Zaheer Memorial Lecture 1994 1

HIGH TECHNOLOGY SPIN-OFFS FOR SOCIETAL MISSIONS

DR. A.P.J. ABDUL KALAM

a ( Zaheev Science Foundation 1

HIGH TECHNOLOGY SPIN-OFFS FOR SOCIETU MISSIONS

INTRODUCTION

Now and then, an important question is being asked: our Satellites are providing meteorological data, making com- munication link with the entire world, beaming TV programmes; our Atomic Energy Research and Development Programme is providing not only certain level of power to the industry but also radio isotopes for Radiation treat- ment; the Defence Research and Development has made our own tanks, missiles, and the light combat aircraft is about to come. There is a phenomenal growth of high tech- nology behind these programmes. Did this technological growth make any impact on the Society? My presentation today takes this aspect of Research and Development and deals with how a multi-organizational cooperation can trans- form the technology into societal missions. I am delighted that P am speaking on this topic in the city, where Dr. B.C. Sethi created history by his 'Jaipur Foot' and pioneered the concept of societal missions in the country.

TECHNOLOGICAL S m N G T N

Technological strength has been acquired in many of the programme oriented organisations. It is the technologi- cal strength of a country that respects the technological strength of another country. Can our technological strength also be used to improve the quality of life of our hundreds of

Text of Zaheer Memorial Lecture by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam during the 8IST Indian Science Congress on 4th January, 1994 at University of Rajasthan, Jaipur.

millions people? As one of the examples, I am taking up DRDO. The Defence Research & Development Organisation is engaged in the development of certain weapon systems- like Light Combat Aircraft and Missiles - for our armed forces. Can the technologies generated in these progpammes be exploited to create socially useful spinoffs ? The answer is yes, as we found many applications of technologies gener- ated in Missile Programme, LCA, Electronic Warfare Sys- tem, Main Battle Tank, and Armaments leading to Cardiac Pace Maker, Bone Implants to Eye Surgery. Specifically, spin offs from Missile Programme have led to Floor Reac- tion Orthosis, 3-D Imaging and many others, which I will discuss one by one.

BIRTH OF MTSSIOM-FRO

Technology development in India has progressed in many fields. In the past three decades that I have worked in Indian Space Research Organisation and Defence Re- search & Development Organisation, I had seen some incli- vidual visions enthusing the lives of large number of bright professionals and creating unprecedented things in the coun- try. A vision normally generates multi missions and hun- dreds of projects. I would like to narrate one incidence that happened about two years back in Hyderabad. One day Prof. B.N. Prasad, Head of the Orthopedics Department in the Nizarn's Institute of Medical Science a t Hyderabad (NIMS) called me to inquire if he could visit the Composite Production Centre (COMPROC) of Defence Research & De- velopment Laboratory (DRDL) as COMPROC had devel- oped a wide variety of advanced composite products for mis- sile application. Prof. Prasad descended a t COMPRBC with a team of young orthopedic surgeons. They saw, touched and lifted many components made for AGNI and other mis- sile nose cones and other systems. It was a big revelation to him that high strength materials can be so light and of such formability. Next day I visited with my team, the

%habilitation Centre for physically handicapped at NIMS. I saw, to my great &scorn%&, young b j s and girls affected with polio, dragging themselves with calipers made out of leather, wood and steel. Each caliper was weighing about 3 kg. It was an unacceptable 'payload' for rocketry-set mind. Together, we took a decision to try advanced composite ma- terials to make these calipers and within 3 weeks a Floor Reaction Brthosis (FRO) was created weighing only 300 g. When it was Stted to a seven year old girl whose right leg was severely aEected by Polio, she stood cautiously for the first time in her life, took few hesitant steps and then walked fast in jubilation. I t was a p e a t sight. We were ali filled with joy which was even deeper than the one we felt &er launching AGNI.

India has a population of more than 8 million polio aEected children. To provide them with FRO is a gigantic task. However, a vision had already been born. Soon, the Degt. of Sdence & Technoiogy (DST) and Ministry of Wel- fare of Government of India joined hands with DRDO to develop FROs for polio Sec ted children. Today, with the help of local administration, FXOs have been fitted to more than 300 children living in the rural areas around the Hyderabad city. Dr. P.C. Sethi himself graced the impor- tant event of fitting the FROs to rural children and re- viewed the methodology of standardisation. This has be- come a mission now, carried out by a number of doctors, engineers, administrators and social workers. I t will lead to productionisation of standard size of-the-shelf FROs. I am sure that in two years time all needy children in India will be having FRO, What better spin-off can be expected from the technology of advanced composites?

CBRBON-CARBON BIBPRODUCTS

For AGNI, a technology demonstrator, Scientists at DRDO have developed, to make its heatshield, a new

material Carbon-Carbon composite was developed. It has the capability to withstand more than 3000°6 temperature dlhzing the hypersonic re-entry phase of AGNI trajectory. The same Carbon-Carbon material with its andti-&rectional characteristics can be used, with gyrolytic coating, to make a tilting bileaflet discs in a heart valve. Besides, heart valve disc, the excellent biocompatibility of this material

4 . can revolutionise hipbone prosthesis and improve quality of fracture fixation plates. The development work is pro- gressing in one of the DRDO laboratories, Research Centre Imarat (RCI).

CARDIAC PACE R

Another day, when I was in the Onhard Computers Division of Research centre Imarat ((RCI), the gloomy face of one of the workers in the team working on PRITPPVI missile guidance system forced me to ask the reason behind his problem. I was told that his doctor advised him to get a Cardiac Pacemaker implant, failing which his life will be miserable and uncertain. The Pacemaker was to cost b. 80,000, a real big amount for any salaried employee, we arranged Government assistance for him. But how many persons have access to such assistance. And can such an assistance be possible for millions of patients needing a Pacemaker implant? Why Pacemakers are so expensive? 1 asked Cardiologist Prof. S. Jaishankar of NIMS. Me ex- plained to me that a Cardiac Pacemaker c x r y Artificial Intelligence in the form of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) to sense a missing heartbeat and replace it with a created one. It is powered by a high energy Lithium Battery. The whole thing is fitted in to compact space, less than 5 cubic centimeter, and enclosed in a biocompatible metallic casing made out of extra low interstitial impurities (ELI) grade titanium. I redised that DRDO was having the necessary expertize required to develop a Pacemaker. In collaboration with NIMS we have started a Project which

in less than a year's time has produced the sensing and pacing software currently under clinical validation. A unique chip to execute the software will shortly. follow. A state-of- the-art Indian Pacemaker will be available to the Society by 1995 a t the expected cost of Rs. 20,000. .

4 . The two incidents, I have narrated so far has one

thing in common. There is a need which has to be met and there is the technology base which can do that. The solu- tion lies in the linking of the two. Let me highlight this point with few more examples.

BIO-TELEMETRY SYSTEM

When we launch PRITMVI or any type of missiles, it has an onboard telemetry system to monitor the perfor- mance of various subsystems in flight conditions. The sci- entists a t DRDL have designed using the same technology, a biotelemetry system with a control monitor for doctors in cooperation with Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences. The centralised monitoring system consists of an antenna, a multi-channel receiver, decoder and a display station. The display gives diagnostic quality ECG waveforms and heart rate to detect and analyse cardiac arrythmias in an Inten- sive Cardiac Care Unit. The system is capable of support- ing upto 20 patients at different locations by linking them at different frequencies, Biotelemetry system will be intro- duced by the Society in few hospitds in 1994.

MEDICAL DATA VISUAILISATION

For NAG Anti tank Missile we developed a Thermal image processing system, using efficient, fast image pro- cessing Algorithm. Then, we have a laboratory called Ad- vanced Numerical Analysis Group (ANURAG) devoted to develop high speed computers for defence application. It

has developed a parallel processing computer, of super corn- puter capability and is called PACE. Joining these two areas of expertise, a new software 'ANURAG's Medical Data Visualisation and Charcterisation Aid (ANMICA), was de- veloped and ported to the same computer for medical data visualisation. ANAMICA has the strength of 3-D imaging and also it has 2-D option for image editing and processing. ANAMICA also provides vsfumetric options with an intui- tive user interface. These options can be used for comp'at- ing volumes of tumor areas of lesion in sections. Most important application is in rehearsal for the surgeons, sur- gery options for visualising the internal details of the paths of interest. This ANAMICA software has been developed in cooperation with INMAS and the Nizam's Institute of Medi- cal Sciences (NIMS). The ANAMICA software will be put to use in many hospitals shortly.

CYTO-SCAN

The data processing techniques used in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) control system can as well analyze a cell for a pathological appraisal. A Iow cost cytoscan with highly reliable diagnostic capability is being commissioned for clinical trials at NIMS. In a year's time it will be upgrated to a onco-cytoscan for early dqtection of Cmeer by the processing of the clinical data base at various Cancer Institutes in the country.

CORONARY CATHErnR

A coronary catheter for balloon angioplasty costs as much as Rs. 40,000. This keeps many need patients suffer- ing from coronary artery disease away from availing this therapy crucial for their survival. The heart of this cath- eter lies in the micro-engineered guide wire of coiled high purity stainless steel with a platinum alloy tip. This wire

has to pass through a precision-contoured biocompatible plas- tic tube. The expertize of Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) and Defence Materials & Stores Devel- opment Establishment (DMSRDE) together with the medi- cal support offered by doctors of MediCity, Hyderabad is used to develop this product at a target cost of Rs. 10,000.

GEn['ING THE FORCES TOGETHER

When we saw so many thing happening - giving us joy-that defence technologies are contributing in the vital areas of society, improving quality of life, we considered 'dynamics of societal missions' consciously. We found that the' development of defence technologies for national secu- rity and missions needed for benefit of the society are irre- vocably linked. We then defined certain societal missions.

Who is going to sustain these missions? In fact, these missions are only a scratch on the surface of the Dino- saurs of Medical Imports. The DRDO, DST and NIMS made a small beginning in this direction when they launched the Society for Biomedical Technology (SBMT) in June 1993 with collaboration from Ministry of Welfare and National Institute of Rural Development, Hyderabad. Since then, many partners have joined the Society and took up impor- tant missions. Together with the L.V. Prasad Eye Insti- tute, Hydesabad, the defence Science Centre (D Sc C ) has taken up the responsibility of developing an indigenous Nd- YAG laser system for eye surgery application. Once the current cost of an ophthalmological Nd-YAG laser system is brought down from current price of about Rs. 35 Lakhs to say Rs. 5 Lakhs by the spread of state-of-the-art corneal surgery in the rural and remote areas will revolutionize the basic form of the eye care programmes in the country.

Where do we go from here? The soil has been pre- pared by the creation of the SBMT. Few seeds have been

sown in the form of some missions 1 mentioned above. The sapling has to be nurtured by proper funding and support from various organisations in the country, not limited to the governmental sector alone. The industrial houses, academic institutions, research centres, medical establishments, social organisations, all have to come forward and take up the cause. Nothing short of a national movement with multi-organizational setup can take up the gigantic task of bringing advanced medical care within the affordability of a common Indian. I share with this scientific community the dream of a society that has concern for its fellow human beings. Let us look at human beings as an integral man, psychologically and physiologically fused together. I can assure you, technology has to be the vision for the nation and it has all the potential to give fast solutions in all wdks of our life. We have resolved to offer best of technology spinoffs of Defence technologies in the field of medical devices and systems. We hope that other centres of techno- logical excellence - BARC, CSIR, SPACE, to name few, will soon compliment our efYorts.

A VISION

The vision of technology for social welfare through medical care is very vast. But India has everything re- quired to fulfill this vision with appropriate missions. India is pioneer in Nuclear Medicine. We have all the industrial background to engineer any complex medical equipment, device, or system. We have some of the best software cen- tres in the world which are the life line of any advanced medical system. Let us commit ourselves to interlink and use the best of available expertize and management to achieve success in this area. Can a scientist with professional excellence can have a better accountability than joining the vision "LET MY BRAIN RELIEVE YOUR PAIN."