Category Archives: Science & Technology

INTERNATIONAL: IT & TELECOMMUNICATIONS: U.S’s AT&T Inaugurates a new India Development Centre in Chennai

Company building a dedicated digital operations centre.

The U.S.-based telecommunications giant AT&T has opened its new development centre in Chennai.

The new facility was inaugurated by Tamil Nadu Minister for Information Technology T. Mano Thangaraj with Bala Subramanian, Chief Digital Officer, AT&T.

The new centre at the RMZ Millenia Campus Phase 2 on MGR Salai has capacity to accommodate around 300 employees and will focus on building digital capabilities. “We recognise the talent and potential in Chennai and are excited about offering an environment where teams can work on features that have a direct impact on AT&T customers and employees,” Mr. Bala Subramanian said in a statement. 

“In addition, we are building a dedicated digital operations centre (DoC) that will act as a beachhead for our customer-centric operations transformation,” he added.

source/contents: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL: NATIONAL, AVIATION & AEROSPACE: Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran Helicopter Engines to Create JV to make Chopper Engines

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Safran Helicopter Engines have signed an agreement to create a new joint venture to develop helicopter engines. Through an MoU signed by R Madhavan, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL, and Franck Saudo, Chief Executive Officer, Safran Helicopter Engines, in presence of Olivier Andries, CEO, Safran.

Both the partners will extend their partnership by establishing a new aero-engine company in India. It will be dedicated to the development, production, sales and support of helicopter engines and one of its main objectives will be to meet the requirements of HAL and Ministry of Defence’s future heli­copters, including the 13-ton­ne Indian Multi-Role Helicopter.

Madhavan said: “We now look forward to utilize this opportunity to leverage HAL’s experience in manufacturing of more than 15 types of aircraft and helicopter engines to co-develop and manufacture engine with immediate focus on IMRH and its naval variant the Deck Based Multi Role Helicopter. This partnership will involve and utilize the Indian Defence manufacturing ecosystem within India”.

Saudo said the partnership with HAL recently illustrated the development and production of the Shakti engine, “and the inauguration of our joint venture Helicopter Engines MRO Pvt Limited (HE-MRO). With a fleet of over 1,000 engines, India’s Armed Forces are one of the largest operators of Safran-designed helicopter engines.”

HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines already have multiple partnerships, including the Shakti engine, which powers HAL-produced helicopters, including the Dhruv, Rudra and the Light Combat Helicopter. The Ardiden 1U variant also powers the new Light Utility Helicopter. Through HE-MRO joint venture in Goa, HAL and Safran Helicopter Engines will also provide Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul services for TM333 and Shakti engines in se­rvice with Armed Forces, and will be operational by 2023-

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: INNOVATION & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, TELANGANA : The World’s Largest Innovation Campus ‘T-Hub’/ T-Works/ and IMAGE Tower’ Takes Shape in India’s Hyderabad City

There will be 2.3 million sq ft built-up space in the 18-acre campus : KTR

Technology start-up incubator T-Hub, prototyping centre T-Works and the IMAGE Tower focused on multimedia, animation, gaming and entertainment will constitute the world’s largest innovation campus in Hyderabad.

Totally, there will be 2.3 million sq ft built-up space that will be developed in the 18-acre campus in the heart of the city’s IT Hub. “I see this panning out over the next 18-24 months,” IT and Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao said in an interaction after Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao inaugrated the new, second phase building of T-Hub on Tuesday.

The T-Hub facility, with a built-up space of 5.8 lakh sq ft, is one component of the campus. “There is T-Works, India’s largest prototyping facility, which will be inaugurated in August,” he said.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

INTERNATIONAL RECORDS: INDIA RECORDS, MEDICAL & HEALTH SCIENCES – VACCINES: The World Health Organisation (WHO) Approves Hyderabad-based Biological E Ltd, to Manufacture Vaccines for Johnson & Johnson

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has approved India based manufacturing site in Hyderabad, Biological E Limited, to make Covid vaccines for Jansen/Johnson & Johnson.

“This is a great progress for Quad Vaccine and the US India Health partnership,” said a US Embassy spokesperson.

This manufacturing would be done through US technical support and DFC financing. DFC is a US International Development Finance Corporation that invests in the development and advancing US Foreign Policy.

“Quad partners have collectively committed $524 million to the next phase of CEPI’s (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness) which is an innovative global partnership working to accelerate the development of vaccines against epidemic and pandemic threats) work, accounting for about 50 per cent of total public investors,” according to the joint statement released by Quad members after the Summit last month.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: For the First Time both IIT Mumbai and IIT Kharagpur jointly build a ‘Quantum Diamond Microscope to Image Magnetic Fields’ that Change within Milliseconds.

Researchers tap fluorescence changes in special, diamond sensors to image time-varying fields.

Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai and Kharagpur have built a microscope that can image magnetic fields within microscopic two-dimensional samples that change over milliseconds.

This has a huge potential for scientific applications, such as in measuring the biological activity of neurons and the dynamics of vortices in superconductors.

The work, led by IIT Bombay professor Kasturi Saha, from the Department of Electrical Engineering, has been published in  Scientific Reports. 

This is the first time that such a tool has been built to image magnetic fields that change within milliseconds. 

The team had started a collaboration with IIT Kharagpur in 2017 with the ambitious target of building a novel system to image the brain. They collaborated with Sharba Bandopadhyay, who brought in an expertise in neurobiology and bioengineering to complement the knowledge of quantum optics, quantum computing and quantum sensing that was Prof. Saha’s forte.

“We have, along with PhD student Madhur Parashar, developed an algorithm to image neurons in 3D using NV quantum sensors,” says Prof. Saha.

This work was published in  Communications Physics in 2020. We have jointly filed a patent for the present work, she adds.

  • Researchers from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) at Mumbai and Kharagpur have built a microscope that can image magnetic fields within microscopic two-dimensional samples that change over milliseconds.
  • Prof. Saha explains that the ideal frame rate to capture a changing magnetic field is one that captures data at twice the frequency of the changing field.
  • The key aspect of this sensor is a “nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defect centre” in a diamond crystal. Such NV centres act as pseudo atoms with electronic states that are sensitive to the fields and gradients around them (magnetic fields, temperature, electric field and strain).

source/content: thehindu.com(headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay Team has Developed the First Neurosynaptic Spiking Core based on 45-Nanometer Silicon-on-Insulator Technology

A network of spiking neurons demonstrated.

Using the phenomenon of quantum tunnelling, IIT Bombay researchers have demonstrated, for the first time, a spiking neuron network that is highly compact and shows potential for brain-scale implementation.

The research, published in the journal  IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems, demonstrates the use of a 36-member network of spiking neurons in a speech recognition module.

source/content: thehindu.com (headline edited)

WOLRD RECORDS : SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY: IIT Madras, Dept of Chemistry Professor Thalappil Pradeep Chosen as Laureate of the 10th edition ‘Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) for his Breakthrough Discovery

Thalappil Pradeep, institute professor, Department of Chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), has been selected as the laureate of the 10th edition of the ‘Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water’ (PSIPW).

He was selected for the award under ‘Creativity Prize’ category given for ‘breakthrough discovery’ in any water-related field.

Pradeep developed environmentally-friendly ‘water positive’ nano scale materials for the affordable, sustainable, and rapid removal of arsenic from drinking water.

He was recognized earlier with the Padma Shri, and Nikkei Asia Prize, among many others and his technologies are delivering clean water to over 1.2 crore people.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

INDIA RECORDS: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY – HEALTH & MEDICAL ENGINEERING: Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IIT-G) Develops Specially Designed Low-Cost Prosthetic Leg that allows Deep Squatting

Research for developing artificial limb is funded by Union ministry of education and the department of biotechnology.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati (IITG) have developed an affordable prosthetic leg with advanced features, specifically designed for Indian conditions.

The IIT Guwahati said on Monday that the artificial limb allows its user to sit cross-legged and squat deep and is suitable for uneven terrain.

“Affordable prosthetics that are available in the market have many functional limitations. In addition, the Indian lifestyle and uneven terrain require prosthetics with specifications unique to India, which are not widely available in the market. The leg developed by us is state-of-the-art technology, affordable, light weight, stable and capable of mimicking most of the human joint’s motion, the IIT-G said, adding cost of around Rs 25,000 is ensured using the technology.

IIT Guwahati researchers collaborated with 151 Army Base Hospital, Guwahati, Tolaram Bafna Kamrup District Civil Hospital, Guwahati Neurological Research Centre (GNRC), North Guwahati, and North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGHRIMS), Shillong, to develop the leg.

A team led by professor S. Kanagaraj, department of mechanical Engineering, IITG, set out to tackle these issues. Prototypes of their models developed by this research team are currently undergoing trials.

Professor Bhaskar Borgohain, head of department (Orthopaedic) at NEIGHRIMS told The Telegraph that work on the project started in 2013 with the objective of developing a “user-friendly and light weight” limb.

He has been associated with the project from the beginning.

“The legs developed by us will not only help cut down on imports of prosthetic legs, especially from Germany and UK, but will also be a huge relief to those in need of such legs. An imported artificial limb will cost anywhere between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 3.5 lakh. Our legs would cost much less. It will be launched soon,” Borgohain said.

source/content: telegraphindia.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: INDIA RECORDS – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY : Amandeep Sing Gill, Former Diplomat of India Appointed by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as UN’s Technology Envoy for International Digital Cooperation

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday appointed former Indian diplomat Amandeep Singh Gill as his envoy on technology to coordinate programmes for international digital cooperation.

Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric announced the appointment calling Gill a “thought leader on digital technology”.

Gill, who graduated from the Panjab University in Chandigarh in BTech in electronics, has a doctorate in nuclear learning in multilateral forums from the King’s College in London.

According to the UN, the envoy on technology “coordinates the implementation of the Secretary-General’s roadmap on digital cooperation and will advance work towards the global digital compact proposed in the common agenda, in close consultation with the member states, technology industry, private companies, civil society, and other stakeholders”.

source/content: daijiworld.com (headline edited)

GLOBAL RECORDS: MEDICAL & HEALTH SCIENCES: Dr. Bopanna Ballachanda Becomes First Indian-American President-Elect to Head the USA’s American Academy Of Audiology (AAA)

Having studied at AIISH Mysuru, Dr. Bopanna Ballachanda becomes the first Indian-American to occupy the top post.

Dr. Bopanna Ballachanda is a Professor (Adjunct) at Texas Tech Health Sciences and Chief Audiology Officer at National Hearing and Balance centres in Albuquerque, New Mexico. With more than 30 years of experience, he is now the President-Elect of the American Academy of Audiology (AAA) and he will have a three-year term from October 1, 2022.

Hailing from Kodagu and coming from a humble background, he did his B.Sc. in Speech and Hearing from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing (AIISH – 1970 batch), then under the University of Mysore. By becoming the first person of colour to head AAA, Dr. Bopanna has become a role model for many.

source/content: starofmysore.com (headline edited)