“Acoustic tractor beams have huge potential in many applications. I’m particularly excited by the idea of contactless production lines where delicate objects are assembled without touching them,” says Bruce Drinkwater, Professor of Ultrasonics at the University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Current theory says these tractor beams were fundamentally limited to levitating small objects as all the previous attempts to trap particles larger than the wavelength had been unstable, with objects spinning uncontrollably.

Instead the team used rapidly fluctuating acoustic vortices, which are similar to tornadoes of sound, to create a stable core. They were then able to increase the size of the silent core allowing it to hold larger objects. Working with ultrasonic waves at a pitch of 40kHz, the researchers held a 2cm polystyrene sphere in the tractor beam (pictured left).

This sphere is over twice the acoustic wavelength and is the largest yet trapped in a tractor beam. The research suggests that, in the future, much larger objects could be levitated in this way by boosting the power of the ultrasound.

“Acoustic researchers have been frustrated by the size limit for years, so it’s satisfying to find a way to overcome it. I think it opens the door to many new applications,” says Dr. Asier Marzo at Bristol’s Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Ultrasound is a key area for Bristol. The University team has previously shown smaller objects being moved around by the beams, while Ultrahaptics in the city is using focused ultrasound beams to provide the feeling of touch in mid-air.

Bristol Waste, which operates the refuse and recycling service in Bristol, is working with US connected car company Tantalum and data researchers from Imperial College London on “Air.Car” which provides highly accurate, real-time feedback on the levels of nitrous oxide (NOx), a key pollutant.

According to research by US scientists, excess emissions of NOx exhaust gases can be linked to 38,000 premature deaths worldwide and it is a key measure for meeting UK and European pollution limits.

“We run a large fleet of vehicles across the city of Bristol and understanding the environmental impact of our operation is a key part of our sustainability plan and our commitment to contributing to a cleaner and greener Bristol,” says Tracey Morgan (pictured centre right), Bristol Waste Company’s Managing Director.

“The data from this trial, which will include at least 40 of our heavy vehicles, will enable us to make more informed decisions around which of them we use, at what times and on which routes to help us manage that impact.”

This is part of a 1,000-vehicle trial that also includes the University of Oxford, where units are being installed in diesel vehicles to estimate real-time NOx emissions in major cities across the UK.

The £2m project started last July and taps into the On Board Diagnostic (OBD) port on the vehicle to access the engine control unit to gather data, and the data will be used to develop a tool from Tantalum to provide a detailed understanding of the environmental impact of vehicles and the tools to minimise it.

Ozgur Tohumcu, CEO of Tantalum tells us: “There’s a real buzz around how we can use data cleverly to improve people’s lives. It will be transformative for managing and reducing the silent killer, NOx, in the world’s towns and cities.”

2018 is set to be a stellar year in the region and there are eight tech companies to keep an eye on.

Kudan

With engineering in Bristol and marketing in Tokyo, Kudan is making significant steps with its Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping (SLAM) technology which helps driverless cars and drones navigate more accurately.

It’s currently dealing with major car makers for both mainstream and driverless cars, major Asian mobile phone makers and large drone makers who are all driving the adoption of the designs.

KETS Quantum Security

Bristol is a global hub of expertise in quantum technology, so it’s no surprise that one of the companies on the list for 2018 comes from the Quantum Entrepreneur’s hub.

KETS Quantum Security is providing photonic security technology that is small and light enough to be used on drones for uncrackable communications. It has won several awards and accelerator deals for the commercialisation of the technology.

Dyson

Dyson is a big name in home appliances and it’s now set to expand its expertise and success to electric cars. Its car and battery research and development centre in Malmesbury is set to shake up the automotive world and its design centre in Bristol is leading the way for developments in the Internet of Things.

Amazon FreeRTOS

Amazon already has a presence in Bristol with its cloud team, but its importance is stepping up a gear with the release of the Amazon FreeRTOS.

The world’s most popular real-time operating technology was developed in Bristol and with the backing of Amazon it’s set to be even more significant, allowing the easy connection of sensors and controllers to cloud services in the Internet of Things.

UltraSoC

Cambridge-based UltraSoC has just opened its second office, tapping into the tech expertise in the Bristol and Bath region.

Its team started out developing analytics hardware that is designed into chips for development. This is now a way of gaining invaluable insights into all activities across the Internet of Things.

Cerberus Labs

Cerberus Labs taps into the skills of highly experienced engineers from ST Microelectronics. Their expertise in encryption and chip design has led to innovative security chips for a range of IoT applications, especially to secure the communications between vehicles.

Not only is the company providing the hardware designs but it’s also offering network support for messaging between the chips.

Reach Robotics

We are also saying welcome back to Reach Robotics after time in the US at a leading accelerator. Its MekaMon battling robots were launched in November last year after the company raised $7.5m for the bot’s development. You can check them out in action in the video below:

The team is now driving manufacturing and growth and is planning for further expansion this year. A deal to sell its robots in Apple stores will also see a boost during 2018.

Silas Adekunle, CEO of Reach Robotics previously told us: “It was important for us here at Reach Robotics to remain loyal to Bristol, given the support we’ve already had from Bristol Robotics Lab and UWE Bristol.”

Compound Semiconductor Catapult

While not a company, the £50m Compound Semiconductor Catapult in Newport starts operations this year, developing and enhancing the latest technology in chips for wireless chargers, more efficient power systems and next-generation radio-frequency systems for 5G and 6G equipment.

Aiming to have 2000 researchers and developers just across the Severn Bridge (which will eliminate tolls later this year), the national research centre will be just 20 minutes from Bristol and a huge boost to technology development in the region.

A new laboratory at UWE in Bristol is set to combine traditional print techniques with cutting-edge sensor and materials technology.

UWE Bristol’s Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR) is set to start a five-year £1.5m project in January  on new designs for print heads for commercial printers and the development of the next generation of inks with distinctive properties and new ways of printing.

This could lead to new applications such as a T-shirt that can warn its wearer when dangerous chemicals are in the air, or pharmaceutical packaging with ink signifying when pills have been tampered with.

The lab will be run by Dr Susanne Klein, who used to work for printer maker Hewlett Packard as a senior researcher at its labs in Bristol.

The research will combine the CFPR’s knowledge of traditional photomechanical printing methods, such as Lippmann and Woodbury, and use the techniques for use on a 2.5D printer, which creates texture as part of an image on a substrate.

Using her expertise in colloidal chemistry (working with particles suspended in a solution), and liquid crystals, Klein will also develop specialist inks that can change colour in certain environments.

Such properties could mean a T-shirt print might be able to detect chemicals in the environment that have a proven link to cardiovascular disease, and change colour to warn the wearer. Similar ink on the garment could also react to heat and change colour when the wearer has spent a long time in the sun.

Smart inks could also help manufacturers trace a product as it passes through the supply chain, or curb counterfeiting.

“There are lots of problems with counterfeiting of pharmaceuticals and sometimes products are found to be counterfeited where the packaging is identical to the original,” said Dr Klein. “We will produce packaging with printing ink that will change colour every time it passes through and is authorised at a different stage on its way to the customer.

“Another application could be in the case of food that needs to remain cold in its packaging. The technology could lead to labels that react to heat, switch to another colour if they have warmed and stay that colour,” she said.

“The printing landscape is changing and I think our research will contribute to that, but the industry is traditional with its own way of doing things, and no big printer will make any radical changes. Our plan is to feed in little advances, bit by bit, so that commercial printers can adapt slowly to new technologies.”

The funding will provide £300,000 per year for five years to the University and Klein will set up a team comprising a post-doctorate student and a technician to work with the CFPR to develop this new printing approach.

“This funding is unprecedented nationally in an art school environment,” said Professor Carinna Parraman, Director of the CFPR. “This is a unique opportunity to pair an experienced material scientist, coming into academia with industrial and manufacturing process knowledge and skills, with the CFPR’s expertise in photomechanical processes invented in the 19th century.”

The CFPR has already been working with advanced 3D printing technology with a wide range of materials including ceramics.