The National Conference on Emerging Trends on “Vacuum Electron Devices and Applications (VEDA)”, is an annual event held across the country. This year, the conference (VEDA-2024) was organised at CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI), Pilani, from 18-20 November 2024.
In this event about 125 participants from different R&D, academic institutions and industries participated. About 100 abstracts in the area of Vacuum Electron Devices (VEDs) were received, depicting their design, development, use and production, which essentially bridges the gap among the VED fraternity through a series of discussions and exchanging views. Beyond these papers, there were several invited/plenary talks in the area of RF and VEDs from eminent personalities from different institutions (R&D, academic, industry) across the country. The sponsors showcased their products in exhibition stalls, which were vital for setting up laboratories in these areas.
The event started its opening with tutorial sessions on 18 November 2024, with a series of eight invited lectures from various eminent speakers of elite institutes in the diverse field of vacuum microwave devices and microwave engineering. The gatherings were of the students, researchers, scientists, academicians and industries from different parts of the country. It was the common platform to share/exchange views among the designers, users, industry partners and learners in this strategic area and marked a grand success.
Following the tutorial talks of the first day, 19 November 2024, marked the grand inaugural of VEDA-2024 with Dr P Hanumanth Rao, Director General, SAMEER, Mumbai, as the Chief Guest and President of VEDA Society, Dr SK Datta, Outstanding Scientist and Centre Head, DRDO-MTRDC as the Guest-of-Honour.
During the inaugural session, Director, CSIR-CEERI, Dr PC Panchariya, in his welcome address, highlighted the achievements of CSIR-CEERI, in particular, in the area of vacuum microwave tubes. He also mentioned how the vacuum electron devices research and development were first started in CSIR-CEERI since its inception and is continuing after almost five decades. Convener of VEDA-2024, Dr SK Ghosh, Chief Scientist, CSIR-CEERI, gave an overview of the conference.
Following the address, the VEDA President, Dr SK Datta, briefed about the VEDA Society of India and the various awards being conferred this year (2024) by the VEDA Society for excellence in the field of vacuum electron devices. The Chief Guest delivered his address to the gathering of scientific experts, academicians, industrial partners, and scholars detailing the strategic importance of different types of vacuum microwave devices, namely, magnetron, klystron, travelling-wave tube, gyrotron, etc, across the country. He also urged the design and development group to bridge the gap between the users and industry to become self-reliant in this area and to stop the import of these devices. He also mentioned that in this important sector, trained manpower is decreasing, and CSIR-CEERI has a great role in HR development.
After the inaugural addresses, the function was presided over by the VEDA Society for the award ceremony for the year 2024, which happens annually during the VEDA event. There were three categories of awards distributed by the VEDA Society of India. The first category was the Lifetime Achievement Award for scientists who worked significantly in the field of VED. The award was conferred to Dr Lalit Kumar, Ex-Director, MTRDC-DRDO, and Er RK Gupta, Ex-Chief Scientist, CSIR-CEERI. Two Mid-carrier Awards were conferred to Dr Manapurna Mahto, Assistant Professor, NIT Patna and Sh. S Khanderkar, Scientist-F, MTRDC-DRDO, in the second category.
From this year onwards, another award has been introduced by the family of Padmabhusan Dr Amarjit Singh, the Founder Director, CSIR-CEERI as the ‘Padmabhusan Dr Amarjit Singh Young Scientist Award’ in the third category and the award was conferred to Dr Gaurav Singh Baghel, Asst Prof. NIT, Silchar.
The function was then followed by the industrial visit and exhibition of industrial partners. The exhibitors displayed and showcased their technologies and products for R&D use. The second day was concluded with invited/plenary talks from the scientific experts in the VED field. Invited speakers from different institutes, namely DRDO, BARS, NITs, IITs, Industries, etc. The invited talks were subject-specific and value-added to both designers and users. The plenary talks were dedicated to “Padmabhusan Dr Amarjit Singh, the Founding Director of CSIR-CEERI, and Dr SN Joshi, Former Chief Scientist of CSIR-CEERI”. In this session, the speakers were senior members of the VEDA Society and had a long association with these two personalities, and they shared their working experience, products, etc., with both of the commemorates.
On the third and concluding day of VEDA-2024, 20 November 2024, 13 technical sessions were organised to present about 90 technical papers on different topics in the area of vacuum electron devices, systems, applications, materials, etc. There were three parallel sessions in the pre-lunch session and two post-lunch parallel sessions. In these sessions, the scientific experts, research scholars, academicians and students shared their research work and state-of-the-art design and development concepts in these technical papers, followed by fruitful discussions among the VED fraternity in this niche domain.
During the valedictory session, past, present and future scenarios of vacuum microwave devices were discussed. Prof. BN Basu presided over the session. Several initiatives were also taken to sign MoUs among the different design, user, and production agencies. At last, the convener of VEDA-2024 conveyed his sincere thanks to every individual who made cohesive efforts to make this event a great success.
