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  • The internal memo that built the modern world

    On This Day in (Engineering) History If you want to share a thought or some information you write it in a letter, put that in an envelope and slip it into a post box in the street. Anything bigger, like a box of files or a book, is sent as a parcel carried by couriers, and it all – letter or parcel - travels through a postal system made up of thousands of people delivering everything by hand. Not anymore. On April 30, 1993 - CERN announces that World Wide Web protocols will be free to all. Just to be aware… To clear up a common misunderstanding, one that has entered the language – the World Wide Web (WWW) is not the Internet . The internet - how we got here Like the invention of the wheel, the sail, the motorcar and the coffeemaker, it is hard to imagine how life was before the…

  • What do we think about when we think about disability?

    The human species is not always very good at dealing with disability. Does our reluctance to find sensible, workable solutions grow out of how our culture views people with a disability? Perhaps, for some, ‘disability’ conjures up images of a group of awkward, time-consuming outsiders who always need our help. Others may think of disabled people as folks that should, by definition, lead protected, sheltered lives because they cannot care for themselves. In both instances, this pictures an out-group, divorced from, and yet troublingly part of, wider society. Who or what is ‘disabled’? A good place to start would be to as what the term ‘disabled’ means and who it applies to. Disability is worth thinking about because the term, and how we often use it, is based on a misnomer, on ideas…

  • IET Robotics Talk and Tour: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority including RACE

    Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak achieved a world record for energy output in its final runs at the end of last year ( https://www.newscientist.com/article/2415909-uk-nuclear-fusion-reactor-sets-new-world-record-for-energy-output/ ). Since it started operating in 1983, JET has contributed to major advances in fusion science and engineering but also to the field of robotics. RACE is the UK Atomic Energy Authority’s (UKAEA) centre for Remote Applications in Challenging Environments. The centre has been supporting the operation of JET, developing robots for routine maintenance, replacing components as part of upgrades to the machine, and now the safe decommissioning of the device. On March 6, 2024, the IET Robotic and Mechatronics Technical and Professional Network arranged a tour of RACE…

  • What is a Project? How is the project distinguished from other activities carried out by an organisation?

    In offering this contribution to this site I am considering the more junior members of those entering a career within Project Management as I reflect on my own early experiences many years ago. One of the issues I had at the start of my career was understanding what a project actually was, and importantly what was not a project but rather activities that can be termed normal business operations. This article hopes to make the distinction clear to those at the start, or early stages of their career in Project Management. So what is a project? What are the phases of a project? How are Projects Managed? What about tools and techniques? What follows is a brief introduction to the world of project management. Definition of a Project Note that maintenance work is not a project as it does not…

  • ‘The science of the judgments of the stars’: an early manuscript from the IET’s rare book collection

    By Anne Locker, Library and Archives Manager The Hand List of the Library of Magnetic and Electrical Books in the Possession of Silvanus Phillips Thompson is the earliest record we have of the S P Thompson Library, acquired by the Institution of Electrical Engineers (now the IET) after Thompson’s death in 1916. Silvanus P Thompson – engineer, polymath and bibliophile – published this meticulous record of his library of 13 manuscripts and around 900 early printed books on the history of science in 1914. Five of the manuscripts in Thompson’s collection are dated before 1600. The smallest of these is a much earlier catalogue of scientific texts, the Speculum Astronomicae of Albertus Magnus. The manuscript is described by Thompson as follows: MS XIV Century. Vellum, 56 ll. + 2 blank.…

  • Soaring with IoT: Revolutionising Aerospace While Safeguarding Cybersecurity

    IoT has become the new buzzword and a ground-breaking advancement in technology, transforming not only our homes and personal devices but also making waves in the engineering world, with the aerospace sector being no exception. But what exactly is IoT, and how is it being utilized in the commercial aerospace industry? Moreover, what are the cyber risks associated with IoT, and, crucially, is the aerospace sector prepared to embrace it? At its core, IoT, or the Internet of Things, is a concept that enables everyday objects or "things" to connect to the Internet, allowing them to send and receive data and take actions based on the information they receive. This connectivity extends to devices like smart thermostats, fitness trackers, home security systems, and more. While IoT encompasses…

  • Blasting off from the Cape

    On this day in (engineering) history… There have been people occupying this spot, roughly halfway up Florida’s east coast, for 12,000 years. When Europeans arrived, the ‘cape of currents’ became notorious for shipwrecks. Its modern name was given by Spanish explorer Francisco Gordillo in 1521, first appearing on the map in 1564. Cabo Cañaveral (‘reed bed’ or ‘sugar cane plantation’), is the third oldest European place name in the USA. Today, April 16, 1972, at 12:54pm EST, Apollo 16 blasts off from Cape Canaveral. Apollo 16 blasts off from Launch Complex 39 at Kennedy Space Center, Florida. Source: Wikimedia Commons This latest mission , would be the fifth to touch down on the Moon itself, (notoriously, Apollo 13 never made it to the surface but did return to Earth safely ), the tenth…

  • Why does UK business stand out in its lack of concern about green engineering skills?

    When research reveals a trend as worrying as the fact that fewer than 5% of engineering companies from thousands around the world who took part in a recent survey believe they have the skills in place to be resilient to climate change*, it’s probably unfair to pick out how one country perceives the problem. The results of the IET’s recent International Green Skills Survey, however, throw up some odd facts about UK industry that bear closer examination and might offer clues about how industry worldwide can respond to the warning that a lack of skills is the most common barrier to achieving net zero carbon emissions. The bottom line, unsurprisingly, is that everyone’s preoccupied with the potential impact of climate change on their business. In the UK, 65% of respondents say they are ‘concerned…

  • Towards getting it right, some AI good practice

    Countless words have been written and spoken about what is or might go wrong with AI. How much has been written about AI good practice? Here are some good practices worth considering… A thought Much is written about the ethics, possibilities and risks, even existential fears, associated with Artificial Intelligence. Less appears to have been written about the best practice in using it now. Taking account of best practice allows the designer and operator of an AI system to create a solid, trustworthy reputation, while keeping to the correct side of the law. Some would say the key to good AI is to remain focused on representing the customer’s requirements to the AI in a way the AI can understand, albeit remembering humans speak human, AI and computers speak numbers. The Landscape Before…

  • Leveraging the power of AI for passenger Safety

    A common problem at all airports is passenger safety in an environment of automated products for baggage handling. The main issue is the lack of understanding by the public of the inherent risks involved when interfacing with automated equipment. Even though all equipment is mitigated with machine guards, safety devices, Operator oversight, and warnings, there is still a huge risk of injury by misuse. The misuse is not intentional, but the implications can expose the individual to a high risk of injury. This applies to all, young or old, with a particular risk with unsupervised children. A strange phenomenon occurs at Airports, where people feel that they are in a relatively safe environment and relax their normal sense of security and unintentionally compromise their personal safety. Sitting…

  • Is your business planning to offer training in AI?

    The IET Sustainability Skills Survey 2023 identified UK engineering employers as among one of the top countries surveyed to favour upskilling and reskilling their existing workforce. However, the survey also found that UK employers were the least likely to offer training in new technologies. New technologies like AI have huge potential to drive productivity and innovation across the UK economy – potentially increasing GDP by up to 10.3% by 2030, the equivalent of an additional £232 billion. However, the lack of AI skills in businesses is hindering adoption. Therefore, in order to realise the potential of new technologies like AI, we need to boost adoption throughout the workforce by supporting agile bespoke training courses (microcredentials) to upskill workers. That is why the IET welcomes…

  • Bias in Artificial Intelligence – easy to spot, harder to avoid

    Rubbish In, Rubbish Out – Is accuracy in Artificial Intelligence as simple as we think? What do we want from Artificial Intelligence? Do we want the type of hyper intelligent, almost omniscient electronic being we have become used to (and frightened of) in popular culture? Or do we expect something that is emotionless, hyper neutral in the mould of HAL 9000 in ‘2001: A Space Odyssey,’ (although the two are not mutually exclusive)? If super neutrality is what we want or expect, the next question is ‘how do we achieve this?’, especially given that humans are inherently biased, mistaken or misinformed. Bias in images…an experiment An article in The Lancet, ‘Reflections before the storm: the AI reproduction of biased imagery in global health visuals,’ gives an idea of how difficult this…

  • Inside the AI World: A Day in the Life of an AI Engineer

    Continuing our blog series 'A Day in the Life of an Engineer', we caught up with Kirsten McCormick MSc(Hons) MIET to find out more about her day as a Systems Engineer and AI Lead for General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) Like many different jobs and roles you find in an organisation, working with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) can differ hugely depending on the industry, the techniques, the use cases, and even the company. So, though this is my life, day by day it changes, and I bet it will share both similarities and huge differences between others working in this technology area. Who I am and what I do So, as an introduction, my name is Kirsten McCormick, I am a Senior Systems Engineer and AI Lead in General Dynamics Mission Systems (GDMS) Hastings. I have…

  • Big dreams, big data and some minor technical issues…

    Artificial Intelligence and Big Data are not the same, but they are entwined and vital to each other. As remarkable as the industry’s achievements are and have been, there are still issues to clear up I n the beginning… The concept of Artificial Intelligence (if not the term) dates back to 1947, although the thinking behind it may go back further still. Alan Turing gave a public lecture in that year , when he discussed the idea of a machine having intelligence – learning from its own experience, altering and writing its own instructions. The pursuit of making machines that can think (and the phrase ‘Artificial Intelligence’ coined to describe it) began at the 1956 Dartmouth Summer Research Project on Artificial Intelligence organised by John McCarthy. ‘Big Data’ as a concept has been…

  • Trusting machines, not as easy as we think?

    In artificial intelligence, ‘trust’ is a tricky but crucial topic Artificial Intelligence (AI) is everywhere, and we interact with it more often than we care to think on. Social media such as X and Facebook, online services such as Google Maps, the camera apps in our smart phones and something as ‘simple’ as predictive text all deploy AI to help us decide what films to watch, what food to eat, how to spend our money and the best route to take. While we often marvel or laugh at the decisions and recommendations made for us by AI, very few users understand how these decisions are arrived at. Even developers might find themselves unable to analyse statistical calculations that are no longer humanly possible to track. Do you ‘trust’? When people work together, we understand the concept…

  • IET Engineering Landmarks Marathon - raising donations for the IET's Futures Fund

    As we approach International Women in Engineering Day on 23 June, I am excited to announce that I will be running a unique, engineering landmarks marathon route through London, aimed at highlighting and celebrating the city's most iconic (and more obscure) engineering landmarks, with a special emphasis on those contributed to by women engineers. The finish line? None other than our historic and iconic engineering venue, IET London: Savoy Place. This marathon is more than just a run for me, it’s about making a lasting, positive impact to the future of engineering. That's why I'm raising donations for the IET's Futures Fund . This fund plays a crucial role in inspiring the next generation of engineers and technicians, supporting them to reach their full potential so they can help find solutions…

  • Antennas and Propagation delegates get together in Glasgow

    This year the 18th edition of the European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP) took place in Glasgow (17th to 22nd March 2024) and was attended by over 1400 delegates, over 40 exhibitors and a number of IET Antennas and Propagation Technical Network (APTN) committee members. As the IET were Silver sponsors of the event, IET members benefited from a reduction in the registration fee and also received a 20% reduction on IET books using the EUCAP24 code. The IET’s exhibition stand promoted the wider IET, the Microwave and Antennas Propagation (MAP) journal and the Antennas and Propagation Technical Network (APTN). As ATPN chair, I was also invited to give a short welcome address at the opening ceremony to promote our aims and 2024 events, which included the EUCAP workshop on …

  • Nothing but 5-star reviews for iet.tv

    For the last seven years, Mark Reynard and iet.tv have represented the IET on the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) digital innovation bursary panel. This incredible initiative gives out up to ten bursaries a year to high school students who want to pursue careers in TV and broadcast, giving disadvantaged young people the opportunity to go to university and study this chosen career path. Not only do they give out bursaries to a select few students, but these students get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tour around the companies that sit on the panel after they have finished their studies, allowing them to experience hands-on what working in the industry is really like. Our very own iet.tv is one of many esteemed panel members, alongside major broadcasters such as the…

  • Hope, hubris and tragedy

    On this day in (engineering) history… To build her, money is not a problem. At 46,000 tons and measuring 882 feet in length, she is 50% heavier and 100 feet longer than anything else afloat. Sacrificing speed for luxury, she is the biggest ship of her line and will be the largest and grandest of her time. She uses 29 boilers – 24 double ended Scotch class boilers and five single ended boilers – all set in six boiler rooms - to produce 46,000 horsepower and contains three million hand driven rivets. And it has taken 25 tons of grease and soap to launch the 26,000-ton hull, watched by 100,000 people. Today, April 2, 1912, Titanic undergoes sea trials at Belfast Lough. A mythical ship Titanic, and her sister ships Olympic and Britannic, were commissioned by the White Star Line as a riposte…

  • Event Review: European Robotics Forum, 2024

    By Dr Jelizaveta Konstantinova The European Robotics Forum (ERF) 2024 is one of the most impactful annual events in the area of robotics and artificial intelligence in Europe. This year it was held from the 13th to the 15th of March in Rimini, Italy. The event brought together more than a thousand participants from Europe, including robotics researchers, academics, entrepreneurs, investors and policy makers. ERF provides an extremely valuable opportunity to understand the state of the art in robotics and AI in Europe not only focusing on the latest research breakthroughs, but also covering the overview of industrial and societal challenges that need to be addressed. It is a unique opportunity to connect and network with various stakeholders. The opening of the forum was marked by the…

  • Caroline Haslett – Editor and a whole lot more!

    Guest blog by Isabella Fletcher, University of Leeds This is the third blog in the series written by Liberal Arts students at the University of Leeds to celebrate the EAW’s centenary in 2024. This project has been supported by Professor Graeme Gooday. These blogs on early EAW activities are based on themes that the students selected from reading digitised versions of the first two volumes (1926-1935) of The Electrical Age (for Women). The first blog is on the EAW’s Presidents and the second on its regional branches . Who was Caroline Haslett? Portrait of Dame Caroline Haslett (from original in IET Archives) Caroline Haslett was born in 1895 in Worth, Sussex and was the daughter of Robert Haslett and Caroline Sarah (formerly) Holmes. In her early life, she joined the suffragette…

  • Applications are open to join the IET’s Young Professionals Committee, but first, an introduction.

    The IET’s Young Professionals Committee (YPC) was created to help inspire, inform and influence the global community of young professional engineers and technicians. To ensure that the institution remains relevant in the future, we need to support and promote technological innovation that meets the needs of society. The committee is made up of thirteen volunteers from all over the world, who meet up six times a year, working on projects that are focused on the wants and needs of young professionals from a PEI (professional engineering institution). The meetings take place both virtually and in person, giving committee members the opportunity to collaborate and network with each other. The goal of the YPC is give young professionals a voice within the IET. Young professionals play a vital…

  • Inventing the next century – The Lumiere Brothers and the birth of Cinema

    On this day in (engineering) history… The Lumiere Brothers film workers leaving the Lumiere Factory, 19 March, 1895 It is spring, 1895 (March 19, to be exact) in the French city of Lyon. After the end of their shift, workers at the Lumière factory are pouring out into the streets. Some have noticed a man standing behind a large, odd-looking wooden box on a tripod, who appears to be turning a handle on the side of the container. What the workers are seeing is themselves being filmed by one of their bosses, the Lumière Brothers (it is not recorded which), who own the photographic factory the staff are leaving. The Brothers Auguste (on the left) and Louis Lumière. Wikimedia Commons Louis and Auguste Lumière grew up in Lyon, in the east of France, although they were both born…

  • A comprehensive timeline of the EAW branches’ establishment and growth in the UK, 1925-29

    Guest blog by Emily Raynor, University of Leeds This is the second of a series of blogs written by Liberal Arts students at the University of Leeds to celebrate the EAW’s centenary in 2024. This project has been supported by Professor Graeme Gooday. These blogs on early EAW activities are based on themes that the students selected from reading digitised versions of the first two volumes (1926-1935) of The Electrical Age (for Women). The first blog can be found here . Introduction The Electrical Association for Women ’s headquarters were located in London, but the EAW also had many branches, scattered around the UK, by the time of its closure in 1986. International branches were also set up over the years, with some of them still being active today. These regional branches were especially…

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