August 2012 September 2012 October 2012 April 2013Orientation for Freshers Fresher’s Corner Fresher’s Week NDTV Drive Facebook’d Issue Crosslinks Media Initiative Orientation for Freshers 8 - 12 + + Official orientation for the incoming batch was organised by Crosslinks, NSIT on the first day of the session. Freshers were briefed about the various clubs and societies in NSIT, about their functioning and the various activities conducted by them all throughout the year. A fresher’s corner issue was also released by Crosslinks, NSIT highlighting the plethora of societies in NSIT and also the various things to do while in college. The issue featured interviews of NSIT Alumni : Roshan Shankar, pursuing MS at Stanford University and Sharat Nambissan pursuing MBA at IIM-A. CROSSLINKS 2013 Fresher’s Corner Issue + 8 - 12 + Fresher’s Week + Freshers week was celebrated in the last week of August and various events were organised as a part of this week. Events included IEEE Ethical Hacking Workshop, Entrepreneurship Development Cell Orientation, CSI Tech ‘n’ Talk, Chess Tournament, Painting Workshop, Rotaract Sandwich Making event, Spic Macay Orientation & Movie Screening, Ashwamedha Street Play and Debsoc GD. Marketing related events were covered by Alliance. + “ MISSION PERFECTION : A Journey of Self Discovery Take a limitation and turn it into an opportunity. Take an opportunity and turn it into an adventure by dreaming big. These inspirational words by Jo Franz paint a beautiful colour-stroked rainbow that one witnesses after the long hours of silent rain. Here the rainbow is symbolic of the hope, hope easily being the best of all things has encouraged all the inquisitive minds to toil hard to reach and achieve their ultimate dreams. After the long, tiring days and nights of hard work, the efforts of the students live the sweet essence of success and finally are paid off well for their sincerity by getting admissions in one of the best educational institutions of the country. It is quite obvious that the students and their guardians have very high expectations from the college, when it comes to the overall development of the ‘fresh out of school, young, brilliant minds’. Certainly, NSIT acknowledges this anxiety and strives to live up to the expectations of the students and their parents. The rich and the commendable history of NSIT speak louder than the words and it imparts a great sense of pride to each and everyone associated with this institution. Apart from the excellent academic front, the constructive environment at college ensures that each and every student gets the best opportunities to tread the path of success in the long run. NSIT works out the brilliance of diamond in the students who are undoubtedly the brightest minds in the country. Technical or even nontechnical fields, the college has always promoted the students to experiment and bring out the best of their innovative minds. Leave alone the academic front, the college is bountiful of people with varied interests and thus gives each one a chance to explore and elicit their buried abilities ensuring an overall progress and personality enhancement. Many cultural, technical and sports related societies are active in the college under the proper guidance of senior students and faculty giving the students a wide range of choices to pursue and excel in their field of interest as well as hobbies and ensure proper professional training of the members as and when required. To ensure that each and every student gets ample opportunities to be thoroughly active in the college various fests are organized time to time where participation of all forms of talent is profoundly applauded. In the long period of four years get optimum time to pursue their various interests apart from the academic front. The placement history of NSIT needs no words to prove its excellency and the good placements definitely serve as the perfect delicious icing on the cake finessed out in the golden four years. Every regular student who had entered the college with high hopes comes out as a mature, efficient and well groomed graduate who just not holds a graduation degree but all the principles and virtues to succeed in the journey called life. 2| CROSSLINKS ” 8 - 12 NDTV Drive 9 - 12 + + Crosslinks took a group of 7 people from NSIT as audience to the show : “We the People” hosted by Barkha Dutt at NDTV on 3rd September 2012. The show also featured some prominent personalities from the world of film and politics. The topic under discussion was ‘Whether mobile communication towers are a danger to health or not’. 9 - 12 4 - 13 Facebook’d Issue + An exclusive issue covering the interviews of NSIT Alumni and students who made it to the software giant Facebook, was released by Crosslinks, NSIT. Crosslinks Media Initiative: + CNN IBN aired a 10 minute video on NSIT which also showcased flagship teams like Solar Car Team and BHR. 1 | CROSSLINKS INTERVIEW WITH AVNI JAIN Can you brief us about the placement procedure at Goldman Sachs, and also if you could elaborate your road to success there. Goldman Sachs had 4 rounds in all. The first round was the resume short listing following which they had various round of interviews. The first interview round had questions based on the resume itself and I was also asked to assess a problem statement and suggest a possible solution for it. The problem was based upon data analysis and I was judged on the approach I had taken to suggest a possible way of encountering the same. Some simple programming questions were also asked and a little on finance. The 2nd round basically tested me on quantitative and logical ability and problem analysis. To assess me on these parameters, I was asked puzzles and mathematical quizzes which most people would be able to solve if they are preparing for CAT/ GMAT or for aptitude based questions for placements. The 3rd and final round was the HR round wherein one has to be very careful about not saying something that one has not prepared an answer for. You had also received a PPO from Texas Instruments. How was your experience being an intern there? The internship after my 3rd year in TI was a great learning experience. It was the 2nd time I was interning with TI so I did have a basic idea of my profile but it became clearer in the 2 months I spent at Bangalore. I think it was a great opportunity to assess myself before I would have worked there as a full time employee. Also it gave me a taste of how things work in a corporate environment which I think is pretty important to know before joining any company. Tell us about the projects you worked upon? How did they help you in your learning process? I worked on the automation of spice modeling of op-amps. During the internship I had to read a lot about basic electronics and op-amps in specific. So the internship, in a way, prepared me for the placements. One thing that I realized there was that when one is working in an official environment he/she learns things that are applicable to systems in the real world, that one can never learn while being in a college. So it gives you an edge over others in your placements as well. Also, as in the end you want a PPO, so you work twice as hard as before and with a disciplined manner, which helps you further. What according to you is the best time to start preparing for placements? I personally believe if you have been regular with your academics in your 2nd and 3rd year then you need only about 15 days prior to the start of the placement season to prepare yourselves well and brush things up. If that is not the case then you need to work hard in the summer vacations. What do you think, gave you an edge over others? We would be obliged if you could elaborate upon it. I think that, that particular day they were looking for somebody who could use basic rational and logical thinking to solve data analysis problems. And to be able to do those questions, the only requirement is to possess a rational thinking ability. Also if you are a hardworking student who is willing to learn that automatically shows while you are talking. So, I think if you have a mix of all the above things in the right quantity then you could be at Goldman Sachs too. How would you describe your four years’ stay at NSIT? Any particular professor or senior you’d like to mention here? My four years in NSIT have been very happening, fulfilling and busy. In these four years, one very important lesson that I have learnt is that you have to really put in your hard work and effort to expect anything from somebody (here NSIT). I have made friends for life, grown as a person and learnt lessons about life. When you are in this place you curse it for umpteen things, but you actually realize its true worth only when it’s your time to say goodbye. So enjoy your four years and make the most of it, not only when it comes to “masti” but also when it comes to learning things, and yes you do learn stuff in this college. What profile have you been offered at Goldman Sachs? I will be working as a Data Analyst in Goldman Sachs. 3 | CROSSLINKS 4 | CROSSLINKS CAMPUS EVENTS CROSSLINKS 2013 INNOVISION The 2-day Annual Technical-Cum-Managerial Fest – INNOVISION’13 had an incredible beginning on 21st of March, turning NSIT into a warzone for students, all competing in a plethora of events, for the glory of deep tactical, engineering brains and their locomotive robots. In the early hours of day one, the Defense Auto Expo by the Indian Army had the eyes of the audience in the Moksha ground, where the queries of the bright yet inquisitive minds of students were cleared by the men in uniform. RoboWars was one of the most awaited events of the fest. A huge swarm of students had assembled to not only witness the genius of the intellectual participants, but also the strength and endurance of their robots. Innovison witnessed a plethora of robo events like the Carnage Wars, Black Pearl and the Line follower. Robots traversed challenging tracks in the shortest possible time frames. Line follower was an automated robot event, the artificial intelligence quotient of the line followers as well as the accuracy of the photo detectors were the things to look out for. Each event had plunged in huge spectators, who applauded the genius of the students and appreciated the level of competition. The most spectacular and memorable event of Innovision’13 was the Laser Show. The colors and the dynamism invigorated each soul in that energetic stream of merry making, while the sky dazzled with colorful lights and the dance floor vibrated with Bollywood beats. The two days of conviviality and fun not only bestowed the students with a platform to showcase their talent, but also embraced them with the most memorable moments ever spent in the college. Innovision’13 concluded on a high note wherein the students showcased their creative and high technical gadgets combined with innovative technology. 5 | CROSSLINKS 6 | CROSSLINKS MOKSHA On March 22, the unforgettable Movie of Moksha’ 13 kick started. This fest’s theme – 100 Years of Bollywood - was completely justified with what followed in the fest. Day one saw the crowd gathering in the Main Auditorium for the Inaugural Ceremony where the Gupta Brothers and Shubh Maharaj ji mesmerized the audience with their captivating Hindustani classical music performances. After this came the Kavi Sammelan. People with vivid imaginations produced glimpses of their genius with mastered works of poetry and satire. The jam packed auditorium was ecstatic when the Shri Santosh Anand’s greatest work, “Ek pyaar ka Nagma”, was performed. As the sun went down, people moved towards the Moksha ground for NSIT’s rock night, Avalanche. The shaking of the earth could be felt as metal bands played guitars and drums - for some, it was an ‘ear-splitting enigma’; for the others, the adrenaline rush was a high in itself. The second day’s first event - the Street Play – saw teams from different colleges bring the administration block to life. In the evening, Oorja saw scintillating performances in the Western Dance Competition. The team from PEC stole the show with their vivacious dancers. The day came to a close with NSIT’s Fashion Parade, Rogue, that was a raging success with all the hooting and fluctuating heartbeats as its witness. The anticipation of the most awaited event of the fest – SUNBURN – exceeded expectations on the final day. In a plethora of music and an abundance of swag, the event started bang on with everyone trying to match the DJ’s beats. DJ Anish Sood proved his worth by mesmerizing one and all in a sea of music and sky of fireworks. At the risk of being a little dramatic, it’s safe to say that Moksha’ 13 started with a large ‘boom’ and ended with an even bigger ‘bang’. 7 | CROSSLINKS 8 | CROSSLINKS QUIZ FEST Quizzing has always been a game of the smart; only the ones with more of that grey matter in their brains can live up to the thrusts of quizzing. The Quiz Club of NSIT organised the fifth edition of its annual NSIT QUIZ FEST from 15th to 17th March. NSIT is known for its extra talent in quizzing and this makes the fest a very important event in the quizzing circuit. Every year, the fest is known to witness the participation from colleges all over the city. This year, the Quiz Club did a commendable job preparing a plethora of head scratching questions triggering the minds of quizzers throughout the fest. A variety of quizzes were organised, including the all awaited Bollywood, Sci-Tech and Sports Quiz. Amongst the minor ones; the MELA quiz, and the open quiz attracted huge numbers. The team from IIT Delhi, who conquered this battlefield of quizzes, emerged as winners. COLLOQUIUM As the great author Noam Chomsky quotes, “The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum.” Debating is an art of the wise. The Debating Society of NSIT, popularly known as Debsoc, organised the first edition of its annual debating festival, Colloquium from 29th to 31st of March. The fest that kickstarted with a Panel Disccusion, consisting of panelists in the likes of Mr. Anubroto Roy, Ms. Ira Trivedi, Mr. Ashwin Sanghi and Dr. Mallika Sarabhai, enlightened the audience with their valuable opinions, and true to the topic, these had a vision quite different as that of the general society’s perception. Following was the Literary Quiz, a set of mind boggling questions that left people wracking their brains. At the comic workshop, that was to follow, Mr Akshay Dhar and Mr Pran came up on stage, the students being fortunate enough to be able to interact with the heroes of Indian comic industry. Amidst all the activities, the highlight of Colloquium was NSIT MUN. With the aim of taking one more step towards national integrity and international peace and harmony, the second edition of NSIT MUN took place in the premises of NSIT. All the committees- the Human Rights Commission, the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization had fiery and heated discussions on the respective agendas, one of them being for example on, Israeli practices and its effects on the human rights of the Palestinian people in occupied Palestinian territory. The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that went on parallel with MUN, was a newly introduced and well appreciated effort at the college level. The debaters churned their mouths out on the topic ‘‘Limiting the benefits of Direct Cash Transfer Scheme to the holders of Aadhar (UID) cards’. Amongst the other highlights of the fest were Crack the Case, News hour Debate and Judgement Day all of them concluding the fest on a high note. With the end of a three day debate-filled fest, colloquium proved to be a huge success, credits to the DEBSOC Team, which worked hard and pulled off such an amazing fest. 9 | CROSSLINKS -NSIT Quiz Club Team 2013 10| CROSSLINKS IEEE DELHI STUDENT CONGRESS The IEEE NSIT Student Branch got the grand opportunity to organise the first ever Delhi Student Congress. The agenda of the Congress was not only to have an efficient networking structure, but also to strengthen the collaboration platform and improve industrial relations which may open up diverse opportunities. The conference saw the participation of more than 100 students from around 25 branches across the whole Delhi Section. Nominations were taken from all the branches for the Section committee and the concept of formation of three different Groups was introduced. Each student came up with nominations of students who will be responsible for networking activities, managing collaboration platform and improving industrial relations for the corresponding group. The conference finally came to an end with a highly optimistic note, with a new hope for a better coordination among the branches and the new relations which are now set up between the various students after the healthy interaction of two days. Organising the first ever Delhi Student Congress was an unforgettable experience for the IEEE NSIT Execomm, wherein they got several opportunities to hone their managerial skills and at the same time the congress enabled student members to build a healthy network with the people of Delhi Section. crosslinks 2013 NSIT FILM FESTIVAL NSIT DIRECTOR’s CUT Director’s Cut – The film making society of NSIT organised the first ever Film Festival of the college during Moksha on 23rd March 2013. An enriching experience, the film festival saw a huge participation from various colleges in Delhi. The first round of the contest was online. The theme was-”TIME”, where each entry had to be 3-15 minutes long. The final round took place in the mini auditorium. This first ever film festival saw a participation of 15 teams from colleges over Delhi. The shortlisted entries were screened in front of the enthusiastic and intellect audience and the jury. The sheer hard work, dedication and creativity of each participant were significantly reflected in their work. The short films made the audience laugh, cry and set them thinking all at the same time. The new concepts, the innovative ideas, different screen, varied interpretations of the topic etc made the judgment even more complex. Phrases like “It is always better to throw the match stick, before it burns your finger” were loved and remembered by everyone. ‘All that Glitters’ was chosen as the best film while the best story went to ‘The Call’. Cash prizes were awarded to the winners. crosslinks 2013 11 | CROSSLINKS 12 | CROSSLINKS VIRASAT TECHELON Addictive gaming, brain ticking quizzes, cerebral rush inducing challenges, all at one spot. Techelon’13, by CSI - NSIT presented a plethora of events like the IT quiz, math wrath, treasure hunt, blog writing and sound editing. Techelon featured additional events like Digital Fortress, workshops on “Introduction to Competitive Programming”, and another by Google developer group members on ‘Android Dev’. The gamut of activities defied the brightest of minds and put their intellect and adept skills to test and touch new horizons of ingenuity and innovation. While the students worked their way out of the IT questions, the MathWrath which combined the mathematical and programming skills provoked everyone’s mind. The Blogizmo and PicMorph judged the creative skills and Digital Fortress and treasure hunt were a real test of wits. The rush of adrenaline and goose bumps during the challenges made them even more fun. The week long fiesta encompassing several astounding online and offline events emerged as a viral hit amongst the crowd. Attractive prizes likes pendrives and headphones were given to the winners of various events. The Society for the Promotion of Indian Classical Music And Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC MACAY), NSIT chapter organised VIRASAT’13 from 8th April- 21st April. The various events organized under SPIC MACAY included LEC-DEMS(Lecture Demonstrations), Workshops, Concerts, Folk Art and Crafts, Talks, Cinema Classics, Yoga-Holistic Camps, Conventions, and Holistic Food And Heritage Walks. A whole new atmosphere filled with rich Indian cultural heritage was created. This year a variety of events took place with eminent personalities visiting the campus. Padma Shri N.Ranjam enthralled the audience with her sweet notes of Violin while workshops on Kathak and paper Mache provided an opportunity for students to learn and get closer to their tradition. When the auditorium was echoing with songs like ‘Dumadum mast kalandar’, ‘kesariya balam’ and ‘nimbuda nimbuda’, one could have easily got up and danced to their tunes, such was the magic of the Rajasthanic folk music. An exemplary performance by a vocalist, Smt. Sunanda Sharma also set a tune for a melodious evening in NSIT. The screening of movies like Bicycle Thieves was just an icing on the cake. But the most memorable experience was the Heritage Walk to Purana Quila. For two weeks, the college was surrounded by an ocean of surs and taals, the legacy of the ragas spreading to the next generation. The unadulterated aura of our cultural heritage, its vastness and beauty lived up to the high expectations of the listeners. It provided motivation to all those who has always wanted to learn the classics in any form they wanted to. The confidence and the excellence with which the artists performed were worth to vouch for. The true India was presented in its varied colours. The memories of this experience would continue to live on forever. “For once in life the visitors saw a monument coming to life an explaining its varied and rich history.” 13 | CROSSLINKS 14 | CROSSLINKS Research Projects ELECTRONICS AND COMMUNICATION ENGINNERING CROSSLINKS 2013 COMPUTER ENGINEERING / INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY e it any discipline of activities – business, education, government, to name a few – the presence and influence of the computer and information technology sector on their functioning cannot be undermined by a long shot. So it is always pleasant to come across stories when a prodigy takes up his or her role in the aforementioned industries. rom the very beginning, the ECE division has taken a lead in establishing well- equipped and modern Lab facilities as well as initiating Ph.D programs and Research and Development in the Institute. The ECE Department is also known for having very good and advanced laboratory facilities. Students have an easy access to these labs and are free to work on any projects they’d like in conjunction with the faculty. F B boasts of providing a culture that helps reducing the hurdles encountered and provides enough opportunities for students to come forth and rise. Nonetheless, it is never an easy path. Many know about the same; few start taking up these opportunities; still fewer go through with them completely. Recently, Arnab Kumar, a third year computer science student enrolled in NSIT’s undergraduate programme had been working in an area of applied Machine Learning research (more commonly known as Social Network Analysis (SNA) ) under the guidance of Mrs Sushama Nagpal, Asst. Professor, NSIT. - Their primary field of research was the Tie Strength Problem applied on the social networking site Facebook, with one of their research papers being accepted at the International Conference IC3 2012 with further publication by Springer in the CCIS Series (Communications in Computer and Information Science Series) and indexing in DPLB, ISI and Scopus. To be able to appreciate and give a better perspective about the work pursued by Arnab, it is easy to observe that recent trends in the online behaviour of people, and the surge for personalization of the web has driven a lot of attention towards working on the problem of Tie Strength, using data available on Social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, to name a few. Getting into some technical details, understanding Tie Strength can improve social media design elements, including privacy controls, message routing and information prioritization in databases. As a result, Computer Science Researchers all over the world have been using Machine Learning Techniques, Graph Theory along with some other statistical techniques to analyse this problem, which they believe can revolutionize the way we see the internet. This was followed by his work as a research fellow at IIIT-Delhi under the mentorship of Dr. Somitra Kumar Sanadhya and of Dr. Donghoon Chang. He is working on preimage attacks on Hash functions, with the best cryptographic system available right now- SHA 3 in mind. This research work fetched him the title of Best Research Poster Paper Award at the Microsoft Research Showcase at IIIT-Delhi. Moreover, two of his research papers on cryptanalysis of Hash functions are now under review by reputed conferences. For those unfamiliar with the discipline of cryptanalysis and its recent developments, cryptanalysis involves work with algorithms and techniques used to breach cryptographic security systems and gain access to the contents of encrypted messages. A cryptographic hash algorithm is a widely-used tool that creates a “fingerprint”, or a “message digest” of a file, message or block of data that can be used for digital signatures, message authentication codes, and many other security applications in the information infrastructure. Arnab, along with Dr. Somitra Kumar Sanadhya and Dr. Donghoon Chang have been working on preimage attacks on such hash functions, and have partly been successful in their endeavour. 16 | CROSSLINKS NSIT T he ECE Department is also equipped with the Centre for Electronics Design Technology(CEDT), a perfect place for students who wish to learn and explore the world of Embedded Systems under the supervision of Prof DV Gadre. The students of the ECE Department generally get an access to this lab during the winter training session. This Centre also launched an evaluation kit based on Stellaris Cortex-M3 embedded processor platform from Texas Instruments in July 2012 with contributions from Rohit Dureja and Shanjit Singh Jajmann, both final year students who were persistently mentored by Professor DV Gadre through the process. Stellaris Guru is an entry-level evaluation kit for ARM Cortex-M3 embedded processor. It is intended as an educational tool in engineering institutions and is based on LM3S608 microcontroller unit, which includes a 32-bit ARM Cortex-M3 processor and a variety of popular user interfaces and peripherals. A lab manual, “Getting started with Stellaris ARM Cortex-M Embedded Processors” was also published recently, authored by Professor DV Gadre, Rohit Dureja and Shanjit Singh Jajmann. Apart from Embedded Systems, students have been working upon Wireless Communication, Microwave Engineering, Signal Processing under various faculty. The ECE Department provides students with the perfect ground to explore and get a wider perspective of the diverging fields encompassed by the branch, given the knowledge and the efforts that are put in by the cohesive and like-minded faculty. 15 | CROSSLINKS INTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL ENGINEERING Instrumentation, in itself, has a very broad spectrum for research and possesses a unique interdisciplinary character. So it comes across as no surprise that its presence in Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology has been proliferated by numerous research undertakings though the years. Since the number of these undertakings/ projects is a big one, for the moment, it will suffice to know their basics and main requirements. Two of the most popular techniques that are used in virtually all instrumentation projects are those involving artificial neural network and fuzzy logic. Even GA (Genetic Algorithm) and PSO (Particle Swam Optimization), which are mainly used for optimization of various parameters, are of vital importance. In hardware, one has many avenues to work on, including FPGA (field-programmable gate array). Extremely important are simulation softwares such as MATLAB and LABVIEW that are used for analysis and simulations of almost every kind of program one can find. They are used to monitor important industrial variables such as Pressure, Temperature, Level & Flow. All in all, the system that has to be controlled or linearized can be anything, including everything from a DC motor to a Thermistor, but the basic techniques (ANN & Fuzzy) required to approach the problems remain more or less the same. A Virtual Instrumentation Approach to Neural Network-Based Thermistor Linearization on Field Programmable Gate Array If the name itself sounds so sophisticated and complex, imagine what the actual paper will have to say. On January 31 earlier this year, this article, co-authored by KPS Rana, N Mittra, N Pramanik, P Dwivedi and P. Mahajan was published online for the first time. Stating the absurdly obvious, temperature measurement is an important pre-requisite in many industrial applications, irrespective of the method employed. All engineering components have some form of dependence on temperature and heat transfer. Consequently, it’s only obvious that people will look for newer options to facilitate the same with increasing efficiency and decreasing cost. Taking one such method into perspective, a Thermistor is used to a great extent for this purpose in many industrial applications for its cost effectiveness, small size and good sensitivity. Because of its nonlinearity, effective usage of a Thermistor requires some mechanism for linearization. This paper presents a simple step-by-step, practically implementable artificial neural network (ANN)based linearization method for Thermistor characteristic using a two-layer neural network having two neurons in each layer. The trained feed-forward neural network is implemented on a field programmable gate array (FPGA) on the NI-PXI platform for real-time measurement. Even apart from this paper, ICE professors Rana and Vineet Kumar are working on hardware based instrumentation and control applications. They have various hardwares from National Instruments like DAQ (Data Acquisition) cards, FPGA’s, PXI computers and softwares like LABVIEW that provide suitable platform for studies in our field. 17 | CROSSLINKS MANUFACTURING PROCESSES AND AUTOMATION ENGINEERING Dr SK Jha, a senior faculty with the department of Manufacturing Processes and Automation Engineering (MPAE) has done his PhD in Grinding technology from National Technical Institute, Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Ukraine (then USSR) during his tenure there from 1982-93. Since quite some time, the area of his research has become one with a high priority in the manufacturing industry, and its importance continues to grow even today. And that’s not just because it caters to a vital step in any manufacturing line today, which of course it does, but also because not a lot of research has been done in the field previously. Narrowing down more to his actual area of work and being more specific, Dr Jha has done extensive research on grinding with super abrasive materials, namely Artificial Diamonds. His work on metal bonded diamond grinding wheels has been recognised widely. One of the main reasons as to why research in the field of grinding is difficult is that in case of grinding wheels, it’s more of a game of probability and statistics rather than exact mathematical predictions. Simply put, since the grinding wheels can be considered to be made up of a number of single point cutting tools, one cannot predict the exact nature of the outcome of the usage of grinding wheels. Electro-Chemical Discharge Machining is another area of research which is being pursued by Dr. Sanjay Chak, Associate Professor, Department of MPAE. ECDM combines the characteristics of Electro-Chemical Machining and Electro-Discharge Machining and has shown potential to machine electrically non-conductive materials such as ceramics, quartz, glass etc. Despite successful application of ECDM, researchers still find difficulties in machining ceramics specially Silicon Carbide. Dr. Chak’s paper explored Machining of SiC by ECDM process using different electrode configuration under the effect of pulsed DC. He also conducted research on drilling of Aluminium Oxide using Pulsed DC supply with a rotary abrasive electrode using ECDM Process. Dr. Chak also has an expertise in Rapid Prototyping group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using threedimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. 18 | CROSSLINKS ENGINEERING by Prateek Jha, ICE-Batch 2012 The idea of tinkering and building stuffs always attracted me. After the completion of a year at college, I found this little space inside NSIT where I could fulfill my desire. It was the CEDT lab run by D.V. Gadre sir. I presented him a micro-controller based line-follower/maze solver robot made by me as a certificate of my ability and keenness to work in the lab. He took me in. Generally, he asks students to prove their worth by building a power-supply. After my incubation I spent most of the time in the lab. I just loved it out there. Fast-forward to fourth year. I took up the challenge of building a CNC machine as my B.Tech Project. D.V.Gadre sir and S.K. Jha sir were my mentors. The project was suggested by D.V.Gadre sir. All I knew then was that I had to build a machine that is capable of writing on spherical surfaces. Little did I know then of the amount of learning I was supposed to gain and that this project would be like a one semester crash-course of a four year engineering degree. Another thing that is to be strictly kept in mind when working under D.V.Gadre sir is that no part should sustain itself on the concept of ‘jugaad’. The aspect in which we all Indians are pretty good. I got a good lecture when I presented him a ‘jugaad’ based development. Hence the machine should stand sturdy and strong, always which ‘jugaad’ doesn’t promise. Now, CNC stands for Computer Numeric Control. In the present times, most of the high quality industrial manufacturing is performed using CNC machines. They are used for cutting, milling, welding, drilling, lathe, 3D printing, picking and soldering complex Printed Circuit Boards and much much more. They have become the basic foundation of our modern industrial age. The figure below should give an idea of CNC procedure. Any design can almost accurately be broken down in arcs and lines. So all that the G-code files (when related to my particular project) contains is ‘where’ to draw the lines and arcs so that in the end we have a copy design in tangible form. Developing a CNC machine requires knowledge of almost all the fields of engineering. I implemented Bresenham’s straight line algorithm and circle algorithm on Arduino. Ironically, this was the very semester in which I could finally cleared my back-paper of Computer Graphics too. Whew! BIOTECHNOLOGY ENGINEERING Whilst the facets of Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology surrounding the streams of mechanical, instrumentation and computer science have received many laurels and have been recognised widely, perhaps the stream of Bio-Technology hasn’t been commemorated to an equal standard. That opinion will surely be challenged when recent developments in the field of bio-technology come into the mainstream. In August, a research on anti–microbials, commonly known as antibiotics, was undertaken by a group of enthusiastic students from NSIT, with the focus of the research on Actinomycetes. Getting into some technicalities, this refers to a group of micro-organisms that are gram positive. They are generally anaerobic bacteria which grow in a filamentous or branching pattern. Many species of Actinomycetes have been known to exist in soil and are harmless to animals and higher plants. Whilst some are important pathogens, many others are beneficial sources of antibiotics. Their possession of properties similar to those of fungi makes them an important area of research. The researchers are trying to extract anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agents that would help in fighting a broad range of bacterial and fungal infections. Use of intricate and modern machines such as laminar air flow cabinet (which provides a streamline and contamination flow) and spectrophotometer (which measures the amount of light of a specified wavelength passing through a medium) has added a new gear in the research process. With 7-8 months of successful research in their backpacks, the researchers are positive that their big breakthrough is right around the corner. And the final challenge was to bring all these together into one piece. And this aspect is what we call Engineering. I call my machine ‘The Chakradhar’. 19 | CROSSLINKS 20 | CROSSLINKS My Mistress Too long it has been since I last met her properly. A week? Two? A month? I’m suddenly suffering from memory loss. But cut me some slack - it is hard for me to focus on things when she’s toying with my mind the way she always does. So enticing, tempting, alluring, inviting – all at once. The last time she came, I was convinced that I’d want to see her again soon, very soon. But just like every other time, it just wasn’t meant to be. Friday evening it was, when we last met properly. It has always been a Friday – I remain too busy during the rest of the week to be able to give her the time she needs. It was raining that night, or was it? It’s all such a blur now. The only thing I do remember with crystal clarity is the moment we lay in bed together – silent, peaceful, and content. She was probably the singular point of clarity and calm in an otherwise depressing evening. She always has been. I think a little bit is coming back to me now. Yeah, no, I had a fight that night with a friend over something, probably of trivial importance, for I can’t seem to remember myself pursuing it further. Anyway, I’m human, and was obviously a bit low after the fight. She was the only one who had kept me from breaking down in the middle of the road as I walked back to my house, in the rain. Although it could be the cold rain, but I’m pretty sure it was my anticipation of seeing her that made me break into a jog – she can have that effect. I’ll admit I was desperate - it had been a busy and monotonous week after all; and I was finally going to meet her after what seemed like an eternity. It was a unique feeling that I had at that moment– melange between the shiver from the cold and the adrenaline from the anticipation of meeting her – and by God I’d give up anything to feel that way again, if only for a moment. That five minute jog to my house seemed felt like a lifetime. 21 | CROSSLINKS It’s funny how I’ve grown accustomed to her leaving all the time. It’s not the best, but it surely beats not being able to meet her at all. I’ve always hated her for doing that - leaving. It’s simply evil. But I know that it’s for my own good if she does leave. Life is trouble otherwise - concentration and focus go out the window when she’s around. It’s too easy for me to lose control over my senses when I can feel her warmth and presence hovering over my gullible mind. Besides, my hatred for her takes over my mind only when she isn’t around. For when she is, life is too peaceful to be mad. I love her too much to stay mad at her for long. Say, would you be able to stay mad at your first true love when you know there’s a reward waiting? Probably not. Anyway, the weather’s pretty good right now. Do you know what’s even better about already good weather? That it has come to my place on a Friday night. Yes, that’s right – tonight’s one of those nights that I crave all day. I’m too desperate to meet her now. And reminiscing about our last meet hasn’t really helped me in dimming my excitement about what’s on the menu tonight. After a week that has juiced out all my energy, all I want to do now is embrace her, love her and give up myself to her. She’s probably upstairs waiting for me in bed. My first true love. My comfort. My sweet mistress. Sleep. 22 | CROSSLINKS NSIT has umpteen number of societies, ranging from technical to cultural. But then there are those which cannot be classified into categories, and are an integral part of the college. One such society is Crosslinks. Crosslinks is the official media management society of NSIT, which works for promoting the brand name of NSIT in and around Delhi. Each academic year, Crosslinks organizes the orientation of various societies for the freshers. This is followed by ‘The Freshers’ Week’ wherein the newbies get to understand the functioning of various clubs and societies and can select the ones they want to be a part of. Crosslinks brings forth various student initiatives, accomplishments and activities through frequent newsletters and the official college magazine. It also provides NSITians with the platform to participate in talk shows conducted by NDTV and Doordarshan. Over the years, Crosslinks has emerged as a student forum which provides the students with comprehensive information. At the same time, it has endeavoured to create a niche for NSIT in the educational arena. THE TEAM 4th year - Anshay Deshwar, Nilanjana Goel year - Akanksha Dangi, Gaurav Gupta, Videt Jaiswal, Yugal Raj Jain nd 2 year - Akhilesh Gulati, Namrta Mahajan, Priyam Singh, Pulkit Mendiratta, Ritvik Sadana, Rahul Narang, Sartaj Singh 3rd Facebook Page- facebook.com/crosslinks.nsit Photographs Credits- Akshay Rajpurohit and Divjot Singh 23 | CROSSLINKS