VISAKHAPATNAM: Senior director, Department of Electronics and IT, Government of India, BM Baveja said that Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad would lay a foundation stone for the SAMEER (Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering and Research) Visakhapatnam Centre at Port Kalavani auditorium on February 18. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu would be present on the occasion.
At a press conference here on Tuesday along with SAMEER Director Sulabha Ranade, Baveja said that SAMEER Visakhapatnam was an extension centre of SAMEER Mumbai, for research in the field of Electromagnetic Interference and Compatibility. Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) was the most commonly occurring scenario between the electronic products, causing potential threat to strategic sectors, he added.
The SAMEER is an autonomous research and development institution under the department of Electronics and Information Technology. It operates from its headquarters in Mumbai and centres at Chennai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Visakhapatnam, the senior director said.
In order to evaluate the performance of electronics and electrical products from various sectors, there is a need to establish a dedicated centre to provide all the required commercial and MIL STD test and measurement facilities. The Visakhapatnam centre will be equipped with highly specialised facilities like Electromagnetic pulse (EMP), Pulse Current Injection (PCI) and Ultra-Wide Band (UWB) and EMI/EMC test facilities, Baveja said.
“Defence systems are increasingly dependent on various electronic systems and radio spectrum that cause electromagnetic interference (EMI) between various systems and subsystems ultimately causing disturbance in their normal function. There is a potential concern of EMP on Telecom, Radar, Electric Power, Banking and Financial service. It can affect strategic as well as civilian sectors. High power microwave energy illuminated over vital installation can jam electronic equipment/information. This needs EMP hardening of all electronic/electrical equipment, meaning compliant to Electromagnetics (EMC). The proposed centre can help development of technology and expertise to make the defence systems qualify against such effects,” Baveja explained.
Considering the need from the strategic groups it was felt that there was a necessity for establishment of SAMEER centre in Visakhapatnam to work in the area of EMI/EMC. The centre would house specialised EMI/EMC/EMP facility along with computational electromagnetic modelling and research and development facility. The Visakhapatnam centre for EMI/EMC/EMP facility in the vicinity of Visakhapatnam would benefit a number of vendors on the East Coast as well as the Indian Navy. The facilities established were as per requirements of user agencies like NAVEL EMC unit, Indian Army, Naval Science and Technological Labs and DRDO. The objective would be realised by establishing the facilities with an outlay of `80.02 crore, he added.