Executive Summary

The Indian steel industry has made a rapid progress on strong fundamentals over the recent few

years. The industry is getting all essential ingredients required for dynamic growth. The

government is backing the industry through favorable industrial reforms, while the private

sector is supporting it with investments worth billions of dollars. Even in the tough times of

economic slowdown, the industry succeeded to sustain its positive growth momentum on the

strong fundamentals of domestic demand from construction, automobile and infrastructure

sectors. With an impressive track record, the country has become a reputed name in the world

steel industry.

In this report a brief overview on the Indian steel industry is given. Its current position and

future outlook is also discussed. Also the Indian steel industry with respect to logistics is also

discussed to certain extent. SWOT analysis for the Indian steel industry is done to find out the

strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats faced by the industry.

Logistics and supply chain is one of the key drawbacks for the Indian steel industry. In this

report the current scenario of handling and transportation of steel is discussed briefly. Finally

some measures which are to be taken by the industry to be competent in the global market are

analyzed and discussed.

1

Introduction

Iron and steel represents one of the most energy intensive sectors in any economy and

therefore this industry has such a prominent role. Steel industry in India has dominated the other

energy intensive industries such as aluminum, cement, fertilizers, glass and paper etc. With the

improvement in production technologies and transport means, demand for steel production is

increasing. Due to many reasons such as the infrastructure development in developing countries,

improvements in automobile industry, increasing industrial capacity etc, demand for steel is

increasing drastically. Industries which are closely related to steel industry and helping the

growth of Indian steel industry are power generation, infrastructure, urban and rural

infrastructure and real estates.

There have been almost revolutionary changes in the global steel scene with fierce competitive

pressures on performance, productivity, price reduction and customer satisfaction. National

boundaries have melted to encompass an ever increasing world market. Trade in steel products

has been on the upswing with the production facilities of both the developed and the developing

countries complementing each other in the making of steel of different grades and specialty for

the world market.

Also with increasing concerns such as eco friendly production, reduction in carbon emissions,

safe and hygienic transportation etc made global steel manufacturers to concentrate on

production and supply processes.

The steel industry is also highly material intensive. Generally, 1 tons of steel output requires

handling and transportation of around 4 tons of bulk materials. Therefore, logistics play a

critical role in determining the operational efficiency and cost structure of a steel producer.

According to industry estimates, these costs account for over 15% of the total costs of Indian

producers of steel. In addition, the specific investment (rupees per ton of capacity) requirement

for a steel project is high and therefore the capital outlay for a typical steel project is quite large.

Consequently, success or failure in executing projects may impact the financial health of steel

companies quite significantly.

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Structure of Indian steel industry:

India has emerged as the 3rd largest exporter of iron ore behind Brazil and Australia. India stands

in top 10 countries in producing steel in the world. But its global trade only accounts for only

2% of the global steel trade. The domestic steel industry reported rapid growth during the period

between 2003-04 and 2007-08, and steel producers responded positively to this by announcing

large Greenfield or Brownfield expansion projects. Almost all domestic steel companies, along

with some international majors, have announced large expansion projects. While some of the

projects are likely to be deferred or shelved, the capital expenditure for the industry would still

be large, given the high capital intensity of steel projects.

The last decade of the twentieth century will go down as one of the most turbulent phases for

Indian steel industry. The period witnessed sweeping changes in the steel arena, transformation

of self-contained national markets into linked global markets and consequent fierce competition;

oversupply of most kinds of steel resulting in no real appreciation of steel prices and

simultaneous rise in input cost; and most importantly, rise in customer expectations. The

profitability of Indian steel companies has improved in 2009-10 on a quarter-on-quarter basis.

Besides a somewhat improving steel price scenario, a significant softening of iron ore and

coking coal prices has also contributed to this improvement. India with its abundant availability

of high grade iron ore, the requisite technical base and cheap skilled labor is thus well placed for

the development of steel industry and to provide a strong manufacturing base for the

metallurgical industries. Companies in more mature industrial countries like India are

increasingly forced to look to assets (and growth) by setting up production operations (steel

factories) in key developing economies that places then close to natural resource supplies (both

in terms of inputs and energy).

Recent years have witnessed unprecedented turmoil in the global steel market. The crisis in the

international steel market might be attributed to the misbalance between capacity, demand and

production and consequent drop in prices.

Availability of iron ore was and is not an issue, as the domestic production of iron ore is

sufficient to meet demand. Secondary steel producers require closely sized lumps (CLO) which

generate fines. In addition, at the time of mining 60% of the ore comes as fines and balance 40%

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as lumps (including big boulders). Thus, in the total production of iron ore 70-72% are fines

either at the time of mining or while crushing into CLO or handling (loading/unloading)

operations at mines, railway stations or at ports.

India is 5th largest producer of steel with total production of 53.08 MT in 2007. The crude steel

production in India registered a moderate year-on-year growth of 2.7% in 2009 and reached

56.6 Million Metric Tons. On the other side, some Asian countries such as Japan and South

Korea saw significant decline in their production levels. In 2008, per capita finished steel

consumption stood at an estimated volume of around 44 Kg, which represents tremendous

growth potential for coming years. This further signifies the resilience and strength of the Indian

steel industry against external risk factors. Indian steel industry mainly consists of three distinct

groups. The first group comprises the integrated steel producers which produces greater than

1MT and includes Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Tata Steel (capacity 3 Mt) and Rashtriya

Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) (3 Mt). SAIL has four integrated steel plants at Bhilai (4 Mt), Bokaro

(4 Mt), Durgapur (2 Mt) and Rourkela (1.8 Mt). The group of secondary majors consists of the

Ispat Group, Jindal Group, Lloyds and Essar. Their capacities range between 1 Mt and 2 Mt

using a mix of technologies, with much lesser degree of backward integration. These two

strategic groups together hold around 70% of the mild steel capacity in the Indian steel industry.

The third groups of tertiary producers are mini-steel plants, using electric arc or induction

furnaces and are very small in size.

There have been almost revolutionary changes in the global steel scene with fierce competitive

pressures on performance, productivity, price reduction and customer satisfaction. National

boundaries have melted to encompass an ever increasing world market. Trade in steel products

has been on the upswing with the production facilities of both the developed and the developing

countries complementing each other in the making of steel of different grades and specialty for

the world market. The Indian steel industry comprises of the producers of finished steel, semi-

finished steel, stainless steel and pig iron. Indian steel industry, having participation from both

public sector and private sector enterprises, is one of the fastest growing markets for steel and is

also increasingly looking towards exports as driving the growth of the industry.

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The Endeavour is not only in tandem with India's National Steel Policy of achieving a

production level of 110 Mt of crude steel by the year 2020. The timely completion of the

projects for new forthcoming steel plants is of great challenge in the present Indian scenario.

Factors which influenced growth of Indian steel industry:

Factors which were favorable for the growth of Indian steel industry are:

• Global steel consumption: The global steel consumption due to many reasons is

increasing consistently year by year. The main cause is the development of infrastructure

in the developing countries, also with the other growth of other complementary

industries such as automobiles; construction, urban infrastructure etc helped the steel

industry to grow at a rapid pace.

• Implementing latest technologies for improving the quality and productivity also helped

the industry. This led the manufacturers to focus on improving the customer delivery

times and also decrease the costs of production and transportation.

• Making strategic alliances: The manufacturers started making strategic alliances with the

other OEM (original equipment manufacturers) in long term which helped them in

mitigating demand risks and uncertainties, high product take off and better capacity

utilization.

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• Government initiatives: The government policies and initiatives helped the domestic

steel manufacturers to a great extent. This is also key for the growth of the Indian steel

industry. Also, increased infrastructure spending by the Government of India and

development of roads could generate significant savings in freight and transportation

cost, making Indian steel companies and other industries globally competitive.

• Impact of liberalization: The economic reforms initiated by the government in 1991 have

added new dimensions to the industrial growth in general, and steel industry in

particular. Automatic approval granted for foreign equity investment in steel has been

increased up to 74% [Government of India 1999]. Restrictions on external trade, both in

import and export, have been removed. Import tariff reduced from 105% in 1992/93, to

30% in 1996-97.

• Other policy measures like convertibility of rupee on trade account, permission to

mobilize resources from overseas financial markets, and rationalization of existing tax

structure.

Cost competitiveness of Indian steel industry:

The cost of major raw materials like iron ore, coking coal, and other raw materials is less in

India among the countries mentioned. The labor cost is low, but it is neutralized by its low level

of productivity.

The financial cost and the cost of power, oil and some other materials are high. Energy accounts

for about 35 - 40% of the cost of steel production in 13 India, whereas it is about 28% in the

developed countries. All these make the pre-tax cost of steelmaking in India higher than that of

South Korea, Australia, Mexico, and CIS countries.

India has a definite advantage of having low wage rates compared to all the other countries. The

wage rates and other related costs accounts to 15% of the total costs for production of steel, it is

almost half compared with other countries which is 30% of the total costs.

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Current projects under progress:

• Bhushan Steel plans to invest US$ 5.72 billion for building 12 million ton-capacity in

the states of West Bengal, Jharkhand and Orissa.

• Non-ferrous metals giant, Vedanta Resources, plans to invest around US$ 4.79 billion in

a 5 million ton steel plant in Keonjhar district of Orissa and envisages its commissioning

by 2012–13.

• Tata Steel is also planning to build a 5 million ton plant in Chhattisgarh with an

investment of around US$ 3.59 billion. The steel major is setting up Greenfield projects

in Jharkhand, Orissa and Chhattisgarh. While in Jharkhand it is likely to invest about

US$ 8.38 billion for a 12 million ton integrated steel plant, in Orissa it plans to pour in

almost US$ 4.39 billion for a six million ton capacity plant.

• Mesco Steel plans to invest US$ 2.20 billion for expansion of two of its steel plants in

Orissa.

• Reliance Infrastructure, (part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group) plans to

build a 12-million ton steel plant in Jharkhand, which is likely to be completed by 2012.

• Indian Railways plans to invest around US$ 437.25 million per annum to raise its

consumption of stainless steel for adding new alloy-made wagons and coaches to its

portfolio.

• Welspun Gujarat Stahl Rohren, (one of the largest steel pipe makers in India), plans to

increase the capacity of its pipe plant by 75 per cent to 1.75 million tons with an

investment of US$ 222.52 million.

• The JSW group plans an outlay of US$ 40 billion for steel and power projects. These

projects will be completed by 2020.

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• Visa Steel has lined up a US$ 1.51 billion – US$ 2.02 billion integrated steel project in

Chhattisgarh.

• Also, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) plans to start six new small and medium

enterprises clusters for steel companies in Visakhapatnam. It will also set up a steel task

force to propel growth in the steel clusters.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

• Abundant supply of iron ore

• Low cost and reasonable efficient labor force

• Strong man power capability and improving productivity

• History in steel making and acquired skill

• Strong steel production base and achieved productivity levels

• High degree of entrepreneurship

• Availability of investments and capital back up

• Support from government which helped in growth of the steel industry

Weaknesses:

• Limited availability of coking coal

• High transportation and handling costs.

• Mining costs are also high.

• Implementing latest technology has become a concern for the Indian steel industry.

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• Steel industry in India did not attain self-sufficiency in constructing and efficiently

maintain steel plants. It still relies on the countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan

etc. for installing new steel plant in India.

Opportunities:

• Increase in steel consumption hugely will result in tremendous growth in steel industry

in coming years

• India has all the resources and capabilities to become a global supplier of quality steel

• Low steel prices smooth the way for imports from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. The

geographical proximity of Japan, South Korea and China makes them important

suppliers as well.

• With the decreased potential for steel in developed countries, India have opportunities

for becoming the world leader in production and supply of steel and iron ore

• Concurrently industries like automobiles and urban infrastructure are also growing

simultaneously.

Threats:

• Infrastructure is becoming a major threat for the steel industry. Insufficient infrastructure

in terms of transportation and logistics is becoming concern for Indian steel industry.

• Huge competition in the global markets. In the Indian markets also, with the entry of the

foreign players the domestic steel producers are facing high market competition.

• Increasing concern for the global climate change is becoming a threat to the industry.

• Future energy use and carbon emissions depend on the level of production and the

technologies employed.

• Issues with dumping of low priced steel products from the Chinese and companies of

other countries is also becoming a barrier for the growth of Indian steel industry.

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• Infrastructure with respect to steel plants and logistics of steel industry is also one of the

key challenges for the Indian steel industry.

Logistics in Indian steel industry

There is a growing concern for the macro and micro level logistics of Indian steel industry.

The customer delivery times, inventory management, cargo handling at ports, procurement of

iron ore and other raw materials are some of the areas in which steel manufacturers are focusing

at micro level. Some of the concerns of logistics for the steel industry at macro level are:

• High transportation costs: This is one of the major concerns which is affecting the

growth of the industry. Due to the problems in infrastructure and also with low levels of

productivity in terms of handling and transporting cargo, the costs of transportation were

soaring day by day.

• Lack of connectivity to the ports with sufficient rail and road networks is also one of the

causes for high transportation costs.

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• Proximity and access to raw materials. Infrastructure development requires the transport

of raw materials for steel production for achieving the goal of 75 million ton of

additional capacity by 2019-20 will require the movement of an additional 300 million

ton of raw material

Future outlook for the Indian steel industry

The sponge iron has of late come up as a major input material for steel making through

electric furnace route – both Electric Arc Furnace and Induction Furnace. Due to long gestation

period, huge investments, dependence for coke on foreign suppliers, the steel industry is slowly

diverting itself from blast furnace route to electric furnace route and the requirement of Sponge

Iron is increasing 67 very fast. Another major reason is the global shortage of scrap. The steel

making furnaces in the eastern region use average 70% Sponge Iron in the feed material for

steelmaking.

The future for the Sponge Iron is therefore quite bright. The steel is today considered as the

backbone of India economy. The growth of economy has a direct relation with the demand of

steel. With the present steel intensity index, considering the GDP projection by the Government

of India, growth of steel demand will be around 11% annually.

As per the National Steel Policy issued by the Ministry of Steel – India will produce 110 million

tons of steel by 2020. The requirement of Sponge Iron as metallic will be 30 million tons. The

Ministry of Steel has decided to come out with a White Paper on the logistics requirement of the

steel industry at a production capacity of 250-300 million tons. The exercise has been prompted

by the logistics constraints in the movement of raw materials and end-products faced by the

country today when steel production is at 65 million tons.

It is expected that India would become the second biggest producer of steel within the year

2016 and the production per year would be 137 million tons.

Today India produce 13.9 million tons of sponge iron, out of which 4.2 million ton is gas based

and remaining 9.7 million ton is coal based. India has a proven reserve of 410 million ton of

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high grade iron ore, another 440 million ton of high grade iron ore which will be established.

India has total 9992million ton of iron ore reserves (as per IBM report of1995).

India has sufficient non-coking coal through of high ash low fixed carbon grade. Coal is used as

a reducing for sponge iron making in the furnace. The availability of scrap of required quantum

is unlikely and therefore scraps needs to be replaced more and more by DRI.

Expanding India’s steel sector depends on lower port costs for handling key inputs such as

coking coal which is predominantly imported, as well as servicing potential steel exports as

envisaged under the National Steel Policy

Some of the measures that the industry has to take in the long term at macro level are:

• High freight rates are the major reason for drastic fall in iron ore loading by railways in

recent months. Plans must be made to reduce the freight rates to improve the growth rate

of the industry.

• Rail transportation can become competitive by increasing line capacity, carrying

capacity of trains, port connectivity etc.

• Road transportation is the most common mode for transport of all goods accounting for

65% of all commodities carried. Measures must be taken so as to improve the

infrastructure of the high ways and fund for the maintenance of the highways.

• Port infrastructure in India is outdated and inadequate resulting in bottlenecks and high

costs. Investments must be invited from domestic and foreign sources to upgrade the

infrastructure at ports, also latest technologies must be implemented to reduce costs and

loading and unloading times.

• Attract FDI’s for investing in coastal transportation and pipeline which are the cheapest

and most reliable modes of transporting iron ore. This will make steel manufacturers

competent enough in the global steel trade.

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Literature Review

The steel industry is the one which plays an important role in infrastructural development of any

country. It is said to be helpful in 'building nations' especially developing countries like India.

The Indian steel industry anticipates a sufficiently good growth rate in the present five year plan.

The last two decades in India have witnessed a boom in the 'development sector' worldwide.

Especially in developing countries that are rich in natural resources. This has pressurized the

governments to develop large scale projects. There are various risks associated with the phases

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of construction and establishment of a project which are unique and vary from one project to

other.

Concepts of Data Management in steel Industry

Key Concept

How It Relates to Responsible Conduct of

Research

Data Ownership This pertains to who has the legal rights to the data and who

retains the data after the project is completed, including the

PI's right to transfer data between institutions.

Data Collection This pertains to collecting project data in a consistent,

systematic manner (i.e., reliability) and establishing an

ongoing system for evaluating and recording changes to the

project protocol (i.e., validity).

Data Storage This concerns the amount of data that should be stored

--enough so that project results can be reconstructed.

Data Analysis This pertains to how raw data are chosen, evaluated, and

interpreted into meaningful and significant conclusions that

other researchers and the public can understand and use.

Data Protection This relates to protecting written and electronic data from

physical damage and protecting data integrity, including

damage from tampering or theft.

Data Ownership

Understanding data ownership, who can possess data, and who can publish books or articles

about it are often complicated issues, related to questions of project funding, affiliations, and the

sources and forms of the research itself. For federally funded research, ownership of data

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involves at least 3 different entities: the sponsoring institution, the funding agency, and the PI.

In many cases, the institution/organization owns the project data, but the PI and the funding

agency have "rights" to access and use the data.

Data collection

Data collection refers not only to what information is recorded and how it is Data collection

provides the recorded, but also to how a particular research project is designed. Although

information necessary to data collection methodology varies by project, the aim of successful

data develop and justify collection should always be to uphold the integrity of the project, the

research. Institution, and the researchers involved. Once data have been collected and recorded,

the next concern is data storage. Data storage is crucial to a research project for the following

reasons

• Properly storing data is a way to safeguard your research investment.

• Data may need to be accessed in the future to explain or augment subsequent research.

• Other researchers might wish to evaluate or use the results of your research.

• Stored data can establish precedence in the event that similar research is published.

• Storing data can protect research subjects and researchers in the event of legal allegations.

Data storage

Once data have been collected and recorded, the next concern is data storage. Data storage is

crucial to a research project for the following reasons:

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• Properly storing data is a way to safeguard your research investment.

• Data may need to be accessed in the future to explain or augment subsequent research.

• Other researchers might wish to evaluate or use the results of your research.

• Stored data can establish precedence in the event that similar research is published.

• Storing data can protect research subjects and researchers in the event of legal allegations.

Data analysis

Data analysis is the way raw data is chosen, evaluated, and expressed as the form of data

analysis meaningful content. For many researchers, it would be time consuming and must be

appropriate for the undesirable to use all of the data collected over the course of a study. If it is

project's particular needs.to be translated into meaningful information, data must be managed

and analyzed in an appropriate fashion.

An HVD (holographic Versatile Disc), a holographic storage media, is an

advanced optical disc that’s presently in the development stage. Polaroid scientist

J. van Heerden was the first to come up with the idea for holographic three-

dimensional storage media in 1960. An HVD would be a successor to today’s Blu-

ray and HD-DVD technologies. It can transfer data at the rate of 1 Gigabit per

second. The technology permits over 10 kilobits of data to be written and read in

parallel with a single flash. The disc will store upto 3.9 terabyte (TB) of data on a

single optical disk.

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Holographic data storage, a potential next generation storage technology, offers

both high storage density and fast readout rate. In this article, I discuss the

physical origin of these attractive technology features and the components and

engineering required to realize them. I conclude by describing the current state of

holographic storage research and development efforts in the context of ongoing

improvement to established storage technologies.

1.1 BRIEF HISTORY

Although holography was conceived in the late 1940s, it was not considered a

potential storage technology until the development of the laser in the 1960s. The

resulting rapid development of holography for displaying 3-D images led

researchers to realize that holograms could also store data at a volumetric density

of as much as 1/ where is the wave-length of the light beam used.

Since each data page is retrieved by an array of photo detectors, rather than bi-by-

bit, the holographic scheme promises fast readout rates as well as high density. If a

thousand holograms, each containing a million pixels, could be retrieved every

second, for instance, then the output data rate would reach 1 Gigabit per second.

4.

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In the early 1990s, interest in volume-holographic data storage was rekindled by

the availability of devices that could display and detect 2-D pages, including

charge coupled devices (CCD), complementary metal-oxide semiconductor

(CMOS) detector chips and small liquid-crystal panels. The wide availability of

these devices was made possible by the commercial success of digital camera and

video projectors. With these components in hand, holographic-storages

researchers have begun to demonstrate the potential of their technology in the

laboratory. By using the volume of the media, researchers have experimentally

demonstrated that data can be stored at equivalent area densities of nearly 400

bits/sq. micron. (For comparison, a single layer of a DVD disk stores data at ~ 4.7

bits/sq. micron) A readout rate of 10 gigabit per second has also been achieved in

the laboratory.

1.2 FEATURES

• Data transfer rate: 1 gbps.

• The technology permits over 10 kilobits of data to be written and read in

parallel with a single flash.

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• Most optical storage devices, such as a standard CD saves one bit per pulse.

HVDs manage to store 60,000 bits per pulse in the same place.

• 1 HVD – 5800 CDs – 830 DVD – 160 BLU-RAY Discs.

5.

2. UNDERLYING ECHNOLOGY

2.1 HOLOGRAPHY

Holographic data storage refers specifically to the use of holography to store and

retrieve digital data. To do this, digital data must be imposed onto an optical wave

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front, stored holographically with high volumetric density, and then extracted

from the retrieved optical wav front with excellent data fidelity.

A hologram preserves both the phase and amplitude of an optical wave front of

interest called the object beam – by recording the optical interference pattern

between it and a second coherent optical beam – the reference beam. Fig 2.1

shows this process.

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FIG 2.1 INERFERENCE

6.

The reference beam is designed to be simple to reproduce at a later stage (A

common reference beam is a plane wave a light beam that propagates without

converging or diverging). These interference fringes are recorded if the two beams

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have been overlapped within a suitable photosensitive media, such as a

photopolymer or inorganic crystal or photographic film. The bright and dark

variations of the interference pattern create chemical and/or physical changes in

the media, preserving a replica of the interference pattern as a change in

absorption, refractive index or thickness.

FIG 2.2 HOLOGRAM

22

7.

When the recording is illuminated by a readout beam similar to the original reference beam, some of the light is diffracted to “reconstruct” a copy of the object beam as shown in Fig\2.2 if the object beam originally came from a 3-D object, then the reconstructed hologram makes the 3-D object reappear.

2.2 COLLINEAR HOLOGRAPHY

HVD uses a technology called ‘collinear holography’, in which two laser rays, one

blue-green and one red, are collimated into a single beam. The role of the blue-

green laser is to read the data encoded in the form of laser interference fringes

from the holographic layer on the top, while the red laser serves the purpose of a

reference beam and also to read the servo info from the aluminum layer – like in

normal CDs – near the bottom of the disk. The servo info is meant to monitor the

coordinates of the read head above the disk (this is similar to the track, head and

sector information on a normal hard disk drive).

Fig 2.3 shows the two laser collinear holography technique and fig 2.4 shows

the interference fringes pattern stored on the disc.

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FIG 2.3 FIG 2.4

COLLINEAR HOLOGRAPHY FRINGES PATTERN

8.

3. STRUCTURE

3.1 HVD STRUCTURE

HVD structure is shown in fig 3.1 the following components are used in HVD.

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1. Green writing/reading laser (650 nm).

2. Red positioning/addressing laser (650 nm).

3. Hologram (data).

4. Polycarbon layer.

5. Photopolymeric layer (data-containing layer).

6. Distance layers.

7. Dichroic layer (reflecting green light).

8. Aluminum reflective layer (reflecting red light).

9. Transparent base.

10.PIT.

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9.

26

FIG 3.1 HVD STRUCTURE

27

10.

3.2 HVD READER PROTOTYPE

To read data from an HVD reader. The following components are used to make a

reader.

A blue-green laser, beam splitters to split the laser beams, mirrors to direct the

laser beams, LCD panels (spatial light modulator), lenses to focus the beams,

lithium-niobate crystals or photopoymers, and charge-coupled device (CCD)

cameras.

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FIG 3.2 HVD READER PROTOTYPE

29

11.

4. STORAGE DATA

4.1 RECORDING DATA

A simplified HVD system consists of the following main components:

Blue or green laser (532-nm wavelength in the test system)

Beam splitter/merger

Mirrors

Spatial light modulator (SLM)

CMOS sensor

Polymer recording medium

The process of writing information onto an HVD begins with encoding the

information into binary data to be stored in the SLM. These data are turned into

ones and zeroes represented as opaque or translucent areas on a "page" -- this page

is the image that the information beam is going to pass through.

When the blue-green argon laser is fired, a beam splitter creates two beams. One

beam, called the object or signal beam, will go straight, bounce off one mirror and

travel through a spatial-light modulator (SLM). An SLM is a liquid crystal display

(LCD) that shows pages of raw binary data as clear and dark boxes.

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The information from the page of binary code is carried by the signal beam around

to the light-sensitive lithium-niobate crystal. Some systems use a photopolymer in

place of the crystal.

A second beam, called the reference beam, shoots out the side of the beam splitter

and takes a separate path to the crystal.

When the two beams meet, the interference pattern that is created stores the data

carried by the signal beam in a specific area in the crystal -- the data is stored as a

hologram.

12.

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FIG 4.1 RECORDING DATA

32

13.

FIG 4.2 DATA IMAGE

33

FIG 4.3

PAGE DATA (LEFT) STORED AS HOLOGRAM (RIGHT)

14.

4.2 READING DATA

To read the data from an HVD, you need to retrieve the light pattern stored in

the hologram.

In the HVD read system, the laser projects a light beam onto the hologram -- a

light beam -- a light beam that is identical to the reference beam.

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An advantage of a holographic memory system is that an entire page of data

can be retrieved quickly and at one time. In order to retrieve and reconstruct

the holographic page of data stored in the crystal, the reference beam is shined

into the crystal at exactly the same angle at which it entered to store that page

of data. Each page of data is stored in a different area of the crystal, based on

the angle at which the reference beam strikes it.

The key component of any holographic data storage system is the angle at

which the reference beam is fired at the crystal to retrieve a page of data. It

must match the original reference beam angle exactly. A difference of just a

thousandth of a millimeter will result in failure to retrieve that page of data.

During reconstruction, the beam will be diffracted by the crystal to allow the

recreation of the original page that was stored. This reconstructed page is then

projected onto the CMOS, which interprets and forwards the digital

information to a computer.

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15.

36

FIG 4.4 REDING DATA

37

16.

FIG 4.4 FIG 4.5

PAGE DATA STORED AND RECREATED BY CMOS

IN AN HVD (LEFT) SENSOR (RIGHT)

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17.

5 . HARDWARE

5.1 SPATIAL LIGHT MODULATOR

To use volume holography as a storage technology, digital data must be imprinted

onto the object beam for recording and then retrieved from the reconstructed

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object beam during readout. The device for putting data into the system is called a

spatial light modulator (SLM) – a planner array consisting of thousand of pixels.

Each pixel is independent microscopic shutters that can either block or pass light

using liquid-crystal or micro-mirror technology. Liquid crystal panels and micro-

mirror arrays with 1280 X 1024 pixels are commercially available due to the

success of computer-driven projection displays. The pixels in both types of

devices can be refreshed over 1000 times per second, allowing the holographic

storage system to reach an input data rate of 1 gigabit per second – assuming that

laser power and material sensitivities would permit. The data are read using an

array of detector pixels, such as a CCD camera or CMOS sensor array.

FIG 5.1 SLM

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18.

To access holographically-stored data, the correct reference beam must first be

directed to the appropriate spot within the storage media. With mechanical access

(i.e., a spinning disk), getting to the right spot is slow (long latency), but reading

data out can be quick. Non – mechanical access leads to possibility for lower

latency. A frequently mentioned goal is an integration time of about 1 millisecond,

which imphes that 1000 pages of data can be retrieved per second. If there are 1

Gigabit per second. This goal requires high laser power (at least 1 W), a storage

material capable of high diffraction efficiencies, and a detector with a million

pixels that can be read out at high frame rates. Frame rates of 1 kHz have been

demonstrated in such “mega pixel” CCDs, but these are not yet commercially

available. Low-noise mega pixel CMOS detector arrays that can support 500

frames per second have also been demonstrated. Even with these requirements

faster readout and lower latency could be reached by steering the reference beam

angle non-mechanically, by using a pulsed laser, and by electronically reading

only the desired portion of the detector array. Both the capacity and the readout

rate are maximized when each detector pixel is matched to a single pixel on the

SLM, but for large pixel arrays this requires careful option design and alignment.

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FIG 5.2 DATA STORAGE

19.

6. MORA ON HVD

6.1 ADVANTAGE

High Storage capacity of 3.9 terabyte (TB) enables user to store large

amount of data.

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Records one program while watching another on the disc.

Edit or reorder programs recorded on the disc.

Automatically search for an empty space on the disc to avoid

recording over a program.

Users will be able to connect to the Internet and instantly download

subtitles and other interactive movie features

Backward compatible: Supports CDs and DVDs also.

The transfer rate of HVD is up to 1 gigabyte (GB) per second which is 40

times faster than DVD.

An HVD stores and retrieves an entire page of data, approximately 60,000

bits of information, in one pulse of light, while a DVD stores and retrieves

one bit of data in one pulse of light.

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20.

6.2 COMPARISON

Parameters DVD BLU-RAY HVD

Capacity 4.7 GB 25 GB 3.9 TB

Laser wave length

650 nm

(red)

405 nm

(blue)

532 nm (green)

Disc diameter 120 mm 120 mm 120 mm

Hard coating No yes Yes

Data transfer rate (raw data)

11.08 mbps 36 mbps 1 gbps

6.3 INTERESTING FACTS

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It has been estimated that the books in the U.S. Library of Congress, the largest

library in the world, could be stored on Six HVDs.

The pictures of every landmass on Earth - like the ones shown in Google Earth

- can be stored on two HVDs.

With MPEG4 ASP encoding, a HVD can hold anywhere between 4,600-11,900

hours of video, which is enough for non-stop playing for a year.

21.

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6.4 HVD AT A GLANCE

Media type: Ultra-high density optical disc.

Encoding: MPEG-2, MPEG-4 AVC (H.264), and VC-1.

Capacity: Theoretically up to 3.9 TB.

Usage: Data storage, High-definition video, & he possibility of ultra

High-definition video.

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6.5 STANDARDS

On December 9, 2004 at its 88th General Assembly the standards body Ecma

International created Technical committee 44, dedicated to standardizing HVD

formats based on Optware’s technology. On June 11, 2007, TC44 published the

first two HVD standards ECMA-377, defining a 200 GB HVD “recordable

cartridge” and ECMA-378,defining a 100 GB HVD-ROM disc. Its next stated

goals are 30 GB HVD cards and submission of these standards to the International

Organization for Standardization for ISO approval.

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CONCLUSION

A multimodal system, which uses the most efficient modes of transport from

origin to destination, is a prerequisite for the smooth functioning of any port. With

the growth of cargo in the ports by over seven per cent and increase in container

traffic by 17 per cent, the Government had laid emphasis on capacity expansion

and improvement in infrastructure of the ports for handling these growing

volumes of cargo. Unless matched with connectivity infrastructure, the increased

cargo would result in congestion and undermine the competitiveness of Indian

industry and also affect the economy at large.

Though India is technologically forward and advanced in the production of steel

and exporting iron ore, problems with infrastructure and logistics are making it to

lag behind in the international trade of steel and iron ore. Also India should

concentrate on increasing the consumption of steel at the domestic level. The per

capita consumption of steel is the indicator of growth for the developing countries.

The Information Age has led to an explosion of information available to users.

While current storage needs are being me, storage technology must continue to

improve in order to keep pace with the rapidly increasing demand. However,

conventional data storage technologies, where individual bits are stored as distinct

magnetic or optical changes on the surface of a recording medium are approaching

physical limits. Storing information throughout the volume of a medium—not just

on its surface—offers an intriguing high-capacity alternative. Holographic data

storage is a volumetric approach which, although conserved decades ago, has

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made recent progress towards practicality with the appearance of lower-cost

enabling technologies, significant results from longstanding research efforts and

progress in holographic recording material.

HVD gives a practical way to exploit he holography technologies to store data up

to 3.9 terabytes on a single disc. It can transfer data at the rate of 1 Gigabit per

second. The technology permits over 10 kilobits of data to be written and read in

parallel with a single flash. So an HVD would be a successor to today’s Blu-ray

and HD-HVD technologies.

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PROD/PROD0000000000202605.pdf

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_Ramakrishna.pdf

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are-intact-Ernst-Young.pdf

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• http://www.me.iitb.ac.in/~narayan/transport/multi-modal-supply-chain.pdf

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• Psaltis, D. Mok, F. Holographic memories. Scientific American.

• Encyclopedia of Optical Engineering.

• www.ibm.com - IBM Research Press Resources Holographic Storage

• www.howstuffworks.com

• www.hvd-forum.org

• http://www.tech-faq.com/hvd.shtml.

• http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1759907,00.asp

• http://www.news.com/Group-aims-to-drastically-up-disc-storage/2100-

1041_3-5562599.html

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