Speaking up A dinner to discuss technological development S O
o, it’s offi cial – Brexit has come and gone like the postman, delivering a notice of preparation for the coming months and years. Companies may well fret about the threat it poses to pre-existing arrangements, but, in a relevant piece, one will note that Brexit clauses and addendums could and should steer your contract into a safe zone (p. 26). That’s not to say that research and development has suff ered any signifi cant delays: articles from Toshiba (p. 17), Imec
(p. 30) and Thales (p. 32) outline the possibilities of the future, from the smallest component changes to the largest out-of- world endeavours. The summary is as such – any threat to our industry should be met with vigorous enthusiasm to innovate past it.
Christian Lynn - Editor R
n 27 February, speakers Dr Drew Nelson, Dr Gordon Sanghera and Isobel Sheldon will look to urge necessary boosts to funding and intellectual investment in the UK’s manufacturing and technology sectors, as a result of Brexit- induced economic uncertainty.
The dinner has been organised by the Bessemer Society, who themselves commit to the task of encouraging sustainable development in future applications. Alex Stewart, the founder of the Society, said the dinner would act as a timely reminder in the post-Brexit era. “With the process of leaving the EU taking up
much of our politicians’ time and eff ort, now is an excellent time to embolden the fact that the UK is still the eighth largest manufacturing
economy in the world, and a hotbed of innovation and creativity. Vital to its competitiveness are the companies that develop the critical enabling technologies in areas like semiconductors, biosciences, materials and engineering, which we call ‘hard tech’.
“The problem is they face greater diffi culty than their digital and service innovation counterparts, because the time-to-market for CAPEX-related companies is much longer, and the risks for investors therefore higher. The question is, what can be done by the government to encourage more long-term investment in the sector? These are the sorts of issues that will be debated at the event.”
Bessemer Society
www.bessemer-society.co.uk
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RS Components’ Lego League off ers the building blocks for the next generation
S Components (RS) has sponsored the fi rst Lego League competition
in the UK and Ireland, a global STEM challenge for young people, for the cause of boosting the younger generation’s interest in real world themes, informed by key skills that demand development for the sake of future career paths: funding from RS Components’ sponsorship was used to specifi cally target children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The process worked as such - teams worked over a period of 12-16 weeks to explore a given topic and to design, build and programme an autonomous Lego robot to solve a series of missions. RS provided more than 50 of its STEM Ambassadors to support the event by refereeing, judging and timekeeping. The fi rst winner was Newport Pagnell’s
Hide and failing to seek - Protecting data with effi cient encryption technology
B
GN Technologies is introducing an all-optical “stealth” encryption technology that will look to secure private and highly sensitive information exchanged during cloud-computing and data centre network transmission.
Using standard optical equipment, the research team essentially renders the fi bre-optic light transmission invisible, or at the
6 FEBRUARY 2020 | ELECTRONICS
Ousedale School, who will, together with day two winners Stamford School in Lincolnshire, go on to compete in the UK fi nals in Bristol in February, with the victor then going to the world fi nals in the USA. RS’ head of education strategy, James Howarth explained: “The First Lego League is a fun and educational way to engage children with STEM, something which we are passionate about supporting. Many of the schools taking part were nominated by RS employees, and RS’ sponsorship and hosting of this tournament is a core component of our STEM programme, and our ambition to inspire the next generation of engineers.”
RS Components
www.uk.rs-online.co.uk
very least, stealthily. Instead of using one colour of the light spectrum to send one large data stream, this method spreads the transmission across many colours in the optical spectrum bandwidth, and intentionally creates multiple, weaker data streams that are hidden under noise and elude detection. “The principle is that if you can’t detect it, you can’t steal it,” says Professor Sadot, director of the Optical Communications Research Laboratory. “Because an eavesdropper can neither read the data nor detect the existence of the transmitted signal, the optical stealth transmission remains under cyber lock and key.”
BGN Technologies
in.bgu.ac.il/en/bgn / ELECTRONICS
TE Connectivity expands its M12 portfolio with A-, B- and D-coded versions of the right- angle connector. UL certifi ed and conforming to IEC specifi cations, they’re ideal for direct mounting onto PCBs and panels.
www.te.com
ATC Semitec unveils its Heraeus Nexensos’ range of platinum sensors for precision thermal applications, to meet and match the demand for sensors that operate at 500 degrees Celsius and above.
www.atcsemitec.com
A new radio module, the Themisto-I, is brought to the market by Würth Elektronik – with a high output power of up to 25dBm and operability within a range of up to 10km, it is quick and easy to implement within existing IIoT/M2M applications.
www.we-online.com
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