• UK set to miss net-zero goals without battery innovation

    UK set to miss net-zero goals without battery innovation

    In a report on the subject, it said the UK was failing to make the most of its expertise in fuel cells and next-generation batteries, increasing the risk that the domestic automotive industry could fall behind its global competitors. The Committee added that it was “alarmed” by the disconnect between the optimism of Ministers about the UK’s prospects and the concerns raised by other witnesses who fear that the UK is lagging behind its competitors and facing significant challenges with innovation, supply chains and skills. The report sets out a number of recommendations for the government and research funders, in order to protect the UK’s automotive sector and develop a competitive advantage in fuel cells and next-generation batteries. It called for Government support to develop UK supply…

  • Semiconductor fab and civil nukes new focus of UK-China tensions

    Semiconductor fab and civil nukes new focus of UK-China tensions

    The Financial Times report, citing people familiar with the plans, said the government is exploring how CGN may be excluded from all future power projects in the UK. A change in policy could have severe ramifications for the Sizewell C project in Suffolk, which France’s state-owned power company EDF is scheduled to build with backing from CGN. CGN is also involved with proposals for a successor to the decommissioned Bradwell nuclear power station in Essex. The UK government has taken a firmer stance against Chinese companies’ involvement with British infrastructure projects and strategically important industries. Last year, the government performed a U-turn by announcing that Shenzhen-based Huawei would be completely excluded from British 5G networks by the end of 2027 , having previously…

  • Boeing primes Starliner for unmanned launch to the ISS

    Boeing primes Starliner for unmanned launch to the ISS

    The reusable crew capsule, in development for over a decade, has been designed to transport crew to the ISS and other low-Earth orbit destinations. While humans may not be present, the upcoming test flight will see Starliner carry supplies and test equipment to the ISS. If all goes well, it will demonstrate its capabilities in launching, docking, and then re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere while performing a safe desert landing. Boeing’s previous attempt at an uncrewed test flight in 2019 ended in failure due to an unforeseen software glitch. While the capsule was able to reach orbit and land safely, the software problem prevented it from docking successfully with the ISS. Boeing is estimated to be paying around $410m (£300m) for the upcoming test mission on 30 July which will take place…

  • Sponsored: Break through the Barriers of Evolving IoT Regulatory Standards

    Sponsored: Break through the Barriers of Evolving IoT Regulatory Standards

    IoT device makers need to accomplish regulatory pre-compliance and compliance testing throughout the product life cycle — from design to test validation, manufacturing, and deployment. Solving design issues early in the product life cycle helps manufacturers achieve first-to-market breakthroughs to stay competitive in the marketplace. Discover deep insights into regulatory compliance test, why it is crucial, its test challenges, and the solutions to overcome these obstacles. Key Learning Points: Roadblocks to global market access Tips to help you meet product release schedule and maximise asset utlisation Understand the complexity of wireless regulatory tests Download Here

  • Storms batter south of England, flooding homes, roads and hospitals

    Storms batter south of England, flooding homes, roads and hospitals

    Residents in north-east London used buckets, brooms and wooden boards to create makeshift flood defences for their homes, while water gushing from an Underground station was caught on video. The wettest part in the whole of the UK on Sunday was St James’s Park in London, where 41.6mm of rain fell. Mayor of London Sadiq Khan tweeted: “Local emergency services, @LondonFire, and @MetPoliceUK are responding to significant flooding across London. If you’re travelling, check your route as multiple @TfL bus, tube and rail services are affected. Avoid walking or driving through flood water. In an emergency, call 999.” Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, MP for the London constituency of Holborn and St Pancras, said: “Thoughts with all those affected by today’s flooding. Thanks to all the emergency…

  • Cheap thermal sensor operates at high temperatures

    Cheap thermal sensor operates at high temperatures

    Thermal-imaging sensors have been in demand since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic to examine the thermal profile of human bodies and detect people who may have elevated temperatures: a symptom of the disease. The smartphone industry is considering incorporating such sensors as portable features to in order to allow them to measure temperature in real time. Additionally, the application of such technology to autonomous vehicles could facilitate safer autonomous driving. Researchers at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology have developed a new sensor that can operate at temperatures up to 100°C without a cooling device and is expected to be more affordable than standard sensors on the market. Many of the thermal imaging sensors currently available cannot operate above 35…

  • Acoustic fields used to levitate polystyrene ball

    Acoustic fields used to levitate polystyrene ball

    Optical trapping is a technology which has allowed scientists to move tiny objects around for many years, enabling manipulation with no contact. In fact, one of the recipients of the 2018 Nobel Prize for Physics, Arthur Ashkin, was recognised for his work on optical trapping. Despite the many possibilities opened up by this technology, it has some limitations. Chiefly, it places limits on the properties of objects which can be manipulated. Acoustic trapping is an alternative technology which uses sound waves instead of light waves; the technology is sometimes referred to as 'acoustic tweezers'. Scientists hope that they may be able to manipulate individual cells and other tiny objects using the technology. Sound waves, unlike light waves, can be applied to a wider range of object sizes and…

  • Wearable computer vision aid helps blind people avoid collisions

    Wearable computer vision aid helps blind people avoid collisions

    A team of researchers showed that people using a long cane or a guide dog were able to reduce the number of collisions by 37 per cent, compared to using other mobility aids alone. “Independent travel is an essential part of daily life for many people who are visually impaired, but they face a greater risk of bumping into obstacles when they walk on their own,” said Gang Luo, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “Although many blind individuals use long canes to detect obstacles, collision risks are not completely eliminated. We sought to develop and test a device that can augment these everyday mobility aids, further improve their safety.” The experimental device and data recording unit were enclosed in a sling backpack with a chest-mounted, wide-angle camera…

  • Hands-on review: RiutBag X35 3-in-1 backpack

    Hands-on review: RiutBag X35 3-in-1 backpack

    RiutBag (pronounced 'Riot Bag' and derived from 'Revolution in user thinking', natch) was started by commuter Sarah Giblin in 2014 to address what she perceived as a fundamental flaw with most backpacks: when worn on the back, as on a bus or train, the zips and flaps face away from the wearer and are instead invitingly within sticky-fingered reach of any opportunistic thieves standing nearby. Following this Damescene revelation, Giblin quit her City day job and pursued her dream of launching the 'backwards' backpack with her life savings and a Kickstarter campaign. Fast forward to today, where it's 20,000 Riutbags sold and the company recently 'bagged' a European Product Design Award. E&T looked at the company's pandemic-inspired backpack back in May, with its focus on the specific needs…

  • Why spatial computing is the next frontier for industrial efficiency

    Why spatial computing is the next frontier for industrial efficiency

    Smart factories are about to get even smarter. With the adoption of spatial computing – the digitisation of spatial relationships between machines, people and objects in order to identify their precise location and movements within a 3D space – industrial companies have an opportunity to take the optimisation of worksites to a whole new level. To understand the scale of that opportunity, let’s first take a step back. Over the past decade, manufacturers have been able to reach new levels of efficiency through industrial internet of things (IIoT) programmes. These have equipped factory-floor machinery with smart sensors able to report on their status and usage and receive instructions remotely. Connected operations provide far greater insight into how facilities are running. In turn, companies…

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    IET EngX
  • Facebook blind spot allows timber wildlife trafficking to Asia to continue

    Facebook blind spot allows timber wildlife trafficking to Asia to continue

    “Can people buy Kosso wood from you?”, was the message to a Nigerian log trafficker that kicked off an investigation into dozens of Facebook accounts responsible for smuggling precious, often protected wood species from Africa into Vietnam. The answer to our   inquiry about Kosso, a   CITES -listed rosewood illegally harvested in Africa where loggers   wreak havoc with local biodiversity and from where it's   mostly illegally exported - was hardly surprising: “I have lots of Kosso wood for sale in Nigeria,” the Nigerian Facebook account replied. Records show the account owner   is very active on Vietnamese Facebook   groups. It's just one example of a larger analysis that reveals how Facebook facilitates trading accounts and groups that shift large quantities of precious wood across continents…

  • Mars interior mapped using data from Nasa’s Insight probe

    Mars interior mapped using data from Nasa’s Insight probe

    InSight was sent to Mars in 2018 to study the internal structure of the Red Planet and shed light on how rocky planets, moons and meteorites in the solar system formed. It detected its first ‘Marsquakes’ in 2019 which proved that the planet was seismically active underneath the surface. Using information obtained from around a dozen earthquakes detected on Mars by the 'Very Broad Band' (VBB) SEIS seismometer, Nasa scientists were able to determine the internal structure of Mars. They estimated of the size of the planet’s core, the thickness of its crust and the structure of its mantle based on the analysis of seismic waves reflected and modified by interfaces in its interior. It is the first-ever seismic exploration of the internal structure of a terrestrial planet other than Earth and…

  • ‘Postcode lottery’ for access to EV chargepoints, CMA warns

    ‘Postcode lottery’ for access to EV chargepoints, CMA warns

    The CMA found that some parts of the new EV charging sector are developing relatively well, including charging at shopping centres, workplaces, and private parking (such as garages and driveways), but other parts are facing problems that could hinder the planned petrol and diesel engine phase-out. The regulator expressed particular concern about the choice and availability of chargepoints at motorway service stations where competition is limited; the speed of the roll-out of on-street charging by local authorities; and lack of investment in building chargepoints in rural areas. It also cited research showing that charging can be difficult and frustrating for drivers, as well as issues around reliability and cost putting drivers off going electric. The CMA laid out four principles which…

  • Jurors who view the scene of a crime in VR make better decision, study finds

    Jurors who view the scene of a crime in VR make better decision, study finds

    In a study published by the University of South Australia, researchers, legal professionals, police and forensic scientists simulated a hit-and-run scene, reconstructing the events with a laser scanner to compare verdicts between ‘jurors’ using 3D headsets and those relying on photographs from the scene. They found that the jurors using the VR headsets had better recall, spatial accuracy and more consistent verdicts. “Virtual reality also required significantly less effort than using photographs to piece together the sequence of events,” said researcher Dr Andrew Cunningham. Study participants viewing the scene through a 3D headset were 9.5 times more likely (87 per cent) to choose the same verdict – death by dangerous driving – than the group who relied on photographs, who were split…

  • New chip design exponentially boosts data rate for processors

    New chip design exponentially boosts data rate for processors

    According to the United Nations' telecommunications agency, 93 per cent of the global population has access to a mobile-broadband network of some kind. With data becoming more readily available to consumers, there is a greater demand for more of it and at faster speeds. Now a research team at Texas A&M University has designed a chip that could revolutionise the current data rate for processors and technologies such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers. Ramy Rady, a doctoral student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and his team - including faculty advisor and professor Dr. Kamran Entesari, along with Dr. Christi Madsen and Dr. Sam Palermo, are moving toward the use of microwave photonics, a branch of optics that focuses on improving the quality…

  • Touchscreens could double as lab-grade sensors

    Touchscreens could double as lab-grade sensors

    Researchers from the University of Cambridge showed how a typical phone’s touchscreen could be used to identify common ionic contaminants in soil or drinking water by simply dripping liquid samples onto the screen. The sensitivity of the touchscreen sensor is comparable to typical lab-based equipment, rendering it useful in low-resource settings. The researchers say their proof of concept could one day be expanded for a wide range of sensing applications, including for biosensing or medical diagnostics. While other research teams have utilised the computational power of smartphones for sensing applications, this is the first study to use the screen itself, rather than the camera or peripheral devices or significant additions to the screen. A typical phone screen is covered with a grid of…

  • Summer STEM Challenge: Fire from Water

    Summer STEM Challenge: Fire from Water

    STEM Challenge #49: A great big burning glass for solar-powered chemistry Heating things up is really important in chemistry. But in the early days of the science, this wasn’t easy. Fire was probably a pile of dirty wood or sooty coal in a grate. So pioneer chemists like Joseph Priestley and Anton Lavoisier used nice clean sunshine... and a lens. Not a little one like you keep in your pocket. No, these ‘burning glasses’ were huge, 30cm or more. Lavoisier even had a monster lens 2.5m in diameter. Here is how to make your own great big burning glass – out of water. As well as water, you’ll need cling-film and a ring, ideally a bit smaller than the cling-film. The wheel-rim from a child’s bike will do nicely, or even a full-size bike wheel-rim. You’ll also need a mirror as wide as the ring…

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    IET EngX
  • EU battery recycling regulations should be adopted globally, scientists urge

    EU battery recycling regulations should be adopted globally, scientists urge

    Experts from Newcastle University, the University of Birmingham, the University of California, amongst others, have written in the Science journal calling for a unified policy on approaches to batteries such as recycling, use of recycled raw materials and creating a circular economy. With the European Union becoming a rapidly growing market for electric vehicles, the effects of its regulation will be felt by battery supply chains in many other countries, the group said. The effects of these rules could be hard to predict, however, and could result in a competitive disadvantage for European companies. This is because the EU must operate in the global marketplace where there is an imbalance between new and mature markets and uncertainty caused by the rapid rate of growth and innovation in…

  • Customer trust is essential to large-scale adoption of connected cars

    Customer trust is essential to large-scale adoption of connected cars

    When the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was introduced in May 2018, it was a step-change that overhauled the way in which businesses process and handle personal data. It also raised public awareness of the importance of privacy and the need to protect personal data. This issue has only grown more significant with the accelerating pace of connected-technology deployment in vehicles, encompassing everything from connected applications, telematics and black-box insurance to mobile phone use. In-vehicle data collection and processing has increased in terms of content type and volume, and now encompasses a vast array of personal information including phone numbers, address books, emails, location history, browsing history, preferences and driving habits. Collection and processing…

  • R&D spending hiked to £22bn to stimulate UK innovation

    R&D spending hiked to £22bn to stimulate UK innovation

    T he department for business, energy and industrial strategy said that the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated that major challenges can be resolved by “ambitious” investment in innovation. The plan says that the crisis had proven that the UK can deliver when given the necessary support, freedom and risk tolerance, giving the example of the national vaccine taskforce which is composed of both public and private bodies. Riding on the back of this success, the government will lay out “innovation missions” to set direction, urgency and pace on issues confronting the UK. These will be determined by the new National Science and Technology Council and supported by the Office for Science and Technology Strategy. The government is also outlining seven strategic technologies in which the UK already…

  • US gears up to pursue right to repair with ‘new vigour’

    US gears up to pursue right to repair with ‘new vigour’

    The FTC restated the growing impression that restrictions imposed on repairs to consumer electronics by the original manufacturers, whether through warranty clauses or by limiting the availability or compatibility of parts, have increasingly obliged customers to use manufacturers' and sellers' own repair networks or, in many case, simply abandon the item entirely and purchase a new replacement long before the end of its useful life. The FTC's 'Right to Repair for small businesses, workers, consumers and government entities' policy statement is the Commission's first step towards actively addressing this issue. The FTC has invited the public to submit complaints about offending companies. If the FTC acts as is expected, it would mean consumers in the US would be free either to repair popular…

  • Laser technique pushes data at 40Tbit/s through existing internet cabling

    Laser technique pushes data at 40Tbit/s through existing internet cabling

    The speeds, which are fast enough to download around 5,000 standard-definition Netflix films in a second, were achieved by using a new way of splitting up light channels to deliver more information inside and between data centres. Instead of using a single channel, the team use multiple wavelengths to deliver information all on a single Photonic Integrated Circuit (PIC). PICs use photonics or light-based technology to deliver much higher bandwidth in a power-efficient manner than traditional chips. By using what are known as optical combs, a single laser can be used to generate a broad spectrum of equally-spaced optical frequencies which enable higher capacity internet traffic on a single fibre without upgrading existing infrastructure. It does this by eliminating 'guard-bands' or wasted…

  • Brain-machine interface with VR turns intentions into actions

    Brain-machine interface with VR turns intentions into actions

    An international research team – led by the lab of Woon-Hong Yeo at the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) – combined wireless soft-scalp electronics and virtual reality (VR) in a BMI system that allows the user to imagine an action and wirelessly control a wheelchair or robotic arm. The technology could even help those  struggling with locked-in syndrome – when a person is fully conscious but unable to move or communicate. “The major advantage of this system to the user, compared to what currently exists, is that it is comfortable to wear, and doesn’t have any wires,” said Yeo, associate professor Georgia Tech’s School of Mechanical Engineering. BMI systems are a rehabilitation technology that analyses a person’s brain signals and translates that neural activity into commands…

  • Industry calls for end to isolation for fully vaccinated as production slows

    Industry calls for end to isolation for fully vaccinated as production slows

    Make UK's survey of 436 companies revealed that two-thirds of responding companies backed the call for free Covid-19 tests for workers and provision of statutory sick pay, in tandem with an end to isolation for fully vaccinated individuals. The follows a marked slowdown in production at many manufacturing facilities impacted by protracted staff absences. With an increasing number of staff having to isolate, 13 per cent of companies said that some production has already stopped. The survey, carried out on July 21, also showed that the majority of companies are continuing to prioritise the safety of their staff, with two-thirds (67 per cent) saying they had not removed any pandemic-related restrictions and would continue to uphold these safety measures in future. Around one-fifth of companies…

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