Make in India: Revive faith in indigenous R&D capabilities

There is a transformational change in the government and businesses using new generation of communication technology.The importance of creating capabilities in the digital communication technology is crucial for the government as well as the enterprises.

The history of R&D in the country has taught some hard lessons but the short-term considerations usually take precedence over medium-and long-term development objectives.

C-DoT was formed in 1984 with the singular objective of developing a digital switching system within the country.The technology and manufacturing capabilities were developed within the country, which resulted in large-scale expansion of telecommunication through digital telephony in the rural India. The important aspects of technology expansion included the right policies of procurement and willingness to deploy indigenous technology, especially during the nascent stage.

The opening of the economy in the 1990s resulted in a total disregard for indigenous development of mobile switching and transmission capabilities. The ridicule for indigenous R&D and products resulted in a loss of focus on indigenous research and development.  Incremental R&D for sustaining the rural network remained the focus of C-DoT till 2009.

New leadership and changes
The induction of new leadership in C-DoT from late 1990s recalibrated the portfolio and a clear strategy of creating broadband networks of any size was embraced by C-DoT.

This created a new level of performance and outcomes in terms of availability of telecom equipment like DWDM of 16 Tbps per fiber for core network (virtually unlimited capacity over fiber); Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) that provided download capacity of 2.4 Gbps and upload speed 1.25 Gbps in access on one fiber optic strand; XGS-PON (10 Gigabit symmetrical PON) that provided 10 Gbps upload and download in access on a single fiber strand; terabit and multi-terabit routers; switches and aggregators; POTP solutions for traffic aggregation; and Next Generation Network (NGN) core and access.

Apart from these, C-DoT has changed the paradigm by taking Wi-Fi to outdoor village connectivity through Balloon Wi-Fi, Bamboo Wi-Fi, Long-distance Wi-Fi (10–20km), multi-sector Wi-Fi with cognitive radio, Solar Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi based on 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax, and Wi-Fi6 (with capacity going upto 10 Gbps). C-DoT has used satellite-based connectivity to provide landline, Internet, Wi-Fihotspot, and VoIP telephony using simple landline phone, smart phone or computing devices like desktop and laptops.

The specialty of C-SAT-Fi is quick deployment anywhere in the country by using green solar power supply of 5kW, 2kW, 250 watt, and 75 watt, and Public Data Office for couponing for prepaid users. So, C-DoT today is a powerhouse of broadband technology which can be tapped for indigenous, rural, and strategic communication. This has the potential of revolutionizing connectivity across the country anywhere, anytime, for any capacity, and for any use. The question still remains why we are not using indigenous technology in Indian network?

C-DoT has the capability to design, develop, and deploy end-to-end broadband networks.The example of that is the technology used in BharatNet comprising of fiber planning tool, fiber fault localization tool, network digitization tool, state-of-the-art Network Management System (NMS).

It needs to be understood that the nation, with an ambition of a five-trillion-economy cannot afford to undermine or underfund R&D institutions that have good track record and delivery both in private and public sector. Products proudly “created in India” with design, development, manufacturing and IPR creation in the country will generate unprecedented employment and capability. Combining hardware and software using world-class system engineering practices and world-class quality process like SET CMMI Level 5 to build world-class technology is easily achievable.

C-DoT has transferred technology to 26 manufacturers and signed 93 technology transfer agreements, with large manufacturing capacity and demonstrated field delivery model. It is also ready to meet challenges of NDCP 2018 of connectivity for rural areas, capacity enhancement of BharatNet, and Wi-Fi connectivity of gramNetand NagarNet.

Indigenous tech reality
The indigenous technology vision is getting converted into reality in an unprecedented way.

The nation faces many challenges such as disaster management, cyber and network security threats, modernization of complex real time systems where role of ‘Indian technology for Indian problems’ is apparent. It requires cutting across various multi-stakeholder structures, deep cooperation, and above all, indigenous technology of the 21st century. C-DoT today has front haul, middle haul and back haul transport, 4G Core, LTE technologies, and more.

The journey of R&D has no destination.

- Vipin Tyagi.

- The author is Executive Director, C-DoT.