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Functional Safety Made Easy

On 7 April 2014, the IET Bristol Local Network held a joint event with the Safety Community. Ron Pierce, the current Chairman of the Community Steering Group, gave a presentation titled Functional Safety Made Easy . His talk introduced some of the concepts and general principals of managing functional safety in critical systems, including some of the insights he has gathered through working as the nominated UK expert on MT61508-3, the standards committee responsible for maintaining IEC 61508 Part 3. The presentation, liberally illustrated with anecdotes from Ron's career in software engineering, went down well with the audience and inspired a lively Q&A session! Slides from the talk are available in the Bristol Network's Files Area on MyCommunity. Volunteers from the Safety Community Steering…

James Inge
Functional Safety Made Easy

On 7 April, we held a joint event with the IET Safety Community. Ron Pierce, the Community chairman, gave an interesting presentation introducing the key concepts of functional safety, illustrated with anecdotes from his career working with critical systems. As one of standardisation committee members responsible for Part 3 of IEC 61508, explain how some of the issues are tackled by the international standard for functional safety of programmeable safety-critical systems. If you missed the presentation or want a recap, you can download the slides from our Files area . You can join the IET Safety Community on MyCommunity at http://www.theiet.org/safety

James Inge
Exploring Automatic Control Education in Academia and Industry

In an effort to bridge a gap between academia and industry and explore educational aspects of control and automation recent paradigms, IET Control and Automation Network TPN, and in collaboration between Bahrain IET LN and College of Engineering at University of Bahrain, a successful one day symposium-colloquium on Control & Automation Education was organized on March the 5 th 2014 at University of Bahrain. The event has successfully scheduled a total (11) dedicated talks, and lasted from 8:00 am to 17:00 pm. The attendance has reached ( 90), though the total registered was exceeding 110. The event was supported by a number of automation enterprises operating in the Gulf Region, like Siemens, iComply, Johnson Controls, MHS Technologies. The event was also supported by Ramada Hotel and Everest…

Joanne Longton
Presentation On The Psychology Of Autonomous Vehicles In Paris

At the end of November 2013, the Control & Automation Network of the IET and the France Network hosted an evening lecture on the “Psychology of Autonomous Vehicles” in the French capital, presented by a young scientist from the Transport Research Laboratory (UK), Dr. Nick Reed, expert on Human Factors for vehicle navigation. The lecture was very well-attended by a mixture of IET members and engineers, medical doctors and specialists from the French Automotive industry. Nick provided the background of the shift on vehicle control from the driver to the vehicle on board computers, with ongoing projects at most Vehicle OEMs and suppliers. Whilst robotic cars are not new, the technology is available; the demonstration by Google in 2010 has attracted the interest of industry and public. Nick highlighted…

Joanne Longton
It's coming! IET Future Intelligent Cities conference 4 - 5 Dec 2014

Have you checked out the IET Future Intelligent Cities conference website? Add 4 and 5 December 2014 to your diary! http://conferences.theiet.org/future-cities/ 'This exciting multi-stream conference will provide a platform to promote the technology behind recent and future developments as well as the critical system integration between industry sectors to create that ‘system of systems’ necessary to achieve thriving, sustainable cities with an improved quality of life.'

Former Community Member
What Is The Difference Between IPD And CPD?

The IET provides guidance and support to enable members to undertake planned and structured professional development throughout their professional life. IET members have a professional obligation to undertake professional development as detailed in the IET’s Rules of Conduct and professionally registered members (CEng, IEng, EngTech and ICTTech) must also follow the Engineering Council’s CPD Code . The IET refer to two different aspects of professional development, Initial Professional Development (IPD) and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) but it can sometimes be difficult to define these terms. Initial Professional Development (IPD) refers to the development and practical application of the knowledge, skills and behaviour required for professional registration. Professional registration…

Kathryn Bain
A Volunteer In Godzone

Latest posts on 'A Volunteer in Godzone' by Karla Smith, Chair of the IET Christchurch Network A Volunteer in Godzone

Lisa Miles
Message from our Chairman

Control & Automation – it’s a pretty wide-ranging subject! But I believe there are core skills and interests that are likely to be common to pretty much everybody in the business. My own field, for the last 20 years or so, is C&I in midstream Oil, Gas & Petrochem, but I’ve been in or touched on enough other businesses to know that this is nothing like the whole story. Our newsletter, we hope, will alert you to events that you might otherwise have missed, perhaps highlight some trends and hot topics that you haven’t got around to looking at yet; and maybe sometimes just interest and amuse you. If it’s going to work, we need a two-way street: we’ll need to know who you are, what you like and dislike, what you found interesting, anything you think might be interesting, especially if you’re willing…

Joanne Longton
UK's Slowest Broadband Street.

Two streets with 30 times slower download speeds than UK average have been named the slowest broadband locations in the country. Those living on Erw Fawr in Henryd, Wales, and Wheatley Road in Stanford-Le-Hope, Essex, can only download 0.6 megabits of data per second, according to a report carried out by online comparison site uSwitch.com. Erw Fawr and Wheatley Road’s connections are 96 times slower than Loundes Road in Unstone, Derbyshire, which came the first in the comparison. That means that while inhabitants of the two slowest streets would have to wait more than 15 hours to download an HD-quality movie, those on Loundes Road, the fastest, could download the same movie in less than 10 minutes. Read the full article on the E&T website

Lisa Miles
MedPower 2014 Conference

The IET Hellas, IET Cyprus and IET Israel networks are organising the upcoming MedPower 2014 Conference: The 9th Mediterranean conference on Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution and Energy conversion. The Conference will focus on topics of interest to the Electric Power Industry. It intends to address the vast technological changes in all areas of the electric energy business, products, equipment, methods, and so on. MedPower 2014 will provide power engineers and technicians opportunities to be updated on current academic and industry developments, achievements and trends through presentations and open discussions. Presentations will emphasise the regional needs and peculiarities of environmental aspects associated with electric power generation, transmission, energy conversion systems…

Gemma Hadley
Present Around the World competition - Hellas

The Hellas network are pleased to announce that they will be holding a Present Around the World competition in Athens, Greece. Come along and support the next generation of engineers. You, the audience, will have the opportunity to watch a wide variety of interesting and cutting-edge presentations from the next generation of engineers. You will also be able to ask questions, with the winner being announced at the end of the evening. Date: Wednesday 21 May 2014 Time: 18:00 - 21:00 Venue: TEI Piraeus, Lecture Room ZB111

Gemma Hadley
Congratulations To Team Invicta - World Champions

All in IET Kent congratulate Team Invicta (Emma, Oli and Carlos) on their fantastic achievement of becoming World Champions at the First Lego League World Festival held in St Louis Missouri on 26th April 2014. A brilliant result.

Brian Dury
Don't Trow Away Your Broken Laptop - Fix It!

Restart has 187 ‘restarters’ ranging from teachers to those in the tech industry to security guards signed up to help fix things, with a core group of about 10 in London who regularly attend events. They come from all ethnicities, education levels and backgrounds but the majority are men. The charity has only two female restarters, but it hopes to encourage more to sign up after the first women-only event that took place earlier this month. For more information...

Former Community Member
Thameslink – Achieving Metro Headways On The Mainline

The Thameslink will increase capacity for routes into London from the North and South. This will be achieved through the procurement of a new fleet of trains, significant enhancements to the stations at the core of the Thameslink route and signalling control systems to support a reliable 24 tph service. Paul Bates , Project Director at Network Rail covered some of the following in his recent presentation on behalf of the IET Railway TPN in London on 26 March 2014. The need for high capacity signalling systems; Why ATO and ETCS were selected for Thameslink; How the project had developed the scheme, based on lessons learned from the Cambrian ERTMS early deployment scheme; How traffic management will be deployed across the Thameslink route to support the operation. Feedback after the event indicated…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie in Railways
Heathrow Air Traffic Control Tower Visit

A group of IET visitors recently enjoyed a visit to Heathrow's Air Traffic Control Tower on 31 March 2014. Those participating in the visit organised jointly by the IET Aerospace Technical Professional Network and the London Network Young Professionals Section were fortunate to be able to access the Visual Control Room at Heathrow. Commenting on the event, Mike Murdoch , Committee Member of the Aerospace TPN said: "A very instructive visit enhanced by the exciting 360 degree panoramic view from the tower's gallery, enabling a bird's eye appreciation of the airport's continuous arrival and departure operations". If you were unable to secure a place on the visit you can see some images from the visit taken by Mike Murdoch and Monique Chong. Mike and Kiran Addala from the YP Section have also…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie in Aerospace
Sensors Technologists sought for the Rail Industry

The Transport Knowledge Technical Network are working with Jim Lupton and the Railway Industry Association on an 'Unlocking Innovation in Rail' programme. Jim is specifically reaching out to the colleagues in the rail industry to assisting in finding some new faces to help the train operating companies (e.g. ATOC) find solutions to the problems associated with braking and accelerating of trains. This includes but is not limited to the problems of “leaves on the line” - moisture/leaves etc. If you think what those sorts of weather conditions do if you’re in a car - when you brake or when you try and accelerate - your wheels spin. Bad enough in a car, but on a track, where you can’t deviate, and your momentum is so much greater, and you’re on a timetable where seconds mean money, and safety is…

Deborah-Claire McKenzie
The first IET East London Network Event on April 24th

The new IET East London Local Network hosted it's first talk at 6:30pm, at Queen Mary University near Mile End in East London on April 24th. The event was packed out with some of the audience reduced to sitting on the floor. An interesting lecture was followed by an enjoyable networking session afterwards. I look forward to the next one

Robert Heaton
Automation In The Oil And Gas Industry

On 11th of March an IET Control & Automation TPN organised evening seminar was given entitled ‘Automation in the oil and gas industry’ at the Broadway House conference venue in central London. The event consisted of two talks, each lasting 30 minutes with 15 minutes of Q&A at the end and a half hour networking coffee break in between. Therefore the over all event lasted a nominal two hours with a starting time of 18:00. Chris Bogath, the automation architect for Schlumberger Oilfield Ltd., gave the first talk, with its main content being the commercial and engineering drivers and constraints for down stream automation in oil and gas, which essentially means drilling and drilling related technologies. Dr. James Whidborne, a Reader in control and flight dynamics at Cranfeld University, gave the…

Joanne Longton
New Frontiers in Digital Technologies for Influenza

This upcoming event organised by the EPSRC IRC in Early Warning Sensing Systems for Infectious Diseases (i-sense) and the Infectious Diseases Research Network (IDRN) looks to be a very interesting one day workshop on the epidemiology of influenza. New Frontiers in Digital Technologies for Influenza: Big data and Mobile-Phone Connected Diagnostic Tests Thursday 26th June 2014 The Council Room, The Institute of Materials,1 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5DB A draft programme for the event has been uploaded in the files area of the group. For more information including ticket prices and to register online please visit the event webpage .

Gemma Hadley
The KTN and IET Direct Current Energy Systems Forum - 22 May 2014

Join us this 22 May for a FREE, invited speaker event! https://communities.theiet.org/built-environment/dc-energy This focused one day event on 22 May 2014 will look at the landscape of Direct Current (DC) energy systems, the challenges they present to engineers, technicians and building managers alike, and the opportunities for wider application and user adoption of these emerging technologies. #IETBuiltEnv

Former Community Member
About the Antennas & Propagation TPN

This free to join technical community covers all aspects of theory, design and modelling of antenna systems and associated components, as well as theoretical and wave experimental studies of electromagnetic wave propagation at any frequency. You can take part in discussions , connect and engage with your peers, share files , video and documents and manage your online profile. This community organises free activities such as technical visits, conferences and seminars which you can get involved with. You can also benefit from knowledge exchange with others in your community; personal and professional development and network with your peers who have the same technical interests as you from around the world.

Former Community Member
Antennas & Propagation TPN Committee 2013/14

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 Rhiannon Mitchell-Thomas Committee Member Rebecca Walton Committee Member Mike Warrington Committee Member Lee Ford Committee Member Costas…

Former Community Member
Spotlight on our Exec team member - Ebrahim Mattar

The first in an occasional series focuses on Dr Ebrahim Mattar , exec team member resident in Bahrain. Dr. Mattar, (Nickname: Al-Gallaf), has followed an academic career pathway. Mattar is currently University of Bahrain Assoc. Professor of Cybernetics & Robotics. Mattar is also a candidate for the full rank Professor. He started his career pathway back on 1986 as he received University of Bahrain BS.c. in Electrical Engineering, he then pursued his studies for MSc. in Electronics in 1988, University of Southampton, in 1994 he was awarded University of Reading Ph.D. in Cybernetics (more on Robotics Control). In 2001 he was selected with 30 others for the Gulf Executive Program conducted in USA, he received MBA from Darden School, Virginia University, USA. Mattar has interests in Cybernetics…

Joanne Longton
HELP! - At Safety Event For Primary Schools

ELECTRICITY CAN KILL! That’s why IET Kent supports the “Safety In Action” event for Primary School children each year. To do this we need YOU to Volunteer. Just give up one day – to give advice to 10 – 11 year olds. We give you a script ( so no deep knowledge of electricity required ) – you work in pairs AND it's fun and rewarding. Safety in Action is organised by Maidstone Council for local primary schools across the two week 2nd June to 13th June 2014 ( 09.00 to 15.00 each day ). It is held at Invicta Barracks Maidstone. Many organisations attend (e.g. Lifeboats, Fire & Rescue, Railways etc). IET Volunteers give electrical safety advice - In pairs, by delivering a 10 minute presentation about electrical safety to small groups of children. ( A Disclosure and Barring Service Check [formerly…

Brian Dury

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