Author Archives: Alun Williams

Comment: 3D-printing revolution impacts on supply chains

RS Ormerod 3D printer

RS Ormerod 3D printer

Michael Minall, of Vendigital, sees the adoption of 3D-printing technology gaining momentum in the aerospace and defence sectors.

Easyjet’s announcement of its intention to use 3D printing to produce replacement cabin parts is further evidence that a technological revolution in the sector is gaining momentum. And it is already having a significant impact on supply chain and procurement strategies.

While the low-cost airline’s decision to use 3D printing to produce basic cabin parts, such as arm rests and other on-board features, is not a game-changing development in itself, it is a further sign that adoption up of the technology is gaining momentum.

At a time of significant downward pressure on prices and concern about production capacity, the announcement also sends a clear message to the supply chain that airlines are ready for change and are keen to benefit from the efficiencies such production methods can bring.

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is already being used to produce lighter-weight, precision components that are integral to the operation of modern aircraft. The Airbus A350 XWB, which was launched by Qatar Airways at the start of the year, contains more than 1,000 3D-printed parts made using a production system developed by Stratasys. Manufacturing parts in this way is helping airlines and tier one suppliers to minimise costs by allowing them to produce replacement parts to order and reducing operating costs due to their lighter-weight design.

Other new model aircraft are expected to follow suit; by using even more 3D-printed parts, including potentially larger components. A recent report by McKinsey Global Institute predicted that 3D printing could have an economic impact of up to $550bn a year by 2025.

The aerospace and defence industries are currently structured around just a small number of OEMs whose needs are fulfilled by an established global network. From a supply chain perspective, 3D printing technology will disrupt this chain and while this is likely to be painful for suppliers at every level, first movers stand to secure a significant competitive advantage.

Among the early adopters are General Electric and United Technologies – both have been using 3D-printing for prototyping for some time and Airbus signed a cooperative agreement with China’s Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) last year to explore ways to extend 3D-printing technology to the commercial aviation sector. Others, such as Raytheon, are using 3D printed parts to make missiles and the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has been using 3D-printed parts to make the rockets it sends to space.

In order to start realising the potential of 3D printing, OEMs need to rethink their supply chain strategies and adopt a ‘super local’ model. This model comprises an eco-system of innovative local suppliers who are close enough to fulfil demand for replacement parts at short notice.

Currently, if a component on a UK-based in-service aircraft needs replacing, the airline operator has to order the replacement part from what is often a single, approved supplier. If it turns out that the required component is a ‘legacy’ part, and is stocked by neither the OEM nor their supplier, it would need to be manufactured, a process that could take months, especially if the supplier is in another part of the world. During this time the aircraft could be out of service.

There are many advantages of 3D-printing technology but the main one for this sector is that precision-engineered replacement parts can be printed in situ and in a matter of hours. This means the new part could be installed and the aircraft ready-to-fly same day.

Other benefits include the fact that there is no need for OEMs to stock pile a wide range of spare parts, just in case they are required at some point in the future. Instead, they will have to nurture local supply relationships spanning a wider geography to ensure their 3D capabilities can be used wherever and whenever need arises.

The full impact of 3D-printing technology on the aerospace and defence supply chain is yet to be fully realised, however. Developing markets are still very much driven by volume over choice, due to their rapidly growing economies and increasing consumer demand. For this reason, most manufacturers that are serving such markets find mass production and low labour costs are still appealing.

In developed markets, however, the reverse is true and there is growing demand for more personalised, customised products and services. This requires a more agile approach and 3D-printing is expected to gain traction in these markets more quickly.

Michael Minall is Director and aerospace and defence sector specialist at Vendigital, a firm of procurement and supply chain specialists.

Alun Williams

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket explodes minutes after launch

Falcon 9 - SpaceX

Falcon 9 – SpaceX

The explosion of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket mere minutes after launch on Sunday was strike one for US hopes of rebooting crewed space flight: this is the very type of rocket the company wants to use to send people into space in 2017.

“You want a really, really reliable rocket before you put people on it,” says Jonathan McDowell of Harvard University. Now that SpaceX has lost its perfect launch record with this rocket, it will need to quickly convince people that the rocket can be trusted, he says. “Yesterday [the Falcon 9] was 18 for 18 and looking pretty good. Now it is 18 for 19. That’s a 5 percent failure rate.”

But if another 10 launches of Falcon 9 proceed without incident, that will bring the failure rate to 3.5 per cent, which could be acceptable, he says.

Among almost two tonnes of supplies and equipment in the Dragon capsule atop the rocket were two docking stations, intended for Space X to dock its crewed Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS). It was also carrying several plant and animal experiments.

The failure shouldn’t force a delay in plans to launch the first crewed space mission on US soil since 2011, said William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration, at a press conference. “It could help us to nail down designs and move forward,” he said.

The Falcon 9 rocket exploded 2 minutes and 19 seconds after launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida. In a tweet, Elon Musk said it was triggered by too much pressure in a liquid oxygen tank in the upper stage of the rocket, adding: “Data suggests counterintuitive cause,” without further explanation.

“It was in the upper part of the rocket, not the part that was firing at the time,” says McDowell. “That’s representative of a class of failures associated with structural and aerodynamic problems.”

McDowell says there are probably no safety procedures that SpaceX would undertake during a crewed flight that could have prevented this explosion. “But Crew Dragon would have an escape system that would save the capsule, so you wouldn’t have killed the crew.”

Another SpaceX rocket spectacularly exploded during an attempt at landing it as part of a plan to make the Falcon 9 reusable. That attempt was highly experimental and appears unrelated to yesterday’s explosion during launch.

“SpaceX have been careful to do the experimental tests after the operational part of each mission is over,” says McDowell. “So playing with new stuff in the stage 1 re-entry phase shouldn’t make the all-important launch phase more dangerous.”

The explosion also follows a number of failures of other ISS supply rockets.

“There’s really no commonality across these three events other than the fact that it’s space, and it’s difficult to go fly,” said Gerstenmaier. “We’re essentially operating systems at the edge of their ability to perform and operate.”

Watching from on board the ISS, US astronaut Scott Kelly summed up the sentiment in a tweet: “Space is hard.”

Syndicated Content: Michael Slezak, New Scientist

 

Alun Williams

Electronica 2014 – Latest News Roundup

electronica 2014A concise roundup of the latest news from around Electronica 2014, which runs 11-14 November in Munich, at the Messe Munchen.

At Munich? You are welcome to meet the Electronics Weekly team at stand Hall A6 Booth 569. (If you drop by you can pick up a free copy of the magazine, but there are also a couple of competitions running.)

Pre-show

Dev kits, bootstraps and IoT, Europe is changing

Mouser builds design community around NI MultiSIM Blue

Industrial Ethernet kit has pre-loaded stacks

Electronica: Fraunhofer to reveal 10Gbit/s in-car network, and IoT receiver

Electronica: What to see at the show, part I

Electronica news: What to see at the show, part II

Electronica news: What to see at the show, part III

 

 

Alun Williams

Cyborg insects home in on sounds of distress

NCSU insectCyborg cockroaches may be the search-and-rescue teams of the future. The enhanced roaches can pinpoint the source of a noise using electric pulses delivered to their antennae, and then crawl towards it.

The insects are the work of Alper Bozkurt and his team at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. They have built two types of audio-sensing “backpacks” that can be strapped on to Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

One has a single high-resolution microphone that can identify sound sources fairly accurately. The other has a three-microphone array that gets a precise fix on the source using the amplitude information from each microphone.

Using a computer to integrate the data from a network of 10 to 15 insects, the cockroaches are then guided towards the sound source via automated electric pulses to their antennae. The nerve stimulation causes the insects to turn left or right, essentially by simulating contact with obstacles in front of them. Bozkurt presented the work at a conference in Spain last week. Watch a video of them crawling here.

Hacking cockroaches like this is nothing new. Bozkurt and his group have been working with them for the past five years, and last year a Kickstarter project made “RoboRoaches” commercially available for the very first time. But Bozkurt’s newest project moves the field into more practical applications. His team hopes the cyborg cockroaches may be used to find disaster victims, for example people buried under rubble in the aftermath of an earthquake.

“Cockroaches as a platform are certainly better in terms of performance than anything we are currently able to build, and that will remain true for many years,” says Shai Revzen at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. “But one of the problems with these approaches is that they work well in the lab, where there are no distractions, but are much more tricky to apply reliably in real-world environments.”

That’s why the next stage of Bozkurt’s research is to take the insects out of the lab – though not to a terrain as complex as a dense pile of rubble, as yet. Once the lab phase is complete, his team plans to use cyborg roaches equipped with geiger counters to search for leaks in nuclear power plants.

“There are a number of applications where we can get insect-bot sensors out into the field to collect useful information,” says Bozkurt. “But in the next five or six years, we think this project will be ready to be fully deployed under the rubble.”

Azeen Ghorayshi, New Scientist

Image: Eric Whitmire/NCSU

Alun Williams

Very few places left for Elektra Awards 2014

Elektra Awards table picThe Elektra Awards 2014 are just a few weeks away, and there are only a few places left. The event takes place on the 26th November at the Lancaster London hotel, W2 2TY, to discover who the 2014 Elektra winners will be.

You can either book online or contact John Richards on 020 8253 8678 or email john.richards@metropolis.co.uk.

The shortlists have been drawn up, online voting for the Product Innovation and Technology Blog awards have closed, and winners have now been selected. All that is left is to ensure your seat at the industry’s biggest night out of the year!

To help get you in the mood for the evening take a look at some pictures from the 2013 Elektra Awards.

Elektra Awards 1

Alun Williams

CSRmesh devkit supports Bluetooth Smart in mesh networks

CSRmesh Dev BoardDevelopers wanting to work with CSRmesh, the company’s Bluetooth Smart-based mesh networking protocol, can now use a CSRmesh Development Kit.

The company’s goal is “to place the smartphone at the centre of the Internet of Things” because Bluetooth Smart is implemented by default on all the major mobile platforms.

The CSRmesh protocol itself was launched in February 2014 and allows for a large number of Bluetooth Smart-enabled devices to be networked together and controlled from a smartphone or PC.

Bluetooth Smart is used to send messages to other devices in the network, which in turn can relay them onward. Note that individual devices or groups of devices can be addressed. Devices can also belong to multiple groups.

Possible uses? Imagine controlling a series of lights within a large single area, such as a conference hall or an event space. You might, for example, control individual lights or set different colours for different areas of the room such as front, middle and back, on the basis of grouping.

Think of it as a hub-free Bluetooth Smart answer to ZigBee.

The SDK comes with software supporting networked lighting applications, with CSR promising updates for home automation and other IoT applications based on CSRmesh later in the year.

The configuration and control protocol works with CSR’s Bluetooth Smart devices, such as the CSR101x family

“We are seeing Bluetooth Smart underpinning many more products as the Internet-of-Things shifts from concept to reality,” says Rick Walker, Marketing Manager for IoT at CSR.

“By launching the CSRmesh Development Kit we are equipping developers with the tools they need to innovate and take advantage of the many opportunities offered by the IoT. We are helping them to bring networked devices to market as quickly and simply as possible.”

The CSRmesh Development Kit includes:

  • 3x CSRmesh Bluetooth Smart development boards
  • 1x USB programmer
  • Batteries
  • Setup Guide with example applications

Available from distributors, the kit costs £175 and additional CSRmesh development boards can be purchased, for fuller mesh effect testing.

“Unlike other home automation connectivity solutions, such as Zigbee or Z-Wave, CSR Mesh ensures direct control from mobile devices anywhere in the home, because it doesn’t have a limited range or require a hub,” said Anthony Murray, Senior Vice President, Business Group at CSR, back in February.

“CSR is committed to driving Internet of Things innovation. We believe this Bluetooth Smart solution will be a real game changer for developers because it means they don’t have to turn to proprietary solutions or add anything else to create products that give consumers what they want – complete home automation they can control from anywhere that ‘just works’.”

More information on the CSRmesh Bluetooth Smart development kit can be found at forum.csr.com and WiKi.csr.com.

See also: Metro-area wireless trial links 99.3% of smart meters

See also: Microchip ramps embedded wireless offering

Four lasers conjure fibre optic out of thin air

Professor Howard Milchberg

Professor Howard Milchberg

Optical fibres made from thin air could transmit data to and from hard-to-reach places.

Regular optical fibres are made from two transparent materials that slow light down by different amounts. The difference in materials lets light reflect along the length of the cable without leaking out – perfect for sending a signal over long distances.

But it’s hard to put fibres in some places, like the upper atmosphere or inside nuclear reactors. And signals sent through open air often degrade because the light spreads out.

Now, Howard Milchberg of the University of Maryland, College Park, and his colleagues have come up with a way to mimic a fibre in the air itself.

The team shone four lasers in a square arrangement, heating air molecules and creating a low-density ring around a denser core of air. Light bounces around the dense core just like in a fibre.

The air fibre lasts for a few milliseconds – more than enough to send a signal. “This is an extremely long time from the vantage point of a laser,” says Milchberg. The results are published in the journal Optica.

So far the team has tested air fibres over a range of 1 metre. These delivered a signal 50 per cent stronger than through air alone over the same distance. Sending signals further gives light more chance to spread, so in theory, a 100-metre air-fibre could deliver a signal 1000 times stronger than sending it through air alone.

The team also transmitted a laser with 100 times more energy than those used to make the fibre. And they were able to receive signals: small flashes of light from the other end were detected. This suggests the fibre could be used for remote sensing, which could include detecting explosives at a distance.

Syndicated content: Jacob Aron, New Scientist

Boron buckyballs roll out from Brown University

Boron Ball - Brown University

Boron Ball – Brown University

Score one for boron. For the first time, a version of the famous football-shaped buckyball has been created from boron.

Discovered in 1985, buckyballs are made from 60 carbon atoms linked together to form hollow spheres. The molecular cages are very stable and can withstand high temperatures and pressures, so researchers have suggested they might store hydrogen at high densities, perhaps making it a viable fuel source. At normal pressures, too much of the lightweight gas can escape from ordinary canisters, and compressing it requires bulky storage tanks.

Boron sits next to carbon in the periodic table, so a boron ball may also display useful properties. But it wasn’t clear whether boron could form such structures.

Now Lai-Sheng Wang at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and his colleagues have made a cage-like molecule with 40 boron atoms by vaporising a chunk of boron with a laser then freezing it with helium, creating boron clusters. The team analysed the energy spectra of these clusters and compared them with computer models of 10,000 possible arrangements of boron atoms. The matching configuration revealed they had created the boron ball.

Unlike carbon buckyballs, in which the faces are made of hexagons and pentagons, the boron buckyball is made from triangles, hexagons and heptagons. As a result, it is less spherical but still an enclosed structure. Wang has dubbed the molecule “borospherene”. The team is now hunting for a boron analogue of graphene – a strong sheet of carbon just one atom thick that is often touted as a “wonder” material because of its unique electrical properties.

Mark Fox at Durham University, UK likes the name – and is excited at the prospect of finding a boron version of graphene. Buckyballs led to the discovery of graphene, he says, and history may repeat itself with boron.

Journal reference: Nature Chemistry, DOI: 10.1038/nchem.1999

Syndicated content: Jacob Aron, New Scientist

Image: Wang lab/Brown University

Second batch of O3B comms satellites successfully launched

O3b satellitesFour more O3B satellites have been launched, to help provide telco services in emerging markets.

The Ka-band satellites are positioned at an altitude of 8,063 kilometers – four times closer to the earth than geostationary satellites, notes Thales Alenia Space - and they are intended to support “high speed, low cost, low-latency Internet and telecommunications services”.

“O3b Networks will supply trunking and mobile backhaul connectivity to telecom operators and service providers at speeds comparable to those offered by fiber-optic networks,” says Thales Alenia Space, the prime contractor.

A year ago the first four such satellites were launched, and a third batch will follow.

“Today is an important step towards further completion of the constellation with the launch of the 2nd batch that will be followed by third batch in early 2015,” said Jean Loïc Galle, CEO of Thales Alenia Space.

“We are very proud to be part of this endeavour, with its unprecedented operational and beam flexibility, and its potential to connect billions of people who have, so far, had limited access to broadband”.

The satellites were launched from French Guiana by Arianespace using a Soyouz rocket.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZIpH7gQ1Rs

See also:

 

CSR opens new R&D centre in Bristol

CSR opens new R&D centre in Bristol

CSR opens new R&D centre in Bristol

Bluetooth specialist CSR has opened a new R&D facility in Bristol. It will concentrate on wireless connectivity and audio for products in areas such as automotive and wearable devices.

It already had an R&D site at the Bristol & Bath Science Park, since 2012, and the new facility is at Almondsbury in Bristol. The expansion will create a number of job opportunities in the local area, says CSR, especially for graduates from South West universities.

“At CSR, we’re passionate about developing cutting-edge technology that helps our customers turn great ideas into market leading products, and to do that we need to invest strategically in R&D,” said Anthony Murray, senior vp of CSR’s Business Group.

“That’s why we’re opening this new, larger facility in Bristol. Bristol has a vibrant technology scene and with high quality universities that are developing the next generation of engineering talent on our doorstep it is a great place to expand our R&D capabilities.”

Work at the facility will include system engineering, software and digital design and architecture verification.