IEEE Awards Booklet - 2020 - 15

2020 IEEE MEDALS

IEEE Simon Ramo Medal
Sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation

Byrana N. Suresh and K. Sivan
For outstanding leadership in developing
a national space program and pioneering
space technology

Significantly impacting the development of launch vehicle technologies, the space systems engineering expertise and leadership
of Byrana N. Suresh and Kailasadivo Sivan have been instrumental in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) becoming one of the world's top space agencies known for launching
successful missions at low cost. Suresh and Sivan joined ISRO in
1969 and 1980, respectively, and at different points in time served
as Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, a lead center for
development of launch vehicles. Suresh led the development of
their navigation guidance and control systems, including the polar
satellite launch vehicle (PSLV), which has been ISRO's workhorse for satellite launches. He led the design and development
of the electrohydraulic and electromechanical control systems,
which are flying in all launch vehicles. He was also responsible for
establishing a full-fledged vehicle simulation laboratory with sensors and actuators for evaluating the vehicle system performance
under varying conditions of flight. He also developed a number
of critical components for actuation systems, eliminating the high
cost of importing these components. Sivan was chief architect
of the 6D trajectory simulation software SITARA used for mission planning of ISRO launch vehicles and of the day-of-launch

wind-biasing strategy that has allowed all-weather launches. He
guided the development of the reusable launch vehicle RLV-TD,
which was flown successfully. He took over the GSLV project
team and guided it to successful launches. Sivan also implemented
the strategy for the upper-stage (PS4) restart capability for the
PSLV, which improves mission versatility by injecting different
payloads in different orbits during a single mission.The contributions of Suresh and Sivan have enabled ISRO to achieve success
in several complex missions, including the 2014 Mangalyaan vehicle, which was successful in orbiting Mars in its very first attempt. Sivan played a key role in ISRO setting a world record by
launching 104 satellites from a single rocket in 2017.
Recipient of the 2018 International Council of System Engineering's Global Pioneer Award and Lifetime Achievement
Award for 2016 from the Space Department, Suresh is an Honorary Distinguished Professor with the Indian Space Research
Organization, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.
Recipient of the 2018 Lokmanya Tilak Award and 24th HK
Firodia Vijnan Ratna Award for the year 2019, Sivan is Chairman
of the Indian Space Research Organization, Bangalore, Karnataka, India.

Scope: For exceptional achievement in systems engineering and systems science.
15 | 2020 IEEE AWARDS BOOKLET

IEEE Awards Booklet - 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Awards Booklet - 2020