iSLI

Postgraduate student Mohamed Saleh on why he left Egypt to study for a Masters (MSc) at iSLI in Scotland. Having completed the one year course, he explains what it is like to live, work and have fun at the Institute.

With the increasing scrutinisation of Toyota’s accelerator pedal, there develops an analytical breakdown revealing that it is not simply due to mechanical issues; floor mats or shims.  It seems there may be an issue whereby Toyota brought embedded software development in house and decided to develop their own throttle (and ABS) systems to save money over buying them complete from a supplier.

As iSLI Director, Dr Mark Begbie adherents, there then seems to be a link to this and the Toyota engineers not building in a fail safe whereby hitting the brake kills the throttle whatever.   So, you can get into a situation where a bug in the firmware makes the throttle run away, and no other bit of the software will go in and kill it.  If true, Dr Begbie argues that this would be a prime example of underestimating the complexity, criticality and value of historical experience in developing embedded software systems.

The solution to the problem according to Toyota is a precision-cut steel reinforcement bar that will be installed into the friction assembly reducing the surface tension between the two surfaces of the device, eliminating excess friction that can cause the pedal to stick.  Toyota says that it has confirmed the effectiveness of the new reinforced pedal assemblies through rigorous testing of pedals that were prone to stick before.

At the time the recall and sales suspension was announced Toyota stated, “Toyota has investigated isolated reports of sticking accelerator pedal mechanisms in certain vehicles without the presence of floor mats.  There is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may, in rare instances, mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position.”

Another cutting edge approach to dealing with everyday problems.

With the UK Payments Council announcing that cheques are to be phased out by 2018, this has heightened the need for secure replacemement payment schemes. 

Consequently leading to the development of new security technology by Isis Innovation, the University of Oxford’s technology transfer company.  Recognising that by allowing people to make payments via mobile phones offers a substantial solution, with the technology designed to work in almost every situation: person to person, in a shop or restaurant, at a vending machine, online, or as part of a telephone conversation. 

Aware of the obvious security issues, the core of their technology is a new security protocol that enables strong cryptographic keys to be created with the least possible work.  “The key being that it prevents anyone searching to break into the transactions,” as noted by Professor Bill Roscoe.

Thus highlighting the importance of innovative solutions and knowledge transfer when avoiding the limitations of current technology.

It has been reported that the UK government is set to build on its position as one of the leading exponents of plastic electronics with an exciting mix of SMEs, larger indigenous companies and global systems businesses.

Perceived challenges could be resolved by recognising that plastic electronics not only cuts across a range of sectors from universities to the private industry, as well as highlighting the possible gap between R&D work and the end product.

In Industry Minister, Lord Mandelson’s opinion: “Our existing pool of electronic design engineers – experienced in developing chips - should welcome the opportunities to design new products based on plastic electronic components.”

Lord Mandelson further notes that, “There is also a need to ensure that the potential end users of plastic electronics are aware of what the new technologies can deliver.  The Phonotonics and Plastic Electronics Knowledge Transfer Network will make a significant contribution here, by helping technology providers engage with potential customers.”

This is especially relevant with plastic electronics poised to break into the mainstream, with estimated forecasts seeing the global market grow to an expected $120billion by 2020.

Simon Brown has demonstrated his expertise by scooping the ‘Student Engineer of the Year 2009′ award in the European Electronics Industry Awards in London last week. Currently on placement at Teledyne Defence in Shipley, Simon has been working on a radar threat warning receiver seen as a ground-breaking  product  due to being smaller, lighter and less power hungry than any other system on the market.

This has continued the successful legacy established by previous iSLI EngD students – Carol Marsh and Nazish Aslam – who walked away with the Award in 2008 and 2007.

As reported in ComputerWeekly, knowledge transfer strategies are key to beating skills shortages.  An increased reliance has developed on automation and intelligent systems to boost workforce productivity and the key requirement is the ability to facilitate knowledge transfer.

This need has deepened to a greater extent in the Western hemispere, as John Taylor, vice-president EMEA, business consulting and sales operations atAspenTech notes.  Where process engineering companies have typically benefited from the ability to access experienced talent, most of this talent is aging and retiring from the industry, leading to a shortage of staff with sufficient skills to replace these employees.

Moreover, as Business7 in association with Business Insider concedes, awareness of this problem has developed significantly over the last few years.  As the Lambert Review (2003) successfully highlighted, there is a considerable failing between UK universities and SMEs in terms of transferring world-class research into the business sector and SMEs in particular.