14/06/2017
With enormous change in the types of product coming to market and the way in which they are being designed, it is obvious that those companies that deliver test and measurement equipment are also having to adapt.
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13/06/2017
A revolution is unfolding amongst manufacturing companies, with an increasing number investing in smart factory technology – intelligent machines, devices and measurement and testing equipment – to monitor every critical parameter of the manufacturing process.
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14/03/2017
Although predictive maintenance (PdM) is an established technique, it is quickly becoming recognised as a more viable way of preventing equipment failure than preventive maintenance (PM).
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14/03/2017
Connecting a probe to a device under test can prove to be a time consuming activity, especially in the case of the increasingly complex devices that are now entering the market. While the ideal probe should offer ease of connection, convenience, absolute signal fidelity, zero signal source loading and complete noise immunity, there is currently no ideal probe size or configuration.
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14/03/2017
The networking world has largely been defined by the development of fixed function chips. While these devices have been one of the means by which data rates have increased, this has been achieved at the expense of configurability.
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31/01/2017
Recently a member of TDK-Lambda’s technical marketing team experienced first-hand just how much influence small diameter electrolytic capacitors can have on long-term power supply reliability. Unfortunately he picked February to have his central heating system upgraded and Britain’s unpredictable weather system delivered snow. The seven year old boiler system in the loft had been turned off for two days while the radiators were replaced. When the installation was complete, the boiler was switched on, but failed to start
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11/01/2017
The relationship between universities and new technology start-ups is crucial and the UK has been relatively poor at the commercialisation of ideas, let alone commercial success. Should it be about the jobs that are created or should the financial returns from technological innovation be the sole driver of whether university research is worthwhile?
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10/01/2017
As the Internet of Things develops, embedded devices are being deployed in environments where attackers can take advantage of source code level security vulnerabilities. Embedded software developers should, therefore, understand the different kinds of security vulnerabilities – and code injection in particular.
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13/12/2016
Building fires are, by their very nature, inhospitable environments. The combination of heat, a potentially toxic atmosphere, poor visibility and an unstable building can have fatal consequences, so it’s no surprise to find out that technology is being brought to bear in an attempt to improve safety, particularly when it comes to communication with and location of firefighters committed to a building.
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09/11/2016
To say the Internet of Things (IoT) is here to stay may be the understatement of the decade. We are all knee-deep in the IoT and there is no turning back – gone are the days of thinking connecting refrigerators, security systems and vending machines to the Internet is in a land far, far away.
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26/10/2016
While none of us wants to hear a consultant telling us we have cancer, recent advances in medical technology and surgical procedures have improved significantly the prospects of our overcoming many of the cancers deemed previously terminal.
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26/10/2016
One of the longest established such centres in the UK, the Institute of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde is working in optogenetics and neurophotonics, as well as more traditional areas such as solid state lasers.
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26/10/2016
Many consumer electronics devices are following two seemingly opposing trends – while they are offering more functionality, that functionality is being squeezed into smaller volumes. And, according to Eelco Bergman, senior director of business management with ASE Group, this is forcing designers to move quickly towards heterogeneous integration.
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26/10/2016
If you ask an electronic engineer to name one test and measurement instrument, it would more than likely be an oscilloscope.
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26/10/2016
The requirements for functional safety – until relatively recently considered a niche activity among chip and system developers – are now proliferating on the back of the rapid growth in the industrial Internet of Things, Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and even drones.
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11/10/2016
A raft of new CE Marking Directives was implemented earlier in 2016. Amongst the nine new pieces of legislation was the third edition of the EMC Directive and new Low Voltage and ATEX Directives.
Rather unusually, the changes to eight of the nine Directives were identical and furthermore the ninth contains the same changes as part of a wider overhaul. So why new the Directives and what are the implications for manufacturers?
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13/09/2016
Since 2013, Vodafone’s annual IoT Barometer has looked at how enterprises are using and deploying Internet of Things (IoT) technology and one striking finding in the latest report is that, for many companies, the IoT is now at their heart.
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13/09/2016
The IoT offers a technological revolution that can deliver higher efficiencies and enhanced productivity in existing equipment infrastructure. More than this, by leveraging cloud-based IT technologies and capabilities, the implementation of real-time data analysis can enable autonomous decision making and create the potential for new services and revenue streams.
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13/09/2016
Automated road traffic management systems, surveillance systems and storage for the vast amount of data being generated will make up a core part of the future smart city infrastructure. Much of this information is sensitive so the storage technology used needs to be the best available.
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13/09/2016
Efforts to produce an efficient way of linking those programming in C with the ability to create hardware have been under way for many years. One of the first tools generated to support this was created in the early 1990s in Oxford University’s Computing Laboratory, where Ian Page developed Handel-C as means of bridging between C and silicon.
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13/09/2016
The challenge of combining high temperature operation and CMOS technology has been something that few companies have managed to address successfully over the years. Yet there are applications where designers would like local processing – even though temperatures may be pushing towards 200°C.
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13/09/2016
If you’re not managing projects today, it may not be too long before the phone rings and the boss passes on the good news that you have been chosen to drive the company’s next project. So what might you expect?
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06/09/2016
NASA has used NI SC Express and PXI hardware to create an advanced, distributed and flexible data acquisition (DAQ) system to meet the challenge of replacing legacy NEFF equipment in one of its largest human-rated environmental chambers. The data acquisition system is capable of accurately synchronising and measuring more than 500 analogue channels distributed throughout the chamber, without the need for additional external signal conditioning.
"For the first time, NASA will no longer need the custom signal conditioning equipment in addition to its measurement hardware. With NI SC Express hardware, NASA can achieve the ±3°F end-to-end accuracy requirements for thermocouples with commercial off-the-shelf technology," said James Dean, Jacobs Technology.
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09/08/2016
The aerospace sector is driven by a four letter acronym – SWaP; written in long hand, it translates to size, weight and power. That’s no real surprise; if you can make aircraft that are lighter, they will be – at least, in theory – more fuel efficient. And if you can make the electronics content smaller and less power hungry, that will also contribute to the overall savings.
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05/08/2016
Android now commands 76% of the smartphone market in the EU5 (Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy, and Spain), 67% in the US and nearly 80% in China – according to latest figures from Kantor World Panel.
With such numbers, it’s no wonder the Android application development gold rush is continuing with nearly a quarter of a million apps added to Google Play so far in 2016. That’s an average of 1379 apps every day.
However, with Accessibility Clickjacking, Stagefright, Triada and other malware among the growing list of Android exploits, security should be at top of developers’ priority list.
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