The DRDO WiCOMM-26 conference opened in Dehradun on Friday, bringing defence scientists, military users, industry and academia together for two days of talks on wireless communication built for the battlefield. It is the first edition of the International Conference on Wireless Communication for Military Applications.

The Defence Electronics Applications Laboratory (DEAL), the Dehradun laboratory of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), is hosting the event with the IEEE Uttar Pradesh Section and the Society of Wireless Engineers (SWiCE).

Prof Abhay Karandikar, Member, NITI Aayog, inaugurated the conference. Dr G Satheesh Reddy, Member of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB) and a former DRDO Chairman, and Dr BK Das, Distinguished Scientist and Director General (Electronics and Communication Systems), DRDO, were present.

Karandikar asks DEAL to lead on SDR-enabled tactical devices

Armed forces need communication systems that do far more than carry voice, Prof Karandikar said in his inaugural address. Resilient networks support situational awareness, coordinated manoeuvres and integrated decision making.

Military radios work under tougher conditions than civil networks

Tactical communication, he noted, places stricter demands than civil communication. Quality of service, electromagnetic interference and compatibility (EMI/EMC), interference from other signals, links that drop in and out and tight power limits all weigh more heavily in the field.

He lauded DEAL's work on software defined radio (SDR) technology and advised the laboratory to take the lead in building integrated communication devices for tactical use, enabled for SDR and other radio technologies.

He also called for closer collaboration among academia, research institutions and industry to bring out world class indigenous products. DRDO laboratories already work this way with Indian firms, from the 350 kg thrust class turbojet engine built with Azad Engineering to a quantum refrigerator deal with Zero Mk India.

Speakers from NASA JPL, US Army lab and BEL on the programme

The two-day programme carries plenary and keynote talks by wireless communication experts from India and abroad. Among them are Dr Goutam Chattopadhyay, Senior Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and Dr John Glossner, CEO of the Wireless Innovation Forum, USA.

Hari Kumar R, Director (R&D), Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), and Dr Chandrika Kaushik, Distinguished Scientist and Director General (PC&SI), DRDO, are also speaking. So are Dr Vijay Kumar Mishra, Senior Fellow at the US Army's DEVCOM Army Research Laboratory (ARL), Dr Shreyas Kumar, Professor at Texas A&M University, and Dr MH Rahaman, Advisor at CRENES, BITS Pilani.

DRDO WiCOMM-26 conference hears 103 papers in six tracks

A total of 103 peer reviewed papers are being presented at the DRDO WiCOMM-26 conference. The six technical tracks include communication and signal processing, RF and optical communication, antennas, phased arrays and metasurfaces, and computing technologies and applications.

An exhibition runs alongside the sessions. Leading Indian companies working on communication systems, test and instrumentation and software development put their products and systems on display. A conference compendium was released at the inaugural session. Manoj Kumar Dhaka, Director, DEAL, is General Chair, with Pinaki Sen, Associate Director, DEAL, as Conference Chair.

DEAL traces its roots to a 1959 Mussoorie laboratory

The host laboratory has worked on military radio links for decades. According to DRDO, it began as the Defence Research Laboratory at Landaur Cantonment, Mussoorie, in 1959. A propagation field station set up in 1962 became the independent Himalayan Radio Propagation Unit in 1965, setting up communication links in border areas and providing frequency prediction services. The unit moved to Dehradun in 1968 and was renamed Defence Electronics Applications Laboratory in 1976.