 |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
Dept Of Electronics Engg, VNIT Develops Supercomputer
 |
|
|
|
| |
|
The supercomputer has been developed by the institute under a project funded by the department of information technology, Government of India.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, February 08, 2012:
The department of electronics engineering in Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Nagpur has developed a supercomputer. VNIT's electronics engineering department has been pursuing conducting simulations for nano-materials and devices as one of its main priorities and this supercomputer has been designed to especially cater to that area. VNIT is reportedly the leader in this segment among all 30 NITs in the country.
The high performance cluster computation facility at VNIT was developed about two years back. Just recently, the facility has become fully functional with departments like material sciences, physics and chemistry using it along with the electronics engineering department.
|
|
S S Gokhale, director, VNIT told TOI that they have developed the supercomputer under a project funded by the department of information technology, Government of India. "It has 128 CPUs connected in parallel with 24 gigabytes memory. Our researchers develop a nano material or device using the simulation from the computer and fabricate it at IIT Mumbai. For example, various electronic devices use very thin silicon sheaths which are simulated first using the supercomputer and later fabricated. We conduct the characterisation again to ensure right quality," he said.
The supercomputer has the capacity to complete a task in just two to three days that would otherwise take a month's time. Prof Rajendra Patrikar, project coordinator and the dean of academics for the institute, said that the facility is being used in-house at present but it can be used widely as well. According to him, the pharmaceutical industry can use it for drug testing through 'in silico' simulation before going for laboratory or even human clinical trials.
The facility as of now costs about Rs 50 lakh. The research is still ongoing and it is being directed at increasing the memory retaining period of flash memory or USB storage devices like pen-drives, cameras, mobile, and others under a three-year project.
Prof Raghuvendra Deshmukh, associate professor, Rashmi Gautam, senior research assistant and Ashutosh Mahajan, a faculty working under an exchange programme, are the researchers working on the project. Revealing the future plans, Deshmukh said that they are even planning to develop photovoltaic cells with higher efficiency using their simulation facility in the super computer. Under the Indian nano-electric programme, other key researches are also involved in the project. Currently, the supercomputer is used within the institute but it can be used by other institutions and industry too.
According to a researcher from Indian Institute of Science Education Research, the supercomputer can also be used for detection of diseases like cancer using nano particles. It can be used for solving problems of quantum physics that have been troubling scientists for years and also for problems of biology, chemistry, electronics, material sciences and medicine like the simulation of drug delivery system.
VNIT is also going to set up two centres for excellence soon. One would be in nano electrical materials and other in energy efficiency systems. According to Gokhale, the funds for these centres would come from the Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme (TEQUIP). The second centre for excellence would be mainly used by chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical engineering departments.
Upasana Rajpal, EFYTIMES News Network
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| |
| |
| |
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
SUBSCRIBE TO EFYTIMES
Receive the latest reviews, how-tos, news & more.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daily App Review: Klik For iPhone |
| Among all the gadgetry on display in Mission Impossible IV, perhaps the most striking was an iPhone app that could identify people who appeared on the... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|