Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?


Gone to the dogs


Steve Rogerson’s round-up of last month’s news and events, including some that may have slipped under the radar


M


ethinks the government’s minister for defence equipment, support and technology, Peter Luff, should


be a little more aware of his audience before opening his mouth. He was invited to speak at the official opening of test and compliance company Trac’s new premises near Wimborne in Dorset and was very quick to praise SMEs, saying: “Defence needs SMEs more than any other sector


because they bring the innovation and responsiveness that the big companies just can’t do.” This left representatives from some pretty large companies in the audience uncomfortably shuffling their feet, and one, Peter Flach from General Dynamic, had the last word when he took the podium later in the day, saying: “Big companies can be innovative as well, and I hope we are one of those.” So did most in


Future World Symposium marks out British technology roadmap


W


embley Stadium is set to host this year’s Future World Symposium, a gathering of


technologists looking to highlight future possible advances in automotive, eHealth, home connectivity and mobile consumer technology.


The event, which is set to take place on the 24th and 25th April, includes presentations from industry experts from companies including: Altran Praxis, ARM,


CSR, IBM, Imperial College, Infineon, Microsoft and Pure. Now in its second year, the event examines emerging trends and opportunities to identify a vision for future automotive, eHealth, connected home and mobile consumer technologies. The Symposium will open with a ministerial keynote from the UK Government and feature presentations from research houses, consumer brands


the audience given Flach’s talk was about a key armoured vehicle contract that it was doing for the government. Sadly, Luff had already left by then. Talking of government, a few of you will have noticed the picture of David Cameron reading CiE at the bottom of this column in the December/January issue. Trade magazines such as this are not normally noted for their coverage of national politics, unless it directly impacts the electronics industry. Then again, national newspapers are pretty poor when it comes to covering technology, and when they do it is normally buried away on page 94. So, imagine my surprise in early February when I picked up a copy of the Daily Telegraph (not a paper I normally read, I hasten to add, but someone had left it on a train and I was feeling bored). For there, not on page 94, or even 84, 67 or page two, but on the front page with a major headline was a technology story, and one in which the headline even contained the word “microchips”.


So, was this a case of the Telegraph saying that if CiE can encroach on its territory by writing about a Conservative prime minister then it can get to grips with the complexities of microelectronics? Sadly, no. We are not going to see national press journalists flocking to New Electronics Week in search of the latest scoop. This particular microchip story made the front page because of something dear to many Telegraph readers’ hearts – dogs. Apparently, only about half of Britain’s


and component manufacturers. Tony King-Smith of Imagination


Technologies and Pure Radio said: “The UK has a culture that excels at innovation - and the home electronics sector is a great example where the technology is changing rapidly.”


Commenting John Moor, director of


Future World Symposium said: “Deploying smart electronic systems within ever larger networks unleashes a world of innovation that is compelling for modern society. Smart systems not only open new markets, but also disrupt the status quo to drive advances in areas such as transport, health, energy, education and entertainment. “This is what the Future World Symposium is all about; exploring what technology can deliver and using this to


8.3 million dogs have an electronic tag and the government wants to make it compulsory for all of them to have one. Well, I suppose that is good news for the industry and I await with eagerness the first product press release that lists “dogs” among its uses. I can see it now: “Applications can be found in military, medical, dogs and industrial.” In fact, I’ll give a free plug on this page to the first company that manages to get something like that into one of its releases (but it has to be genuine, of course).


I suspect I am not the only one to be


depressed by the news that a second digital TV switchover may be in the offing in the next few years. It probably won’t directly affect me and others with set-top boxes from a satellite or cable company, but what I am really dreading is another barrage of publicity in junk mail, and radio and TV adverts telling everybody about it. I already get enough junk mail from Virgin Media trying to get me to switch to their service, the last thing I want is more. And finally, I am writing this week’s column shortly before I pack my bags and head to Nuremberg for Embedded World and was amused to discover that I will arrive in the middle of what has been declared by someone as Alcohol-Free Week. I am sure I will ponder that fact as I enjoy the home-brewed beer at the city’s Alstadthof combined brewery and pub. Cheers, and if anything amusing happens at Embedded World, I’ll let you know next month.


visualise pathways of innovation across four key sectors: automotive, e-health, home connectivity and mobile consumer technology” Nick Ford, of analyst house Frost and Sullivan and automotive panel chair commented: “By 2020 80 per cent of communications will be wireless and this, combined with the increased integration of communications into cars presents countless opportunities for the automotive sector. “And, whilst several legislative issues would need to be in place, trials, such as Google’s [autonomous car], show the technology exists the enable smarter cars that have lower accident rates and lower emissions.”


Full information can be found at www.nmi.org.uk/events/FWS2012


If you ever thought the Space Shuttle had some tricky docking manoeuvres, then spare a thought for this LTE chip from Altair that had to cascade itself into a probe from Green Hills Software while flying high in the clouds. We can report that the two elements successfully united and had a safe landing.


46 March 2012 Components in Electronics www.cieonline.co.uk


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