Indigenisation of Technology/GSIII
Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs)

What's the NEWS

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) developed Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMICs) have been used in radar imaging satellite modules of EOS 04, which was launched by ISRO on 14^th Feb 2022.

Know! about MMIC

• Many of the Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC) were designed/ developed and produced at Solid State Physics Laboratory (SSPL) DRDO and Gallium Arsenide Enabling Technology Centre (GAETEC) foundry of DRDO.
• The TR-Modules used in the payload for Radar imaging have been developed using these MMICs.
• More than 30,000 modules have been produced at GAETEC foundry for various space missions.
• This is an example of collaborative achievement between two advanced technology departments of Government of India along with support of industry partners.

Know! more about MMIC

• Monolithic microwave integrated circuit, or MMIC is a type of integrated circuit (IC) device that operates at microwave frequencies (300 MHz to 300 GHz).
• These devices typically perform functions such as microwave mixing, power amplification, low-noise amplification, and high-frequency switching.
• Inputs and outputs on MMIC devices are frequently matched to a characteristic impedance of 50 ohms.
• This makes them easier to use, as cascading of MMICs does not then require an external matching network.

Prelims Factoids
Sambhav and Svavlamban

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of State for MSME inaugurated International Summit on Plastics Recycling & Waste Management today being organized by Ministry of MSME in association with The All-India Plastics Manufacturers' Association (AIPMA)
• Ministry of MSME also launched two special initiatives - 'Sambhav' and 'Svavlamban' to promote entrepreneurship amongst youth, especially in aspirational Districts all across the country.
• The Mega International Summit emphasizes on "Know your Waste and how Recycling is the right thing to do, which is to be done in a right way".
• Ministry of MSME is conducting Sambhav- National Level Awareness Program (NLAP) in 1300 colleges across the country through its field offices and organising more than 200 Nukkad Natak in 46 Aspirational Districts under a Special Drive called Svavlamban to promote entrepreneurship amongst youth population and spreading awareness on Schemes of Ministry and its Initiatives.

Indigenisation of Technology/GSIII
Kavach System

What's the NEWS

• Union Minister of Railways inspected the trial of ‘Kavach' working system
• During the trial, Head-on-collision situation was created as both the locomotives were moving towards each other.
• The ‘Kavach' system initiated the automatic braking system and halted the locomotives 380 metres apart.
• Also, crossing the red signal was tested; however, the locomotive did not cross the red signal as ‘Kavach' necessitated the application of brakes automatically.

Know! about KAVACH

• The KAVACH is an indigenously developed ATP system by Research Design and Standards Organisation (RDSO) in collaboration with Indian industry and trials facilitated by South Central Railway to achieve the corporate objective of safety in train operations across Indian Railways.
• It is a state of the art electronic system of Safety Integrity Level - 4 standards.
• KAVACH is meant to provide protection by preventing trains to pass the signal at Danger (Red) and avoid collision.
• It activates the train braking system automatically if the driver fails to control the train as per the speed restrictions.
• In addition, it prevents collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH system.
• ‘Kavach' is one of the cheapest, Safety Integrity Level 4 (SIL-4) certified technologies with the probability of error is 1 in 10,000 years.
• Also, it opens avenues of export of this indigenous technology for Railways.

Features of KAVACH

1. Prevention of Signal Passing at Danger (SPAD)
2. Continuous update of Movement Authority with display of signal aspects in Driver Machine Interface (DMI) / Loco Pilot operation cum Indication Panel (LPOCIP)
3. Automatic Braking for Prevention of Over Speeding
4. Auto Whistling while approaching Level Crossing Gates
5. Prevention of collision between two Locomotives equipped with functional KAVACH
6. SoS Messages during emergency situations
7. Centralized live monitoring of Train movements through Network Monitor System.

Prelims Factoids
Glycosmis Albicarpa

What's the NEWS

• A team of scientists from the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have discovered a new gin berry species from the Kanyakumari Wildlife Sanctuary in Tamil Nadu.

Know! about Glycosmis albicarpa

• The species, Glycosmis albicarpa, with a distinct large white fruit, is endemic to the southern Western Ghats.
• The species belongs to the Orange family Rutaceae.
• Many of the related plants of these taxonomic groups are being utilised for their medicinal values and food.
• Most commonly related species of these plants are collected from the wild, mainly for local use as food and medicine.
• Berries of the Glycosmis species have the unique characteristic of ‘gin aroma' and gained in popularity as an edible fruit.
• The species is also a larval host plant for butterflies like other species of Glycosmis.
• The species, an evergreen small tree, was found as undergrowth in the Tirunelveli semi-evergreen forests at the Panagudi forest section of the wildlife sanctuary.

Science and Technology/GSIII
SARAS 3 radio telescope

What's the NEWS

• Indian researchers have conclusively refuted a recent claim of the discovery of a radio wave signal from cosmic dawn, the time in the infancy of our Universe when the first stars and galaxies came into existence.
• In 2018 a team of researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) and MIT in the US detected a signal from stars emerging in the early universe using data from the EDGES radio telescope.
• ASU/MIT team had claimed the discovery of a radio wave signalling the birth of the First Stars, which was also hailed by Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb as worthy of two Nobel prizes. However, the world awaited confirmation from independent researchers.
• Utilising the indigenously invented and built SARAS 3 radio telescope, researchers from Raman Research Institute, an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India refuted this claim.

SARAS 3 radio telescope

• The SARAS 3 radio telescope invented and built by the astronomers at RRI is the first telescope worldwide to reach the required sensitivity.
• The signal claimed to have been detected by the ASU/MIT team required exotic and non-standard physics and caused astrophysicists worldwide to invent new theories, which are all now redundant.

SARAS

• SARAS is a niche high-risk high-gain experimental effort of RRI
• It was a courageous attempt to design, build and deploy in India a precision radio telescope to detect extremely faint radio wave signals from the depths of time, from our "Cosmic Dawn" when the first stars and galaxies formed in the early Universe.
• RRI scientists and engineers have designed and calibrated the SARAS radio telescope to discern signals from Cosmic Dawn.
• It is one of the most sensitive instruments in the world in this field of research today.
• The SARAS radio telescope was deployed by the RRI team in isolated sites in India to gather celestial radio waves with minimum terrestrial man-made radio interference.
• The telescope was first deployed in rural Timbaktu Collective in Anantapur district.
• The subsequent deployment took place in the wilderness of trans-Himalayan Ladakh, logistics kindly supported by the Indian Astronomical Observatory, operated by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.
• These expeditions yielded sensitive data that significantly improved our knowledge of Cosmic Dawn by conclusively ruling out families of theoretical models thitherto believed possible.
• Recently, RRI astronomers came up with the idea of floating the radio telescope on a raft on water, an intelligent design that substantially enhanced telescope performance and had never been conceived of in the world.
• This helped provide a homogenous medium of high dielectric constant below the antenna improving sensitivity and reducing confusing radio waves emitted by the very ground beneath radio telescopes.

Raman Research Institute (RRI)

• It is an institute of scientific research located in Bangalore, India.
• It was founded by Nobel laureate C. V. Raman.
• It is an autonomous institute of the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India.

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