003652   Agarwal P;Srivastava S P (Electrical Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee-247 667) : Implementation of multilevel PWM inverter using PC. J Instn Engrs-Pt EL 2007, 88(Sept), 52-7.

To overcome the shortcomings of conventional two level inverters, multilevel inverters (MLI) have been developed for high power applications. One of the problems associated with multilevel inverters is complex control strategy. But simple and precise control is possible using personal computer (PC) and ADD-ON cards. With such system, even PWM control can be realized. In this paper; a simple method of implementing PWM control technique for variable frequency operation of five level diode clamped inverter is discussed. Experimental results of the MLI are also given to validate the implementation scheme.

12 illus, 6 ref

002776   Varaprasad Babu ;Rao K M M (National Remote Sensing Agency, , Hyderabad-500 037) : Design of evaluation scheme for characterisation of photo detector arrays. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 80-6.

Describes certain novel techniques of designing an evaluation scheme to characterize the response of Photo detector arrays efficiently. Also describes the Hardward and Software design details of an experimental setup and the evaluation results. These concepts can be well extended for other sensors like photo detectors/Amplifiers, Avalanche Photo Diodes (APD) etc. where the 1 dB Compression point is a critical parameter.

3 illus, 9 ref

002775   thangavel S;Palanisamy V;Duraiswamy K (K S Rangasamy College of Technology, , Tiruchengode-637 209, Email: golds71@yahoo.com) : Neuro-fuzzy model for controlling strip loop formation in hot steel rolling mills. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 65-70.

Performance of a complex industrial process like steel rolling mill requires integrating various approaches like diagnosis, control, optimization methods etc. These techniques can be grouped under the term intelligent control to improve the operating environment and quality of the delivered product. Most of the industrial applications are of nonlinear. Fuzzy Logic Controller is the most useful approach to achieve the adaptive ness in the case of nonlinear system. Since Fuzzy logic control provides systematic method of incorporating human expertise and implementing non-linear system. Neural Networks are integrated with fuzzy logic which forms a Neuro Fuzzy System (NFS). Neuro fuzzy computing enables one to get more intelligent decision making system for a process. Here the fuzzy systems augmented by neural networks to enhance the some of its characteristics like flexibility, speed and adaptability. The design consists of designing neural networks to mplement fuzzy logic and fuzzy decision making and to realize fuzzy membership functions. This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of NFS in optimizing the strip loop height in steel rolling mills compared with Conventional controllers, FLC. The simulation result depicts that NFS quickly restore the speed of the main drive and hence loop height is quickly reduced to its optimal value which inten ensures the safety working condition of steel rolling mills.

14 illus, 2 tables, 12 ref

002774   Sridhara Murthi K R;Sankar U;Madhusudhan H N (NO, ISRO Headquarters, Antariksh Bhavan, New BEL Road, Bangalore-560 094, Email: krs@antrix.gov.in) : Organizational systems, commercialization and cost-benefit analysis of Indian space programme. Curr Sci 2007, 93(12), 1812-22.

During the last four decades, ISRO has developed capabilities and infra-technologies in broadcasting, communications, meteorology, remote sensing and space science research and has made significant contributions to several areas of national development. The organizational systems of ISRO have been designed to ensure maximum autonomy, creative and innovative environment that are conducive for a performance-oriented system, besides developing unique institutional mechanisms for participation of industry, academia and user agencies. Project/mission mode of working has been a hallmark of ISRO. The satellites and launch vehicles of ISRO have been cost effective and the benefits derived from the space programme have exceeded the costs. Commercialization of India's space capabilities received impetus through Antrix Corporation, which has set a new model by adopting a very lean and efficient structure for marketing of space products and services. This article discusses the unique organizational feature of ISRO, the salient aspects of commercialization and cost-benefit aspects of India's space programme.

4 tables, 12 ref

002773   Singh S P;Subba Rao K (MGIT, , Gandipet, Hyderabad-75) : Polyphase sequences with good correlation properties. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 26-30.

Sequences having the minimum peak aperiodic autocorrelation sidelobe level one (1) are called Barket Sequences. Such sequences have been used in numerous real-world applications such as channel estimation, radar and spread spectrum communication etc. Unfortunately, the longest known biphase and quadriphase Barker sequences are of lengths 13 and 15 respectively. Modified Simulated Annealing Algorithm (MSAA) is used to design thirty-two phase sequences, which have good autocorelation properties. Some of the synthesized result are presented here. The properties of the sequences up to length 21 have Barker properties. The sequences of lengths from 22 to 500 have good correlation properties. The synthesized 32-phase sequence sets are promising for practical application to radar and spread spectrum communication sytem. The convergence rate of the MSAA is also good.

4 illus, 2 tables, 17 ref

002772   Singaram R;Guru Raghavendran P; Shivaramakrishnan S;Srinivasan R (Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, , Sivakasi-626 005) : Real time speech enhancement using blackfin processor BF533. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 67-79.

In verbal communication, the quality and intelligibility of speech is of utmost importance Signal quality is good only in noise-free environment which is not normally present and we encounter only noisy environment most of the time. One such very common environment that is encountered daily is during the hands-free mobile telephonic conversation, expecially during travel. There is definite need for suppressing the noise to enhance the signal levels. Algorithm suitable for speech enhancement have been selected and implemented in Digital Signal Processing environment built around ADSP BF533 processor. The Spectral subtraction algorithm (magnitude as well as power spectrum) is chosen for suppressing stationary background noise. There are other algorithms, namely MMSE (Minimum Mean square Error) & Wiener filtering are better suited to vary noise environment. Speech enhancement is possible in any sort of environment, environment-independent, hence making it suitable for real time operation. Sources are coded in C language and MatLab. The focus is on redemption of speech signal enmeshed in slowly varying as well as stationary noises.

13 illus, 11 ref

002771   Satsangee S P;Kulshrestha G;Srivastava V R (University Science Instrumentation Centre, Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Dayalbah, Agra) : Fabrication of computer interfaced low cost colorimeter and its use in practical chemistry. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 122-7.

Deals with the fabrication of a low cost colorimeter. The cost of the colorimeter was about Rs. 400/-. The colorimeter used RGB-LED as its light source and was connected to an external data measurement USB device, LabJack U12 which was then interfaced to a computer. A LabVIEW software program running on the computer was used for data measurement. The assembly other than the colorimeter, i.e., the sensor, can be used for measurements in other experiments. Two experiments based on environmental studies are reported here. The experiments are based on measurement of ozone in the atmosphere and of iron in a mineral tablet. The experiments reported can be included in a practical chemistry curriculum of the undergraduate programme.

1 illus, 9 ref

002770   Sahay S K;Singh S K;Goswami B;Kumar S B;Ray A K (NO, National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur-831 007, Email: sks_phasetrans@yahoo.com) : Recent development in cobalt - base metallic glasses. J Metall Mater Sci 2007, 49(2), 59-95.

Metallic glasses are produced by rapid quenching methods or quasi-statically at slow cooling by the effective control of potent heterogeneous nucleation sites. Metallic glasses are mostly prepared by melt spinning technique. Curie temperature, hardness, soft ferrimagnetisms, saturation magnetization, coercive force, permeability and respective transitional properties for glass state to crystal state have been studied. The crystal transition properties are affected by temperature, enthalpy and activation energy. Time-temperature-transformation (TTT) diagrams for amorphous to crystal transition have been obtained using Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation. Based on compositions, additions in small amounts and metalloid contents transformation is classical as polymorphic or ordering or split types etc. Below crystallization temperature the Von-Mises criteria determine the yield processes in amorphous state. Effects of annealing and stress induced annealing have been studied on crystallization, magnetic properties, order-disordered phase transitions, structural relaxation, quasi-first order transformations and thermo-elastic damping. Existence of crystallites in amorphous matrix or proportional content of crystallites in a system affects magnetism in multilayered thin films. Measurements of magneto-resistance, magnetic after effect, extent of magnetization, magnetic stability and magnetic anisotropy and zeromagnetostrictive properties have been done. Interrelations among magnetic properties, temperature, crystal texture, crystal orientation and microstructure for magnetic recording media that require high coercivity in relation to crystal anisotropy perpendicular to the film substrate have been examined. Electrochemical deposition and modifications of existing sputtering techniques have been introduced for preparation of thin films.

13 illus, 5 tables, 60 ref

002769   Sahay S K;Goswami B;Kumar S B;Ray A K (NO, National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur-831 007, Email: sks_phasetrans@yahoo.com) : Fatigue behaviour in titanium-based alloys. J Metall Mater Sci 2007, 49(2), 97-122.

Fatigue failures in Ti-alloys have been attributed by applications in gas turbine, biomedical and industrial sectors. The major variables are temperature, corrosion and loading regimes. Interior crack formations appear to be more difficult as compared to surface originating cracks. Type of alloy system, specification for operating status and heat treatment has affected fatigue properties in different manner. Sometimes precipitation produces favourable consequences, where as in some cases it disfavours development of fatigue properties. Ti-alloys consist transition parameters for application above which alloys undergo enhanced degradation under fatigue. The central theme of the paper is to study fatigue crack initiation and its propagation for various modes of fatigue processes. Simulation of different mechanical properties in titanium base alloys is described in the review to study the relative competencies with service exposure. Location and magnitude of plastic shear bands in α-phase grains, phase morphology and orientation and micro-scale plastic strain distribution of ratcheting under high cycle fatigue are some important parameters. Superior performance is achieved from coarse-grained alloy containing microstructurally small cracks under mixed mode loading. Foreign object damage induces microstructurally small defects, where as stress relief annealing improves fatigue limit. Comparative performance and scar formation under fretting fatigue evaluate best performance from coated components.

7 illus, 3 tables, 64 ref

002768   Revathi A;Chinnadurai R;Venkataramani Y (ECE Dep, National Institute of Technology, Trichy-620 015, Email: revathidhanabal@rediffmail.com) : Use of wavelets in end point detection and denoising under low SNR constraints. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 19-25.

Discusses the end point detection for the speech in the presence of noise with high spectral energy. It is found that end point detection using short-time energy, zero crossing rate and spectral entropy based methods becomes difficults and inaccurate when the speech is recorded in the presence of noise or speech is combined with noise. In this paer modified wavelet entropy is obtained by computing the modified probability density function for the speech segments of 20 msecs duration. since wavelet transform coefficients in the required frequency band are used to determine end points, this method proves to be successful even if the superimposed noise energy is greater than the speech energy. Subjective and experimental results reveal the performance of proposed algorithm in high frequency noise elimination in addition to end point detection.

9 illus, 15 ref

002767   Ramalatha S;Sridharan D (ECE Dep, College of Engineering, Guindy Anna University, Chennai-25, Email: ramalatha_marimuthu@yahoo.com) : VLSI based high speed Karatsuba Multiplier for cryptographic applications using vedic mathematics. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 46-51.

Public key cryptographic system consist of raising elements of some group such as GF(2n),Z/NZ or elliptic curves, to large powers and reducing the result modulo some given element. This operation is called modular exponentiation, and is commonly used in scrambling and several public key cryptosystems. Modular exponentiation involves repeated modular multiplication. The efficiency and hence the utility of a cryptosystem depends fully on the speed of this modular multiplication. Many modular multiplication methods have been proposed out of which Karatsuba-Ofman Algorithm is considered one of the fastest ways to multiply long integers, based on a divide and conquer strategy. Proposes techniques to increase the speed of the this high speed algorithm almost double fold, thus improving the efficiency of the public key cryptosystem manifold. It is done using the Ancient Indian Vedic Mathemaics, which was rediscover from the Vedas by Sri Bharati Krishna Thirthaji Maharaj (1884 - 1960), who was also the former Shankaracharya of Puri.

4 illus, 1 table, 9 ref

002766   Ramachandran B;Shanmugavel S (ECE Dep, S.R.M. Engineering College, S.R.M. University, Chennai-600 025, Email: profbram@yahoo.com) : Novel cross layer framework for performance improvement in MANET. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 31-6.

Mobile Ad-hoc Network (MANET) of energy constrained portable wireless devices is an infrastructure less network where routing, medium access and signal transmission are critical. The Ad-hoc On-demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing protocol uses shortest path as metric. The Distributed Co-ordination function (DCF) of IEEE 802.11 WLAN standard supports medium access in ad-hoc operation through Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) mechanism which employs RTS/CTS exchange prior to data packet transmission. The power used for MAC layer packet transmissions decides the floor area (transmission range) acquired by wireless devices which in turn affects interference level and network performance. Proposes a cross layer design with interaction among PHY-MAC-Network layers to employ transmission power control to all MAC layer packets based on the received signal strength of Route Reply Packet (RREP) of route discovery mechanism of the routing protocol. This cross layer frame work for power controlled medium access is implemented using Global Mobile Simulator (GloMoSim) and energy conservation is obtained. This study to imporve the performance of MANET stresses the need for collision reduction mechanism to boost quality of service (QoS) in heterogeneous environment.

6 illus, 2 tables, 16 ref

002765   Rajan E G (Pentagram Research Centre (P) Limited, , 201, venkat Homes, MIGH-59, Mehdipatnam, Hyderabad-500 028, Email: president@pentagramresearch.com) : Symbolic computing-signal image processing(Lecture series-6) special automata for normal algorithms and their transcriptions. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 79-88.

6 illus, 57 ref

002764   Rajamohan R;Vinnitha E;Venugopalan V P; Narasimhan S V (Water and Steam Chemistry Div, BARC Facilities, Kalpakkam-603 102, Email: vpv@igcar.gov.in) : Chlorination by-products and their discharge from the cooling water system of a coastal electric plant. Curr Sci 2007, 93(11), 1608-12.

Chlorination is one of the most widely used techniques for controlling biofouling in power plant cooling water systems. It often leads to the formation of chlorination by-products (CBPs). Amongst these, trihalomethanes (THMs) are more predominant, relatively long-lived and have possible toxicity to organisms. Thus, THM levels in the coastal marine environment are of great concern. This communication discusses the concentration levels of THMs at various points in the cooling water system of a coastal nuclear power station located on the Bay of Bengal coast. The studies revealed the formation of bromoform in predominant quantities and dibromochloromethane in small quantities. The present values are comparable with those reported from other power stations elsewhere.

3 illus, 1 table, 17 ref

002763   Pillai A S;Dubey S K;Gupta S J;Patil M M (Physics Dep, University of Mumbai, Vidyanagari Campus, Santa Cruz (E), Mumbai-400 098, Email: arunp25@yahoo.com) : Affordable methodology for the design and implementation of a PLC on a single chip FPGA. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 76-8.

The software required for the development of ladder and the conversion of the ladder to Hardward Description Language (HDL) and its implementation are developed. Authros realize a compiler that accepts ladder and converts directly to Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL). this allows the end user to select FPGA of his choice by any vendor for final implementation, thus breaking the monopoly of the PLC manufacturers. There is also a modification possible in existing FPGA architectures to accommodate control ligic in a more effective manner for application specific processor.

5 illus, 7 ref

002762   Patil G M;Subbarao K;Mytri V D;Rajkumar A D; Reddy D N;Satyanarayana K (Dep of Instrumentation Technology, P.D.A. college of Engg, ) : Embedded microcontroller based digital telemonitoring system for ECG. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 134-49.

Cardiac affected patients are tried to provide help and rescue by building a system that enables transmission of patient's ECG, in the real-time, to be diagnosed by an expert cardiologist, through wireless means. It helps cardiac patients, in getting the medical help just in time, under emergeny. It can also be used for the patients who have been discharged from the hospital, or on the patients from far off rural places, from moving ambulances, war front, from space, airborne or on those patients, who have been kept on observation, to send ECG signals on a regular basis to alert the concerned doctor or the other medical staff. One of most important advantage of ECG monitoring by this system is, it detects serious emergency condition before they prove dangerous. It supports 24 hours patient care and saves the time required for transporting the patient to the hospital. This system supports the monitoring of multiple ECG leads such as Lead I, Lead II, Lead III, aVR, aVL, aVF and VI to V6.

7 illus, 4 tables, 11 ref

002761   Patil A;Rajaram R (NO, Indian Institute of Geomagnetism, Navi Mumbai-410 218) : Applying a least square based technique to proton magnetometer. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 87-91.

Proton magnetometer has been designed using a microcontroller. Microcontroller is used to implement a least square based signal processing technique to estimate the precession frequency of proton precessions. The dependence of accuracy on the signal to noise ratio and decay of the signal is discussed. Results are compared with data from other standard magnetometers. Results show a considerable amount of increase in the measurement accuracy compared to conventional methods.

2 illus, 2 ref

002760   Nelwamondo F V;Mohamed S;Marwala T (NO, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, University of the W, Private Bag 3, Wits, 2050, South Africa, Email: f.nelwamondo@ee.wits.ac.za) : Missing data: a comparison of neural network and expectation maximization techniques. Curr Sci 2007, 93(11), 1514-21.

Two techniques have emerged from the recent literature as candidate solutions to the problem of missing data imputation. These are the expectation maximization (EM) algorithm and the auto-associative neural network and genetic algorithm (GA) combination. Both these techniques have been discussed individually and their merits discussed at length in the available literature. However, they have not been compared with each other. This article provides a comparison of the two techniques using datasets of an industrial power plant, an industrial winding process and HIV sero-prevalence survey data. Results show that the EM algorithm is more suitable and performs better in cases where there is little or no interdependency between the input variables, whereas the auto-associative neural network and GA combination is suitable when there are inherent nonlinear relationships between some of the given variables.

7 illus, 5 tables, 21 ref

002759   Nath V;Singh L K;Yadav K S (ECE Dep, BIT, Mesra, Ranchi) : Design and development of CMOS bandgap voltage reference circuit in VLSI. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 71-5.

CMOS operational amplifier has been designed using latest technology of 0.5 μm for the application in bandgap voltage reference to obtain a very stable voltage reference. A technique has been presented at 0.5 μm technology which maintains very little dependency of bandgap voltage reference upon temperature and power supply. The bandgap reference could be generated references having a temperature coefficient of the order of 10 ppm/°C over the temperature range of 0°C to 70°C. For temperature coefficient TC = 1.95 ppm/K an extended temperature range is 273K<T<363K. Further, the circuit was simulated and analysed using commercially available analog CADENCE design tools and a close agreement was found for the target parameters, namely reduced chip area, simpler design, low power dissipation and high sensitivity.

7 illus, 10 ref

002758   Mundada S R;Kahalekar S G (Instrumentation Engg Dep, SGGS Institute of Technology, ) : Detection of epileptoform activity in EEG. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 100-11.

Electroencephalograph (EEG) is an instrument for recording the electrical activity of the brain. EEG has been an especially important clinical tool for the evaluation and treatment of neurological disorders related to epilepsy. The characteristic activities observed in the EEG of the person with epilepsy are sharp transient waveforms (ST). An ST is distinct from the background EEG and exhibit pointed peak at conventional paper recording speed. Its amplitude is variable. Such epileptogenic sharp transient includes both spikes duration between 20 to 70 ms and sharp waves (duration between 70 to 200 ms). The detection and classification ST by visually screening the EEg record is a rather complex operation. For this purpose an effort is made to develop a computerized detection of Epileptoform transient (ST). This automated method for EEG analysis rovides an attractive alternative to visual analysis procedure and can offer several advantages over visual scoring.

6 illus, 2 tables, 15 ref

002757   Kumar R;Sivashanmugam P;Maheswari R;Palani S; Konnur M S (Instrumentation and Control Engineering Dep, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappali-620 015) : Flow sensorless measurement and control using soft computing. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 112-21.

Novel method for flow measurement and control using fuzzy logic principles together with a neural network topology is reported. The flow measurement is monitored by the neural netwok and flow control is performed using fuzzy logic principle with ARM9 (AT91RM9200) processor. The proposed scheme offers improved dynamic response together with reduced computation time. The viability of the methodology proposed is illustrated through intensive simulation as well as real time implementation.

8 illus, 1 table, 5 ref

002756   Kaushal S;Sharma R K (Computer Science and Engineering Dep, University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Punjab University,, ) : On a recursive algorithm for analysis of loss probabilities in high speed networks under partial buffer sharing scheme. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 14-18.

To effectively utilize netwok resources while still providing satisfactory Quality of Service (QoS) to all network uses, prioritizing the user's traffic according to their service requirements becomes necessary in high speed networks. Partial buffer sharing (PBS) scheme controls two types of service classes: real-time and non-real-time in the queue. The performance analysi of networks carrying vaiable bit rate traffic mainly depends on the consecutive packet loss. Propose a recursive algorithm to calculate loss probabilities for block of consecutive non-real-time packets. Further the effect of different threshold values on packet loss probabilities is examined.

4 illus, 10 ref

002755   Kalyana Raman S B;Arjav;Jayakumari T (Physics Wing (DDE), Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamil Nadu-608 002) : PC based ultrasonic instrumentation for liquids. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 150-6.

Ultrasonic investigation on molecular interactions in liquid systems basically involves the measurement of velocity and attenuation of the ultrasonic waves. A personal computer based simple instrumentation is developed for direct and accurate measurement of ultrasonic velocities in liquid systems. The use of LPT port has simplified the design aspects while the use of high speed digital timer with 40 MHz clock has enabled a resolution of 0.5 m/sec in velocity measurements.

2 illus, 3 tables, 6 ref

002754   Kadam P A;Tengshe g g;Sawant S R (Electronics Dep, Shivaji Univ, Kolhapur) : Design of microcontroller based DC rogrammable power supply. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 92-9.

Circuit is designed around National Semiconductor's 8-bit D-A converter DAC0808 and voltage regulator IC LM723. The microcontroller ATMEL AT89C2051 is used to control the output voltage. The circuit worked efficiently up to IA load current. The voltage and line regulations are 0.6% and 0.2% respectively.

2 tables, 5 ref

002753   Ilyas M (School of Environmental Engineering, University Malaysia Perlis, Kangar, Malaysia, Email: drmij9@yahoo.com) : Climate augmentation of erythemal UV-B radiation dose damage in the tropics and global change. Curr Sci 2007, 93(11), 1604-8.

Skin cancer (UV carcinogenesis) causing erythemal solar ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation dosages received at tropical latitudes are about five times higher compared to mid-latitudes. The tropical environment also experiences high levels of temperature and humidity which are detrimental to human health. We show that more significantly, prevailing high levels of temperature, humidity and UV-A also directly augment the environmental UV-B dosages, doubling the UV-B damaging effect. Additionally, this can be further impacted in a significant way by future climate change. This understanding is particularly important for human health to populations in the tropics and should be taken into account when evaluating the UV-B radiation and climate impact on immune deficiency, viral infections and other environmental health considerations in the context of present and future climate scenarios.

2 illus, 26 ref

002752   Gupta S C;Suresh B N;Sivan K (NO, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, ISRO P.O., Thriuvananthapuram-695 022, Email: k_sivan@vssc.gov.in) : Evolution of Indian launch vehicle technologies. Curr Sci 2007, 93(12), 1697-1714.

Multitude of inter-disciplinary technologies have been mastered indigenously for realizing a series of operational space launch vehicles. The vehicles range from relatively tiny Rohini sounding rockets to gigantic satellite launch vehicles, PSLV and GSLV. These vehicles now launch on demand, the entire IRS range of remote sensing satellites and communication satellites up to 2.5 tonnes, providing precise orbital injection. This presents the evolution of the technologies, various major subsystems and their validation methodologies for these satellite launch vehicles of ISRO. An attempt has been made to present the conceptual foundations of the entire range of the accomplishments. The paper also includes a brief description of the facilities at the launch complex of ISRO. It delineates briefly the plans for developments in the near future in respect of reusable launch vehicles, and advanced facilities.

2 tables, 6 ref

002751   Goswami B;Ray A K (NO, R.V.S. College of Engineering and Technology, Jamshedpur-831 012) : Certain aspect of superconductivity with reference to high T_c superconductors. J Metall Mater Sci 2007, 49(4), 183-213.

Superconductivity is normally a property of low temperature. The reduction of effects from the obstacle particles to the electron flow is reduced by the mutual sharing of interactions between the paired electrons of Cooper. Superconductivity is a zero resistance conduction of super carriers. The interaction of Cooper pair existence at under temperature and subsequent breaking of bond on excitation has been interpreted by Fermi band theories, where both Cooper pair and single electrons exist together. Superconductors have developed to operate at liquid nitrogen temperature. These are mostly compounds based on cuprates. Materials of partially reverse conduction behaviour at normal and at superconducting state have many applications. Introduction of implements from sensitive instruments to power plant inductors have been the establishment of these theories. The theories of superconductivity includes critical parameters and Meissner effects, acoustic attenuation, electronic conductivity, perfect diamagnetism, concepts of super fluid electrons, concepts of thermodynamics, e.g. Ruger's formula, and BCS theories, and interactions of Cooper pairs, Frohlich interactions, concepts of coherence length and volume, concepts of fluxoids and their quantization. High temperature super conductors (HTSC) have very wide applications in the near future. 1 -2-3 compounds are HTSC discovery of 1980's. These consist of two composite superconducting layers at top and bottom and a central charge reservoir at under temperature (90K). Present context contains some brief discussions on superconducting wires, superconducting generators and energy storage, superconducting magnets and superconducting power transmissions etc.

16 illus, 7 tables, 15 ref

002750   Deshpande V S;Mungle N P (NO, Shri Ramdeobaba Kamla Nehru Engineering College, Nagpur) : Environment-friendly cycle time optimization and quality improvisation using six sigma. J envir Sci Engng 2008, 50(3), 207-14.

Healthy environment in any organization can make a difference in improving productivity and quality with low defect, lack of concentration, willingness to work, minimum accidental problems etc. Six Sigma is one of the more recent quality improvement initiatives to gain popularity and acceptance in many industries across the globe. It is an alternative to TQM to obtain minimum manufacturing defect, cycle time reduction, cost reduction, inventory reduction etc. Its use is increasingly widespread in many industries, in both manufacturing and service industries with many proponents of the approach claiming that it has developed beyond a quality control approach into a broader process improvement concept.

7 illus, 4 ref

002749   Deshmukh K;Shinde G N (M>G>M>'s CS & IT, , Near air-port, Nanded, Email: dkanchan_99@yahoo.com) : Color image segmentation using wavelet transform. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 37-45.

Image segmentation involves partitioning an image into the set of homogeneous and meaningful regions such that pixels in each partitioned region have an identical property or attributes. A novel wavelet transform based technique called "color image segmentation using wavelet transform (CISWT)" is proposed. One of the potential advantages of wavelet transform is that it provides a precise and unifying framework for the analysis and characterization of a signal at different scale. Also, the low pass and high pass filters used in wavelet transform remains same between two consecutive scales. CISWT utilizes the perceptually uniform color space for segmentation. To increase the speed of segmentation algorithm and reduce the computational complexity for clustering, prominent pixels are selected. One level decomposition of wavelet transform is used. LL1 sub band of decomposition is utilized for clustering. Fuzzy c means (FCM) clustering technique is used to locate clusters and their labels. Fuzzy entropy is used to decide number of clusters. The image pixels are classified to respective clusters based on minimum euclidian distance. A post processing noise filtering stage is applied to improve the segmentation output. One of the advantages of this method is that it does not need to specify a priori information to segment a color region besides; there is no apparently distortion or color change after segmentation. An application of the proposed method is presented. th other clustering techniques. Encouraging empirical performance of the proposed method has been demonstrated.

11 illus, 42 ref

002748   Damodaram A;Gopala Raju D V;Raju KVSVN (Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, , Hyderabad, Email: adamodaram@jntuap.ac.in) : Graphical interpretation of the RATG system for optimal test case generation. Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 52-9.

Combinatorial approach to software testing uses models to generate an optimal number of test inputs so that selected combinations of input values are covered. The most common coverage criteria is two-way, or pair-wise coverage of value combinations, though for higher confidence three-way or higher coverage may be required. this system presents examples of requirements and related models for applying the combinatorial approach to those requirements. The paradigm of model-based testing shifts the focus of testing from writing individual test cases to developing a model from which a test suite can be generated automatically. As the complexity of generating the test case is directly dependent on various applications and which in turn depends on number of parameters and number of values. This arises a need to formulate a new tool which is vapable of identifying the optimal required number of tes cases with good coverage. This leads to the development of the RATG system (Reduced Automated Test case Generator).

5 illus, 5 tables, 15 ref

002747   Bhatt T D;Rajan E G (ECE Dep, MGIT, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) : Electronic counter support measures (ECSM). Int J Syst Cybernetics Inf 2007, (Apr), 60-4.

Radar is the key sensor of any modern weapon system. Its capability to function in all weather environments at long ranges is unmatched with any other available sensor. Land based radars are used for variety of tasks ranging upward in size and complexity from man portable radars for detection of vehicle and personnel to ballistic missile tracking phased arrays. Increased reliance on radars, communication systems, speed of missile and weapon system and high speed detection and tracking has increased the importance of Electronic Warfare (EW). Electronic warfare is subdivided into Electronic Support Measure (ESM). Electronic counter Measure (ECM) and Electronic Counter Counter Measure (ECCM) systems. Deals with the ESM which is the division of electronic warfare involving action taken to search for intercept, identify and locate sources of radiated electromagnetic energy from radar for the purpose of threat recognition.

5 illus, 7 ref

002746   Bahl M;Khanna R M;Gupta B;Dhan Singh;Garg S C;Gupta P (Radio & Atmospheric Sciences division, National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K S Krishnan Road, New Delhi-110 012) : Configuring a doppler sodar for the study of environmental air pollution. J Instrum Soc India 2007, 37(2), 128-33.

Acoustic Wind Profiler, generally called a Doppler Sodar has been developed at NPL. This system primarily provides a measurement of atmospheric winds. It has been shown how this system is configured, by developing a software module and implementing it on the system, so that it is able to generate temporal profiles of standard deviation of vertical winds at a lower atmospheric range gates. The system has been operated in this mode and standard deviation of vertical winds, which has been denoted by the symbol σ_w measured. In order to check the relationship of this parameter with the dispersion of atmospheric air pollutants (specifically the total suspended particulate matter), a Quartz Crystal Microbalance Particle Analyzer was operated in the vicinity of the Doppler sodar simultaneously. The standard deviation of vertical winds and the particle concerned are seen to have an inverse relationship. A brief description of the systems used in the experiment, the Doppler sodar system software flow diagram and the experiment conducted are presented here.

4 illus, 4 ref

002745   Anil Kumar (National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, Hatia, Ranchi, Email: rsakumar94@yahoo.co.in) : Significant effect of deformation induced martensite on corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless steel. J Metall Mater Sci 2007, 49(4), 237-46.

Investigate the significant effect of deformation induced martensite on corrosion behavior of austenitic stainless steel.

3 illus, 13 tables, 12 ref

002744   Adimurthy V;Prasad M Y S;Shivakumar S K (NO, Vikram Sarabhai Spaces Centre, ISRO P.O., Thiruvananthapuram-695 002, Email: mys@sac.isro.gov.in) : Space mission Planning and operations. Curr Sci 2007, 93(12), 1791-1811.

Indian Space Research Organization successfully carried out more than 40 space missions, during the last four decades, in the area of space sciences, spacecraft technologies, space applications and launch vehicle technologies. Mission planning and mission design are the most important multi-disciplinary elements in realizing these objectives. The present article describes the methodology followed in mission planning and mission design for different types of space missions of ISRO, bringing out the trade-off and inter-disciplinary nature of these activities. Important aspects of mission planning in the lift-off phase, the atmospheric and exo-atmospheric phases of a launch vehicle are described. A number of conflicting mission constraints have to be addressed in designing an optimal and robust mission profile for the launch. In addition to reducing aerodynamic and structural loads, considerations related to flight safety and ground station visibility are important parameters. Special launch considerations are to be addressed in designing trajectories for lunar or planetary missions. Launch phase would extend up to injection of the spacecraft in the desired orbit. Thereupon, the spacecraft mission operations are divided into initial phase and operational phase. Initial orbital phase operations include, orbit raising and acquisition operations, and testing of the payloads. The operational phase of spacecraft mission covers, satellite health monitoring and maintenance, station keeping, special operations on the spacecraft, trend analysis and any contingency operations, all leading to gainful utilization of the satellite. A number of mission operations also have now become imperative for mitigating the detrimental effects of ever increasing space debris.

14 illus, 2 tables,

001598   Sundararajan N;Ganapathi M (Aerospace Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600 036, Email: mganapathi@rediffmail.com) : Vibrations and thermal buckling of functionally graded spherical caps. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2007, 59(2), 136-47.

The axisymmetric free flexural vibrations and thermal buckling characteristics of functionally graded spherical caps are investigated employing a three-noded axisymmetric curved shell element based on field consistency approach. The formulation is based on first-order shear deformation theory and it includes the in-plane and rotary inertia effects. The material properties are graded in the thickness direction according to the power-law distribution in terms of volume fractions of the constituents of the material. The effective material properties are evaluated using homogenization method. A detailed numerical study is carried out to bring out the effects of shell geometries, power law index of functional graded material and base radius-to-thickness on the vibrations and buckling characteristics of sphprical shells.

6 illus, 38 ref

001597   Singh S;Ghosh A K (Aerospace Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur-208 016, Email: sanjvaab@iitk.ac.in) : Longitudinal parameter estimation using wind tunnel and simulated flight data of missile configuration. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2007, 59(2), 102-20.

The study makes an attempt to estimate aerodynamic parameters from a typical flight data of a short range missile. Exhaustive wind tunnel testing was conducted to generate longitudinal force and moment coefficients at low speed. Identification methods were applied on the selected wind tunnel data to capture the general form of the aerodynamic model. During the application of Maximum likelihood (ML) method, the estimation algorithm assumed this wind tunnel identified aerodynamic model to be exact. To avoid any requirement of postulation of aerodynamic model, the Delta method was applied to estimate the aerodynamic parameters. The Delta method used measured aircraft motion and control variables as the inputs to the Feed Forward Neural Network and the aerodynamic force or moment coefficient was the output for training the Feed Forward Neural Network. The application of the Delta method results in large scatters in the estimated parameters. To overcome this problem of large scatter, the Delta method was modified by changing the training strategy. The Delta method with new training strategy will be referred as the Modified Delta method. It is expected that the proposed Modified Delta method would result in estimates with less uncertainties. Further to check the robustness of the ML, Delta and the Modified delta methods, the estimation was also carried out with flight data having known measurement noise. The effect of control input form in the accuracy of estimates obtained by ML, the Delta and the Modified Delta methods are also studied. It is observed that the Modified Delta method can advantageously be applied on the flight data of a tactical missile to estimate aerodynamic parameters. Progresses with the description of the generation of wind tunnel data and aerodynamic model identification using selected wind tunnel data. Finally it concludes by demonstrating applicability of ML, the Delta and the Modified Delta methods on simulated flight data of a typical short range tactical missile configuration.

10 illus, 3 tables, 36 ref

001596   Sharma U;Kapoor B S;John S;Sharma S (Civil Engineering Dep, Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh-160 012) : Road transport related NO_x pollution in Chandigarh-a case study. J Instn Engrs-Pt EN 2007, 88(Sept), 23-6.

Emissions from urban road transport have increased the concentration of harmful air pollutants to the levels, which frequently exceed standards. NO_x forms as a major pollutant in transport related air pollution as it affects the human respiratory system and plays an important role in the production of secondary air contaminants such as ozone, photochemical oxidants etc. This paper reports the NO levels in heavily trafficked areas in Chandigarh city. A correlation model was proposed to predict, the NO_x levels due to road transport.

5 illus, 3 tables, 7 ref

001595   Sharma J R;Pimplapure S R;Rawani A M (Mechanical and Production Engineering Dep, Manoharbhai Patel Institute of Engineering and Technology, Gondia-441 614) : Prioritizing customers requirements in QFD by integrating their interrelationship with the raw weights. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 7-11.

Quality Function Deployment (QFD) is a methodology used to achieve higher customer satisfaction. The Engineering Characteristics (EC) affecting the product, performance are designed to match the Customer Requirements (CR). Computing raw weights of CR and priority scores of EC from various input, variables is one of the most critical phases in QFD application. When EC priority score is calculated, raw weights of CR and central matrix cell values are considered, while the impact of one CR over the other, ie, interrelationship among various CR is always ignored. Moreover, these CR interrelationships are neither mentioned nor factored-in the calculation. In this paper, an attempt has been made to address the issue by considering the impact of these interrelationships on the overall calculations, using weighted average method for the CR interrelationship value operator in order to prioritize customers' requirements in QFD. The proposed approach has been explained with an illustrative example.

2 illus, 2 tables, 17 ref

001594   Saha P;Banerjee P K;Datta S (Chemical Engineering Dep, Jadavpur Univ, Kolkata-700 032) : Assessment of water quality of tolly's nullah by water quality index (WQI). J Instn Engrs-Pt EN 2007, 88(Sept), 3-9.

Water Quality Index (WQI) is a single value indicator of the water quality. It integrates the data pool generated after allocating due weights to the different parameters. Study of WQI is based on the analysis of samples of water collected from various locations along the stretch of Tolly's Nullah from Hastings to Kudghat at various seasons during a year. WQI is subsequently formulated by DELPHI process and the results obtained for each sample tested, is reported. It has been observed that among the various parameters tested, the individual values, varied quite widely. But the same when reflected to a single value indicator like WQI, their values varied quite narrowly. Thus it becomes quite convenient to opine on the quality of the water tested with respect to its pollution level.

7 illus, 7 tables, 12 ref

001593   Radhakrishnan P;Arivalagan P;Gajendran G (NO, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore-632 104) : Effect of Pre-contouring and Post-contouring on the accuracy of parts produced by direct metal laser sintering. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 3-6.

Pre- contouring speed and post- contouring speed are two process parameters in DMLS which have not received much attention of the investigators. In this experimental study, the influence of pre-contouring and post-contouring speed on the dimensional accuracy was investigated. The results show that pre-contouring speed has no significant effect on the accuracy. The accuracy is found to improve when post-contouring speed is increased. Sintering speed does not have much effect on the accuracy in the Z-direction. It is also observed that as the sintering speed increases, the curing width reduces.

4 illus, 4 tables, 4 ref

001592   Patel B P (Applied Mechanics Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi-110 016) : Thermal postbuckling characteristics of angle-ply laminated trucated circular conical shells. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2007, 59(2), 121-35.

The nonlinear thermoelastic pre- and post-buckling characteristics of angle-ply laminated composite conical shells subjected to uniform temperature rise are studied using semi-analytical finite element approach. The finite element formulation is based on first-order shear deformation theory and field consistency principle. The nonlinear governing equations, considering geometric nonlinearity based on von Karman's assumption for moderately large deformation, are solved using Newton-Raphson iteration procedure coupled with displacement control method to trace the prebuckling followed by postbuckling equilibrium path. The presence of asymmetric perturbation in the form of small magnitude load spatially proportional to the linear buckling mode shape is assumed to initiate the bifurcation of the shell deformation. The study is carried out to highlight the influences of semi-cone angle, ply-angles, number of layers and number of circumferential waves on the nonlinear prebuckling/post-buckling thermoelastic response of the laminated circular conical shells. The participation of axisymmetric and asymmetric modes in the total response of the shells is brought out through the deformation shape analysis.

10 illus, 2 tables, 35 ref

001591   Naik N K;Venkateswara Rao K;Asmelash A (Aerospace Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400 076, Email: nknaik@aero.iitb.ac.in) : Compressive split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus: part II-experimental results. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2007, 59(2), 87-101.

Investigations on high strain rate behavior of a typical unidirectional glass/epoxy composite under compressive loading are presented. Compressive Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus was used for the studies. Compressive properties were evaluated along longitudinal, transverse and thickness directions in the strain rate range of 548 - 2645 per sec. It is observed that the compressive strength is enhanced at high strain rate loading compared with those at quasi-static loading. Studies were also carried out on 10° and 45° off-axis specimens. In-plane shear strength was determined based on 10° off-axis compressive results. It is observed that the in-plane shear strength is increased at high strain rate loading compared with that at quasi-static loading. But it remains nearly constant with increasing strain rate at high strain rates.

16 illus, 37 ref

001590   Naik N K;Sitpal D;Venkateswara Rao K;Asmelash A (Aerospace Engineering Dep, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai-400 076, Email: nknaik@aero.iitb.ac.in) : Compressive split Hopkinson pressure bar apparatus: part I - design and development. J Aerospace Sci Technol 2007, 59(2), 77-86.

Optimum utilization of composite materials envisages its use under static as well as dynamic loading conditions. Hence, there is a need to assess the behavior of composite materials at high strain rates. Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) apparatus is widely used to assess high strain rate behavior of composites. Even though SHPB apparatus is widely used, its design methodology and development technique are not readily available. Design and development details of a compressive SHPB apparatus for characterizing mechanical properties of different materials at high strain rate loading are presented. Brief theoretical background necessary for the design of SHPB apparatus is presented based on one-dimensional wave propagation theory in elastic bars. Next, brief working principle of the apparatus and schematic arrangement are presented. Different components of the compressive SHPB apparatus are identified. Design, development and commissioning of the apparatus are discussed. Further, different instruments used and the calibration technique used are presented.

5 illus, 18 ref

001589   Kazmi AA;Agrawal L K;Jensen J K (Civil Engineering Dep, , IIT Rorkee) : Water quality modelling for Yamuna action plan phase II (YAP II). J Instn Engrs-Pt EN 2007, 88(Sept), 33-42.

MIKE 11 River water quality modelling system was applied to the Yamuna river from Tajewala barrage to Allahabad. The model is used to evaluate the existing water quality conditions and forecast, the effect of pollution control schemes proposed under Yamuna Action Plan Phase II (YAP II). After calibrationi of a few parameters, the model was able to predict the average water quality of the river for the low flow months. Future wastewater generation and treatment for the year 2012 (completion of YAP II) were estimated statistically based on the population growth in the Yamuna river basin. It was found by the modelling that pollution control schemes for Delhi and Agra city under YAP II are not sufficient, to improve the water quality to its desired level. In addition to that release of a minimum of 10 m³/s fresh water downstream from Wazirabad barrage and 20 m³/s discharge downstream from Okhla barrage is nessary for the improvement of river water quality during low flow months.

10 illus, 5 tables, 5 ref

001588   Kamal K;Mandal A;Prasad S N (Manufacturing Engineering Dep, National Institute of Foundry and Forge Technology, Hatia, Ranchi-834 003) : Finite element analysis of two-stage forging of gear blank. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 42-6.

Attempt has been made to design the blocker and finisher dies for forging a gear blank and study the effects of different forging parameters. Conventional method is used to design the die. 3D-FEM (Finite Element Method) simulations are carried out to study the effects of ram speed, billet and preform size, heat transfer coefficient on forging load, temperature distribution, effective strain-effective strain rate in finished product. A combination of conventional guidelines used in the industry along with simplification of the product shape by selective elimination/modification of features, followed by forward FEM analysis is found to be an effective method for blocker design. By introducing a blocker, the forging yield increased by 7.69 along with a reduction in forging load from 1.341e7 N to 8.66e6 N for ram speed 100 mm/s. A reduction in heat transfer coefficient led to an increase in die temperature with a small reduction in forging load.

5 illus, 5 tables, 12 ref

001587   Jeyanthi J;Saseetharan M K (Civil Engineering Dep, Government College of Technology, Coimbatore-641 013) : Design and operation of secondary clarifier for treating dairy wastewater using gravity solids flux curve. J Instn Engrs-Pt EN 2007, 88(Sept), 10-15.

Batch settling flux approach has been employed for the design of secondary clarifiers for treating dairy wastewater. Multiple batch settling tests have been performed on dairy activated sludge at, steady state, stationary phase and in endogenous phase. Mathematical models were arrived for the thickener area of the clarifier, by correlating process control parameters, such as, mean cell residence time, MLSS concentration, underflow concentration and the recycling ratio. Flux curves have also been utilized in the generation of clarifier operation and control data.

5 illus, 1 table, 7 ref

001586   Jaju S B;Lakhe R R;Bhagade S S (Mechanical Engineering Dep, G H Raisoni College of Engineering, Nagpur-440 016) : Mathematical study of failure costs with other components of quality cost for a manufacturing industry. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 32-6.

Many companies in the world are gradually promoting quality as the central customer value and regard it as a key concept of company strategy in order to achieve the competitive edge. Quality costs are a measure of the costs associated with the achievement or non-achievement of product or service. It converts the mistakes into business language, ie, money. There exist relationships among the four components of total quality cost. More particularly everyone is interested in finding the relationship between failure costs and other cost components, such as, prevention cost and appraisal cost. This relationship would help to determine how much of a reduction in failure costs will result from a certain increase in prevention or appraisal cost. Regression analysis can be used to extract this relationship from data obtained from quality cost systems and formulas can be used to roughly approximate this relationship. Such formulae would help to estimate benefits from quality control investments, justify budget proposals and recognise the optimal condition. In this paper, an attempt has been made to relate the failure costs to prevention and appraisal costs. Further, correlation coefficient of internal deviation against total quality cost is obtained and trend analysis is studied among different cost components. The study is conducted in small scale manufacturing industry.

2 tables, 6 ref

001585   Gopala Krishna A (Mechanical Engineering Dep, JNT Univ, College of Engineering, Kakinada-533 003) : Global optimization approach to select optimal machining parameters of multi-pass face-milling. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 24-31.

Selection of machining parameters in any machining process significantly affects production rate, quality and cost of a component. The present work involves the application of a recently developed global optimization technique called Differential Evolution to optimize the machining parameters of multi-pass face-milling process. The optimal values of machining parameters, such as, number of passes, depth of cut in each pass, speed and feed are determined that correspond to the minimum total production cost subject to the technological constraints of allowable speed and feed, dimensional accuracy, surface finish, tool wear and machine tool capabilities. An example is taken from the literature to illustrate the proposed procedure and results are compared.

2 illus, 9 tables, 25 ref

001584   Duraivelu K;Rao K S P (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Rajalakshmi Engineering College, Chennai-602 105) : 'House of quality' in quality gap analysis. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 37-41.

Generic model 'ProditcQual' has attempted to explore the potential quality gaps across product life cycle. The need for measurement of quality gaps to improve the product quality is discussed in brief. The probable reasons for the various quality gaps are also explored. An attempt has been made to explain the conceptual framework on the tools and techniques that can be used to measure the quality gaps and to reduce them. Eventually, it discusses the application of 'house of quality' of QFD to bridge one of the quality gaps identified by ProducQual.

1 illus, 2 tables, 11 ref

001583   Chakraborty S;Banik B (Production Engineering Dep, Jadavpur Univ, Kolkata-700 032) : Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based approach for optimal facility layout design. J Instn Engrs-Pt PR 2007, 88(Sept), 12-18.

Selection of the optimal facility layout design is a multi-criteria decision making problem where the decision maker has to choose the best layout, amongst the given alternatives. It has a significant, impact, on the performance of' any manufacturing or service organization. Generally, algorithm based techniques are used to solve the conventional layout, design problems. A comprehensive approach using the analytic hierarchy process has been presented lor solving the layout design problems considering interdependence among various criteria affecting the selection process. Activity relationships and closeness ratings among the departments of the layout are considered while solving the problem. Finally, a set, of alternative layouts are evaluated using the proposed approach. The layout index values measure the priority of the alternatives to help in selecting the optimal facility layout design.

2 illus, 11 tables, 10 ref