Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute
About Company
Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is a society registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 with its Headquarters at Anusandhan Bhawan, 2 Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Marg, New Delhi-110 001. The Prime Minister of India is the Chairman of CSIR and the Minister of Science and Technology is its Vice-Chairman. The current President of the Society is the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, and the Vice President, the Hon’ble Minister of Science and Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh. The Director General of CSIR is the principal executive of CSIR. The current Director General of CSIR is Dr. Shekhar C. Mande. The Director General of CSIR is also the Chairman of the CSIR Governing Body. Presently CSIR is dedicated to the service of the nation through 38 National Research Laboratories/Institutes spread across the country including its Headquarters at New Delhi. CSIR-CEERI is also the National Laboratory of CSIR located at Pilani town in Jhunjhunu district of Rajasthan.
Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani, a constituent laboratory of CSIR, was incepted in the year 1950 when Dr. Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar, the pioneer of CSIR, approached the country’s famous industrialist Shri GD Birla for financial assistance for the establishment of the R&D institute dedicated to electronics research. With the farsightedness of Shri GD Birla and the efforts of the then Prime Minister Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, the foundation stone for the establishment of CSIR-CEERI National Laboratory of CSIR was laid on 21st September 1953 by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru at Pilani. Thereafter, the Electronics Committee constituted under the chairmanship of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, keeping in mind the industrial requirements of the country, started developing CEERI as a premier research institute for research and development in the field of electronics. This National Research Laboratory was established to give impetus to research and development of electronics in the country and to make the country self-reliant by providing support to the industries of the country.
Presently Dr. P.C. Panchariya is the Director of CSIR-CEERI with effect from 14th July 2020. CSIR-CEERI has played a very important role in developing and promoting research and development in the field of Cyber-Physical Systems, Microwave Devices, and Smart Sensors. The Institute has excellent and state-of-the-art R&D facilities and dedicated scientific and technical manpower for state-of-the-art research work in all three research areas of Electronics. Established with the objective of making India self-reliant in the field of electronics, this National Research Institute is a major source of knowledge, science, and technologies in the country for social interests and is constantly striving to be at the forefront in this direction.
The institute is situated in an area of more than 72 hectares which includes a laboratory and residential complex. There are project staff and research students in the institute apart from the regular employees. The Institute campus is full and well-equipped with all human facilities. This institute is making significant contributions not only through high-quality research programs but also through its academic activities. The Institute is conducting M Tech and Ph.D. research courses in the fields of Advanced Semiconductor Electronics, Advanced Electronic Systems, and High Power Microwave Systems Engineering under the Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR).
For the last six decades, the institute has been dedicated to research in the field of electronics in the country and has made many achievements for which the institute has been encouraged and rewarded from time to time. In the changing times, keeping in the view priority and industrial policy of the country, CSIR-CEERI, through its tireless efforts, has not only started research on new technologies in the field of electronics but also made an invaluable contribution towards reducing the dependence on industry and the public of the country on foreign technology imports. The institute has established many records in the past and it is determined to raise its flag in the future in the field of research.
History and Achievements:
CSIR-CEERI has created a niche for itself in terms of its major contributions to electronics & allied science and engineering covering microwave devices, sensor technologies, VLSI design, and Embedded Systems with a high societal and strategic impact.
It is emphasized that out of the top 70 commercially viable CSIR technologies during the 70-year assessment (in 2012), CSIR-CEERI has been ranked first along with CSIR-IIP with the following 8 technologies.
- Excitation Control System for Diesel Electric Locomotives – Make the nation move
- Electronic Instrumentation for Sugar Industry – Sweetening the sugar we eat
- 150 kVA Single phase to three phase Thyristor Converter for WAM4 Electric Locomotives – Power the Indian Railways
- High Power S-band Klystron – Building the national base in a core strategic technology
- PWM Amplifier and Electronics for Electromechanical Actuators – Providing depth of technology for strategic underwater vehicles
- C-band 60 W Space TWT – Guarding the nation’s strategic interests
- MEMS Acoustic Sensor – Lending a shoulder to the strategic sector
- Magnetrons for Department of Atomic Energy – Accelerating the accelerator programs of DAE
During the last two decades of the 20th century, CEERI also developed the following significant technologies for meeting national needs:
- Hybrid microcircuits for SROSS and INSAT series of satellites.
- Institute designed and developed the first metal oxide semiconductor Large Scale Integrated Circuits or LSI Chip, the 16-bit processor chip, the first ASIC chip that was used in the digital telephone exchanges of M/s C-DoT
- ASIP design was developed for text-to-speech synthesis in Hindi for the first time in the world.
- An equivalent of the MC-68010 microprocessor was designed
During the new millennium, CEERI scaled up its ambitions and took up major initiatives in the field of microwave tube technologies and strategic microwave tube design and development, particularly high-power microwave tubes with high efficiency and high reliability. Some of the major achievements in these areas are:
- CSIR-CEERI has successfully delivered space-qualified C-band space-TWT (first of its kind) to ISRO and is the only R&D laboratory engaged in the indigenous design and development of space TWTs. Recently, CSIR-CEERI has also delivered Ku-band 100 W Space TWT and also signed an MoU with ISRO for the development of state-of-the-art space TWTs for higher frequency range required for future intelligent satellite communications. The Indigenous technologies would be a boon for the “Make in India” program of the Government of India.
- Gyrotron, a very high-power millimeter-wave source is one of the most important components of controlled thermonuclear fusion, which was launched internationally through the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and India joined the activity in the year 2005. A CEERI-led consortium of five institutions has designed and developed the country’s first Gyrotron device, an advanced microwave tube with 200 kW of power at 42 GHz for application in Nuclear Fusion Power Research at the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), Gandhinagar. India has now joined an elite group of five countries to have this kind of technology.
- CSIR-CEERI also developed High Power Pulsed Magnetrons in S-Band (2 MW and 3 MW) for medical LINACs, 6 MW peak S-Band Klystron, and 25kV/1kA and 40kV/3kA Thyratrons for Particle Accelerators applications and successfully delivered to SAMEER and DAE organizations respectively.
Simultaneously, a major R&D effort was launched in the area of MEMS, micro-sensors, and non-silicon technologies. Some of the major achievements in these areas are:
- MEMS-based acoustic sensors for VSSC-ISRO, which were used in the Chandrayan Mission and also in monitoring the condition of our satellite launch vehicles like PSLV and GSLV. RF MEMS Switches of C-, X-, Ku-band for SAC-ISRO
- RF MEMS Switches of C-, X-, Ku-band for SAC-ISRO
- MEMS Gyroscope realised first time in the country
- ISFET device for pH sensing and as a platform for selective ion sensing was developed for the first time in India and delivered to DRDO
- Silicon Carbide Schottky diode detectors for DAE organizations
- Diamond Detector Technology for DAE organizations
- Gas sensors for environmental monitoring
- LTCC-based micro-hot plates for DRDO
- The technology for Gallium Nitride blue LED fabrication has been successfully developed for the first time in our country
- Gallium Nitride based white LEDs have also been developed for solar lamps
- Design, development, and fabrication of MEMS-based Ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) sponsored by DAE
The R&D group in the electronic systems area of the institute focuses on the development of electronic systems for different applications. Some of the major achievements in this area are:
- CSIR-CEERI has developed a 3-phase 5 HP solar-based deep well pump drive compatible with the readily available motors giving it an edge over other products and making it very useful for rural applications.
- CSIR-CEERI has developed a “Ksheer Scanner” for detecting adulterated milk samples. It is a low-cost, portable system, which is aimed at distinguishing pure and adulterated milk samples. Union Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan dedicated the “Ksheer Scanner” to the nation. MSMEs and Start-ups have taken up the technology and commercial products are in the market.
- CSIR-CEERI designed and implemented the complete instrumentation and control scheme for the industrial-scale RO plants developed by our sister laboratory, CSIR-CSMCRI. An automated RO plant has been in operation at the CEERI campus since January 2009. It has a decision support system for online water quality monitoring and controlling various sub-systems in the plant i.e. pump drives, membranes, and valves for optimal performance with improved efficiency. Similar plants have been deployed to provide safe drinking water in rural villages of Rajasthan. This initiative is continuing.
- CSIR-CEERI has developed a new plasma-based technology for providing quality potable water to our masses, which will replace the existing mercury-based lamps used for killing bacteria and viruses present in water. The plasma-based UV lamp developed for water purification is the first such initiative in the world and has attractive features like a filament-less light source, zero start-up time, wide wavelength coverage, easily repairable, scalable in dimensions, and also has higher efficiency of water disinfection. The technology is under commercial production for use in household water purifier systems. This has prompted MSMEs and startups to set up commercial production units through technology transfer. Also, Startups in collaboration with CEERI are exploring the use of the technology for air purification.
- CEERI has developed a complete design capability for SOC (System on Chip). A SOC for secured speech communication is in an advanced stage of realization.
- CEERI has developed technology for hand-held spectro-photometers for Arsenic detection in water. It also has applications in tea industry and point-of-care diagnostic devices