Amit Wants to Share his DRDO Visit

DRDO stands for Defence research development organisation established in 1958. It is an organisation for the military's research and development purpose. With over 52 laboratories and 5,000 scientists working in them, it is one of the most exciting place to work in. It started with its first project of building surface to air missile (SAM), but gradually it has developed and employed many great technologies like INSAS weapon system, Arjun main battle tank, Agni missile, Prithvi ballistic missile, Akash missile, Trishul missile , Nag Missile, Nirbhay missile and much more. This year it is celebrating its 60 years of service to its motherland.

My interaction started with them when my supervisor asked me to visit one of their labs, i.e., Microwave tube research development (MTRDC) in Bangalore as they are working on far-field (distances greater than antenna dimensions) wireless power transfer which is my area of research. I was very much excited as for the first time, I will be visiting a defence establishment. I was much more pumped up because I belonged to the defence background and it has come naturally for me to work and serve for your country. I thought on the same day that I may contribute something to this great organisation. I went to their lab which is situated in Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) complex in Jalahalli, Bengaluru. Seeing two organisations at the same place was itself a great experience. The lab is established at the rear end of the complex. Before entering its premises, a thorough check is done and you are given a temporary pass for the days which the lab official have told the security officer. I came for 15 days visit. The lab basically deals in microwave devices like tubes, High pulse magnetron (HPM), Tesla transformers etc. Half of the day went in doing the formalities. Then I met my mentor in the lab. He is a great person and supported me in whatever way he can throughout my stay. Being a scientist 'F' (very senior most position), he is very humble and ground to earth. I saw their setup by which they were able to transfer mW of power to the load from the magnetron source with the help of horn antenna at a distance of 6 m. They asked me "will you be able to increase the transmission efficiency?" I was very well prepared to answer this because I had already done some research on this. I said, "Why not. I will come back very soon with a proposal". I came back to IIT.

After my visit, I talked to my supervisor and he asked and I quote, "Is there any potential there and can we write a small project for them". I was really excited. Nothing can substitute the feeling of doing something for this organisation. The 4 months of writing rewriting the proposals, sending it to my mentor and again rewriting it was very tedious. In spite of this I keep pushing myself and finally, a proper draft was submitted to the director. He put the proposal to rest of the committee in the lab, and finally it was accepted. We were allotted 10 lakhs grant for 1 year to complete this project. For many it may be fewer amount but for us, it was a stepping stone to work and explore the opportunities.

I visited the lab two times for 15 days each and completed my all the milestones well in time. On the last day of my last visit to the lab, I was to give a presentation about my work till date to 28 scientists. I and my research partner who was from the Centre for energy, IITG were somewhat scared as facing their questions will be tricky. We completed our presentation and then were bombarded with the questions. We answered them satisfactorily. Before leaving the conference hall, everyone congratulated us about the work as we were able to improve the efficiency to twice than the existing system. It was out of the world experience. I told to myself, "You have achieved what you planned when you got here for the first time". I went back to IIT and told my supervisor that the director told that it is one of the best CARS project (the terminology used in Defence R&D for research projects) they have ever given.

Now we are seeing a bigger opportunity and going to DRDO head office, Delhi for bigger grant and proposal. I want to say that no work or money is small. You have to grab the opportunity and make a good use of it. Give your 100%. If possible try to work for great organisations like DRDO, ISRO etc. They are great places to work and provide the perfect ambience for research. People are very much friendly and humble and the fun side is that you can travel every time in AIR INDIA, eat great food in their guest house and be treated like a DRDO scientist inspite of not being a scientist. Keep working and keep striving for the best.

Amit Baghel Research Scholar, EEE Department E-mail: a.baghel@iitg.ernet.in