2-Jun-2023: Researchers devise a low-cost method to secure long-distance communication by overcoming distortions
Scientists have devised a method to overcome distortion due to photon-polarization posed by the constant movement of satellites as well as scrambling of polarization in optical fibres and achieve secure long-distance communication without use of conventional active-polarization tracking devices which are costly.
In this digital age, keeping one’s data secure is both a challenge and constant worry. With an increased usage of online services and payment gateways, personal data like Aadhar, PAN, phone numbers, photos, and all classified information remain highly vulnerable.
24-May-2023: AI Supercomputer ‘AIRAWAT’ puts India among top supercomputing league
The AI Supercomputer ‘AIRAWAT’, installed at C-DAC, Pune has been ranked 75th in the world. It was declared so in the 61st edition of Top 500 Global Supercomputing List yesterday at the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC 2023) in Germany. It puts India on top of AI Supercomputing nations worldwide. The system is installed under National Program on AI by Government of India.
“We need to make Artificial Intelligence in India and Artificial Intelligence work for India” – Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s vision “AI FOR ALL”.
Speaking on this achievement, Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) Secretary Shri Alkesh Sharma said, “Artificial Intelligence is the most promising technology in the digital age. India has a strong ecosystem and competitive advantage for AI due to its massive data availability, strong digital economy and skilled workforce. India has been working in the Applied AI with focus on Natural Language Processing, Image Procession, Pattern Recognition, Agriculture, Medical Imaging, Education, Health Care, Audio assistance, Robotics and developing solutions for the strategic sectors.” India will pursue AI technology to empower citizens and organisation to solve the most pressing problems of society and economy to make the world a better place, he added.
President & CEO, NeGD and MeitY Additional Secretary Shri Abhishek Singh stated, “Proof of Concept (PoC) AI Research Analytics and Knowledge Dissemination Platform (AIRAWAT) of 200 AI Petaflops Mixed Precision peak compute capacity is currently funded by MeitY and implemented by C-DAC, Pune. The AIRAWAT PoC of 200 AI Petaflops integrated with PARAM Siddhi – AI of 210 AI Petaflops gives a total peak compute of 410 AI Petaflops Mixed Precision and sustained compute capacity of 8.5 Petaflops (Rmax) Double Precision. The peak compute capacity (Double Precision, Rpeak) is 13 Petaflops.” He added that AIRAWAT is in line with vision of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for the country to enable technology and Artificial Intelligence for the welfare of common people contributing to socio-economic growth of the nation. It may be noted that MeitY has already envisioned roadmap for scaling AIRAWAT to 1,000 AI Petaflops Mixed Precision compute capacity to cater to the current AI computational needs.
Additional Secretary, Meity Shri Bhuvnesh Kumar said, “C-DAC has been pioneer in HPC and AI right from its inception and this entry in the top 500 list is another feather in the cap of C-DAC. The Ministry has always been supporting the implementation of such larger supercomputing systems to accelerate the innovations in science and technology. The C-DAC should enable easy access to such state-of-the-art infrastructure to the Indian community at a nominal cost.”
Ms Kavita Bhatia, Scientist – G and GC (Emerging Technologies), MeitY mentioned, “In alignment with the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative of Government of India, ‘AIRAWAT’ will empower the Academia, Research Labs, Scientific Community, Industry and Start-Ups to develop indigenous AI enabled products/solutions especially for solving India specific grand challenges complex real-life problems. This AI infrastructure will enable to achieve the vision envisaged under National Program on AI (NPAI).”
Ms Sunita Verma, Scientist – G and GC (R&D in Electronics, IT, AI & ET, Digital Bhashini), MeitY pointed out, “Supercomputing is a core strength of C-DAC. Since the last three and half decades C-DAC has been carrying out R&D in Supercomputing and AI. The MeitY has entrusted C-DAC to deploy the supercomputers under NSM for the Indian scientific and research community. We are making consistent efforts to be at par with the global standards. The system installed at C-DAC Pune shall also be beneficial for Digital India BHASHINI program of the Government.”
Shri E Magesh, Director General, C-DAC said on the feat, “Currently being the fastest Supercomputer in the country, it is designed and architected to be on a scalable infrastructure to act as a common computational cloud platform connecting all Centres of Research Excellence in AI, Indian Centres for Transformational AI, Academic, Research Labs, Scientific Community, Industry and Start-ups. We have initiated the process of on-boarding start-ups and MSMEs working in AI domains in the country.” He congratulated C-DAC, Pune teams led by Col Asheet Kumar Nath, Executive Director, C-DAC, Pune for their excellent efforts to install this system and making it for selection to Top500 List thus making India proud.
12-May-2023: A new photonic memory developed with multilevel capability for optoelectronic data storage applications
A new photonic, functional memory based on tin oxide slanted nanorod arrays in which both the optical and electrical stimuli can be used to modulate switching characteristics shows potential for developing high-density and high-efficiency computing systems.
Currently, various research groups worldwide are designing and realizing non-volatile, ultrafast, reliable, functional memory systems that outperform traditional silicon-based flash memories. In this big data era, a new class of data storage devices that can overcome the physical limitations of the existing memory technologies is being pursued vigorously. One such class of memories is commonly known as memristor (an acronym for memory resistor), which can store and process data through electrical signals.
Recently, researchers from the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bangalore, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Govt. of India, have designed such a functional memory based on tin oxide slanted nanorod arrays that shows great potential for the development of high-density and high-efficient computing systems. In this restive memory (non-linear passive two-terminal electrical component which changes its internal resistance between high and low resistance states), both the optical and electrical stimuli can be used to modulate the switching characteristics, including multilevel cell operation.
The CeNS team consisting of Swathi S. P., Athira M., and S. Angappane developed the photonic memory in which the tin oxide slanted nanorod arrays are used as an active layer. The tin oxide nanostructures are prepared by electron-beam evaporation through a technique called the glancing angle deposition (GLAD) technique.
The electron-beam evaporation is a physical vapor deposition method wherein a focussed electron beam is made to bombard the desired target material, which results in its vaporization, and, eventually, deposition of the target material onto the substrate. GLAD facilitates the preparation of complex nanostructures by manipulating the coordinates (tilt and rotation) of the substrate.
The researchers observed good switching characteristics of the memory devices, including low operating voltages, moderate ON/OFF ratio (refers to the ratio of current in the ON state (low resistance state--LRS) to the OFF state (high resistance state- HRS) of the memory device), longer endurance, and better retention with a self-compliance effect in the dark. Interestingly, an unusual negative photo response with an enlarged ON/OFF ratio of greater than 107 and a faster response time is observed under illumination ranging from ultraviolet (254 and 365 nm) to visible light (405 and 533 nm).
The negative photo response is characterized by the decrease of the current in the active layer of the device upon light illumination. They found that these devices can be electrically SET (switching the device from a high to low resistance state by applying voltage bias) to LRS and optically RESET (switching of the device from low to high resistance state upon exposure to the light) to HRS.
Remarkably, multiple low and high resistance states have been achieved by modulating the programming current and optical stimulus. Moreover, they have presented ample experimental evidence which suggests that the electric field-induced formation and light-induced dissolution of oxygen vacancies are responsible for the optically-stimulated resistance switching. In other words, multiple nanoscale conductive filaments composed of oxygen vacancies (primary defects in oxide-based memory devices) are formed on applying the electrical bias, and the photo-stimulated recombination of the surrounding oxygen ions with the vacancies results in the rupturing of the formed conductive filaments. In this manner, the local conductivity of the tin oxide nanorod array could be modified by the synergistic interplay between the electrical and optical means.
The research recently published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces can enable the design and development of photonic memories based on metal oxide nanostructures and help explore their potential applications in artificial visual memory and optoelectronics.