DRDO develops evaporating fogger for sanitization to fight against COVID-19
An evaporator-type fogging device has been developed by Defense Institute of Physiology & Allied Science (DIPAS) for sanitization of work spaces and associated accessories. The fogger can be used with any type of chemical suitable for particular disinfection purpose. The systems consist of a small chemical reservoir (CR), suction mechanism, evaporation mechanism and a blower. The size of the reservoir is optimized to avoid wastage of chemical. The main stock of the disinfection fluid remains in a separate chemical chamber (CC) which is air tight and does not allow reaction with air. From this chamber the fluid goes to the reservoir below the evaporator from where the suction mechanism picks it for evaporation. Electronic sensor and solenoid valve maintain the required level in the reservoir. As soon as the system stops, the supply is automatically cut off. The timer starts and stops the blower according to the pre-set values displayed on a digital timer provided on the front side. The complete system and chemical chamber are made up of stainless steel to avoid any corrosion. The capacity of chemical reservoir is 500 ml. A separate air-tight chemical chamber for additional disinfection fluid has been provided that has 4-liters capacity. The system can be easily handled/transported. With this machine an enclosure of about 1000 cubic ft would require fogging time of around 8 minutes with dwelling time of 60 minutes. The fogging time can be calculated depending upon the size of the room, and the dwelling time will remain same. The operation can be easily handled as per SOP
Germiklean - Dry Heat Sanitization System developed by DRDO to combat Coronavirus
In the COVID-19 pandemic situation, prevention through sanitization is most effective way to remain safe. Keeping this in mind, a dry heat sanitization system named Germiklean has been developed to sanitize uniforms, canes, polycarbonate shields, files, papers, metals, ceramic items etc. Germiklean is a dry heat-based system which uses hot air at 70°C for 10-minute cycle to sanitize items placed inside. The systems consist of a mild steel powdercoated box having a working chamber made up of stainless steel (Grade 304) and a heating chamber. The heating chamber consists of a heating element, timer, sensor cum controller and a blower to maintain the required temperature inside the working chamber for the sanitization of items. Forced convection system is used for proper mixing of heat and it maintains uniform temperature inside the working chamber. Measures have been taken to ensure zero heat loss e.g. insulating material is filled in the gap between the inner chamber and outer body, doublewalled door filled with glass wool, and synthetic gasket fitment on the door. The system has modular design and the dimensions can be changed depending upon the requirement. The Germiklean in picture depicts Poly urethane-insulated MS chamber with 304 grade and Stainless Steel internal chamber of dimensions (W x D x H) 1875 mm x 850 mm x 1600 mm. It has got air handling unit (AHU) with heating system for maximum temperature of 100°C and working temperature of 70°C. It has provision of 24 hangers in 3 fixtures inside the chamber with in-built door lights.
DRDO develops Sanitizer With Attendance Gear & Temperature Monitoring (SWAGATAM)
A system has been developed by Defense Institute of Physiology & Allied Science (DIPAS) for non-contact cardbased attendance and temperature monitoring along with sanitizer dispenser, simultaneously covering every aspect of safety against COVID-19. The System has in-built card reader which is connected to the server via GSM & GPRS. An ultrasonic sensor sends out high frequency sound waves (about 40 Khz) in the direction of detection and receives the reflection from nearby objects and gives distance reading by processing the echo time. 14 Once, a person punches the card, his/her card number, current date and time of arrival/exit along with temperature details (96°F to 107.6°F) will be saved on the server. Up to 40000 records can be stored in the device itself. This data can be accessed from the server with the help of API/Interface and thus can be used for Employee Attendance System accordingly. The system has been tested and found easy to use, stable in performance, and user friendly. The temperature can be recorded from a distance 2 cm to 4 cm. The sanitizer can be used from a distance of 2 cm to 20 cm.
DRDO builds 1000 bed Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID Hospital including 250 ICUs
DRDO, along with Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the Armed Forces, Tata Sons and other industry players has built Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel COVID Hospital, containing 1,000 beds with 250 intensive care units (ICU). The unique centrally air-conditioned medical facility is spread over 25,000 square metres and is equipped with 250 ICU beds. Each ICU bed is equipped with monitoring equipment and ventilator. The infrastructure is built with negative internal pressure gradient for safe contagion containment. The facility has been engineered using rapid fabrication technique based on octanorm modules. DRDO undertook the design, development and operationalisation of the facility on a war footing. With the permission from the Indian Air Force (IAF), land situated near the New Delhi Domestic Airport Terminal T1 was identified and construction work by DRDO commenced the 23rd of June at the site on Ulan Batar Road adjacent to Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Headquarters. The hospital will be operated by medical team of doctors, nurses and support staff from the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS) while the facility will be maintained by the DRDO. Additionally, for the mental wellbeing of the patients, the hospital has a dedicated DRDOmanaged psychological counselling centre. The COVID-19 patients referred by the district administration will be admitted and treated free of cost at this facility. Critical cases will be referred to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The project has been funded with major contribution of Tata Sons. Other contributors are Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL), Astra Microwave Products Limited (AMPL), Sri Venkateswara Engineers, Brahmos Private Limited, and Bharat Forge. Also, DRDO employees have voluntarily contributed their one day salary. The hospital consists of a separate reception-cum-patient admission block, medical block with pharmacy and laboratory, duty doctors and nurses’ accommodation and four modular patient blocks, each consisting of 250 beds. The corridor network has been designed to keep the patient’s movement separate from the doctors and staff movement. Sanitation facilities and toilets are situated between the blocks for easy access to patients and facility personnel.
The patient blocks are self-sufficient with facilities for patients and medical care staff. Patient facilities include oxygen supply to each bed, x-ray, electrocardiogram (ECG), haematological test facilities, ventilators, COVID Test Lab, Wheel Chairs, Stretchers and other medical equipment. The DRDO-developed COVID-19 technologies mass produced by the Industry in the last 3 months such as ventilators, decontamination tunnels, personal protective equipment (PPEs), N95 masks, contact-free sanitizer dispensers, sanitisation chambers and medical robots trolleys will be utilised at the facility. The facility will be secured with security staff, closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance and access control systems. The hospital is equipped with an integrated fire safety and control system. Environmental safety and waste disposal processes have been built in to the design of operations. A large parking area has been designated for staff, public, ambulances and fire-fighting services. The hospital has been made operational from 05 July 2020, having been constructed in 12 days. Commissioning of this Hospital has contributed to an increase of 11 per cent additional COVID-19 beds in Delhi, thus overcoming the current critical situation.
DRDO developed crowd temperature monitoring system
A crowd temperature monitoring system has been developed using expertise in infrared imaging for missile applications. A DRDO lab, in collaboration with an industry partner, has innovated and developed algorithms for thermography in outdoor conditions. Advanced face detection techniques have been used over thermal images. The system consists of a thermal camera and a desktop/laptop computer. Artificial Neural Network, trained with a very large in-house thermal database, allows face recognition directly on the running video from the IR thermal camera. A large number of people can be thermally profiled outdoors without disturbing their movements. Persons showing more than pre-set thermal threshold can be earmarked, recorded and real-time inputs can be given to authorities. The first system developed by DRDO using its hardware and software resources has already been deployed at the Hyderabad-based laboratory. Test results show that the system can be used in indoor environments as well as in areas where a large number of people may have to gather/move regularly.
LASTEC developed portable UVC Killer system for disinfecting objects
A portable Ultra Violet C-band (UVC) virus killer system has been developed by Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC), Delhi to disinfect various objects by inactivating bacteria and viruses 99.9999%. The device uses UVC Lamp of 254 nm wavelength as excitation source. Irradiance of 0.5 mW/cm² is created over the object for 2 minutes delivering a UVC dose of maximum 60 mJ/cm² (required 40 mJ/cm² to achieve 99.9999% inactivation). The system is very compact having dimensions 48 cm × 38 cm ´ 23 cm and weight of 6 kg only. It can sanitize office files, letters/envelops, laptop etc. As a safety feature the UV light turns OFF once the top cover is open. The user can do monitoring through acrylic window provided on side.
NPOL came up with Acoustic Throat Infection Analyser (ATIA) to detect upper respiratory tract infections
Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi has developed an Acoustic Throat Infection Analyser (ATIA) using acoustic data processing techniques used in defence applications. It aims to detect upper respiratory tract infections by non-invasive means of acoustic scanning of word(s) spoken by a person. It has been proven that the COVID-19 (SARSCoV-2) virus infection develops initially in upper respiratory tract and detection of infection may give early information even before symptoms like fever etc. develops. For day-to-day office work, this could give non-contact screening of personnel entering an establishment. 59 Initially using a microphone connected to computer/mobile etc. voice samples for healthy person are recorded as per SOP and added in the data base. The recorded data is subjected to acoustic analysis techniques. For carrying out the analysis, signal processing techniques such as Spectrum analysis, Tonal analysis, Modulation and Phase analysis, Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) analysis are carried out to generate results for a person. At any point of time, live voice samples of a person can be compared with the database and distortion in voice due to throat infection is easily captured. The technique can have potential applications in hospitals/clinics, industries/offices and also in overall pandemic management. However, initial recording of voice samples is required.
DRDO developed MEDIDOOT, a medical trolley, to supply critical items to patients
Medidoot medical trolley is designed to supply critical items – food, cloth and medicine to the patients infected with contagions like the present SARS-CoV-2 in the isolation wards, thereby reducing the exposure of doctors and other healthcare staff to the infected area/patients. The trolley is remotely operated by a trained person to carry medical supplies to the designated patient in a remote location. It has closed enclosures to prevent cross contamination of the supplies and can be opened only by the operator remotely. There is a provision of two-way audio visual interaction between the patients and the medical team through the screen and microphone running either on Wi-Fi or standalone cellular network. It has the capability to sense obstacles and stop automatically in order to take care of the operational errors. The trolley is provided with an alarm to alert the patients when it reaches the destination. It has in-built short circuit protection mechanism for patient safety. Pilot light is provided to alert the people that the device is in operation and a battery charge level indicator is provided in the interface console. The trolley can be easily sanitized (Dry/Wet) post operation without removal of any of the components and hot swapping of the battery is possible for continuous operation of the trolley.
A fog-based personnel disinfection enclosure PerSan developed by DRDO
A sanitization enclosure called PerSan comprising of a chamber and a fog generator has been developed. The chamber is made from skeleton of steel pipes coated with epoxy or acrylic paint/powder or of UPVC pipes. The structure is covered, except the openings for entry and exit portions, using polythene film of 200- 240μm, those normally used in poly-houses. The two openings, for entry and exit, are closed with either strip curtains or shower curtains. The assembly of the chamber is such that the base of the chamber is 1m x 1m and the height is 7 ft. The design enables assembly of the chamber in few hours. It is equipped with two fog generators of capacity of about 3 L/hour or single fog generator of capacity 5-6 L/hour. The fog generator is an ultrasonic transducer-based humidifier that generates fog of 1 to 5 μm aerosols. The system has important features, like, in-built reservoir tank for storage, solenoid valve with liquid level sensor for replenishment of the liquid in fog generation tank from the reservoir tank, IR (proximity) sensor in the power supply circuit of the fog generator, time selector for setting of time for fog generation from 15 s to 1 minute, etc. The fog generation tank dimension has been optimised to produce maximum fog. It uses more than 95% indigenous components.
DFRL developed Parakh, a mobile BSL-3 laboratory for COVID-19 testing
Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) Mysore, pursuing the mission to support corona warriors, has developed a quick response asset to deal the situation arising due to contagious diseases including COVID-19 pandemic. The Laboratory stationed on mobile platform has been named PARAKH. It provides unidirectional airflow and gradient negative room pressure with class III Biosaftey cabinet (BSC) for entry and safe processing of clinical samples. The viral inactivation and first 2 steps of viral lysis of RNA extraction are performed inside the BSC assuring personnel protection. The lab facility is built on ISO 20 feet dry container and mounted on a chassis for mobility. The exhaust air, being HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filtered, satisfies Class 10,000 or ISO7 air quality. Complete Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) is used to maintain desired unidirectional airflow and room pressure gradients of negative pressure as compared to the ambience. The ingress of the samples is done in a safe way through a specifically designed dynamic pass box (as shown in the picture) for direct delivery inside the Class III biosafety cabinet for safe sample processing. The facilities in the Lab include clean air workstation, cold chain for storing the reagents and samples, provision for treatment of liquid effluents, safe storage of solid biohazard wastes and decontamination by autoclaving. Further, provision for storing and donning PPEs, storage for used aprons, emergency body shower and eye wash etc. have been provided. The Lab setup has necessary captive and raw power supply, space for sufficient fuel and water provisions and thus can be easily transported by road and deployed at the site of emergency as per the requirement. Air bellow suspension has been used to reduce the vibration during transport and air compressor for inflating tyres. Autoclave & dynamic pass box facility have been provided for sample entry. The lab has been provided with Real-Time PCR detection platform specifically for COVID-19 testing. Medical Professional can easily and safely handle and preserve samples from disease outbreaks or during surveillance. The interior view of the mobile containment laboratory showing here are the Class III biosafety cabinet, real time PCR, PCR workstation, pass box, -20 degree Celsius freezer, refrigerator and incubator. Real time PCR provided for COVID-19 screening from clinical samples can test about 300 samples per day. The Lab has been handed over to Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (the sole authorised COVID-19 testing facility in the Mysore region) to enhance their testing capability.
DRDO developed UV Disinfection Tower for rapidly disinfecting infection-prone areas
DRDO has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection Tower for rapid and chemical-free disinfection of high infection-prone areas. The equipment named UV blaster is a UV-based area sanitizer designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhi based premier laboratory of DRDO with the help of M/s New Age Instruments and Materials Private Limited, Gurugram. UV Blaster is useful for high-tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods. The product is also effective for areas with large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories, offices, etc. The UV-based area sanitizer may be used 62 by remote operation through laptop/mobile phone using Wi-Fi link. The equipment has six lamps, each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360 degree illumination. For a room of about 12 x 12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room. This sanitizer switches off automatically on accidental opening of room or human intervention. One more salient safety feature of the product is the key-to-arm operation.
DRDO presented two new products to enable COVID-19 disinfection process
DRDO, in its continuous quest to contribute towards the fight against COVID-19, has been developing several solutions from its existing arsenal of technologies and experience. These consist of novel innovations and some others in which products will be quickly configured to suit present requirements. DRDO has introduced two products which can enhance the operations at public places during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Automatic Mist-based Sanitizer Dispensing Unit: Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi along with HPO 1, using its expertise in mist technology for fire suppression, has developed automatic mist-based sanitizer dispensing unit. It is a contactless sanitizer dispenser which sprays alcohol-based hand rub sanitizer solution for sanitising hands while entering the buildings/office complexes, etc. It is based on water mist aerator technology, which was developed for water conservation.
UV Sanitisation Box and Hand-held UV device: Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS) and Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), DRDO laboratories in Delhi have designed and developed Ultraviolet 63 C Light-based sanitisation box and handheld UV-C (ultraviolet light with wavelength 254 nanometres) device. The UV-C consists of a shorter, more energetic wavelength of light. It is particularly good at destroying genetic material in COVID-19. The radiation warps the structure of the RNA, which prevents the viral particles from making more copies of themselves. The UV-C kills microbes quickly. Sanitisation of the items by employing UV-C light avoids the harmful effects of two chemicals used for disinfection. This is environment friendly and is a contact-free, effective sanitisation method. The UV-C box is designed for disinfecting personal belongings like mobile phones, tablets, purse, currency, the cover of office files, etc.
DRDO developed equipment for effective sanitisation of public spaces
In the continuing quest for developing indigenous solutions to combat the Coronavirus Pandemic, the DRDO is ready with technologies for sanitising areas of different sizes. The Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi has developed two configurations of sanitising equipment. These are spinoffs from technologies developed for fire suppression applications.
Portable Backpack Area Sanitisation Equipment: CFEES, with the help of its industry partner, has developed portable sanitisation equipment for spraying decontamination solution consisting of one per cent Sodium Hypochlorite (Hypo) solution for sanitisation of the suspected area. The portable system can be mounted as a backpack and can be carried by the operations personnel. This system incorporates low-pressure twin fluid (air & disinfectant liquid) technology to generate very fine mist. The system is capable of disinfecting up to 300 square metre area. The application areas can include hospital reception, doctors’ chambers, office spaces dealing with the general public, corridors, pathways, metro and railway stations, bus stations, etc.
Trolley-mounted Large Area Sanitisation Equipment: The system incorporates low-pressure single fluid (disinfectant liquid) technology generating very fine mist. It is capable of disinfecting up to 3,000 square metres of area. It has a tank capacity of 50 litres and has a lancing (throw) distance of 12-15 metres. This is useful for disinfecting hospitals, malls, airports, metro stations, isolation areas, quarantine centres and high-risk residential areas.
DRDO develops herbal sanitizer, sanitizing wipes, hand towels and herbal shwas
Alcohol is main ingredient of widely available sanitizers; however alcohol has harsh drying effect on skin. Prolonged use of hydrogen peroxide causes peeling and loosing of the skin. Keeping this in view a HERBO-SAFE herbal sanitizer, has been developed containing 70% Isopropyl alcohol that helps in killing 99.9% microbes. It has 2% aloevera extract to neutralize harsh drying effects of alcohols on skin. Hydrogen peroxide has been replaced with natural bio-active extracts such as neem extract, lemon extract, tree tea oil etc. exhibiting anti-microbial and anti-viral effects owing to presence of bio-active compounds.This is produced in gel form also. This herbal sanitizer has been infused in wipes (box packing) and towels (individual packing) for usage by doctors and as travel companion. Liquid Infusion per wipe of size 100 x 50 mm is about 4-5 ml until completely wet. Seventy to hundred small circular wipes of 60-100 mm in diameter are packed per container. These are infused with 20-25 ml or until completely wet. Herbal Shwas is a Spray used for disinfecting masks for immunity boosting.
Personnel sanitization disinfectant life enhancer developed by DRDO
High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL) has developed a hydrogen peroxidebased disinfectant with additives referred to as PerSan Enhancer (RTU) [RTU = Ready to use, no dilution required]. The major ingredient of the enhancer is distilled/RO water, free of suspended matter. Hydrogen peroxide is the active ingredient which is 6-7 times more effective in microbicidal activity than hypochlorite in liquid form. It is well reported that in vapour phase the microbicidal efficiency of hydrogen peroxide is further enhanced, especially in aerosol form. The composition of disinfectant solution has been optimized in association with National Chemical Laboratory, Pune. The disinfectant solution contains 0.25% hydrogen peroxide with additives in distilled or RO water. The disinfectant fog deployed for 15 seconds is found to be effective against all the microbes.
Portable UVC Killer
Portable Ultra Violet C-band (UVC) virus killer system is developed by Laser Science and Technology Centre (LASTEC), Delhi to disinfect various objects by inactivating bacteria and viruses 99.9999%. The device uses UVC Lamp of 254 nm wavelength as excitation source. Irradiance of 0.5 mW/cm² is created over the object for 2 minutes delivering a UVC dose of maximum 60 mJ/ cm² (required 40 mJ/ cm² to achieve 99.9999% inactivation). The system is very compact having dimensions 48 cm x 38 cm x 23 cm and weight of 6 kg only. It can sanitize office files, letters/envelops, laptop etc. As a safety feature UV light turns OFF once the top cover is open. The user can do monitoring through acrylic window provided on side.
UVC-based sanitization enclosure
An enclosure having rotating platform is developed by LASTEC, Delhi, to provide uniform UV exposure and sanitization of packets, bags, briefcases, purses, medical accessories, etc. The system uses UVC radiation (254 nm) and delivers total output power of 180 Watt through 6 tubes so fitted to give full coverage on the item. UVC reflective walls further enhance the irradiance. The virus can be inactivated within less than 3 minute (99.99%). A timer knob is provided for variable sanitization time (pre-setting). The system has auto switch-off feature of the UVC lamp while the door is open. Further, a front acrylic window has been provided for seethrough vision. The enclosure has dimensions of 1650(H) × 676(D) × 763(W) mm and provides total sanitization area of 0.809 m2 .The product has been made commercially available through industry partnership.
N-95 reusable masks
A reusable anti-microbial N95 fabric mask has been designed and developed by the Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bengaluru. The mask is an offshoot of the previously developed NBC Respiratory Mask to protect the respiratory tract and face of the individual against chemical and biological warfare agents. 23 The mask covers the nasal, mouth and chin portion of the face. It provides reliable respiratory protection of at least 95% filtration efficiency against airborne particles and liquid contaminating the face. The mask is impervious to particles of dimension 0.3 microns and above. The outer layer of the mask is made of anti-microbial fabric and the intermediate layer is the filter layer. The skin-contacting layer is fine quality cotton and the active functional layer is secured in a cotton sleeve. The mask is provided with metal nose strip for grip and elastic tape for comfortable fitment. The filter is replaceable after use and the mask can withstand 10-20 washes. The mask is being bulk produced through industry.
Versatile body sanitization kiosk (VerBSak)
High Energy Materials Research Laboratory (HEMRL), Pune has made a Kiosk for COVID-19 Sample collection. It is made up of fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP) having chamber 0.9m x 0.9m x 2m with a single door. Provision for collection of COVID-19 samples has been provided from outside as well as from inside. One of the walls has been made of transparent glass/ polycarbonate on which a pair of long cuff gloves can be assembled. The design enables assembly of the chamber in few hours and is easy to shift from one place to another. It is equipped with a fog generator of capacity of about 5-6 L/hr. Audio and video system for communication between patient and medical staff collecting sample is also provided. In the diagnostic centres and hospitals, the suspected patient can be made to enter the kiosk and sit comfortably thereby isolating him from the medical staff. The kiosk enables health workers/doctors to collect the samples of the patients using the long cuffs from outside without the need of PPE kits.With small modifications it can be used for individual disinfection in different premises like restaurants, food and medical industry, etc. The fog generator used in VerBSaK is an ultrasonic transducerbased humidifier that generates fog of 1 to 5 μm aerosols. The fog generator operates for 30-50s for sanitization during which the chamber gets completely sanitized. After preset time, the fog generation automatically stops with a buzzing sound.
Crowd temperature monitoring system
A crowd temperature monitoring system has been developed using expertise in infrared imaging for missile applications. A DRDO lab, in collaboration with an industry partner, has innovated and developed algorithms for thermography in outdoor conditions. Advanced face detection techniques have been used over thermal images. The system consists of a thermal camera and a desktop/laptop computer. Artificial Neural Network, trained with a very large in-house thermal database, allows face recognition directly on the running video from the IR thermal camera. A large number of people can be thermally profiled outdoors without disturbing their movements. Persons showing more than pre-set thermal threshold can be earmarked, recorded and real-time inputs can be given to authorities. The first system developed by DRDO using its hardware and software resources has already been deployed at the Hyderabad-based laboratory. Test results show that the system can be used in indoor environments as well as in areas where a large number of people may have to gather/move regularly.
Acoustic Throat Infection Analyser (ATIA)
Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi has developed a Throat Infection Analyser (ATIA) using acoustic data processing techniques used in defence applications. The ATIA aims to detect upper respiratory tract infections by non-invasive means of acoustic scanning of word(s) spoken by a person. It has been proven that the COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) virus infection develops initially in upper respiratory tract and detection of infection may give early information even before symptoms like fever etc. develops. For day-to-day office work, this could give non-contact screening of personnel entering an establishment. Initially using a microphone connected to computer/mobile etc. voice samples for healthy person are recorded as per SOP and added in the data base. The recorded data is subjected to acoustic analysis techniques. For carrying out the analysis, signal processing techniques such as Spectrum analysis, Tonal analysis, Modulation and Phase analysis, Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) analysis are carried out to generate results for a person. At any point of time, live voice samples of a person can be compared with the database and distortion in voice due to throat infection is easily captured. The technique can have potential applications in hospitals/clinics, industries/offices and also in overall pandemic management. However, initial recording of voice samples is required.
Automatic mist-based sanitizer dispensing unit
Indigenous device for touch-free disinfection of hands is developed to deliver sanitizer mist as long as hand(s) are kept below the delivery nozzle. A single fluid nozzle with low flow rate is used to generate aerated mist, which provides full coverage to both hands with few ml quantity of sanitizer. The quick response of the sensor not only ensures timely delivery of the sanitizer mist but also reduces the wastage to almost zero. More than 1000 persons can sanitize their hands in one refill. Two variants of 2- and 5-litre capacity have been developed and tested. Industrial partner has been identified for mass production and the tentative cost of the equipment (5 litre) is Rs. 5000 per unit.
Single Outlet Automated Resuscitator (SOAR)
An Assistive Breathing Device is developed called Single Outlet Automated Resuscitator (SOAR) based on the device developed for Indian Army for use in NBC containment environment. The device is tested in various user trials and can provide respiratory support to COVID-19 patients in the hospital, in transit or patients at home. The system works with the blower/turbine as the source of the breathing air. It is a standalone system which can run on AC/DC/external battery and also by direct pneumatic supply.
Personnel disinfection enclosure (fog based)
A sanitization enclosure called PerSan comprising of a chamber and a fog generator has been developed. The chamber is made from skeleton of steel pipes coated with epoxy or acrylic paint/powder or of UPVC pipes. The structure is covered except the openings for entry and exit portions, using polythene film of 200-240μm, those normally used in poly-houses. The two openings, for entry and exit, are closed with either strip curtains or shower curtains. The assembly of the chamber is such that the base of the chamber is 1m x 1m and the height is 7 ft. The design enables assembly of the chamber in few hours. It is equipped with two fog generators of capacity of about 3L/ hr or single fog generator of capacity 5-6L/hr. The fog generator is an ultrasonic transducerbased humidifier that generates fog of 1 to 5 μm aerosols. The system has important features, like, in-built reservoir tank for storage, solenoid valve with liquid level sensor for replenishment of the liquid in fog generation tank from the reservoir tank, IR (proximity) sensor in the power supply circuit of the fog generator, time selector for setting of time for fog generation from 15s to 1 minute, etc. The fog generation tank dimensions has been optimised to produce maximum fog. It uses more than 95% indigenous components.
FOGG sanitizer – Disinfection of room/chamber
A fogg sanitizer in which disinfection will be done with Hydrogen Peroxide (H2 O2 ) in a lowpressure, low temperature, nontoxic process has been developed. It uses vaporized H2 O2 to reduce the level of infectious agents. H2 O2 is strong oxidant and can be used as potent broadspectrum germicide. It belongs to the category of High-Level Disinfection (HLD). Disinfectants of this level kill all vegetative microorganisms, mycobacteria, lipid and nonlipid viruses, fungal spores, and some bacterial spores. It is safer than chlorine. The rooms/closed chambers may be disinfected as per the validated protocol.
MEDIDOOT – Medical Trolley
Medidoot medical trolley is designed to supply critical items – food, cloth and medicine to the patients infected with contagions like the present SARS-CoV-2 in the isolated wards, thereby reducing the exposure of doctors and other healthcare staff to the infected area/patients. 26 The trolley is remotely operated by a trained person to carry medical supplies to the designated patient in a remote location. It has closed enclosures to prevent cross contamination of the supplies and should be able to open only by the operator remotely. There is a provision of two-way audio visual interaction between the patients and the medical team through the screen and microphone running either on Wi-Fi or standalone cellular network. It has the capability to sense obstacles and stop automatically in order to take care of the operational errors. The trolley is provided with an alarm to alert the patients when it reaches the destination. It has in-built short circuit protection mechanism for patient safety. Pilot light is provided to alert the people that the device is in operation and a battery charge level indicator is provided in the interface console. The trolley can be easily sanitized (Dry/Wet) post operation without removal of any of the components and hot swapping of the battery is possible for continuous operation of the trolley.
SAMMUKH - DRDO video conferencing solution on internet
The video conferencing (VC) facility is provided for DRDO community to meet the requirement of uninterrupted working. This VC facility has been setup in DRDO premises and is named as SAMMUKH. The Sammukh VC server is placed at DRDO HQ running on Ubuntu (ver 18.04) and hosted on secured domain name as https://vc1.drdo.in. The server is physically protected. It is based on WebRTC video-conference and uses modern XMPP communication server for high performance audio-video conferencing. Reverse Proxy Nginx is configured for Authentication and Videobridge, i.e., an SFU server manages all conference media streams. The VC Traffic is under control and do not go outside DRDO. Three-tier independent Access control/authentication have been provided, which are Website Access, VC Room Creation and 27 Room Entry Password. A firewall is implemented to protect the system from cyber-attacks. Other security and encryption features have also been used to make it safe. The gives HD quality video, lossless audio, supports more than 100 participants, provides private meeting rooms, screen share option and chat box for the participants. The controls (Mike, Speaker, and Video) have been provided in user friendly manner. Security assessment of Sammukh has been done by SAG, DRDO with complete Source Code Analysis and independent VA/PT has been carried out by Advisor Cyber. Detailed SOP has also been issued by DRDO.
Drone-based surveillance system
An unmanned aerial vehicle (Drone) has been configured for surveillance of COVID-19 hotspots and containment zones to ensure strict compliance of lockdown guidelines in densely populated areas, where streets are too narrow for motorised patrolling and police personnel are susceptible to infection in case of manual patrolling. The system has been developed in collaboration with an industrial partner from Greater Noida. The size of the drone is 2.5 ft x 2.5 ft and the weight is less than 3kg. It can be remotely operated through a hand-held tablet. It can fly up to 60 m and has a range of 3 km with the capability of way point navigation. It is equipped with a public announcement system and an onboard video camera for recording and broadcasting real-time video feed to the control room. The controlling software of the drone has built-in artificial intelligence tools for decision-making. The UAV automatically returns to its home location in case of any communication failure. The system has been demonstrated to the Chandigarh Police in the containment zone of Bapu Dham Colony, which has become a major hotspot of COVID-19 positive cases in Chandigarh. The system can act as a force multiplier for the law enforcement agencies, who have been a frontline warrior in this battle against the global pandemic.
DIAT develops a microwave sterilizer to disintegrate Coronaviruses
Defence Institute of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Pune, a deemed university supported by DRDO has developed a microwave sterilizer named ATULYA to disintegrate COVID-19 causative agent. The virus gets disintegrated by differential heating in the range of 560o C to 600o C temperature. The product is a cost-effective solution, which can be operated in portable or fixed installations. This system was tested for human/ operator safety and has been found to be safe. Depending upon the size and shape of various objects, time of sterilisation is from 30 seconds to one minute. Approximate weight of the system is three kg and it can be used for nonmetallic objects only
AI-based Contactless Attendance System
Research Centre Imarat (RCI) Hyderabad, a national DRDO Laboratory, has developed an AI-based Attendance Application (AINA) that allows non-contact-based personnel verification using facial features of the person. The need is felt due to COVID-19 pandemic which made it unsafe to use contactbased biometric verification. 22 Existing CCTV cameras can be utilized for capturing facial images. Facial features of several thousands of employees can be stored in the computer as facial features of each employee are encoded in a small (less than 25 KB) file. The system is scalable since the time for identification and verification for each person remains constant, even as the number of registered personnel increases. It is secure because it works as a standalone system and does not require internet, since only the facial features are saved in encoded form and the actual face images need not be saved, thereby ensuring privacy and security. Moreover, the server for storing the facial feature database is placed within the organisation’s premises. AINA can be deployed with minimal upgradation to the legacy attendance infrastructure with RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) readers. It has a lightweight installation process and can be installed on a normal desktop computer with a GPU-based display adapter. It comes with a very intuitive and user-friendly GUI.
DRDO Newsletter enlists initiatives by its laboratories extending helping hand in fight against COVID-19
DRDO is the apex body of research related to defence technologies in India. It publishes a monthly newsletter to communicate regularly with its stakeholders, subscribers and target audience, covering the significant happenings in the organisation in last one month. It is in its 40th year of publication. DRDO has been in forefront of fight against COVID-19 since its detection in India. The premier R&D organisation has innovated and configured many products required immediately to control the pandemic from its existing arsenal of technologies and experience. These ingenious efforts have led to the development of many mitigation solutions, which have been passed on to the industry for mass production. Some of the products developed by DRDO to enhance operations and to control spread of the infection have been covered in the newsletter. Even as DRDO labs are engaged in providing technological solutions and have developed a number of mitigation products many of its labs are engaged in providing help to local administration in combat against COVID-19.
Contact Info: director@desidoc.drdo.in
DRDO-NPOL develops UV-based Baggage Disinfector
Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi, has developed a facility for disinfecting passenger baggage and installed it at Cochin International Airport Ltd (CIAL). The facility consists of two cubic enclosures fixed on to the existing airside conveyors at CIAL, with a configuration of UV lights so placed as to illuminate the volume to the maximum. The UV circuitry was established by NPOL as per the required dosage, intensity and exposure, while ensuring sufficient protection of the baggage handling personnel. It is being ensured that the baggage gets disinfected even before it reaches the Customs area.
Shoe and Driveway Sanitizer
Shoes have high potential of spreading virus from one place to another. In COVID wards 65% of shoes are found to be infected by Coronavirus. Similarly, car tyres also get potentially highly infective. Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi has innovated a solution to prevent the spread of coronavirus through shoes and car tyres. This solution is kept on PVC mat with threading to retain the moisture. Artificial grass is the second choice. Rubber and Coir mats are however not suitable. A 150 ppm sodium hypochlorite gel is used as the disinfectant which has advantages of enhanced stability, better moisture retention and non-chlorine composition. This leaves minimum footprint which can be wiped off easily. For cars, 200 ppm solution can be used. Continuing bacteriology tests have shown 2-log scale kill effect and it is safer to handle compared to alternative solutions.
Operating precaution: It is recommended that the gel should be stored in glass/HDPEgrade plastic bottles and 50 ml gel is to be applied per sq ft using gloves and hands to be washed immediately after handling the gel. One batch of solution can be used for 15 cars/two hours. The mats may require running water wash every 2 hours. No damage is observed to shoes or tyres after 20-hrs dip. These can be deployed at the entrance of main office buildings, door of office rooms, rooms frequented by crowds like cafeteria and meeting rooms, home entrances etc.
Ultra Swachh – Disinfection of PPE’s and Other Materials
INMAS, Delhi has developed a Disinfection Unit named Ultra Swachh to disinfect a wide range of materials, including PPEs, electronics items, fabrics etc. For disinfection the System uses an advanced oxidative process comprising of multiple barrier disruption approach using Ozonated Space Technology. The System is double layered with specialized ozone sealant technology assuring trapping of ozone for the necessary disinfection cycle. It also has catalytic converter to ensure environment friendly exhaust, i.e., only oxygen and water. It is in compliance with International Standards of Industrial, Occupational, Personal and Environmental Safety. Ultra Swachh comes in two variants, namely, Ozonated Space and Trinetra Technology. Trinetra technology is the combination of Ozonated Space and Radical Dispenser. The treatment is optimized with automation for quick disinfection cycle. The System operates on 15 Amp, 220 V, 50 Hz power supply. It has been provided with various safety features such as emergency shutdown, door interlocks, dual door, delay cycle, and leak monitors etc. to ensure safe operations for longer duration. Dimensions of the industrial cabinet are 7’ X 4’ X 3.25’ to disinfect large quantity at a time. Cabinets of different sizes will be available for the industry. It has been developed with industry partner M/s Gel Craft Healthcare Private Ltd, Ghaziabad.
Parakh: Mobile BSL 3 Laboratory for COVID Samples Testing
Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) Mysore, pursuing the mission to support corona warriors, has developed this quick response asset to deal the situation arising due to contagious diseases including COVID-19 pandemic. The Laboratory stationed on mobile platform has been named PARAKH. It provides unidirectional airflow and gradient negative room pressure with class III Biosaftey cabinet (BSC) for entry and safe processing of clinical samples. The viral inactivation and first 2 steps of viral lysis of RNA extraction are performed inside the BSC assuring personnel protection. The lab facility is built on ISO 20 feet dry container and mounted on a chassis for mobility. The exhaust air being HEPA (high efficiency particulate air) filtered, satisfies Class 10,000 or ISO7 air quality. Complete Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning (HVAC) is used to maintain desired unidirectional airflow and room pressure gradients of negative pressure as compared to the ambience. The ingress of the samples is done in a safe way through a specifically designed dynamic pass box (as shown in the picture here) for direct delivery inside the Class III bio-safety cabinet for safe sample processing. The facilities in the Lab include clean air workstation, cold chain for storing the reagents and samples, provision for treatment of liquid effluents, safe storage of solid biohazard wastes and decontamination by autoclaving. Further, provision for storing and donning PPEs, storage for used aprons, emergency body shower and eye wash etc. have been provided. The Lab setup has necessary captive and raw power supply, space for sufficient fuel and water provisions and thus can be easily transported by road and deployed at the site of emergency as per the requirement. Air bellow suspension has been used to reduce the vibration during transport and air compressor for inflating tyres.The lab has been provided with Real-Time PCR detection platform specifically for COVID-19 testing. Medical Professional can easily and safely handle and preserve samples from disease outbreaks or during surveillance. The interior view of the mobile containment laboratory showing here are the Class III biosafety cabinet, real time PCR, PCR workstation, pass box, -20 degree Celsius freezer, refrigerator and incubator. Real time PCR provided for COVID-19 screening from clinical samples can test about 300 samples per day. The Lab has been handed over to Viral Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) of Mysore Medical College and Research Institute (the sole authorised COVID-19 testing facility in the Mysore region) to enhance their testing capability.
Multipurpose Door Opener Tool
In day-to-day life, the usage of objects such as door handles, cupboard handles, key pads of lifts, ATM kiosk key pads, computer keyboards etc. can become means of spread of the COVID-19 virus. It is very difficult to ensure continuous sanitization of these common objects. To combat this Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL) has designed a multipurpose door opener tool using 3D printing process and thermoplastic material. It is an ergonomically designed, compact and very handy tool to provide touch free operation of most of the commonly used objects such as door handles. This tool is made up of two parts: a hook and a cover. The hook is designed considering the common sizes of door handles. The hook also has a tip to operate the key pads at ATMs, lifts and keyboards. The cover is designed to accommodate thin layer of felt or tissue to sanitize the tool when closed. Hence, it will be safe to handle the tool for frequent use. M/S Sanjay Technoplast Pvt. Ltd, Pune has been identified as the industry partner and knowhow for production in large numbers have been provided to them.
DRDO developed multi-probe thermal scanner
Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi, one of the major R&D laboratories of DRDO has developed a multi-probe thermal scanner. The multi-probe thermal scanner provides a rapid means to measure the temperature of people for detecting people with fever. The unit consists of a fixed non-contact IR probe which measures temperature on the forehead and four thermistorbased contact type probe, which can detect the body temperature by placing the tip on the midarm or forehead region. The contact probes are separated from the processing unit by means of a long cable. The processing unit displays the temperature, and based on the same, highlights whether the person is normal or feverish. These can be used in place of the thermal scanners, as they provide for instantaneous ‘GO/NO GO’ type segregation, unlike conventional thermometers. The kit has high accuracy with a very short response time.
DRDO develops paper disinfector for rapid sanitization of paper sheets & envelopes
NPOL, Kochi, has also developed a paper disinfector to meet the imminent need to disinfect daily paper-based items entering an establishment. The device consists of two foldable halves -- an upper lid and a lower lid. To disinfect various paper-based items entering the establishment at the security office or the central registry, like entry passes, tender documents, bills etc., the item is placed in between the two lids and then heated. Heating is done by means of special thermal cloth with embedded heating wire of selected resistivity. Paper/envelopes up to A4 size can be disinfected using the device.
DRDO designs and develops Econo-WISK
The Walk-In Swab Collection Kiosk (WISK) is a solution for health workers involved in COVID-19 management. An Econo-WISK has been developed by DRDO which is a very cost-effective and easyto-transport variant of WISK. It also mitigates ergonomics issues like stress points, limited access and bad postures. The Econo-WISK is designed as an assembly of durable rexine and transparent plastic sheet over an easy-to-assemble frame made of square tubes of mild steel. There is a wooden base with linoleum sheet as well as detachable table outside the kiosk. The product is easy to assemble at site and has better internal air circulation scheme. The product has been designed considering Indian anthropometric parameters, thereby enhancing the ergonomics.
DRDO lab develops automated UV systems to sanitise electronic gadgets, papers and currency notes
Hyderabad-based premier lab of DRDO, Research Centre Imarat (RCI), has developed an automated contactless UVC sanitisation cabinet, called Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitiser (DRUVS). It has been designed to sanitise mobile phones, iPads, laptops, currency notes, cheque leafs, challans, passbooks, paper, envelopes, etc.
DRUVS cabinet: The cabinet is having contactless operation which is very important to contain the spread of virus. The proximity sensor switches, clubbed with drawer opening and closing mechanism, makes its operation automatic and contactless. It provides 360 degree exposure of UVC to the objects placed inside the cabinet. Once the sanitisation is done, the system goes in sleep mode hence the operator need not wait or stand near the device.
NOTESCLEAN: The RCI has also developed an automated UVC currency sanitising device, called NOTESCLEAN. Bundles of currency notes can be sanitised using DRUVS; however, disinfection of each currency notes using it will be a time consuming process. For that purpose, a sanitising technique has been developed, where one has to just place the loose currency notes at the input slot of the device. It picks the notes one by one and makes them pass through a series of UVC lamps for complete disinfection.
Patenting of Innovative Low Cost PPE developed by Indian Navy paves way for Rapid Mass Production
DRDO tests the PPE developed by Indian Navy and clears for production of the same. The sample was tested at INMAS of DRDO and clearance was given for production. Indian Navy developed Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and a patent has been successfully filed by the Intellectual Property Facilitation Cell (IPFC) of Ministry of Defence, in association with National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), an enterprise under Ministry of Science & Technology. 20 The low cost PPE has been developed by a doctor of Indian Navy, posted at the recently created Innovation Cell at Institute of Naval Medicine (INM), Mumbai. A pilot batch of PPEs has already been produced at Naval Dockyard Mumbai. The PPE developed by the Navy is made of a special fabric which affords high level of protection along with high ‘breathability’ as against other PPEs available in the market and is therefore more suitable for use in hot and humid weather conditions as prevalent in India. The technology has also been tested and validated by ICMR-approved Testing Lab. Concerted efforts are now ongoing by a core team of Navy, IPFC and NRDC to commence mass production of this low cost PPE. Eligible firms are being identified by NRDC for taking up licensed production of the PPEs on a fast track. A significant and urgent requirement in the fight against the Coronavirus is the need to equip our frontline healthcare professionals with comfortable PPEs, which can be produced indigenously at an affordable cost without much capital investment. The firms/start-ups interested to take up licensed production may approach cmdnrdc@nrdcindia.com. The team of innovators from Navy is working in close coordination with IPFC which was set up under Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti. Since its launch in November 2018, around 1500 IP assets have been created under this Mission.
DRDO develops UV Disinfection Tower for rapidly disinfecting infection-prone areas
DRDO has developed an Ultra Violet (UV) Disinfection Tower for rapid and chemical-free disinfection of high infection-prone areas.The equipment named UV blaster is a UV-based area sanitizer designed and developed by Laser Science & Technology Centre (LASTEC), the Delhibased premier laboratory of DRDO with the help of M/s New Age Instruments and Materials Private Limited, Gurugram. UV Blaster is useful for high-tech surfaces like electronic equipment, computers and other gadgets in laboratories and offices that are not suitable for disinfection with chemical methods. The product is also effective for areas with large flow of people such as airports, shopping malls, metros, hotels, factories, offices, etc. The UV-based area sanitizer may be used by remote operation through laptop/mobile phone using Wi-Fi link. The equipment has six lamps, each with 43 watts of UV-C power at 254 nm wavelength for 360 degree illumination. For a room of about 12 x 12 feet dimension, the disinfection time is about 10 minutes and 30 minutes for 400 square feet area by positioning the equipment at different places within the room. This sanitizer switches off on accidental opening of room or human intervention. One more salient safety feature of the product is the key-to-arm operation.
INMAS, DRDO testing samples of PPE Body Coverall for COVID-19
Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi has been authorized for laboratory testing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Body Coverall samples for COVID-19, submitted by prospective manufacturers in India. A Synthetic Blood Penetration Resistance Test is conducted at the laboratory and a test report is issued for the same by INMAS. As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, for implementing Quality Control Mechanism, the test sample is being accepted.
DRDO shoe sanitizer for prevention of spread of viruses
It has been proved beyond doubt that shoes are one of the main causes of spread of the viruses, from the streets to homes, offices and hospitals. Within COVID wards, 65% of samples from shoes worn by the healthcare staff showed presence of Coronavirus. The device consists of a dividing thread separating the portion of the mat to be sprinkled with chemical (initial 1.5 ft) and the larger portion will be used as such for shoe wiping purpose (distant 2 ft). A 0.015% Sodium hypochlorite gel was created to enhance the efficacy (due to retained moisture and free chlorine), with optimised stability and chlorine retention. The gel does not stick to the shoes or the mat and leave minimal imprint that can be wiped off easily. The design of the mat is chosen to maximize the effect and to ensure that shoe sanitization and shoe cleaning can be done by the same mat.
INMAS develops Prediction Modelling for COVID-19 spread based on modified SEIR Model
Institute of Nuclear Medicine and Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi has developed modified version of Susceptible Exposed Infectious Recovered (SEIR) model to assess the effectiveness of various measures since the outbreak of COVID-19. The INMAS-modified SEIR model introduces multi-timeline partitioned approach to deal with the times series data containing various levels of social distancing measures. This allows the estimation of COVID-19’s measures such as protection rate, infection rate, average incubation time, average quarantine time, and mortality rate separately. The model was deployed for prediction of the COVID-19 trend on 5 April, 2020. Performance of predicting Total, Active, Recovered and Death cases of COVID-19: The model takes the time series data from the official MoHFW website as the input parameters. It takes the data pertaining to total infection, total active, total recovered and total death cases. The model provided detail prediction report since 5 April, 2020. The variation in predicted total infection, total death and basic reproduction number (R0) is very less and average accuracy has been more than 98.5% since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic in India. The model has the ability to estimate the impact of 28 epidemic spread on different age group populations. This is very useful in predicting the safety mechanism to be employed for every age group in the society.
Application for Civil Society: The model is perfectly capable of handling the prediction of any other pandemic in the future. It can be deployed to the civil health organisations and allow them to feed the data on daily basis for them to understand their local health situations. The Model can also be integrated with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and ICMR database and provide them various data mining features to understand the current situation of the health status in the country. The Model also enables the users to vary various pandemic parameters such as protection rate, infection rate, average incubation time, average quarantine time, and mortality rate and estimate the future spread of the pandemic. This will be very useful to the health professionals to be prepared for any adverse events in the future. The model has been developed within existing facilities of INMAS and hence does not require any additional funding. The deployment of existing model to any other organisation requires maximum of a week’s time after the basic information about their hosting platform is informed to INMAS.
DRDO develops KAVASAM software for COVID-19 tracking and resource allocation
The KAVASAM software developed by Combat Vehicle Research Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi, Ministry of Defence empowers for efficient and effective collection of data. This unique framework provides useful guidance in the current COVID-19 pandemic scenario for tracking and resource allocation thereby identifying and suppressing the COVID-19 pandemic. The KAVASAM Software framework consists of web-based application for supervision and approval by the Admin and Epicentre head. Two android apps, one for the team leader and health workers and another for patient, have been developed. It also facilitates field-level data collection and efficient monitoring. A four-level resource allocation framework hierarchy has been identified as super-admin, epicentre-head, team-leader and health-worker.
Indian Navy makes in-house Portable Oxygen Multi-feeder that can cater to six patients together
Indian Navy has made a unique in-house portable oxygen multifeeder that can cater to six patients, at the same time, suffering from COVID-19. Dubbed as the Portable Multi-feed Oxygen Manifold, the device can be used for six patients from a single oxygen cylinder
Negative Pressure Inflatable Isolation Shelter for ten occupants
Defence Bio-engineering and Electro Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bengaluru has developed a Negative Pressure Shelter intended for isolating and treating the patients without the risk of spreading the contamination to others. This system is suitable for isolating COVID-19 patients since the system is based on negative pressure and the materials used have passed Synthetic Blood Penetration Test. The system consists of negative pressurebased Air Handling Unit and Inflatable Multiple Chambers. The system has five Air Sterilizer Units and ducts are uniformly distributed to provide filtered air. It covers a total area of 29 approximately 1000 sq ft and is manufactured out of two-layer water and airproof fabric. The structure has separate rooms for decontamination and medical waste and equipped with modular rest rooms and is illuminated with sufficient light throughout. Production Industry: M/s Sure Safety (India) Ltd., Vadodara. Production Capacity: 20 to 25 Units per month.
Anywhere erectable isolation shelters
Research & Development Establishment (Engrs.) (R&DE) (E), Pune has developed various shelters, green power sources, chemical toilets and quick erectable medical complex under various projects related to field-defence and CBRN protection. These products with minor modifications/customisation can be utilized for activities pertaining to containment of COVID-19. R&DE (E) has also established the industry partners who are capable and willing to take up product ionisation of these items to meet the emergent requirements. These products will be useful especially in the remote locations, where there is no medical/electrical facility available.
The products in standalone mode and as integrated system are:
Standalone Shelter: Three-bed Quarantine Shelter, Quick erectable 3-bed shelter with power connection. Accessories (optional): Fan, Light, 3 Beds & Buckets. It can be used as extension of city hospital to accommodate patients. Approximate Cost: Rs. 1 lakh, Production Capability: 10 per day.
Medical Examination Shelter with Green Power Source: This metallic structure with waterproof fabric shelter is of size 12’x12’x9’ and can be utilised for medical examination and check up of suspected COVID-19 patients. This shelter can be erected within 1 hr with 4 persons. It Includes an in-built green energy power source up to 1.5 KW for 24x7 operations. It is a ready–to-use setup along with all essential electrical devices and gadgets. One bed, table chair and other essential accessories will be housed in this shelter. This can be easily used in remote and field areas. This can also be used as remote monitoring and control centre. Approximate Cost: Rs. 4.5 lakh . Production Capability: 10 per day. Shelter of size 14’x14’x9’ can be utilized as a quarantine shelter for two patients. This shelter will have essential electrical gadgets, 2 beds, tables and other minimum accessories. This facility can be deployed within 2 hrs time with 6 persons. Approximate Cost: Rs. 1.5 Lakh. Production Capability: 10 per day.
Four-bed Quarantine Module: Shelter of size 20’x20’x9’ can be utilised as quarantine shelter for four patients. This shelter will have essential electrical gadgets, 4 beds, tables and other minimum accessories. This facility can be deployed within 3 hrs time with 6 persons. Approximate Cost: Rs 2.5 lakh. Production Capability: 10 per day.
Inflatable Shelter Module: The shelter can be utilized as quarantine centre ward for 10 patients. It can be erected in one hour with team of 10 personnel. This has in-built toilet module. Approximate Cost: Rs. 10 lakhs. Production Capacity: 5 per month.
Integrated Medical Complex: This will be a genset-powered, quickly deployable, airconditioned medical facility suitable for remote locations. It has the capacity to accommodate 16 patients. This has in-built toilet modules. Approximate Cost: Rs. 30 lakhs. In this way many combinations of these shelters can be worked out to scale the facilities.
Medical Oxygen Plant (MOP)
The Medical Oxygen Plant (MOP) is a technology which is an offshoot of the On-Board Oxygen Generation System (OBOGS) project for medical grade oxygen generation on-board Tejas fighter aircraft. It utilises Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) technique and molecular sieve technology to generate oxygen directly from atmospheric air. This is approved by safety certification agency CEMILAC. The oxygen generator components have been developed by DEBEL and the technology has been transferred to a Coimbatore-based firm. The technology is being used to install oxygen plants on some of the army sites on North East and LehLadhakh Region. This plant will be useful to provide oxygen supply during corona pandemic in hospitals in urban and rural areas. Installation of MOP helps in avoiding hospitals’ dependency of scarce oxygen cylinders, especially at high altitude and inaccessible remote areas. Its benefits include reduced logistics of transporting cylinders to these areas, low cost, continuous and reliable oxygen supply available round the clock. The facility can be used for filling the cylinders in addition to direct installations at the hospitals.
Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitizer (DRUVS)
Research Centre Imarat (RCI) has developed a UV-C Sanitizer cabinet called DRUVS (Defence Research Ultraviolet Sanitizer) which is useful for sanitizing objects without using chemicals. It has fail-safe design in which the UV cannot be switched on if the cabinet drawer is in open condition. It has a touch-free automatic operation. It has total irradiation of 9000 µWatt/cm2 (Calculated value). It gives 360-degree exposure and it is Ozone free.
Paper Disinfector
To meet the imminent need to disinfect daily paperbased items entering an establishment, a product called Paper Disinfector is developed at Naval Physical & Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL), Kochi. Paper/envelopes up to A4 size can be disinfected using this device. It consists of two foldable halves - an upper lid and a lower lid. To disinfect various paper-based items entering the establishment at the security office or at the central registry, like entry passes, DAK, tender documents, currency notes etc., the operating person lifts the upper lid and asks the incoming visitor to place the item on the lower lid and then closes the upper lid. The paperbased item is heated in between the two lids. Heating is done by means of Nichrome wire of selected resistivity which is placed inside a glass wool/mica sleeve and sandwiched on a conductive cloth and further wrapped in velvet for retention of heat. Two such sets of heating pads are used; one fixed on the bottom of the upper lid and the other on the top surface of the lower lid. The system draws electrical power of approximately 120 Watts and has controls including ON/OFF switch and indicators, fuse and timer control. There are different operation modes for the type of item like paper, currency, envelope etc. depending on the settings for temperature and exposure time.
Automated Luggage Disinfector using UV bath
NPOL has designed a kiosk using UV bath which can disinfect the baggage or other objects being carried inside. This system can be used for sanitization of luggage entering the campus of industrial establishments/ defence units etc. The same system is planned to be used for disinfection of items being carried onto naval ships and submarines. The system consists of a rollerbased conveyor carriage moving inside a chamber which is configured with UV bath of calibrated dosage. The type of UV used for the purpose is Far-UVC, which according to literature is effective against Coronavirus. The items to be disinfected are carried on the conveyor to the chamber such that there is scanning and sanitization of the item all around the object surface. For maintaining the required exposure of the item to the UV rays on all areas as per required intensity and time for the sanitization process, the movement of the conveyor is 32 automated, along with necessary electrical and mechanical safety interlocks. Although Far-UVC is claimed to be harmless to human beings, sufficient precautionary measures are introduced to prevent leakage of UV beyond the chamber.
Automated system for decontamination of N95 facemasks
DEBEL, Bengaluru has developed an Automated system for decontamination of facemasks. This System works on the principle of ‘Ultraviolet (UV–C) germicidal irradiation for killing the bacteria’ and virus. UV-C radiation is one of the technologies brought out by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vide a report on “Decontamination and Reuse of Filtering Face piece Respirators”.
Portable Backpack Area Sanitization Equipment
Centre for Fire, Explosive and Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi with the help of its industry partner has developed portable sanitization equipment for spraying decontamination solution consisting of 1% Hypochlorite (HYPO) solution for sanitization of open areas. The portable system can be mounted as a backpack and carried by the operations personnel. This system incorporates low pressure twin fluid (air and disinfectant liquid) technology to generate very fine mist. The system is capable of disinfecting an area of up to 300 m2 . The application areas can include hospital reception, doctor chambers, office spaces dealing with general public, corridors, pathways, metro and railway stations, bus stations etc.
Vehicle Sanitization Enclosure
Vehicles Research and Development Establishment (VRDE) conceptualized and established a Vehicle Sanitization Enclosure in about 8 hours within its laboratory premises. It is an indigenous system assembled using locally available material based on the existing 4-men tent (Ordnance Supply). Since it is a very lightweight system with portable canopy, it can be made operational in less than 3 hours. An electrically operated positive displacement pump is utilized to create a disinfectant mist inside the tent canopy through which the vehicles are passed. A separate tank of 500-litre capacity for storage of the disinfectant is used which requires refilling after 200 vehicles are disinfected. The system is noise free and needs 10 minutes 33 break after every 4 hours operation. The system can be utilized at any location including entry location for sanitization of vehicles. Hospitals, army units and administrative offices having high ingress and egress can deploy this system.
Mobile Area Sanitization System
Based on the experience of dust suppression systems for use in deserts, Defence Laboratory, Jodhpur (DLJ) has joined the fight against Covid-19, by developing a ‘Mobile Area Sanitization System’ which uses Sodium Hypochlorite solution to sanitize larger areas. Two variants have been developed, one for outdoor use mounted on a ‘B’ class vehicle and another for indoor use mounted on a battery operated cart. The former can spray to a distance of 6-7 m and the later to 2-3 m. The performance of the system has been demonstrated to Indian Army. At present, six systems have been developed through local industry and delivered to the Indian Army. This will ensure safety and hygiene of the wide area of the wellness centres in and around Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
LMV-mounted Area Sanitization Unit
To sanitize large areas, NPOL has conceptualized a scheme wherein the disinfectant is sprayed on the outdoor surfaces using a kit that is mounted on light motor vehicles (LMV) like cars, SUVs etc. The product consists of a tank of 50 to 100 litres (depending on the size of the vehicle), mounted at the back, and two sprinkler devices attached at the sides of the vehicle. The power for the sprinkler devices are drawn from the 12V DC available in the vehicle. This is a simple and affordable solution since the kit can be easily assembled and disassembled on to the LMVs. Outdoor areas can be sanitized in the lab campus, defence units or industrial establishments etc., besides frequented locations like bus stops, railway parks, roads etc.
Shoe and driveway sanitizer
Shoes have high potential of spreading virus from one place to another. In COVID wards 65% of shoes are found to be infected by Coronavirus. Similarly, car tyres are also be potentially highly infective. Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), Delhi has innovated a solution to prevent the spread of coronavirus through shoes and car tyres. This solution is based on PVC Mat with threading to retain the moisture. Artificial grass is the second choice. However, rubber and coir mats are not suitable. A sodium hypochlorite gel of 150ppm is used as the disinfectant as it has advantages of enhanced stability, better moisture retention and non-chlorine composition. This leaves minimum footprint which can be wiped off easily. For cars 200ppm solution can be used.
Pocket sanitizer and touch sanitizer pen
A pocket sanitizer is developed by INMAS to cater the need of the user for personal sanitization. This device is ergonomically designed such that it is easy to carry in pocket or purse. It has a protection cap that can prevent its accidental usage and a pressbased control is provided for the dispensing of the sanitizer product. The device can be refilled by the user through the refilling site. This pocket spray device is cost effective, easy to handle and has leakproof refillable mechanism. INMAS has also developed a touch sanitizer pen which is preventing the spread through touch of lift buttons, electric switches etc. This touch sanitizer pen is easy to carry in pocket or purse. This pen is cost effective, easy to handle and has refillable mechanism.
RCI, Hyderabad designs low-cost portable ventilator (DEVEN)
RCI, Hyderabad has designed a lowcost portable ventilator which is the need of the hour. The new ventilator designed by DRDO scientists has been named “DEVEN” (DRDO Economic VENtillator). It is a micro-controllerbased design with electronically controlled solenoid valves. It has CMV (continuous mandatory ventilation) as well as pressure support modes of operation. There are no mechanically moving parts in this ventilator and hence high reliability is ensured in comparison to other low cost AMBU (artificial manual breathing unit) bag-based ventilator designs.
Body Temperature Probe (Contact Type)
NPOL has developed a cost-effective solution to detect personnel with fever, by innovating a body temperature measurement probe using miniature high resolution thermometer. The product is a spin-off from the Expendable Bathy Thermograph (XBT) developed by the Laboratory. The Body Temperature Probe consists of a very small thermistor on a pen-like attachment which can detect the body temperature by placing the tip on the mid-arm or forehead region. A hand-held processing unit displays the temperature and highlights whether the person is normal or feverish. The kit has high accuracy with a very short response time. This cost-effective product is designed as two variants. The first variant is for industrial use, in which the probe and displaycum-processing unit are separate units connected by a cable. Both the persons, the one whose temperature is measured and 35 the one noting the measurement, are thus separated apart. This unit draws power from the general 230 V AC mains. The probe is inserted in a holder which contains sanitizing medium. In the second variant, the probe and the displaycum-processing unit are integrated in a single casing. This variant draws power from a small battery and can be used for domestic purposes also.
SEWAK - DRDO ROBOT FOR KEEPING HOSPITAL STAFF SAFE
A team of scientists at CAIR, DRDO has quickly customized one of its robotic solutions to come up with a cost effective robot within a week. The robot is named as Sewak. It can be a safe alternative for the hospital staff like medical professionals and health workers taking care of the COVID-19 patients in the quarantine centres and hospitals. Sewak can be teleoperated by the hospital staff from a remote location to navigate the robot in the quarantine zone and distribute food, water, medicine etc. to the affected persons. The robot gets power from maintenance free rechargeable batteries and can work continuously for 5 hours on full charge. It has a capacity of 30 Kgs. Video camera fitted in the front helps navigating to the patient’s bed. Audio facility provided in the robot facilitates two-way communication between the patient and the hospital staff. This will help the hospital staff communicate with the patient to understand his/her health condition and the recovery he/she is making, explain the dosage of the medicines and comfort the patient. All this is possible while the hospital staff is positioned in a safe zone while the robot moves inside the quarantined zone. This eliminates the risks of exposure of the infection to the frontline workers while taking care of the needs of the patients.
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NARAD
Narad is a easy to use which can support up to 150 participants in the meeting. It is a highly secure application having two layer authentication. Participants can join the conference by clicking the unique link (unique link for each meeting instance) along with the access code generated by the meeting initiator. The backend is powered by Docker container, thus allowing access only to few applications. This prevents the attacker from uploading the malicious content. SSL protection is used to prevent man-in-the-middle attack. HTML5 is used here with CSRF protection preventing the attacker to execute or pass any malicious content/payload/html tags. Browser based and Cookie based attacks are also disabled.
SURAKSHA KAWACH – CUSTOM DESIGNED IOT DEVICE
DRDO developed a solution for Corona patient tracking & surveillance to fight Corona situation. It is an ankle/arm band based custom IoT solution. The product ‘Suraksha Kawach’ is realized to be a tamper proof solution for tracking of COVID-19 patients. It is a GSM and GPS enabled rugged system for real time tracking. It is an integrated solution with software for central monitoring and management. It is enabled with Geo-fencing, temper detection, battery status monitoring, mechanism for alerts to urban local bodies / police and distributed alert mechanism. Device can also be integrated with Arogya Setu or other mobile app through server feeds or by introducing a Bluetooth low energy chip in the current design. The unit has battery capacity to withstand quarantine period of 21 days or more, so the device need not be removed for charging. It ensures that the person under quarantine need not remove the device for charging during the monitoring. The configuration or design modifications can allow it to be re-utilized for other tracking purposes after the end of Corona Pandemic. Cost of device: Rs 5000/- .
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MOBILE VIROLOGY RESEARCH AND DIAGNOSTICS LABORATORY (MVRDL)
RCI, DRDO developed first of its kind mobile lab called MVRDL in India to speed-up the COVID-19 screening and R&D activities. It was conceptualized on April 06 and the all activities have been completed by 20 April i.e. 15 days. One number of MVRDL has been dedicated to the Nation by Honorable Raksha Mantri on 23rd April’2020. DRDO in consortium with ESIC Medical College, Hyderabad team configured a combination of two modules. One Bio-Safety Level 3 (BSL-3) lab and another one Bio-Safety Level 2 (BSL-2) labs are connected to carry out the virology research and diagnostic activities. The test laboratories are expected to carry out the following activities such as conduct diagnostic test for COVID-19, real-time Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (rRT-PCR) Test, Virus culturing for drug screening, convalescent plasma derived therapy, aid in development of vaccine and development of diagnostics kits. This can be positioned anywhere due to mobile shelter based configuration and the entire area is conditioned with HVAC system with a design of 100% fresh air ensuring no re-circulation. Room temperature of 24±40C is maintained, relative humidity is maintained less than 60% as per specifications of BSL-3 and BSL-2 labs. The labs are built as per WHO and ICMR bio-safety standards to meet the international guidelines. It will enable the researchers and medical practitioners to undertake research activities and develop diagnostics assays and therapeutics, to understand and conduct surveillance of existing as well as new viruses, to develop diagnostic kits.
CONTAINERIZED TEST MODULE
R&DE Engineers, Pune has configured a containerized test lab module for COVID-19 related testing mobile laboratory. This can be utilized as testing lab and accommodating doctors/ paramedics. One module can accommodate 06 persons at a time. The module can be transported to remote locations. Approximate Cost: Rs 20 lakh. Production Capacity: 1st within first month and thereafter 25 per Month.
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Defence PSUs, OFB ramp up their resources to fight COVID-19 pandemic
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Bengaluru, a Defence PSU has set up isolation ward facility with three beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and 30 beds in wards. In addition, a building having 30 rooms was readied. In all, 93 persons can be accommodated at the HAL facility. HAL has manufactured and distributed 25 PPEs to Doctors in various hospitals in Bengaluru, which are authorised to treat COVID-19 patients. It has also manufactured 160 aerosol boxes which have been distributed to various Government hospitals in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Mumbai, Pune, Uttar Pradesh,Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Bharat Electronic Limited (BEL) has come forward on the directions of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) to manufacture and supply 30,000 ventilators within two months for ICUs in the country. The design of these ventilators was originally developed by DRDO, which was improved upon by M/s Skanray, Mysore, with whom BEL has collaborated. BEL is likely to start manufacturing of ventilators between April 20-24, 2020. As per the tentative schedule, BEL is expected to manufacture 5,000 units in April; 10,000 in May and 15,000 in June 2020. It is also making efforts to indigenise these components with the help of DRDO.
Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) is developing a prototype of ventilator which is likely to be tested and certified by the first week of May before it starts manufacturing. It is working on this project with the help of a private Pune-based start-up.
Ordnance Factories (OFs) are presently producing 7,500 litres sanitizers against an order of 28,000 litres from HLL, the nodal agency appointed by the Government of India for centralised procurement. The OFs have already supplied 5,148 litres; another 15,000 litres are ready for supply awaiting destination from HLL. So far, OFB (Ordnance Factory Board) has manufactured 60,230 litres of sanitizers which have been distributed to units of HLL at Indore, Belgavi, Thiruvananthapuram, Central Railways, MECL, Nagpur district administration, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Cantonment Board Willington, DM Nagpur, DRM Solapur besides its own hospitals in Ordnance Factories. Two facilities for blood penetration test have been established, one at Chennai and another at Kanpur.
The OFB has so far manufactured 1,11,405 masks which include 38,520 3-ply medical masks. These have been distributed to Tamil Nadu Police, district civil and police authorities in Firozabad and Agra, Cantonment Board Shahjahanpur, Government of Uttarakhand, District Health Officer Shahjahanpur, Military Intelligence, etc.
DRDO’s AI brains launch SAMPARC App to track COVID-19 patients
The Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) – one of DRDO’s AI arms – has created a technology-focused solution to track patients who are under quarantine. A team of 20 scientists have reportedly developed the App in three weeks. It has been named as SAMPARC, acronym for Smart Automated Management of Patients and Risks. The App has already been offered to various state governments to enable AI-driven measures to slow the outbreak. It has been hosted exclusively for state governments in India.
SAMPARC is a software that includes an App that would be installed on the smartphones of the patients. It is a server-side application that would be used by the state authorities to track the patients. The scientists are already working on the next version of the software based on the feedback from the users. Several state governments, including Maharashtra where the COVID-19 cases have shot up, are set to use this App.
DRDO introduces two new products to enable COVID-19 disinfection process
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), in its continuous quest to contribute towards the fight against COVID-19, has been developing several solutions from its existing arsenal of technologies and experience. These consist of novel innovations and some others in which products will be quickly configured to suit present requirements. DRDO has introduced two products which can enhance the operations at public places during the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
Automatic Mist-based Sanitizer Dispensing Unit: Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi along with HPO 1, using its expertise in mist technology for fire suppression, has developed automatic mist-based sanitizer dispensing unit. It is a contactless sanitizer dispenser which sprays alcohol-based hand rub sanitizer solution for sanitising hands while entering the buildings/office complexes, etc. It is based on water mist aerator technology, which was developed for water conservation.
UV Sanitisation Box and Hand-held UV device: Defence Institute of Physiology & Allied Sciences (DIPAS) and Institute of Nuclear Medicine & Allied Sciences (INMAS), DRDO laboratories in Delhi have designed and developed Ultraviolet C Light-based sanitisation box and handheld UV-C (ultraviolet light with wavelength 254 nanometres) device. The UV-C consists of a shorter, more energetic wavelength of light. It is particularly good at destroying genetic material in COVID-19. The radiation warps the structure of the RNA, which prevents the viral particles from making more copies of themselves.The UV-C kills microbes quickly. Sanitisation of the items by employing UV-C light avoids the harmful effects of two chemicals used for disinfection. This is environment friendly and is a contact-free, effective sanitisation method. The UV-C box is designed for disinfecting personal belongings like mobile phones, tablets, purse, currency, the cover of office files, etc.
Sample approved, Indore textile units start making 5,000 protective kits per day
Textile units of Indore, engaged in making PPE kits, have increased production with supplies touching over 5000 kits per day.The production capacity was enhanced after team of experts from DRDO and Defence Research Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior visited manufacturing facilities and also cleared samples sent to them.
Coronavirus: DRDO, ITI to team up to manufacture portable ventilators
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) are likely to ink a deal soon to produce portable ventilators, a first of its kind in India, following the Coronavirus or Covid-19 outbreak. DRDO wants ITI to manufacture portable ventilators and is transferring technology. Once they come up with a final product and after due test procedures, ITI will be able to produce such ventilators.
Enclosure for Intubation Procedure/ Aerosol Containment Box
The Enclosure for Aerosol Containment by Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Hyderabad is useful while taking samples from a suspected patient during intubation, observation or during treatment to completely avoid droplets and aerosols emanating from them due to cough and sneeze.
From Gaganyaan to COVID-19: DFRL provides quick meals for healthcare workers
With the whole country engaged in fighting COVID-19, Defence Food Research Laboratory (DFRL) has now prepared and distributed over 10,000 Ready-to-Eat (RTE) meals for healthcare professionals in Kochi and Mysuru. The meals included tomato rice, vegetable pulao, sooji halwa, khichdi, combo meals like white rice and dal, and ready-to-drink packets of pineapple juice. All these have been distributed in the last two days.
Sample approved, Indore textile units start making 5,000 protective kits per day
Textile units of Indore, engaged in making PPE kits, have increased production with supplies touching over 5000 kits per day. The production capacity was enhanced after team of experts from DRDO and Defence Research Development Establishment (DRDE) in Gwalior visited manufacturing facilities and also cleared samples sent to them.
Coronavirus: DRDO, ITI to team up to manufacture portable ventilators
The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian Telephone Industries (ITI) are likely to ink a deal soon to produce portable ventilators, a first of its kind in India, following the Coronavirus or Covid-19 outbreak. DRDO wants ITI to manufacture portable ventilators and is transferring technology. Once they come up with a final product and after due test procedures, ITI will be able to produce such ventilators.
DRDO develops equipment for effective sanitisation of public spaces
In the continuing quest for developing indigenous solutions to combat the Coronavirus Pandemic, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is ready with technologies for sanitising areas of different sizes. The Centre for Fire Explosive & Environment Safety (CFEES), Delhi has developed two configurations of sanitising equipment. These are spinoffs from technologies developed for fire suppression applications.
Portable Backpack Area Sanitisation Equipment: CFEES, with the help of its industry partner has developed portable sanitisation equipment for spraying decontamination solution consisting of one per cent Hypochlorite (Hypo) solution for sanitisation of the suspected area.The portable system can be mounted as a backpack and can be carried by the operations personnel. This system incorporates low-pressure twin fluid (air & disinfectant liquid) technology to generate very fine mist. The system is capable of disinfecting upto 300 square metre area. The application areas can include hospital reception, doctors’ chambers, office spaces dealing with the general public, corridors, pathways, metro and railway stations, bus stations, etc.
Trolley-mounted Large Area Sanitisation Equipment: The system incorporates low-pressure single fluid (disinfectant liquid) technology generating very fine mist. It is capable of disinfecting up to 3,000 square metres of area. It has a tank capacity of 50 litres and has a lancing (throw) distance of 12-15 metres. This is useful for disinfecting hospitals, malls, airports, metro stations, isolation areas, quarantine centres and high-risk residential areas.
Mathematical Estimation for TRacking Infections of COVID-19 Spread (METRICS) in India
Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defense Studies and Analysis (MP-IDSA), New Delhi has developed a method of Mathematical Estimation for TRacking Infections (METRICS) of COVID-19 Spread in India and is generating a daily estimation report based on data available.
Sample Testing for COVID 19
Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE), Gwalior is functioning as a centre for detection of COVID-19 positive cases from samples provided by Madhya Pradesh Health Service. DRDE has potential to perform confirmatory test akin to NIV, Pune, on authorization by Government of India. Testing has been successfully completed for 36 samples from five districts out of which four have been found positive.
Bio Personal Protective Equipment (BIO-PPE) to coverall with shoe cover for healthcare professionals
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a bio suit to keep the medical, paramedical and other personnel engaged in combating COVID-19 safe from the deadly virus. Scientists at various DRDO laboratories have applied their technical know-how and expertise in textile, coating and nanotechnology to develop the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) having specific type of fabric with coating.
Covid-19 Sample Collection Kiosk (COVSACK)
A kiosk has been developed by DRDO-DRDL that can help healthcare workers take samples from suspicious patients, without the need of PPE kits. It is designed as such that the Kiosk can be disinfected automatically with the help of its inherent features without any help of human personnel.
Hand sanitizer
Hand sanitizer being the basic weapon used to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The DRDO has successfully developed in-house sanitizers. By 3 rd week of March, it was produced in sizable quantities and distributed to major offices and establishment within the capital. Approximately 4,000 litres of hand sanitizer has been provided to Indian Armed forces, Armed Forces Medical Corps, Defence Security Corps, 1,500 litres to Ministry of Defence, 300 litres to Parliament of India, and 500 litres to various security establishments and high offices to address sanitization issue at first to keep administration work without fear of contamination.
Body Suits
Body suit is critical requirement for doctors, medical staff, sanitations workers, etc so that they are not contracted by COVID-19 during their work. Earlier, DRDO had developed this body suit for medical & paramedical staff to manage & evacuate the causalities in the event of radiological emergencies, which right now is converted as a full body suit to stop contamination. The suit is washable and has passed the ASTM International standards. The suit is widely tested by DRDO and other agencies and found suitable for the cause. M/s Frontier Protective Wear Pvt Ltd Kolkata, transfer of technology holder that is already working with Ministry of Textiles, and M/s Medikit Pvt Ltd Mumbai are producing 10,000 suits per day with some works continuity problems. Each suit costs Rs 7,000.
N99 masks
Five layer N99 masks with two layers of nano mesh are very advanced. These are one of the critical times to stop spread of Corona. Its production vendors are M/s Venus Industries Mumbai, M/s IMTEC Kolkata. Capacity is 10,000 N99 masks per day. Material for these are is sourced from Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association, which is already having plenty of government orders for N95 masks. The mask costs Rs 70 per piece.
Ventilators
Since COVID-19 affects pulmonary functions, keeping in mind the futuristic requirement, Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT) programme of DRDO has been modified to cater to the current situation. Defence Bio-Engineering & Electro Medical Laboratory (DEBEL), Bangalore (a DRDO lab) has identified a vendor (M/s Scanray Tec Pvt Ltd, Mysore) to produce critical care ventilator. It has been created by using existing technologies like breath regulators, pressure/flow sensors, etc. Presently, innovation is on to create ‘Multi Patient Ventilator’ wherein several patients can be supported by a single ventilator. This innovation is expected to be available within a week. Around 5,000 ventilators will be produces in the first month and 10,000 subsequently. The DRDO has identified local alternatives to supply of critical components. Already Secretary (Pharmaceuticals) has identified nine companies for design transfer to produce and Mr Anand Mahindra for fabrication of components. Each ventilator unit will cost around Rs four lakh.