Tata Elxsi has renamed its Thiruvananthapuram research centre after late Ramanathan Natarajan, its mentor.

The naming ceremony was held at the Park Centre in Technopark, with Mr P S. Veeraraghavan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, formally announcing it.

CENTRAL FOCUS

The newly christened Ramanathan Natarajan Development Centre (RNDC) focuses on customers in the transportation, broadcast and semiconductor sectors.

Specific software solutions developed here will help them reduce time to market and cost of product development, a spokesman for the centre said.

This includes development of software and systems for high reliability and mission-critical applications such as automotive and aerospace.

The late Natarajan had joined Tata Elxsi from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre. Mr V. Sreekumar, Director, Tata Elxsi, the facility started off with a 15-member team.

It has since grown to a nearly 1,000-strong facility in 10 years, which he attributed to the late Natarajan’s vision and leadership qualities.

EMBEDDED TECH

The latter had about 30 years of experience in embedded technology in providing mission-critical solutions for different business verticals. They included avionics, automotive and industrial automation.

The Ramanathan Natarajan Development Centre intends to hold an annual lecture in memory of late Natarajan. Wednesday’s was the first such, Mr Sreekumar said.

In his lecture, Mr Veeraraghavan paid rich tributes to his former colleague with whom he worked for 25 years in the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

He remembered the latter’s critical contributions in building check-out systems for India Space Research Organisation’s launch vehicles both onboard and over ground.

LAUNCH OPERATIONS

These were successfully experimented with all launch vehicles, including the entire SLV, PSLV and GSLV series.

Check-out and launch operations could now be performed at a distance of six km, Mr Veeraraghavan said.

He attributed Tata Elxsi’s renowned success with leading companies, including the Fortune-listed ones, in embedded systems to the late Natarajan’s expertise and vision.

> vinson.kurian@thehindu.co.in