Archive : 25 November 2014 год

Thousands of female engineers will be trained up as part of a national mission to get Britain building again, Ed Miliband announced today.

Writing on Facebook, the Labour leader said Britain's lack of female engineers should be a "matter of national embarrassment", as he called for an extra 400,000 people to be trained in the profession by the end of the decade. 

"If we are going to win the race to the top in the 21st century, we have to re-establish our historic reputation as a world leader in technology and manufacturing," he wrote. "We need to equip our businesses with the skills they need to succeed. But the UK is facing a crisis in the number of engineers being trained up. 

"This is not just a shortage of the traditional civil, mechanical and electrical engineers, but also in information technology, green energy, and life sciences where many of the jobs of the future will be created." 

Miliband also criticised the lack of female engineering professionals in the UK. 

He continued: "In 2013, only 14% of engineering graduates were women. And only 4% of professionally registered engineers are female. The next Labour government will seek to put the UK back at the forefront of invention, technology and engineering with a national mission to create an extra 400,000 engineers by 2020. We are determined to make it happen. And we have a plan to make it happen." 

Responding to his declaration, Michelle Richmond of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), said: "It's great to see that Ed Miliband is making plans to tackle the engineering skills shortage. 

"There is no easy fix to this problem so it's important that any future training programmes are developed in close consultation with industry, schools and colleges if we want them to make a real and lasting impact. 

"The lack of inspirational engineering role models for girls is also part of the problem so we must make sure we show the next generation that engineering is an interesting and challenging career choice."

Author
Laura Hopperton

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

One of the problems with the Internet of Things (IoT) is its definition; it means different things to different people. And NXP's CEO Rick Clemmer hit the nail on the head during this year's CEO Roundtable at electronica. "Nobody knows what the IoT is," he asserted. His interpretation? "We should be thinking about the IoT making life easier; it should be about a smarter world."

No matter how you define it, the IoT is here. "It's here and it's happening," said Freescale's CEO Gregg Lowe. "There are three factors: security; scalability; and efficiency – particularly energy. The possibilities are significant." 

STMicroelectronics' Carlo Bozotti said: "The opportunities are huge, including smart cities, smart homes and smart cars." He noted that, in the future, 60% of the population will live in cities. "And 10% of the population will be older than 65, so cities must become smarter in order to manage complexity." 

Infineon's Reinhard Ploss sees the IoT as another industrial revolution. "But it's different to previous ones. The use cases which will be drivers include autonomous cars, Industry 4.0 and assisted living. But there is not one device which will do all this; it needs lots of things to come together." He added that whilst such devices needed to be open and connected to the internet, they also needed to be secure. "We will need to know who we're talking to. We need to be sure the hardware they use has a level of integrity. Europe isn't in a bad position here," he continued. "A lot of the things draw on Europe's core competences, including automotive and industrial." 

Bozotti believes the IoT offers Europe particular opportunities. "The IoT provides a new wave of opportunity for start ups. Europe was the leader in smartphone development, but has lost this position. But many of the competences are still here and there is the opportunity to build start ups around the IoT." His implication was that semiconductor companies should be there to support them. 

Lowe believes that if the industry can develop products based on security, scalability and energy efficiency, such start ups will come out with applications that can take advantage. 

One area where he sees great opportunity is autonomous driving. "But the killer app isn't autonomous vehicles," he contended. "It's a car that can't get into an accident; one that is aware of its surroundings. If such a car can be built, there will be a huge payback." 

Ploss pointed to a potential weakness. "The web won't always be available for the autonomous car, but such a car should be able to drive safely in any circumstances. So the IoT also represents a move into high reliability; systems which add value – and that's an opportunity for the semiconductor industry because its ability to adopt fast moving trends." 

All CEOs recognised the importance of IoT security. Clemmer, for example, sees cybersecurity risk as 'critical'. "But there are fundamental semiconductor technologies that can deal with that. If you do it in software, it's hackable; you reduce that risk when you use hardware." 

Ploss added: "You can do secure communications when chips inside a phone or a router identify you using a token. But we have to join forces with users and the telecoms industry to implement that." However, he took a different view to Clemmer. "The semiconductor industry has to move into software, because hardware alone can't support connnectivity. Users can then decide whether to give away their data in exchange for a service or to protect their data. There are some apps where you don't care whether your data is used or not, but others where the internet has to bring transparency. Let's deal with it," he concluded.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

Texas Instruments has announced a development of its analogue processing technology which enables higher levels of isolation and immunity.

Called reinforced isolation, the technology is said to meet increasing demands for more integration and increased efficiency in industrial applications. Harald Parzhuber, product line manager, said the technology provides greater immunity and a higher level of isolation. "Reinforced isolation is needed from a system safety perspective," he claimed, "while making system design easier." 

The technology has been rolled out in two product families: the ISO7842 digital isolators and the AMC1304 delta-sigma modulators. 

The ISO7842 range withstands transient overvoltages of up to 8kV and feature an isolation rating of 5.7kV rms. The devices also have a peak surge voltage protection rating of 12.8kV. 

According to Parzhuber, the working voltage of 1500V rms is guaranteed for 40 years and suggests this is superior to the protection offered by opto isolation. 

Meanwhile, the AMC1304 range integrates an LDO and an amplifier stage, but operate from an input voltage of 50mV. Parzhuber noted: "The parts have the same SNR and THD as those running from a 250mV input, which means a fivefold reduction in power dissipation. Adding reinforced isolation makes these devices the best in class."

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk