Allow me to introduce myself…

My name is Natalia D’Lima and I am the new Community Manager for the Antennas & Propagation technical network. I am new to the IET, based in the Stevenage office. I’ll confess now that I’m not an engineer; I have come from a project management background, most recently working at a market research agency in Hertfordshire. Over the past few weeks, I have been immersing myself in the IET; it is a big company with lots of different strands, so there is a lot to learn! As Community Manager, I will also looking after the Humber and North , West and South Yorkshire local networks, the Electromagnetics technical network and a couple of newer ones as well: Cyber Security and Internet of Things. Everyone I’ve met so far has been so welcoming and I am looking forward to meeting all the network’s members…

Rubik's Cube Record Broken Using ... An Aurix Chip!

A whistle-stop visit to Electronica in Munich wasn't complete without seeing the record breaking Rubik's cube machine. For technical engineers this uses Infineon's Aurix chip (similar to the one used in driver assistance systems)mounted on an Arduino-style ShieldBuddy TC275 board from Hitex and programmed using a modified Arduino IDE.  For non-technical people this is a pretty cool piece of technology with a fun out of context use on show at the Infineon stand which was heaving - you could barely get through the exhibition hall door for people watching! Enjoy this video, and do wait for the slow-motion after the 0.637 second real-time blast.

Crossrail Learning Legacy: Sharing the Programme Management learnings from a major infrastructure project

On 2nd November over 60 people gathered at IET London: Savoy Place to learn more about the Crossrail Learning Legacy. The Crossrail Learning Legacy programme aims to share the lessons from delivering Crossrail to raise the bar in industry and showcase UK plc through publishing insight and good practice.  This event aims to share the learnings of the Crossrail Programme Controls Team which set out to develop a world-class controls function which, through robust reporting and sound programme management protocols, would support the Crossrail programme to deliver the works safely and to time, specification and cost. As Crossrail is Government funded, there is a public duty to share lessons learned with other projects particularly in this world of managing deficits. Included in the learning is:…

Big Data Analytics For Smart Power Networks - The Review!

Well, what a great event we had on Tuesday, 8th November at Savoy Place.   The room was full to capacity and delegates heard from a number of experts focusing on different areas in industry and academia. Sean Owen from Cloudera gave the opening Keynote address which covered a diverse number of areas, including cost optimisation, reduced capital expenditure, maximising the value and longevity of existing assets, agility and resilience to market conditions and more globalised operations .  His talk concluded with a case study on a technology company that partners with utility providers to help consumers better understand their energy use. Its platform offers behaviorally fine-tuned, decision-tree-optimized home energy reports that are mailed, emailed, SMS’d and web-hosted for about 75 utilities…

Antennas & Propagation TPN Committee 2016/17

The IET  Antennas & Propagation  Network Committee organises programme of activities for IET members, engineers and members of the public. All of these events and activities are made possible by the efforts of a dedicated group of volunteers. If you would like to know more about volunteering your time to help with our activities, please get in touch with any of the current volunteers listed below: Rob Lewis Chairman John Batchelor Committee Member Anthony Brown Committee Member Darryl Smith Committee Member James Flint Committee Member Cyril Mangenot Committee Member Richard Rudd Committee Member Christophe Craeye Committee Member Sana Salous Committee Member Rebecca Walton Committee Member Rhiannon Mitchell-Thomas Committee Member Mike Warrington Committee Member Lee Ford Committee Member…

EVENTS COMING UP

There are 4 very interesting events coming up between now and Christmas: 17th November:      The Green Warship in Weymouth 22nd November:      Next Generation Audio and Dolby Vision in Salisbury 7th December:         Engineering Excellence in Sport - A Special Christmas Lecture - in Salisbury 20th December:       Presentations by Young People on Designing Greenpower Electric Racing Cars We would be delighted to see you at these events supporting your fellow members and engineers so  check out Communities website for more details now.

CPD RESOURCES: IET Factfiles

The IET provide a number of product and services which can provide valuable CPD for both members and non-members.  In this blog, we hope to highlight just one of these many products which can provide valuable information and CPD for you in support of your career.   As part of their work to inform the wider engineering community and influence government on issues affecting society, the IET produce a number of factfiles which use members’ expertise to inform other members and the public on a range of engineering topics including energy, health and safety, information technology, transport and manufacturing.   Factfiles cover a number of technical subjects as well as providing information on issues that affect daily lives such as the possible health effects of mobile phones and pylons which have…

CPD RESOURCES: IET Factfiles

The IET provide a number of product and services which can provide valuable CPD for both members and non-members.  In this blog, we hope to highlight just one of these many products which can provide valuable information and CPD for you in support of your career.   As part of their work to inform the wider engineering community and influence government on issues affecting society, the IET produce a number of factfiles which use members’ expertise to inform other members and the public on a range of engineering topics including energy, health and safety, information technology, transport and manufacturing.   Factfiles cover a number of technical subjects as well as providing information on issues that affect daily lives such as the possible health effects of mobile phones and pylons which have…

IET WA YPS Committee Members 2016 - 17

Israa Ibrahim Elsayed, Chairperson David Kelly, Chairperson Jason Chan, Vice Chairperson Vincent Lim, Secretary Brandon Strang, Treasurer Leon Ha, SRRC Ambassador & Marketing Manager Charlie Foote, Committee member Tamzin Walker , Committee member Richard Javangwe , Committee member Ben Arazo , Committee member Irene Veliana, Committee member Ian Manton, Committee member Khyati Hindocha, Committee member Simon Nguyen, Committee member Tayah Hallacher, Committee member Vivek Vyas, Committee member Allaine Lopez, Committee member

Joint Event With CIBSE - Daylight Simulation & LEED V4

Discussion lecture on Daylight Simulation & LEED v4 with Anna Kazmierska P.Eng., LEED AP BD C Date: 24 November, 2016 6:30-7:30 pm in Toronto. Refreshment provided.  Email  iet.toronto@theiet.org to register .

Re-inventing Space Conference 2016 - A Perspective From Paul Iliffe, Best Poster Competition Winner

Earlier in 2016 The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) ran a poster competition with the theme of Game Changing Satellite Applications. I am very happy to write that I won the competition with my poster that was entitled “Long duration satellite servicing through Coulomb force assisted formation flying”. The prize of this competition was the opportunity to present the poster at the Re-Inventing Space 2016 conference and to attend the other presentations, networking sessions, and Gala Dinner at the conference. The theme of the conference, referred to as RISpace, is the commercialisation of space activities, which in a general context is the transition of space activities from the activities of governments only to the broader participation by the private sector. Within this theme…

Digital Manufacturing - Engineering Fest

I’ve just watched an excellent video that was filmed at the recent IET Engineering Festival.  The speaker Kieron Salter, MD and founder of KW Motorsport Ltd gave a presentation on ‘Digital Manufacturing’. In the presentation, Kieron talks about Horizontal Innovation and how his company have transferred their high performance automotive skills across to other sectors.    KW Motorsport’s core technology is around cars and they started off in 2003 designing and manufacturing a Le Mans racing car that ran on Bioethanol and was the fastest car in a straight line. In 2007 they designed the first Le Mans car to explore digital manufacturing and used CFD/data analytics rather than a conventional wind tunnel.    The company’s 2015 Le Mans car utilised a high degree of Additive Manufacturing and due…

CPD RESOURCES: IET Factfiles

The IET provide a number of product and services which can provide valuable CPD for both members and non-members.  In this blog, we hope to highlight just one of these many products which can provide valuable information and CPD for you in support of your career.   As part of their work to inform the wider engineering community and influence government on issues affecting society, the IET produce a number of factfiles which use members’ expertise to inform other members and the public on a range of engineering topics including energy, health and safety, information technology, transport and manufacturing.   Factfiles cover a number of technical subjects as well as providing information on issues that affect daily lives such as the possible health effects of mobile phones and pylons which have…

IET WA Network Committee members 2016 - 17

Martin King, Chairman Derek Boardman, Deputy Chairman Peta Blight, Secretary Darren Bowles, Treasurer Allan Williams, Committee member Charlie Foote, Committee member Bruce James, Committee member Robert Moore, Committee member Ephraim Phiri, Committee member Nigel Gayland, Committee member Noel Moyo, Committee member Dave Nally, Committee member Shane Rennick, Committee member

Visit to HMNZS TE KAHA (Auckland) 3rd November 2016

A very successful visit to HMNZS TE KAHA,  a total of 40 people joined the visit.  According to LT CDR  Warren McLuckie, Auckland Network volunteer who organised the visit:  "I think everyone had a good time and actually go to see the gun going through the motions, hydraulics running, loud noises etc." Check out the pictures below.

IET Scotland And University Of Highlands And Islands Christmas Lecture 2016 - What Goes Up Might Come Down

Come along and join us at the IET Scotland and University of Highlands and Islands Christmas Lecture 2016 - What Goes Up Might Come Down.  This annual event is is primarly aimed at secondary schools and the audience will be of secondary school age (S4-S6). Others are very welcome to attend.  Come along and hear from Professor Andrew Rae, Professor of Experimental and Applied Aerodynamics University of the Highlands and Islands speak.  We now take air travel pretty much for granted but the comfort and safety we expect are achieved in a very harsh environment.  At cruising altitude the air outside the aircraft cabin can be more than 50 degrees below zero and the air so thin that oxygen is essential.  A few feet away from the cabin is a jet engine operating at a temperature of 2000 degrees Celsius…

Official Launch Of The Inaugural NI Digital Catapult Work Programme.

Last year's NI local network Chairperson, Tom Gray recently launched an ambitious programme of activities to build the capability of Northern Ireland’s digital cluster with Economy Minister Simon Hamilton.   Speaking at the launch, Tom Gray, Head Digital Catapult NI said: “This ambitious inaugural work programme will help accelerate the growth of our areas of strength such as analytics and cyber security and increase our opportunities in emerging areas such as Artificial Intelligence and Immersive Technologies.”   During the next 12 months, Digital Catapult NI will deliver a wide range of activities that will support and help build on Northern Irelands digital capability and promote international collaboration. This will include showcasing outstanding digital companies to industry; pit stops…

IET Singapore Network: Engineering Pub Quiz

The IET Pub Quiz 2016 was organized by IET Singapore LN. The objective of this event was to provide an opportunity for IET members to acquire interesting and less unknown engineering knowledge. This event had attracted almost 50 members and guests. The venue for the event was at the function room of BeerFest Brewery @Rochester. Under relaxing atmosphere, the members were able to enjoy scrumptious food and beer while brainstorming for the answers.  All attendees were instructed to form groups of 4 to 5 members, and to come up with an amusing and interesting group name which could also add points to their score board.  This quiz was co-organised by special task group: Nicholas Weeks, Robert Cooke, Morgan Mackinnon and Renyou. They took turn to host the event as Quiz Master in different rounds…

IET Scotland South West and The Institute of Telecommunications Professionals 2016 Family Christmas Presentations

Wrap up 2015-16 and Jump in 2016-17 with the FS TPN

As we are now bounding into the 2016-17 session, I thought it would be good to review what has been happening in the FS TPN over 2015-16 and what we are looking at for 2016-17. Overview of the TPN:  The IET Functional Safety TPN helps support activities that improve the development and assurance of safe systems, and to draw together professionals working in functional and systems safety.  This means we are a focal point within the IET for system and functional safety - products, processes and people.  We are actively involved in many of the different department in the IET and contribute to policy and standards and develop conferences, courses, and events that contribute to your CPD.  For more on what we cover, have a look at the slides from our Annual Open Meeting.   Some of the conferences…

DARS 2016 FINAL CALL FOR PARTICIPATION

13th International Symposium on Distributed Autonomous Robotic Systems Nov 6-9, 2016. Natural History Museum, London, UK 51 presentations from 17 countries, including 4 keynotes by: -  Nikolaus Correll (University of Colorado Boulder): Material-integrated intelligence for robot autonomy -  Vijay Kumar (University of Pennsylvania): Coordination, cooperation, and collaboration in multi-robot systems -  James AR Marshall (The University of Sheffield): Go to the bee and be wise: Swarm engineering inspired by house-hunting honeybees -  Katia Sycara (Carnegie Mellon University): Robust human control of multi-robot swarms NEWS - Conference booklet available online - Finalists for the Best Paper Award available online - Last chance to join us in London: http://dars2016.org/registration/ MEDIA/PRESS…

Technical visit to General Electric Engine Services Malaysia - a report by Mr Lau YC

On 29th September, a technical visit to General Electric Engine Services Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (GEESM) was organised by ET Control &Automation  TPN and IET Malaysia Network. Below, Mr. Lau YC tells us more: Aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) is an essential requirement to ensure that aircraft are maintained in pre-determined conditions of airworthiness to safely transport passengers and cargo. In the air transport industry, the aircraft MRO market is influenced by global fleet size, aircraft utilisation and air traffic volumes for both passengers and cargo. The aircraft MRO industry in Malaysia is gearing to boost capacity and enhance its services to attract more global players to the country. During the introduction speech, Suresh Kumar Shunmugam (Managing Director of GEESM) shared…

Speaker Highlight - Challenges In Tribology (Part Three)

Time for another speaker highlight! The IET Tribology Network have confirmed the first speaker for Thursday 16th March 2017 on 'Transport Challenges' We are delighted to welcome back: Professor Robert JK Wood FREng,  Associate Dean of Research, Director of the UK National Centre for Advanced Tribology at Southampton (nCATS). About Robert: Professor Robert Wood FREng is Professor of Surface Engineering and Tribology within Engineering Sciences of the Faculty of Engineering and the Environment at the University of Southampton and is Associate Dean (Research) for the Faculty. He has 30 years research experience in the field of tribology and surface engineering. He has spent several years at BP Research researching into erosion and corrosion resistant coatings but returned to Southampton in 1993…

London Underground Station Song Puns

After try and failing to come up with something 'Halloween-y' for this month's railway newsletter, I opted for a selection of songs that can be made into puns using London Underground stations. Here are the ones I came up with - as you can probably see I was scraping the barrell towards the end so please feel free to suggest any more in the comments below!  MORDEN A FEELING, BOSTON JOHNNY B. GOODGE (STREET), CHUCK BERRY THE ONLY LIVING BOY IN NEW CROSS, SIMON AND GARFUNKEL SEXUAL EALING, MARVIN GAYE ANOTHER BRIXTON IN THE WALL, PINK FLOYD SITTING ON THE DOCK OF THE BAYSWATER, OTIS REDDING SOMEBODY THAT I EUSTON KNOW, GOYTE TEARS IN HENDON, ERIC CLAPTON KILBURNING LOVE, ELVIS PRESLEY HOLBORN TIGHT, ELO LIVERPOOL (STREET) AND LET DIE, PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS BACK IN BLACKFRIARS, AC/DC PAINT…