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E-volo has successfully flown its VC200 ‘ Volocopter ’, a vibration-free flying machine driven by 18 electric rotors. The Volocopter can carry two passengers and is a vertical take-off and landing aircraft that requires no mechanical pitch control of the propellers and is claimed to be safer, simpler, and cleaner than normal helicopters.
Prior to the Christmas Lecture last week in Manchester, the Network Chairman, Julie Ashurst, presented Rafal Abramczyk, Manchester College Student Excellence Prize winner with his award. The Christmas Lecture entitled 'Thunderbolts and Lightning' by Rhys Phillips was excellent. I never knew there were that many songs that had the lyrics 'Lightning' and 'Frightening' in them. It was also good to see many young people at the event and I hope that some of them have been inspired by Rhy's presentation to consider engineering as a career.
E2V a British company have recently demonstrated a prototype device they are working on that is capable of stopping cars and other vehicles using electromagnetic waves. Although its early days at the moment, the machine is said to have potential. For motorcycles it looks like it could be a lot safer than the tyre deflation devices currently used by some police forces.
Kelsey Kennedy from Western Australia has been awarded the runner-up prize in the 2013 Global Final of the IET's annual Present Around The World (PATW) competition in London. Her presentation, titled "Imaging the mechanical properties of breast tissue" , was second only to the overall winner - Christopher Bellamy (UK) , whose presentation was titled "Suspending Disbelief - The Design, Manufacture and Testing of Carabiners" . Kelsey has been travelling all over the globe on behalf of the IET, representing Australia for the PATW competition. After winning her local final in Perth, she travelled to Brisbane to compete in (and eventually win) the 2013 PATW Australia Final . From there, she travelled to Brunei and won the 2013 PATW Asia-Pacific Regional Final , which secured her place secured her…
The results of the 2013 PATW Australia Final are as follows : Winner Kelsey Kennedy (University of Western Australia) "Imaging the mechanical properties of breast tissue" Runner-up Nicholas Venables (University of Melbourne) "Bionic vision simulator" You can view photos from the awards dinner by clicking here . Kelsey will now represent Australia in the IET Asia-Pacific Regional PATW Final in Brunei (tentatively to be held in August 2013) . We wish her the best of luck!
Each year, people are injured through handling poorly maintained or poorly designed Christmas tree lights and unfortunately it is likely to happen again this year. Until the introduction of LED Christmas lights which run at low voltages such as 12 or 24V, most Christmas tree lights were series wired and supplied at mains voltage (230V). Series wiring means that the voltage is divided across the number of individual lights, so 20 lights on the tree means each light operates at 11.5 volts. Whilst each light is running at a low voltage, the wiring has the full mains voltage applied so any contact with the copper conductors in the cable could result in a serious electric shock. Each January we pack away our decorations including the Christmas tree lights and typically we coil the cable before storing…
As part of the support and information we provide as part of the IPD service and in support of IET Advantage members, we are running a series of Q&A Sessions to answer your questions about professional registration and the process of working towards it. The sessions are designed to be informal so we can answer general queries about the process or requirements for professional registration. The first session will be run through the IET early career twitter acco unt @ietearlycareer. Please send your questions to @ietearlycareer using #IETAdvantage . We will be answering tweets from 17:00 to 18:00 on 5th December but feel free to tweet in earlier if you have a question you want answered. If you’re not on twitter then you can follow the queries and responses on the IET Advantage Community page…
The Life and Work of Michael Faraday Cardiff University 03 December 2013 18:30 - 20:30 A final reminder for this event, organised by the Wales South East Local Network with the History of Technology TPN. Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is one of the major scientific figures of all time. His discoveries of electro-magnetic rotations and induction laid the foundations for electrical engineering. His discoveries of the magneto-optical effect and diamagnetism paved the way for his enunciation of the field theory of electro-magnetism which became and remains one of the cornerstones of modern physics. But Faraday was also heavily involved with the practical application of science and in communicating science to a wide audience. Frank James is Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution…
Found this article on the web, looks as if someone designed and mass produced an electric car 40 years ago before Nissan started producing the Leaf. Reminds me in some ways of my parents old Bubble car.
Here's a copy of the latest IMechE Aerospace Division's newsletter which has some interesting articles in it. See here for further information.
As part of the support and information we IPD and in support of IET Advantage, we are running a series of Q&A Sessions to answer your questions about professional registration and the process of working towards it. The sessions are designed to be informal so we can answer general queries about the process or requirements for professional registration. The first session will be run through the IET early career twitter acco ... unt @ietearlycareer. Please send your questions to @ietearlycareer using #IETAdvantage . We will be answering tweets from 17:00 to 18:00 on 5th December but feel free to tweet in earlier if you have a question you want answered. If you’re not on twitter then you can follow the queries and responses on the IET Advantage Community page which contains a live feed direct from…
Future commercial and military systems will require high bandwidth performance from compact antenna systems for communications and sensing applications. The need to incorporate multiple systems onto small platforms, ranging from handsets to air vehicles, implies that antenna size must be minimised. This is particularly important at VHF / UHF frequencies where conventional wideband antennas are physically large. Metamaterials and metasurfaces have been shown to be effective technologies for reducing antenna size. Close coupling exists between the antenna and underlying surface and the assembly must be designed as an integrated structure. Early metamaterials were characterised by narrow-band phase response which limited their applicability to wideband antenna systems. However, innovative simulation…
It’s my pleasure to share with you news from the IET’s Built Environment Sector. We are currently involved in a series of activities on ‘Future City Technologies’ beginning with a roundtable debate on water starvation, and a ‘Managing Complexity and Uncertainty in Developing Cities’ Special Interest publication. Look out for our www.theiet.org/built-environment website updates in early 2014, and the introduction of resource pages around: Building Information Modelling (BIM) Smart Cities Building Management Systems Efficient running and maintenance of heritage buildings and structures Skills required to deliver The Green Deal Follow our Sector on Twitter at: #IETSectors and IETBuiltEnv
Congratulations are due to First Lego League team 5525, Raving Robots, whose coach David McQuiggan is an IET member (and SoCal Committee Member), who took first place Champions Award at yesterdays Regional Qualifying tournament in Venice Beach, qualifying for the regional championships on December 14th. To win the First Lego League Champion's award the team demonstrated excellence and innovation in both the Robot Game and the Research Project while embodying the First Lego League experience by fully embracing and demonstrating the core values required of the competitors. Their research project is an early warning system for local tsunami risks like strike-slip faulots in the Southern California Continental Borderland and potential landslide scenarios occuring at the Palos Verdes Escarpment…
Bradford social housing provider Incommunities Group Ltd has been recognised for its commitment to workplace diversity. Incommunities Group Ltd was presented with the Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) Diversity award at a glittering award ceremony at the Science Museum, London, last night (Nov 14) by HRH The Princess Royal. Sponsored by the Institution of Engineering and Technology the Diversity award was given in recognition for the firm’s commitment to building a skilled workforce which reflects the communities in which they work Further information...
Congratulations to all the winners of the WISE Awards 2013 For all those of you who attended the fantastic WISE Awards 2013 event at the Science Museum on Thursday last week I am sure you will agree that the evening was an inspirational celebration of female success in STEM. The WISE Awards are about showcasing the talents and achievements of women and girls in the STEM environment and highlighting positive role models and case studies to inspire others. Further information...
For those drivers of electric cars in Manchester, or potential owners, I came across this website the other day. Rather useful if you want to know where the charging points are in Greater Manchester. There's also an app you can download. Just need to add some more £s to my piggy bank so I can buy that Tesla car I've always wanted!
Are you an enthusiatic individual who would like to work with schools and young people to promote a better understanding of the role of the engineer and the contribution engineering makes to society? Right now, the Birmingham Local Network is looking for a person to take on the role of Schools Liaison Officer (SLO) on the committee. Read more about the role here: http://www.theiet.org/volunteers/get-involved/roles-new/slo.cfm If you'd like the challenge of this role, please get in touch with the Birmingham Local Network.
For those of you who missed out on Sony's talk on saturday, it was to the same high standard that we saw at Sony Studio's last month. We learned about the standards, challenges and opportunities with 4K HDTV, including that Cinema and Television have different aspect ratios. We also saw a traditional HDTV video upscaled to 4K HDTV, and learned about the distribution challenges for 4K content. On one of the paused videos, we zoomed into a background building with a cellphone camera and were able to pick up what looked like somebody standing on a balcony that wasn't visible with the naked eye on the TV screen. I think all of the attendees went home having decided that they were going to be investing in 4K TV sets.
Hello and welcome to the first of a regular series of blog posts detailing the upcoming activities of the IET's Healthcare Technologies Network. The 2013-14 session features a packed calendar, with the network hosting or co-sponsoring an even greater range of events than in previous years. Regular events such as this week's Annual Healthcare Technologies Lecture and Awards are being augmented with meetings on topics as diverse, yet relevant to the community, as: Appropriate Healthcare Technology, Medical Devices in China and Cyber Security. We are also embarking on a program of collaboration with the IMechE's Biomedical Engineering Association which will kick off with a lecture next April. The speaker will be announced soon, but promises to be someone with a wealth of experience and influence…
The IET are proud to have attended and supported the WISE Awards Ceremony, last night! Virginia Hodge, Trustee, The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) presented the WISE Diversity Award, sponsored by the IET to recognise organisations reaching women and girls from diverse backgrounds. The evening was inspiring and exciting and was made even more special by the presence of the Princess Royal. The IET even managed to win a prize, consisting of a rather large bottle of champagne, for winning the ''Women in Engineering Quiz'' We won out of 39 tables of 9 or 10! We are very proud of ourselves and hope that you will be too. Whilst we couldn't save champagne for you all, we made sure that we took a picture to share with you!
My role as a Community Relationship Manager for the IET involves a lot of travelling to visit and meet with my volunteers. Most of which is by public transport but on the odd occasion I have to use my beautiful car to drive to where I need to be at the time I need to be there. Yesterday’s jaunt was off to visit my volunteers in the IET Surrey Network at the University of Surrey in Guildford. This of course involves a lot of sitting in traffic on the London Orbital Car Park, otherwise known as the M25... And although the in-car stereo provided some form of entertainment whilst sat stationary, watching my fellow travellers and staring at the brake lights of the car in front, I found my thoughts (which quite often go off on a tangent) turning to a number of driving/car related topics: 1. Can someone…
On Saturday 3 members of the Southern California Local Network went up to San Jose to try and restart a Local Network in Northern California. With 24 attendees in total including two guests, we enjoyed a talk on Nano-Technology folllowed by an animated discussion on the lessons learned from the restart of the Southern California Local Network, and how things have changed for the better since the Northern Californa Local Network was last active. With multiple volunteers for committee positions, and several people discovering that their co-workers were also IET members, both in Northern California and in Southern California things look like they are off to a promising start.
Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life thinking that it is stupid.
