AGNI - V; A marvel on Engineers Day of India

On Sep 15, 2013 on which Engineers day is celebrated, India successfully test fired its inter-continental ballistic missile Agni - V (read as Agni 5) for the second time. Its maiden launch took place in April 2012. The following  are the major specifications of Agni V.

• Missile Type - Intercontinental surface- surface ballistic missile (ICBM)
• Strike Range - 5000 km ( 5000 Km - 8000 km)
• Nuclear Payload - over one ton
• Launching base - Wheelers Island, Orissa
• Dimensions - ( 17m * 2m)
• Launch Weight - around 50 ton

Agni V, developed by Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) was tested on a predefined path of 5000 Km and it accurately hit the destination with expected precision. The missile is powered by three-stage solid rocket motors and has flawless auto mode launch. Gyro-based Inertial Navigation System (RINS) and Micro Navigation System (MINS) which are most advanced navigational systems used ensured its accuracy. The navigation systems are also aided by high speed onboard fault-tolerant software. Avinash Chander, Secretary of Dept of Defence R&D guided the launch while R K Gupta, project director guided the personnel of DRDO.

Missile Range of Agni Series (click to enlarge)

By this, India has joined the club of countries having long range weapons; America, China, Russia, France , Britain and Israel. On the Occasion, DRDO chief Avinash Chander said that India already has ability to produce 10000 Km missile but accuracy aspect has yet to be worked out. Trails will be run next year on INS Arihant, India's first indigenously developed Nuclear Submarine. Two years from now, the production of Agni V will be completed and will be supplied to Indian army. Behold! Entire china comes under its target range.

The success of Agni V is no doubt a great milestone in the long range weapons of  India

Made in Hyderabad by India for India

It's a proud moment for Hyderabadis since 90% of Agni V development took place in Hyderabad  based Research centers. Research Centre Imarat (RCI), Advanced System Labs (ASL), Defence Research Development Labs(DRDL) have contributed immensely towards missile development. Many small and significant jobs are outsourced to more than 100 private industries in and around the city.

Facial Recognition to Replace Credit Cards

No more burden of remembering PIN codes, safeguarding plastic money. Finnish's Uniqul facial recognition system allows us to use our face for making payments and related transactions.

How does it work?

Uniqul FR software uses bio-metric information of the user to recognize their face and links it to user bank account. The camera points called Qpoint are arranged near billing counters. They start their recognition process as soon as the customer starts walking towards it. It displays all the necessary information on the screen and awaits for user confirmation. All the user/customer need to do is to press "OK " to complete the transaction. Presently, this is worlds fastest payment system and it reduces average transaction time from 30 seconds to 5. To register, all you need is your credit card details. This process is positively expected to launch first in all big economies.

Recent studies from USA Today says 'any fast access system can be fooled by a user photograph'. But Uniqul FR software uses mathematical model of a face instead of photo image. In-case of ambiguity, it may ask for PIN. And data is protected by military grade algorithms. This software can accurately identify the minor differences between twins and even tested on plastic surgery look-a-likes. "Every face has unique mathematical model and everyone's face is unique, even twins and plastic surgery can't produce same model", they say. It can also distinguish persons face, live face and mask. So the system is near impossible to cheat.

It takes some time for outlets and users to enroll, adopt and execute the system. Technology, connectivity and convenience of the people plays a major in its market success.

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