• Bacteria used to ‘print’ intricate 3D objects

    The technique allows the researchers to guide the growth of bacterial colonies, using moulds with superhydrophobic (extremely water repellent) surfaces. These moulds are produced by simply embedding hydrophobic particles in silicone. Unlike the fibrous objects made using conventional 3D-printing methods, the technique allows for fibres – with a diameter 1,000 times thinner than a human hair – to be aligned in any orientation, across layers, and in various gradients of thickness and topology by controlling wetting, incubation time, and nutrient availability. This opens up a world of possible applications in fields such as tissue regeneration; the physical characteristics of these objects are crucial for supporting materials in the growth and regeneration of certain tissues found in muscles…

  • Virtual meet: Danielle George on robots in space and what really makes 5G crucial

    "The human form is not designed very well to travel in space," says Danielle George, Professor of Radio Frequency Engineering at the University of Manchester and 2020's IET President. "However, there is something quintessentially human that I am not sure robots will ever have and that's curiosity. Do we want robots to make those first discoveries, to see that very first thing coming over the horizon?" Hear about her work on the world's largest telescopes, what makes robots so great at space exploration but why there will be plenty more astronauts in the future too. Hear about her favourite innovations for saving lives with health electronics, how 5G communications will change so much more than the convenience of your mobile phone, and what to look forward to in this year's E&T Innovation…

  • Quantum sensor design with multiphysics simulation

    In this webinar, Peter J. Hobson, a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham, will discuss ongoing work using the COMSOL Multiphysics software to simulate hybrid active–passive shielding systems. These systems are designed using a new analytical model developed at the University of Nottingham and generate accurate magnetic fields over large regions inside cylindrical magnetic shields. Multiphysics simulation of these systems enables them to be tested in real-world contexts, where shields are of finite magnetic permeability, thickness and have entry holes. Furthermore, multiphysics software can be used to calculate shielding efficiency in simulated real-world scenarios. This presentation will include a live demonstration and a Q&A session during which there will be the opportunity…

  • High Integrity Software: Continuing innovation in the face of global challenge

    Altran  and  AdaCore  sponsors of The High Integrity Software Conference Date: Tuesday, November 17, 2020 Time: 2pm (GMT) Duration: 1 hour, 45 minutes Our three speakers from globally recognised companies will present their own perspectives on these challenges – the lessons learnt and how the situation will evolve for their organisations as we move forwards. Simon Creak, Rolls-Royce, will present Modernising control systems development in the aviation industry.  Rolls Royce Control Systems has been undertaking a major programme to modernise the way control systems are developed. The dramatic changes to the aviation industry and working arrangements has created both new threats which must be faced, but also opportunities which can be exploited to continue to drive and accelerate innovation…

  • 2020 hindsight: lessons learnt the hard way

    When revolutions take place, things happen quickly. The year of Covid-19 is likely to be an example of how sudden pressure can lead to massive changes, and not necessarily all for the worse once all the consequences are taken into account. The pandemic and associated lockdowns have provided a wake-up call for the world in how things are done at every level. We have seen in government responses a recognition that the market on its own does not provide. To ensure society does not suffer shocks even worse than a rise in excess deaths, governments around the world have decided economic help is important and even those who used to argue for the discipline of austerity have changed their minds. The need to deal with an urgent problem has brought groups together to try to solve problems in ways…

  • High performance computing in engineering simulation

    Here our expert roundtable panel – hosted by specialist HPC integrator OCF – discusses current thinking on today’s most important engineering simulation issues. As consumers demand ever more capability for their investment, technology disruption is rapidly becoming a fixture in the product design cycle. This disruption inevitably leads to an increase in demand for more and more product and system protypes, all delivered on time and on budget. For manufacturers under pressure to meet this demand, the need to maintain tight control over development costs for cutting-edge applications means that engineering simulation on HPC platforms is becoming more widespread than ever. Once the exclusive province of big ticket applications such as defence, aerospace and automotive, over the past few decades…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Printed plastic webs could save smashed smartphone screens

    A research team at Polytechnique Montréal, Canada, has demonstrated a fabric designed using additive manufacturing which they claim can absorb up to 96 per cent of impact energy without breaking. This could lead to the creation of unbreakable plastic coverings for all sorts of delicate technology devices. Professors Frédérick Gosselin and Daniel Therriault, from Polytechnique Montréal's Department of Mechanical Engineering, along with doctoral student Shibo Zou, have demonstrated how plastic webbing could be incorporated into a glass pane to prevent it from shattering on impact. Their design was inspired by the amazing properties of natural spider webs. "A spider web can resist the impact of an insect colliding with it, due to its capacity to deform via sacrificial links at the molecular…

  • View from India: Digital twins help with failure management

    Digital technologies are revolutionising the manufacturing industry. Products can be scaled up and solutions used to drive operational efficiencies, improve safety and asset efficiencies. Smart and efficient are the new hallmarks of manufacturing. Various technologies are driving the digitisation of the manufacturing value chain. This has facilitated integrated product development right from ideation and conceptualisation to the design and development of a product. This approach is critical to industries such as aerospace, defense, automotive and healthcare. The Internet of Things (IoT) which includes both industrial and consumer IoT, has a transformative effect on digital manufacturing. “IoT unlocks solutions for gaining visibility into manufacturing at the shop floor level through dashboards…

  • Ericsson to replace Huawei in BT’s 5G infrastructure

    In July, the UK government announced that it would ban Huawei equipment from any part of the UK’s 5G network. Operators were given until 2027 to remove any existing equipment and until the end of 2020 to stop purchasing new 5G equipment. The decision – which the government attributed to additional US sanctions affecting Huawei’s ability to guarantee the security of its equipment – marked a U-turn from a previous decision to allow high-risk vendors to provide a limited proportion of non-core equipment . Operators have pleaded with lawmakers for sufficient time to replace Huawei equipment, with Vodafone asking for at least five years to complete the expensive and time-consuming process. Now, BT has chosen Swedish telecommunications giant Ericsson to replace Huawei’s Radio Access Network …

  • 3D-printed human tongue developed for food tests and dry mouth cures

    The highly sophisticated surface design of a human tongue has been replicated with a synthetic silicone structure that mimics the topology, elasticity and wettability of the tongue’s surface. The team took silicone impressions of tongue surfaces from fifteen adults. The impressions were 3D optically scanned to map papillae dimensions, density and the average roughness of the tongues. Computer simulations and mathematical modelling were then used to create a 3D-printed artificial surface to function as a mould containing wells with the shape and dimensions of the different papillae randomly distributed across the surface with the right density. The unique factors attributable to the human tongue are instrumental to how food or saliva interacts with it, which in turn…

  • Governments shouldn’t underestimate the impact of walking away from Huawei

    Relationships between global governments and Huawei have been nuanced to say the least in recent months. From the UK to India and most recently Sweden, the dominoes are falling as the Chinese telecoms giant is banned from 5G networks in an increasing number of countries. Expelling Huawei from India is certainly one of the most significant moves; China’s premier infrastructure provider will miss out on access to the world’s largest mobile market as a result. Losing a foothold in Sweden is also a symbolic defeat, ousted from the home of its biggest rival, Ericsson. With new restrictions rumoured to be on their way in Germany, Huawei could also be about to fall out of one of Europe’s most significant territories. Although it is clearly a multi-faceted decision, politicians must be conscious…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Huawei Mate 40 smartphone range could be ‘last hurrah’ in Europe for Chinese firm

    Huawei unveiled its new Mate 40 line-up of smartphones (pictured above) yesterday (22 October), along with a new smartwatch - the GT 2 - and augmented reality glasses. However, the ongoing sanctions imposed on the company by the Trump administration over allegations that Huawei has ties to the Chinese state and that its products could be used to spy on the West has seen the firm’s newer devices cut off from using Google’s services as well as limiting access to US-made components. Huawei has taken strides to react positively to the sanctions, launching its own app store and apps to compensate for the loss of the full Google ecosystem, but experts say its appeal has undoubtedly been hit by the restrictions. Ben Wood, chief of research at analyst firm CCS Insight, said the ever-tightening…

  • EU Parliament backs plans for regulation of digital platforms

    Since 2000, the EU has used the e-Commerce Directive as its primary legal framework for regulating digital services. Now, it is is developing a modern legal framework – the Digital Services Act – which will frame the responsibilities of digital companies to address risks their users face and set rules that prevent anti-competitive behaviour. The European Parliament has overwhelmingly approved three resolutions. These seek to establish its position on the future of digital services regulation before the measures are published in December by the European Commission. These recommendations are likely to feed into the Digital Services Act. The Parliament notably backed the inclusion of tighter restrictions on targeted advertising, put forward by German MEP Tiemo Wölken of the Legal Affairs committee…

  • 4G on the Moon, as Nasa picks Nokia for lunar network

    Nasa’s ambitious 'Artemis' project aims to return humans to the Moon; to set up a long-term human presence there;  kick-start a lunar economy (largely based on mining lunar resources) , and establish infrastructure to support a crewed mission to Mars. Nasa is working alongside international partners including ESA, JAXA, the UKSA  and many private companies. Nasa has now selected Nokia’s US subsidiary to deploy an “ultra-compact, low-power, space-hardened” 4G network on the Moon to support a small human presence, with a view to later updating to a 5G network. The contract is worth $14.1m (£10.9m). Nokia will mostly use off-the-shelf technology such as lightweight 4G base stations, adapted to “withstand the harsh conditions of the launch and lunar landing and to operate in the extreme conditions…

  • Stratospheric 4G network realised with antennas fitted to plane

    The German telecoms company said this was the world’s first successful demonstration of 4G voice and data connectivity over a platform flying at the edge of the stratosphere and fully integrated into a commercial mobile network. At the beginning of October, several test flights were carried out in Bavaria with a remote-controlled aircraft system at an altitude of approximately 14km. The antennas installed on the aircraft allowed a smartphone on the ground to achieve download speeds of 70Mbps and upload speeds of 20Mbps in the 2.1GHz range over a channel bandwidth of 10MHz. The high flight altitude, coupled with an almost unobstructed view of the ground, should allow an airplane to use special antennas to supply radio cells with a diameter of up to 100km, boosting the coverage of existing…

  • EU must counter 5G misinformation; 15 countries sign joint letter

    A joint letter signed by 15 countries across the European Union - including Poland, Sweden and Greece - puts forward their concerns that the “anti-5G movement” is gathering momentum across Europe. Conspiracies over the introduction of 5G networks have been gaining traction on social media platforms in recent months. They even include theories that the coronavirus epidemic could be linked to the new networks in some way. The proliferation of such theories, none of which have any grounding in scientific study, have led to real-world consequences, including repeated arson attacks on 5G mobile phone masts across the UK and the rest of Europe. An Ofcom survey in April suggested that 5G misinformation had become the most common false information seen by Britons. Both YouTube and Facebook…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • Instagram made to crack down on ‘hidden advertising’

    Popular users often sign deals to advertise a product or service on their feed, but the distinction between paid-for content and standard posted content is not always clear. Clear labelling of incentivised posts is required under consumer protection law so that people are not misled. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been investigating what it calls “hidden advertising” on Instagram over concerns that too many social media influencers are posting paid content without letting their followers know and that the platform is not doing enough to tackle the problem. Instagram will now make it easier for all users – and the businesses they promote – to comply with consumer protection law when posting content. The social network will prompt users to confirm if they have been…

    IET EngX
    IET EngX

  • iPhone 12 launch ushers in 5G, Magsafe charging, and ‘mini’ iPhone

    The line up now includes four devices with the addition of the smaller iPhone 12 mini, which has a 5.4” screen and will start at £699. Apple described it as the “smallest, lightest and thinnest 5G phone in the world”. It is also joined by successors to the previous generation models in the form of a 6.1” screen iPhone 12, the iPhone 12 Pro which also has a 6.1” display and the 6.7” iPhone 12 Pro Max. While maintaining very similar form factors to last year’s iPhone 11, the new products will test whether consumer appetite for 5G networks is enough to convince people to upgrade. The CEO of US network Verizon was present at Apple’s launch event explaining that his firm could now boast “nationwide” 5G coverage in the US. However, with its 5G implementations primarily running on 4G spectrum…

  • Birmingham Tech Week returns virtually in 2020

    Becoming the largest regional technology festival in the UK in 2019, with over 5,000 attendees, this year the week will be delivered entirely online and feature a number of high-profile speakers.These include Thomas Blood, Digital Innovation Leader at Amazon Web Services (AWS), Jill Palmer, CEO at Click Travel and Avin Rabheru, CEO & Founder of Housekeep. The technology festival returns on the 12-16 October, this time virtually Keynote speakers include Amazon, Click Travel and Housekeep Key themes to be discussed will be 5G, FinTech, Smart Cities and AI Yiannis Maos, Founder of Birmingham Tech Week, said: “The week was founded on encouraging collaboration, celebrating regional success stories and inspiring organisations to get involved in all aspects of technology. Given the year…

  • High five for Amazon, as retailer expands palm-recognition tech

    Customers at the pair of Amazon stores near the retailer's HQ campus in Washington state, US, can show their palm for entry to the shop and again to buy goods, as part of the 'Amazon One' trial. "Just hover to enter, identify and pay", is the simple online description Amazon offers for its palm shopping experience . Writing on his company blog, Dilip Kumar, vice-president of physical retail and technology at Amazon, said the company chose palm recognition because it is more private than other biometric technology, plus a user is required to purposefully flash their palm at the Amazon One device to engage. This is designed to be a deterrent against fraudsters. “And it’s contactless, which we think customers will appreciate, especially in current times,” Mr Kumar added in his post. The…

  • 3D-printed brain implant paves way for personalised neuromedicine

    The team believes their device could be used to develop treatments for nervous system problems and to help people with paralysis. They have already used it to stimulate injured spinal cords in animal models. The technology has been shown to also fit well on the surface of a brain, spinal cord, peripheral nerves and muscles, opening the possibility that it could be used for other neurological conditions too. Currently, brain-computer interface development is hampered by the huge costs and long development time it takes to produce prototypes. But these Sheffield researchers have shown that 3D printing can be used to make prototype implants much faster and more cost-effectively in order to speed up research and development in the area. The implants can be easily adapted to target specific…

  • 3D printing poses ‘grave and growing threat’ to people’s privacy

    If 3D-printed objects – of any size – have watermarks included in the material, other people could be able to track and trace the origins of the objects using cameras, laptops or mobile phones and see how the objects are being used. Research by Dr Annika Jones, from Durham University, and Dr James Griffin, from the University of Exeter, has warned about the lack of awareness among governments and companies about such privacy issues associated with 3D printers. The pair are calling for changes to treaties on copyright law and international human rights law, as well as recommending a new voluntary code of conduct to protect people’s privacy and a regulatory body to provide guidance and oversight. The two experts carried out 30 in-depth interviews with representatives from Chinese 3D-printing…

  • Fungus leather substitute offers greener alternative material

    Traditional leather, typically made from animal hides such as cow and goat, brings ethical issues as well as the deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions associated with livestock farming. Treating animal hide to turn it into leather, known as tanning, often uses hazardous chemicals that can leach into the environment. Leather alternatives, such as those made from plastic, are vegan in that they don’t use animal hides. However, traditional synthetic leather is made using the polymers polyurethane (PU) or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) which, like most other plastics, are made from fossil fuels and are not biodegradable. In a new review paper, researchers at the University of Vienna, Imperial College London and RMIT University in Australia argue that leather made from fungi has “considerable…

  • The race is on for the fastest charger

    The charger market is seeing a unification trend for improved user experience. With USB's compatible charging protocol, value-adding features such as ease-of-use, fast charging, and data transfer will upgrade chargers and optimize power management across multiple peripherals. USB-PD (power delivery) is the right technology to solve these market pains. To ensure that engineers are able to meet their design targets, Infineon – the leader in power - offers a comprehensive semiconductor portfolio of low RDS(on) high-voltage and low-voltage power MOSFETs that accommodate excellent power density while appropriately addressing thermal management and potential EMI issues. In this webinar session, several solutions will be presented. Furthermore, you will learn about the matching high-voltage and…

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