FINTECH W AT E R GOVERNMENT

MODERN MONEY SEWAGE SPOILING WHAT DO WE

MAKING MOVES RIVERS AND SEAS WANT FROM NO 10?
Digital currency Technology needed to Industry lays out
redefi nes cash clean up our waterways its manifesto

July-August 2024 | Volume 19 | Issue 4

ENGINEERING
THE OLYMPICS
Terrific technology will play its
part in the greatest show on Earth
– let the Games begin!

EANDTMAGAZINE.COM

01 cover_ET July-Aug 2024_E&T.indd 1 21/06/2024 15:32

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IET.May_Aug24.002.indd 2 21/06/2024 11:22

 WELCOME JULY-AUGUST 2024

A WORD FROM...

TIM FRYER, EDITOR

Please may I have…

new team is heading up the Beyond that bigger vision, and And, taking all of those factors into

A UK government. Such are

our publishing timescales I
cannot know if this is a rejig
of old personnel or a full change of
administration. And we are not alone –
continuing on a UK theme, there are
many things we would like to see
a government prioritise. Spending
commitments on civil projects;
financial support for tech SMEs;
account, education has to top my
wishlist, because it starts and ends with
the people. Too many of our best minds
are being wasted by not doing the most
important jobs. Engineering is not even
2024 is a year of elections around the rapid expansion of EV charging on the school curriculum. While I know
world and it will feel equally momentous infrastructure; supporting hubs beleaguered headteachers don’t need
for every one of those countries. But for advanced technologies such another new set of guidelines, there
do we, as global citizens, all have the as quantum, space, AI and need to be certain changes in emphasis
same priorities? Some countries will be semiconductors; investment in to give children the skill-set and
subject to local issues such as conflict existing and – importantly – new enthusiasm to view technical subjects
or disasters, but most others will be renewable technologies... there is as a viable option.
focused on issues like economics, so much on our shopping list. Were I forming a new government,
health, education and policing. Jack Loughran looks at some of the I would identify what is really important
But where does engineering fit in? industry’s wishlist (p10). to the country’s future – medicine,
Short-termism has always been a Sustainability has to be the engineering, science – and remove
recurring bugbear in a sector where foundation of everything we do, the university fees for them. Keep fees for
projects (and their consequences) can last first line on any project or company subjects with no obvious vocational
for decades. Big infrastructure projects in statement. From how we power the path, but let prospective students know
transport and energy need a long-term country to how we build every individual from an early age that scientists and
vision and commitment, and shouldn’t fall new house, it has to be done on the engineers are vital for the future of the
victim to budgetary squeezes during a basis that we can’t place any more country, are valued by society and are
five-year parliamentary cycle. burden on the aching environment. a great career option.

IN THIS ISSUE

Sport remains an inspiring Olympics, they will have been Money used to make the for the first time since 1960.
example of human helped by some sophisticated world go round, but now the Have a guided tour of the new
achievement. Only years of technology along the way, focus is on digital cash and the notes on p36.
dedication can win an athlete and the Games themselves different financial structure Also in this issue, we take a
a gold medal, but technology will be run with the aid of that presents. Our analysis of look at AI in architecture, 200
can also play a hand. As advanced broadcast, security the new financial landscapes years of electric vehicles and
the ‘faster, higher, stronger’ and organisational technology. starts on p30. We also have a the technology stopping sewage
brigade gather for the Paris Our coverage starts on p20. new monarch on our banknotes entering our rivers and seas.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 3

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 INSPIRE JULY-AUGUST 2024

CONTENTS
INF ORM I N FL U EN CE
6 NEED TO KNOW 20 AI-ASSISTED 28 OLYMPIC
All the latest ‘must OLYMPICS INFOGRAPHIC
know’ updates The Paris Games How Paris has
and developments will be the most re-engineered itself
technologically for the Games
10 NEWS ANALYSIS
What do engineers
10 advanced ever
30 MOBILE MONEY
need from government 24 BIG PICTURE Will central bank
to shore up the UK’s The new GB team digital currencies
rackety infrastructure? track bike takes really take off?
inspiration from
15 OPINION fi ghter jet design 36 BANKNOTES
What does the UK The secrets of the
government need from 26 HIDDEN DEPTHS tenner in your pocket
engineers to adapt to The Dutch sailing
the many technological team’s secret weapon:
threats ahead? 38 data, data, data

16 WORLD NEWS
CHIPS Act set to triple
semiconductor production;
China launches Ceres-1
G ROW
from offshore; EU boosts
renewable hydrogen plans 84 GADGET CORNER

18 PROJECT WATCH 86 THE TEARDOWN

A wind-powered offshore A closer look at the AI-led,
rig in the North Sea; the voice-based Humane AI
Rosalind Franklin Mars Pin and Rabbit R1
rover; the world’s most
advanced radio telescopes 88 THE ECCENTRIC
ENGINEER
The invention of the
pendulum clock, and the
ON THE attempts to improve the
COVER accuracy of timekeeping

90 DEAR EVIL ENGINEER

How high do I turn my
loudspeakers to be heard
across the nation?

92 TALK BACK
Your letters and emails

93 FROM THE ARCHIVES

Cover image: The Olympics is a showcase

for tech as well as sporting prowess.
Illustration: Janelle Barone, Debut Art
95 MENTORS
Dr Shini Somara

98 WHERE NEXT
20
4 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

DID YOU KNOW?

30
Reading E+T can contribute to
your continuing professional
development. Just scan the
QR code to fi nd out how

38 SCANDALOUS
SEWAGE
Cleaning up
our waterways
54
44 OCEANIC TAG E IXNPTEERRTV V
I EI E
WW
How acoustic
telemetry tracks “Everybody
fi sh behaviour complains about
50 ENGINEERING air travel, but it’s
A QUIET PLACE only responsible
Designing out for around 2.5%
noise pollution
of CO2. What’s
54 MEET THE being done about
AI-CHITECTS the other 97.5%?”
Will machines create
P60
the cities of the future?

59 5 MINS
Generative AI
INS PI R E
60 INTERVIEW
The new chair of C-Capture,
Warren East, on energy
transition, mitigating the
78 200 YEARS OF
ELECTRIC DREAMS
Until undercut by oil
and outperformed by
78
effects of climate change, the internal combustion
and commercialising engine in the 20th century,
novel technologies it seemed that electric
vehicles would dominate
66 AI V THE BIG C private transport.
AI could be better than Now their time has
humans at diagnosing come again...
and treating cancer more
effectively, empowering
patients to choose the
treatments best suited
to them

74 IF IN DOUBT...
JOIN IN!
Parents of game-addicted
children should play with
them, not confiscate their
console – there’s a valuable
world of team-building
and problem-solving for
you and your youngsters
to be discovered

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 5

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 INFORM NEED TO KNOW

NEEDTOKNOW
NEWS A N A LY S I S OPINION D E B AT E

C L I M AT E C H A N G E

No new fossil fuel

projects needed
in the transition
to net zero
new study by the global heating to 1.5°C above

A International Institute
for Sustainable
Development (IISD)
and University College London
has found that existing fossil
pre-industrial levels.
They concluded that new
fossil fuel projects are not
needed in the transition period,
with clean energy production
fuel projects are su cient to projects ramping up.
meet anticipated global energy As such, they call on
demands in the transition governments to stop
period to net zero by 2050. issuing new oil, gas and
At the 28th United Nations coal licences and establish
Climate Change Conference what they call a “no new
(COP28) in late 2023, 198 fossil fuels” policy. They
governments o cially argue this would be less
recognised the urgency of costly, face fewer legal
“transition[ing] away from hurdles, and be politically
fossil fuels in energy systems” easier than trying to phase
in order to reach net zero out existing capacity early.
targets by 2050. Greg Muttitt, senior
However, oil and gas associate at the IISD and
producers around the world study co-author, said:
continue to expand exploration “Our research draws on a
and drill for resources, large range of scientifi c
and are being supported evidence, including climate
by governments. scenarios from the IPCC
In this study, researchers [Intergovernmental Panel
analysed the projected future on Climate Change], but its
global demand for oil and message to governments and
gas production, as well as fossil fuel companies is very
coal- and gas-fi red power simple: There is no room for
generation, using a broad new fossil fuel projects in a
range of scenarios that limit 1.5°C-aligned world.”

6 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFORM

Tough as nails:
EMPLOYMENT maintenance-free tribo plain
bearings for RMGs and RTGs
Data reveals a
spike in women
aged 35-44 leaving
engineering roles
n its annual published by the Engineering

I review of the UK’s

engineering workforce,
EngineeringUK found
that the percentage
of women working in
Council, which shows the
average age of women
leaving the profession is 43,
in contrast to 60 for men.
The drop also seems
engineering and technology specific to engineering and
occupations dropped from technology occupations as
16.5% in 2022 to 15.7% in no similar drop was found in
2023, representing a fall of women in other occupations
38,000 women. in that age group.
This is despite the overall EngineeringUK hopes
proportion of engineering that this data will serve
and technology occupations as a wake-up call to
remaining consistent at improve recruitment and
19.2%. In comparison, retention practice.
women made up over EngineeringUK chief
half (56.1%) of all other executive Hilary Leevers
occupations combined. said: “The sector as a whole
Further analysis revealed needs to better understand
that this 15.7% drop is why women are leaving and
concentrated among work harder to improve their igus motion plastics
® ®

women aged 35 to 44. retention, including creating For applications with extreme loads,
This suggests that opportunities for those who igus® has developed the new igutex® fibre
while more women are have left the profession composite plain bearing series. The igutex®
entering the workforce to return. The various materials can realise applications that have
from education, fewer are government skills taskforces
to withstand up to 200MPa. With the new
being retained. must also ensure retention
igutex® TX3, igus® has now designed a
The findings are consistent is core to the strategies they
with registration data are working on.”
material that offers a longer service life for
rail-mounted and rubber-mounted gantries,
especially under extreme dynamic loads.
And like all igus® plain bearing materials,
it is corrosion-free and does not require
lubrication or maintenance. Predictable
service life online and delivered quickly.

Tech up, cost down. It's our job.

motion plastics ®

Images: Getty, iStock eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 7

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 INFORM NEED TO KNOW

SPACE

ESA’s EarthCARE blasts

off to study clouds
he European Space and was designed and built ilt

T Agency’s (ESA’s) Earth

Cloud Aerosol and
Radiation Explorer
(EarthCARE) satellite has
embarked on its journey into
by a consortium of more than

the prime contractor.

The satellite is equipped
with state-of-the-art
han
75 companies under Airbuss as
cooling, they remain one of
the greatest mysteries in
our understanding of how
distribution
dist i and water content.
This data will help improve
weather and climate models.
space where it will examine instruments to provide a the atmosphere drives the Jaxa project manager for
the role clouds and aerosols view of the interplay between climate system. the radar Eiichi Tomita said:
play in reflecting incident clouds, aerosols and radiation. Operating in the millimetre- “Increasing the accuracy of
solar radiation back out to A key instrument is the wavelength range, the cloud global climate models by using
space and trapping infrared cloud profiling radar, provided profiling radar will penetrate EarthCARE data will allow us
radiation emitted from by Jaxa, which will enable through clouds and light to better predict the future
Earth’s surface. EarthCARE to observe the precipitation – providing climate and therefore take
EarthCARE is a joint internal structure of clouds. detailed insights into their necessary mitigation measures.
venture between the ESA Although clouds play an vertical structure, velocity of “We are expecting these
and the Japan Aerospace extremely important role in upward and downward flow EarthCARE data products to
Exploration Agency (Jaxa) atmospheric heating and within clouds, particle size be remarkable.”

MICROPLASTICS

Urgent need to tackle ocean pollution

lastics are circulating each year, the amount of depths of the ocean – we together to address plastic

P in all of the Earth’s

oceans. Rather than
biodegrade, they
simply break down, producing
microplastics, defi ned as less
microplastics in the ocean
could stabilise rather than
continue to increase.
However, the modelling
shows that even reducing
just need to live with it now.
But the current global output
of plastic pollution is so
great that even a 1% annual
reduction in pollution would
production and reduce plastic
waste beyond the UN’s
proposed goal of 0% plastic
pollution by 2040.
“If we want to move
than 5mm long. pollution by 20% per year make a big difference overall.” towards a lower plastic
In a new study, researchers would not signifi cantly reduce With such vast amounts of society, change needs
from Imperial College London existing microplastics levels, plastic entering our oceans, to happen at a higher level
and GNS Science developed meaning they will persist in the researchers are urging – an industrial level. No
a model to predict the impact our oceans beyond 2100. organisations, governments single individual should have
of ocean microplastics in eight Zhenna Azimrayat and policymakers to work the weight of the world on
different scenarios of plastic Andrews, from the Centre their shoulders,” Azimrayat
pollution reduction over the for Environmental Policy at Andrews said.
next century, starting from Imperial, said: “There can
2026 up to 2100. never be a completely
The results show that if successful removal
countries reduce plastic of microplastics
pollution by more than 5% from all

8 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFORM

You Design.
We Deliver.™
The Newest Products for
Your Newest Designs®

E L E C T R I F I C AT I O N

Copper mining
cannot keep up with
ramp-up of EVs
opper is vehicle fleet, as many as

C fundamental
to electricity
generation,
distribution and storage.
There are around 700
six new large copper mines
must be brought online
annually over the next
several decades.
Apart from EVs, copper
copper mines in operation is, of course, vital in other
globally, the largest being sectors: for instance,
the Escondida mine in building infrastructure in
Chile, which produced an the developing world such
estimated 882,100 tonnes as an electricity grid for the
of copper in 2023. approximately one billion
But with electrification people who don’t yet have
ramping up globally that access to electricity.
may not be su cient. “What we will end up with
A new study by the is tension between how
University of Michigan much copper we need to
focused on the copper build infrastructure in less
needed just for the developed countries versus
production of electric how much copper we need
vehicles (EVs) over the for the energy transition,”
coming years. warned Adam Simon,
The findings reveal that professor of earth and
between 2018 and 2050, environmental studies at
the world will need to mine the University of Michigan.
115% more copper than “We are hoping this
has been mined in all of study gets picked up by
history up until 2018 just to policymakers who should mouser.com/new
meet current copper needs, consider copper as the
without considering the limiting factor for the
green energy transition. energy transition, and to
To meet the copper needs think about how copper is
of electrifying the global allocated,” he said.

Images: ESA, Alamy, Getty eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 9

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 INFORM NEWS ANALYSIS

he past 14 years have

T seen significant cuts to

public spending, driven
not least by the financial
crisis, weak growth, economic
damage caused by Brexit and
lingering issues from the Covid-19
pandemic. The cuts have left no
sector untouched, with the UK’s
transport, communications and
utilities all suffering from a lack of
investment while demand for them
continues to increase.
E+T asked Ed Almond, chief
executive and secretary of the IET,
how the next government could lean
on Britain’s engineering sector to
tackle many of these legacy issues.

Infrastructure
Earlier this year, the head of the
National Audit O ce expressed
concern that the UK was wasting
billions annually in taxpayer funds
because of poorly managed
mega projects, such as HS2, and
crumbling infrastructure.
To tackle this, Almond is
calling for improvements to the
procurement process to focus on
“outcomes and whole life cycle
benefits” rather than specifying
conditions based on existing
solutions. “Processes might be
slimmed down and simplified to
enable a wider range of companies, ELECTION
including SMEs, to be involved in
delivering public contracts. This is
likely to encourage innovation as
well as competition,” he said.
An IET survey last year found
What engineering
that 47% of respondents reported
a technical skills gap in their
workforce. “An overhaul of the
wants from
apprenticeship funding system
would allow existing workers to be
upskilled while increasing the intake
of newly trained employees into the
government
workforce,” Almond says.
WITH THE GENERAL ELECTION BEHIND US, THE
Electricity
NEW GOVERNMENT NOW HAS FIVE YEARS TO FIX
The next government will have
BRITAIN’S CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE
a lot of work on its hands if it
wants the UK to meet the stated WO RDS JACK LOU GHRA N
goal of decarbonising the entire
energy grid by 2035. But a group
of MPs have warned that slow

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFORM

grid connections and a lack of diesel hybrids potentially playing

clear plans for energy storage are a part. Likewise, considered
putting this goal at risk. government intervention can
“There is the potential for a near help tip investment in favour of
doubling of peak demand and transition and the IET has called
at least a doubling of electricity on government to introduce a
consumption due to electrification carbon tax on locomotive diesel
of heating and transport by 2050. oil, which is currently untaxed and
This requires a commitment to disincentivises the adoption of
increase the scale and pace of both clean fuels.
the transmission and distribution
capacity upgrades required to Roads
meet decarbonisation targets,” Meanwhile, recent data from the
Almond said. AA found that the number of
“The current policy of incremental vehicles damaged by potholes
adaptation to emerging power reached a five-year high.
system management, operability In November, the government
and security of supply challenges announced that £8.3bn in
is not sustainable. Instead, there redirected HS2 funds would be
needs to be a fundamental review spent to try and remedy this issue,
of power system architecture, but while the funding represents a
and a commitment to invest in a significant increase, a 2023 survey
power system that has designed-in from the Asphalt Industry Alliance
system management, operability found that more than £14bn in
and security of supply capability central government funding is
as part of a managed transition needed to fix the backlog of repairs
to accommodate new zero carbon following years of underinvestment.
forms of generation. Almond cited innovative projects
“To achieve an affordable future that could help alleviate some of
energy system, the energy sources, the worst damage in the future.
energy storage, transmission and Engineering firm Versarien is
distribution networks, and the working on a thermo-active roads
markets that support them, must project that uses geothermal
be developed as a coherent system. energy to regulate the temperature
A whole systems approach should of roads to improve their resilience
cover electricity, hydrogen and over the changing seasons.
other energy vectors as they will be Almond said: “A good starting
increasingly interactive.” point for infrastructure is always
to take a whole-of-life costing
Transport approach, including, of course,
A report from the Public Accounts the externalities of sub-standard
Committee (PAC) in May scrutinised road surfaces.”
the government’s programme of
rail reform and found that, while Communications
ambitious, little progress had The current goal to extend 4G
actually been made. coverage to 95% of the UK’s
The best way to decarbonise landmass by the end of 2025 is
railways was to push ahead with at risk of being missed, the PAC
electrification as the main solution, recently found. While coverage is
said Almond, although infrastructure already sitting at over 93%, the
cost poses a barrier to electrifying remaining locations will be harder
low-use routes. “In these cases, to reach and connect compared to
battery electric or green hydrogen the work done so far.
may be appropriate.” “There is a clear mismatch
As with many areas of net zero between delivering the increasing
transition, pragmatic solutions will data speeds that society desires
be required along the way, with with the business models of

Photography: Getty eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 11

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 INFORM NEWS ANALYSIS JULY-AUGUST 2024

ED ALMOND, CHIEF EXECUTIVE

A N D S E C R E TA R Y O F T H E I E T

Dear new government...

Whoever steps through the door to Number 10
on 5 July will be immediately faced with an
ever-expanding list of urgent matters to deal
with. If the last few years are anything to go
by, that list won’t let up over the course of the
next parliament. So what are my asks of the
next government?
We need it to set the direction of travel
for the UK. Two key areas for me are the
road to net zero, and our industrial strategy.
Both require long-term frameworks against
which the expertise of the engineering and
technology community can be brought
together to deal with the challenges, and seize
service providers,” said Almond. “A new the opportunities.
approach is needed that positions 6G Delivering net zero requires confi dence in
innovation as an opportunity to break targets and timings, combined with appropriate
out of this unsustainable position. To and aligned incentives and programmes to
ensure that the roll-out of 6G achieves support a rapid and just transition. This can
provide the country with both the infrastructure
this, the next government should
and capabilities required for a sustainable
engage with industry to shape the right
future. Boldness is likely to be rewarded in
conditions to sustain long-term research
respect of issues like new build and retrofi t
and upgrade national infrastructures. energy standards, public procurement and
With a long-term perspective, the most enabling the faster reconfi guration of our
impactful benefit of 6G to consumers, energy infrastructure.
and national economies, will come from A long-range industrial strategy should play
regulation and 6G technology innovation to the UK’s strengths in research, innovation
developing in sync.” Ed Almond is and engineering. Two areas seem key to
calling for an this – enabling the pathway from R&D into
overhaul of the demonstration and adoption, alongside
A very long to-do list apprenticeship
ensuring su cient investment in the current
No matter which party wins, the next funding system
and future skills pipeline which is needed to
government will be immediately faced
address long-standing and emerging shortages.
with a litany of national infrastructure Addressing skills shortages is likely to
issues that will need to be tackled at require multiple interventions including
pace. Furthermore, if 2050 climate upskilling and reskilling the existing workforce,
obligations are to be met, the net zero as well as overdue reforms to the education
shift will need to happen as quickly as system. Priorities here include reviewing the
possible, placing ever-greater demand national curriculum to embed engineering
on utilities and transport networks. into school education, developing the flexible
problem-solving skills essential for the future.
Nevertheless, the UK has been renowned
Alongside this, an early opportunity would be
for its ingenious engineering solutions
to reform the Apprenticeship Levy to introduce
in the past – if the next government can This article was more flexibility, particularly for SMEs, by
recapture some of that energy, it has written before creating a parallel small funds initiative to
a fighting chance of tackling its most the winner of the allow unused funds for agile short courses in
pressing issues ahead of the looming general election areas of critical skills shortages, such as new
climate change threat. was announced. digital technologies.

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IET.May_Aug24.013.indd 13 21/06/2024 11:22
 Fellowship
inspiring the next
generation of engineers

As the highest category of membership, awarded by your

peers, Fellowship opens up opportunities to you both in
terms of your career and in giving back to the profession.

What could you accomplish as an IET Fellow?

– Recognition for being at the forefront
of engineering and technology
– Changes in policy and strategy by
influencing the profession, government
and society for the better
– Make a difference and champion
the cause you are passionate about
– Be a part of a community of professionals
recognised for their talent

Discover what Fellowship

could mean for you:
theiet.org/discoverfellowship Tracy Scott CEng FIET

The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England and Wales (No. 211014) and Scotland (No. SC038698).
Futures Place, Kings Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2UA, United Kingdom.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 POLICY INFORM

O P I N I O N F R O M T H E I E T: T I M A L L I S O N

What government
wants from engineering
IET public affairs manager Tim Allison on how engineers and
technologist must innovate and transform to face the challenges ahead

sk not what your country taking a moment to reflect on what Innovation and whole system

“A can do for you – ask

what you can do for your
country.” Words spoken
by President John F Kennedy in his
inaugural address, and words that I
the next government is going to want
from us: what can engineers and
technologists do for them? Here are
just a few examples.
transformation will be key, and engineers
and technologists will be called upon to
design a coherent system that balances
demand flexibility reforms with robust
and secure transmission and distribution
suspect will be on the lips of whoever Power the digital revolution network upgrades.
walked into Number 10 on 5 July. Disruptive technology such as
That’s because the incoming AI and quantum computing will Fill the skills gap
government will be overwhelmed on continue to develop rapidly over Fixing the engineering skills shortage
day one with requests for funding and the course of the next parliament. means making the routes into the
proposals for changes to legislation. Engineers and technologists will profession as attractive as possible to
The process has already started, with of course play a crucial role in young people, and as useful as possible
‘manifestos for…’ being published across designing these technologies, for the employers taking them on.
every sector and region of the UK. implementing and adopting them However, with 80% of the 2030
But once the excitement of the general across different applications, and workforce already in employment, it is
election is over, the new government will supporting the government to develop not enough to rely on new workers to fill
likely find that it has little time or budget regulations that drive innovation skills gaps – particularly in critical new
for fulfilling requests and delivering based on professional best practice, technologies like AI and digital twins,
ambitious plans, and will instead spend transparency, fairness and security. which have huge potential to boost
most of its time and resources dealing with Alongside working on these productivity and innovation. That is why
the immediate challenges and crises that technologies, engineers will also be it will be essential to upskill and reskill
the country faces at home and abroad. designing and developing the large existing workers – currently only 15% of
Some of these we know are coming – from data centres needed to power the AI UK engineering employers offer training
upgrading our energy infrastructure to and digital revolution – and finding in new technologies (IET Sustainability
meet net zero targets to trying to keep innovative ways to make these centres Skills Survey, 2023).
legislation at pace with rapidly emerging more sustainable. Of course, these are just a few
technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). of the areas where engineers and
But the most significant challenges Secure the energy system technologists can make a difference
the next government will face remain The challenges facing the energy over the course of the next parliament.
unknown – like the pandemic – and will system are already well known: how But there will be many, many more,
require the government and the country do we balance energy security, along with unexpected challenges and
to innovate and adapt. That is why, affordability and sustainability opportunities where the government
as well as considering what we want to meet a doubling of electricity will look to our sector’s expertise to
from the next government, it is worth consumption by 2050? engineer and deliver solutions.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 15

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 INFORM NEED TO KNOW

WORLD NEWS
NEWS FROM
AROUND
THE WORLD

USA

CHIPS Act to triple US semiconductor production by 2032

CHIPS (Creating Helpful Incentives to According a new report from the US The US is also projected to capture
Produce Semiconductors) was signed Semiconductor Industry Association, over one-quarter (28%) of total global
into law by President Joe Biden in 2022 CHIPS will see the US grow its share expenditure on semiconductors from 2024
and authorises roughly $280bn of new of manufacturing advanced logic to 2032. The study estimates that without
funding to boost domestic research and semiconductors to 28% of global capacity the CHIPS Act, the US would only capture
manufacturing of semiconductors. by 2032, up from 0% in 2022. about 9% of global expenditure by 2032.

16 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com Photography: The White House, Getty, iStock

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFORM

EU
CHINA

Sea-based €720m boost to

launch for seven renewable
Ceres-1 rocket hydrogen projects
Ceres-1, a rocket manufactured and The EU has awarded nearly €720m to seven
operated by Chinese company Galactic renewable hydrogen projects with a combined
Energy, recently launched from a mobile sea electrolysis capacity of 1.5GW in the European
platform off the coast of China’s eastern Hydrogen Bank’s first subsidy auction.
province of Shandong. Together, the seven projects, which will
The carrier rocket successfully sent four be located in Finland, Spain, Portugal and
satellites into a low orbit about 850km Norway, plan to produce 1.58 million tonnes of
above the Earth, which will form part renewable hydrogen over 10 years,
of a planned constellation of IoT data avoiding more than 10 million
connectivity satellites. SCAN tonnes of CO2 emissions.
According to Galactic Energy, compared HERE The projects will have five years
with conventional land-based launches, a sea to produce renewable hydrogen
mission has a lower risk of causing problems in Scan the QR code once the grants
densely populated areas along its trajectory. below to read full are finalised.
versions of all our
This is the second sea-based launch for stories online
Ceres-1. The fi rst took place in September
2023, also off the coast of Shandong.

NEW ZEALAND AUSTRALIA

Wind farm offsets carbon Gas production

emissions within two yearss ramped up until
An onshore wind farm is capable of offsetting
‘2050 and beyond’
the carbon emissions generated across its entire
30-year lifespan within two years when compared The Australian government has released the
with thermal power plants. Future Gas Strategy, a long-term framework
The study, by the Sustainable Energy Systems that maps the country’s plan for gas
research group at the Wellington Faculty of production and consumption.
Engineering, Te Herenga Waka Victoria University, The strategy outlines a commitment
also found that within six months a wind turbine can to reach net zero emissions by 2050. But
generate all the energy consumed across its life cycle. gas production and exploration must be
The team studied the 41 turbines on New optimised through the transition.
Zealand’s Harapaki onshore wind farm, taking into Australia is one of the world’s largest
account everything from the manufacture of parts to exporters of liquefi ed natural gas.
transportation and decommissioning. Madeleine King, minister for resources,
The research team say their findings can said: “Gas will be essential to the transition
be replicated across most, if not all, wind because our energy system needs gas to
farms internationally. achieve net zero.”

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 INFORM NEED TO KNOW

Project AROUND THE WORLD, MANY GREAT PROJECTS ARE

CHANGING THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT AND OUR
INFRASTRUCTURE – BUT SOMETIMES PROGRESS
IS SLOW AND THEY SLIP OFF THE RADAR. THIS

watch COLUMN FOLLOWS THEIR DEVELOPMENT

WO RDS TA NYA W EAVER

NORTH SEA

Wind-powered
offshore rig
In 2017 Netherlands-based oil and
gas company ONE-Dyas discovered
the N05-A oil field in the North
Sea. It is located in an area known
as GEMS – ‘Gateway to the Ems’
– at the mouth of the Ems River
estuary on the border between the PROJECT
Netherlands and Germany. INFO
The project was given the go- LOCATION
ahead by the Dutch government in North Sea
June 2022 when the final permits virtually zero emissions and to be on track as April 2024
BUILD
were granted. In December 2022 negligible environmental impacts. saw construction completed
STARTED
construction of the platform got New pipeline requirements December 2022
and the platform ready for
under way at HSM Offshore Energy will also be minimal as the transportation to the site.
yard in Schiedam, Netherlands. platform will link to the existing PROJECT COST While the objective is to
The N05-A platform will be the Noordgastransport (NGT) pipeline €500m (£425m) extract natural gas, ONE-Dyas
first Dutch offshore gas treatment with a short 15km connection. COMPLETION says the platform will also be
platform to run entirely on wind The initial goal was to have DATE suitable for development of
energy, with power coming from the the platform installed by summer Winter 2024-25 green hydrogen and for carbon
nearby German wind farm Riffgat. 2024 and gas available by the capture and storage in years
This means the platform will have end of 2024. The project seems to come.

SPACE
PROJECT
INFO
BUILD
Rover’s search for life on Mars
STARTED
2014 The European Space Agency’s pandemic and the need for more will assist with
rover, Rosalind Franklin, is on tests on the spacecraft. the launch service,
PLANNED
LAUNCH DATE
a mission to find whether life Then, in 2022, due to the braking engines and lightweight
July 2020 exists, or has ever existed, on ongoing conflict in Ukraine and radioisotope heater units.
the Red Planet. However, its sanctions imposed on Russia “This pivotal agreement
REVISED
development and launch date by its member states, the ESA strengthens our collaborative
LAUNCH DATE
have been hampered by delays. announced it would not go ahead efforts for the ExoMars
2028
The ExoMars mission, a that year as planned. programme and ensures that the
ARRIVAL ON collaboration between the The ESA and its European Rosalind Franklin rover will set its
MARS European Space Agency (ESA) partners then set about reshaping wheels on Martian soil in 2030,”
2030 and Russia’s Roscosmos, was the mission with new partnerships, said Daniel Neuenschwander,
initially pushed back from one of which has recently been ESA director of human and
2020 because of the Covid-19 announced as Nasa, which robotic exploration.

18 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFORM

PROJECT
INFO
LOCATION
South Africa
SOUTH AFRICA and Australia concept ideas through to detailed
design, locating the radio-quiet
TOTAL
sites, bringing governments
‘Time machine’ telescopes COLLECTING
AREA
on board to set up the SKA
More than Observatory consortium based
Construction of the world’s the history of humanity,” said 1sq km at the Jodrell Bank Observatory
most advanced radio Dr Sarah Pearce, director of the in Macclesfield, Cheshire,
COUNTRIES
telescopes is under way SKA-Low telescope in Australia. building local and international
INVOLVED
in the desert of the Karoo, The two SKA telescopes cover partnerships then securing more
16
South Africa, and on the different frequency ranges – low than €500m (£425m) in investment
Wajarri Yamaji Lands in (50MHz to 350MHz) and mid FIRST for the technology development.
Western Australia. (350MHz to 15.4GHz) frequency. CONCEIVED This includes the on-site
When complete in 2028, the Australia’s SKA-Low features 1991 supercomputers that will deal with
Square Kilometre Array (SKA) an array of 131,072 Christmas BUILD the vast quantities of data flowing
telescopes will enable scientists tree-shaped antennae spread STARTED from the antennae, as well as for
to study the universe in exquisite between 512 stations and December 2022 construction at the two sites.
detail, including tracing the full covering an area of up to 74km, Construction at the two sites
COMPLETION
history of hydrogen before great while South Africa’s SKA-Mid DATE commenced in December 2022.
clouds of the gas collapsed to has an array of 197 traditional 2028 Milestones reached in 2024 include
form the first stars. dishes with a 150km maximum the first SKA-Mid dishes arriving
“The telescopes are like time distance between them. on site in South Africa in February,
machines – we’ll see things The project is the culmination while Australia saw its first SKA-Low
we’ve never been able to see in of a 30-year journey from first antennas installed in March.

Images: Nasief Manie/SARAO. ESA/TGO/CaSSIS. eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 19

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 INFLUENCE OLYMPIC GAMES

AI-ASSISTED
OLYMPICS
A
modern-day Olympic Games
is much more than a sporting
Advances in AI have
spectacle. It’s also a chance made this summer’s
for the host nation to parade
itself in front of, in this summer’s case, Paris Games the
an estimated 15 million travelling fans
and another billion watching on TV. The
most technologically
Olympics gives associated businesses advanced
an opportunity to promote and present
themselves to investors, customers and
Olympics ever
partners all over the world. And of course, WORDS CRIS A NDREW S
the Games provides a global platform for
the latest technologies.
“The Olympic Games has always been
a facilitator of technological innovation,”
says Richard Haynes, professor of media
sport at the University of Stirling. “If the
Olympics isn’t actually driving innovation,
it certainly provides a huge incentive for
innovators to showcase their work, with
the world’s eyes on the Games, for a few
weeks, every four years.”
In April, the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) unveiled its Olympic AI
Agenda, pledging to work with artificial
intelligence experts from within and
outside of sport to enhance athlete
performance and contribute to other
wider agendas such as public security and
safeguarding against online abuse.
At the launch, IOC President Thomas
Bach, a fencing gold medallist for Germany
at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, said: “AI
can help provide more athletes with access
to personalised training methods, superior
sports equipment and more individualised
programmes to stay fit and healthy.”

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

The performance process

AI is used in sport to identify patterns
and trends that help athletes, coaches
and support staff make predictions about
athlete performance, fitness and health.
It also makes training and healthcare
processes more e cient and improves
equipment. Used well, AI can give an
athlete, team or equipment provider an
advantage over their competitors.
For instance, Nike recently unveiled a
new range of elite athlete footwear, which
its Olympic athletes will be able to use
this summer. The new Nike range sees a
return to the ‘air’ system, replacing the
springboard-style carbon-fibre plates
and lightweight foams favoured in recent
designs. Nike experts ran design ideas from
their top brand athletes through AI models
to generate prototypes and fine tune the
optimum size, pressure and application.
The company says that its track shoe
now has a flatter ground-facing profile for
increased stability while running. The new
Nike football boot has a 4mm Air Zoom layer
that helps players stop and accelerate on
soft ground. Tests of Nike’s new basketballba
ball
shoe showed that players consumed less ss
oxygen than with the previous model, which
the company says would help players with
fatigue. Nike experts say that by using
AI, its researchers can simulate how a
design will perform and react to load
and weight without the need to make a
physical prototype.
The Canadian Sport Institute has
Canada’s Olympic athletes using
ZoneIn, an AI-powered nutrition app, to o
make sure they eat and drink the right things
in the run-up to the Games. Proper nutrition
is essential if elite athletes are to perform
to their potential, avoid injuries and, of
course, not inadvertently break anti-doping
rules by unknowingly ingesting a prohibited
substance in a dietary supplement, food or
Illustration: Janelle Barone. Image: Nike

cosmetic product.
ZoneIn analyses an athlete’s dietary and
hydration needs and provides automated
personalised plans to fit and support the
athlete’s unique body needs and training
schedules. Plans will vary depending on the
athlete’s biometrics, their performance and
training goals, and whether the athlete trains
regularly, randomly, at low or high intensity,
at what time of day.

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 INFLUENCE OLYMPIC GAMES

Online abuse A$1,000 for online harassment of a Rugby

Elite athletes use social media like anyone World Cup referee and his family. More
else, but this leaves them open heightened prosecutions like this may not eradicate
abuse from those who are annoyed with online abuse, but at least it may subdue or
something the athlete has said, done, limit it.
represents or is.
Lauren Burch, from Loughborough Keeping the Games safe
University’s Institute for Sport Business, On 23 April 2024, a 16-year-old boy was
says that women athletes have received arrested by French anti-terrorism police
more online abuse in recent years, since after posting on social media that he
women’s sport has become higher profile. wanted to create an explosive belt and
“The more attention die a martyr at the
athletes get the worse it Paris Olympics.
becomes,” says Burch, A week earlier,
who has studied online President Macron
abuse targeted at admitted that the
T H R E AT L E V E L S
elite athletes. Olympic opening
At this summer’s ceremony, set to take
Threat Matrix, by Signify,
Olympics, the IOC is used machine learning place on and around
working with AI expert and AI natural language the River Seine, might
Signify to introduce a understanding to detect have to be cancelled or
threat detection and abuse and fi xated threat moved if the security
protection system to online at the World Athletics threat is too high.
counter online abuse. Championships last September This is the first
For the duration Olympic ceremony held
of the Games, AI will outside a stadium, with
screen the public-facing
media accounts of
157,061
Tweets captured for analysis
10,500 athletes and
300,000 spectators due
any athlete, coach or to take part. Security
technical o cial who experts fear that the
signs up, and highlight
anything that might be
292,148
Instagram comments
Seine, which flows
through the centre of
a potential threat. Then, captured for analysis Paris, is vulnerable
human moderators work to drone attacks and
out what constitutes an snipers. There are an
actual threat, track the
threat and report it to
47
of the 1,344 tracked
estimated three million
drones in France, most overhead. French police are already
the platforms, who are athletes received privately owned. equipped with guns capable of jamming
prompted to take down targeted abuse Israeli athletes will be Wi-Fi or GPS signals between a drone and
the abusive content, at the Games – so too, its remote control. Such guns can intercept
hopefully, before the
athlete has seen it. The
90%
of detected abuse
potentially, Palestinian
competitors – and
drones at an altitude of around 1,000
metres. In April, Charles De Gaulle airport
system can also monitor although Russia is unveiled new baggage scanners that take
was made on X
direct messages, (formerly Twitter) banned from competing 3D images, like hospital CT scanners. These
with the permission after its invasion of scanners will enable baggage-handling
of the athletes, to Ukraine, some of its staff to see inside bags with greater detail.
identify and remove
anything abusive.
35%
of identifi ed abuse
athletes could compete
as neutrals under
During mid-April, however, media
reports emerged that tests had exposed
“The AI is able to was racist in nature the Russian Olympic flaws in the French anti-drone shield,
check a far greater Committee flag. Parade. A suspicious drone can technically
volume of posts [than
human moderators] 16%
of identifi ed abuse
Plans are in place
to close airports and
be immobilised, intercepted by a police
helicopter or, as a last resort, shot down.
and identify which posts airspace within a 150km The problem for anti-drone radar is
was sexual or
might potentially indicate radius for the duration the urban environment. Buildings, trees
sexist in nature
a threat,” Burch says. of the ceremony and and monuments can shield a drone from
Last April, a man military surveillance detection, allowing it to arrive in dangerous
from Brisbane was fined Source: World Athletics aircraft will patrol places, unnoticed until the last minute.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

set up to consolidate SWIMMING

information on
potential Crawling towards
terror attacks.
In March,
clean waters
the French government passed
When Paris hosted its fi rst Olympic
legislation enabling the use of AI-
Games in 1900, swimmers competed in
based surveillance systems to search
the River Seine. Locals had swum here
for potential threats in public spaces
for centuries but swimming was banned
during the Games: abandoned in 1923 due to rising pollution levels.
items, crowd surges or a person on From summer 2025 the public
the ground, for example. will once again be able to swim in
The aim is to respond to security the Seine, at three sites: Bras Marie,
threats more quickly. Algorithms Bras de Grenelle and Bercy. Olympic
will analyse footage from existing organisers have also scheduled the
video surveillance in real time. When open-water triathlon swimming events
by the Seine’s famous Alexandre III
something suspicious is discovered,
Bridge. Assuming, of course, the river
alerts are sent to the relevant
can be made clean enough in time.
authorities, who decide if the threat is
Paris has a combined sewer system
real and whether to act on it. for sewage and rainwater. Heavy rain
The new software was tested at sometimes overwhelms the wastewater
the March Depeche Mode concert plant, causing the sewage system to
at the Stade de France, successfully overflow. Norovirus, hepatitis and
according to police chiefs, who gave other harmful bacteria can end up in
it the green light for future use. Civil the river.
liberties groups and opposition Paris authorities have installed two
new disinfection units at treatment
parties have criticised AI-powered
plants and are building a huge
surveillance as unprecedented in a
subterranean storage basin to manage
democratic society and fear that the
overflow during storms. This basin
measures, presented as temporary can hold up to 50,000 cubic metres of
for the duration of the Games, could water, which is released gradually after
become permanent. periods of rain, preventing pollution
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin wields The government insists that the when wastewater overflows.
an anti-drone weapon that protects the system won’t use controversial facial There’s also an alert system
passage of the Olympic flame
recognition technology, although civil monitoring the water quality in the
liberties groups are concerned that Seine, the Canal de L’Ourcq and the
Bassin de la Villette, the largest
The French air force seems to be this technology could easily be added
artifi cial lake in Paris. City
exploring alternatives to Parade and to the system in the future.
authorities have instructed
bought several Bassalt anti-drone How well sport embraces advances
boat owners moored along
systems earlier this year. in digital technology and AI will be the Seine to connect to
essential to the continued success Paris’ wastewater network
Crowd control of the Games. Haynes says the and are trying to upgrade
At the start of April, French interior four-year Olympic cycle is perfect poor plumbing across the
minister Gérald Darmanin announced for technological innovation: “It’s the city to stop wastewater
that “today, there is no real threat” ideal amount of time between Games being pumped into storm
to the Olympics, although two for new technologies to come along drains and into the river.
Things aren’t going as
weeks earlier, President Macron had and for new innovators to emerge.”
swimmingly (pun intended) as
temporarily raised France’s security The 2028 Olympics takes place in
Paris authorities might have liked.
alert to maximum following the Los Angeles. The last time the Games
Last summer, swimming test events in
Islamic State attack on Moscow’s were held there, pressure-sensitive the Seine were cancelled due to poor
Crocus City Hall. Since February, false-start technologies were used in water quality.
French media have reported three athletics and swimming for the first Despite this, President Macron and
separate incidents of laptops being time, competitors were given access Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo insist they will
stolen that contained Olympic to an early form of email and a man swim in the Seine themselves. But then
security information. France wearing a rocket pack flew across so too did then mayor Jacques Chirac
now has a dedicated Olympic the opening ceremony. See you in back in 1988, just after he’d released
5,000 pike into the river. He never did.
intelligence service that has been four years!

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 INFLUENCE CYCLING

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

The titanium crank

made by additive
manufacturing

BIG PICTURE

Tech on two wheels

The UK’s cycling team will go into and break the airflow in front of
battle on a newly designed track bike the rider. Taking inspiration from
at the Paris Olympics. fi ghter jet design, the fork has a
The Great Britain Cycling Team new serrated edge that allows for
(GBCT) collaborated with Lotus smoother airflow around the rider. To
Engineering, Hope Technology guarantee lightness, the composite
and Renishaw to evolve the Tokyo fork is crafted from the same high-
2020 track bike that contributed grade carbon fi bre and single-cure
to the track team winning seven manufacturing process as the Lotus
Olympic medals. Now, a second Evija hypercar.
generation bike has been designed Renishaw has helped to design
and optimised for the 2024 Olympic and manufacture a number of
Games in Paris. components on the bike, including
Lotus and GBCT have developed the crank, seat stay bridge and
the cockpit of the bike, evolving the dropouts, as well as a fi rst-of-its-kind
unique front fork and handlebar seat post created in aluminium. The
design to allow for greater internal structure of the titanium
aerodynamic e ciency. This is crank uses an internal lattice
coupled with the Hope HBT Paris structure that could only be created
frame which includes refi nements to using additive manufacturing. This
the headstock and seat stays. maintains the strength of the part,
The unique, patented wide-element while keeping it lightweight enough
fork design, introduced at the Tokyo to accommodate the overall weight
Games, continues to reduce drag limits for the bike.

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 INFLUENCE SAILING

A
nnemiek Bekkering is now
retired from competitive sailing.
She sailed at the 2016 Summer
Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and
again in Tokyo 2020, where she won a
bronze medal in the women’s 49er FX. Her
career spanned two decades, competing
in multiple elite sailing events and rapidly
establishing herself as a leading light
in the Dutch sailing scene. Yet, in spite
of complete dedication to sailing, and
maximising her training opportunities and
potential, there was a gap, a hole that, if
filled, she knew would further enhance her
performance and unlock greater success.
Bekkering says: “I spent many hours
on the water, practising and improving
my skills. But when I was off the water,
there was little that I could do apart
from improve my fitness. If I’m not on
the water, how can I learn, practise
manoeuvres, and experiment different
approaches and strategies to see what
would deliver the best racing outcome?
And when racing, I am focused on my
boat and all the variables around me. It’s
hard to study what all of my competitors
are doing. All I could do was think about
me, working on my physical performance
and readiness, and wait for the next

HIDDEN
training session or event.”

Following the north star

In 2021, Bekkering moved into a new role
at the Sailing Innovation Centre (SIC)
in The Hague. The SIC’s mission is clear:

DEPTHS
to accelerate innovation in sailing. It
supports the sporting ambitions of the
Netherlands in sailing, promotes interest
in the sport, and supports companies in
realising new and better products and
services. In short: more medals, more
sailors, and more business.
It is in this role that she decided to
combine her passion for sailing with
the frustration she had as an elite
Sport has become obsessed with data,
competitor. She says: “Sailing as a using it to gain the fine margins on which
sport should be addicted to data, and
we see this happening in yacht racing,
success rests. However, it is new to dinghy
ocean racing and so on. However, in class sailing, and the Dutch team at the
the Olympic sailing arena, this is not
common. Together with [tech consultant] Paris Olympics is taking a data-driven
Portera, we are working to transform the
access and use of data to drive sailing
approach in its quest for medals
team performance. We are combining
data analytics, AI and advanced
modelling to use data to enable athletes

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

‘I see data as the next big

opportunity in sailing, and
together we are working to
transform the access and
use of data to drive sailing
team performance’
ANNEMIEK BEKKERING,
SAILING INNOVATION CENTRE, THE HAGUE

and distance per team. We can study

manoeuvres, evaluate race strategy,
look at number of tacks and jibes, layline
analysis, bias used, distance to start line,
speed at start, position at start line. It’s
incredible what we can already analyse.”

Destination Paris
analyse their race strategy against Meeting in Amsterdam in January 2024,
their competitors’ strategy? And what if the team had competitions in March and
that went further, to allow for outcome April before the main event in Paris in
probability modelling and enablement of July 2024. There was a lot of work to do.
simulating various race situations and Yasemin Orhun, Project Neptune lead
strategies to understand likely outcomes? developer, said of the programme: “We’ve
That would allow athletes to plan, had amazing feedback from the sailors
experiment and explore outcomes in the on the metrics they would like to see and
way pilots do in simulators, Formula 1 cars analyse, and also the experience on the
do in race strategy simulations and Ryder dashboard ... Working with Annemiek
Bart Lambriex and Floris van de Werken have won
the last three World Championships in the 49er class
Cup golfers did to great success in 2023. and the SIC, we know there is more data
and will be favourites going into the Olympics In October 2023, Project Neptune that we can gather, like using IoT in real
was formed, and a working group set time to improve our dataset and model.
out to prove the value of data in driving We are hugely excited with the ideas we
to understand race performance, the superior performance in sailing. have for race simulation and outcome
environmental dynamics, and explore The first step on the journey was prediction. This will allow us also to
race strategies before and after races. gathering the available data and creating track and analyse training camps and
Our belief is that with better data the a baseline reporting suite. Within three how much improvement the top sailors
athletes will have better decision-making weeks an interactive dashboard showed have achieved.”
in race moments.” race data in a way that had not been Over the intervening months, the team
In 2023, Portera joined Team Allianz in seen before. After one race, Odile van has added layers of additional analysis
Photography: Portera, Sailing Innovation Centre

sponsoring a number of Dutch sailors at Aanholt, qualifier for Paris 2024 and and reporting, tracking both race data
Paris 2024. Baris Kavakli, CEO of Portera winner of the Conny van Rietschoten and regatta progression. This layering up
and a keen sailor himself, and Bekkering Trophy, said: “It is quite amazing what of race data means that sailors can not
made an instant connection around a they have done in such a short space only study their performance, but also
shared ‘north star’ of achieving success of time. We have start analysis, speed gain insight into the direct and indirect
through smart use of data. analysis, and holistic race overviews with competitors’ race strategies.
What if the athletes had complete recap, advance and rewind capability.” It is nearly time to assess what
data on race situations – water speed Bekkering says: “We can see progress has been made, with the
and direction, wind speed and direction, descriptive statistics from a given Olympics round the corner. The
boat speed and direction, all connected race, upwind speed and distance Dutch have a strong team and are
to race performance in an accessible, and downwind speed and distance among the favourites in the 49er and
intuitive interface? What if teams could per team, and overall average speed Laser categories.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 27

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 INFLUENCE OLYMPIC GAMES

3 £7.5bn
The number of Estimated cost of the Paris
times Paris will have Games, with 96% coming from
hosted the Games – a the private sector. 95% of
record matched only infrastructure being used in Paris
by London was already built or is temporary

10,500 £27bn
athletes will take part The cost of the Tokyo
in the Games Olympics in 2021

329 £43bn
The number of medal Record cost for staging
events across 32 sports. Games, set by
Each medal contains an the Winter Olympics
original fragment of the in Sochi, Russia,
Eiffel Tower ironwork in 2014

RE-ENGINEERING PARIS
FOR THE GREATEST
SHOW ON EARTH
The 33rd Summer Olympic Games will take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August,
followed by the Paralympics on 28 August to 8 September. Events will take place at
existing sporting venues including the Stade de France and Roland Garros, as well
as sites at the Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde and Palace of Versailles

The International
With a combination of radars and cameras, Olympic Committee, in
and a goniometer that detects and conjunction with AI expert
jams radio transmissions, a suspicious Signify, is also taking care
drone could technically be immobilised, of athletes’ social media
intercepted by a police helicopter or, as a exposure to protect them
last resort, shot down from online abuse

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

2 Lille
Basketball (preliminaries)
Handball (finals)
permanent sports
facilities have been built
for the 2024 Games
– the Aquatics Centre
(left) beside the Stade
12,000
de France and the Le Capacity of temporary
Bourget climbing venue all-seater stadium at the
foot of the Eiffel Tower
3,000
5,000 Age of Paris’s oldest
monument, the Luxor Obelisk
The size of the Aquatics in Place de la Concorde,
Centre’s roof in square which will overlook temporary
metres, which is covered venues for 37,000 spectators
by photovoltaic panels watching 3x3 basketball, BMX
supplying all of the Paris freestyle, skateboarding and
venue’s energy, making All other events* debut event breaking – a form
it one of France’s largest *with the exception of the of urban street dance
urban solar farms surfing in Tahiti

Events will largely be staged

at existing venues, such 300,000
as the Stade de France for spectators will watch the
Nantes athletics (being prepared for opening ceremony along
football the long jump, below) and the River Seine – the fi rst
rugby, Roland Garros for time the Olympic curtain-
tennis, while swimming will raiser has been held
be held at La Défense Arena outside a stadium
– a venue better known for
hosting rock concerts.

Apart from re-engineering

Paris to host the Olympics,
there will also be a range of
new technology, including
Châteauroux AI to improve performance
Shooting and even diet

Lyon
Football
Bordeaux
Football Saint Étienne
Football

15m
The number of Olympic visitors to Paris
Marseille
Sailing
Football
Nice
Football

that AI-based surveillance systems

will have to monitor to search for
potential threats in public spaces and
on transport. Named threats include
abandoned items, people moving
against the flow, crowd surges,
a person on the ground, fi re and
tra c direction contraventions

Photography: Getty eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 29

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 INFLUENCE DIGITAL CURRENCIES

30 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

MOBILE
MONEY
Central banks around the world are working on
digitising cash. Will it pay off?
WO RDS CHRIS EDWA RDS

T
he timing could not Belief in its ability to substitute transactions globally. It is innately
have been better for dollars, pounds or euros lies in parallel. Contrast that with Bitcoin.
for its fans. When the ability to show every transaction The algorithm might rely on a
the paper that that ever took place and trust that worldwide network of mining
introduced Bitcoin’s they were all legitimate, even if the machines, but the single-ledger
protocol appeared spenders and receivers expect a design limits its speed. Though
on Halloween 2008 under the high degree of anonymity in what the transaction rate is partly set
pen name Satoshi Nakamoto, appears on the chain. Physical cash by block-size limits that can be
the financial system was running requires no such ledger, distributed changed as use of it grows, Bitcoin
scared. Bitcoin was not about to or otherwise. in its current form cannot handle
fix the excesses of arcane financial Perhaps the biggest difference more than 15 transactions per
magic gone wrong in the shape lies in how people have wound second. It has only occasionally
of collateralised debt contracts. up using it. People might think surpassed eight in practice.
But it promised believers with Visa’s credit card network
piles of cash a way to sidestep the does a lot better, handling of the
traditional financial institutions. order of 24,000 transactions per
Nakamoto presented Bitcoin second according to the Digital
as ‘electronic cash’. But it shares of Bitcoin as electronic cash. But Currency Initiative (DCI) at
few characteristics with cash its behaviour has become far the Massachusetts Institute of
other than the ability to spend more like that of gold: a store Technology (MIT). The researchers
it without relying on a bank or of perceived value rather than at the DCI were working on the
similar intermediary to process the something you can use in a shop. basis that a digital version of
transaction. Bitcoin enthusiasts are Bitcoin has one thing in common cash needs to manage at least
keen on one of these characteristics: with cash: it moves around easily. 100,000 transactions per second
it promises the ability to break When the first paper money when they developed a group of
away from something that gave began to replace metal in China protocols intended to support the
cash its credibility over the past (exactly a thousand years ago in digital cash transactions of Project
10 centuries. It is not fiat money 1024), the empire under the Song Hamilton, developed with the
like the folding form, created by dynasty was growing to double its Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
a central bank and passed on geographical size. several years ago.
to private banks for distribution The distributed nature of But do we need digital cash
before being collected later as the physical cash means it can at all, given the prevalence of
notes deteriorate. support millions of simultaneous private payment networks like

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 INFLUENCE DIGITAL CURRENCIES

9000
BCE
First concept of currency is
livestock, especially cows 700
AD
First paper bills
and credit notes
1000 BCE introduced
First tokens are bronze and copper in China
replicas of cowrie shells and other items

MONEY TIMELINE

775
Pound sterling – a pound
weight (453g) of silver
– introduced

1300 BCE 700 BCE 1024

Cowrie shells used as currency, along with Coins made of precious metals Printed banknotes
other natural items such as whales’ teeth introduced in ancient Turkey issued in China

PayPal, Venmo or Zelle? Fintech companies importantly, the bank made it far cheaper at a conference on central bank digital
have naturally leapt on the opportunity and easier to use. All you needed to receive currency (CBDC) technologies organised by
to substitute for cash to the point where money was a QR code. the Atlantic Council last autumn.
Venmo became a verb in the US just India was earlier to get to a national, The Bahamas, Jamaica and Nigeria
five years after its launch, again in the public-sector payment system with its decided they needed to launch such
wake of the 2008 global financial crisis. Unified Payments Interface (UPI) but CBDCs to the public to prevent digital
But these apps deliver control to private has not matched the growth in the use cash staying private. All three have the
organisations over the kind of spending of Brazil’s Pix since it launched in 2020. stated aim of dealing with the problems
that was largely outside their control for By December last year, the system was of financial exclusion faced by the poor.
centuries. Brazil’s experience provides one processing over 160 million transactions a Nigeria expects its CBDC eNaira to deal
example as to how this can go wrong. And day. According to Mastercard, the number with some problems that Brazil appears
then how it can be rectified. of Brazilian citizens without a bank account to be fixing with Pix rather than the
fell by almost three-quarters during the forthcoming Drex CBDC. More than a third
Payment for the people pandemic and the rise of Pix. of Nigerian adults, close to 40 million
Brazil was an expensive place to spend Brazil’s central bank is now taking the people, have no bank account. And the
money digitally before the start of the next step of making digital currency that country is one of the biggest receivers
current decade. Unsurprisingly, Brazilians can exist outside of a bank account, just of transfers from emigrants overseas,
preferred physical cash wherever they like cash. reaching over 5% of Nigeria’s gross
could, even to the point of queuing in “The question is now should central domestic product in 2019. Those recipients
shops with payment slips to avoid the banks continue to play a role in the are currently paying high commission
transaction charges for mail-order goods. economy by providing a digital version of charges that the government hopes will
The central bank then developed a public- central bank money or should they move fall as more citizens move to the eNaira.
sector payment system, giving it an open away and let private money be the main More broadly, the United Nations hopes
interface available on Github, which form of money circulation?” said Carmelle CBDCs will cut transaction costs for cross-
any service provider could use. Just as Cadet, CEO of fintech company Emtech, border payments from 10% or more to just

32 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

1200s
Cheques used for
business transactions
in Venetian Republic

1860
1967
First automated

1489 First international

money transfer service,
teller machine
(ATM) opened at
2009
First UK pound effectively e-money, was a Barclays Bank
coin, called a introduced with Western branch in Enfi eld, Bitcoin, the fi rst digital
sovereign, launched Union’s telegram service north London currency, created

1950
Diners Club, the
odern
fi rst modern
credit card,
ed
launched

1994
First online transaction

1785 – a sale of Sting’s album

Ten Summoner’s Tales –
US dollar established took place on NetMarket

3%. That may come with extra features make it easier for government agencies to a speech at a conference last November
that CBDCs can support in a way that track individuals’ transactions. organised by the European Central Bank
private bank accounts currently do not. Improved surveillance of how money and the Centre for Economic Policy
Cadet sees another reason for central moves is one reason some believe countries Research, Banca d’Italia governor Fabio
banks to get involved: “The private sector should introduce CBDCs. Pakistani think Panetta argued the accusation of privacy
can fail in a way that a central bank might tank Prime Institute sees digital cash as issues is better aimed at the fintech giants.
not.” A central bank that retains control of a way of cracking down on corruption, “Through their involvement in payments,
cash, even though it represents a relatively making it easier to see how large volumes large technology companies have access
small proportion of all the money flowing of money move around. Nigeria’s central to extensive customer information,
around an economy compared to the bank designed the eNaira to be traceable. including income, preferences and
amount that comes from private-bank The blockchain transactions link to the demand patterns.” And they have strong
loans, may prove vital to stability. accounts of known users. Coupled with the commercial incentives to use that data,
di culty of gaining access to the accounts he claimed. A digital euro would have “a
Hush money in the first place, take-up has been slow in notable advantage due to the absence of
Only a handful of countries have active Nigeria. However, Prime’s analysts believe profit-maximising incentives on the part of
CBDCs in circulation but, by the end of last Pakistan could overcome poor take-up by its issuer, the ECB”.
year, over 130 countries had announced choosing to pay a universal basic income to The conflicting demands over privacy
plans to develop or pilot their own citizens using the CBDC. will probably drive some of the technical
schemes. China has conducted large- Some level of surveillance seems choices surrounding CBDCs. Some systems,
scale trials of its digital yuan. The UK and inevitable: central banks do not want such as prototypes developed by MIT’s
the European Union have yet to decide to give up the ability to track money- DCI, focus more on limiting how much
which side of the fence their central banks laundering operations. The question is information each transaction stores and
will occupy. It is a political as well as a how to balance that against a growing for how long. In one implementation, the
financial choice. Republican opposition to understanding that lack of privacy will system identifies the payer and payee
CBDCs are largely based on claims it would hinder deployment of CBDCs. However, in but does not bother to record that

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 INFLUENCE DIGITAL CURRENCIES JULY-AUGUST 2024

Nigerian CBDC eNaira

was launched in 2021, but
take-up has been sluggish

to be loaded from a bank account. This

effectively provides payer anonymity,
whereas the payee has to identify
themselves to see the money deposited
into their account.

Safety first
Though today’s phones have the
hardware needed to host tomorrow’s
CBDC transactions, there is a question
of for how long that hardware will be
suitable. Inevitably, digital cash will be a
magnet for cyber criminals. To work out
how vulnerable these systems could be,
one of several CBDC projects run by the
BIS looked at how well these systems
might stand up over time. A major issue
for any system that will be in operation
into the 2030s and beyond is how well
protected it is against attacks made using
quantum computers.
“The private Project Tourbillon’s researchers found
existing proposals for quantum-safe
information in the final ledger, only sector can fail cryptography slowed down transactions

in a way that
the resulting cash balances. This kind considerably, taking five times as long
of system has the advantage of high to complete a payment compared
throughput through parallel operations.
Funds that belong to different people can
a central bank to systems that use the encryption
implemented in most mobile phones
be exchanged using completely different
servers that do not try to align their results
might not” today. The transaction rate also
plummeted from a couple of thousand
on every transaction. Synchronisation CARMELLE CADET, CEO OF per second to 20 or less.
takes place later in the background. FINTECH COMPANY EMTECH These problems may convince central
Another option is to make it possible banks that even digital central bank
to track transactions so that police money should stay as something to
can examine records in anti-money armed with a wireless interface could which only accredited private banks
laundering investigations. But rather than receive the money. and fintechs can gain access. That is
just hand the police permanent access, In 2020, Visa described a prototype a decision the Swiss central bank took
‘accountable decryption’ provides some for these kinds of o ine digital- earlier this year.
privacy guarantees. Researchers at the cash transactions that also uses lazy There are still reasons for using CBDCs
University of Birmingham designed one synchronisation similar to MIT’s proposal. in concert with blockchains for moving
system that builds on top of the trusted But it has additional protections to money issued by central banks, even if
execution environments supported by prevent double spending while o ine. the systems never directly deliver cash to
almost all mobile phones, adding a layer Similar to accountable decryption, consumers. One advantage groups like
that securely logs any successful accesses logs designed to be immutable should MIT’s DCI see in this kind of arrangement
to the underlying data. prevent attempts to spend the same is for cross-border transactions. Banks
The same cryptoprocessors sitting money multiple times before the devices can attach smart contracts similar to
inside mobile phones may be the key synchronise with the network. As with those used on Ethereum and similar
to keeping another important attribute online transactions, if the central bank blockchains to automate more of the
of physical cash: the ability to perform opts for a high-privacy implementation, processes that currently make sending
transactions out of reach of the the logs need not show who paid whom, money abroad a costly and slow process.
internet. The African payment service just how much to deduct or add to each Central banks may take those benefits
M-Pesa already offers notionally o ine user’s balance. and opt to follow a similar pattern to
transactions, but this still relies on access The Project Tourbillon prototype, Brazil. They may focus more on defining
to a network with texting services. CBDCs developed by a team formed by the and enforcing common standards for how
will need to make it possible to handle Bank for International Settlements (BIS), people can pay each other over private
unanticipated transactions without a took a different approach. The designers networks rather than competing directly
network connection. A basic smartcard opted for single-use tokens that have with the banks and fintechs.

34 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 INFLUENCE BANKNOTES

NOTEWORTHY A silver foil patch Under a good-

contains a 3D quality ultraviolet
image of the light, the number 5,
For people who are blind and
coronation crown. 10, 20 or 50 appears
partially sighted, the value in bright red and
of notes can be identified green on the front of
by the number of clusters the note, against a
of raised dots in the top left duller background.
corner. The £5 has none,
the £10 has two, the £20
has three and the £50 has
four clusters.

A portrait of King Charles III

or Queen Elizabeth II is printed
on the see-through window.

There are more £20 notes

The foil over the
in circulation than any front window
other denomination. In should be gold on
2024 the volumes were: the £5 and £10,
gold and blue
on the £20, and
£5 gold and green

384m
(£1.92bn)
on the £50. The
foil is silver on
the back of all
notes. A second
smaller window
£10 is featured in the

1.277bn
(£12.77bn)
bottom corner on
the £20 and £50.

When you tilt a £5

note, a coloured
£20 border around the

2.646bn
(£52.92bn)
If the note is
tilted, the hologram
edge of the window
will change from
purple to green, as
image changes to will the ‘£’ symbol.
On the £10 note
£50 read either ‘Five’,
‘Ten’, ‘Twenty’ or it is the quill that

295m
(£14.75bn)
‘Fifty’ with the
word ‘Pounds’.
changes from purple
to orange.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

FACTS The note is printed

Security
features
A circular metallic foil patch
on the rear of the £5 note is
green and contains the word
‘BLENHEIM’. On a £10 note the
patch is copper and carries the
letters ‘JA’, the £20 note’s patch
on polymer, a thin is purple and contains a letter ‘T’,
and flexible plastic while the £50 patch is red and
material. On the features the letters ‘AT’.
front of the note,
you can feel raised
print on the words
‘Bank of England’.

For cost and environmental

reasons, there will not be a
complete replacement of
banknotes. Notes featuring
King Charles will be filtered
in to replace the Queen
Elizabeth notes only when the
old ones wear out.

King Charles is only

the second monarch to
appear on UK banknotes.
Queen Elizabeth became
the first in 1960.

The image of the

King was redrawn
as part of a four-
month exercise.
It uses intaglio
– etched lines and
dots providing
form and depth
– which makes
counterfeiting
more di cult.
Source: Bank of England

£82.37bn £2.115bn
The total value of notes in The total value of £5, £10, £20 and
0.0025%
Number of counterfeit
circulation from the Bank £50 notes o cially destroyed by banknotes in 2023. Of these,
of England in 2024. the Bank of England in 2024. the majority were £20 notes.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 37

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 INFLUENCE SEWAGE

Raw sewage in our

seas and rivers is,
understandably,
causing outrage.
Flood waters even
bring that sewage
into our homes. What
technology could the
industry use to clear
the waters?
WO R DS H E L E N A P O ZN IAK

SCANDALOUS
W
orking for a water
company, you get
used to bearing
the brunt of
public fury, says
Dr Nick Mills, an
engineer at Southern Water. Where people
were once curious, they’re now livid. “I get
SEWAGE
it – of course people are angry.”
Small wonder. On any given day, anti-
sewage apps still ping with warnings
of spills – urbanisation, torrential rain and
decades of underinvestment have pushed
a creaky system beyond its limits.
Mills, who heads Southern Water’s
Clean Rivers and Seas Task Force, and his
team are on a mission to find out where
the water is coming from and stop the
spills – with new technology, smarter use
of existing infrastructure and better use
of nature. This is harder than it sounds.
Water companies often don’t have access
rights to the streets and sites where the
rain falls, and red tape can delay action.
But last year, deliberate spills of excess
sewage and wastewater into England’s
rivers and seas doubled to a record 3.6
million hours, and water companies are
now on the clock to cut the spills, with

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

to be used a handful of times a year

rather than thousands. But solving the
problem by separating sewage from
rain in underground systems would cost
unfeasible sums. “That’s a pipe dream,”
says Dr Dan Jarman, group technology
manager at Hydro International.
Horror stories abound – earlier this year
a marine scientist said he routinely found
cocaine and other class A drugs in fish
and the marine life of parts of the south
coast. Furious protesters recently gathered
beside one of Hampshire’s beloved chalk
streams where Southern Water was
spilling sewage and water from a local
treatment plant. This is in part, says Mills,
because of record levels of pressurised
groundwater squeezing into leaky piping,
much of it privately owned – in areas
where groundwater levels are high,
Southern Water will seal public and private
sewers and pipes with gel technology.
“For rainfall, the last 18 months have
broken all records,” says Mills. “2023 was a
year like no other.”
Anyone nostalgic about clean beaches
should take note – within living memory,
the UK used to pump raw sewage, filtered
to remove the ‘floaty bits’, straight into the
sea through long pipes, or dump sludge
directly from ships. “Today we are orders
of magnitude better than we were,” says
John Williams, professor of environmental
technology at the University of Portsmouth.
culprits facing potentially unlimited Only with the urban wastewater
fines. Southern Water was fined a record treatment directive of 1991, implemented
£90m in 2021 for pumping billions of litres in December 2000, did it become illegal
of wastewater into the sea. for towns to dump sewage without
But water companies can’t expect secondary treatment. But subsequent
customers to cross their legs while they investment in sewage treatment and
fix the problem. Even on dry days, water infrastructure was too hasty, say critics,
companies in the south and west may have who blame decades of underfunding.
illegally spilled waste a suspected 388 times We’re used to hearing authorities blame
in 2022, a BBC investigation found – other the UK’s Victorian plumbing, but less than
water companies under investigation didn’t 12% of sewers date from that era.
give data. Dry spills are more damaging as In the past, water companies relied
they are more concentrated, and rivers are on calls from the public to discover if
slower and lower. something was amiss. Today the UK’s
Water companies are only allowed to sewage system is closely monitored by
spill untreated waste when the system is water firms and the public, and all combined
overwhelmed during heavy or prolonged storm overflows are now fitted with
rain, which drains into a combined event duration monitors. But with greater
sewer carrying household wastewater transparency comes greater scrutiny.
to treatment works. Overflows are Since sensors have grown cheaper,
meant to be a safety valve during heavy Southern Water has installed more than
rainfall, preventing sewage backing up 24,000 sewer-level monitors – covering
into peoples’ homes, and only meant some 10% of the network and focusing

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 INFLUENCE SEWAGE

on hotspots. Artificial intelligence (AI) blockages, allowing engineers to intervene Today, extreme storms can dump millions
proactively detects blockages before before they can wreak havoc. “We operate of cubic metres of water in a short space
they can cause problems. “We can now enough sewer pipes … to go around the of time, potentially overwhelming new
be smarter,” says Mills. “The data has world twice,” says Brunsden. “As we can’t infrastructure. Even London’s new and vast
also given us a massive insight into be everywhere at once, these monitors are Thames Tideway Tunnel may have a limited
network operation, enhancement and root crucial for monitoring and intervention.” lifespan of a few decades, say critics. As the
cause analysis.” Southern Water plans a £1.5bn climate heats up, rainfall will only become
Sewage blockages cause 80% investment between 2025 and 2035 to more intense, and the sector is keen to look
of flooding and pollution at Anglian Water, combat storm overflows. Nationally, water beyond carbon-intensive infrastructure.
says project manager Hannah Brunsden companies propose an unprecedented There is, of course, no silver bullet to fix
– wet wipes and the like famously gather £96bn investment in sewage infrastructure spills, says Mills. Like all water companies,
cooking grease to form ‘fatbergs’, and the between 2025 and 2030 – with an Southern Water’s catchments are
company spends £19m every year clearing anticipated rise in bills for customers. varied – they span the New Forest to the
40,000 blockages. Anglian has installed Anglian proposes £1bn to address storm tourism-dependent Isle of Wight, through
some 30,000 sewer monitors, and plans to overflows in this period and says, along to the Medway and Kent. It incorporates
monitor its entire network. with other water firms, that it is farm land, delicate chalk streams, leafy
Both Anglian and Southern Water fast-tracking action on spill hotspots. national parks and urban sprawl along the
among others are working with “It’s 20 years since water companies south coast. Portsmouth is the UK’s most
visualisation and software supplied by put their weight behind combined densely populated city after London and
StormHarvester to make sense of the data sewer overflows,” says Jarman. “There’s it’s tricky to retrofit solutions. Summer
– it combines hyper-local forecasts with too much water, and it’s in the wrong droughts and winter storms leave little
information from sensors to detect when place.” But why spill on dry days? Water wiggle room for error. “The south-east [per
networks aren’t functioning at top capacity. companies blame blockages, groundwater capita] can be drier than Istanbul and
The AI platform can flag potential and lack of storage. many other places,” says Mills.

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40 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE
Southern Water has built a reedbed
wetland at a West Sussex sewage works to
protect the waters of Chichester Harbour

village, they installed water butts with slow- Isle of Wight. “We’ve probably saved 30%
drain valves that dramatically cut intense of spills just by optimising the system and
flows – this scheme will be expanded, with finding quick wins,” says Mills.
slow-the-flow measures on 150,000 more As the upstream catchments of sewage
downpipes. Some downpipes now water the treatment works increase thanks to
flowerpots in care homes. However, butts urbanisation and heavier rainfall, installing
and pipes won’t fix it alone. “There needs to decentralised smaller treatment works
be investment in technologies that can take along the combined sewer network would
surface water out of the mix,” says Williams. relieve the pressure, says Keith Hutchings,
Complex geographies require a multi- Water companies have a choice of levers European product manager at Hydro
pronged attack. “We did some analysis to pull, says Jarman. Better maintenance International. This would both save the
with AI early on,” says Mills – rainfall of the sewer network and controlling the need to pump sewage longer distances to
flowing off roads and roofs was behind flow of wastewater throughout treatment end-of-line works and cut the need to spill
nearly two-thirds of spills, groundwater will help. Utilities can increase storm storage directly into rivers and seas.
a quarter, and the remainder down to by using existing unused capacity or But some of the best solutions lie in
complex causes. When groundwater is building more tanks in the middle of sewage nature, says Mills. Features such as green
unusually high, waste pumping stations plants. “These are the most cost-effective roofs, tree pits where water can drain,
work around the clock, with tankers methods,” he says – but the country needs ponds and rain gardens all mimic what
Image: Southern Water

required to remove excess water. an overall increase in sewer capacity. happens in the natural world, using the
Further analysis reveals residential areas Southern Water is using smart gates to environment to absorb rainfall and stop it
where runoff is most extreme, and Mills’ attenuate wastewater flow through the pouring down the drain. Sensitive planting
team has piloted a variety of solutions network, says Mills. Smarter use of pumping means these can be attractive and
to tackle the water flowing off domestic stations and better coordination has biodiverse, as well as practical. Permeable
and industrial roofs. In an Isle of Wight helped stagger sewage in pipes across the paving also allows rain to drain naturally.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 41

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 INFLUENCE SEWAGE

Today, new housing developments

often feature swales – shallow, planted
channels running through the middle –
and these can also be incorporated in
England’s high streets. But it’s complex,
says Williams. Rain runoff from urban
streets picks up whatever is on the ground
– particulates from car tyres, oil spills, dog
mess, discarded kebabs – so it would need
cleaning up. Wetlands can soak up and
remove contaminants at different stages But England’s water companies,
– either at sites for sustainable drainage, with different catchments and
tertiary treatment or storm overflows. waterways, are tackling the
To protect the waters of Chichester problem in different ways, says
Harbour, where groundwater levels are Jarman. “There is no one-size-fits-
high, Southern Water has built a reedbed all approach.” Together some are
wetland at a West Sussex sewage works, investing in innovations in sewage
and plans more around coastal sites. treatment – Williams’ team is part
If nature-based solutions haven’t been of a wider Ofwat programme (Ofwat Hydro International’s
explored to their full potential, it’s in part Water Breakthrough Challenge) to Storm King treatment
system in Namur, Belgium
because of culture within the water industry control levels of nutrients such as
– it’s easier to manage a fixed asset – and phosphorous in treated water.
ambiguity about whose responsibility Despite demands from charities
it is to maintain them. Engineers aren’t and activists, water companies will THAMES TIDEWAY
gardeners. “Who cuts the grass? Who continue to spill sewage – but in an
removes the silt?” says Williams – but if ideal world only when absolutely London’s super sewer is in its fi nal stages
neglected, their impact will fade. essential. It’s the job of engineers to of commissioning. Find out more about this
But if government legislation finally engage more, says Mills, to rebuild fascinating project in E+T’s Deconstructed
removes the right of new builds to public trust – and the job of water video that details the history,
connect runoff to sewers, this will force companies to lure more engineers design and engineering of
more adoption of sustainable drainage and technologists. “There’s huge Thames Tideway Tunnel. All
methods. Mills sees it as part of his remit investment in the sector – it will be Deconstructed videos can be
to convince water companies that some an interesting place to work in the found on our website and on our
YouTube channel (use QR code).
of the answers lie in nature. coming years.”

TESTING

Something in the water

Even if water companies clean up Working with microbiologists, the impact of leaks or track the source
their act, pollution will still flow into immunologists, and health and of contamination.
the UK’s waterways. Much of it comes environment researchers, his company has A Bacterisk kit – a box, an incubator
Images: Thames Tideway, Hydro International

from farming run-off, urban land developed a rapid and portable single- and a reader – can use algorithms to
and transport. use test for contamination, which offers detect water quality within 15 minutes,
Traditional laboratory testing for an easy-to-use patented mechanism, and can work on several samples at
contamination is too slow, says Rui Bacterisk, to detect endotoxins. These once. Molendotech is currently working
Andres, chief executive of start-up are the main molecular component of the with water utilities and some river trusts
Molendotech – a spinout of the University outer wall of bacteria such as E coli, in England, and is beginning to work
of Plymouth that has developed a rapid salmonella and campylobacter, which further afi eld in Europe. Rapid testing
bacterial contamination test to determine are found in human and animal waste could protect bathing waters and allow
water quality on the spot. “If you have to and other contaminants. “We’re the fi rst beaches to reopen more swiftly, and
wait for bacteria to grow, it takes 24 to to use this detection technology to make would also allow swimmers to check for
48 hours. That doesn’t work to protect testing for water contamination safe, themselves – a smaller consumer version
people – by the time you close a beach, it simple and portable,” says Andres. This of the kit could be available within a year
might be too late.” could allow water companies to determine and a half, says Andres.

42 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

Monitoring was D ATA

carried out on

16,140 Sewage spills in England

out of
and Wales, 2023
16,710
The data featured on this, The Rivers
storm overflows
Trust Sewage Map, is known as Event
Duration Monitoring (EDM) data.
579,581 Water level sensors detect releases
Total spills were and collect data at places in the sewer
counted network that allow raw sewage to flow
into the environment.
4,608,495 Signals are sent from these sensors

Total duration,
hours
1,846 when the flow starts and ends. The start
and fi nish times are used to measure how
storm overflows that
spilled for a total of long the flow lasts.
From this, data is shared on the
135 370,112
hours
number of hours that raw sewage has
storm overflows that
been released in certain locations or by
spilled for a total of
62,868 specifi c water companies.
hours However, not every overflow site
has an EDM system in place, so the
data collected cannot be completely
representative of the amount of raw
sewage discharged as a whole.
As of December 2023, all
sewer overflows with monitoring

6,681
storm overflows that
requirements are now monitored.
However, because in previous
years they have not been,
spilled for a total of comparisons from year to year
1,529,105 41 are harder to accurately draw.
hours storm overflows that
spilled for a total of
12,313
251 hours
storm overflows that
spilled for a total of
185
storm overflows that
159,586 165 spilled for a total of
hours storm overflows that
spilled for a total of
34,679
hours
42,166
hours

2,331
128
storm overflows that
3,617
storm overflows that
storm overflows that
spilled for a total of
spilled for a total of spilled for a total of 475,101
Sources: Theriverstrust.org. Image: Istock

91,720 1,324,536 hours

hours
hours

53 394
storm overflows that
storm overflows that
spilled for a total of
12,427
879 spilled for a total of
166,101
storm overflows that hours
hours spilled for a total of
327,604
hours

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 43

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 INFLUENCE FISH TAGGING

OCEANIC
Monitoring fish
populations and
behaviours has taken
off globally, thanks to
agreed protocols on
acoustic telemetry
WO RDS
LOU ISE M U RRAY

U
nderstanding how fish move
around and use our marine
environment is vital to
conserving ocean life. GPS does
not work underwater so different tools are
used. One way to follow the movements
of fish underwater is to use sound waves
transmitted by small tags on fish, which
travel very effectively through water and
can be picked up by receivers or loggers.
This is acoustic telemetry. Marine scientists
around the world have been using
acoustic telemetry to remotely track the
movements of fish and other marine
and freshwater species for
many years.
Tags attached to
marine creatures by
scientists transmit sound
through a sequence of pulses at high
frequency or pings. Unique to that tag
on that fish, these can be picked up by
loggers or receivers on the seabed as the
fish swim by, recording their movements
and presence at a particular location and

44 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

TAG
logger will wait for repeated sends before
confirming the PIC.

Receiver network
There is a large network of existing
receivers across Europe, and ambitious
plans to add to it. The €3.5m STRAITS
(Strategic Infrastructure for Improved
Animal Tracking in European Seas)
project plans to instrument key narrow
fish transit areas at the entrance to the
Irish Sea, the Baltic Sea and at each end
of the Mediterranean Sea (at Gibraltar
and at the Bosphorus by Istanbul) so that
scientists can understand the movements
of migratory fish better by listening in to
the pings of passing migratory species.
It leverages up on ongoing acoustic
telemetry projects and connects several
time. The tags can be surgically implanted, tracking initiatives across Europe.
injected, fed inside baited fish (in the case Extending the geographical range
of some sharks) or externally attached to a of tracking even further is NorTrack
fish or other marine creature such as a crab (Northeast Atlantic Tracking Marine
or lobster. The tags come in different sizes Network), which does exactly what it
depending on the size of the animal you need says on the tin – extending the tracking
to tag, though smaller tags have a shorter of mobile species such as cod, mackerel
battery life. They transmit unique encoded
b and porbeagle sharks into the Atlantic.
bursts of sound – these pulse interval As Thomas Grothues, a fish ecologist
codes (PICs) are usually transmitted at Rutgers University in New Jersey,
every
eve 30 to 90 seconds at a explains: “Most previous telemetry work
specifi
s c frequency. Most was driven by scientists asking specific
transmit a series of pulses questions, often about a single species.
at a frequency of 69kHz. These larger and much more expensive
This
Th frequency is receiver arrays are designed as common
seen as
a the best infrastructure that researchers can use
trade-off between the to answer bigger questions, perhaps
size of the tags and the detectable
detec range even uncovering unknown migrations
of the signals through water, typically
ty and behavioural patterns in fish. The
500-1,000 metres. These pings have to expense of installing these large arrays
be separated and decrypted at the means that they are beyond the remit
receiver end from the background noise of even the most well funded of single
in the ocean. The receivers may be institutions. But without a common
stationary, attached to floating buoys, technology ecosystem, tagged fish may
placed in strategic locations or even pass by, unrecorded by an incompatible
attached to moving boats, wind farms or receiver that is essentially blind to its
oil and gas infrastructure. acoustic pulses. Interoperability and
Receivers or loggers listen to the spaces compatibility are crucial.”
between the ping bursts – a bit like a The data gathered is used to track the
barcode, but for sound – decipher them migrations of wide-ranging species. These
and report the passage of a unique fish ID include the Atlantic bluefin tuna, which
that matches that sonic barcode. swim long distances to feed in the north
The unique PIC ensures against and west Atlantic Ocean before
double counting of the entering the Mediterranean
same fish. Where signals to spawn, or Atlantic salmon,
Fish such as these Atlantic cod
can be tracked over vast distances received by the loggers which leave the rivers where
An acoustic receiver have a partial overlap, say they were born to travel out
being deployed from two fish nearby, the to sea to feed, returning

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 INFLUENCE FISH TAGGING JULY-AUGUST 2024
Sea bream having
a tag inserted

working together as a network,

researchers can bridge these gaps
and unlock a wealth of knowledge
about animal movements
and behaviour.

Counting the COST

Funded by the European Cooperation
in Science and Technology (COST),
the European Tracking Network
(ETN) aims to create a pan-European
network of interoperable and
compatible tagging and receiver
systems. Kim Aarestrup, migratory
fish specialist and professor at the
Technical University of Denmark, says:
“The holy grail is for all acoustic tags
to be unencrypted and decipherable
by every receiver. The current situation

“The holy grail is would be like Apple and Android

phones being unable to speak to

for all acoustic each other – you’d have to have one

of each, which is clearly ridiculous.”
tags to be Those with longer memories will
remember that this very situation
unencrypted and once existed in the early days
of mobile telephony. Different mobile
decipherable by networks could not communicate

every receiver”
with each other. This situation
was ultimately resolved by the
establishment of common protocols
KIM AARESTRUP, MIGRATORY
between manufacturers as a result
FISH SPECIALIST
of consumer pressure.
later in life to spawn in their birth rivers. impact on the fish at critical times Scientists at ETN worked with a
Eels also travel huge distances from in their life cycle. number of manufacturers to develop
freshwater systems around Europe to the Acoustic tracking using tags an established set of unencrypted
Sargasso Sea on the other side of the is very good for answering open source protocols that are also
Atlantic Ocean to breed. questions about wide-ranging backwards compatible with existing
Without knowledge of why, when fish populations. However, it tags, since both tags and receivers
and where these wide-ranging species is less good at fine-resolution can potentially last for many years.
move in the oceans or rivers, it is determination of how fish use Erik Høy is CEO at Thelma Biotel in
impossible to adequately protect them smaller spaces or discrete areas Norway, one of the companies that
by setting up marine protected areas for mating or spawning that could worked closely with ETN researchers
or to manage them sustainably by inform bottom trawling bans in to get an open protocol (OP) over the
allocating fishing quotas. Data gathered sensitive areas at important times line. He says: “This has been driven by
by acoustic trackers also informs of year for marine life. the scientists themselves who have
fisheries’ policies and contributes to None of these ambitious trans- been working with the commercial
determining quotas for economically European projects are possible suppliers of equipment like ourselves.
important fish populations. without a common PIC protocol We started over eight years ago. All
It can also answer more local questions. and receivers that can log those along this has been a cooperation
Cod are known to use feeding grounds codes. Without this, tagged animals between Thelma Biotel, Lotek,
at certain times of year among offshore may move through areas equipped Sonotronics and ETN, with another
wind farms. Acoustic tracking data is with detection systems, but manufacturer Innovasea being
being used to understand where and when researchers could fail to access that a somewhat reluctant partner.
the fish are using the wind farm habitat. data due to lack of collaboration, The OP has been handed over
J_Bourjea

Data like this will help to time work on compatibility or unawareness to ETN to own, for use by the
extending farms to lessen any negative of existing infrastructure. By scientific community.”

46 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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IET.May_Aug24.047.indd 47 21/06/2024 11:23

 INFLUENCE FISH TAGGING JULY-AUGUST 2024

Dr Jan Reubens is a marine biologist

at the Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
in Belgium and is the chair for ETN. He
says: “As marine scientists we have been
aware of the need for compatibility
between equipment manufacturers
for at least 10 years. Soon after ETN
was established in 2017, we started
conversations with all manufacturers
to further our goal of compatibility
and interoperability.
“Being bound to any single
manufacturer with encrypted tags
ultimately stifles innovation in what
becomes essentially a monopoly
situation, and in such a situation D ATA
it’s the science that suffers.”
European Tracking
Backwards compatibility A multi-year tag is inserted

The new code set of one million tags

Network in numbers into the abdomen of an
anaesthetised striped bass
is compatible with existing tags, and
allows researchers to mix and match
tag and receiver/logger purchases
494
users highest standards that the OP we have
between companies. ETN will maintain developed alongside the manufacturers
a central database of all active acoustic works robustly in the field. We are
tags to prevent any duplication. Given
that the useable lifespan of tags can
21,221
tags
confident that it will work in the near
term, for say at least five years out,
be up to 10 years – and the large cost before new or modified protocols are
of building and maintaining a receiver
array – it is also critical that any new
139
species
needed to accommodate a future rise
in the numbers of tags. We are already
protocol be able to accommodate working on the next steps to be able to
existing deployed technology, i.e. accommodate that in time.”
be backwards compatible. During
the development phase of OP, and
843m
movement reports at
Early unpublished results from these
first OP cross-compatible tags and
through to handover to ETN, the global receivers, from Norway, receivers have shown that tuna tagged
manufacturers of acoustic telemetry to the Canary Islands, in Denmark range all the way into the
equipment were present at every east to Turkey and Jordan Mediterranean, and that sea bass have
discussion. But in 2024, US-based been found to migrate over much larger
Innovasea is voicing technical concerns, distances than initially anticipated.
despite being ‘at the table’ throughout Both results have potentially important

Images: Thomas Grothues, Rutgers University Marine Field Station

its development. consequences for the management
Mark Jollymore, president of these species and may not have been
of Innovasea, says: “We currently only picked up before the introduction of OP
offer OP products in Europe to fulfil an in Europe.
urgent need to our customers there. In an ideal world, and not just in
We are not offering OP outside of the European arena, a global protocol
Europe as we have concerns that its would allow all transmitting tags to be
implementation is presently incompatible picked up by all receivers. The supplier
with the large number of tagged market had already been fragmented in
fish currently in the water and with Europe, with several different companies
OP’s overall capability to meet the producing tags and receivers. It could
community’s needs on a global scale.” be argued that the introduction of an
ETN coordinator Reubens disagrees: interoperable system in Europe was
“We are confident that after all the easier than any immediate wider
research and testing the scientific Diver installing implementation. But that remains the
community has performed, work that an acoustic long-term goal of most researchers
receiver
we are about to publish proves to the involved in this area.

48 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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IET.May_Aug24.049.indd 49 21/06/2024 11:23

 INFLUENCE SOUND

50 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

ENGINEERING A

QUIET PLACE
The world is getting louder. There’s a
background hum everywhere. Meanwhile,
hearing problems are hitting our ageing
population hard. We look at efforts to
understand sound perception and restore
a sense of peace and quiet
WO RDS CA RA M EL Q U IN

I
t was – and still is – the spookiest made us realise how very loud everyday
experience of my life. I was standing life is, even outside of cities. The sound
in an anechoic chamber, designed of the fridge compressor really began
to cut out all noise, and it felt to grate, and why do appliances insist
deeply disturbing. There was absolute on beeping?
silence. Even my breath was silent. Speech
sounded weirdly muted because there was What is noise?
no echo at all. The hairs rose on the back To talk about noise, we must first
of my neck and tingled. After a while, I understand sound and how it’s measured.
realised I could hear my own pulse, which “Sound is a pressure wave, so in
was a small comfort. No one stays in an acoustics the only real way to measure it
anechoic chamber for long: the sensory is in pascals,” says Tom Richards, Dyson’s
deprivation makes people hallucinate. senior engineering manager, acoustics
An anechoic chamber is insulated from and vibration. “Decibels are a way of
external noises and designed to minimise converting units that don’t make sense
the reflection of sound waves inside. It’s the linearly. We hear in a logarithmic way so
opposite of everyday life. If you’re sitting decibels are just a way of making those
in a quiet room right now, pause and listen. numbers make a little bit more sense.”
Maybe you can hear the hum of tra c, There are multiple types of decibel, but
birdsong, your laptop’s fan, a distant sound pressure level is the most common
television. Quiet isn’t quiet any more. use of the unit. Sound pressure level
Lockdown saw us forced to spend more changes depending on what environment
time in our own homes. Tra c noise was you test in, so Dyson prefers to measure
blissfully quiet for a short time but then a device’s sound power level (Watts) in
resumed. Suddenly working from home semi-anechoic chambers.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 51

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 INFLUENCE SOUND

“The sound power level of your vacuum D A I LY H U M noise: Quantification of healthy life years
cleaner is the same, whether you’re in lost in Europe outlines health impacts
a cathedral or a bathroom or a lab. It Bring the noise including cardiovascular disease, cognitive
doesn’t change, but the sound pressure dB values of everyday sounds impairment, sleep disturbance and tinnitus.
level does because the environment’s It says, for example, that at least a
changed,” explains Richards. million healthy life years are lost annually
Fireworks,
We’ll stick with the more intuitive unit gunshots 140 Very from tra c-related noise in western
of decibels to talk about noise because dangerous Europe. Importantly, this is the impact
it more closely relates to how we hear Jackhammer 130 of noise alone, not combined with other
sound. And noise is simply unwanted factors such as air pollution.
sound. If a weed is a plant in the wrong 120 Unsafe But isn’t innovation making new
Aircraft
place, a noise is a sound in the wrong takeoff products quieter? Yes and no… put
place. And it’s subjective: it’s common
110 simply, they are but we’re using lots more
Headphones,
to like birdsong but dislike the sound top volume Very loud, of them.
100 use hearing
of a passing car. If you share your “Individual vehicles have got quieter,
neighbour’s music taste, their hi-fi is protection but we have many more of them on the
Power tools 90 or limit time
less annoying. road,” says Professor Trevor Cox, head
(noise dose)
80 of the Acoustics Research Centre at the
Alarm clock
Slave to the rhythm University of Salford. “And as people
Vacuum
“Sound affects our brain waves, our cleaner
70 Loud, not try to avoid gridlock, rush hour extends
heart rate, our hormone secretion, all our damaging over longer times and rat runs get more
physical rhythms,” says Poppy Szkiler, 60 tra c. The ‘average’ noise level is not too
founder and CEO of Quiet Mark. “Designing Conversation different, but we’re losing the quiet times
or engineering with best practice acoustics 50 Moderate and quiet places. These refuges from
and quiet products supports increased noise are really important, as is trying to
40
concentration, decreases anxiety, reduces preserve them.”
stress, aids better sleep and improves Whisper WHO research on noise exposure has
30
health recovery.” fed into UK noise regulations, which
The World Health Organization (WHO) 20 recommend a ‘noise dose’. So, eight
Quiet
considers noise pollution not only an hours of 84dB is equivalent to being
environmental nuisance but also a 10 exposed to four hours of 87dB or two
threat to public health. The WHO report Leaves hours of 90dB. And the same is true for
rustling
Burden of disease from environmental 10
0 products in the home.
“This is one of the reasons our vacuum
cleaners have different modes: so that
people can choose the noise level that
they want,” says Richards. “If your baby
AURAL DIVERSITY is asleep or you’re sensitive to noise,
use Eco mode and you can vacuum for
longer and get a very low dose of noise.
What’s that sound? Or put it in Boost mode for a specific
spot. You still get a relatively low dose
of noise, even though it’s much louder,
Noise is subjective and affects Doctoral Research Hub (LAURA). From
each of us differently. For example, cities to music to consumer electronics, because you’re only using it for a very
some neurodivergent people get everything is designed for a ‘normal’ short period of time.”
Source: researchgate.net. Images: Shutterstock

sensory overload where sounds are listener that doesn’t exist. People who Noise problems are cumulative.
overwhelming. In fact, there’s no such sician with
hear differently, like a musician Sounds from different sources tend to be
thing as ‘normal’ when it comes to rchgoer or an
tinnitus, a lip-reading churchgoer incoherent and add up. Coherent sounds
incohere
hearing. We’re a very diverse bunch. inalised by the
autistic student, are marginalised (same frequency, same wavelength,
“The premise of aural diversity is assumption. LAURA seeks to transform constant phase difference) can add
const
that much work, for example noise ole spectrum
thinking to include the whole
up or cancel each other out. Noise-
regulations, assume ‘normal hearing’,” of aural experience.
cancelling headphones make use
can
says Cox. “But so-called ‘normal In the meantime, novel
of tthis by listening to external
hearing’ is what most young adults ed,
earplugs like Loop (pictured,
have, and only represents about 17% right) let you cancel out background noise and playing you
back
of the population.” background noise but still ‘opposite’ of it, a sine wave that’s
the ‘opp
His colleague Bill Davies runs a tect
hear conversation, or protect coherent but half a cycle out of phase, to
coheren
new Leverhulme Trust Aural Diversity hearing at loud events. cancel iit out. That’s why noise-cancelling

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

others. Cox uses drones as an example:

“Take a quadcopter. They aren’t that
loud but they have a nasty quality to the
sound, like an angry insect. In research
we have psychoacoustic metrics that try
to capture qualities beyond dB.”
Psychoacoustics is the science of how
sounds are perceived. Cox adds that
context is important: “Not having control
over a noise makes it more annoying. If
you work at an airport, you’re probably
less likely to complain about the sound
under the flightpath because your
livelihood depends on it.”
There’s also the matter of taste. Some
sounds are universally loved or loathed,
others are subjective. Dyson has a team
Dyson’s fast, dense of ‘golden listeners’ chosen for having a
motor is intended to cut good ear and then trained to be great
vibration – and at assessing sound quality, whether
therefore noise
that’s tuning the sound from Dyson Zone
headphones or flagging which product
ASSISTIVE DEVICES noises are annoying.
Quiet Mark tests and verifies more
than 80 product categories, with partner
Hearing aids that labs, to provide that information free
aren’t hearing aids globally to consumers, architects and
specifiers. “Our strategy is, if we all buy
The number of people with hearing quiet, design quiet and specify quiet
loss is growing and not just because products, we can collectively eventually
of our ageing population. Decades of
beat noise pollution,” says Szkiler.
loud music and video games are also
taking their toll. Generation X have a
double-whammy, they grew up with a
Designing out the hum
headphones are best at tackling a Walkman and are hitting their 50s and Absorbing sound is the next line of defence.
consistent background hum: trains, planes 60s now. Much research is going into composite
and automobiles. “There is still a stigma about structures called metamaterials.
hearing aids,” says Cox. “A large “Low-frequency sound has a very
The sound of science number of people who could benefi t large wavelength, so attenuating
Cancelling, insulating against and from them don’t have them or don’t low frequencies requires very large
absorbing sound have their uses, but wear them often enough.” structures,” says Cox. “Metamaterials
A new category of not-quite-
it’s preferable to design out noise in have the potential to allow control of
hearing-aids, that look more like
the first place: for example, the pricey noise from much thinner materials.”
AirPods than assistive devices, are
perfectionism of balancing Dyson’s latest aimed at those who don’t feel ready
Natural materials have their uses too
Hyperdymium motor to cut vibration, for a hearing aid. For example, the and embody much less carbon. Hedges
so the shell doesn’t shake and make Signia Active Pro is aimed at people help block high frequencies but are less
noise. The Gen5Detect vacuum cleaner with mild to moderate hearing useful for road noise. Royal Horticultural
is Dyson’s fastest yet, spinning at up to loss, looks like earbuds and uses Society-funded research is looking at how
135,000 revolutions a minute, nine times an AI-powered assistant to adapt to maximise their noise reduction.
faster than a Formula One engine. to environments. “This might be about combining hedges
“Every rotor is individually balanced,” There are even apps that use your with hard landscaping or choosing the
smartphone’s mic to pick up sound
explains Richards. “It’s measured very right species to grow,” says Cox.
and amplify it to your headphones,
accurately and then a milling cutter cuts Of course, a return to planting hedges
although it’s a much more blunt
a little bit of the impeller off. So every instrument than a hearing aid. You
would have the side effect of increasing
single rotor is slightly different.” might think of it as an ear trumpet for habitat. This is much needed and would
Sound quality matters too. Decibels the 21st century. help boost one sound we universally
only measure how loud something is, but enjoy, and rarely consider to be
some sounds are more annoying than noise: birdsong.

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 INFLUENCE ARCHITECTURE

MEET THE
AI-RCHITECTS Architects are increasingly turning to
generative AI tools for creative inspiration
and time-saving automation, but the software
raises technical and ethical concerns and,
with creative jobs already under threat, could
it signal the destruction of the profession?
WO RDS STEPHEN COU SINS
Image: Tim Fu/Midjourney

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

I
deas for iconic buildings and gravity- design iteration, inject new ideas into paper. “Those people were in fear of
defying structures have traditionally project development and automate time- being replaced and eventually they were.
been the mainstay of architects, but consuming tasks. Some have claimed We can very quickly imagine how that will
recent advancements in artificial it will give rise to a new architectural also be the case with AI,” he adds.
intelligence (AI) have for the first time language and typologies.
given machines the ‘creative’ power to But the technology also has ethical Artificial playgrounds
hallucinate strange, hybrid and other- implications: machine-generated images Architects have been dabbling with AI
worldly architectures. are trained on the work of existing for a few years and a significant 41% of
Instagram feeds are filled with highly designers, raising copyright concerns, practices are now using it on at least some
realistic images of AI-generated buildings and AI models have been shown to of their projects, according to a survey
both striking and surreal: glass-bubble regurgitate social stigmas. Some design published earlier this year by the Royal
pods embedded in lush green hillsides; jobs are being lost to machines as firms Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
an exquisite interior cut from the inside struggle to compete on speed and cost, Des Fagan, head of architecture at
of a geode rock; a façade draped in the raising questions over architects’ ability Lancaster University and member of
architectural equivalent of linguine. The to keep hold of the creative reins as the RIBA’s expert advisory group on AI,
possibilities are intriguing, yet also hard technology evolves. says the profession is currently “going
to envision in the real world. “Architects who don’t adapt to AI through an R&D phase” and while future
Trained on massive datasets of images technology will be in danger and they AI e ciency gains remain unproven, “the
and their descriptions, software such as rightfully should be,” says architectural assumption is they will be major”.
DALL·E 2, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion designer Tim Fu, who compares According to the survey, architects’
require only a couple of lines of text prompt generative AI (GenAI) to technological most common use of AI (selected by 70%
to produce wild and unconventional ideas disruption in the early 1980s when of those who said they have adopted AI)
for architecture in a matter of seconds. computer-aided design (CAD) software is for early design-stage visualisations,
Architects have been early adopters triggered a backlash from architects which typically means using text-to-
of the technology, using it to speed up reluctant to move away from pen and image GenAI software.

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Over half of respondents said they use of experimentation and innovation,”

AI design-optioneering tools created to he adds, also helping promote the
optimise building layouts and massing work of smaller practices that would
options based on analysis of numerical not otherwise gain the same exposure.
and contextual data. These include the As a source of near-instantaneous
likes of Delve, by Google’s subsidiary inspiration, GenAI might seem to
Sidewalk Labs, and Autodesk’s Forma. demand little creative input from
The third most commonly stated use of architects, but that is not necessarily
AI was to augment existing parametric the case. According to Fu, it requires
design tools used in building information skill to fine-tune prompts to achieve
modelling (BIM) and 3D design. Aside the desired output, in what he
from 2D design processes, some firms describes as “an entirely creative
are using ChatGPT to explore approaches design process we haven’t seen prior
and reword design statements or to the diffusion AI era”. If the software
ZHA/DALL·E cantilever
planning statements. is not provided with specific direction,
What sets GenAI systems apart from it will make an educated guess at
existing design tools, says Fagan, is their And where mood boards, abstract what is being strived for, resulting in
ability to suggest new working processes renders and other “time-consuming and more generic results.
and practices, which can entirely change esoteric processes” were once required Services like DALL·E 2 and
the way a task is approached. For to communicate early design ideas Midjourney are trained on hundreds of
example, prompting an AI to consider to clients, text-to-image technologies millions of images, but other systems
how to tackle a building problem could make it possible to “include the clients provide more bespoke solutions
result in an idea that fundamentally very early on in the ideation and review tailored to architectural processes.
changes the way an architect designs. process”, Booshan adds.
GenAI predicts patterns in training
data and uses that understanding to Hybrids and mash-ups
create its own plausible new versions of GenAI’s ability to seamlessly fuse distinct
the data. The resulting connections and building types, materials and historical
intermingling can provide an exciting new building vernaculars can create new
source of inspiration for human designers. hybrid strains.
“Designers and architects need ideas Fu has suggested that fusing
to jog their creative processes and AI classical and futuristic architecture
enables us to explore a lot more options could result in a form of neoclassical
and quickly visualise our ideas,” explains futurism, a move away from the
Fu, whose recent experiments with GenAI minimalism that has dominated since the
included turning a photo of crumpled Industrial Revolution.
paper into images that evoke designs by The architect used Midjourney to create
architects Frank Gehry and Zaha Hadid designs for column capitals in this unique
Architects (ZHA), using the tool LookX. style, which were then hand-carved by a
The characteristic sweeping curves stonemason, subverting the convention
and gravity-defying cantilevered forms of machines manufacturing human ideas.
of ZHA indeed seem to preempt the Booshan says GenAI technology
other-worldly forms produced by GenAI will “find its fever pitch” in efforts to
and the practice itself now routinely uses create virtual spaces for the metaverse,
the software for ideation at the outset populated by connected 3D spaces as
of most architectural, urban, interior and opposed to today’s flat 2D websites.
furniture-scale projects. These virtual online worlds could
According to Shajay Booshan, include versions of existing spaces in
associate director and head of the physical world, “such as educational
computation and design at ZHA, the tools venues, music venues and museums”,
Image: Tim Fu/Midjourney

“augment” designers’ ability to explore he says, and novel typologies, “including

ideas in service of the client’s brief and mash-ups of known tropes”. Some
the end-user experience. Critically, they discoveries could migrate back into the
help “visualise the usage of space by physical world or exist as hybrids in both
human user groups”, something that was settings as “tethered worlds”.
ignored by previous tech advancements, “Together, GenAI and the
like algorithmic design, CAD and BIM. metaverse could accelerate the pace

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INFLUENCE

LookX’s large language model is technology expert and data analytics

trained on the architectural database engineer at RSHP, a key concern when
ArchiNet, which includes related using AI is ensuring that building designs
semantics and annotations and, remain unique to the practice. “We
according to the company, exploits self- have a steering group in the o ce that
developed algorithms designed to make considers how various teams are testing
it more applicable to architecture. these tools, and what they’re finding
Stable Diffusion offers architects an useful or not,” he says. “One of the big
additional layer of control by allowing questions is: how do we ensure we still
them to train models using their own have our signature coming through when
images, such as hand sketches, 3D we use them?”
models, photographs or renderings, Ramzan admits that GenAI software
and set input conditions that instruct “has been divisive” and some architects
the model how to behave. feel that the process “is not very authentic”.
The latter has become a favourite Nevertheless, allowing machines to
at architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + automate repetitive tasks, including the
Partners (RSHP), as it allows designers use of AI spatial configuration tools to
to feed in their own sketches and generate building layouts, has resulted in
guide the output more closely, “considerable time savings”.
helping them retain This has allowed designers to focus more
creative agency. on the “creative and human aspects of
According to Haaris the design process”, says Ramzan, “which
Ramzan, project hopefully leads to a higher quality end
product in the space and that signature
that makes each practice what it is”.

Deus ex machina
AI may provide a much needed boost
to productivity, but its ability to outpace
human endeavour is already endangering
traditional jobs and architects and
designers are wary of the repercussions.
Over a third of respondents to the
RIBA survey said AI was a threat to
the architecture profession, while over
half (58%) said it represented a risk of
imitation. If intelligent software can soon
spit out cheap but effective imitations of
buildings it would strike at the heart of
the profession.
Signs of an employment paradigm
shift are already evident in the field of
project illustration and visualisation.
Work to create realistic 3D images
and animations of building models is
frequently outsourced to rendering
companies. According to Fu, the related
processor-intensive ray tracing, touch-
up work in Photoshop and other human
processes mean it can take up to two
weeks to develop and finalise a render.
Doing the work himself in GenAI “takes
just a day or two”.
However, a full takeover of the
profession may not be on the cards,
at least for a while. GenAI tools might
produce realistic-looking results but they

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 INFLUENCE ARCHITECTURE JULY-AUGUST 2024

In a recent experiment, his team

entered a prompt into Midjourney asking
for a rendering of a residential building
in Rio de Janeiro, near a forest and a
beach and with families and children
playing, and the system generated
images of well-maintained modernist
apartment blocks covered in vegetation.
However, when the same prompt was
modified with the text ‘near a favela’,
the software populated images with
are in 2D and do not take into account that may stymie its uptake. Critics have badly dressed children wearing no shoes
precise spatial dimensions, construction warned that GenAI can be trained playing near derelict buildings.
materials, or the integration of structure on the work of existing artists and Two other test prompts asked for a
and mechanical services, which are vital architects, raising copyright concerns rendering of one ‘white’ and one ‘black’
to building design. Spatial configurators and allegations of plagiarism. “Architects neighbourhood in Manhattan. The
do provide practical results, but they still cannot assume that it is their work, they output for the former had clean and
rely on having accurate dimensional and have to take responsibility for everything well-maintained streets and buildings;
contextual data in advance, which limits generated and it’s their decision on the latter a street with older and
the extent of their autonomy. whether to submit that work or not, at neglected buildings.
“There’s not a huge amount of the end of the day,” says Fagan. “The model’s output reflected the
investigation into buildability and racial bias that is impregnated in most
constructability, which at the end of the Doomed to bias? references fed into Gen AI models,”
day is the requirement for buildings,” Furthermore, training datasets repeat Duarte told E+T. “Architects need to be
says Fagan. many of society’s own biases and alert to avoid perpetuating these biases.”
And as Ramzan explains, the mark of misconceptions, potentially twisting As arguably the most disruptive tool
good architecture is its ability to meet architects’ thinking and perpetuating of our time, AI will implicitly reshape
Image: Tim Fu/Midjourney

the needs of humans. Unless AI tools undesirable design tropes. the future of the built environment. The
gain an “emotional understanding and Fábio Duarte, a research scientist at extent to which it becomes integrated
connection” as they evolve, human MIT’s Senseable City Lab, points out into architectural practice, unlocking
architects will likely remain in the that what an AI “predicts” is based not new possibilities for innovation, yet
driving seat. only on patterns of image data, but also also remaining ethically grounded, is
And beyond the technical limitations, patterns of social stigmatisation related a question not even ChatGPT has the
AI also faces ethical and legal barriers to some urban populations. answer to… yet.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 5-MINUTE GUIDE INFLUENCE

Q Start with the basics...

what is artificial
intelligence (AI)?
5
MINUTE S…
amplifying historical bias. More
importantly, the outputs are always
seen through human eyes, and
It is the ability of machines to A N D YO U ’R E we all see things differently. There
‘think’ or perform functions, like A L M O ST is no danger of a homogenised
humans, but it comes in different design sector as every engineer or
shapes and sizes.
T H ER E! architect will take their designs in
different directions.

Q So AI is not all the

same beast then?
It is not. Machine-learning Q So it won’t replace
our jobs?
algorithms use existing data AI and GenAI are brilliant tools
THE ISSUE
to learn how to do a task, and for replacing repetitive processes
gradually get better at it as time and jobs, and it does mean there
goes on – the more data, and the
better that data, the better the
result. Generative AI (GenAI) uses
Generative are some jobs, particularly in
secretarial and administration, that
are likely to be ‘evolved out’ over
more sophisticated large language time. However, in the engineering
models (LLMs), based on the way
neurons work in the human brain.
They can learn more from bigger
AI sector the forecast is that the
effects of AI will be to double the
number of jobs available.
data sources and, dare I say it, When people get excited about AI,
have more ‘creative’ outputs.
it is generative AI specifically that Q What is the limit?
Evolution is inevitable

Q AI can be creative? sets the pulse racing and the final step would be to
Maybe it appears creative progress to artificial general
WO RDS TIM FRYER
because it can come up with so intelligence, where the machine
many potential solutions, many can outperform the human brain.
of which a single engineer might and technology sector it is being There have been suggestions
not think about when they are used to great effect. Some of that AI will reach its ceiling when
trying to design something, but the AI-based software available it has to contend with emotion,
every solution is only based on from the traditional computer- common sense, vulnerability to
the parameters the user puts into aided design (CAD) companies is bias and sabotage, and other
the system and the data the AI is incredibly accomplished. Its use more human attributes. However,
trained on. It is still the user that in architecture, for example, is AGI will gradually see the models
is the creative component here. highlighted on p54 of this issue. and their functionality improve.
Despite this, it will surely never be

Q Who has designed this

AI computer brain?
LLM pioneers OpenAI (creators of
Q It is designing
futuristic buildings?
It is not the creator but a
more human than a human.

ChatGPT), Anthropic and Google component in the creative

DeepMind are leading the pack. process. It needs the engineer or
The real diversity comes from the architect to develop and steer the
multitude of applications that AI creations.
use these platforms to create the
really interesting stuff.
Q It needs keeping
an eye

Q What interesting stuȝ

are we talking about?
It can generate just about
on then?
Absolutely. AI of
any kind is only
anything that you can as good as the
computerise. We are not at AI- data on which
generated smells yet, but words, it is trained and
music, images, video, audio… In that data might
some cases, the jury is still out be out of date or
regarding the quality of these wrong, therefore
outputs but in the engineering introducing bias or

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 INSPIRE INTERVIEW

INTERVIEW

‘They had great

technology that
was going to make
the world better’
With four decades of experience in global
technology brands, Warren East has refocused
on helping smaller businesses grow alongside their
novel technologies. The new chair of C-Capture
and incoming IET president explains why
WO RDS NICK SM ITH

T
here can’t be many But rather than take up golf or steel, cement and petrochemicals,
in the engineering grow wine, his ambition evolved “where CO2 is inevitably produced”.
community that haven’t into developing “a portfolio If we wish to carry on using
heard of Warren East. An of non-exec activity”. More than cement, says East, “there are
engineer and business that, he “wanted a substantial innovative potential solutions
executive of vast and prestigious portion of it – not all of it – to be out there in the future, including
experience, he’s steered the ship associated with energy transition, dissolving CO2 into the cement”.
at both ARM and Rolls-Royce, or mitigating the impact of climate Because such innovations bring
while watching over the third and change”. East says that he draws a with them uncertainties about
fourth industrial revolutions and careful distinction between the two economic viability, scale and time
changes in attitudes to how we environmental concepts. On the to market, “we can’t wait for these
manufacture and work. He’s also one hand, his current non-exec role solutions to appear. We need
played a big role in the digitisation with Tokamak Energy is related to to do something sooner rather
of the technology landscape, as the former – “fusion energy is the than later.” East says that in his
well as shifts in environmental future” – while on the other, his investigation into “what I could
outlooks and cultures. work with C-Capture is focused do” in these fields, he discovered
East retired from “full-time on capturing carbon in hard-to- that much of the “real innovation”
exec stuff ” at the end of 2022. abate industrial sectors such as was happening in smaller

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

“We can’t
wait for these
solutions to
appear. We need
to do something
sooner rather
than later”

organisations, leading him to the

conclusion that he should look for
a “small company that could be
turned into a big company”.
Describing itself as a
developer of “next-generation
carbon-capture technology to
mitigate the impacts of climate
change”, C-Capture – which, as
its name suggests, specialises
in developing technologies for
carbon capture and removal
from industrial processes – ticked
all the right boxes for East. He
joined as chair in early 2024.
Founded in 2009 as a spin-out
from the School of Chemistry
at the University of Leeds, with
commercial backing from IP
Group, Drax, BP Ventures and
Northern Gritstone, it was never
destined to achieve scale without
executive experience of how big
companies become big.
What really attracted East
to C-Capture was its attitude
to growth: “I spoke with some
businesses, and they were more
of the mindset that they had
interesting technology that
maybe they could sell to a big
company in a few years’ time.

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 Professional Registration
Courses
If you are a mentor supporting someone on their
professional journey, or if you are looking to
take the next step in your career and get your
Professional Registration application in tip-top
shape, our courses are designed for you.

– The Key Skills of Mentoring

– Mentoring towards Professional Registration
– Preparing for Professional Registration Take a look
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The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England and Wales (No. 211014) and Scotland (No. SC038698).
Futures Place, Kings Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2UA, United Kingdom.

IET.May_Aug24.062.indd 62 21/06/2024 11:24

 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INTERVIEW INSPIRE

When I spoke to C-Capture they

said that they had great technology
that was going to make the world
better, and they wanted to build a
global business. That’s very much the
sort of thing I’m about. That’s what
motivates me.” As C-Capture’s CEO
Tom White explains, East’s “true asset
to the company at a critical period
in our growth is his experience in
commercialising novel technologies”.
“At C-Capture
East says that for a business to be
successful it needs differentiators:
we’ve had the
“People have been doing carbon technology for East was attracted to C-Capture
by its attitude to growth
capture for decades. But C-Capture’s
approach is based on a fundamentally a decade and
different chemistry to current
commercially-available approaches.
now it’s turning We could do it on the basis of grants,
but frankly I don’t think that’s a very
It uses less energy and allows the into a business” sustainable way to build a business. In
consumables to last for longer; my experience in start-ups that chase
both of those have an impact on grant funding and perpetual investment,
cost. And compared with existing grant by grant. “But then it needs to you find the management spend a lot
technologies, the by-products are not grow. We’ve shown we can do it in of time talking with investors and not
environmentally damaging.” the lab or in a container-sized unit, or enough with potential customers.”
White takes up the story, explaining one tonne per day. But then it needs Referring to his role at ARM, he reflects
that C-Capture “does not rely on to become a chemical engineering that his time at the British semiconductor
the use of amines, offering a safer exercise to get it to hundreds, and software design company convinced
alternative. It is extremely robust, thousands of tonnes per day, which is him that “it’s all about customers. ARM
with a high tolerance to impurities in where Tom came in as an exec. Then had minimal investment in the first place.
industrial flue gases, including O2, SOx we need to say: ‘We want to grow up This is not a dissimilar story. At C-Capture
and NOx. C-Capture’s carbon-capture as a business’ and move from a team we’ve had the technology for a decade
technology is suitable for a wide range of scientists to an organisation with and now it’s turning into a business; I
of applications – even challenging, an experienced CFO and a board, and want to encourage the team here to
hard-to-abate industries.” with a hired hand like me to cheer the follow that ARM-like path. Otherwise we
company along. So we move from run the risk of being trapped in perpetual
Geared for growth science to engineering to a business.” investment chasing.”
Achieving scale is all about changing To do this, to get to the point where The key here is real-world engagement
gear, and East describes how science a company such as C-Capture can with real-world customers, and
projects develop by being iterated play a role in net zero, East says: “We C-Capture currently has four projects
over the years in laboratories with need to find teacher-customers ready out in the field as a central pillar to its
research initiatives getting funded to work on that intermediate step. business growth. “That’s the positioning

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 INSPIRE INTERVIEW JULY-AUGUST 2024

of the technology,” says East. But from

a business point of view “all the owners
of these assets – a glass or cement
factory – can see the carbon pricing
coming at them, and along with that,
the value of their assets coming under
pressure in the future. What we’re
offering these customers from a business
point of view is a way for them to
continue to prosecute their businesses,
while at the same time cleaning up their
carbon footprint.”
East, who also takes up his
appointment as president of the IET at
the start of October 2024, is a chartered
engineer with four decades of industrial
expertise under his belt. After graduating
from the University of Oxford with an
engineering degree he was motivated to
go into industry, particularly the business
end of it, because “it’s an essential part
of society. Business is where wealth gets
generated, wealth gets taxed, tax gets are highly specialised. There are only
recycled by government into the rest two companies on the planet that make
of society, and a bit of it finds its way engines for wide-body commercial aircraft
into science and engineering to feed – Rolls-Royce and GE – and so I very much
the business.” enjoyed the challenge of working there.”
He spent 11 years at Texas Instruments,
followed by a two-decade stint at ARM Green legacy While at Rolls-Royce, East realised
– more than half of his time there was that energy transition was key to the
East was brought on board at
future of the business – and the planet
as CEO. In 2015 he became CEO of Rolls- Rolls-Royce to modernise the
Royce, which, as his media release organisation, one of the side effects
biography states, “he led through a of which was a Road to Damascus since gone on to set speed and altitude
period of modernisation, capacity growth, realisation. “I thought: ‘Goodness me, world records. “To be honest, that was a
and cultural change. In addition, he energy transition is coming, and this bit of a marketing exercise. But what we
successfully steered the business through business is 96% dependent on setting were keen to do was show that it could
the Covid-19 pandemic and championed fire to fossil hydrocarbons. So there’s a be done. We also used that project to
its strategic shift to net zero.” This bit of a strategic issue here. We need to do a heck of a lot of work on battery
statement is the key to understanding address that and change it.’” He adds development and battery safety.”
East’s reluctance to fully retire and the that he was “surprised when I joined All of which got East thinking that
resetting of his career trajectory in the the sector in 2015 that there wasn’t when he left Rolls-Royce he wanted to
direction of energy sustainability. much talk of that”. East says that one put his engineering prowess to work for
“I spent 30 years in the world of his priorities while at Rolls-Royce was the good of the environment. A great
of semiconductors, which was a fantastic to “do quite a lot of convening of the believer in the idea that “engineering
place to work, and I was fortunate to have sector to examine what we could do to can tame science for the benefit
an overlap with a period of tremendous decarbonise, because there’s no way of mankind”, he felt that there was a vast
change and growth in the industry. I my grandchildren are going to get on an area of environmental sustainability to
remain connected by still being on the aeroplane in 2050 if it’s a wild producer be looked into. It was his turn to give
board at ASML.” As computer chips have of CO2”. East says that the electrification something back. “Everybody complains
become “more and part of everyday life, of flight “was one of the initiatives I was about air travel,” says East, “but it’s only
the industry has become a great lens keen to explore. Electrical will have a role, responsible for around 2.5% of CO2 at the
on the world”. But the undergraduate and developing electric powertrains will moment. So what’s being done about
engineer in East couldn’t resist taking on be helpful in smaller aircraft over shorter the other 97.5%? That’s why I decided
the position at Rolls-Royce, due to the distances. Obviously, there’s a huge that a substantial portion of my future
“good barriers to entry in the jet engine amount of engineering involved in that.” work would be associated with energy
business. It’s so blooming di cult to Part of his legacy, the Rolls-Royce all- transition and mitigating the impact
make them work, and the supply chains electric Spirit of Innovation aircraft, has of climate change.”

64 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 INSPIRE HEALTHCARE

AI C
66 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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V
THE
BIG
21/06/2024 15:21
 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

F
ood, exercise, family medical
history – any announcement
by scientists that they have
discovered a possible association
with the likelihood of developing
cancer is destined to grab
headlines. However speculative the link, the
media knows this is a subject we’re all quietly
preoccupied with.
Recently, attention has shifted to an
emerging technology that promises
significant breakthroughs: artificial
intelligence (AI). If a host of projects in
progress around the world prove successful,
AI could make a big difference in tackling the
world’s second-biggest killer.
Experience so far will cause mixed feelings.
In March, it was reported that in UK tests
with more than 10,000 mammograms, a
tool called Mia had successfully identified
all of those where clinicians had found signs
of breast cancer. What might worry women
waiting for the results of a scan was that
Mia found an additional 11, the symptoms of
which had been missed by human doctors.
Being at least as accurate as humans with
years of training will be the benchmark for AI
diagnostics. That doesn’t just mean avoiding
false negatives, but also helping to minimise
false positives that can lead to unnecessary
treatment. The results of the largest study to
date of the impact of blood test screening on
prostate cancer outcomes, carried out by the
universities of Bristol, Oxford and Cambridge
and involving more than 400,000 men aged
between 50 and 69, found that while checks
by human physicians had only a small impact
on reducing deaths, there was evidence
of overdiagnosis leading to unnecessary
treatment, as well as some aggressive
Artificial intelligence seems cancers being missed in their early stages.

to offer a perfect solution Improving on that is one of the ways in

which the world is expecting AI to solve the
to diagnosing and treating plethora of problems facing overburdened
healthcare systems. In the UK, where surveys
cancer more effectively. How suggest satisfaction with the NHS is at an

reassured should patients and unprecedented low, the short-term hope

is that machine learning will at least take
clinicians dealing with this some pressure off beleaguered hospitals
and surgeries by using patient data to
most emotive of conditions reduce waiting times and avoid missed

be by its super-accurate but appointments. With the government banking

on technology to introduce new e ciencies,
dispassionate approach? the Spring Budget 2024 included £3.4bn for
NHS digitisation initiatives that will gather
WO R D S D O MIN IC LEN TO N the data essential for implementing AI-
enabled treatments.

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 INSPIRE HEALTHCARE

Even without AI, many cancer outcomes diagnosis and treatment offer a quick
are already showing a positive trend. Results win for AI, tracking equipment, planning
of a study by charity Cancer Research schedules or simply keeping paperwork
UK released in March showed that fewer up to date.
middle-aged people aged between 35 and For example, a recent small-scale
69 are dying from the disease than at any pilot at hospitals in Uppsala, Sweden,
point over the last 25 years. and Basel, Switzerland, suggests a AI is already used to identify
Increasing screening is undoubtedly generative AI model like ChatGPT is markers of breast cancer
contributing to that. More than a million capable of recording patient notes 10
people have signed up for Our Future times faster than a human doctor without
Health, the UK’s largest-ever health compromising quality.
research programme, which seeks to In the UK, Nottingham University NHS Better testing and diagnosis
spot the appearance of cancer, diabetes, Hospital Foundation Trust was among As well as helping with administrative
dementia and heart disease earlier. At the first NHS facilities to use AI to reduce heavy lifting, the obvious use of AI in
the same time, the minimum age for patient waiting times by implementing a healthcare is to speed up analysis of test
screening for bowel cancer using a home bed-scheduling tool based on digital twin samples. The volume and complexity of
test kit returned by post is being lowered technology – detailed virtual versions information from biopsies and scans is
from everyone over 60 to the over-50s. of a patient that use data in real time increasing, but the number of people with
While we wait for widespread adoption to model the effectiveness of different the specialist skills needed to analyse
of tools like Mia, which are designed treatments. The system, which was them is in short supply.
to complete visual analysis and make developed by PA Consulting, uses data AI will not replace humans, but
accurate predictions more quickly, from previous years to make predictions radiologists will use it to make decisions
short-term e ciency improvements about future occupancy, which proved to more quickly, predicts Ali Guermazi,
in administrative processes around be more than 95% accurate. professor of radiology and medicine at

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian Analytical techniques from other in the US to investigate why some breast
School of Medicine. In a recent article disciplines may offer a solution. cancer patients don’t need chemotherapy.
in the journal Radiology, Guermazi and Researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska The work could lead to more
colleagues report that AI shows great Institutet and SciLifeLab found that personalised treatment, says Hausser.
potential for more complex tasks such methods dating back decades used to “With our new method, we can reveal
as diagnosis and prediction of clinical interpret data from satellite images or important details in tumour tissue
outcomes over time. environmental surveys can be adapted that can determine whether a cancer
Success will require close collaboration to spot cancer. These could involve treatment works or not. The long-
between AI researchers and radiologists, identifying cities, lakes, forests and term goal is to be able to tailor cancer
however. “The wide implementation of deserts, or understanding how plants, treatments to individual needs and avoid
AI-supported data-acquisition methods animals and micro-organisms coexist unnecessary side effects.”
in clinical practice requires establishing within a geographical area.
trusted and reliable results,” he says. “We realised that the interpretation Making treatment more eȝective
Challenges include acquiring large, of tumour images is similar to the For a fortunate proportion of patients who
good-quality datasets, which can be interpretation of satellite images and that undergo tests, AI will provide a welcome
di cult for rare conditions. Collaboration the relationships between cells in a tissue all-clear faster than at present. Inevitably,
between institutions is also important, are similar to the relationships between though, many people will receive the news
but faces di culties such as differences species in ecology,” explains researcher that they need treatment. With a range of
in imaging protocols. Another problem Jean Hausser. therapies on offer, AI can help clinicians
is that traditional AI techniques such The scientists are collaborating with a choose which pathway is likely to be the
as deep neural networks often adopt major cancer hospital in Lyon, France, on most effective.
a ‘black box’ approach that does not clinical trials seeking to understand why Lung cancer is the leading cause of
provide clear explanations about how only some patients respond to cancer death from cancer worldwide. In its early
decisions are being made. immunotherapy, and with the Mayo Clinic stages, tumours are confined to the lung,

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 INSPIRE HEALTHCARE

and surgery is the first line of treatment. Immunology at Washington University

Roughly a third of such patients progress School of Medicine in St Louis. “We have
to advanced stages, however, when cancer risk predictors that tell us which population
spreads to the lymph nodes and other is more likely to progress to more
organs, with the brain often affected first. advanced stages, but we lack the ability to
Physicians have no way of knowing predict individual patient outcomes.”
whose cancer will progress, so they Cote led a study indicating that AI
frequently opt for aggressive therapies methods may be able to help. Researchers
out of caution. trained a machine-learning algorithm
As around 70% of patients will not to predict brain metastasis using 118
experience brain metastasis, the dilemma biopsy samples from patients with early-
CT scans of malignant tumours
is whether to recommend potentially helpful stage lung cancer. Some of the patients
(glioblastoma) in the brain
yet toxic therapies to knock out the cancer developed brain cancer during a five-year
and lessen the risk of it spreading, or wait to monitoring period; some did not and
see if lung surgery alone proves su cient. remained in remission. accurate. Importantly, the algorithm was
“There are no predictive tools available The algorithm was able to predict the highly accurate in predicting which patients
to help physicians when treating patients eventual development of brain cancer would not develop brain metastasis.
with lung cancer,” explains Richard J Cote, with 87% accuracy. In comparison, four Although the results need to be validated
head of the Department of Pathology and pathologists were on average 57.3% in a larger study, they suggest that AI has
the potential to make predictions about
how cancer will progress, using the sort
of biopsy samples that are already being
collected for diagnosis.

Projected cancer incidence in the UK Tumour mapping

Unlike lung cancer, soft tissue sarcomas
arising from fat, blood vessels, fibrous
tissues or muscle are rare. About half
start in an arm or leg, and about 40%
in the abdomen. Surgery can cure many
people if the cancer is localised, but
the median prospect of survival time is
less than two years if the tumour has
metastasised to a point elsewhere in
the body.
“Up to half of patients diagnosed
with a primary tumour will develop
distant metastases, but we don’t have
a good way to predict who,” explains
Everett Moding, an assistant professor of
radiation oncology at Stanford University.
Projected cancer mortality in the UK “Chemotherapy typically doesn’t work
well for these patients, and most don’t
respond to immunotherapy. Identifying
patterns in whether and how different
cell types interact with one another and
correlating them with outcome is critical to
understanding more about the complexity
of this disease and improving outcomes.”
The rarity of this type of cancer and
range of different subtypes makes it hard
to study. Techniques like flow cytometry,
which separates individual cells into
batches, or RNA sequencing, which
identifies which types of proteins a cell is
producing, require fresh samples of similar
Source: Cancer Research UK, Cancer in the UK Overview 2024 tumours from many patients.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

SKIN DEEP

Biased data, bad decisions

Like all applications of other half received only
machine learning, the the decision.
effectiveness of healthcare Clinicians who were
tools can only ever be as presented with an AI
good as the quality of the diagnosis but no explanation
data used to train them. had their own accuracy
Biased information that increase by 2.9 percentage
improves outcomes for some points. When provided
demographic groups can with an explanation,
worsen them for others. accuracy increased by 4.4
For example, a review in percentage points.
the International Journal To test whether an
of Dermatology of all explanation could help
studies published in the clinicians recognise when an
past 10 years into the use AI model is clearly biased
of AI for dermatologic or incorrect, the team also
purposes identifi ed presented them with models
“signifi cant shortcomings” intentionally trained to be
when AI was applied to biased – for example, by
non-white pigmentations, predicting a high likelihood
or ‘skin of colour’. The of pneumonia if the patient
researchers suggest this was 80 years or older.
stems mainly from under- In common with previous
representation in datasets studies, this decreased
and issues with image quality accuracy, in this case by
and standardisation. 11.3 percentage points.
In the US, healthcare AI is Explanations which
the responsibility of the Food explicitly highlighted
and Drug Administration, that the AI was
whose guidance for looking at non-
developers includes a call relevant information
to ensure the logic used by like low bone density
models is transparent, so in patients over 80
that clinicians can review did not help avoid
the underlying reasoning. this serious decline in
Machine-learning tools developed at Stanford
Nevertheless, there is performance.
have helped researchers map distinct cellular
evidence that even when “AI models are
configurations that correspond to clinical explanations are provided, susceptible to shortcuts,
outcomes. CIBERSORTx predicts cell types clinicians can be misled by or spurious correlations in
in a bulk tissue sample based on the relative biased models. the training data. Given a
abundance and patterns of RNA messaging Research at the University dataset in which women are
proteins. EcoTyper builds on this prediction to of Michigan compared underdiagnosed with heart
determine how the cell types behave and which the diagnostic accuracy failure, the model could
other cells they are interacting with. of 457 physicians, nurse pick up on an association
practitioners and physician between being female
Patients whose tumours contained cellular
assistants who were and being at lower risk for
communities with a high proportion of cancer-
presented with clinical heart failure,” says Jenna
fighting immune cells fared much better than
details of patients with Wiens, associate professor
those with few immune cells and elevated levels respiratory failure, as well as of computer science and
of proteins involved in signalling pathways a rating from the AI model engineering at the University
associated with cancer. on whether the patient had of Michigan. “If clinicians
People whose tumours contained an pneumonia, heart failure then rely on such a model, it
intermediate number of immune cells and who or chronic obstructive could amplify existing bias.
displayed elevated levels of the messaging pulmonary disease. Half If explanations could help
proteins had the worst outcomes, but they received an AI-generated clinicians identify incorrect
explanation with the AI model reasoning this could
were also much more likely to respond
model’s decision, while the help mitigate the risks.”
to immunotherapy.

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 INSPIRE HEALTHCARE JULY-AUGUST 2024

“Machine learning overcomes many

of the problems that had been holding
back our understanding of soft tissue
sarcomas,” says Moding, the senior
author of a paper on the study published
in Nature Cancer. “We don’t need fresh
tissue, and we can use computational
approaches to learn what cell types a
tumour contains and which of them tend
to interact with each other.
“Currently, immunotherapy
is used mostly as a second-
line therapy for these
PERSONALISED MEDICINE
patients. We’re starting to
understand the complexity
of the interactions between The trouble
cancer cells and immune
cells, and we hope to leverage
with twins
these to improve outcomes One of the long-term objectives of
and develop new therapies.” extending the application of machine
learning in oncology from drug
A matter of life and death development into diagnostics and AI could improve decision-making
on cancer treatments such as radiology
A diagnosis of cancer can therapies is to enable personalisation
be made worse when the based on ‘digital twins’.
prospects of surviving it, and But experts are already concerned would allow doctors to identify patients
about how di cult it will be to negotiate
for how long, are hard to who will not benefit and try a different
regulatory pathways governed by
predict. In some cases, the approach, or perhaps experimental
different legal frameworks and bodies.
ability to assess whether one treatment in a clinical trial.
Current approval conditions will make
type of treatment is likely to rapid clinical application di cult, warns According to Dr Thomas Booth,
extend life for long enough to Stephen Gilbert, professor of medical reader in neuroimaging at King’s College
move on to another stage can device regulatory science at the Else London and a neurology consultant
be critical. Kröner Fresenius Center for Digital at King’s College Hospital, almost all
Adult primary brain Health at TU Dresden. “The current previous research considers only the
cancer, or glioblastoma, is regulations are a de facto blocker to minority of patients who can tolerate
notoriously di cult to treat, AI-based personalised medicine. A ‘optimal’ treatment. “We wanted to
fundamental change is needed to solve
and just one in four patients address the unmet need of improving
this problem.”
survives more than a year outcomes of the large proportion of
In a review paper published in
after diagnosis. Researchers patients undergoing modified treatment
npj Precision Oncology, Gilbert and
from King’s College London co-authors identify a key challenge: – usually a shorter course and lower dose
used an AI trained on tens legislators and regulatory bodies of radiotherapy if chemotherapy is not
of thousands of MRI scans underestimate the importance of the effective,” says Booth.
to predict whether patients developing technologies and the extent of The study also sidestepped the fact that
would survive the eight changes needed to accommodate them. follow-up brain scans after radiotherapy
months after receiving The researchers suggest, among are often non-specific and oncologists
radiotherapy – the typical other things, updating risk-benefi t cannot be certain whether a treatment is
assessments for highly personalised
time needed for a course of working or failing, Booth adds.
treatment approaches and considering
routine chemotherapy. “Instead of trying to grapple with
adopting in the EU solutions already
Currently, patients are interpreting each and every non-specific
established in the US.
regularly scanned to see if follow-up brain scan, we simply looked at
the chemotherapy is working. one routine scan after radiotherapy and
But this means that some gave an accurate prediction using AI to
patients have ineffective answer a simple question: which patients
chemotherapy that won’t save will not survive the next eight months?
their life and suffer harmful The AI was able to give us an immediate
side effects. An instantaneous and accurate prediction, which means
prediction from an MRI scan clinicians can empower patients to make
choices about their treatment.”

72 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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IET.May_Aug24.073.indd 73 21/06/2024 11:24

 INSPIRE GAMING

IF IN
DOUBT…
JOIN IN!
The amount of time children spend gaming frightens many parents.
But there are skills being developed and a bonding opportunity
waiting to be enjoyed – it’s not all bad
WO R D S H E L E N A P O ZN IAK

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

ideal world – work together and support

each other. Many more games now have
strong female role models, he says. Others
– Brunswick’s absolute favourite of Elden
Ring – offer up rich fantasy worlds and
elaborate back stories. Games, Brunswick
believes, help children to discuss complex
feelings in a simple way in a space where
they feel comfortable.
“I’d say to any parent – just sit and
watch them game and ask them to
explain it to you.” (This is less successful
with older teens.) “At a younger age,
they will likely interact if you are simply
present,” he says.
An only child, he remembers drawing
the grown-ups in his life into his world of
Assassin’s Creed. The first time his mum
heard him swear was during a bout of
Call of Duty: Zombies – “I was in the living
room, she was in the kitchen” and the
console was switched off. He still retains
the handwritten note of rules he and his
mum hammered out back in 2001 for his
Game Boy. “Don’t stay on it too long, stop
when told, don’t get angry, let Mum have
a go.” These still hold true, he says.
Parent forums are awash with fears
of gaming addiction and of Fortnite
in particular, with its renewing, highly
appealing worlds and levels of complexity.
But, as Kit Brunswick at Guild Esports “Most parents believe not allowing them
tells us, gaming is where we can meet our to game until the weekend, say, is a
children in their world – and understand better thing to do,” says Brunswick. He
and communicate with them. however advocates little and often, with
He should know – as head of firm boundaries for younger players.
safeguarding at the London-based “Otherwise they might want to just game
esports academy, he looks after the all Saturday because in their minds, that’s
young elite players, some of whom the only time they’re allowed to. It’s about
compete internationally for hundreds of not giving free rein but not shutting it
thousands of pounds. He’s previously down completely.”
worked in welfare and safeguarding at Few parents are as understanding as
football clubs – where young players could Kayleigh Johnstone, a PR consultant. Hard
use redrawn video game island maps to cut-off times for gaming sessions don’t
talk about their feelings. “It’s like giving work, she says. “It’s a live game with real
someone a whole dictionary that they people and you might be in the middle

I
can point to and say ‘Yes, this is what I’m of it,” and an hour isn’t long enough to
made my first kill the other day. No feeling’ even if they’re not good at talking play Fortnite.
blood, no gore, just a puff of digital about emotions.” And she knows this because she and her
smoke and sparkles, but my pulse This inaugural course aims to educate husband, both in their 30s, game regularly
is racing. I’m playing the social and parents concerned about safety and with their son and daughter, 11 and nine,
compelling game of Fortnite as a novice screen time, and experience the thrill playing Fifa, Roblox and Fortnite. She
on a course to help parents understand of gaming. grew up in the era of PlayStations, Game
why their kids love gaming. “Games are the greatest vehicle to Boys and Mario Kart. “We both loved
My balloon is punctured when I teach life lessons that we’ve been given gaming before we had kids.” Today she’s
overhear my two sons sniggering and in a very long time,” says Brunswick. a relative whizz at Fortnite – though
aping my avatar. Players negotiate, strategise and – in an admittedly few mums play.

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 INSPIRE GAMING JULY-AUGUST 2024

At Guild Esports,
children learn to cooperate
and solve problems

“When my son wanted to play Fortnite, or badly, that’s a feedback loop,” says
I did the usual parenting thing of: ‘Oh, it’s Brunswick. “It’s the same in games –
a shooting game, I don’t want you talking that feedback loop is almost continuous.
to people online.’” Once she’d investigated, You’ll have a whole generation of
she and her husband set tight safety people entering the workforce who
controls – and these, agrees Brunswick, from BTEC through to degree level. Our automatically understand what they
are often underused but offer parents total children will live and work digitally, says need to do to change and grow – and
control over who children play with, for Brunswick – handwritten essays are in the that’s really powerful.”
how long, and who can contact them. past. “You can learn fabulous life skills, As for me, and other parents, the
Today, her husband outstrips her in understand different cultures and learn learning is slower. My reflexes are
spatial awareness – during gaming, problem solving.” lamentable, I can’t fathom up or
she’s the one who likes to gather loot Some 900 schoolchildren have visited down or even master the buttons. “It
and strategise. “But neither of us hold a Guild Esports in the past year. “It gets is a young person’s game,” Brunswick
candle to my son – his reactions are just them thinking about stress, teamwork, agrees – professional players retire in
so much faster.” looking after each other,” says Brunswick. their early 20s. But as professionalism
Her children are, she says, happy and Gaming also teaches players to within esports improves – players will
active, with a busy agenda and social life evaluate their performance as they go have better access to sports science,
beyond gaming. But the family benefits – in the same way a child learns to kick psychology and other services that will
are huge, she says. Even the grandparents a ball. “Whether you’ve kicked it well extend player lifetimes.
have joined in the online karaoke sessions, In the meantime, I am humbled at the
and a granny has been on Roblox. As prowess of gamers and have an inkling of
a family, they talk the same language. how absorbing my son’s gaming world is.
“We’re not out of the loop in the way that Under-10s “A mum called me after she
my parents were. Games may change but accompanied her son to a
I think it’s something we will continue to Overcooked professional event in Edinburgh,”
have in common.” Available on PS4, says Brunswick. “She told me ‘I
For several years, the technology sector PS5, Xbox One, completely get it now I’ve seen it.’
Xbox Series X/S,
has been championing gaming and When parents have that level of
Nintendo Switch
esports as an obvious route to attract understanding, that’s fantastic.”
and PC
young people and build critical digital and Arran says: “You and
Play with your kids, he says, “and
soft skills. Today you can study gaming your child will take I guarantee they will remember it
and its design – qualifications exist on different jobs for years”.
in the kitchen. It’s
fi lled with hilarious
moments and helps develop cooperation
and problem-solving skills.”

GAME BOYS AND GIRLS Super Mario Bros. Wonder Over-10s

Available on Nintendo Switch

Best games for Arran says: “Super Mario Bros. Gran Turismo 7
Wonder has won awards for best Available on PS4 and PS5
parent-child bonding multiplayer and family games. In the Arran says: “Engage
game, you’ll play different characters your competitive side
Nick Arran, managing director at GAME, to complete the instantly familiar and get stuck into this
says: “For kids of all ages, video games side-scrolling Mario levels. Up to four thrilling racing title. Racing
can form a key part of their lives. They play players can play on any one level, games are a classic way
an important role in skills development, making it ideal for families.” to bond through friendly
including problem-solving, overcoming competition, and also help
adversity, and coordination, as well as being to build coordination skills.”
a key aspect of socialising as they get older.
“They offer a great option for parents to Minecraft
bond with their children, through the shared Available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox
experiences of playing games together. Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Mac
You’ll laugh, help them solve challenges, Arran says: “Whether you want to play the
achieve success, and share those ‘did you game together to overcome missions and
see that?’ moments that you can look back achievements, or simply engage creative
on together and enjoy.” mode and build amazing creations together,
On the right, Arran shares his top games for Minecraft offers many ways to enjoy the
parent-child bonding for different age groups. game together.”

76 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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 Call for Papers
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IET.May_Aug24.077.indd 77 21/06/2024 11:24

 INSPIRE ELECTRIC VEHICLES

As tempting as it is to think that the

current surge in EVs represents a frontier in
breakthrough technologies, we’ve been quietly
working away at delivering electric-powered
transportation for close on two centuries
WO R DS N I C K S MITH

200
YEARS OF
ELECTRIC
DREAMS
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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

When Henry Ford brought in the

mass-produced Model T in 1908 at
about a third of the price of an average
electric roadster, the EV’s market share
plummeted, and by the mid-1930s it had
disappeared from the rear-view mirror.
Interest in the electric car was not to be
revived until the oil crises of the 1970s
meant that cheap and abundant petrol
became a thing of the past. To support
R&D in alternative technologies, the
US Congress passed the Electric and
Hybrid Vehicle Research, Development,
and Demonstration Act of 1976 which
prompted successes in niches such as
US Postal Services delivery jeeps, while
during the Apollo programme, the first
vehicle on the Moon was the battery-
powered ‘Moon Buggy’.
Back on Earth, EVs hardly made a dent
in gasoline’s supremacy for a further
two decades. But as new environmental
getting to the Ioniq 5 ‘might have been a legislation emerged, manufacturers
long evolution’ but ‘it was worth it’. resumed experimentation by modifying
Hyundai is right. It has been a long pre-existing models, while in the
evolution, and one that can arguably background much-needed research
be traced back nearly two centuries to was being conducted into improving EV
1828. That was when the Hungarian priest technology, particularly in the battery
Ányos Jedlik attached his electromagnetic sector. According to the US Department
rotating device to a toy carriage. A century of Energy the ‘first turning point’ can be
ago, on 16 April 1911, the New York Times identified as being at end of the 20th

I
If you want to know what the ran a story with the headline ‘Electric century when in 1997 Japanese carmaker
appeal of today’s electric vehicles Autos Grow in Favor’ in the same decade Toyota introduced the Prius.
(EVs) is, look no further than the that Oliver P Fritchle – battery innovator, The other event that helped reshape
advertisements. Under the banner of EV entrepreneur and renewable energy EVs was the announcement in 2006
‘Take the Lead. Drive Electric’, Kia, pioneer – established a production plant that a small Silicon Valley start-up, Tesla
maker of the EV6, says the ‘future of in Denver for his eponymous automobile Motors, “would start producing a luxury
driving is now’. With its XC40 Recharge that was ‘guaranteed to go 100 miles on electric sports car that could go more
compact SUV, Volvo declares that ‘the one charge’. than 200 miles on a single charge”.
future is electric’. A promotion for the It may sound strange to the modern Following which, attention centred on
Volkswagen eGolf shows a driver bidding ear, but before the Great War of 1914-18 a charging infrastructure and battery
a petrol pump assistant a tearful goodbye third of all cars were electric-powered. And development, while in the political sphere
before driving off into an electric future. if it hadn’t been for Charles Kettering’s nations assessed their environmental
Of its Concept EQ, Mercedes simply invention of the electrical ignition starter impact and started to envision a future
states ‘Goodbye noise, hello electric’, in the early 1900s, the internal combustion with decreased reliance on oil imports.
while Polestar 2 is self-assured enough engine may never have propelled the Here we look at 12 of the historical
to poke fun at Tesla by saying that it has fossil-powered internal combustion engine milestones on the 200-year road, from an
no ambitions to conquer Mars. Hyundai vehicle to its virtual monopoly of the experimental toy car to today’s world in
is more level-headed when it tells us that automobile in the 20th century. which EV sales now top 10 million a year.

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 INSPIRE ELECTRIC VEHICLES

1828
A priest sets the
wheels in motion
Although the 18th century American
statesman and inventor Benjamin Franklin
felt his experimentations in electricity
resulted in “Nothing in this Way of Use
to Mankind”, his work on electric motors
would eventually play a part in the
development of the EV. And while the early
evolution of the technology is clearly one
of multiple discovery, credit for the first
functioning EV is usually given to the
Hungarian priest and physicist Ányos
Jedlik who, having invented a new type
of electric motor in 1828, mounted it
onto a small model car.

1880s and
1890s
Cars emerge
on both sides
of the Atlantic
English industrialist Thomas
Parker was already well
known for his work on electric
tramways and electric lighting
when he teamed up with Paul

1881
Following capacity
EV passengers
in Paris
successful test run on 19
Elwell to create a company
that would produce several
prototype electric cars in
Wolverhampton. Concerned
about fuel e ciency and
improvements most April 1881 along the Rue vehicular pollution, Parker
notably by French Valois in Paris, Trouvé was among the earliest
physicist Gaston Planté was unable to secure a environmentalists in the fi eld.
– who invented the patent on his invention, The fi rst electric car developed
lead-acid cell – it was leading him to modify in the US came from William
his fellow countryman the technology for the Morrison of Iowa, who created
Gustave Trouvé who fitted marine propulsion space. a six-passenger wagon
a rechargeable battery- His portable engine reaching speeds of around
powered electric motor to that could be removed 65mph. Austro-Bohemian
a human-carrying tricycle from a boat became automotive engineer Ferdinand
made by British inventor known universally as the Porsche developed the Lohner–
James Starley. Despite a outboard motor. Porsche ‘Mixte Hybrid’ in 1901.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

1897
Hummingbirds on
London and New
York’s streets
Electric battery-powered taxis started
to appear at the end of the 19th
century with Walter Bersley’s fleet of
cabs introduced to London in 1897.
Due to their unfamiliar sound, they
were soon dubbed ‘hummingbirds’.
Meanwhile, in New York, the
Samuel’s Electric Carriage and
Wagon Company ran a fleet of
12 electric hansom cabs. The
company was restructured
to form the Electric Vehicle
Company, while after the turn of
the century 10 such companies
pooled resources to establish the
distinctly modern-sounding New York
Electric Vehicle Association.

1908 ‘The designers of

electric passenger
car-carrying vehicles
1920s to
Oliver Fritchle and the
manufacturing boom
Surging interest in EVs in the early 20th century
created a Golden Age: production peaked in
have made great
advances in the
past few years, and
these machines have
1950s
1912. The boom was led by US engineer Oliver retained all their
The ‘forgotten’
Fritchle who became a celebrity for his 1908
early popularity EV years
endurance run from Lincoln, Nebraska, to
New York in a Victoria Model ‘A’
and are Worldwide discoveries of large
Phaeton, one of steadily petroleum reserves, combined
the first electric car growing with tech advances in the internal
models produced in favour combustion engine, caused the EV
by the firm Fritchle with both market to shrink, leaving only a few
Automobile & niches (such as golf carts) to flourish.
Battery Company.
men and Yale produced its first forklift trucks as
The Victoria cost women…’ electric-powered vehicles, while milk
$2,000 (a gasoline NEW YORK deliveries for much of the 20th century
equivalent was $650) TIMES , 16 were done by EVs, especially in the
APRIL 1911
and was advertised UK. In 1967, the UK Electric Vehicle
as ‘the most attractive Association said that Britain had more
lady’s car ever offered battery-electric vehicles on its roads
to the public’. than the rest of the world combined.

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 INSPIRE ELECTRIC VEHICLES

1971-72
First car on the Moon is an EV
Despite the Moon’s gravity being Apollo 15 mission that landed on
a sixth of Earth’s, early Apollo 30 July 1971. With each wheel
astronauts found they needed independently powered by its own
vehicular support for transporting electric motor, the ‘Moon Buggy’

1959 hundreds of kilos of rock samples

from geological sites to the Lunar
Module. Nasa deployed its fi rst
Lunar Rover Vehicle (LRV) on the
could be folded to fi t inside the
spacecraft. Later used on Apollo
16 and 17 missions, three LRVs are
abandoned on the Moon.

The first mass-made

electric car?
Advertised as ‘the new electric-powered
automobile’, the Henney Kilowatt was
introduced to the US in 1959. With a top
speed of 60mph and a range of 60 miles,
only 100 units were made in the two years
it was in production, of which just 47 were
sold. Despite low volumes – Detroit Electric
and Milburn produced EVs by the thousand
– the Kilowatt is regarded as the first
mass-production electric car, primarily as
it was introduced after a long period of the
technology being dormant. Expect to pay
$40,000 for one today.

If the internal combustion engine ruled

Early supreme for much of the 20th century, it
was to face a stern challenge when Toyota
introduced the fi rst mass-produced hybrid

2000s
Enter a mass-produced
in the form of the Prius in 1997. The vehicle
lived up to its classical Latin name (meaning
‘fi rst’ or ‘before’) by positioning itself as the
world’s cleanest car in terms of both CO2 and
other emissions. It was the fi rst vehicle to
green hybrid simultaneously comply with strict emissions
regulations in three separate continents,
exceeding requirements in Europe, Japan
and the US.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 INSPIRE

2015
Reaching the
million milestone
In September 2015, according
to Hybridcars.com, cumulative
global sales of EVs “totalled about
1,004,000 highway legal plug-in
electric passenger cars and light-duty
vehicles” (equivalent to the annual
sales of all new cars in territories such
as Spain or Mexico). It would take just
over a year for this number to double.
The International Council on Clean
Transportation says transition has
been accelerated by growth in supply
chains and charging infrastructure
and innovative public policy.

2020s
2010 Market maturity
and the Tesla
Nissan Leaf’s decade in the sun Model 3
Introduced in both Japan and its range on a full charge
the US in December 2010, the gradually increasing from 73
Nissan Leaf (as reported by miles to 226 miles. With global
Associated Press) became the sales coming in at 577,000
world’s ‘first modern all-electric, (February 2022), for almost a
zero tailpipe emission five decade the Leaf would reign
door family hatchback to be supreme as the world’s all-time
produced for the mass market top selling plug-in electric car,
from a major manufacturer’. In before being overtaken by the
other words, the EV had arrived, Tesla Model 3 in early 2020.
Since the start of the decade,
d ththe T
Tesla
l
Model 3 four-door sedan has been
the best-selling EV in history, and the
EV acronyms first to pass the one million global
sales mark. Described by Wired as the
EV (or AEV) HEV PHEV PEV “culmination of Elon Musk’s master
Electric vehicle, Hybrid electric Plug-in hybrid Plug-in electric plan” to accelerate the transition to
all-electric vehicle vehicle. A vehicle electric vehicle. vehicle. Any sustainable energy, the Model 3 is also
or battery-electric without plug-in A vehicle vehicle that
the embodiment of the EV’s bumpy
vehicle. A vehicle capacity – its with plug-in can be plugged
ride to market. Taking the new car
that derives its driving energy capability that in (either AEV
energy solely from comes from derives driving or PHEV).
into high-volume manufacturing “was
its battery and must liquid fuel – but energy from production and logistics hell,” says
be plugged into an with electric either its Musk who claims that the company
electricity source to drive system battery or was at one point “about a month”
be recharged. and battery. liquid fuel. away from bankruptcy.

Photography: Getty, Nasa, Nissan, Tesla eandtmagazine.com

e
eaand Engineering and Technology 83

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 GROW REVIEWS

GADGET CORNER WORDS JACK LOUGHRAN

Keep in touch
Check out a colour e-reader that’s also good for
audiobooks, a nod to the Nokia bricks of old and
smart trackers compatible with Find My Device

Ikea Jetström Smart

LED Wall Panel
£35

While not typically a gadgets company, Ikea has released a

30 x 30cm LED panel that is designed to be mounted on your
wall. When linked to the Swedish firm’s Dirigera smart hub and
partner app, users can remotely dim the light and change the
panel’s colour. Offering a peak brightness of 1,150 lumens, the
light can also be used with a standalone remote control for those
who aren’t interested in linking it to a smart home setup.

Kobo Libra
Colour
£199

Kobo has announced its first colour

e-reader, great for graphic novels or
picture-heavy texts. Colour e-readers
are a relatively niche technology
when compared with juggernauts
such as Kindle devices. Their
colours are often relatively muted
and they are particularly prone
to ghosting artefacts compared
to their greyscale counterparts.
Nevertheless, Kobo’s latest device
offers compatibility with a stylus,
a glare-free screen and several
weeks’ worth of battery life. It also
comes with Bluetooth for headphone
connectivity in case audiobooks float
your boat too.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 GROW

MORE
REVIEWS
HERE

JBL Live Beam 3

£149
JBL’s latest wireless buds attempt to differentiate
themselves by including a screen on the exterior of the
case. Alongside the obvious information about
bout battery
life, the touchscreen can also be used
ed to accept calls,
check notifications and play,y, pause and skip media.
“But I can already do all these things on my phone
screen!” you might say. Well, now you can use your
earbud
ud case for these purposes too.

Pebblebee
Android Smart
Trackers
£29/£25

While smart trackers such as Tile

have been around for several
years, Pebblebee’s new trackers
are compatible with Google’s just-
launched Find My Device service.

HMD Nokia The crowdsourced network relies

on the billions of Android phones
3210 already in the wild to help locate
devices and Bluetooth trackers
£75
that have gone awry. The system
HMD is back with another revamp uses the same concept as Apple’s
of a decades-old Nokia device AirTag, which was launched a few
that was famed for its durability years ago (immediately sparking
and long battery life. In an privacy concerns, it should be
attempt to latch onto the recent noted). Pebblebee’s trackers are
late 1990s nostalgia fashion trip, rechargeable and come in three
the Nokia 3210 is back in ‘Scuba forms – a tag for luggage, a clip for
Blue’, ‘Grunge Black’ and ‘Y2K keys, and a card-shaped tracker
Gold’. While it’s never going to that fi ts in a wallet.
fits
replace your smartphone, it could
be handy as a burner device for a
summer festival or to give to your
kids. It comes with some slightly
more modern features, such as a
colour screen and a 2MP camera
with flash (and torch). There’s
no internet on this thing, so its
relatively meagre 1450mAh should
last a good week or so. Snake is
also included for good measure.

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 GROW REVIEWS

THE TEARDOWN WORDS JACK LOUGHRAN

Humane
AI Pin
and
Rabbit
R1
Are AI-led, voice-based devices capable to standing
up to smartphones? Not yet, on this evidence
ince the launch of ChatGPT screen, it does come with a tiny laser

S in November 2022, the buzz

around conversational AI – or
large language models (LLM) –
has reached fever pitch.
Now two firms – Humane and
Rabbit – have attempted to cash in
on the trend with standalone devices
projector that beams information onto a
user’s hand that can be interacted with.
The tiny device also sports a camera
that can supposedly recognise objects in
the world around it, and a wireless battery
pack that doubles as a clip to keep it
attached to the wearer’s clothes.
designed to convince buyers to drop In a teardown by iFixit, Shahram
their smartphones in favour of something Mokhtari noted the well-built, compact
primarily designed to be interacted with design (Humane was founded by an ex-
through voice. Apple engineer and it shows). The AI Pin
Hardware-wise, Humane’s AI Pin is also houses an internal battery pack and
probably the most interesting of the two, wireless charging coil. Other components
and is designed to be clipped onto a include an ambient light and proximity
shirt or jacket and operated using voice sensor, an off-the-shelf Qualcomm
commands. While it lacks a traditional Snapdragon 720G chipset and touchpad.

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 GROW

The large motor and gear combo that powers

the swivel mechanism on the R1’s camera Once dissected, it becomes clear that the Rabbit R1
casing could house a larger battery

While a tiny
The back cover is essentially a charging coil motherboard
controls the local
components, all AI
functionality is
o oaded to
the cloud

The motherboard is densely packed to fi t its diminutive size

The most interesting component is natively, and must communicate with the version of the AI system – everything must
arguably the MEMS laser projector, which cloud through Wi-Fi or a data connection. be o oaded to the cloud.
uses two piezoelectric mirrors to display Next up is the Rabbit R1 – a colourful In recent weeks, enthusiasts have
information. The projector comprises square puck featuring a basic colour managed to get the R1’s OS to easily
a micro-electromechanical system touchscreen and analogue scrolling wheel. run on an Android phone, sparking
that changes the direction of the laser Again, the R1 is designed to be primarily questions about whether a dedicated
depending on how the user is interacting interacted with via a cloud-based AI – the piece of hardware is really necessary at
with the display. screen is largely just a way to access the all. Meanwhile, for years both Android
In order to make the display functional, settings menu for the sparse operating and iOS have come with fully-featured AI
a laser initially shines off what is known system (OS) and to allow the AI to display assistants that can replicate much of the
as a ‘resonant mirror’ to create horizontal occasional bits of relevant information. functionality available on the R1.
scanlines. This is reflected again off a After prising off the back, Mokhtari Humane has also had to face an
‘quasi-static mirror’ for the vertical found a 3.45Wh lithium-polymer battery, underwhelming reception for the AI Pin,
rows. The speed of the system means which did not take up all the available despite consensus being that the hardware
the human eye cannot discern the space. He expressed surprise at this itself was well built. The firm is now looking
flickering between the two sets of decision, considering the R1’s tendency for a buyer just weeks after launch.
scanlines in a similar fashion to how to quickly drain its battery. A motor and While both are interesting experiments,
an old CRT TV works. gear combo is used to power the swivel it does appear that AI-led devices such as
Mokhtari noted that, based on mechanism of the camera. Like the AI Pin, these are still in their infancy – and until
the current hardware, the device the motherboard and chipset are nowhere some form of AI can be run locally, they
is not capable of operating an LLM near powerful enough to run a local will struggle to achieve mass appeal.

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 GROW REGULARS

ECCENTRIC ENGINEER

Swing
ou might imagine that the

Y history of the pendulum is as

old as history itself, but it is only
really during the Renaissance
that people started to wonder
about them as timekeepers. The first clock
with a pendulum appears, perhaps not
surprisingly, in a drawing by Leonardo da

into
Vinci from 1494 but, as with so many of his
devices, he never built one, so we can’t be
sure it would have worked any better than
his helicopter.
The list of illustrious scientists and
pendulum myths grows from there. A story
tells how Galileo Galilei was standing in Pisa

action
Cathedral in 1581 when a breeze set the
lamps of the building swaying. Observing
this, he sagely noticed that the period of
each lamp’s swing depended only on the
length of the pendulum, not the amplitude
of the swing or the weight of the bob.
This gave him the idea for a pendulum
clock. Except none of that is true, or at
least provable. When Galileo did need to One of the simplest machines
accurately measure short periods of time
we know he used his own pulse as he didn’t
in engineering has to be the
have a reliable enough clock. Nor can we pendulum, a device known
prove he was in Pisa Cathedral, or saw
the lamps swinging. What is true is that to anyone who has ever tied
on 29 November 1602 he wrote a letter to anything to a bit of string.
Guidobaldo del Monte, from Padua, in which
he claimed that the period of a pendulum But it has a strange and
was only dependent on its length, and as misunderstood history
such a pendulum might make a useful basis
for a clock. But he never built that clock and
many historians now think he didn’t even
believe the hypothesis in the first place –
which would be good, as it’s not true either.
Galileo’s son Vincenzo did have a go at
making a clock with a pendulum in 1641
using his father’s design but he died in
1649 before the work was completed. And
it probably wouldn’t have worked anyway
as, if you remember, his dad’s thesis wasn’t
exactly true. The period of a pendulum does
vary somewhat with amplitude (as René
Descartes noted in 1636) so a pendulum
in a clock requires regulation. Galileo had
worked out a potential answer to this but
didn’t realise that was the question he
was answering. He noted that the path of
Dutch scientist Christiaan
a point on the rim of a wheel describes a Huygens (1621-95), father
shape known as a cycloid, a shape that so of the pendulum clock

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 GROW

EPISODE ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-SIX

WORDS JUSTIN POLLARD – THE PENDULUM CLOCK

pendulum clocks that improved accuracy English mathematician Richard Towneley

from around 15 minutes a day to 15 decided to improve the mechanism
seconds, but he had avoided Galileo’s five years later, inventing the ‘deadbeat
problem by simply using a pendulum with escapement’. Here, any increased drive
small amplitude, as the problem diminished force causes the pendulum to swing in a
with the amplitude of the swing. He’d wider arc and faster. The time required
also built these in 1656, two years before to cover this extra distance exactly
publishing his description of the cycloid as a compensates for the increased speed of the
tautochrone in his Horologium. To be fair to pendulum, leaving the period unchanged.
him, he did later try to build compensated Here again, the story descends into
clocks using the cycloid but sadly this myth, as Towneley’s achievement is often
worked less well than his previous clocks. given to clockmaker George Graham who
in 1715 set himself the task of creating the
Ticking over most accurate clocks available. With the
Robert Hooke took up the cause in an escapement problem solved, he turned his
attempt to improve the accuracy of clocks attentions to more subtle errors such as
and keep them ticking evenly in unsteady the change in length of a pendulum shaft
conditions but it was the far less illustrious with temperature. He invented the mercury
English clockmaker William Clement who pendulum, where mercury in the bob would
actually invented the working ‘anchor expand with a temperature rise, moving the
escapement’ around 1670 – a mechanism centre of gravity of the pendulum towards
that maintained the swing of the pendulum the pivot, compensating exactly for the
by giving it a small push each swing, increase in length of the pendulum. In turn,
allowing the clock’s wheels to advance a this was improved by Graham’s old friend
fixed amount each time. To demonstrate John Harrison’s invention of the grid-
just how accurate his new clocks were, he iron pendulum, the mechanism for which
invented something else we now take for survived well into the 20th century with an
granted – the minute hand. accuracy of up to one second a month, only
But Clement’s escapement was not to be beaten by the arrival of piezoelectrics.
perfect. Each escape wheel tooth pushed Not that Harrison is now remembered for
the pendulum, which was never allowed this, having eclipsed his own invention with
to freely swing, making it sensitive to any the creation of the marine chronometer and
changes in the drive force, such as the the solving of the problem of longitude. But
mainspring running down. that’s another story…

interested mathematician Blaise Pascal that

he used to think about its properties to keep
his mind off toothache.
But it was Christiaan Huygens, the Dutch
mathematician and engineer, who realised
that the cycloid was a tautochrone. I’ll let
him explain: “On a cycloid whose axis is
erected on the perpendicular and whose
vertex is located at the bottom, the times
of descent, in which a body arrives at the
lowest point at the vertex after having
departed from any point on the cycloid, are
equal to each other...”
This made the cycloid a good
compensating method for controlling a
pendulum as he would then prove. Except
that’s not quite true either. Huygens
had indeed built several rather accurate

Image: Alamy eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 89

88-89 Grow-Eccentric Engineer_ET July-Aug 2024_E&T.indd 89 21/06/2024 15:40

 GROW REGULARS

EVIL ENGINEER WORDS HILARY LAMB

Q UES TION

How high do I turn my

loudspeakers to be
heard across the nation?
Dear Evil Engineer, Dear scorned spouse, rearranging for P and plugging in our
I hope you don’t mind a villain I’m sorry to hear about your figures, we find the power required is
industry outsider writing to you husband’s betrayal. Thankfully, it 2.96 x 106 W. This is rather intangible:
sounds as though you have found a who can say what 2.96 x 106 W
with a very particular plea for
healthy way to grieve – and I will do sounds like? Using the sound power
help. I have spoken to friends, my what I can to support you through equation where P0
sister and my therapist, and none that process. is reference sound power (10-12W), we
of them have been able to give If your announcement is to be find it corresponds to 174dB at 1m
me what I need – so I’m reaching heard in every part of the UK, what from the source.
we need to calculate is the power of a 100dB is a construction site.
out to someone who might.
source audible in the furthest reaches 115dB is a rock concert. 130dB is
Earlier this month, I discovered
of the country. painful. 174dB is approximately as
my husband of 20 years has been The human hearing threshold is loud as standing near a jet engine
having an affair. First came the 0dB, which corresponds to a power during take-off.
denial, then the grief, then the intensity of 10-12 Wm-2. However, No one could deny that is
resolution to give him what he to ensure your message is clearly extremely loud. But jets take off all
heard – otherwise, why bother? – let’s the time, and we don’t hear them as
deserves. I’m going to buy the
aim for the loudness of a typical loud as conversation from hundreds
biggest speaker system I can spoken conversation: 60dB or 10-6 of kilometres away.
fi nd – price is no object – and Wm-2. As the crow flies, Land’s End This is because there are many
announce to the entire country to John O’Groats measures 970km other factors that affect sound
that he is a cheating b*******. (adjust this figure as appropriate if as it travels, such as atmospheric
you would also like the inhabitants attenuation: the reduction in intensity
Could you help me as the others
of the Northern Isles to know that caused by absorption of a sound
have been unable to: by telling me
your husband is a cheating bastard). wave’s energy by air molecules. For
how loud I need my system to be If you float in the sea somewhere typical springtime conditions in the
in order for the message to reach between the Isle of Man and UK, you can expect a linear reduction
every corner of the UK? Scotland’s south-west coast, the in loudness of around 1dB/100m.
entire British mainland comes within This means that a source 174dB loud
485km. This would give you the bonus for someone standing beside it is
Yours,
of covering the island of Ireland too. likely to be inaudible to someone
A scorned spouse So, how powerful a sound standing 20km away, even if all other
measures 60dB loud 485km away? conditions are favourable: no wind, no
The intensity of a source with power P ambient noise, and no obstacles like
at distance r is given by: . By trees and buildings.

90 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com Illustration: John Devolle

90-91 Evil engineer_ET July-Aug 2024_E&T.indd 90 21/06/2024 15:41

 JULY-AUGUST 2024 GROW

THIS MONTH, THE EVIL ENGINEER COMES TO THE AID

OF A CORRESPONDENT SET ON VERY PUBLIC REVENGE

In practice, producing any sound

that is directly audible 485km away is
likely to be beyond the limits of human
technology – and certainly beyond the
limits of loudspeakers piled onto a dinghy
floating in the Irish Sea.
I hope you will not despair at the
information contained within this letter.
After all, there are plenty of other ways
to shame your husband publicly, most
of which are cheaper and easier than
building the loudest speaker system ever.
For instance, consider taking up pirate
radio broadcasting, hacking the BBC News
website, or putting a lot of money into
promoting a social media campaign.

Yours,
The Evil Engineer
PS: There is often said to be a ‘noise limit’ of
194dB. This marks the point at which a pressure
wave can no longer be physically sustained in
the sea-level atmosphere, with each rarefi ed
part of the wave a complete vacuum. This
is not to say that louder sounds cannot
be produced, but they do not spread
out in the conventional way, and
must instead travel their great
distances through sea or land, and/
or as a shockwave.

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 91

90-91 Evil engineer_ET July-Aug 2024_E&T.indd 91 21/06/2024 15:41

 INFORMLETTERS
GROW NEED TO KNOW JULY-AUGUST 2024

TALK SEND LETTERS TO

[email protected]

BACK
Creative engineers
What a sadly blinkered and dismissive
letter from Jack Izatt on the creativity of
scientists [vol 19 issue 3]. Do I possibly
detect a history of sitting through what
he regarded as boring school science
lessons, while others were captivated?
Of course, there is plenty of repetitive
stuff in science, but look at the mind of any
brilliant scientist and you will see stunning
inspirational creativity.
And when Jack’s building is on fire, rescue the
people first, then the means to feed and keep them safe.

SMR Only then, I’m afraid, do you save the artefacts.

Dave Neale CEng MIET

caution
couple of letters recently

A argued [vol 19 issue 2]

for more SMRs [small
modular reactors]. The
energy transition we are starting
on now isn’t going to be easy,
but spending a little time with
a search engine throws doubt
on the feasibility of introducing
SMRs to our electricity supply. I’m
not against nuclear in principle, Robotic games
though there are real challenges
(as far as I know, Finland is the I read with interest the ‘wonders’ of technology
only country which has started being used in football [vol 19 issue 3]. Given
to tackle the waste issue). At that pitches are obviously marked out to micron
present, costs and time still seem accuracy, surely there’s no limit to the precision that
to be excessive, but we need to can be introduced into the game?
be fixing problems now rather However, I couldn’t help thinking that we’re
Images: Adidas, Shutterstock

than sometime down the road. missing a trick: why not remove the pesky middle-
It will be interesting to see how men, i.e. the players and oȞcials, and introduce
the Chinese, who are less worried robots? This would remove the time and money spent
about cost, get on with their on expensive players and oȞcials and let the fans
SMR programme. ‘enjoy’ endless ‘bore-draws’…
Dr Mike O’Carroll MIET David Hoult

92 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

92 Grow - Talkback_31-Aug-2024_E&T.indd 92 21/06/2024 15:43

 JULY-AUGUST 2024 HISTORY GROW

FROM THEARCHIVES
Tanya Weaver looks back at the creation of the first electric
transformer, the birth of the internet and a vital link between oceans
193 YEARS AGO

Bright spark
On 29 August 1831, Michael Faraday
discovered electromagnetic induction,
the principles of which are used
in many applications today, from
inductive chargers and transformers
to electric motors and generators.
Born in 1791 in Southwark, Faraday
received very little schooling but made
up for it with hands-on tinkering and
experimentation. Most of this took
place in the basement laboratory of
the Royal Institution where he
was a laboratory assistant.
Having already conducted
a series of experiments
that built on the discovery
of electromagnetism by
Danish chemist Hans
110 YEARS AGO
Christian Ørsted, Faraday one of the largest and most di cult
carried out one further test that engineering projects ever undertaken.
led to his breakthrough. Setting sail on More than 25,000 lives were claimed
Using a rudimentary insulated the Panama Canal during its creation, with construction crews
induction ring device, featuring coils of facing mudslides, floods and outbreaks of
wire wound around opposite sides, he Cutting through the isthmus of yellow fever and malaria.
found that when he passed an electric Panama and connecting the Atlantic The most dangerous part of the
current through one coil, a momentary and Pacifi c oceans, the 82km Panama construction was carving through a 13km
current was induced in the other coil. Canal o cially opened to tra c on mountainous stretch known as the Culebra
This iron ring-coil device, the first 15 August 1914. Cut, nicknamed Hell’s Gorge. More than
transformer, is The completion 27 million kilograms of dynamite was
still on display
at the Royal
Institution.
193
YEARS AGO
of this artifi cial
waterway marked 110
YEARS AGO
reportedly used to excavate and construct
the canal.
1800

1840

1880

1900

1940

1980

33 YEARS AGO

Caught in the web These days, imagine

navigating with a physical
33
YEARS AGO
On 23 August 1991, the World map, visiting an estate
Wide Web went public after agent if you want to buy
British computer scientist a house, or booking a on a screen in front of our eyes.
Tim Berners-Lee developed holiday by phone. With AI on the horizon, who
the first web browser while Now the world is at the knows how our lives will change
working at CERN. end of our fingertips and again in another 33 years.

Images: Shutterstock, Getty eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 93

93 Grow - From the Archives_ET July-Aug 2024_E&T.indd 93 21/06/2024 15:45

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 JULY-AUGUST 2024 MENTORS GROW

MENTORS INSPIRATION IN
THE WORKPLACE WORDS TIM FRYER

Dr Shini Somara is a mechanical

engineer and fluid dynamicist, author,
TED talker and broadcaster, and
has provided inspiration for both
the current and next generation of
engineers. She is passionate about
creating a more diverse and equal
engineering sector. Shini spoke to Tim
Fryer about these issues.

Q It’s fair to say that the issue

of diversity both within the
engineering sector and society
as a whole has had a tumultuous
few years.
Certainly. It’s an interesting industry
because it turns out so much innovation,
it really advances technology and
progresses society, but it’s not the most
diverse or inclusive industry.

Q In a diverse world we all

benefit from a diverse
engineering workforce.
Absolutely. If technology isn’t designed
by everyone, it won’t work for everyone.
We come from a perspective of catering
for the majority, and the majority does
not reflect diversity. If we want to live in
a diverse society then we need to allow
technology to be developed by a diverse
group. The beauty of engineering is
Dr Shini Somara
that it really does warrant collaboration
and experimentation – prototyping
and designing and thinking outside of INTERVIEW our history. There is less of an openness
the box. to try new things and we are less open
We don’t push for more climate- to experimentation. I live in London, one
conscious solutions because it is
profitable, we do it because it is morally
Make a of the most cosmopolitan cities in the
world, yet I don’t think our approach to
and ethically the right thing to do. That is engineering is as cosmopolitan as you
the same with EDI [equality, diversity and
inclusion] issues. We are not doing this to
tick boxes, we are doing this because it
difference might think in London. If EDI was to
increase here, the UK would have to have
a more open attitude.
genuinely improves solutions.
through our Q What was your personal

Q Only around 12% of

engineers are women in the
experience?
When I graduated and got my first job
UK. Why, in the UK in particular,
are we making so little progress?
Good question. I think having lived in
differences in engineering, I was the only female in
the company. I was a young graduate
low on confidence, and being female
the US and coming from a culturally didn’t help with that feeling of impostor
diverse background – I am British but Shini Somara doesn’t syndrome, but my colleagues had no
my parents come from South-east Asian
countries – one of the things that holds
think diversity is ‘nice’ – tools on how to treat someone who was
radically different to them. I think it is
us back in the UK is our connection to she believes it is crucial a learning curve and a case of making

eandtmagazine.com Engineering and Technology 95

95-96 Grow - Mentor_ET July-Aug 2024_E&T.indd 95 21/06/2024 15:45

 GROW MENTORS JULY-AUGUST 2024

solution. It will be one-dimensional. I

hope that companies are embracing
EDI so that they can increase their
productivity and output, and it is not just
a PR stunt.

Q It is so important that
companies do not just
promote their EDI profile when
recruiting – it must be an inherent
part of how they operate.
You do have to be careful. Take climate
change: there are so many climate
initiatives, but how effective are they
Working from home brought greater when it comes to making change? I
demands for flexibility
hope we don’t go the same way with EDI
when it looks like we are doing a lot but
minorities feel welcome and having an the shots. People could contribute in their the actual significance, what is actually
attitude of openness towards people who own way to suit their own time pressures. happening, is happening very slowly and
are different. I think the UK could really I think employers are now realising people are scratching their heads as to
benefit from that. that by providing their employees with why when so many initiatives exist. I
In other countries where I have lived, flexibility they are getting the most out think it is a lot to do with incentive and
there seems a better appreciation of of them. focus, and the need to do what’s right
what people’s differences can bring But it requires a massive amount instead of what’s profitable. Those two
to the table. I’ve coined a term in my of trust, and trust is something that is can be the same thing, but right now
book [Engineers Making a Difference: particularly required regarding under- I wonder if what is right and what is
Inventors, technicians, scientists and represented individuals. A person of profitable is misaligned somehow.
tech entrepreneurs changing the minority might not look like you or have Recently I was at a diversity event.
world, and how you can join them]: we experience like you, their backgrounds During a networking session, I asked
should “make a difference through our may not be recognisable, but there has someone why they were there. They said:
differences”. We are at a time when to be a level of trust that that person will “It’s just a nice thing to be at a diversity
differences are more welcomed and deliver. To build that level of trust you event.” The reason why I get frustrated is
there is less fear and more openness. have to have an environment where that because I’m glad people think it’s ‘nice’
Schemes like reverse mentoring are person feels safe to let their guard down to be part of EDI events in the same
really important. We are making change and be the best version of themselves. way that it’s ‘nice’ to be part of climate
– it is slow and I think the UK is lagging So Covid has laid down the first stones change events. But I’m also representing
– but at least we are open to being more on the path of trust between employers the individuals whose lives depend on it. I
diverse and inclusive. and employees. hear stories of people who really want to
be engineers, but they are not being given

Q Did the pandemic leave one

positive legacy in terms of
flexibility in the workplace?
Q Companies that have
strong EDI policies,
like those that have good
opportunities to get an education. They
are not being able to fund opportunities
to develop their careers in engineering.
Absolutely. One of the main things was environmental reputations, They feel uncomfortable in the industry
working from home. Apart from the have become attractive because they don’t feel welcome.
actual logistics of working from home, workplaces, particularly to the All of that talent is being lost and
I think it massively changed attitudes younger generations. leaked out of the system, so I don’t think
of employees – they realised that they Any solution that is provided by one slice these diversity or inclusion events are
were in the driving seat of their career. of society in a homogenous way will not ‘nice’ – I think they are crucial. They are
We went from an era when people were be a diverse, well-rounded, far-reaching crucial for the future of the UK because
desperate to work for certain commercial we have a massive skills gap. I’m
enterprises that represented certain
things. For example, there was a time
‘It is a learning genuinely worried about the engineering
skills of the future in the UK. I want to
curve and a case of
Photograph: iStock

when everyone wanted to work for see more people who have a passion
Google, companies that treated their for engineering being given a chance to
employees well. But with Covid I noticed making minorities really succeed and thrive in engineering,
there was less emphasis on the employer because they want to and because we in
and more emphasis on employees calling feel welcome’ the UK need them too.

96 Engineering and Technology eandtmagazine.com

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Challenge Days, FIRST® LEGO® League and our free education resources encourage children to get
involved in STEM. IET Launch Scholarships support engineering students and apprentices who are facing
challenges to realise their ambitions.

Find out how you can help more aspiring engineers

and donate today: theiet.org/futuresfund

The Institution of Engineering and Technology is registered as a Charity in England and Wales (No. 211014) and Scotland (No. SC038698).
The Institution of Engineering and Technology, Futures Place, Kings Way, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, SG1 2UA.

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