Transport – Page 2 – Karnataka First

PM Modi unveils HTT-40, HAL’s indigenous trainer aircraft

Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled HTT-40, the indigenous trainer aircraft designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) at the India Pavilion during DefExpo-2020 in Gandhinagar, on Wednesday.

The Basic Trainer Aircraft would be used for basic flight training, aerobatics, instrument flying and close formation flights, whereas its secondary roles would include navigation and night flying. HTT-40 has cutting-edge technology designed to meet primary training requirements of the Indian defence services. Built around a meticulouslytested, turbo-prop engine, it is equipped with the latest avionics, an air-conditioned cabin and ejection seats. HTT-40 boasts of unique features like running changeover of pilots, hot-refuelling and short turnaround time.

HAL receives DcPP certificate

Hal also received a Deve lopment – cum -Production Partner (DcPP)/Production Agency (PA) certificate for ABHYAS – High Speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) System from DRDO at a programme held on the sidelines of DefExpo-2022. The Aircraft Division of HAL is the first DcPP/PA identified organisation under ADE-DRDO’s new scheme for the procurement of a complex system. HAL had formally handed over the first batch of two units of High-Speed Expendable Aerial Target (HEAT) System ABHYAS, an indigenous target aircraft, to Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) recently. HAL CMD CB Ananthakrishnan received the certificate from DRDO Chairman and secretary of the Department o f De f enc e R&D Dr Samir V Kamat

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DULT, BMRCL bag infra awards

Director of business development and corporate communications, Urban Infra Communications Vinod Shah said that this is the second edition of the awards, and the first was held in 2020.

Karnataka agencies, Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), have bagged awards in the second edition of Urban Infra awards in five categories, organised by a Urban Infra Communications, a specialised Infra PR company.

The Most Innovative Urban Mobility Leader award, under the industrial category, was bagged by V Manjula, commissioner of Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT). Under the corporate category, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) won the Best Public Transport of Silicon Valley award and Bharat Electronics Limited won the Excellence in Indigenous Innovation for Rail and Metro Systems award. Under the transit and mobility category- the most preferred transit system award was bagged by Hubballi-Dharwad Bus Rapid Transit Systems Limited. DULT also bagged an award of the most admired city planning body for urban development under the City Infrastructure category.

Director of business development and corporate communications, Urban Infra Communications Vinod Shah said that this is the second edition of the awards, and the first was held in 2020. He added that a five member jury chooses the winners, based on work done in the past and projects planned ahead. Manjula (DULT) told TNIE that the award will boost the morale of young staffers in organisation to strive and improve mobility in the state.

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Shell enters EV charging business, starting with Bengaluru

The energy company has plans to install over 10,000 charging points across India by 2030

Shell, an integrated energy firm, has chosen Bengaluru to set up its first sets of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for four-wheeler and two-wheeler segments in India.

To start with, the company on Thursday opened five Shell recharge stations at Yeshwanthpur, Marathahalli, Old Madras Road, Brookefield, and on Kanakpura Road.

Shell will provide customised charging solutions at on-the-go locations such as Shell fuel stations, standalone EV hubs, home charging, and destination locations.

For on-the-go and standalone EV hubs, the company will deploy 100 kilowatts (KW) and above direct-current (DC) fast chargers to enable fast charging and the lowest possible dwell time, as per company officials.

The company has plans to expand its EV charging infrastructure beyond its existing retail markets of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Telangana, Assam, and Andhra Pradesh.

Shell Energy said it has plans to set up over 10,000 such stations across the country by 2030. Shell recharge chargers would be 100% powered by green energy, it said.

Customers will be able to operate these chargers through the ‘Shell Recharge India app’, available on both Android and iOS operating systems.

Why home delivery partners prefer electric bikes

Three Bengaluru startups win BITS Pilani event

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

Of the 15 startups, shortlisted from over 1,500 applications, four have been selected to receive an equity-less grant of Rs 30 lakh each. Of these, three are from Bengaluru. Winners were chosen based on three categories or tracks — Pan India, BITSian and Web3.0.

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country. Green Tiger is working on developing a hybrid vehicle, while Daffodil Health is a behavioural healthcare platform aimed at children.

The latter aims at giving parent-mediated therapy to children with behavioural and developmental disorders like autism, ADHD, dyslexia and others. Conquest, run by around 30 engineering students from BITS Pilani’s Centre of Entrepreneurial Leadership, is the first and largest student-run startup accelerator, hosting programmes every year to help startups get funding and mentors.

The Demo Day for the 18th edition of the accelerator programme was held in Bengaluru on Sunday, with 15 startups shortlisted to pitch their ideas to a panel of investors, industry leaders and others. Another Bengaluru-based company StreamMoney won in the Web3.0 Track, where the focus is on startups developing or utilising technology related to Web3.0. StreamMoney focuses on the ability to transfer conditional ownership of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The startup is working towards making a utility protocol, allowing NFT owners to rent out or allow ticketing or subscriptions of their NFTs. This allows owners to add in a utility contract with their NFTs that allows access to their tokens for a limited period of time.

Green Tiger Mobility, the cleantech firm, and Daffodil Health, a healthcare startup, won in the Pan India Track, where participants were invited from across the country.

A clean technology firm, focusing on building hybrid cars that allow you to switch between electric and internal combustion engines at the switch of a button, was one of the three Bengaluru startups that won big at BITS Pilani’s Conquest.

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Youth-led start-up to send 40 satellites to compile space debris data

The race to space has the downside of polluting it. A Bengaluru-based start-up plans to send out a constellation of 40 satellites that will gather data on space junk in the low-earth orbit (LEO).
The satellites that will be launched in early next year will gather information on millions of pieces of debris that litter LEO, which NASA describes as an “orbital space junk yard”.

Digantara, the start-up launched by three young engineers, has taken upon itself the mission to help clean up LEO.

Space junk can reach speeds of up to 18,000 miles per hour, according to NASA. Many of them range from 1 cm to 10 cm in diameter. Most of this orbital debris comprises “human-generated” objects such as parts of spacecraft that have long disintegrated, rocket and satellite components, and very small flecks of paint from spacecraft and whole satellites.

“The ones which are 1 cm in diameter are estimated to be a million. Besides, international space agencies have determined that they are aware of only 4 per cent of objects in space. The data for 96 per cent is still missing,” said Digantara chief operating officer Rahul Rawat, who is only 23 years old.

Digantara, which is incubated at Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science, sent out a small satellite, a payload about the “size of a shoe box”, according to the start-up’s CEO Anirudh Sharma, on June 30 this year to gather information on space weather, including radiation, violent storms and other phenomena that can be potentially harsh for spacecraft and burn or fry them.

While this lone satellite has been sending out data to ground sensors, Rawat pointed to Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink constellation of 40 of 49 satellites that were “lost in a single blow” when they encountered a gigantic “solar paroxysm” that burned the spacecraft and cost the company $100 million in February 2022.

It is precisely to avoid satellites getting caught up in such “solar outbursts” or other violent geomagnetic incidents that Digantara expects its own satellites – and the information it will send back to its ground sensors – to come to the rescue of space companies with ambitions of sending out satellites.

“We are the only start-up of its kind in India though there are competitors in the US and Canada,” Rawat said, adding the gathered data can help firms that are into remote sensing and insurance where risk analysis reports will be important.

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KSR Bengaluru railway station to have first Aadhaar unit in SWR

A much-needed Aadhaar centre is set to be launched at KSR Bengaluru railway station in due course, which will become the first station in the South Western Railway Zone to have the facility.

Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will be taking care of its operations. The equipment to take pictures, capture biometrics and other devices have been provided by UIDAI.”

The issue of new Aadhaar cards as well as changes to be made to existing card will be done here. The DRM said that based on the response it would receive, the facility would be extended to other stations in the Division. The initiative was being undertaken in line with the guidelines issued by the Railway Board, he added. “The Railways wants to increase its public outreach and connect more with its passengers and this is a step in that direction,” he said.

A UIDAI source said that they are ready to provide kits to 10 railway stations within Karnataka.

Singh said that under the Centre’s ‘One Station One Product’ scheme, many stalls have opened up at smaller stations in the Division. Products from millets and honey sourced by tribals are sold at Bengaluru Cantonment; silk and cotton sarees from Krishnarajapuram, Yelahanka and Doddaballapur station at KR Puram station; and Muddireddipalya sarees at Hindupur, are among outlets that have opened up recently.

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HAL opens office in Kuala Lumpur to explore business operations in Southeast Asia

HAL’s new office in Kuala Lumpur would take up the market promotion of the company’s range of products and services not only in Malaysia but also all of Southeast Asia

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited will set up an office in Kuala Lumpur to tap business opportunities in Malaysia and the entire Southeast Asian region, the PSU said in a statement on Thursday.

The new office is expected to help the public sector firm to explore business around Fighter Lead-in Trainer (FLIT) LCA and other requirements of Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) like Su-30 MKM and Hawk upgrades, as per HAL.

“It will reinforce the commitment of India in supporting the Malaysian Defence Forces and industry for sustainable aerospace and defence landscape in Malaysia,’‘ said a company communique.

According to HAL, the company had submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Malaysia in October 2021 for the supply of 18 FLIT LCAs against a global tender issued by RMAF.

The final winner of the tender is expected to be declared soon by Malaysian authorities and LCA Tejas stands a fair chance of selection in the bid as it meets all the parameters sought by RMAF, as per the release.

HAL developing AI-driven long-endurance drone for vigil over China border

State-run aerospace behemoth Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) is working on an AI-driven multi-role, advanced and long-endurance drone for strategic missions in high-altitude areas including along the frontiers with China, people familiar with the development said on Sunday.

The rotary-wing drone will have the capability to carry a load of 40 kgs, including missiles and sensors, and it is being developed considering the requirement of the armed forces to keep a strong vigil over the mountainous areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), they said.

The HAL has set a target of conducting the maiden test-flying of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) by the middle of next year and plans to produce 60 such platforms in the first phase of the project, the people in the know told PTI.

They said the operating system of the long-endurance drone will feature applications of Artificial Intelligence and the armed forces will be able to use it for multiple purposes including transporting essential supplies.

source/content: newindianexpress.com (headline edited)

HAL signs $100m contract with Honeywell for HTT-40 Engines

There is potential requirement of 70 aircraft.

Defence Public Sector Undertaking Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) on Wednesday signed a contract worth over $100 million with Honeywell for supply and manufacture of 88 TPE331-12B engines/kits along with maintenance and support services to power the Hindustan Trainer Aircraft (HTT-40), the basic trainer aircraft The contract was exchanged by Eric Walters, Senior Director OE Sales, Honeywell Defense & Space, and B Krishna Kumar, Executive Director (E & IMGT) in the presence of R Madhavan, Chairman & Managing Director, HAL.

Entering into this ‘Manufacturing & Repair license agreement for Honeywell TPE331-12B Turboprop engine’ marks a major milestone in the execution of 70 HTT-40 aircraft contract with IAF. HAL is working closely with Honeywell for its support for export potential of HTT-40. HAL and Honeywell are exploring other areas such as 1MW Turbo Generators, manufacturing, Repair & Overhaul of TPE 331-10GP / 12JR engines for variants of Dornier. “HAL has successfully developed the Basic Trainer Aircraft (HTT-40) to address the basic training requirements of the IAF.

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Jawa and Yezdi bike enthusiasts take a trip down memory lane in Bengaluru

This year’s Jawa and Yezdi bike festival in Bengaluru followed a theme of adventure and offered a holistic experience to bikers from the time they entered the venue.

Hundreds of Jawa and Yezdi bike enthusiasts gathered for their annual festival and went down an adventurous nostalgic lane in the city on Sunday, to mark the 20th International Jawa Yezdi Day, which falls every year on the second Sunday in July.

“The bikes here are the centre of attraction and you can see there are over 750 Jawa and Yezdi bikes. We also got some special and very rare bikes displayed on one side of the ground which people can admire,” said Brian A., president and co-founder, Bangalore Jawa Yezdi Motorcycle Club (BJYMC), the organiser of the event.

Between 1960 and 1996, bikes from Jawa and Yezdi were produced in India. The 250cc two-stroke bikes were well-liked by youngsters due to their dependability and affordable maintenance requirements. In 1996, their production was stopped at the Ideal Jawa factory in Mysore.

The Jawa, the Jawa 42, and the Perak are the three vehicles that Mahindra-owned Classic Legends unveiled in 2018 after reviving the Jawa and Yezdi brand.