Welcome to the Community Insights blog!

This blog features posts from and about the EngX community. Want to contribute? Read our blogging guide to help you get started.

  • Getting Your Digital Self In Order...

    New Year, new you… or so the saying goes. Every year many of us (like myself) make New Year Resolutions which are usually broken by the first week of January . But this year, it’s going to be different. Firstly, my NYR’s this year are a little more generic than specific. ‘I will not drink any more coffee’ is just too specific and doomed from the start especially as my journey takes me past the coffee machine every morning as I walk through the office to my desk and I’m already drinking my second cup of the day as I type this... This year it’s going to be all about decluttering my life both physically and digitally. I’ve already made a start on clearing out the ‘physical’ with my attic and getting rid of the stuff that has accumulated up there, old ornaments, books I don’t read anymore…

  • Find out who won the 2016 IET Innovation Award for Transport

    Well done to Loughborough University, the winners of the 2016 IET Innovation Transport Award.   Repoint, a breakthrough in failsafe rail track switching -  Using safety concepts derived from aerospace and the nuclear industries, Repoint offers the potential for increased capacity through faster point setting time coupled with reduced maintenance intervention, alongside a reduced whole life cost – without the need to build new railway tracks   Please visit the Innovation Awards website for more details.

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Technology in Retail.

    The talk on Thursday 19 January at 1830 hours will be by Paul Clarke of OCADO Plc who will explain how robots,imaging systems and technology are used to deliver goods efficiently to your home.  The talk will be held at Cambridge University Engineering Department (CUED).

    David Blake
    David Blake

  • Lynsay's Weekly Digest - Functional Safety. 12th December – 18th December

    This is my last post for 2016, so I hope you enjoy my little round ups, but please let me know if I should be focusing elsewhere of if you have other information I can add. Best wishes Lynsay  Renesas Electronics Announces Completion of Safety Microcontroller Lineup Suitable for System ... Yahoo Finance ... 26262 automotive functional safety standard ASIL-D (Note 1) to avoid fatal situations caused by system malfunction due to breakdown, and so forth.   Microcontrollers optimised for safety -critical automotive functions EETE Automotive (registration) Renesas has notified that it has added the final variants to a group of microcontrollers; these safetey MCUs are configured to be suitable for as ...   White Paper: Building Functional Safety and Security into IIoT Enterprises and Ecosystems ENGINEERING…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • 2016 in review

    It is nearly time to say goodbye 2016 - thanks for the ride. And now for the next one !  Perhaps we need to consider 2017 in a new light, especially for the IET Radar, Sonar and Navigation TPN.   We have been quite for a few years now, but 2017 seems like a good time to review this and to start to rebuilt the TPN.  We were involved in the 2 016 IGNSS Conference which was held in Sydney at the University of New South Wales' Colombo Theatres from 6th - 8th December 2016. IGNSS runs the SE Asian region’s premier conference on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) and related Position, Navigation and Timing (PNT) technologies. This year’s IGNSS conference will be in Sydney, Australia from 6 to 8 December 2016 and will bring together leaders in GNSS and PNT to examine the latest technology…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • 2016 in review

    2016 in review It is nearly time to say goodbye 2016 - thanks for the ride. And now for the next one !  Perhaps we need to consider 2017 in a new light, especially for the Functional Safety TPN.   We have had a good year with the support for ESAS16 and the very popular Ethics of Acceptable Safety event as well as supporting many of the IET Safety Conferences, contributing to standards and policy. Looking forward to 2017, the Executive Team are meeting in February to work on a strategy for the TPN for the next few years.  This will be looking at our aims, objectives, who we need on board, and how we get to this position.  If you have any ideas, please get involved.   More details will be posted after the meeting, so look out for this and let us know of any FS related events you go to, what you…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Feedback / Report from our last event: SBB Zurich (Tour1)

    Thanks to everyone who turned-up prompt, Monday evening, making this event a success.   It was a pleasure to be greeted by our host and Guide (Guido von Arx), who started the evening off with some short Videos about the latest Infrastructure developments, followed then by a tour into the nighbouring tunnels, platforms and SBB railway estate, giving us a wonderul insight into this impressive station. We saw for our own eyes, how the vacant tunnel (previously conceived for cars), will now be used as a Cycle route (under) the City.  In terms of construction, we heard heard how the concrete Pillars must go down 40m into the ground, to stop the estate from moving (it's technically built on Marshland, adjoining the River Limmat).  Our guide was both knowledgable and entertaining, pointing out some…

    Jeff Hunter
    Jeff Hunter

  • Christmas And New Year Closure

    The IET Library and Archives service will be closing at 3pm on  Friday 23 December 2016 . It will reopen at 9am on  Tuesday 3 January 2017. The online catalogue and Virtual Library will be available to members as usual while we are closed. With festive best wishes to all our members and a happy New Year.

    Anne Locker
    Anne Locker

  • Virtual Reality - True Fantasy?

    IET Central London Christmas Event, Savoy Place, 14-Dec-2016 A joint event between the IET and IMechE. Is Virtual Reality true fantasy? Well, yes and no. What it achieves can defy belief and take away our grip on reality. Its nascence through games development has spurred interdisciplinary research to take it into truly awesome realms of practical applications. The entertainment possibilities of immersive gaming have their place, but it is the  educational, training and life-expanding visions that are truly noble.    Our two enthusiastic, energetic and experienced speakers, Liz Mercuri  and Ivan Phelan , raised the excitement level of the 320 strong audience, of a very wide range of age and technological knowledge, with a fast-paced journey through the lifetime of VR.  We were transported from…

    David Tabor
    David Tabor

  • IEC 61508 - Feedback Please!

    Edition 2 of IEC 61508, an important functional safety standard, was published in 2010.  As many of you will know, international standards are subject to periodic revision, and the time has come to start the maintenance cycle for IEC 61508.  The IEC Secretariat has therefore asked for comments on the current standard to be submitted with a view to producing Edition 3 in due course.  Ron Pierce (IET representative on the relevant UK National Committee) will be collating all comments received from FS TPN members and submitting them via the BSI.  The Maintenance Teams for the standard (MT61508-1&2 and MT61508-3) are ready to get started on the revision process.   If you have any suggestions for corrections or improvements to IEC 61508 Edition 2, please send them to Ron Pierce using the IEC comment…

    James Inge
    James Inge

  • A 2016 look back

    2016 is nearly over and I wanted to take a quick look back over the year. For the network, it was a momentous year; as it was the year that the TPN started! The scoping event in September was well attended and generated some useful insights! In mid-December, the committee held the first executive meeting to get the ball rolling. We’ll be holding more meetings as we move into 2017 – if you want to be involved, please let me know ! Looking forward to 2017, I am really looking to getting the TPN off the ground. Hopefully this time next year we’ll have a thriving network and even a few events in the pipeline! What have been your IoT highlights of 2016 and what are you looking forward to in 2017?

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

  • 500 members!!

    The Cyber Security community has hit 500 members! Thanks to all our members, especially all the new members, for helping us hit this milestone!   Here’s to the next 500 J

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

  • Looking back on 2016 - the A&P TPN

    As 2016 draws to a close, I wanted to look back on the past year The TPN saw a lot of activity during 2016 including Radio Propagation and Technologies for 5G in October and involvement in EUCAP 16 and LAPC 16 . In the comments, let me know which was your favourite activity? What were your other, non TPN related highlights of 2016, both culturally and in engineering? Looking forward to 2017, which is fast approaching, I am really looking to EUCAP17 . This is a Europe wide event and we’ll be there with an exhibition stand and convened session. On a personal note, I am looking forward to spending a week in Paris! Further ahead in the year, it has been announced that IET Events will be taking over the running of LAPC in November, which I know it is exciting for us at the IET! More news will be…

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

  • Speaker Highlight - Towards 5G Mobile Technology – Vision to Reality

    We are delighted to announce that Professor Mischa Dohler, Centre for Telecommunications Research, King's College London will be speaking at the T owards 5G Mobile Technology – Vision to Reality event. Professor Mischa Dohler, will be speaking on - An Internet of Skills, where 5G meets AI, Robotics and the Tactile Internet.  Mischa Dohler is full Professor in Wireless Communications at King’s College London, driving cross-disciplinary research and innovation in technology, sciences and arts. He is the Director of the Centre for Telecommunications Research, co-founder of the pioneering smart city company  Worldsensing, Fellow of the IEEE and the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), and a Distinguished Member of Harvard Square Leaders Excellence. He is a frequent keynote, panel and tutorial speaker,…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET Malaysia Network Committee 2016/18 Session

    Ir. Chris Chew Shee Fuee. Chairman Assoc. Prof. Ir Dr. Leong Wai Yie, Vice Chairman Dr. Lai Weng Kin, Honorary Secretary Ir. Amir Farids, Honorary Treasurer Ir. Dr. Matthew Y.W. Teow, Immediate Past Chairman Lawrence Lai Kun Hoong, Past Chairman Ir. Chan Cheong Loong, Committee member Eur Ing Fauzan Baharudin, Committee member Ir Jimmy Fam, Committee member Dr Baskaran Kasi, Committee member Dr. Kok Swee Leong, Committee member Pang Jia Yew, Committee member Dr John Tan, YPS Chairperson Ir. Chang Yew Cheong, Honorary Auditor Ir Dr Ng Kok Chiang, Honorary Auditor

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET to be awarded an Emmy

    The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) has been honoured with an Emmy Award for Technology and Engineering by The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) for its contribution towards the development of the first television camera.     The IET, which was founded as the Society of Telegraph Engineers, provided a forum for electrical engineer Willoughby Smith’s findings about the photoconductivity of selenium – which led to William Siemens’ demonstration of the ‘artificial eye’ in 1876. This was arguably the first television camera, which made use of the photoelectric properties of selenium. Tim Hamer, Director of Knowledge at the IET said: “The discovery and invention of the first television camera has been pivotal to the history of the television industry and transformational…

    Graham Turner
    Graham Turner

  • Innovation In The Railway Industry

    I recently spent an excellent evening in the company of Adrian Shooter CBE and other railway specialists at our Railway Lecture and Dinner.   The evening commenced with a presentation by Adrian during which he outlined some examples of innovations and whether they been a success or a failure.  Some of the items I noted were as follows: -  Atmospheric Railway – Exeter to Plymouth line, history recorded this as a failure due to rats eating the leather seal on the traction pipe valve (the seal had tallow/beeswax on it to soften        the leather) -  Stephenson’s Rocket locomotive which was a success -  George Westinghouse’s standard air braking and signalling systems were successful -  General motors locomotive  used engineering that had originally been developed for the automotive industry …

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • V&I 2016 Best Paper Prize Winners Announced

    The Vision & Imaging Technical & Professional Network’s Executive Committee is delighted to announce the winners of the network’s 2016 Best Paper prize for an MSc and PhD paper. The winners are: Best PhD paper: Jaime Zabalza, University of Strathclyde, for his paper "Feature Extraction and Data Reduction for Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Earth Observation”. Best MSc paper: Zep Mouris, Kingston University, for his paper “3D scene analysis and reconstruction for immersive gaming”.  The students entered the competition earlier in the year with the support of their supervisors. A panel of volunteer judges from across academia reviewed the submissions and made a final decision on the winner for each category.  Jaime, who has been an IET member since 2011, was delighted to win and have the opportunity…

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

  • Looking back on 2016 in Cyber Security

    2016 is nearly over and I wanted to take some time to reflect back on the year in cyber security. There have been a slew of cyber-attacks; too many to mention, but just in the last few months we have seen Tesco Bank , Yahoo and Deutsche Telekom all announce they were victims of attacks. These attacks emphasise the importance of cyber security more than ever and as we move into 2017 it is more crucial than ever to be looking at cyber security.  What needs to be done in 2017, to prevent these seemingly constant attacks? One thing is for sure, something needs to be done and on a ground level each person needs to be more vigilant with their data and passwords. On a personal note, I am hoping that this community can grow into a fully-fledged TPN and be part of the fight against cybercrime. I am…

  • Great British Bake Off Star: Andrew Smyth - Engineers A Gingerbread House With The IET

    What better way to get into the Christmas spirit than engineering a gingerbread house with GBBO star: Andrew Smyth. The IET filmed this video at Savoy Place in London to help bring on the holiday cheer! [ View the story "Great British Bake Off Star: Andrew Smyth - Engineers a Gingerbread House with the IET." on Storify ]

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET WA Christmas Party 2016 And Thank You Team For Your Great Work!

    Allane - WA Network Leadership Programme WA YPS committee Braedon and Leadership Programme The IET Christmas Party was successfully held on 9 December 2016 at The Rendezvous Hotel Perth. It was a great opportunity to gather all the senior committee, young professionals and leadership program candidates who worked tremendously hard throughout the year. Together we had created another wonderful year in Western Australia. Continuing our grand tradition of Secret Santa, this year we added a twist to it by awarding the most entertaining present. The winner this year is an adorable teddy bear which has won the heart of the majority. We had also jumped onto the bandwagon of Mannequin Challenge which is the current buzz across the Internet. It was great to see everyone to be so sporting and some of…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Community Manager December Message

    For my last Community Manager  blog posting of 2016, I thought I would take a look back at some of our achievements during the last year. In September we held a very successful event on Factories of the Future where next?   This event took place at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry and the seminar room was completely full.   Feedback after the event included comments such as: " This was my first IET event and I must say, I am impressed! I enjoyed most of the speakers, the food and the facilities were fantastic and the overall experience was outstanding! Cant wait for the next event Thank you " " The first IET event I have attended, very impressed with the professional organisation, both pre-event and on the day. Thanks " " well-structured event supported by good range of knowledgeable…

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

  • End Of Year Look Back

    As 2016 draws to a close, I wanted to reflect back on the year. The TPN hosted a quite a few successful events including Active and Passive RF Devices Seminar in February and more recently Electromagnetic modelling and simulations for RF and Microwave Applications . For those who attended we hope that you found them interesting and informative and got a lot out of them. For the IET as a whole, Savoy Place completed its first year of use since the refurbishment, culminating in the official opening by HRH The Princess Royal. What were your highlights of 2016, both culturally and in engineering? Was 2016 a golden year in RF and microwaves?   Looking ahead to 2017, which is rapidly approaching, I am really looking to Towards 5G Mobile Technology – Vision to Reality in London in January. The event…

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

  • The IET says #9PercentIsNotEnough

    Over the last couple of months The IET has been leading a campaign on Twitter to draw attention to the fact that only 9% of engineers in the UK are women.  Hundreds of engineers have posted photos with the hashtag 9PercentIsNotEnough aiming to inspire the next generation of female engineers. A handful of the most recent tweets are brought together in this post. In the Women's Network we'd love to hear what you think, in the year after The IET had our first female President, what will it take to get more women into engineering?  And what will the engineering industry have to do to keep them?   [ View the story "#9percentisnotenough" on Storify ]

    Fiona Dew
    Fiona Dew

Community Rules & Guidelines