The Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory or NPOL is a

laboratory A laboratory (; ; colloquially lab) is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific or technological research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. Laboratory services are provided in a variety of settings: physic ...

of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO), under the Ministry of Defence,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It is situated in

Thrikkakara Thrikkakkara is a region in the city of Kochi, as well as a municipality in Ernakulam District in the Indian state of Kerala, India. The municipality comprises 43 wards, including Marottichuvadu. It is especially notable for its significance in ...

Kochi Kochi (), also known as Cochin ( ) ( the official name until 1996) is a major port city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is part of the district of Ernakulam in the state of K ...

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

. NPOL is responsible for the Research & Development of sonar systems, technologies for underwater surveillance, study of ocean environment and underwater materials.

History

The Indian Naval Physical Laboratory (INPL) was established in

by Indian Navy in 1952. It worked initially as a field laboratory for fleet support activities. It was merged with DRDO in 1958 and started working on underwater systems. INPL was rechristened as Naval Physical Oceanographic Laboratory (NPOL). Till 1990, NPOL functioned from within the Naval Base in Kochi. In 1990, it moved into a new campus at Thrikkakara, a suburb of Kochi. The new campus has a main technical complex and two residential complexes - SAGAR and VARUNA. The technical complex houses the main building, Abhinavam building and several test facilities including an acoustic tank. Besides the campus in Thrikkakara, NPOL has an offsite setup of underwater acoustic research facility at Idukki Lake, 100 km east of Kochi. Since 1995, NPOL has operated INS Sagardhwani, a 2000-ton Oceanographic research vessel used for oceanographic data collection.

Areas of work

NPOL is developing a technology called seabed arrays that will be laid over the seabed surface for ocean surveillance which will provide measurements and inform the control centre about the happenings underneath through satellite. DRDO is planning a dedicated satellite for the coastal surveillance system. All the future inductions planned by the Indian Navy are to be fitted with NPOL designed sonars. The sonars under development are HUMSA NG (upgrade of the HUMSA sonar), the submarine sonars USHUS (for the Sindhugosh class) and PAYAL for the Arihant class. Underwater acoustics is another area which NPOL is looking at. The Physical Oceanographic conditions which will decide the propagation of the sound waves inside water is studied with the help of DRDO's Research Vessel INS Sagardhwani and in-house developed Ocean models. Different Sonar Range Prediction models are also developed by NPOL in the recent years which are used by Indian Navy.

References

External links

NPOL Home Page
Defence Research and Development Organisation laboratories Research institutes in Kochi Research and development in India 1958 establishments in Kerala Research institutes established in 1958 {{Navy-stub