IIT Roorkee, DRDO join hands to develop indigenous defence equipment

Haridwar (Uttarakhand) [India], August 4 : With the aim to develop defence technology and produce indigenous defence equipment, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) has collaborated with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee.
An official statement said IIT Roorkee in collaboration with the Defence Electronics Application Laboratory (DEAL) of DRDO has developed indigenous radio frequency power amplifiers to meet the futuristic requirements of programmable radios.
The research group led by Prof Karun Rawat at IIT Roorkee and a group of scientists and engineers led by Pinaki Sen from DEAL, DRDO have designed these amplifiers to be simultaneously able to fulfill the high-efficiency requirements (for thermal management) and good linearity for signal fidelity. The designs have been simultaneously optimized for Size, Weight and Power (SWaP).

These amplifier units have superior performance achieving high efficiency and gain while simultaneously considering good harmonic and intermodulation suppression, said IIT Roorkee.
The improvement in efficiency will result in a significant amount of heat load reduction, which will facilitate easy integration in the Programmable Radio chassis in the required form factor. The unit will be assembled with the indigenous radio units of DEAL, and DRDO, and will be manufactured by private domestic partners for mass production.
According to the premier institution, the main challenge is to direct such scientific investigations to product-oriented exercises through collaborative efforts with research and development labs.
Prof Rawat said, "Keeping in tune with India's mission for technological upgradation, the current research and development feat of technology focus is a glimpse of the improvements to existing capabilities and also bringing up new capabilities."
This joint product development activity has proven synergy between the two organizations and will bolster the "Atmanirbhar Bharat" as well as the "Make in India" drive for upgrading many defence equipments of the Indian armed forces, the statement said.
Prof Ajit K Chaturvedi, Director, IIT Roorkee, said, "With Make in India emerging as a powerful beacon to guide the development of defence technologies, we need to synergise the strengths of the government research agencies, industries as well as academics institutions to make India a truly global player in major defense technologies and systems."
Further, Lal Chand Mangal, Director, DEAL DRDO, remarked, "DEAL DRDO with its charter to do research, design, and development is geared up for the development of such futuristic technologies indigenously by involving academia and industry in a big way, to maintain and support India's Defence system."