KOCHI: The Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, has sanctioned additional grant of Rs 4 crore for the Stratosphere Troposphere (ST) Radar Centre at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat).
The fund was allotted under a research scheme titled 'Studies on the Troposphere Features and Stratosphere Troposphere Coupling Process over the Monsoon Region Using ST Radar,' by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB).
The latest allocation is in addition to Rs 20 crore sanctioned earlier under the same scheme. It is the biggest grant sanctioned by the Ministry of Science and Technology for any state-funded university.
The ST Radar Centre at Cusat, which operates at 205 MHz frequency, is the first wind profiler radar in the near-equatorial site envisaged to study the country's monsoon features.
In March 2016, NITI Ayog member and Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) former director general V K Saraswat had visited the Cusat Radar Centre, in connection with establishing a network of 20 similar indigenous radars along the length and breadth of the country for weather prediction. Steps have also been taken to include the project in the Prime Minister's 'Make in India' programme.