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  • 2017! The Year Of The Field.

    The last 10 years has seen mainstream adoption of TCP/IP based networks. The XML/WAP stack was one of the first modern methods to introduce location based services on phones that had vendor specific OS’s. This early attempt to make mobile services to the masses had its own limitation, namely interaction. The availability of TCP/IP networks across cellular devices has changed that ( Java / Boss has helped too) . Now those cellular devices serve as computers and a phone. For the next 3 years, we are likely to see inter app collaboration within the same phone as a normal activity. Apps will help each other to function. Yes - the open stack endeavours and licensing of OS's like Andriod make development efforts more justifiable as there is an instant market waiting to use your app-based creation…

  • Can I blog?

    Frank's Videos   are both in here  so that you can access them both from within this Blog. I hope it works and I hope to get some feedback.

    David Mann
    David Mann

  • New Year, New Start? Submit Your 2016 CPD Record Now.

    Whilst December was a month for reflection on the year that had passed, January is often a time for new beginnings, and as we start a new year many of us will be making new year's resolutions for what we want to achieve in 2017.  So whilst you're thinking about your new year's resolutions for 2017, why not take a moment to reflect on your achievements from 2016 and plan the next steps in your development for 2017.   You can make a good start on this by considering your Continuing Professional Development. Now is the time to  Submit your 2016 CPD return.   The window to submit your 2016 CPD returns opened on 3rd January 2017. You may be chosen to have your record reviewed as part of our CPD monitoring policy.  You can submit your CPD return via Career Manager .  If you are unsure how to use…

    Kathryn Bain
    Kathryn Bain

  • IoT At CES17

    CES17 took place in Las Vegas last week. As always, it was well attended by a multitude of tech companies, showing off their latest designs. I’ve picked out 5 of the top IoT products that were showcased during the 4 day event. 5. Fridge Cam This camera is mounted in your fridge (unsurprisingly!) and detects what’s in there, when it expires and gives relevant meal suggestions. The idea behind this is that it will help to cut down on food waste, preventing people from forgetting what they have tucked away in the back of their fridge and providing ideas on how to use those random ingredients that we all seem to find in our fridges! Food waste is a huge problem, especially in Western countries and this would be very useful for those who struggle to stay on top on sell by dates. However it does…

    Former Staff Member
    Former Staff Member

  • Two Days Workshop on PCB Designing and Fabrication at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology, Abbottabad, Pakistan

    A two day workshop on "PCB Designing and Fabrication" was commenced at COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Abbottabad, Pakistan on 10 - 11 Dec 2016.   The Trainers were Assistant Professor Dr.Jawad Saleem and Assistant Professor Dr.Abdul Majid of CIIT Abbottabad.     Stage Projector Screen Trainer DR.Jawad Saleem Guests Pannel at Stage Audience and Participants of Workshop Trainees Designing the PCBs Female Trainees Designing PCBs PCBs Etching Process PCB Drilling Ready PCBs Soldering SMD Components mounted on PCB The Workshop contained Two Sessions:   (i) Simulation Session   In Simulation Session, there was a detailed lecture on Simulation to implement a circuit by using Proteus Software. Participants also practiced the whole learning by their own to get a handsome experience…

    Nouman Abid Chuhan
    Nouman Abid Chuhan

  • Did You Know The New Ayrshire College Has An Engineering Academy?

    Ayrshire College has joined Strathclyde University’s Engineering Academy as a partner college. The Engineering Academy is a pioneering programme that offers an alternative route into university and employment as a Strathclyde student.  The first year is an enhanced HNC programme with direct transfer into second year of one the engineering degrees.    The Academy is a collaboration between the University of Strathclyde, partner colleges and the engineering industry.  As part of the University’s outreach objective, the Academy was established to increase widening access participation by delivering various pathways to a range of engineering degrees in our leading Faculty of Engineering.  Find out how the academy works, entry requirements, key benefits and industry sponsorship and placements.

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Innovation and Realism

    The press demand for more innovation in the rail industry may be welcomed by many but those who shout loudest rarely know what is entailed. Innovation takes many forms and so often much effort and energy is expended into what turns out to be nothing more than a pipedream. To bring some realism to the topic, the IET annual railway lecture in November 2016 invited Adrian Shooter to give his views on innovation with some practical examples of past success and failure. Adrian will be known to many, having been the mastermind in transforming the Chiltern Railways franchise and the brainchild behind the conversion of ex LU District Line stock into a low cost DMU. He is essentially a railway mechanical engineer with a long career history in both engineering and operational rail management. So what…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Cyber Security thoughts from CES17

    CES17 is currently taking place in Las Vegas and as ever there is an excess of companies showcasing their latest tech developments. Internet of Things is big this year, with lots of companies, big and small, launching their connected goods. All these exciting new devices got me thinking about the security of them. With cyber-attacks on the rise, the chances of people’s fridges or toasters being attacked is becoming increasingly likely. This connected shower looks like a great idea for warm showers on chilly winter mornings, but it if gets hacked and leads to a freezing cold shower – definitely not good!  So what can be done to prevent these attacks?     This infographic suggests a few basic things that consumers can do to protect themselves, including secure passwords, keeping firmware up to…

  • A Band you should know - bIaEnTd!!!

    In the autumn of 2010, there are some young people who have passion in music in an engineering society. Leaded by their chairmen(band leader), the bIaEnTd is formed! The bIaEnTd is a word formed by “band” and “IET”, which represent the band formed by the IET members. After their kick off show in the AGM of Younger Members Section (Session 2009-2010), the bIaEnTd became popular in various IET functions like the conference dinners, AGM, as well as anniversary celebration functions. The key members, band leader-drummer, pianist, guitarist, bassist and singer are the founder of the bIaEnTd, throughout the 6 years, new engin-musician had joined and the bIaEnTd will becomes stronger and stronger. President's Address 2016 in Hong Kong - bIaEnTd was our guest performer of the night (From the left:…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • Member News Article: The Americas Round-up, 2016

    (This text has been taken from the December 2016 issue of Member News)   IET volunteers, with support from IET staff, are continually working to increase the presence of Local Networks (LNs) in the Americas.   At the heart of this work is the IET’s mission: to inspire, inform and influence the global engineering community, supporting technology innovation to meet the needs of society. Here’s a roundup of the latest activities in the Americas region. New England The New England LN recently collaborated with the local IEEE Chapter at two major events: The World Maker Faire in New York and the Women in Engineering Eastern Forum. At both events, and for the first time, the Network made IET torch kits with children. They were a huge hit, introducing engineering and the IET to the next generation…

    Former Community Member
    Former Community Member

  • IET Merseyside And Western Cheshire Events Newsletter - January 2017 To September 2017

    The latest IET MWC Newsletter is now available as an online flip book.  Please click the link! IET Merseyside and Western Cheshire Newsletter - January 17 to September 17 Edition

    Rob McDonald
    Rob McDonald

  • Expression Of Interest - Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Engagement Workshops From Innovate UK

    This may be of interest to some of you in the Northern Ireland area - please note that the date for places to be allocated in 11th January, so register your interest quickly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) was  announced  by the Prime Minister at the 2016 CBI Annual Conference, and further detail of this new cross-disciplinary fund was included in the Chancellor’s  Autumn Statement  as part of the National Productivity Investment Fund. Innovate UK and the Research Councils are beginning to define a first round of challenges to be addressed by the ISCF, and will soon be in a position to seek input from industry and the research base into their development. To gather input from…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Expression Of Interest - Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund Engagement Workshops From Innovate UK

    This may be of interest to some of you in the Scotland South West area - please note that the date for places to be allocated in 11th January, so register your interest quickly. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) was  announced  by the Prime Minister at the 2016 CBI Annual Conference, and further detail of this new cross-disciplinary fund was included in the Chancellor’s  Autumn Statement  as part of the National Productivity Investment Fund. Innovate UK and the Research Councils are beginning to define a first round of challenges to be addressed by the ISCF, and will soon be in a position to seek input from industry and the research base into their development.   To gather input…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • Society Insights: December 2016 - Trains, Planes And Power

    The IET Society Insights Blog summarises some of the key areas identified by Local Networks at their events that will have an impact on society now or in the future. This month we tackle the latest from the engineering community on trains, planes and power and there is has an interesting section from the Surrey LN on Opening a new railway – a 21st Century challenge.   Opening a new railway – a 21st Century challenge Surrey Local Network   One of the most important rail projects in recent years, Crossrail will make a metamorphic difference to travel within the UK’s capital.   “London’s been growing hugely since the eighties and London Underground has been struggling for some time to cope. By building a railway that has the capacity to put a train with 1,700 people through the city’s central…

    Lynsay Callaghan
    Lynsay Callaghan

  • 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

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