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.

  • Technical talks delivered at Asia Pacific University, Malaysia

    Exec member, Lim Yew Kee, was invited by Assoc. Prof Ir Dr. Vinesh Thiruchelvam, Head of Engineering School, Asia Pacific University (APU) Malaysia, to deliver Technical Talks to its engineering staffs and students on 18 th June 2014. This event is sponsored by the IET Manufacturing Technical and Professional Network UK. APU is a private university and is within the Asia Pacific Institution of Technology (APIIT) Education Group and is one of Malaysia largest education groups addressing all levels of education. APU having well-established engineering programmes with international partnerships. There is another new additional to APU’s faculties having a new ultra-modern campus to be opened in 2015. The Technical Talk was entitled “ Pneumatic and Hydraulic Engineering ”. In this talk, an overview…

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

  • Taranis - the most advanced aircraft ever built

    BAE Systems were highlighting the news from the latest flight tests on their Taranis Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle at Farnborough this week. This aircraft is roughly the same size as the Hawk used by the RAF's Red Arrows team and is designed to be the prototype for a combat drone - capable of long range strikes in hostile territory. Further information on Taranis, appropriately named after the Celtic god of thunder and the Neuron combat drone being developed by Dassault Aviation can be found here.

    Deborah-Claire McKenzie
    Deborah-Claire McKenzie

  • Who wouldn't mind going to work in this office?

    Wing Commander Andy Green is the lucky chap who gets to sit in this rather exclusive office, the finished cockpit of the Bloodhound car, he's planning on using to make an assault on the world land speed record in 2015 and 2016 in South Africa. In addition to the cockpit, the upper chassis panels are now almost complete for this car that will be capable of reaching 1,000mph, powered by a rocket bolted to a Eurofighter-Typhoon jet engine. Andy shares his experiences on designing the cockpit here and it makes interesting reading.

    Deborah-Claire McKenzie
    Deborah-Claire McKenzie

  • LGBT Survey: E&T Hears From The Engineering Industry

    Does your sexual orientation affect your progression in the workplace? Are your colleagues accepting of your sexuality? Is it irrelevant to your role or should you be out and proud in the office? We asked E&T ’s LGBT engineering community to share their experiences of working within the industry. “A lot of employers take the stance: ‘why should we care what you get up to in the bedroom?’. But really the question is; if you’re not comfortable at work can you perform at your best?” Chris Edwards is client group manager at LGB rights charity Stonewall, which helps companies achieve best practice in terms of sexual equality. In an attempt to address the perception that engineering is more LGBT-discriminatory than other industries, E&T recently conducted a survey into the experiences of lesbian…

    Lisa Miles
    Lisa Miles

  • Stratford City - Bouygues wins 42 storey east London tower

    Bouygues has won a deal to build a 42-storey Manhattan Loft Gardens scheme in Stratford, east London. The brief was to 'build the most exciting tower ever built.' View the video and find out more at: http://www.manhattanloftgardens.co.uk/stratford-city/

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Li-Fi: Wi-Fi Of The Future?

    Mexican software development company Sisoft has succeeded in wirelessly transmitting internet data at 10Gbps using Visible Light Communications (VLC), a technology that can illuminate a large space, such as an office, while at the same time providing high-speed mobile internet connectivity to devices that come into range of the light spectrum. Sisoft was able to transfer data at speeds of up to 10Gbps across a light spectrum emitted by LED lamps. In April this year, E&T reported how Scottish researchers had achieved 1.1Gbps using the same VLC technology. Sisoft was able to transmit audio, video and Internet data across the spectrum of light emitted by LED lamps Read the full article on the E&T website

    Lisa Miles
    Lisa Miles

  • Turbocharger Research Institute PhD programmes - Apply by 31st July

    The TRI are pleased to offer 2 fully funded PhD programmes in the following areas: •Turbocharger compressor stage design for performance and manufacture/assembly •Turbocharger turbine stage design for performance and manufacture/assembly Read more...

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • How To Send A Professional Registration Application To a PRA For Review in Career Manager

    This guide has been designed for members who have achieved a number of years' experience and are ready to apply for professional registration and complements our previous blog: “ How To Build A Professional Registration Application In Career Manager ” 1. All IET members have access to Career Manager, our online professional development planning and recording tool. Simply visit our website www.theiet.org/career-manager and log-in to enable the Access IET Career Manager button. 2. Select Professional Registration from the Quick Launch Tool on the homepage. Select Apply for CEng, IEng, EngTech or ICTTech now! 3. Once you have completed all of the mandatory fields on the registration checklist, the IET strongly recommend that you send your application form to a professional registration advisor…

  • How to cope in a neurotypical world

    @BDAdyslexia written a new blog on advice for adults with #dyspraxia & #dyslexia how to cope in a neurotypical world http://t.co/WJA3cGf0wS — %u2728Rosie%u2728 (@marvelousmollie) July 12, 2014

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

  • World’s Next Tallest Buildings To Clean Air For China

    A "thermal chimney" that accumulates heat from the sun will be incorporated into the center of the taller tower. It will then extract air from across the lakes and apply it to lower the temperature in the buildings. Subsequently, the air will be filtered and blended back into the environment but cleaner than before. A similar process will be done with the water, cleansing it and putting it back. In the taller tower, a kaleidoscope powered by a wind turbine will be a distinct addition to the structure. The integration of photovoltaic panels will help generate electricity for the building and the district. The smaller tower will highlight the world's tallest vertical garden, also referred to as "green wall", which ascends to the top of the building. Enormous celestial orbs where restaurants and…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Control & Automation Conference - Uniting problems and solutions

    The IET Contol & Automation TPN exec team were very pleased to support the Control and Automation Conference back in June 2013, which aimed to unite problems faced by industry with available and potential solutions. This call for paper conference focused on the challenges faced by engineers in delivering effective control systems on time and to budget. Technical papers were delivered over two days as oral presentations and poster displays in the following sessions: Network technology Process control and optimisation Power systems Control techniques Instrumentation and asset management Robotics The conference was chaired by Paul McKenna, Glasgow Caledonian University, and the keynote speakers included: Steve Pavlosky, Product General Manager Control and Communication Systems, GE Intelligent…

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

  • UK INDEMAND Centre Futures Workshop

    How organisations and individuals along the supply chain might interact in new ways to deliver a high level of wellbeing with significantly reduced levels of materials, energy and carbon emissions. When: 24 July 2014 Time: 09.30 - 14.00 Location: Royal Academy of Engineering, London Workshop title: UK INDEMAND Centre Futures Workshop Express your interest in participating via: Research Administrator, Robin Styles at indemand@leeds.ac.uk

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Lifeskills - Who Needs Them?

    So, you have qualifications and lots of practical experience in your field. You’ve achieved a great deal. Suddenly you are asked to give a presentation at work! This isn’t what you signed up for when you became an Engineer or Technician. Where will you begin? You have never given a presentation in your life and the thought of it is proving to be quite daunting. The IET are here to help. IET Lifeskills are free workshops that are delivered by professional skills trainers who work for the IET. Being one of the Professional Skills Trainers myself, I have first-hand experience of how valuable these workshops are and know that they will give you key skills to use both in your career and in your personal life. Looking at the scenario above, our Back to Basics with Presenting workshop would be an…

    Kathryn Bain
    Kathryn Bain

  • Preliminary Discussions With A Representative of IEEE, APETT, ISA

    Members ot the executive discussed a future of networking, joint events, IET membership benefits and the road to CEng and Chartered Manager with Mr. Sarmad Yaseen (current Chair of the Electrical Division of the Association of Professional Engineers of Trinidad and Tobago (APETT), as well as a residing member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)). Sarmad was pleased to discover the breadth of engineering and technology covered by the IET and commented on its core philosoply being akin to APETT, through the multidisciplinary approach. The scope of the IET in the Caribbean was also a point of interest as it had members throughout the CSME, totalling about 225 persons. Mr. Yaseen highlighted his desire to forge alliances with various engineering disciplines that would…

    Jason Robert Rameshwar
    Jason Robert Rameshwar

  • Trinidad And Tobago LN PATW June 2014

    The winner was the well spoken presenter, Ms. Faheema Baksh. A recent Mechanical Engineering graduate, of the University of the West Indies (St. Augustine Campus) (UWI), Ms. Baksh spoke about the automation of biomass briquetting machine and how re-engineering the design of the briquetting would alter the efficacy of the energy liberated during combustion. Ms. Baksh will represent the Caribbean in the Regionals PATW, in Fullerton, California, on the 26 th July. Out of a panel of three participants, Faheema impressed the judges of the Trinidad & Tobago Local Network with her presentation technique and style. Her fellow competitors, Mr. Alan Xavier and Mr. Anthony Marc Edwards, of UWI and the University of Trinidad and Tobago, respectively each illustrated that the young professional engineers…

    Jason Robert Rameshwar
    Jason Robert Rameshwar

  • Second Colloquium On Antennas, Wireless And Electromagnetics

    The second colloquium on Antennas, Wireless and Electromagnetics was held on the 27 May at Ofcom, London. The one day meeting to brought together research engineers and scientists to share the latest technical knowledge about electromagnetic devices, systems and the propagation of electromagnetic fields. The colloquium was a huge success and the presentations from the call for research are now available to view in the digital libary. During the colloquium the network captured some interviews with the presenters: Anil Shukla, IET Antennas and Propagation Network gives an overview of the colloquium Richard Rudd, Aegis Systems Ltd discusses his presentation on Building Entry Loss Nicolas Cinosi, Imperial College discusses his presentation on a Multilevel Hierarchical Preconditioner for Multiscale…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Sustainable stadiums for Russia's World Cup

    As the Brazil World Cup draws to a close, attention is turning to the 2018 contest in Russia, which promises sustainable stadium designs.Six new stadiums being constructed for the tournament are being assessed under BREEAM and are set to raise awareness of green building generally in Russia. Ksenia Agapova, associate director at Jones Lang Lasalle in Moscow, is acting as BREEAM advisor on three stadiums: at Samara, Volgograd and Nizhniy Novgorod. Agapova said:“Regulations in green building are not well developed here and few incentives exist for implementation of green technologies. It is a significant achievement for the design team to receive this international recognition and prove compliance with the highest international standards. We are looking forward to successful completion of these…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Robotic Valet Parking

    Parking worries, especially at the airport, will soon be a thing of the past if this robotic design used in Germany's airport is deemed successful. "Travelers at Duesseldorf airport in Germany can soon leave the job to a robot valet. An airport spokesman says the robot, nicknamed Ray, starts work Tuesday and can be booked using a smartphone app . Thomas Koetter says all travelers need to do is leave their car in a designated area and confirm it's empty and ready to go. Then Ray or one of its cybernetic colleagues will take the car to one of 249 parking spaces reserved for robots. Koetter says the forklift-like machine can carry any standard car weighing up to 3 metric tons (3.31 tons) and is fully insured. He says the service costing 29 euros ($39.43) a day targets busy business travelers but…

    Jason Robert Rameshwar
    Jason Robert Rameshwar

  • Technical visit to the Michelin Tyre Factory

    The Manufacturing Technical Network held a lecture and technical visit to the Michelin Tyre factory on Tuesday 10 April 2012. The visit was hosted by Neil Nicholson , Technical Manager, Fraser McGill , Maintenance Engineer and Craig Small , Reliability Engineer. Neil gave details on the worldwide locations of Michelin and their product range covering 68 manufacturing sites with a turnover of Euro 16.4 billion in 2008 producing 200 million tyres per annum with 12000 employees. The Dundee factory employees 850 people, having taken on 150 (including 30 engineers) last year and has a capacity of 24,000 car tyres per day although demand is currently running at 22,500 per day. The site contains an apprentice training school with an intake of 15 apprentices per annum, including nine from other companies…

    Joanne Longton
    Joanne Longton

  • Intelligent City Transport Hubs: Characteristics for success

    The IET and the Electronics, Sensors, Photonics Knowledge Transfer Network (ESP KTN) collaborated and brought together leading experts to discuss the current landscape, future opportunities for efficient systems integration and key priorities which were addressed by transport stakeholders at a recent roundtable event. Outcomes from the discussion are highlighted in this insight with recommendations on the next steps. Download insight to find out more… http://www.theiet.org/sectors/transport/resources/intelligent-city.cfm

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Daily digital banking transactions near £1bn in UK

    Digital banking transactions in the UK have reached nearly £1bn a day, according to a new report, which also notes sharply declining branch use. Internet and mobile banking is now used for transactions worth £6.4bn a week in Britain, up from £5.8bn last year, the report from the British Bankers Association and accountancy firm EY says. In response, banks are expected to close unprofitable branches while they invest in mobile and online services. Banking apps for mobile devices have been downloaded more than 14.7 million times – up 2.3 million just since January – while Internet banking services are typically receiving 7 million log-ins each day... ( source E&T magazine ) If you're interested in this subject please join us on 31 July at the University of Reading for our next presentation - …

    Julie
    Julie

  • Could you be an IET media expert?

    The IET is often approached by external media outlets with requests for interviews with spokespeople working in specific areas of engineering and technology. We are aware that some of our volunteers may be experts in these areas so wanted to bring this opportunity to your attention. Being a spokesperson for the IET can be a very effective way of raising your profile and it can also count towards your CPD. The relevant areas where we lack media spokespeople are: Civil engineering Tunnels Infrastructure What we are looking for in a spokesperson: Able and willing to represent the IET – and the IET’s position on engineering topics Wide and up-to-date expertise, with many years of experience in the subject area – and an objective perspective Engaging, personable and confident speaker Willing to…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • buildings in cities should not be designed in isolation, but in relation to the places in which they are set

    An explosion of high-rise buildings will change London forever. Now 80 public figures, shocked at the scale of the plans, are demanding a say in the way the city is reshaped. Article in full: http://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/mar/29/london-skyline-lack-of-consultation

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Smart Wind and Solar Power

    Wind power is booming on the open plains of eastern Colorado. Travel seven miles north of the town of Limon on Highway 71 and then head east on County Road 3p, a swath of dusty gravel running alongside new power lines: within minutes you’ll be surrounded by towering wind turbines in rows stretching for miles. Three large wind farms have been built in the area since 2011. A new one is going up this year. Every few seconds, almost every one of the hundreds of turbines records the wind speed and its own power output. Every five minutes they dispatch data to high-performance computers 100 miles away at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder. There artificial-intelligence-based software crunches the numbers, along with data from weather satellites, weather stations, and other…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

Community Rules & Guidelines