assembly. (b) Optical micrograph of the cloud condensation nuclei. 

available. A series of calibration experiments were 

carried out to test the system for sustained seeding 

with different concentrations of seeding material. An 

optical micrograph of the cloud condensation nuclei 

collected during testing showed dendritic particles 

(Fig.28b). 

Bio-compatible Diamond-like carbon coatings with 

unique properties find wide application in many 

technologically important fields. A modified inductively-coupled 

plasma-enhanced chemical 

vapour deposition system was installed, which 

uses an inductive coupling geometry generating 

comparatively higher density plasma, and permitting 

a separate sample biasing arrangement independent 

of plasma generator (Fig.29). Coatings 

deposited on different substrates and biasing con- 

Fig.29 Inductively Coupled Plasma Enhanced Chemical 

Vapour Deposition (ICP-PECVD) system developed at NAL. 

figurations using the system exhibited hardness in 

the range of 15-25GPa. 

Significant progress was made in meteorological research 

and forecasting using VARSHA GCM. Indian 

summer monsoon rainfall forecasts using Varsha GCM 

were accurate and well accepted by the national agencies. 

The major highlights in the field of hardware 

development during this period include the increase in 

number of nodes to 512 in Flosolver Mk8, and development 

of the FPGA-based FloSwitch, which represents a 

paradigm shift in the technology. The new 

reconfigurable FloSwitch offers not only efficient 

communication but also eliminates the dependency 

on a particular processor. The Very High speed 

Hardware Description Language (VHDL) codes were 

developed for FPGA-based FloSwitch, and were integrated 

with the 256-processor Flosolver machine, 

with the necessary interfacing protocols for intra-/ 

inter-cluster communications. The endurance tests 

(24*10 hrs) of 256- processor systems with air cooling 

were successfully completed. 

FACILITIES 

Augmented Engineering Environment (AEE) 

The Aircraft Integrated Development Environment 

(AIDE) or Augmented Engineering Environment (AEE), 

as it is now called, is an outcome of the effort at CAE 

Inc., Canada, to provide a tool for design and 

development of new aircraft. The main focus of this 

research and development was for the study of 

technologies for the NCAD program, which have 

high human-factor content, Viz., Integrated Enhanced 

and Synthetic Vision, Flight Control System, Integrated 

Modular Avionics and Cockpit Ergonomics; 


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Fig. 30 View of the AEE Facility. 

Fig.30 shows a view of the AEE facility planned to be 

installed during 2011-12. 

High Speed Combustor Test facility 

The newly commissioned high-speed combustor test 

facility was used for evaluating the scramjet combustors 

of both DRDL and VSSC. The facility simulates combustor 

inlet conditions of Mach 2, eight bar pressure, 1700 

K temperature, twenty kg/s flow with oxygen replenishment; 

Kerosene and Hydrogen were used as the fuels. 

Fig. 31 shows the test rig with the DRDL combustor. The 

combustor was evaluated for the test conditions with 

exact twenty-one percent oxygen mole fraction. 

Semi Free jet Test Rig 

Detailed design of various sub-systems of the semi-free 

jet test rig with the specifications of Mach 3.5, twentybar, 

thirty kg/s and 1700 K was completed; the associ- 

Fig. 32 High pressure compressor. 



Fig. 31 Scramjet Test Rig with DRDL combustor. 

ated high compressor was commissioned (Fig. 32); the 

Fabrication of the test rig components have been 

completed. 

Vibro Acoustic Testing Facility for Aircraft 

Panels 

A test facility was designed, fabricated and commissioned 

at the Structural Technology Division to conduct 

both open and closed loop vibro-acoustic experiments 

on aircraft panels. MSC/NASTRAN was used to perform 

the vibro-acoustic analysis on aluminum/composite 

panels in the low frequency part of the spectrum below 

200 Hz. 

Air gun bird impact test facility 

An Air-gun based impact test facility with a 200 mm 

diameter and 6.69 meter long barrel which can shoot 

an eight-pound bird at a maximum velocity of 200m/s 

was installed at the Impact and Crash Worthiness 

Research Facility; Fig.33 shows the setup which was 

successfully commissioned; a high-velocity fixture is 

under development. 

Fig. 33 200mm diameter high velocity air gun impact test 

facility.

Fig. 34 Nano scratch tester. Fig. 35 X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy System. 

Nano-scratch Test Facility for the 

Characterization of Surface Mechanical 

Properties of Thin Films 

A nano-scratch instrument (Fig. 34) used for the characterization 

of surface mechanical properties of thin 

coatings was commissioned. The instrument provides 

important data on thin films such as normal force, 

friction force, linear force, coefficient of friction, adhesive 

strength, scratch length, scratch width, etc. The 

instrument is also fitted with a rotary drive to perform 

nano-Tribometry experiments, which can provide wear 

rate and friction coefficient of the nano-structured coatings 

in the load range of one mN to 50N. 

X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) 

X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy or electron spectroscopy 

for chemical analysis is a surface analytical tool 

capable of providing composition and oxidation state of 

different elements present in a material. In this technique, 

X-rays falling on the sample causes electrons to 

be emitted from different electron energy levels in the 

atoms. The energy of the emitted electrons was analyzed 

by an electron energy analyzer. Since these 

energies are specific to each element, and are further 

specific to each energy level, it provides a finger print of 

the elements. Further, the technique can analyze the 

oxidation state of the elements present in the material. 

The system consists of a twin anode (Al/Mg) X-ray 

sources and a hemispherical electron energy analyzer. 

A simple ion gun is also provided for sample cleaning 

(Fig. 35). 

HONOURS 

It is my pleasure to mention that many awards and 

laurels were won by my colleagues for their contributions 

and individual accomplishments. Some of our 

scientists received fellowships, best paper awards and 

other national and international recognitions. Dr. Sekhar 

Majumdar, Former Head, CTFD, and Dr. R. M. Jha, 

Scientist, Aerospace Electronics and Systems Division 

were elected as Fellows of the Indian National Academy 

of Engineering, New Delhi from January 1, 2011. I am 

happy to share my personal joy on being elected as a 

Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering 

(INAE), New Delhi from January 1, 2010. Mr. Shyam 

Chetty, Head, FMCD, was elevated as Outstanding 

Scientist (Scientist H) of CSIR. Dr. U. N. Sinha, Former 

Head, FSU, was appointed as a Distinguished Scientist 

of CSIR, and he will continue to guide the NIMITLI 

project on 1024-processor parallel Flosolver computer, 

and the associated Met code. This is indeed a proud 

moment for CSIR-NAL to have both an Outstanding 

Scientist and a Distinguished Scientist in the same 

Laboratory, perhaps unique among the CSIR Laboratories. 

Dr. L. Venkatakrishnan, Head, EAD, was elected as 

an Associate Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics 

and Astronautics (AIAA), and also awarded the 

Prof. Satish Dhawan Young Engineers State Award for 

the year 2008 instituted by the Govt. of Karnataka. The 

Dr. Biren Roy Trust Award of the Ae.S.I. for the year 

2009 was awarded to the CSIR-NAL team of scientists 

lead by Dr. G.N. Dayananda, Mr. G. M. Kamalakannan 

and Mr. J. Ramaswamy Setty, scientists, CSMST, in 

recognition of their contribution to the design, development 

and fabrication and commissioning of the largest 

Autoclave in the country. Dr Harish Barshilia, Scientist, 

Surface Engineering Division, was selected for the 

award of MRSI medal by the Materials Research Society 

of India for the year 2011. Dr. V. Arunkumar, Former 

Head, Propulsion Division, was awarded the Biren Roy 

Award of Ae.S.I. for setting up the National Test Facility 

for Rolling Element Bearings. 

Before I conclude, I would like to thank the Chairman 

and Members of the Research Council of CSIR-NAL for 

their valuable advice and guidance in formulating and 

conducting the R&D programmes of the Laboratories. I 

would also like to gratefully acknowledge the valuable 

advice and support received from the members of our 


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Management Committee and Divisional Scientific Committees. 

I thank DRDO, ISRO, DGCA, ADA, HAL, Air 

HQ, AR&DB, DST, DAE, Defense Services, NP-MASS, 

MoES, NMITLI and others, including international bodies, 

for continuing to repose their faith in us by sponsoring 

R&D projects or supporting our aircraft D&D activities. 

I thank our Director General, Prof. S.K. Brahmachari for 

his continued guidance and support including very 

constructive suggestions and criticism which has helped 

us in recognizing our strengths and short comings. We 

would like to assure him that while we continue to use 

our strengths to national and organizational advantage, 

we would make all efforts to plug our deficiencies. 

We also thank Chairman, RAB, Directors of the Engineering 

Cluster, Prof. Gautam Biswas (CMERI) and 



Dr. A. K. Gupta (AMPRI), Fellow Directors of CSIR 

Laboratories and Officers and staff of CSIR HQ and RAB 

for all the help, encouragement and support extended 

to CSIR-NAL during the year. Finally, I would like to 

record my sincere gratitude to my fellow scientists, 

officers and staff at NAL for their excellent work and 

contributions and for extending to me their whole 

hearted support and cooperation. Last, but not the 

least, I must acknowledge with sincere thanks the 

invaluable assistance and totally selfless support rendered 

by the Director’s Secretariat, without which life 

would have been very difficult. 

A. R. Upadhya 

Director

Report of the Director - National Aerospace Laboratories

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