Electronics Knowledge Centre

Ashley Evans (Chief Executive Officer)
Nigel Rix (Technology Business Development Manager)

The Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network is a not-for-profit company funded by the Technology Strategy Board. It was formed nearly three years ago to support the UK electronics sector by acting as a focus for innovation, business best practice and networking.  It now has over 5,000 members making it the largest BtoB network within the UK electronics sector.

 

Square Kilometre Array

Phil Crosby, Industrial Relationship Manager; SKA SPDO

 

The international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project aims to construct the world’s largest radio telescope – 50 times as sensitive as present instruments with a collecting area equivalent to a square kilometer – by around 2017.  Not only is the size of the telescope astronomical (5,000 Kms for the centre to the edge) but also the data processing requirements – it will process the same volume of data as is carried on today’s global internet, the fibre optic cables use to carry signals would stretch round the world 10 times, the central computer will have the processing power of a billion PCs.

 

Meeting the extreme requirements of the SKA will generate new technologies and new business opportunities.  The work in UK universities and industry is based on some of UK’s core strengths of RF design and data processing.  We will illustrate two particular areas – Phased Array Antenna design and advanced high speed, low noise analogue electronics.

Wide band dual-polarised phased arrays are increasingly demanded for various applications from navigation in aircraft, military applications to mobile base station antennas.  The advantage of a Phased Array antenna is that the “direction” of the aerial is achieved by the electronics (as opposed to mechanically) – so there are no moving parts.  Traditional phased arrays are made with vertical metal fins (called Vivaldis) which have a number of disadvantages – e.g. calibration and size of array.

On display is a radical new design that has just planar elements – this leads to reduced manufacturing and setup costs.  It would also be possible to mass produce this new design using “printed electronics” – another key skills area within the UK.

 

Dr Nigel Priestley, Chief Engineer
Another technology being developed at Manchester University, under Prof Mo Missous, for the SKA and other applications is Indium Phosphide (InP) circuits.  On the stand Dr Priestley of e2v will have a range of products on display plus a rolling presentation of the range of products available with capability that spans from semiconductor fabrication all the way up to functioning transceiver sub-systems, e2v will be able to discuss and engage in technology solutions in the areas of radar, sensing, imaging and detection.

 

Mrs Sam King

 

INEX are part of Newcastle University and will feature their Bioscience activity by presenting the ReNaChip project, an innovation solution to the rehabilitation of neurodegenerative disease. The project is “building a brain”, developing a synthetic version of a brain pathway and implementing this in a hardware form. On display will be a number of the component technologies needed to integrate the technology in a biohybrid.

 

 

They will be discussing their wide range of research programmes including Voice recognition software.

 

Toumaz Technology Limited was founded to exploit developments in ultra-low power silicon chip technology at Imperial College London. The company's proprietary Advanced Mixed Signal - AMx™ - technology resulted from development of ultra low power techniques in signal processing and wireless systems leading to chips consuming up to 100 times less power than other state-of-the art devices.  From the outset Toumaz has focused the AMx technology into the 'Human Space'.  They will have a range of products on display including the Sensium™ Life Pebble which provides non-intrusive wireless monitoring of common vital signs - heart rate, physical activity and temperature – delivering real-time, high-quality data for a wide range of healthcare applications including clinical trials and vital signs studies.

Shadow Robot Company 

The Shadow Robot Company has been developing robots and other unusual technologies since 1987, for research customers and for people with real-world problems. The Shadow Dexterous Hand is the most advanced commercially available robot hand in the world. With 24 degrees of freedom, position sensing on every joint and pressure sensing on every muscle it can give robots unparalleled flexibility in manipulation tasks. Shadow is a world leader in air muscle technology and provides a range of standard sizes of muscles from stock, but is always happy to make custom sizes for all applications.

The increased use of sensors and embedded electronics require new tools to ease the development of the signal processing algorithms that are implemented by the hardware.  CapnaDSP will be showcasing a demonstration version of its OwenFPGA tool during the exhibition.  This takes a high level description of a DSP algorithm and translates it into an implementation targeting an FPGA-based platform.

 

 

There are many advances in sensor technologies but for their wide deployment there are restrictions if they incorporate batteries.  There is a very active research programme within the UK universities and companies to develop energy scavenging technologies that can power sensor nodes.  University of Southampton will exhibit prototypes of sensor nodes powered by different energy sources including harvesting.

Science & Technology Facilities Council

 

As well as the work done by the universities within the UK it is important to recognize the skills and capabilities managed by STFC.  There are a wide range of development facilities (such as the ATC) as well as the large instruments and incubator facilities available to industry.  They undertake a wide range of European work particularly in the High Energy Physics and Space sector.

The Institute of Bio-Sensing Technology (IBST), the first of its type in the UK, aims to develop academic/industrial partnerships to address the technological challenges posed by each of these sectors - from the development of novel technology for detection and measurement of biological systems to the integration of biological systems into novel sensing technology.