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  • Gray’s Anatomy of a Payphone

    On this day in (engineering) history… August 13, 1889 - William Gray of Hartford, Connecticut patents the payphone You're having a bad day. Your spouse is seriously ill, and you need to get help. You need a phone, but don't have one. Ask a neighbour…they won't let you use theirs. You go out searching for a phone, any phone to use. But nobody has one, and those that do refuse your pleas to call a doctor. What do you do? If you're William Gray, you invent and patent the payphone. Everyone's nightmare William Gray's father, Neil, thought his son needed a respectable job, so he sent him to work at a drug store. The druggist told Mr Gray the young man spent his time in the basement tinkering with anything he could get his hands on and should try something else. Next, this son of Scottish…

  • Hitting the top...unaided!

    Rock Engineering and Nick Wilson are breaking down barriers to help make life better for people with disabilities. Disabled Adventurer, Nick Wilson, became the first to reach the highest point accessible on Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) ‘unaided’ in an engineered powerchair - the RockClimber on Friday, July 12, 2024. After a three-hour hike from Llanberis car park, he reached one thousand metres of the 1085-metre route. A pinch-point on the final ridge blocked progress when the chair proved too big to move through the narrowing. After a team discussion, Nick and Rock Engineering co-owners Elliot Dason-Barber and Andrew Miller, agreed they had achieved their goal. Nick Wilson with Elliot Dason-Barber and Andrew Miller of Rock Engineering at the top of Yr Wyddfa, 12 July, 2024. Source: Rock Engineering…

  • Where there’s wheels, there’s a way

    Wheelchair user takes on Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) 'unaided' thanks to engineering team's first-of-its-kind power mobility chair. Wednesday, 5 June, Llanberis, north Wales: It is a damp, rain-threatened grey morning in the north Wales village of Llanberis, at the foot of Yr Wyddfa (Mount Snowdon), the highest peak in England and Wales. Mental health campaigner and disabled adventurer Nick Wilson is about to attempt the arduous climb to the summit - using a unique, tailor-made powered mobility chair - the RockClimber . He is determined to become the first disabled person to reach the top of Yr Wyddfa unaided. The importance of this word, 'unaided,' will become clear later on. Climbing, the Rock Engineering way The team at Rock Engineering has boosted Nick's attempt on Yr Wyddfa. Their extensive…

  • Reflections on an ‘Electrical Age’

    Guest blog by Madeleine Smith, Emily Raynor, and Isabella Fletcher from the University of Leeds. This is the final in a series of blogs written by Liberal Arts students at the University of Leeds to celebrate the centenary of the Electrical Association for Women (EAW) in 2024. In our previous blogposts on the EAW , our key research resource was the fully digitized EAW journal, The Electrical Age, known initially (1926-1932) as The Electrical Age for Women . Our final post in the project will look at how others can use the fully digitised Electrical Age journal in their research. Unlocking potential We have all thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to read through The Electrical Age to gather and examine information on women’s changing roles and expertise at the dawn of Britain’s mass electrification…

  • The steel and rubber soul of motoring – the VW Beetle

    On This Day in Engineering History July 30, 2003 - The last 'old style' Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the production line July 30, 2003. It is a Wednesday afternoon, another sweltering summer day in the Mexican city of Puebla. In the Hall of Sorrows, a traditional mariachi band is playing 'La Golondrina' (The Swallow), an 1862 song written by Mexican physician Narciso Serradell Sevilla, while he was exiled in France. It tells the story of a migrating swallow, lost and battered by the winds, of how, when The Swallow returns, the singer will make a safe space for the bird to nest beside him on his bed. 'La Golondrina' is sung by Mexicans when they say goodbye to a loved one. This is fitting because the Hall of Sorrows, within the Volkswagen de Mexico plant, is where the very last Volkswagen…

  • Rare books: Geometria and Opera philosophica by René Descartes

    This is a guest blog on René Descartes and some of his works we hold by A-Level student Phoebe Carnell who joined us for her work experience in the IET Library and Archives. Opera philosophica , 1685. A collection of 3 of his most influential works – Mediations on first philosophy , Principles of philosophy and Discourse on the method . All explore the idea of searching for truth in reality using philosophical inquiry and innate ideas (an a priori approach). His work consists of specific rules, such as ‘accept nothing as true that is not self-evident’ which links to his advocation of the scientific method. Most famously, Meditations on first philosophy . This work of his is one that I am most intrigued by, as it contains Descartes explaining what is categorised as having certainty in a…

  • Where next? GenAI's evolution in knowledge, understanding, reasoning and scaling

    Introduction The global economy is fuelled by knowledge and information, the digital sector growing 6x faster than the economy as a whole. AI will act as a further accelerant in boosting the economy and has the potential of being transformative across many sectors. Figure 1 GenAI has wide application However, in realising this promise, GenAI faces a number of challenges: 1) foundational LLMs have a great set of skills and generalist knowledge, but know nothing about individual companies’ products & services; 2) whilst LLMs are great at providing an instant answer, they often misunderstand the question or simply hallucinate in their response; equally, 3) LLMs need to improve in their reasoning capabilities to understand and solve complex problems; and finally, 4) LLMs are compute intensive…

  • Our latest EDI resource explores neuroinclusion at work

    When we published our Neurodiversity in Engineering and Technology report in November 2023, we laid out 7 key commitments that we’re making to improve neuroinclusion across the organisation and wider sector. One of these commitments was to create a toolkit with a focus on practical actions and advice for supporting a neurodivergent person at work. We’re very pleased to now be able to share that resource with you. Read our new toolkit here. Our toolkit, titled ‘Understanding neurodivergence at work’, is aimed at organisations, employers and colleagues of neurodivergent people, as well as neurodivergent individuals themselves. Within, you’ll find important information about different neurodivergent conditions, how the related traits may manifest at work, and what you can do to support them…

  • North Devon Robotics Challenge 2024

    Year 7 teams from five Devon schools met at Petroc College, Barnstaple on Wednesday 20 March to compete in the North Devon Robotics Challenge, sponsored by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the North Devon Manufacturers’ Association. The event was organised by the IET Devon and Cornwall local network, and supported by Petroc College. The teams of eight boys and girls have been working in pairs on four challenges; three involving programming Edison robots to address engineering challenges, and a fourth challenge to design, on paper, a robot help with an aspect of the local maritime industry. On Wednesday afternoon, the teams came together to show what they had achieved. The first challenge was to program the robot to race around an octagonal course as many times as…

  • Engineering Beginnings: My Journey into and within the World of Engineering

    I wrote this blog to encourage all engineers, especially those just starting their careers, to reflect on their journeys. Engineering can achieve incredible things, but it can be tough to find the right fit. It’s worth holding out for the space where your passion and skills truly align. By sharing my story, I hope to show that your unique perspective is a strength. Embrace the challenges, celebrate the victories, and know that your contributions are vital for a more inclusive and innovative future in engineering. I wanted to be a Doctor The year is 2009. I'm standing outside Stevenage Cineworld with a blue crayon clamped between my teeth like a faux cigar and a blazer that's two sizes too big for me. Clearly, my decision-making skills were still in development. At that time, I wanted…

  • Rare books: Recherches Physiques sur le Feu and Recherches Physiques sur L’Électricité

    The IET Library holds two books by the physician, politician, revolutionary and scientist Jean-Paul Marat. Recherches Physiques sur le Feu (1780) and Recherches Physiques sur L’Électricité (1782) are part of the collection of Silvanus P. Thompson purchased in 1917 by the IET. You can find out more about Thompson, his work and his association with the IET here . While Marat is often remembered primarily for his political activities, and particularly his role in the French Revolution of 1789-1799, his scientific contributions, show that he was an innovative thinker, willing to challenge established theories and committed to empirical research methods. Although some of Marat’s scientific theories were eventually proven incorrect, his works on fire and electricity reflect a deep engagement with…

    IET Archives
    IET Archives

  • Young engineers from Fleetwood High School triumph in national engineering challenge final

    Students from Fleetwood High School in Fleetwood, Lancashire have won the Institution of Engineering and Technology’s (IET) national IET Faraday ® engineering challenge, securing £1,000 for their school. The top five school teams from the season league table attended the IET Faraday ® National Final on Wednesday 26 June 2024 at the Silverstone Museum. The other teams included Adcote School for Girls from Shrewsbury, Havelock Academy from Grimsby, St Roch’s Secondary School from Glasgow and St Aidan’s High School from Glasgow. This year’s challenge was in association with Rees Jeffreys Road Fund and National Highways - the government company that oversees the operation, maintenance and improvement of England’s motorways and major A roads. The teams were tasked to design a prototype that…

  • Nanotechnology Applications in Oil & Gas Manufacturing

    Nanotechnology Applications in Oil & Gas Manufacturing The oil and gas (O&G) industry is critical to the global economy, supplying essential energy resources that fuel transportation, electricity generation, and industrial processes. As demand for energy grows and environmental concerns intensify, the industry faces pressure to innovate and enhance efficiency, safety, and sustainability. One promising frontier in this regard is nanotechnology, which involves the manipulation of matter at the nanoscale (one billionth of a meter). This article explores the diverse applications of nanotechnology in O&G manufacturing, highlighting its potential to revolutionise the sector. Enhanced Material Properties: Nanotechnology can significantly improve the properties of materials used in O&G manufacturing…

  • The Whole System: Mobility-as-a-Service - Data mining: the key to making Mobility-as-a-Service work?

    To make this new idea work, travellers and providers will have to pool a lot of data. Making it safe and reliable is a big task The challenges of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) extend beyond the transport system itself and include protection of individuals’ personal data and agreements on the distribution of revenue. For Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) to work, it will require considerable sharing of data. This will allow MaaS to build a picture of the totality of the traveller’s requirements and plug into the infrastructure of transport service providers, such as journey planning, booking and information. This will give would-be passengers real-time information relevant to each transport service in a particular journey. No getting away from data sharing The dependence of MaaS on data sharing…

  • The Whole System: Mobility-as-a-Service - A MaaS-sive possibility?

    Can a new approach to moving people around be a ‘win, win’ for people, the economy and the environment all at the same time? In a future carbon sustainable, net-zero world, people will still want, and probably need, to travel. This prompts the question, ‘how?’ From a Systems Engineering (SE) perspective, one answer would be Mobility as a Service (MaaS). What is MaaS? The UK’s Government Office for Science (citing the Transport Systems Catapult and UK Parliamentary records) describes MaaS as: ‘digital interface to source and manage the provision of a transport related service(s) which meets the mobility requirements of a customer’. MaaS is a system that provides a single point of organisation for a journey, providing options to use any part of the existing array of transport services…

  • The Whole System: Transport Energy - Transport and Energy, Natural Partners?

    At first glance, the Energy and Transport sectors appear to be made for each other. Look closer and there are major obstacles to making anything more than a marriage of convenience Integrating our energy and transport systems involves overcoming numerous business, commercial and technical challenges. Paradoxically, neither segment is set up to meet the needs of the other. Each has a strong instinct for where the boundaries between them lie. As such, the greater barrier to combining these fields is cultural. Energy and Transport ‘Transport Energy’ is both what we use to power our transportation systems and the way we use it. How this is done affects the UK in three areas; environmental, economic and energy security, which converge on each other, often acting in opposition. Between…

  • The Whole System: Safety Loss Driven Systems - As safe as we can make it

    How Loss-Driven Systems Engineering (LDSE) can revolutionise approaches to safety and loss. What is Loss Driven Systems Engineering? Safety is an essential guiding concept underpinning the engineering of all transport systems. This can be understood as the absence of unreasonable risk of harm to the health of people. With the surge in connected systems since 2010, the related concept of security (especially cybersecurity), has come sharply into focus. Broadly, cybersecurity addresses the absence of unreasonable risk of compromise of online properties and assets. Confidentiality, integrity, availability, being especially important. In transport systems, the impact of security on safety is often the primary consideration, but other potential losses should also be of concern (e.g., financial…

  • The Whole System: Freight - A Better Way to Carry the Nation’s Baggage

    Freight is already heavily reliant on Systems Engineering. What more can SE do in this sector? What is freight? Freight refers to the transportation of raw materials, fuel (non-pipeline) and merchandise. It is intermodal, utilising road, rail, air and/or sea to deliver goods from point A (often the point of manufacture of an item) to point B (often the user/consumer) and contains multiple intersections with other transport operators. It is not typical for freight to use dedicated and isolated corridors. Instead, freight routes converge with other freight traffic as well as non-freight transportation. From a Systems Engineering (SE) perspective, moving freight has many similarities with inter-urban passenger rail. Freight networks connect interchange points (or stations). Freight SE is inherently…

  • How small change gave birth to the modern world

    We complain about it, but our towns and cities would become impassable without this engineering achievement... July 16, 1935 - The world's first parking meter is installed Another hot, dry summer day in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA. On the corner of First Street and Robinson Avenue, workers are setting up strange contraptions on the sidewalk's edge. When people try to park their cars on the road next to the new devices, they have a surprise. Now, they have to pay for every minute they want to leave their vehicles in the street, up to an hour. The bane of the modern urban motorist is here: the world's first parking meter. The birth of a modern problem In the first 20 years of the 20th Century, towns and cities in the United States were filling up with motor cars, for which there was…

  • The Whole System: Rail - Key points on Systems Engineering and Rail

    Rail transport is already a complex system, pivotal to integrating our transport network into a larger system engineering whole What is rail transport? Urban and inter-urban rail is a high-speed solution for the transport of people and goods. While roads are mainly focused on individual transport solutions, rail is mass transit with similarities to air and sea transportation; it is organised as a network, centred on major hubs. The rail network connects interchange points (for example, passenger stations or freight terminals) and other transport modes. Rail Systems Engineering (SE) is inherently a “system of systems.” Why does rail matter? Railways connect goods and people through mass transit operational models. In the year to March 2022, UK railways accommodated 990 million passenger…

  • The Whole System: Aerospace - The magic of flight

    It could be said Systems Engineering and Aviation were made for each other The invention of heavier-than-air flight has made the world smaller, easier to reach, particularly after 1950. As aircraft capability has grown, the machines themselves have become, as we shall see, vastly more complex. The aerospace sector manufactures products that can be used in a variety of different contexts: Civil aerospace sector using aircraft and helicopters to transport passengers and goods Defence Aerospace sector extending from Civil Aerospace use case to include military applications (weapons and defence uses) Commercial Aerospace where aircraft and helicopters act as couriers In addition to these products, multiple related infrastructures, subsystems, and personnel provide key support for…

  • The Whole System: Maritime Transport - Dangerous cargoes – Systems Engineering can make it safer

    Systems Engineering can make for safer seas Marine transportation has always been a popular choice when moving hazardous goods around the world. Carrying very large inventories in a controlled setting, with access to centralised on-loading and off-loading facilities, connected to geographically distant locations - all present advantages rail and road are unable to achieve. This brings numerous challenges in, for example, managing interfaces with other transportation methods, for example, road, pipelines, and rail. Safety doesn’t come last Waste similar to this is transported by sea for disposal in third countries. Domestic appliances being recycled, SW London Source: John Cameron on Unsplash Implementing a safe, secure, and efficient transportation system network is key to achieving…

  • The Whole System: Maritime Transport - Finding the harbour in the tempest

    Ship navigation and Systems Engineering can be an excellent fit Backbone of the world economy Maritime transport has supported world commerce for centuries. Now it is the backbone of world trade, making up around 80% of the volume of international trade in goods. Key to this is ship navigation, the process of ensuring a ship gets to where it is going without becoming another statistic in a featureless ocean. In the last decade, global shipping, and the movement of goods by sea have seen substantial changes in the number of ships and their size. The average capacity of container ships has grown from less than 3,000 to circa 4,500 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in the last decade. More than fifty mega-ships in the world have a capacity of 21,000 TEUs. Navigation is a journey, not a…

  • The Whole System - Road Transport: What we think about when we think about transport

    As important as transport is to people, it is also vital to freight and manufacturers Freight is a good place to begin any discussion of the significance of Systems Engineering within the transport industry. It is something the general public give little or no thought to, unless goods are delayed en route and items such as food, drugs and parcel deliveries are not delivered on time. It (freight) refers to the movement of raw materials, fuel (non-pipeline) and merchandise. It is typically intermodal, including as it does multiple interfaces with other transport operators. Efficient freight transportation is essential for productive manufacturing & distribution and contributes to sustainability through integration with green energy sources. Ticapampa District, Peru Source: Ernesto…

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