Delhi Technological University to Develop Unmanned Aircraft for Lockheed Martin
Delhi Technological University (DTU), formerly known as Delhi College of Engineering, has entered into a tie-up with internationally renowned Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, United States for the development of next generation urban unmanned aircraft system (UAS). The corporation will provide grant to the student group of DTU with Lockheed Martin-generated design space to structure their efforts. The team will be required to conduct initial design and then developing a flying prototype.
The planned Urban UAS will be an improvised version of the UAS, called ICARUS, which was showcased by the undergraduate students of DTU at the Technology Expo organized in Hyderabad recently. Speaking on the occasion,
Dr. Ray O Johnson said, "Lockheed Martin Corporation will be signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the University and student group for work on the urban UAV design. The Corporation will provide the broad parameters
of the design requirements to be implemented by the students."
It is being re-designed with a view that it can be deployed within an urban environment to provide persistent Intelligence and Strategic Reconnaissance (ISR) capability with a future potential for payload deployment and joint operations with other ground, sea and air assets as well. The UAS shall be capable of controlled flight within the obstruction, electromagnetic and atmospheric (turbulence and wind shear) environment of typical urban environment. The design shall moreover, provide for the lowest possible probability of severe injury to general public resulting from operation.
The new design will have a gross take-off weight of less than 80 lbs from the present 100 lbs. It will have a WENKEL engine, which provides high efficiency and consumes less fuel. The Dash speed of the vehicle will be increased from present 60 mph to 80 mph by using a 75 cc engine in place of the earlier 24 cc engine. The take-off and landing distance of the improvised UAS will also be reduced from the present 200 ft. According to Prof. Sharma (Vice Chancellor of DTU)), "The focus of DTU will be on industry-relevant research and innovations. The tie-up with Lockheed Martin shall open a new chapter in our university-industry partnership for cutting-edge technologies and innovative product development."
WINDS OF CHANGE
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Ankur Garg, who has completed a BTech from the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE) this year(2009), is a firm believer. For years he worked for many environment-
friendly engineering projects, however, he says, "They did not see the light of the day. There is abundance of green technology waiting to be launched in the market but a lot of politics spins around the world in the name of climate change. And I want to influence policies related to technology."
For this reason, Garg has opted to do an MPhil in technology
policy in Cambridge University, UK. He is one of the scholars to receive the Shell Centenary Chevening
and Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Scholarship this year. At the age of 22, he got admission in both Cambridge
and Oxford University to pursue courses of his choice. "I got the option to pursue environment change management in Oxford University. But I want to work in the area of environment policy. So Cambridge was the obvious choice. Moreover, it will be an honour to study in an institution that has given many innovative ideas to the world. I will be studying at a time when the university is celebrating its 800year," he says.
An environment-engineering student, Garg has been active in the field of climate change since the time he entered college. After completing class XII, he got a studentship to work as a research assistant in the University of Sydney, Australia, for four months. "I worked on glacial lakes project. During my college years, too, I was working with professors of IIT-Delhi on various green-technology projects. But there is no ecosystem to support such projects and launch them in the market," he laments.
Garg was also selected as part of the Indian Youth Delegation at United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. "Once I was there I realised a lot could be changed at the policy-level to bring in green technology in the market. It is for this reason, I opted to pursue MPhil in technology policy instead of selecting
the usual path to do an MBA or specialising in engineering," he adds.
As to his success, he says, "For a scholarship like Chevening,
I think along with academic credentials, you need to have a wider portfolio of credits. They look for candidates who have a clear vision and leadership qualities. I think all the Chevening Scholars I met are very special and have done something unique."
Delhi Tech University inks MoU with French consortium
The Delhi Technological University (DTU), Thursday
inked a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with a network of seven French engineering
institutions, The Groupe Des Ecoles Des Mines (GEM), to foster collaboration, provide opportunities for global experience and facilitate advancement of knowledge in the field of engineering.
The MoU was signed here by DTU Vice Chancellor
P.B. Sharma and Jacques Schwartzentruber,
GEM’s head of international relations.
Under the MoU, academic representatives will be invited to participate in symposia, conferences,
short courses and meetings on research issues, a DTU statement said.
Faculty and staff of the partner institutions will also be invited to participate in a variety of teaching and/or research activities
and professional development programmes.
The two institutions have also agreed to exchange information pertaining to developments in teaching and students development and cooperate in joint research programs in areas of mutual interest, the statement said.
Student exchanges will be an important component
of this MoU, which will allow students of both the institutions to undertake one or two semesters
of their academic programme at partner institution.
The exchange programme may also include an internship either in a local company or in a research
laboratory of the host institution, the statement
said.
According to Sharma, international cooperation and collaboration has become a necessity to foster
globally accreditated higher education and research. The partnership with GEM shall be an added advantage as the focus here is on industry relevance for education and research.
GEM institutions offer academic and research programmes in almost all engineering disciplines and function in close coordination with the industry.
Speaking about the partnership with DTU, Schwartzentruber said: We were keen to partner with leading engineering institution in India and are happy to be associated with DTU, which shares the same philosophy of engineering as we do.
DCE aka DTU TOPs CSR RATINGS
University of Birmingham opens first overseas office in India
The University of Birmingham has opened its first overseas office in India that will focus on recruiting students besides building partnerships with Indian institutions and developing research collaborations.“This also marks the university’s 100 year association with India. In 1909, we welcomed our first students from India to study for degrees in mining and commerce,” Professor David Eastwood, Vice-Chancellor, University of Birmingham, told Business Standard. From the office in New Delhi, the university plans to support its alumni, consolidate research collaboration and provide local services to those students who want to come and study at the university in the UK.
The university has also partnered with Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Indian Institute of Dalit Studies to look at how faith communities and faith based organisations have engaged with post-conflict situations in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.
Moreover, Birmingham University’s Automotive Safety Centre is working
with IIT Delhi to explore ways of reducing road traffic accidents in India. “But we are also keen to explore opportunities of delivering some of our courses in India, to make it easier and more affordable for those students who are not able to study at our Edgabston campus.
There has been a modest increase in the applications from Indian students,” added Eastwood. Currently, there are about 150 Indians of the 28,000 total student strength.
The varsity is also in talks with Delhi Technological University for joint programmes, research development and faculty development programmes.
Eastwood says there has been an 11 per cent increase in the applications this
year and the university plans to increase the number of post graduate seats from the current 6,000. For this, the faculty strength would also increase specially in research areas of artificial intelligence and computers.
Birmingham University is also looking to develop strategic partnerships with universities in the US, Australia and China.
Computers Department
The growth of the COE Department is taking place in all the three dimensions. Not only have new labs been constructed but more programs have been added in B.Tech and M.Tech, and new faculty has also joined us. The faculty presently includes: Assistant professor Mr. Manoj Kumar for Information Security (B.Tech , M.Tech ) Assistant professor Mr. Vinod Kumar with Data Communication and Communication Networks as his area of specialization, Mr. Shailendra Kumar for Databases (B.E. ,M.E. ), Mr. Rajesh Kumar Yadav (BE ,MTech) and he is also the branch councellor for CSI. Ms. Akshi Kumar is a new faculty member taking up Intelligent Information Retrieval. The news labs are ready with high speed internet facility and the computers equipped with the latest softwares. This will help students be exposed to the latest technology and will provide them with world-class facilities. The M.Tech and B.Tech program courses which have been added to the curriculum help towards developing the student personality to cater to the industry needs of today. The curriculum of these courses have been so planned that UG and PG engineers will be prepared for the software industry as business analysts, architecture engineers, leaders in a testing team etc. They will be given training on the latest tools and techniques which a graduate receives as part of training when he joins a software firm.
Recent developments:
• A workshop was organized on Data Mining and Risk Management on 16th April by TCS.
• A seminar was organized on Intelligent Security on Ethical Hacking on 17th April by NETTECH: It showcased various aspects of ethical hacking like Footprinting ,Snifferes ,Denial of service ,DNS Prisoning ,Session Hijacking ,Phisching ,Cryptography , Mac charge ,etc.
• Daya Gupta, HOD,COE delivered a talk in the International Conference on Innovative Technologies held on 18th and 19th June ‘09 organized by PDH College of Engineering , Bahadurgarh in collaboration with IEEE -EMBS (Delhi ) Security Department .
• There was a workshop in the month of September on the topic “Green Information” by TCS .
• Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV), supported by GPS System is amongst the research projects going on under the supervision of the faculty.
• AICTE has awarded a project on knowledge discovery based decision support system for education planning to the department with Dr. Daya Gupta as the principal investigator and Mrs. Rajni Jindal as the Co-investigator.
