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. Laboratories are found in a variety of settings such as schools ...

of the

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is an agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, charged with the military's research and development, head ...

(DRDO), under the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is situated in

Thrikkakara Thrikkakara () is a municipality in the Ernakulam district of Kerala, India. It is part of the Kochi metropolitan area, and is located east of the Kochi city centre. As per the 2011 Indian census, Thrikkakara has a population of 77,319 people, ...

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...

. NPOL is responsible for the

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

systems, technologies for underwater surveillance, study of ocean environment and underwater materials.

History

The Indian Naval Physical Laboratory (INPL) was established in

by the

Indian Navy The Indian Navy (IN) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Navy, maritime and Amphibious warfare, amphibious branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of the Naval Staff (India), Chief ...

in 1952. It worked initially as a field laboratory for fleet support activities. It was merged with the Defence Research and Development Organisation (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

. In 1990, it moved into a new campus at

, 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 Oceanography (), also known as oceanology, sea science, ocean science, and marine science, is the scientific study of the ocean, including its physics, chemistry, biology, and geology. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of top ...

research vessel A research vessel (RV or R/V) is a ship or boat designed, modified, or equipped to carry out research at sea. Research vessels carry out a number of roles. Some of these roles can be combined into a single vessel but others require a dedicated ...

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 The ''Arihant''-class () is a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines in service with Indian Navy. They were developed under the ''Advanced Technology Vessel'' (ATV) project to design and build nuclear-powered submarines. These ...

. 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. On 29 October 2024, NPOL placed an order for a new Acoustic Research Ship (ARS) with the

Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd, abbreviated as GRSE, is one of India's leading defence shipyards, located in Kolkata. It builds and repairs commercial and naval vessels. GRSE also exports the ships that the company builds. Founded ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

. The order worth was signed in

. The ARS will have an overall length of and a beam of . It will be able to achieve speeds ranging up to . The ship will have a minimum endurance of 30 days or . It will have a complement of 70 personnel. The vessel will have diesel-electric propulsion and 3 deck cranes will be fitted on board to handle research equipment. The ARS will be able to deploy, tow, and retrieve a variety of equipment, including acoustic modules; conduct high-resolution surveys of sound velocity profiles in time and/or space; and gather data on ocean tides and currents for use in survey optimisation, underwater mooring design, and offshore deployments. Additionally, it will be able to launch, moor, and maintain independent

sonobuoys A sonobuoy (a portmanteau of sonar and buoy) is a small expendable sonar buoy dropped from aircraft or ships for anti-submarine warfare or underwater acoustic research. Sonobuoys are typically around in diameter and long. When floating on the ...

as well as gather data from them. The ship will be able to conduct acoustic system experiments at various speed regimes while remaining silent due to its broad speed range. The ARS will also be equipped with a dynamic positioning mechanism that will enable it to hold its place until Sea State 4.

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