The Engineer
5 March 2004
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Circuit board sense
18 Mar 2004
UK-developed sensor technology is set to enter new vehicle programmes around the world after being snapped up by a major supplier to the automotive industry.
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Perfect parking
18 Mar 2004
A low-cost 3D camera adapted from military range-finding technology is the key to a spatial sensing system that could enable all cars to park themselves in the future.
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Quantum awarded hydrogen vehicle contract
18 Mar 2004
Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies is to receive $2.3 million from California's South Coast Air Quality Management District to develop hydrogen fuel systems for a fleet of 30 Toyota Prius Hybrid Electric Vehicles.
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Sounding out danger in aircraft
18 Mar 2004
Potentially dangerous cracks in composite and metal aircraft components, including wheels and turbine blades, could be quickly detected using an ultrasound device being developed in the UK.
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Making the sums add up
17 Mar 2004
Many young people think that mathematics is boring, irrelevant and too difficult compared with other subjects. But there's no need to scrap the existing educational system to fix the problem, as Dave Wilson explains.
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Subvocal speech gets a voice from NASA
17 Mar 2004
Relaying information from a noisy environment could get a lot easier thanks to researchers at NASA who are computerising human subauditory speech using nerve signals in the throat that control speech.
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Front-end module for mobile phones
11 Mar 2004
Agilent Technologies has introduced what it claims is the industry's first combined CDMA duplexer/power amplifier front-end module for use in dual-band and US PCS mobile phones and wireless data cards.
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Interface to the mobile
11 Mar 2004
Seiko Epson and Renesas Technology have jointly developed a new high-speed serial interface designed specifically for transferring text and graphics data between internal devices in mobile communications equipment. The news comes just two months after designers at National Semiconductor revealed that they too had developed something rather similar - their Mobile Pixel Link (MPL) physical layer is also a new serial interface for camera phones and small form factor displays.
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Connecting you now
10 Mar 2004
Individuals who get frustrated trying to navigate through the instructions from recorded phone answering systems may soon be getting some help.
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300GByte hard drives
8 Mar 2004
Fujitsu's new series of 3.5 inch hard drives feature a four-platter design, spindle speeds of 10K rpm and a storage capacity up to a whopping 300 GBytes.
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All together now
8 Mar 2004
In the first of a series of columns by engineers involved in collaborative ventures, Keith Herman explains the advantages and pitfalls of an international team effort to develop an autonomous welding robot.
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Cool customer
8 Mar 2004
A liquid-cooled electric motor offers a neat opportunity for automotive designers to increase the power and cut the size of motors while avoiding the problems of overheating. Jon Excell reports.
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Mine-sweeping method makes seabed transparent
8 Mar 2004
A new technique for undersea sonar mine detection will make the seabed 'transparent' and eradicate the danger of buried mines, US researchers claim. The method, invented by Dr. David Pierson from North Carolina State University with funding from the US Office of Naval Research, uses a time-reversal technique whereby an echo of a sonar 'ping' is broadcast in reverse. The resulting data provides a far clearer picture of buried objects than currently available technology.
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Rail research hits red light
8 Mar 2004
Academic research body Rail Research UK is to hold talks with Network Rail amid fears that an overly risk-averse culture in the industry is preventing new technology from being introduced on to the network.
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A big break
5 Mar 2004
After several years of stop-start progress, 2004 could be the year Surface Transforms gets its big break in the brake big league.
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Electromagnetics finds the last drop
5 Mar 2004
An electromagnetic device capable of monitoring the volume of oil and gas remaining in offshore fields is being developed in the UK. It could help the industry avoid expensive drilling operations.
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Fast track to change
5 Mar 2004
Commentators are predicting an imminent and major crisis on the UK's transport network. Unfortunately they are all wrong - the crisis is not imminent, it has already arrived. George Coupe and Helen Knight report.
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GKN shifts operations to low-cost economies
5 Mar 2004
GKN has unveiled plans to shift more of its automotive parts operations to low-cost economies.
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High sites
5 Mar 2004
The communications-free bubble of air travel will be punctured next month by technology giving passengers access to broadband internet at their seats.
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Hybrid highlight
5 Mar 2004
An exotic three-seat supercar with hybrid power and no gearbox was among the highlights of this week's Geneva Motor Show.
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Mercedes coating comes up to scratch
5 Mar 2004
The new Mercedes CLS Coupé, launched this week at the Geneva Motor Show, will come with scratch-resistant, nanotechnology-based paint as standard.
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Model solution
5 Mar 2004
With the launch of Solid Edge V15 Charles Clarke explains how it will add another dimension to design.
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Robo doc
5 Mar 2004
The developer of Honda’s cute android, Asimo, insists that the robot is here to take the drudge out of our lives - not to take over. Jon Excell reports.
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Scientific clues
5 Mar 2004
This week the chancellor announced yet another science strategy aimed at making the UK more competitive in an increasingly hi-tech world. Fiona Harvey reports.
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Surf and ye shall find
5 Mar 2004
A technology promising a more effective version of the internet, with significantly improved search engines, has moved a step closer to introduction with the approval of an important new language.
