Digital twin for Temple Meads station
A SouthWest startup has developed a digital twin virtual version of Temple Meads to manage sensors across the Bristol station.
The digital twin technology is supplied by start-up Optimise AI and installed at Bristol Temple Meads as part of the Station Innovation Zone testbed. The sensors across the station have helped to inform rail managers of efficiency savings that could be found both inside and around the historic building.
The digital twin has a 3D visualisation of the station and takes in data from sensors across the site. This has shown that electricity consumption at Temple Meads has the potential to be reduced by as much as a third from static measures (such as new windows, doors, better insulation, heat pumps or LED lighting) or with dynamic approaches such as changing heating levels or intensity of illumination.
“We created a digital twin to generate a virtual representation of Bristol Temple Meads in order to work out exactly what is keeping the station functioning, and keeping its occupants happy and healthy. With all of that information, we can generate a scenario for improvement,” said Optimise AI director Nick Tune. He is an engineering technologist who previously worked for the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in Wales and consultant Atkins. He established Optimise AI at the start of this year as a spin out from Cardiff University’s school of engineering.
Sensors around the station measure how many people were using rooms and public spaces in order to determine the most appropriate temperature and lighting levels, and to monitor humidity and carbon dioxide around the station.
It also used sensors at barrier gates and considered train timetable detail, to help the system learn which platforms were about to receive an influx of passengers when, in order to alter energy output accordingly and save money.
In stations, the largest consumers of energy tend to be lighting and the operation of machinery such as lifts and escalators. “Stations can be massively wasteful environments and there is often a lack of knowledge as to how many of them are performing,” says Tune.
“My whole focus is around using digital systems to deliver a more sustainable built environment by minimising electricity usage and carbon emissions. We have shown the system can deliver savings, having previously used the technology in care homes and leisure centres.
“What we have created here is a digital twin that provides real value using live data to predict how a station is going to perform, and how conditions can be improved.”
Moving forward, Tune hopes to roll out the digital twin to other large stations, as well as rail depots and line-side buildings housing operational equipment beside railway tracks. “There’s a massive opportunity to look energy and carbon for the railways on a whole estate level,” he said.
Bristol to host UK AI exascale supercomputer
Bristol is to host the UK’s AI Research Resource (AIRR), an exascale supercomputer called Isambard AI.
The Isambard AI supercomputer will be one of the most powerful in Europe with exascale performance and will be hosted by the University of Bristol at the National Composite Centre (NCC).
The £900m AIRR programme is to serve as a national facility to help researchers maximise the potential of AI and support critical work into the potential and safe use of the technology.
The cluster will be made up of thousands of graphics processing units (GPUS) to train the large language models that are at the forefront of AI research and development today.
Bristol is already planning the Isambard 3 supercomputer due to be installed later this year to support research in AI and machine learning at the NCC, while the University of Bristol is home to the UKRI Centre for Doctoral Training in Interactive Artificial intelligence.
“Isambard-AI will be one of the world’s first, large-scale, open AI supercomputers, and builds on our expertise designing and operating cutting-edge computational facilities, such as the incoming Isambard 3,” said Simon McIntosh-Smith, Professor of High Performance Computing at the University of Bristol and project lead.
Isambard 3 is using Nvidia’s ARM Neoverse Grace CPU Superchip in a production system of at least 55,000 cores. This will provide more than six times the computational performance and six times the energy efficiency of Isambard 2 and will be hosted in a self-cooled, self-contained HPE Performance Optimized Data Centre (POD) at the NCC. Backed by the GW4 group of four universities in the region, Isambard 3 will also feature a storage system comprised of the Cray ClusterStor E1000 storage system to deliver expanded storage with intelligent tiering to support data-intensive workloads, such as AI model training.
“AI is expected to be as important as the steam age, with ramifications across almost every area of academia and industry. To be selected to host a new national AI supercomputer speaks to the University’s cutting-edge research into AI and machine learning,” said Professor Phil Taylor, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Enterprise at the University of Bristol.
“We have unique expertise in rapidly building and deploying large-scale research computing infrastructure and we’re excited to play an integral part in establishing the UK as an international hub for AI.”
“This investment in Isambard AI is hugely exciting and paves the way for pioneering research with transformational potential. We are delighted that the University of Bristol and the National Composites Centre will be home to this national asset,” said Katherine Bennett, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. “As part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, the NCC is already a Centre of Excellence for digital engineering. Hosting Isambard AI will provide a springboard for continuing to accelerate the journey from digital innovation to impact.”
www.bristol.ac.uk; www.nccuk.com
5G telecoms lab for Bristol
The Compound Semiconductor Applications (CSA) Catapult is to open a £2.5m Future Telecoms Hub at the Bristol and Bath Science Park later this year. This will host test equipment to optimise the performance of telecoms hardware and to develop new and advanced devices.
Driven by the growth of 5G networks and the adoption of next-generation technologies such as AI and the Internet of Things, the telecoms hardware market is forecast to grow in the coming years — the global telecom equipment market accounted for $538.9 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $967.9 billion by 2030, with a compound growth of 6.9%.
The CSA Catapult, based over the bridge in Newport, Wales, has also entered into a partnership agreement to deliver a co-ordinated programme with the Satellite Applications Catapult to help support the cluster’s ambitions for growth and will have a presence at the Space Enterprise Lab.
“CSA Catapult’s purpose is to deliver long-term benefit to the UK economy and accelerate UK economic growth in industries where applying compound semiconductors creates a competitive advantage,” said Martin McHugh, Chief Executive Officer of CSA Catapult.
“Expanding across the UK means we can support more companies and bring more products to market through our technology expertise, supply chain creation and building compound semiconductor clusters. Setting up new centres in Bristol, Scotland and the North East will allow us to grow the ecosystem to support these new and emerging technologies in the UK.
“We will collaborate with universities, start-ups, and larger companies to build new UK-based supply chains in telecoms hardware. We want to support and attract companies leading R&D in the UK. These critical markets, using compound semiconductors, will create significant jobs and growth in the future.”
The initial focus at the Future Telecoms Hub will be on improving the performance of power amplifiers through load pull testing and design optimisation. Collaborative research projects with Cardiff University and the University of Bristol will also be undertaken at the Future Telecoms Hub.
CSA Catapult is working on several telecoms hardware supply chain projects in the UK such as ORanGaN and Secure5G.
The Secure 5G project is building a flexible platform that will enable companies to roll out and maintain their own quantum-safe private networks, with targeted applications for Industry 4.0, mobile edge computing (MEC), the Internet of Things (IoT) and highly secure environments, such as defence.
The ORanGaN project is looking to develop a sovereign UK supply chain, manufacturing processes and packaging solutions for radio frequency gallium nitride (RF-GaN) devices that are critical to 5G communications systems electronics hardware.
“The opening of our Future Telecoms Hub is a significant milestone in the Catapult’s journey as we expand our activities across the UK,” said McHugh. “Bristol has an established network of innovative companies and research institutions located within and around the city, as well as strong links with partners across the Western Gateway, so it was a natural fit for us to place our future telecoms capability here.
3D printing boost for lab-on-chip prototypes
Researchers at the University of Bristol have used 3D printing to accelerate development of lab-on-chip diagnostic systems.
Microfluidic underpin lab-on-a-chip (LOC) technologies for rapid diagnostics, and the shape of the channels are key.
The team at Bristol used low cost 3D printing to produce the soft-lithographic moulds used for fabricating these microfluidic channels down to 100 microns wide. A 5000-piece physical library of mix-and-match channel scaffolds can be printed for less than $0.50.
“Previously, techniques for producing the soft-lithographic scaffolds/moulds (microfluidic channel patterns) were time-consuming and extremely expensive, while other low-cost alternatives were prone to unfavourable properties,” said Dr Robert Hughes who led the study. “This development could put LOC prototyping into the hands of researchers and clinicians who know the challenges best, in particular those in resource-limited settings, where rapid diagnostics may often have the greatest impact,”
“This technique is so simple, quick and cheap that devices can be fabricated using only everyday domestic or educational appliances and at a negligible cost around 0.05 percent of the cost of materials for a single microfluidic device. This means researchers and clinicians could use our technique and resources to help fabricate rapid medical diagnostic tools, quickly and cheaply, with minimal additional expertise or resources required,” said researcher Harry Felton.
“It is our hope that this will democratise microfluidics and lab-on-a-chip technology, help to advance the development of point-of-care diagnostics, and inspire the next generation of researchers and clinicians in the field,” said Hughes.
The next step for the team is to identify potential collaborators in both research and education to help demonstrate the impact this technology could have in both settings by developing and supporting outreach activities and applications for on-chip diagnostic testing.
Drone boost for industrial monitoring
A UK project including researchers from the University of Bristol is aiming to develop and test a remotely operated drone system for industrial and urban environments.
“As a leading research institution in 5G and beyond, we will provide expertise on the design of end-to-end network architecture for the future operation of drones,” said Professor Reza Nejabati, an expert in high performance and autonomous networks from the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab. “Our experts will evaluate a combination of multiple 3GPP (4G and 5G), non 3GPP (WiFi), MEC and network slicing technologies in multi-operator settings with private and public operators. We are very well placed to train the next generation of engineers with unique and cross disciplinary skills in integration of telecommunication with drone systems.”
The consortium, led by specialist drone command and control system developer, sees.ai, includes 16 organisations such as BAE Systems, the UK’s National Air Traffic Control Services (NATS) and nuclear operator Sellafield.
BVLOS monitoring
The Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) system will enable remote inspection and monitoring of industrial sites such as nuclear, construction and oil and gas, as well as urban sites in the public domain including road and rail and telecoms infrastructure, and live emergency services support.
The system uses AI on Nvidia GPU processors to enable drones to be flown under tight human supervision by pilots based in a central control room hundreds of miles away. Pilots can precisely execute complex missions remotely – even reactive missions (designed on-the-fly) and close-quarter missions encountering GPS problems, magnetic interference and degradation and loss of communications.
Operating safely in congested area is a major challenge, and it requires the consortium of aviation, aerospace, industrial and emergency service giants, to advance the system and integrate it into the wider aviation ecosystem.
“The Future Flight Challenge funding will accelerate us towards a future where drones fly autonomously at scale – high up alongside manned aviation and low down inside our industrial sites, suburbs and cities,” said John McKenna, CEO of sees.ai in West Sussex.
The Smart Internet Lab is among the technical contributors to the consortium, alongside Vodafone, The Met Office, Flock Cover and UAM Consult Ltd.
During these tests the system will be operated by two of the world’s leading drone service providers, Terra Drone and Sky-Futures or by the in-house drone teams at Sellafield, Network Rail, and the Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service.
www.sees.ai; www.bristol.ac.uk
Breakthrough for quantum networks
Researchers in Bristol have built a multiplexed eight user quantum key distribution network with just eight receivers, a fraction of the number of devices currently required.
The international team of researchers has developed the first distributed network for sharing quantum keys in a breakthrough design.
So far, quantum key distribution has been point to point, even over satellites, but this limits the use in a network. The multiplexed photonic quantum key distribution (QKD) system, published in Science Advances, supports eight users and can be easily scaled up.
“This represents a massive breakthrough and makes the quantum internet a much more realistic proposition,” said Dr Siddarth Joshi, who headed the project at the Quantum Engineering Technology (QET) Labs at the University of Bristol, UK. “Until now, building a quantum network has entailed huge cost, time, and resource, as well as often compromising on its security which defeats the whole purpose.”
“Our solution is scalable, relatively cheap and, most important of all, impregnable. That means it’s an exciting game changer and paves the way for much more rapid development and widespread rollout of this technology,” he said.
Photonic QKD systems use entangled photons to ensure an encryption key is not intercepted.
“Until now efforts to expand the network have involved vast infrastructure and a system which requires the creation of another transmitter and receiver for every additional user. Sharing messages in this way, known as trusted nodes, is just not good enough because it uses so much extra hardware which could leak and would no longer be totally secure.”
The team includes researchers from the UK’s University of Leeds, Croatia’s Ruder Boskovic Institute (RBI) in Zagreb, Austria’s Institute for Quantum Optics and Quantum Information (IQOQI), in Vienna, and China’s National University of Defence Technology (NUDT) in Changsha.
The team used multiplexing to develop an eight user system with eight transceivers, rather than the 56 that would previously be needed for each user to have a point to point link.
The receivers were connected to optical fibres via different locations across Bristol and the ability to transmit messages via quantum communication was tested using the city’s existing optical fibre network.
“Besides being completely secure, the beauty of this new technique is its streamline agility, which requires minimal hardware because it integrates with existing technology,” said Joshi.
The network was created within months for less than £300,000, enabling secure networks for a fraction of the cost today. The system also features traffic management, delivering better network control which allows, for instance, certain users to be prioritised with a faster connection.
“With these economies of scale, the prospect of a quantum internet for universal usage is much less far-fetched. We have proved the concept and by further refining our multiplexing methods to optimise and share resources in the network, we could be looking at serving not just hundreds or thousands, but potentially millions of users in the not too distant future,” said Joshi.
“The ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic have not only shown importance and potential of the internet, and our growing dependence on it, but also how its absolute security is paramount. Multiplexing entanglement could hold the vital key to making this security a much-needed reality.”
The research received funding from the Quantum Communications Hubs of the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC), Ministry of Science and Education (MSE) of Croatia, and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG).
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SouthWest grows as hotbed of 4G technology testing
The SouthWest is extending its position as the key areas for testing the latest LTE (long-term evolution) 4G technology, writes Sian Harris. Cornish trials to deliver broadband in rural areas are being extended until June, while commercial trials of 4G technology are happening in Bristol, Swindon and the Thames Valley.
In Cornwall 180 customers living in and around St. Newlyn East are testing a unique combination of mobile and fixed technology. It was due to end at the end of January but Ofcom has granted an extension to the temporary radio licence until the end of June so that the partners – Everything Everywhere and BT Wholesale – can continue the study.
The trial users previously had no broadband or struggled to get speeds of 2 Mbps. According to the partners, the trial is now giving these participants an average download speed of 7 Mbps, which is enabling them to access a range of content including on-demand television, HD video and VoIP services.
Providing broadband to rural users is a hot topic in the UK today, with the government pushing for every home in Britain to have at least a 2Mbps connection by 2015.
“The industry needs to work together to tackle the issue of rural broadband for the last 10% very hard-to-reach areas. Two or three thousand premises in the UK really don’t receive broadband at all, said Dave Axam, director of managed services business development for BT Wholesale, at the LTE/EPC & Converged Mobile Backhaul conference in London.
With this target in mind the two partners – a mobile operator and a fixed operator – launched a trial in October 2011 to see whether LTE wireless technology could provide the infrastructure to meet this need. The partnership enables Everything Everywhere’s wireless technology to be used in combination with BT’s fibre network.
The partners chose Cornwall for the trial because of its largely-rural nature and because the digital television switchover was complete in the county, freeing up the 800MHz radio spectrum for the trial. This spectrum is good for rural areas because it has a relatively long wavelength and low attentuation by obstacles so can serve a longer range than higher-frequency spectrum. In addition, Cornwall recently received a European Union grant for superfast fibre rollout.
In addition to trying out LTE as a way of providing rural broadband, the trial experimented with another concept: the idea of a fixed operator and a mobile operator sharing the same network. The partners set up two eNodeB trial sites, for which BT provided dedicated fibre backhaul.
“The uniqueness of the trial is that both ourselves and BT have deployed our own packet core networks. This enables the customer experience to be controlled independently across the two mobile and fixed service sets, allowing for an optimised use of the radio resources available,” said Tim Rawling, principal solutions designer at Everything Everywhere and one of the team involved in the trial.
He explained that each eNodeB trial site is connected via a BT Openreach circuit (Etherway), supporting a 300Mbps capacity into the site. Separate VLANs provide connectivity via the BT 21 CN network back to separate packet core networks at Bristol for the mobile dongle customers and Adastral Park near Ipswich for the BT fixed customers. He added that the technical design and build of the network took around six months from concept to going live.
At the customer end, the BT triallists gain access to their network using one of three different types of router, the smallest of which looks much like any broadband router – except that its fixed position is near a window rather than a telephone socket – and the largest is similar to a small television aerial (a similarity that is not surprising given what the radio spectrum was used for until recently). Everything Everywhere’s trial customers access mobile broadband via an LTE dongle.
Of course the trial has met challenges. According to Rawling, “a key challenge was in selecting sites that provided a suitable trial area (filling significant ‘not spots’) without compromising the current network coverage or stability, and getting sufficient backhaul to these sites.”
Another challenge, he added, was “finding a way to combine fixed and wireless technologies whilst providing a stable and consistent experience to our trialists. A main initial finding is that the complementary technical assets of Everything Everywhere and BT can work together to enable a consistent broadband experience for our customers,” said Rawling.
The customers are unlikely to be too concerned about the network details but so far triallists seem happy with their experiences. One triallist Mark Jose, commented that the trial has enabled his family to enjoy streaming movies and participating in fast online gaming, which was previously not possible for them.
Another triallist, Tamasin Battell, noted: “Before the 4G trial downloading anything was impossible; it was so slow. Now, we can watch on-demand television and stream music. Better still, my fiancé’s sister in Australia has met her four-month-old nephew for the first time over Skype. The extension of the trial is a godsend for me, as I really don’t want to go back to the digital dark age.”
Related articles
- Rural Britain gets a boost, as the 4G LTE broadband trial is extended until June 2012 (thenextweb.com)
- BT, EE’s mobe broadband trial jump-starts Cornish village (go.theregister.com)
- Everything Everywhere Planning 4G Network in 2012 (rightmobilephone.co.uk)
- UK Broadband flicks switch on Blighty’s first 4G network (go.theregister.com)
New head at Toshiba’s Bristol research lab
Professor Ian Craddock is taking over as Managing Director of the Telecommunications Research Laboratory (TRL) in Bristol.
Professor Joe McGeehan retired from the position of Managing Director on the 31 July 2011 after leading the Telecommunication Research Laboratory since its inception in 1998. He becomes a Senior General Advisor to the company and continues in his role as Director at the Centre of Communication Research at the University of Bristol.
Professor Craddock is Research Director for the Merchant Venturers School of Engineering at Bristol University and a member of the Centre for Communications Research. His research interests include wideband microwave imaging, electromagnetic modelling, antenna design and medical applications of communications technology.
Related articles
- Bristol hosts Energy-Aware Computing workshop (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Bristol site at the heart of new advanced manufacturing centre (swinnovation.co.uk)
- IBM partnership with Bristol University aims for a smarter planet (swinnovation.co.uk)
- Bristol NHS and University researchers win £11m in record funding (swinnovation.co.uk)
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Researchers develop new microscope to understand bacterial infections
Scientists from the University of Bristol have worked with colleagues in the Department of Physics to develop a new approach for studying molecules within their natural environment, opening the door to understanding the complexity of how bacteria infect people.
The research, led by a team of biochemists, microbiologists and physicists and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), provides an unprecedented level of detail of the consequences of a bacterium approaching another cell, directly in situ. The team studied the common bacterium Moraxella catarrhalis, which causes middle ear infections in young children, and is a major cause of morbidity in those with heart disease. For many years, scientists approached this problem from the molecular medicine approach — through isolating and studying proteins from the Moraxella cell surface that initiate infection.
From these detailed studies the team have been able to develop an overview of one of the key proteins, called UspA1. Leo Brady, Professor of Biochemistry and Mumtaz Virji, Professor of Molecular Microbiology, who led the research, teamed up with Dr Massimo Antognozzi from the University’s School of Physics, whose group have been developing a novel form of atomic force microscope, termed the lateral molecular force microscope (LMFM).
Together, they have evolved the design of the LMFM microscope to optimise its ability to measure biological phenomena such as changes in UspA1 directly at the Moraxella cell surface. The LMFM differs from more conventional atomic force microscopes in tapping samples (in this case, individual cells) against an extremely fine lever, equivalent to the stylus of a record player, rather than moving the lever as is usually the case. Fabrication of extremely thin but stiff cantilevers together with exceptionally fine motor movements and a specialised visualisation system have all been combined in the device to tremendous effect. The sensitivity achieved has been further enhanced by its location within the extremely low vibration environment provided within the University’s Nanoscience and Quantum Information building. The result has been a machine that can measure exquisitely fine molecular changes and forces in individual molecules directly on a living cell surface.
In the Moraxella study, this development has enabled the research team to correlate intricate, atomic level detail of UspA1 obtained by X-ray crystallography of isolated fragments of the protein with delicate and previously unobservable physical changes of the bacterial cell as it binds to and infects its target human cells.
Professor Brady said: “The findings have triggered the development of a novel technology that promises to open up a new approach for studying molecular medicine. This breakthrough will undoubtedly prove equally useful for the study of many other biological processes directly within their cellular environment, something that has long been needed in molecular medicine.”
This combined study, funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), has enabled the researchers to observe the very first responses as a bacterium binds to a human cell, opening the door to understanding the complexity of infection processes.
MAS sees nuclear fusion opportunities for SW companies
Nuclear fusion could provide exciting new business opportunities for engineering firms in the South West says the Manufacturing Advisory Service (MAS).
One such opportunity is ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an ambitious global research project into nuclear fusion. ITER’s construction offers UK companies a number of business opportunities including civil, mechanical and electrical engineering, consultancy services and project management through to instrumentation, advanced materials and precision engineering.
ITER also offers some challenging engineering opportunities including development and manufacture of high heat flux components, high power electrical engineering, vacuum and pumping systems, remote handling, radio frequency wave heating systems, laser and optical diagnostics, computing and data acquisition.
MAS-SW is keen to actively promote opportunities in nuclear fusion to South West businesses. “Nuclear fusion could become a key sector for manufacturers in the South West. MAS-SW has the expertise to offer targeted strategic support to companies considering branching out into this arena, assisting in identifying opportunities,” said Paul Gilbert, Low Carbon and Innovation Specialist at MAS-SW.
“We have knowledge of the fusion process, enabling us to identify companies that perhaps weren’t aware they possess the skills and knowledge to tender. A wide range of items are required from the simple to the technical, it is not just high-tech manufacturers that will have the opportunity to become involved. Nuclear fusion could represent an essential new revenue stream to a number of South West firms.”
The Culham Centre for Fusion Energy will be managing the Fusion for Energy (F4E) database of companies who have expressed an interest in ITER opportunities.
Dan Mistry, Fusion and Industry Manager at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, said: “Currently there are over 200 UK companies on F4E’s database, but this is only a drop in the ocean compared to the tremendous expertise that exists within UK industry. Our message is for UK companies to look very seriously at these opportunities, they range from conventional to leading-edge engineering, and also include consultancy and project management.”
Fusion offers many benefits over nuclear fission generation but is still at a relatively early stage of development. It can be very high tech, with conditions in fusion reactors requiring temperatures of over 150 million degrees centigrade, but much of the technology is fairly conventional engineering. Large scale investment in fusion research programmes has resulted in many business opportunities for UK companies, particularly on the European JET machine and the UK’s own fusion device, MAST, which are both based at Culham.
Companies hoping to win business in this exciting and challenging market can find more details by contacting MAS-SW on info@swmas.co.uk or by calling 0845 608 3838 .
Related articles
- Fusion power: is it getting any closer? (guardian.co.uk)
- Toward Fusion Energy (bigthink.com)
Digital manufacturing lab opens in Bath – updated
Companies are being invited to test and try out ground-breaking 3D printing technology in the Bath Ventures Innovation Centre. Using ‘RepRap’ technology developed at the University of Bath, the new Digital Manufacturing Labprovides easy access to 3D printing and prototyping for new product ideas, all in an environment supported by experts.
“This technology has strong potential benefits for local businesses, allowing them to manufacture items in-house at low cost,” said Lab manager Pia Taubert. “Our new Digital Manufacturing Lab is located right in the centre of Bath, making it really easy for businesses from the region to pop in and try out the machine. Having RepRap here in Bath will allow very small companies access to very powerful technology. We hope that being able to use RepRap will increase awareness among local businesses of the potential of this type of machine.”
RepRap is short for replicating rapid-prototyper; it employs a technique called ‘additive fabrication’. The machine works a bit like a printer, but, rather than squirting ink onto paper, it puts down thin layers of molten plastic which solidify. These layers are built up to make useful 3D objects.
Dr Andrew Dent from the University of Bath’s RepRap Project team, said: “As most of the parts of RepRap are made from plastic, the machine is able to print copies of itself. Therefore it can be replicated for free and shared between companies. This makes using RepRap so much cheaper than traditional industrial 3D printing.”
RepRap was conceived by Dr Adrian Bowyer at the University of Bath in 2004. It is a low cost open source rapid prototyping system. A RepRap printer is also capable of manufacturing a vast range of 3D plastic objects from computer designs. To date there are over 6,000 RepRap machines in use world-wide by both individuals and companies.
Funded by the University’s KTA account the Lab will also showcase RepRap technology to increase awareness of its potential benefits for businesses. “RepRap is a different, revolutionary way of approaching invention. It could allow people to change the ergonomics of a design to their own specific needs,” said Sir James Dyson.
You can book a free of charge introductory briefing to the Digital Manufacturing Lab
Related articles
- 3D Printing – Sci-Fi Myth Or Reality? (makeuseof.com)
- Ultimaker: Theres a New 3D Printer in Town (mt-soft.com.ar)
- World’s First Printed 3D Plane Takes Off (blogs.wsj.com)
- RepRap vouyerism (hackaday.com)
- 3D Printers Are Taking Off But One in Every Home? Maybe in Another 10 Years (singularityhub.com)
- What is 3D printing? A beginner’s guide to the desktop factory (digitaltrends.com)
8 ways to get Britain going again includes Bristol example
Management Today cites Silicon Gorge in Bristol and chipmaker Icera (alongside Silicon Fen in Cambridge and Silicon Roundalout in East London) as a one of the eight ways to get Britian going again.
8 ways to get Britain going again
XMOS pulls in chip veterans for advisory board
Company expands globally as it enters high growth phase
Bristol-based chip developer XMOS has appointed a new advisory board to provide it with valuable business and technical guidance from some of the semiconductor industry’s most experienced and successful members. A sales and business development office has been opened in Austin, Texas and XMOS is also establishing a new software product support and development center in Chennai, India.
Bristol wins funding for open-innovation universities and free intellectual property
Bristol and two other leading universities to have won funding from the Intellectual Property Office to pioneer easy access to its intellectual assets.
The Universities of Bristol, Glasgow and King’s College London have won £80,000 in funding from the Intellectual Property Office – the government body responsible for granting Intellectual Property (IP) rights in the United Kingdom – to pioneer easy access to their intellectual assets.
Earlier this year, Glasgow became the first UK university to offer Intellectual Property, including groundbreaking medical and scientific research, to business and entrepreneurs free of charge. The award will be used to fund a collaborative project to move the free IP concept on to create a consortium of open-innovation universities.
The project aims to collectively promote free IP opportunities to industry and increase awareness of the vital role universities have in stimulating innovation and economic competitiveness.
Dr Kevin Cullen, Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Glasgow, who is leading the project, said: “We hope to run an open and accessible project which aims to embed and test a new approach to licensing whilst stimulating debate around the issues of university and company collaboration, and the role which universities have in encouraging innovation for the benefit of UK society and the economy.”
Dr Neil Bradshaw, Director of Enterprise at the University of Bristol, said: “This pioneering project will advance the use of IP created by our three Universities by innovative growth companies and offers a new way for Universities to contribute to the growth required in the UK economy.”
Dr Alison Campbell, Managing Director, King’s College London Business, said: “This project allows us to capitalise on our ethos of open innovation at King’s. Our ambition is that it enables more effective engagement with industry across the sector.”
Please contact Neil.Bradshaw@bristol.ac.uk for further information.
Related articles
- Britain’s intellectual property is being stolen from us (telegraph.co.uk)
- Top eight innovative ideas line up for Bristol entrepreneurs competition (swinnovation.co.uk)
Psychological issues vital after nuclear accidents says researcher
The psychological issues of nuclear accidents such as Fukushima Daiichi in Japan are just as important as the immediate health issues says a leading trauma expert speaking in Bristol. “Twenty five year on, we can safely say that the biggest problem of the Chernobyl accident was not cancer or ecological but psychological, and I think that will be the situation in Japan,” said Elena Bodnar, director of the Trauma Risk Management Research Institute at the University of Chicago. Her experiences with the Russian nuclear disaster led to the innovative design of a face mask.
- Japan Radiation Leaks Feared as Nuclear Experts Point to Possible Cover-up(alternet.org)
- Nuclear power plant accidents: listed, visualised and ranked since 1952(guardian.co.uk)
- Fukushima Fallout: How Bad Could It Get? (news.sky.com)
- Japan: New meltdown fears at second reactor; how much radiation has been released in Fukushima crisis? (boingboing.net)
- Second Chernobyl in Japan ‘very unlikely’, IAEA says (earthtimes.org)
Local student scoops Intel prize
Roxanne Pollard of Chipping Sodbury School
A student from Gloucestershire has won major engineering award for her electronics design.
Roxanne Pollard (19) from Chipping Sodbury School designed a bicycle helmet incorporating special indicator safety features and has been invited to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Intel-sponsored International Science and Engineering Fair in the US with all expenses paid.
The award was part of the Young Engineer for Britain programme, whose sponsors include SW firms STMicroelectronics, Airbus and GKN.
Alan Egan (16), who attends King Edward VI Camp Hill Boys School in Birmingham, won The Duke of York’s Award for the creative application of electronics in the Young Engineer for Britain national final with a multimedia router, which provides quick and easy routing of multimedia content from various inputs to multiple output destinations using a simple and intuitive colour-based interface.
The Group 1 (16-18) winner was Aseem Nishra from Hymers College in Hull with jeans that react like a set of drums when the wearer taps their thighs. The Group 2 (14-16) winner was Hemang Rishi from Winchester College with a novel robotic vacuum cleaner. The Group 3 (12-14) winner was a group comprising Shea Quinn, Gavin Fox and Caolan MaGee from Abbey Grammar School, Newry with a Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Assistant.
Entering the Young Engineer for Britain competition
Any secondary school students aged 12-19 can enter the 2012 Young Engineer for Britain Competition with enhanced exam projects, or, projects designed specifically as entries for the competition. More details can be found at http://www.youngeng.org/index.asp?page=165
BVM launches mobile division with new PC system
BVM Mobile, the new operating division of well-established Southampton electronics company BVM, has introduced a Mobile PC family.
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