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Academic visit to SDD Secunderabad - Individual Report

Name: Sasanka Sekhar Sinha


Home Institute: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD)
Field of Study: Mechanical Engineering Design
Host: Simulator Development Division, Secunderabad
Duration: 09-12-2014 to 15-12-2014

For this opportunity, I thank:


Lt. Col. Udit Joshi of Simulator Development Division (SDD), Secunderabad. I want to thank him
for conferring on me the opportunity to visit the research facility. He provided for accommodation
at one of the guest houses within the MCEME premises. He had the kindness to guide me through
my stay with invaluable advice despite his busy schedule.
Prof. S. K. Saha of the Department of Mechanical Engineering IITD, my project guide. As a part
of an ongoing collaboration research project, he put forward this idea of a visit to me. It was due
to his efforts that my visit was even made possible.
Also I appreciate all the staff and technical members of the facility I worked with and spent good
moments with during my stay. In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Reddy for his deep sense of
hospitality.

What does SDD stand for? (A brief introduction)


Simulator Development Division (SDD) was established as a nodal agency for design and
development of simulators for Indian Army in the year 1991. Since then, the division, a major
establishment under the Army Training Command, has proved to be a `Centre of Excellence' for
the state-of-art military simulators.
A number of simulators designed and developed by SDD are in use not only with the three Defence
services but with paramilitary forces as well. Its focus had been development of cost -effective
simulators to provide realistic, focused and real-time training, customized for the Indian army,
according to a release.
The major contributions of SDD include wheeled and tracked vehicle-driving simulators, aiming
and firing simulators for tanks and small arms and interactive human modelling, terrain modelling
through GIS, etc.

Pic 1: SDD Secunderabad

Highlights of my visit (general)


I reached Secunderabad after leaving from Chennai on 9th Dec and Mr. Reddy was there to escort
me to the MCEME officers mess where my accommodation had been arranged. At first look, I
was astounded by the keen sense of discipline of the Army (Since it was my first visit to an army
habitation). There was the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering (MCEME)
which had lately been affiliated to the JNU curriculum. It provides training for entry into the Corps
of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers [EME]. Be it a student or a Professor, everyone was
dressed in immaculate army attire which gave a sense of commonality, brotherhood, cooperation.
Also visible was an indomitable sense of pride arising from being a soldier of the nation. Civilians
are forbidden in the campus premises only under special permission. Fortunately, I was issued a
temporary pass by Joshi Sir, and enjoyed the freedom of uninterrupted movement in the premises.
My trip to SDD Secunderabad was guided by the following objectives:
1) To assess the progress of the SDD project undertaken by IIT Delhi and Hitech Robotics.
2) To get acquainted with the various other types of motion simulators in SDD.
3) A comparative study and analysis to unravel the path to successful completion of the
project.

As you will note below, I came away generally favorably impressed with what the people at SDD
are attempting to do to improve the combat skills of Army units. Soldiers and officers employed
within SDD are the technicians, mechanics and fabricators that consistently inspect, repair, modify
and maintain the large array of equipment. As technologies advance and equipment becomes more
complex, they have to be up to the challenges of training and keeping up to date with modern
engineering. Despite the fact that I was only there for one week and brought very little in the way
of experience, I was treated as one of their own. There was never lack of people ready and willing
to help or guide me. No one felt inconvenienced with questions or in taking time out of their day
to come and assist me with an issue. Also they were genuinely interested and excited about the
work they were involved which is a great atmosphere to be surrounded by. The lab was diverse in
ways of ethnicity and technology as people from different regions of the country specializing in
various technical disciplines worked in interdisciplinary projects under a common guide (Unity in
diversity!!).
SDD conducts exercises which fall under the category of intensive pre-training before dealing with
real-life operations involving high risks and damage. Firing simulators for tanks and small arms
are representative of combat operations. According to one of the technicians, each freshman who
wants to learn how to fire a canon requires on an average four shots before he is able to develop a
fair idea of the trajectory. Four canon shots would cost around two lakh rupees, which indeed is a
large amount. The firing simulators are indispensable to a developing country like India let alone
they do not cause any environmental damage. Similar is the case with the vehicle simulators which
allow amateur drivers to drive on treacherous terrains and hone their skills. To the extent I was
able to observe and judge, the training is conducted to high professional standards, expertly
administered, and constructively received by the units being trained.
Since SDD is a research facility for the Army, photography is strictly prohibited within the
premises. However, I was able to capture some photographs of the items which were kept for
public display.

Pic 2: Miniature tanks for public display at SDD

Its a little difficult to describe a typical day


because each day was different. My typical day
at lab started at 9:30 am. I would walk through
the premises to the MCEME canteen where I
usually had my breakfast. In the premises,
everything was properly organized which made
the walk very relaxing and pleasurable. Then I
would head out for SDD. I would usually have
some work assigned for the day, or else
proceeded to whatever task of my project I felt
was most critical and important for me to
complete that day. Then around noon I would go Pic 3: A firing simulator for public display at SDD
to the MCEME mess to have nice healthy lunch.
Food at the mess was typically pretty good and for the most part I enjoyed eating there, the food
was pretty well rounded and changed on daily bases. After lunch, I would head back for SDD and
work till 5 in the evening. Then I would come back to my room. Finally I had my dinner at the
MCEME mess.
Here, I have another thing worth
mentioning. One morning while
having breakfast at the canteen, I
overheard someone say 'it is better to
be a live soldier-technician than a
dead super technician! At that point
of time, I took it as an insult. It was
later when I realized that the
statement was not completely wrong.
So, I decided to incorporate physical
workout in my daily lexicon to help
keep me both fit and in full working
order during my research career.
It was just when I had started molding
Pic 4: Inside the MCEME premises.
into the Army way of life that it was
time to head back for my Institute. Finally, I left there for Delhi on 15th December. Ever since I
left, Im a bit fitter, a bit wiser, and just an ever-so-tiny bit more courageous. I owe my gratitude
to my guide, Professor Saha, and SDD.

Highlights of my visit (academic)


SDD has hydraulic, servo-hydraulic Stewart Platforms, which they have developed expertise in.
They have a truck-driving simulator which has a response time of 50 ms. Lately they bought a
tank-driving simulator with a highly synchronized response time of only 15 ms. In due course of
time, they felt the need for electric actuator driven Stewart Platform due to the following reasons:

In hydraulic actuators, the presence of an accumulator, which acts as a 'storage' device,


jeopardizes the portability of the system. Also, extra space has to be devoted to the storage
device. The basic drive element in electric motor is usually lighter than that for fluid power.

Leakages can occur to cause loss in performance, and general contamination of the work
area. There is also higher fire risk

The power pack can be noisy, typically about 70 decibel (dBA) or louder if not protected
by an acoustic muffler. Electric actuators are relatively quiet and clean, and hence they are
very acceptable environmentally.

Changes in temperature alter the viscosity of the hydraulic fluid. Thus, at low temperatures
fluid viscosity will increase, possibly, causing sluggish movement of the robot

Servo control of hydraulic systems is complex and is not as widely understood as electric
servo control.

However, hydraulic robots are more capable of withstanding shock loads than electric robots, and
vehicle simulators have to deal with shock loads. Earlier in the electric Stewart platform that we
had designed, smooth interpolation of trajectory data input was done to do away with jerks. The
motion driving simulation software generated trajectory with jerks and interfacing issues with our
platform cropped up. So, we were faced with the major challenge of shock load data input. During
my stay at SDD, I tried to develop a Simulink model of the 6-dof Stewart platform and compute
the motor torque requirements for the sample trajectory data supplied to us.

Pic 5: Trajectory tracking control of the Stewart Platform in Simulink.

Pic 6: Controller architecture.

Pic 7: Simmechanics model of the Stewart Platform


showing legs and platform.

Pic 8: Single leg Simmechanics model

Graphical Results of simulation:

The torques from simulation reveal that the actuator forces and torques are well within the specifications. Currently, I am trying to
develop a trajectory tracking scheme where the manipulator can be made to pass through singular configurations.

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