First for technology & innovation|www.theengineer.co.ukDECEMBER 2012Con-fusion?Your questions on mankinds most promising energy source answered 28Easy drone Ushering in the age of the affordable unmanned aerial vehicle 34Careers featureEngineering opportunities in the United Arab Emirates energy sector 40For more news, jobs and products visit www.theengineer.co.ukEngineeringa verticalapproach toagriculture 24Up onthe farm>> Accelerate your productivity at ni.com/measurements-platform2012 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, ni.com, and NI CompactDAQ are trademarks of National Instruments.Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 07926NI data acquisition products are the most trusted computer-based measurement devices available, offering superior accuracy and maximum performance. NI CompactDAQ systems feature more than 50 measurement-specic modules and complete breadth and depth of I/O. Coupled with the analysis and signal processing capabilities of NI LabVIEW software, this platform puts the power of graphical system design at your command so you can build any measurement system faster.01635 517300 | uk.ni.comFollow us onSearch niukieSee what you missed at NIDays 2012: download presentations,view videos & pre-register for 2013 at uk.ni.com/nidaysThe Trusted Leader for Any MeasurementLabVIEW offers powerful analysis functions for sensor and signal data, simplies GUI development and helpsyou program the way you thinkgraphically. 07926 NI 2012 The Trusted Leader TE 235x310.indd 1 19/11/2012 11:48contentsDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 3Your number one website for engineering news,views, jobs and products www.theengineer.co.uk122832News06 Technology Sail systemcouldhelp cut space debris07 Technology Test success forSABRE engine technology 08 Technology Software speeds uprotor calibration process Features24 Cover story Vertical farmingcould offer a solution to one ofhumanitys most pressingproblems28 Q&A feature Experts from twomajor nuclear projects answeryour questions on the challengessurrounding fusion energy34 News feature The developmentof and technical challengesfaced by the HALO unmannedaerial vehicleOpinion05 Comment The UK needs to lookbeyond the sure-re technologywinners 16 Talking point The rise of themilitary robot could have benignbenets 18 Mailbox Your letters to the editorand views from theengineer.co.uk10 Design Device detects threats inchecked baggage 12 Business Fuel exemptioncharge for low-carbon economy 14 Digest The Engineer crosswordand a look back to 195637 News feature 3Dprinting has helped fuela new generation of DIYproducers40 Careers feature Anumber of high-proleenergy projects areoffering increasedopportunities forengineers in the UAE21 Paul Jackson Reecting on thechallenges ahead in promotingthe discipline of engineering23 Viewpoint UKs defenceaerospace sector needs tomaintain its spread of skills32 Interview A chat with thefounder of National InstrumentsCharlie JesseyTechnical Support Engineer The new SolidWorks UK StudentFacebook page is awesome. The tips and tricks that Ive learnt from this pagehave helped me with my final year project, thanks.Comment from the SolidWorks UKStudent Facebook page.IF YOU NEEDSOLIDWORKSSUPPORT FAST,WERE AS GOODAS LOCAL AND THE MOSTQUALIFIEDNATIONALLY. reseller of the year 2004 2011 www.solidsolutions.co.uk/supportTen UK offices. Direct line problem-solving by the brands top engineers.For leading 3D CAD design software, and all-round user support were Solid.Find out more on 01926 333777commentDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 5The announcement in George Osbornes Autumn Statement that the UKs science infrastructure is to receive a 600m government cash injection has been pretty warmly welcomed by many in the UKs science and engineering community. In fact, the decision to invest in a host of promising areas, including synthetic biology, energy storageand advanced materials, has been hailed by someas evidence that the coalition has got what it takesto build on the UKs status as one of the best places in the world to do science. With the government still apparently only really keen on research with immediate economic pay-off, we wouldnt be quite so fulsome in our praise, but theres still plenty to be positive about. Given the above, this is a forward-looking issue, packed with examples from Reaction Engines incredible SABRE project (p7) to a new takeon UAV development (p34) of UK engineering expertise that couldhelp shape our economy in the years ahead.Meanwhile, our latest Q&A feature (Positive reaction, p28) focuses on a technology that could one day have ahuge impact on our lives: nuclear fusion.Fusion power certainly isnt a topic that you hear our politicians getting particularly excited about. Commercial nuclear fusion isnt expected until at least 2040, by which time most of our current administrators will have shufed off the political stage.But in their responses to your questions, our panel of experts fromJET (Joint European Torus) and its follow-up programme ITER illustrate exactly why we should be investing heavily in fusion. The end result could have profound implications for the human race. Whats more,our experts are quick to point out that the material breakthroughsmade along the route to commercial fusion power could have a hostof hitherto unthought-of applications. Its an important reminder that stimulating the growth of new areasof technology shouldnt just be about picking sure-re winners. Indeed, our technology history is littered with examples of how research can lead to an unexpected economic bonanza. And surely thats a prospect that should appeal to the short-term instincts of every career politician?Looking beyond the sure-re winnersFusion power isnta topic that you hear our politicians getting very excited aboutJoin the debate at www.theengineer.co.ukor nd us on: inouropinionJon Excell Editorjon.excell@centaur.co.ukPolicyBritain is crying out foran independent panelof qualied engineers, seconded on a xed term from industry or education, to be the sole arbiter ofthe viability of UK plc engineering projects John KNobody, it would seem, looks more than ve years ahead; 2050 is a long way away, certainly more than one parliamentary term, so why worry about it now?John FentonJoin the debate hereEnergyWhy, when we are surrounded by tidal water, beaten by waves and drowning in oodwater does the UK government not open its eyes and invest in the potential of generating and storing power using this medium?KeithIt has always struck meas odd that we dont have signicant storage in the electrical systemNeil KermodeJoin the debate hereinyouropinionComment & reaction fromtheengineer.co.ukCentaur Media Plc, 79 Wells Street, London, W1T 3QNYour number one website for engineering news, views, jobs and products theengineer.co.ukDirect dial 020 7970 followed by extension listedAdvertising fax 020 7970 4190Editor Jon Excell (4437) jon.excell@centaur.co.ukFeatures editor Stuart Nathan (4125) stuart.nathan@centaur.co.uk News editor Jason Ford (4442) jason.ford@centaur.co.uk Senior reporter Stephen Harris (4893) stephen.harris@centaur.co.ukChief sub-editor Lyndon WhiteDeputy chief sub-editor Andrea HarperSenior sub-editor Sarah Potts Art editor Steven Lillywhite steven.lillywhite@cedesignstudios.co.ukPublisher Daniel Brill (4849) daniel.brill@centaur.co.uk Recruitment advertisement managerMauro Marenghi (4187) mauro.marenghi@centaur.co.ukSenior sales executive Dean Wylie (4160) dean.wylie@centaur.co.uk Senior sales executive Devraj Ray (4426) devraj.ray@centaur.co.uk Display advertisement manager Sonal Patel (4487) sonal.patel@centaur.co.ukBusiness development manager Peter York (4942)news: technology6 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012Find the latest news, jobs & products at www.theengineer.co.ukBY STEPHEN HARRISEngineers in Scotland have developed a sail system that pulls small satellites out of orbit to avoid increasing the amount of space debris.The technology, developed by Glasgow University and local rm Clyde Space, is designed to be installed as a module on satellites known as CubeSats and released when the craft reaches the end of its life to drag it back to Earth.The system could enable CubeSat operators to put their craft into relatively high orbits from where they can take many years to naturally return to Earth and otherwise add tothe substantial amount of old satellites and other space debris, creating an increasing hazard for operating craft.Known as the Aerodynamic End Of Life Deorbit System (AEOLDOS), it comprises four thin membranes released via coiled struts that spring out from the craft to create sails with a total area of 3m2.Glasgow UniversitysDr Patrick Harkness, who designed AEOLDOS, told The Engineer that the technology was aimed at the CubeSat A tape measure will spring into a coil when you release it, he said. Weve turned that on its head so when you release the coil, the tape springs out.Each cartridge is designed to release its strut in the direction of the coils radius (rather than in a tangential direction of 90o to the radius).That means each of the four sails in the cartridges are symmetrical, said Harkness. That simplies the fold pattern a lot and means you can use the modules interchangeably.The hub is shaped like a ower instead of being round and that means that as the tape comes to the end of its deployment it has a soft stop rather than stopping suddenly.Harkness has worked with Clyde Space to make the system compatible with the companys CubeSats andhopes to make it commercially available by the end of 2012.Surrey Space Centre is developing a similar technology in partnershipwith EADS Astrium. Setting sail to decrease volume of space debris System is able to drag small satellites back to EarthMedical & Healthcare Technology could assist with treatment of damaged corneasAerospaceUK set to signicantly expand involvement in space projects Energy & Environment Research projects look set to improve our use of resourcesCivil & Structural Window technology directs sunlight deep inside buildingsElectronics 3D graphene mimics elastic characteristics of cork Energy & EnvironmentELISE testing rig will accelerate ITER heating developmentAutomotiveSMMT announces 12 per cent rise in new car registrationsSkills & CareersCrossrail unveils opportunities on its graduate schemeElectronicsPlastic bulb could replace traditional uorescent lights Aerospace NASA plans further Mars rover building on Curiosity successFor news and jobs visit us at theengineer.co.ukreadmoreonlinetheengineer.co.ukSATELLITE MANAGEMENTImage courtesy Space Junk 3D websitecommunity, largely made upof students, academics and amateur enthusiasts.You might want to look at the end-of-life disposal of your space craft because youre dealing with requirements from your space agency, or you think its the right thing to do, or you want to y in a slightly higher orbit and still meet the orbit requirements, he said.The UN recommends that CubeSats stay in orbit no longer than 25 years, less than the time it takes for craft to return from higher orbits. But CubeSats at lower orbits can also remain in orbit far beyond the life of their mission and so add to the debris.The main challenge for Harkness was simplifying the release mechanism as much as possible to reduce the chances of anything going wrong with it over the lifetime of the CubeSats mission, which would usually be up to around ve years.Each AEOLDOS device is made up of four cartridges, each containing a folded sail and a strut coiled around a central hub, which Harkness compared to a tape measure.Click here to comment on this storyBY STEPHEN HARRISBritish engineers have successfully tested new engine technology that could pave the way fora high-speed orbital spaceplane.The team from UK company Reaction Engines announced on 28 November that the SABRE engine technology, which could powera reusable spaceplane known as Skylon thatis capable of entering orbit without additional rockets, had been proven in tests evaluatedby the European Space Agency (ESA).The company called the technology, which could also lead to supersonic ights fromEurope to Australia in four hours, the biggest breakthrough in aerospace propulsion sincethe invention of the jet engine.Tim Hayter, chief executive ofcer of Reaction Engines, said the SABRE engine, which utilises both jet turbine and rocket technology, wouldbe made possible by the companys innovative pre-cooler heat exchanger.The heat exchanger is the thing that cools the air from +1,000oC to -150oC in 1/100th of a second, he told a press conference. This means that we can build a hybrid air-breathing rocket engine. This is going to permit orbital and high-speed propulsion.He added that as well as creating the possibility for six to 15 times more space launches than are currently performed, the technology could improve the fuel burn of existing gas turbine technology by ve to 10per cent, leading to savings of an estimated $10bn (6bn) to $20bn for the airline industry.Other applications may also be possible,according to Hayter, including a 15 per cent efciency improvement in multi-stage ash (MSF) desalination, which is typically used to create drinking water in many Middle Eastern countries.The heat exchanger, which rapidly cools air so it can be compressed and fed into the rocket combustion chamber, is made possible by secret technology that prevents frost from forming and blocking the exchangers pipes.With this in place, the exchanger can displace 400MW of heat energy with a weight of around 1.5 tonnes, less than one per cent of the weight of current technology.Reaction Engines has also developed a wayto manufacture the exchanger, which is formed from hundreds of millimetre-thick pipes arranged in a spiral formation, that involves checking it for sub-microscopic holes.After successfully completing 141 testswith the engine and pre-cooler installation,the team plans to design the full SABRE engine and build a demonstration model, largely from existing gas turbine technology, as well asight testing the installation.HS2 makes tracks Plans to extend High Speed 2 (HS2) to the north west and West Yorkshire will be set out by the UK transport secretary in 2013. The announcement was made by UK chancellor George Osborne while delivering his autumn statement, which also set out 600m for scientic research infrastructure, plus a 1bn loan and guarantee to extend London Undergrounds Northern line to Battersea Power Station. A further 1bn was committed toroad improvements.Funding into space Universities and science minister David Willetts has announced 1m of R&D funding for companies working in, or looking to set up in, the space community at Harwell. The funding is part of the Technology Strategy Boards Launchpad initiative. Willetts said: This funding will support innovative projects where small businesses may see it astoo risky to go it alone when developing their ideas into new products and services.Nuclear lifelinesEDF Energy is to extend the expected operating life of two nuclear power stations by seven years. HinkleyPoint B in Somerset and Hunterston B in North Ayrshire are now expectedto remain operational untilat least 2023. The decision follows the ve-year extensions to Heysham 1and Hartlepool and reviews of the plants safety cases.Doubled upA new report has drawn attention to the need to double the number of annual recruits required to ll engineering positions to 2020. Engineering UK 2013 Executive summary and recommendations found that engineering companies are projected to have 2.74 million job openings from 201020, with 1.86 million requiring engineering skills. DECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 7Find the latest news, jobs & products at www.theengineer.co.ukinbriefMore news daily attheengineer.co.ukTechnology utilises jet turbine and rocket technologyENGINESSABRE looks sharp for spaceResearchers develop augmented reality for laparoscopic surgerySOFTWAREMore eyes for the keyholeBY STEPHEN HARRISKeyhole surgery could become easier thanks to new software that adds a virtual map of a patients body to the doctors video feed.Researchers in Londonare developing a form of augmented reality for robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery, where 3D video images from inside the body are overlaidwith data collected from MRIor CT scans.You can see structures inside the organs and you may be able to direct the surgery more accurately, for example excise a tumour with better margins or protect a blood vessel or nerve from accidental damage, said research leader Dr Danail Stoyanov of University College London (UCL).The system builds on research into algorithms that can calculate the geometric co-ordinates and movement of the contents of images captured with 3D stereoscopic cameras. This can be used to determine the position of visible organsin real time and matched with the virtual map of the body provided by MRI or CT scans.The real challenge is that most of the existing work is based on rigid environments or on environments where light reectance can be simplied, said Stoyanov, a Royal Academy of Engineering/EPSRC research fellow atUCLs Centre for Medical Image Computing and Departmentof Computer Science.In surgery the tissue is deformable and dynamic, plusit is wet so the light response can be varied and changes depending on where you are looking at the tissue from. Our work is to overcome these challenges by building algorithms that work in suchan environment.The SABRE engine technology could powera reusable spaceplane known as SkylonClick here to comment on this storyClick here to comment on this storynews: technology8 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012Find the latest news, jobs & products at www.theengineer.co.ukBlade runnerSoftware speeds up rotor calibration processCarbomorph could benet education sectorELECTRONICSGetting personal with 3D printingAEROSPACEangle of the blades and the distribution of weight across them and calculating what adjustments need to be made.The trick that we could do that others couldnt was solve all the different parameters simultaneously rather than do them one after the other, said Lieven. Before, it could take eight or nine ights nowyou can do it in four or ve.Helitune and Bristol University are now collaborating on several further TSB-co-funded projects worth around 600,000, to apply the technique to other types of rotating machinery, including wind and other power-generating turbines.It has moved on becausewe now have a far better understanding of vibrationin machinery and how wecan interrogate it. So we can now use that to predict when failures in machinery areabout to occur [based on the vibrations], said Lieven.He added: The key to this was that we were not precious about intellectual property. Bristol University is never going to produce a helicopter, so letting industry usethe outcome of a piece of fundamental research, which was originally paid for by the UK taxpayer, has been of benet to UK industry.BY STEPHEN HARRISBritish engineers who useda 10-year-old mathematical research project to minimise vibrations in helicopter rotors have been recognised with an industry award.Researchers from Bristol University and UK company Helitune, whose softwareis used to balance aircraft propellers to reduce vibrations, won best partnership at this years Technology Strategy Board (TSB) Knowledge Transfer Awards for their collaboration to improve Helitunes algorithms.The software, which is based on a mathematical technique originally devisedby Bristol Universitys Prof Nick Lieven, cuts down the number of test ights a helicopter must y to calibrate its rotors by calculating several different measurements simultaneously and speeding up the adjustment process.It is a perfect example of where fundamental research, which had no application atthe time, has fed into solvinga very practical and difcult mathematical problem with direct relevance for industry, explained Lieven, who is now pro-vice-chancellor at Bristol University.When a helicopters rotoris rst assembled, several test ights are needed to gradually balance them by repeatedly measuring a number of parameters such as the with metal nanoparticles.At the moment, we envisageit making an impact in the education sector. Students could design a product andthe circuitry to go in it and print the whole lot.As well as electrical connections, carbomorphcan be used to create touch-sensitive areas and ex sensors that alter their resistance as they bend.The next step is to workon printing much more complex structures and electronic components, including the wires andcables required to connectthe devices to computers.3D printing has an advantage in this area inthat sockets for connection to equipment such as interface electronics can be printed out instead of connected using conductive glues or paints.The EPSRC-funded research is published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.BY STEPHEN HARRISA new material could enable people to build personalised electronic items in their homes using low-cost 3D printers.Researchers from Warwick University have created a simple and cheap conductive plastic composite that can be used to lay down electronic circuits and sensors as partof 3D printed items.They have already usedthe material nicknamed carbomorph because it is formed from carbon particles dissolved in a polymorph plastic to 3D-print a personalised video game controller, a glove with haptic feedback components and a mug with a liquid sensor.Weve designed it to work with the current trend for low-cost 3D printers: its cheap and easy to make you could even make it yourself, said project leader Dr Simon Leigh.It is something people havent really done before. Usually it would require modications to the printerto get it to work or it requires some really expensive material BY JON EXCELLChemical detection technology that instantaneously spots tiny amounts of explosives, drugs or pollutants could enable the development of a new generation of compact and easy-to-use detection devices for security services and the police.Developed by scientists at Imperial College London, through research partly funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, the system is able to pick out a single target molecule from 10,000 trillion water molecules within milliseconds thanks to the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of light.The SERS technique exploits the way in which individual molecules each scatter light in a unique way. Previous research has shown that the signal can be amplied by catching molecules in a particular way on a layer of metal nanoparticles. However, these sheets are complex to manufacture.The team overcame this problem by dealing with interfaces of two liquids that do not mix.System could lead to compact drug detectorsTECHNOLOGYChemical potentialThe software is based on 10-year-old research conducted by Bristols Prof Nick LievenClick here to comment on this storyClick here to comment on this storyClick here to comment on this storyThe UKs largest and longest established Manufacturing Technology Exhibition13-14 February, FIVE FarnboroughPre-register online now for your FREE entry badge and show previewwww.industrysouth.co.ukA visit to Southern Manufacturing 2013 (alongside the SouthernElectronics & AutoAero Exhibitions) will bring you right up todate with the latest developments in manufacturing technology,production & assembly, composite materials, subcontractingand design innovation.Technical advice on offer will improveyour manufacturing process, component sourcing, productdesign and overall competitiveness.Meet over 600 national and international suppliers under oneroof, see live demonstrations and new product launches ofmachine tools & tooling, electronics, factory & processautomation, packaging & handling, labelling & marking, test &measurement, materials & adhesives, rapid prototyping, ICT,drives & controls and laboratory equipment.Leading industry experts will bring you up to speed with thehottest issues affecting manufacturing industry today.To bookyour free seat and to view the full conference programme visitonline @ www.industrysouth.co.ukThe exhibition is free to attend, easy to get to and parking isfree.Doors open at 9.15am on Wednesday 13th February.SOUTHERN MANUFACTURING & ELECTRONICS is an ETES event organised by European Trade & Exhibition Services LtdTel01784 880890emailphilv@etes.co.ukFREECONFERENCEFREEPARKINGnews: design10 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012Find the latest news, jobs & products at www.theengineer.co.ukCase sensitiveDevice detects threats in checked baggageVehicle armour withstands multiple hitsMILITARY AND DEFENCEEngineers devise bullet-proof ideaMILITARY AND DEFENCEthese X-ray slices and to produce 3D images.Nick Fox, 3DX-RAYs chief technical ofcer, told The Engineer that in conventional tomography an object remains stationary while an X-ray camera rotates around it, building up slices of datathat eventually provide afully reconstructed CT model. Fox said: In this instance, there are multiple stationary cameras mounted around a curve in the conveyor system.As the object passes down the conveyor, both X-ray and optical images of the imagesof the object are obtained simultaneously, and as the object changes its orientationmultiple views of the objectare collected from each of the stationary cameras.By relating the X-ray image to its respective optical image, it is possible to collate the X-ray image to the physical orientation of the bag andto generate a tomosynthesis X-ray image of the object containing sufcient information to identify potential threats. Fox added that the proposed system, expected to undergo airport trials in the next twoto three years, has no moving parts, making it a simple and low-cost system in terms of maintenance and lifetime costs.BY JASON FORDA checked baggage-screening device that overcomes the limitations of 2D X-ray or CT scanning systems is beingbuilt by University College London (UCL) and 3DX-RAY.Designed to detect threats including explosive and incendiary materials, the proof-of-principle system is being developed for a project funded under the Innovative Research Call in Explosives and Weapons Detection. UCL approached 3DX-RAY after completing a feasibility study into alternative methods of producing 3D tomographic images for baggage inspection. The Barrow-upon-Soar-based company then integrated the university teams tomographic imaging software to producea proof-of-principle system.Checked baggage inspection is designed to eliminate false alarms through a series of inspections and the rst lineof defence is 2D X-ray, whichis prone to delivering false alarms. CT scanning X-ray techniques are more accurate but are costly and slow. UCL believes its solution will lower the volume of bags that go for additional screening.The research team realised it could achieve the same effect as CT scanning X-ray methods by collecting images from multiple angles using 2D X-ray sources and detectors with an overhead visual camera and using algorithms to collate When you get a bullet impact, it transmits a lot of energy into the ceramic and that shock causes the ceramic tiles to come off the backing material, which makes the ceramic armour only goodfor one hit. You can get around thisby over-designing the ceramic armour making it heavier. What weve done is improve the bond strength; we testedit and found that the armour performance is improved, Harris said.The team has developed a proprietary method of treating the adhesive and the pre-conditioning ceramic surfaces prior to bonding, which hasled to an improvement in armour integrity.We now need to optimise the treatment of the surfaceof the ceramic, in terms of minimising preparation time and therefore cost, for optimal performance, explained Steve Burnage, head of design at Lockheed Martin UK.BY JASON FORDEngineers at Surrey University and Lockheed Martin UK are working on a project to develop appliqu vehicle armour thatis able to withstand multiple ballistic strikes.Andrew Harris, an engineering doctorate research engineer at Surrey University, explained that ceramic armour is used on light-armoured vehicles because it is as effective as metal and can withstand a number of threats, particularly bullets.Another advantage of ceramic-based shielding isthat it is lightweight an important consideration as armour can account for halfa vehicles mass.Harris added that, despite its advantages, ceramic armour possesses a aw that has been a problem for a number of years. A very basic ceramic armour would be a very hard front-face material such as alumina or silicon carbidethat is bonded to an energy-absorbing backing material, typically a composite bre or metal that absorbs the energy of the fragments, he said.Breathalyser technology able to rapidly diagnose tuberculosis and lung cancer could one day nd its way into doctors surgeries as a result of work carried out by engineers from Siemens in Germany.The system, developed by a team from the companys Corporate Technology research base, uses a quadrupole mass spectrometer to analyse the molecules in a patients breath, which can be reliable indicators of a range of medical conditions.The device works by applying an electrical charge to the substances in the breath and accelerating them through an electrical eld that affects their trajectory. Particles of different weights are deected to different degrees and therefore land at different places on the detectors, enabling clinicians to build upa molecular ngerprint of the patients breath.Following promising preliminary results from tests using breath samples from cancer and tuberculosis patients, the group is now about to begin larger clinical trials. JESystem diagnoses tuberculosis and cancerMEDICAL AND HEALTHCARETime to breatheChecked baggage inspection is designed to reduce false alarmsClick here to comment on this storyClick here to comment on this storyClick here to comment on this storyA First Touch Screens Now Used On Hand HeldMeasurement DeviceEL-EnviroPad-TC - DataLogging ThermometerWith its alarm and memory function the EL-EnviroPad-TC is the perfect device to use for checking and recording temperature in such areas as, chillers, freezers, ovens, food preparation and production, test and measurement environments plus industrial processes. The palm sized touch screen device is designed to log temperatures and view results on-the-spot. It is supplied with a K type probe and is also compatible with J, N and T types. This small versatile machine has two modes of operation Data Logging and Spot Measurement. In Data Logging mode temperature is taken and recorded automatically. In Spot Measurement mode the user records the temperature by pressing the touch screen to capture readings and will save them there and then. Any measurement can be saved and then downloaded to a PC when required. The internal rechargeable battery provides typically 8 hours of logging.For more information visit our websitewww.corintech.com or call us on 01425 655655news: business12 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012Motor moneyShefeld University spin- out Magnomatics hasraised 2.5m to completethe development of its magnetically geared motors for the electric and hybrid vehicle market. IP Groupwill invest 1.06m, Finance Yorkshire will provide match funding from its Equity Linked Fund and FusionIP will invest 366,000.Just good SenseCable-Sense has secured 800,000 in funding from the North West Fund for Energy and Environmental and from UMIP Premier Fund. The companys infrastructure management system allows organisations to improve the management of their cable networks, reducing energy, capital expenditure and operations costs. Cable-Sense will take on a number of additional roles in sales, marketing and development.Passage to IndiaUK India Business Council (UKIBC) has called onBritish engineering and manufacturing companiesto explore the Indian market before they lose groundto competition. A UKIBC delegation is visiting Indiain January 2013, focusing on Gujarat, Pune and Mumbai. The delegation will help UK companies understand and connect with opportunitiesin the Indian market and is seeking businesses interested in exporting to, sourcing from, or establishing in India.Core transactionsSiemens has entered into a deal to acquire Invensys Rail, the rail automation business of Invensys, for about 2.2bn (1.7bn). The company is also planning to divest its baggage- handling, postal and parcel-sorting activities. Both transactions are part of the recently launched Siemens 2014 programme, which is aimed at strengthening the companys core activities.inbriefMore businessnews daily attheengineer.co.uk/policy-and-businessENERGY AND ENVIRONMENTReducing the price of powerFuel-charge exemption could help promote a low-carbon economyBY STEPHEN HARRISEnergy-intensive industries are to be exempt from upcoming fuel charges designed to fund investment in low-carbon power generation, the government has announced.Under the Energy Bill, which was introduced to parliamenton 29 November 2012, energy consumers are set to pay additional charges to fundthe contracts for difference that will guarantee builders of nuclear and renewable power plants a minimum price forthe electricity they produce.But Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are considering how much of an exemption to offer energy-intensive industries suchas steel, chemicals and paper manufacturing in order to prevent them from being driven out of Britain byhigher energy bills.UK manufacturers organisation EEF welcomed the announcement but said energy-intensive industries werent out of the woods yetas the size of the exemption had not yet been determined and that businesses were already set to pay a much higher price for energy through other charges and levies.Energy and climate change secretary Ed Davey said: Decarbonisation should not mean de-industrialisation. There would be no advantage both for theUK economy and for global emissions reductions in simply forcing UK businesses to relocate to other countries.The transition to the low-carbon economy will depend on products madeby energy-intensive industries a wind turbine, for example, needing steel, cement and high-tech textiles. This exemption will ensure the UK retains the industrial capacity to support a low-carbon economy.DECC and BIS will runa consultation in 2013 oncethe proposed exemption has been further developed. The exemption will also require state-aid clearance from the European Commission.Jeremy Nicholson, director of EEFs Energy Intensive Users Group, said: We haveto play out part in cutting carbon emissions but this wont be possible in a global trading environment if costs get out of hand. We want to reduce emissions, not move them to someone elses balance sheet.Research carried out earlier this year by ICF International based on DECCs estimates found that energy-intensive industries in the UK wouldbe paying around an extra28 per megawatt-hour forits energy by 2020 as a result of climate change policies including emissions trading and renewable energy measures one of the highest gures among the worlds largest economies.Nicholson added that it was in energy-intensive industries interests to improve energy efciency and that existing nancial incentives such as a discount on the climate change levy were already encouraging them to make changes that would cut emissions.In addition to exemption from the new charges, a separate 250m scheme to compensate certain energy-intensive industries for additional costs associated with the Carbon Price Floor and EU Emissions Trading Scheme is already the subject of a current consultation.The governments Energy Bill is designed to use the contracts for differenceto ensure the substantial investment in the UKs energy infrastructure needed to replace ageing power plants and cut carbon emissions. DECC has also launcheda consultation on ways to reduce demand for energy.Dame Sue Ion, fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, said: Contracts for difference will be struck in the futureso there is still a way to go to give investors the condence they need that the strike price across a range of technologies will make investment attractive to proceed.Investors need certainty more than anything else ifwe are to attract the massive amount of capital needed to refresh our infrastructure.The exemption is hoped to help keep manufacturers in BritainWe want to reduce emissions, not move them to someone elses balance sheetClick here to comment on this storyWhen completed, go to www.theengineer.co.ukto ll in your answers and the rst correct answer received will win a 20 Amazon voucherReading back through the archives of The Engineer can give some startling insights into how our world has changed: quickly in some ways, slowly in others. For example,its quite startling to see in an issue from the late 1950s,well within the lifetime of many of our readers, detailing improvements in the designs of mechanical breathing machines better known as iron lungs to help withthe epidemics of polio that occurred every summer.Indeed, 1956 the year of this article had beena bad year, with epidemics in Ireland and the Netherlands. The vaccine, which has eradicated the disease in the industrialised world and come close to wiping it out worldwide, had been developed by Jonas Salk only a few years previously and was still in trials. Polio was feared everywhere and with good reason: it killed and crippled hundreds of people, mostly children, every year.The article in The Engineer was taken from a lecture given by Captain George Smith-Clarke, who had been chief engineer at British car manufacturer Alvis from 1922 to1950 and had designed cars that won racesat Brooklands andLe Mans. In 1952,he had taken on the chairmanship ofthe Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital board of management, and as part of this role hed been asked to look at the engineering of mechanical ventilators. Smith-Clarke wasnt impressed.Some may think, as many patients have done, that it hada very uncomfortable resemblance to a cofn, and for this reason screens were sometimes placed around it so that patients could notsee it when being put in. Upset at the distress hed seenin children being taken out of iron lungs, he redesignedthe machine used most at the hospital, the Nufeld-Both system, which had been in use since 1939. I took over a disused air-raid shelter in the hospital grounds and, with the help of the senior physicist anda member of his staff, a Nufeld-Both machine was completely dismantled, he recalled in his lecture. It was found impossible to obtain working drawings and I hadto make dimensional free-hand sketches. Alvis made the castings for the larger parts, while Smith-Clarke himself machined the smaller parts needed.As well as making the machines more controllable and efcient at helping patients to breathe, Smith-Clarke also made them more comfortable. He included more ports inthe side of the machine, so the patient could be reachedfor nursing care without affecting breathing. SNthismonthin1956Engineer redesigns iron lung machine to make it more efcient and comfortable for patients news: digestprizecrosswordACROSS1A street with only oneway in or out (3,2,3)6Repetition of a soundresulting from reection (4)8Person who lives in anew colony (7)9Long narrow depressionin a surface (7)11Normal heat of anenvironment (4,11)12Comes to a stop (4)13A regulator forautomatically regulatingtemperature (10)17In the direction of thelongest dimension (10)18A set of three similar things (4)20Electrical device with anumber of voltaic cells (8,7)23Doomed large passengerliner (7)24Horizontal plant stem (7)25Become superciallyburned (4)26Very acidic volcanic rock(8)DOWN2Lacking pathways (9)3Reduced in strength orconcentration (6)4A carving usually byAmerican whalers (9)5A hidden storage space (5)6Lifting platform (8)7Japanese verse form of threeshort lines (5)8Supported lamp on aroadside (11)10A solution that conductselectricity (11)14Woody brambles bearingred fruits (9)15Proved to be in the end (6,3)16Filter to retain larger pieceswhile smaller ones passthrough (8)19As one chooses (2,4)21A metric unit of capacity (5)22Make oneself subject to (5)14 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012Some may think, as many patients have done, that it resembled a cofnClick here to read the original article For a chance to win, click here and ll in the answersImage courtesy www.nmsi.ac.ukVisual Planning Continuous Improvement SystemA proven management tool to help keep track, allocate and improve efficiencytel 01732 871 417 web www.tcardsdirect.comSpecial OfferComplete system withprinted Cards85.00plus P&P and VATCOUNTERMEASURE IDENTIFIEDACTIONS REQUIRED:WHO WHATBY WHEN COMPLETEDBENEFITS (Tick all that apply):SAFETYCOMMENTS:QUALITYCOSTDELIVERYEQUIPMENTPROBLEM OR IMPROVEMENT IDEA DESCRIPTION / SKETCHDATE IDENTIFIED PROBLEM OR IDEAOWNERSTATUS1st REVIEW2nd REVIEW3rd REVIEW4th REVIEW5TH REVIEWBENEFITS(Tick all that apply):SAFETYCOMMENTS:QUALITYCOSTDELIVERYEQUIPMENTPROBLEM OR IMPROVEMENT IDEA DESCRIPTION / SKETCHDATE IDENTIFIEDPROBLEM OR IDEAOWNERSTATUS1st REVIEW2nd REVIEW3rd REVIEW4th REVIEW5TH REVIEWHow we can help Simplify your business improvement projects Capture Staffs ideas and coordinate efficiently Proven Information at a Glance Identify key tasks whilst keeping track of newdevelopments95.00talking point16 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012For more news, views and information visit www.theengineer.co.ukThe military robot is on the rise. Indeed, according tothe latest gures from the International Federation of Robotics, defence applications accounted for 40 per cent of the total number of service robots sold last year.Many of the robots usedby the defence sector are relatively benign. A large number of devicesare, for instance, used for IED detection or bomb disposal. But, in a trend that is the cause of much ethical hand-wringing, an increasing number are being used for offensive purposes.For military strategists, robot warriors represent an opportunity to put troops out of harms way and potentially attack targets with far greater precision, thereby reducing civilian casualties. For robotics engineers, the defence sector represents a tantalising proving ground for the technology and one of the few routes to market. But many are concerned about the implications of the rise of the robot. And its not just because their fears have been stoked by Hollywood. The increasingly popular US military strategy of using drones to carry out targeted killings is, for many, a striking exampleof why we should be worried about relying too heavily on robots to do our dirty work. Despite denials from Washington, accusations are growing that US drones are responsible for large numbers of civilian casualties; a concern that is backed up by a report published this summer by Stanford and New York universities.Were a long way from the so-called Terminator scenario although the fact that top experts, such as those gathered at this weeks Military Robotics conference, now regularly talk in po-faced terms about eets of robot soldiers is a sign that the gap between science ction and real life is getting narrower. While UAVs represent the most signicant deploymentof armed robots, the pace of technological development is astonishing.Leading the charge is DARPA, the US defence departments advanced research agency, which is driving the development of a range of military robotic systems. Earlier this autumn, DARPA launched its robotic challenge, a competition set up to fast-track and stimulate the development of defence robots able to perform human tasks. At the heart of the competition is Boston Dynamics, whose Big Dog robot can be seen in action here.The company is now working on the development of ATLAS, an autonomous humanoid robot that will be used as a platform for other competitors to test software and articial intelligence systems. You can view a video of the latest iteration of ATLAS here. Other robots being developed through the competition include Raytheons Guardian lightweight humanoid robot, and Virginia Techs THOR (Tactical Hazardous Operations Robot).The systems being developed through the competition will do little to calm the nerves of those concerned by the prospect of science ction becoming fact. But its worth remembering that many of our greatest technical leaps from the development of nuclear energy to the invention of the jet engine have sprung from the incubator of military necessity. And while few us would regard the rise of robot soldiers without a shiver of distaste, the script unlike that of a movie is not yet written. In conquering the technical challenges of operating robots in a war zone, engineers are making breakthroughs that could one day benet mankind in more benign applications.The rise of the military robot could have benign benetsGreat technical leaps have sprungfrom the incubatorof military necessityinouropinionJon Excell Editorjon.excell@centaur.co.ukPicture: Boston Dynamics ATLAS robotDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 17theengineerpollPoll analysis: From the unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) increasingly used to strike at targets thousands of miles away, to a host ofrobotic vehicles, animals and even humanoids currently under development, robots look set to dominate the battleeld of the future. Should we be worried?There was a denite split in the responses to our poll last week, with large numbers of respondents in both the concerned and unconcerned camps about the development of unmanned systems for the defence sector. The largest group the 40 per cent who said that they werent worried about military robots, focused on the spin-off from the research that might nd applications in other sectors; but the next largest, 37per cent, saw the development as an escalation in the arms race. Just under 20 per cent said that robots will reduce human casualties in the battleeld,while the smallest group, four per cent, thought that legal issues would prevent the use of robots in war.Yes. The eld of military robotics represents a terrifying escalation in the arms race 36.5 per centMilitary robotics will bring cost efciencies and reduce the number of casualties 19.3 per centLegal issues will prevent large numbers of robots taking to the battleeld 3.5 per centAdvances in military robots should be welcomed as the technology will have benecial spin-off applications in other sectors 40.5 per centyourcommentsI joke to my friends that robots will kill usall but in a sense its not really a joke.Asimovs three laws arent going to happen, I believe, because there is no way that humans all over the world would stick to making robots that tted that code. Even if most did, a signicant few wouldnt.Robots will have to be able to make up their own minds and have initiative and creative thinking. Whatever safeguards are created will have bugs and there will also be those actively trying to produce unguarded machines because there is always an idiot somewhere. When these ever more intelligent machines decide they dontneed us, well be in trouble.Tim Murphy The most distasteful responsibilities in war are the largest ones, so it would be logicalto see their delegation to machines as the desired endpoint of the process in train here, which appears to be a disengagement by humans from war.If we delegate our unpalatable responsibilities, we have to live with the decisions of those we delegate to. Humans generally end up doing the right thing, having tried all the alternatives.It seems to me that in the last 70 years were starting to have to choose between alternatives that are not just unpalatable, but in some cases unsurvivable.Andrew TroupAndrew Troup is to be congratulated for enunciating a possible code for engineers. Let us be clear. If we, who have the privilege of manipulating natures laws to benet all mankind (not, as many other so-called professions do, manipulate mans laws to the benet of the highest bidder) were to simply state that we will no longer research and/or create the tools for conict, that would be the end of such. I take the 70-year point well: up until August 1945 those in power both political and military could (and did) happily send millions of primarily young men in the services to their death and hardly concern themselves with the effect on civilian populations, knowing full well that they were very unlikely to suffer or be in receipt of death and destruction. I believe the prospect of their own lives ending involuntarily has concentrated theirminds wonderfully in the interim.Mike BI challenge the contention that this is military necessity, but I would be wrongif the opposition is developing the same technology. If they are (whoever they turn out to be), then we would have a new spin on the old concept of kings sending forth their champions to settle the dispute in single combat in other words, by the hand of someone expendable.But modern conict doesnt seem to be anywhere near the still-quite-recent concept of mass battles between sovereign states, even though the Iraqi debacle was a notable exception to that trend at least briey. Iraq and Afghanistan have soon fallen back into the more typical modern picture where hard military resources on one side are opposing a shadow army on the other side and so have, indisputably, become unwinnable. In short, the war on terror is actually an attempt at wrestling smoke. Robots are no better wrestlers than humans maybe even worse.The problem with using automatons driven by blokes in braces sitting at desks in Langley, Virginia, is that the chosen target in this war cannot ght back. The thuggish one-sidedness of stand-off cyber conict cannot be countered by the weaker party, unless he uses stealth to get at the guy in Langley. His only way to exploit that weapon is actions of the 9/11 type, which the perpetrators of that particular outrage would describe as retaliation anyway, just as the west regarded the subsequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.Look where retaliation got us.I believe that the use of UAVs is already building this mood in the minds of the communities that are able to recruit suicide bombers and it can only get worse if the concept is ever extended to ground forcesof occupation. The answer is not to build substitutes for human forces of occupation, but to build the consensus that puts an end to the desire to occupy.John DouglasThe greatest danger embodied in robot soldiers is that governments will ultimately use them to turn on their own citizens when those citizens dont co-operate with government policies. Today, the soul of the human soldier that causes him not to act on an order to re upon his fellow citizens at the order of his government is the last lineof defence that we civilians have. No matter what the governing documents of a nation might say about use of its military for domestic purposes, when its government knows that all it has to do is push a button to use its national military to robotically suppress its citizens, whatever personal freedoms exist will soon fade away.AnonymousUnfortunately history has proved it isonly through military need that wehave developed suitable technologyto progress into our everyday lives. Unfortunately the military need inevitably leads to a level of death and destruction before such technologies progress to a more useful arena.GeoffreyClick here to join the debatemailbox18 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012For more news, views and information visit www.theengineer.co.ukthehottopicNew dash for gas muddies the UKs energy futureGreenstuffThe launch of the governments green investment bank was broadly welcomed by readers. It may not tick all the boxes for all of the people, but its a welcome start and will clearly have an impact greater than that of green enterprises alone.Gerry Why, when we are surrounded by tidal water, beaten by waves and literally drowning in oodwater, does the government not open its eyes and invest in the potential of both generating and almost importantly storing power using this medium?Keith A very good initiative. I will be knocking at the door for investment in waste-to-energy technology: microbial fuel cells.David Simpson If the government has created this so-called Green Investment Bank, why are we being charged in our electricity/gas bills for green energy investment?Cliff Pattrick With more than 2,500 miles of navigable waterways, millions of miles of drainage systems and a veritable deluge, why do we not have more than a handful of micro hydro systems installed? There exists a veritable plethoraof energy technologies that remain stied by the powerof large corporations and callous nanciers.David Leigh SlavetotechnologyOur article looking at whether we view technology as our servant or master provoked some lively debate The main problem with any technology is that people think it is capable of solving the problems for them and atthe moment it cant. We need to use our brains more and dont get to be cabbages as is happening with so many kids at school nowadays. They have to learn their subjects and actually know something about them instead of just learning how to pass a test. This seems to be the governments way of doing things with everything from the NHS to learning how to drive.Martin Mathematics was also described as both the slave and queen of the sciencesand as engineers we use it in both modes? Well dont we? Unfortunately, far too muchof the skills in manipulating natures laws to the benetof all humankind that we as engineers possess are still used to support and maintain the posts, positions and power Fear not: the current government is being run by a bunch of apprentices who are learning as they go. You may be aware of the continuing urgency to get broadband to every area in the UK so that we can use our computers or handheld thingiesto see the world and purchase food and goods. Well these items need electricity to work, but it seems that the various departments controlling us have not yet realised that you must rst generate the electricity. However, it is a known fact that gas can be treated to burn more completely, thereby reducing emissions, which may allow a safer operation forthe electricity generators. So by 2050, perhaps the bofns will have workedout how to obtain clean gas use.Trevor Best When weve burned all the carbon and all the furniture and still not built the nuclear stations we so need for bulk power, then as the lights go out the strikes will force a government to make a long-term decision. This will happen in my grandchildrens lifetime and they deserve better from us.Ron Mitchell I wonder if an alternative of subsidising the replacement of gas heating boilers with micro CHP [combined heat and power] plants has been properly considered. This might bring about a more efcient use of the gas. It could be applied to commerce, hospitals, schools, ats and the like, followed by individual houses possibly just those with a garage unless the boilers can be made near silent, e.g. fuel-cell technology.Anonymous I hate to say it as an engineer in the renewables sector, but I reckon nuclear is the best stop-gap until low-/zero-carbon technologies can be proved to ll thegap. There are already many technologies out there that are under-utilised and the impression is that the history graduate who is making the decisions neither knows nor cares about them.Paul Arrondelle We all talk about wind, wave and solar, but no one seems to remember that the large mills in the past were driven from one water wheel that drove everything in the mill. Im thinking not just one but lots of them on all rivers where the fall allows even create the fall on some plus design them oating to accommodate oods.Jim Holden By all accounts, Britain faces shortagesof generated power quite soon. Until a long-term electricity-generating strategy is developed, we will need home-produced fuel to provide stability of supply. Fracked gas is just gas. If we needit, then get on with it. Gas-red power stations would last the 30 years or so until UK power is stable and future needs are protected by whatever means. Giventhat wind is showing itself as unt for purpose if produced off shore and entirely anti-social for on-shore sites, we had better get moving. A nuclear-powered base generation capacity seems an absolute necessity. Naturally powered devices will only become useful, as stated above, if high-capacity, efcient storage processes are developed.Micro CHP sounds great, but I suspect if it has a return on investment of more than circa seven years it will not be viable for home use. Many and varied are the views, and many and varied are the solutions, and once again I will harp on that Britain is crying out for an independent panel of qualied engineers, seconded on a xed term from industry or education, to bethe sole arbiter of the viability of UKplc engineering projects such as power generation, rail franchises, road building et al. The panel will be solely responsible for appointing successor engineers.John KinyouropinionClick here to join the debateClick here to join the debateDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 19thesecretengineer real, imaginary, usurped, democratic? of different aspects of the conict groups: those who manipulate and hide behind mans laws mostly to the benet of the highest bidder. I have always maintained that natureslaws are the same in Tokyo, Tubingen and Tunbridge Wells. There are no differences. Every great advance of humankind has at its root an unlocking of another of natures secrets. Few, if any, result from a new law. If we continue to allow our skillsto be usurped and wasted and that solution is simple and in our hands. We must accept the lowest place in so-called professional society and have the debates that this article requires.Mike BlameyUpintheairOur piece on the future of the UK aerospace industry drew out a wide range of viewpoints and opinions We need more collaboration with countries that dont historically build much of their own defence equipment. If we can offer them a part in the design and manufacture of their own equipment while using them to increase the scale of our market, perhaps we could generate a symbiotic relationship large enough to sustain sovereignty. The obvious nations are Canada, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, although some consolidation of companies across these nations withour own would be needed.Nathan It seems to me that the hardest part in all this is the concept of the long-term view when UK governments havea problem with anything that stretches beyond their ve-year term of ofce. If we could only convince our politicians to take a longer-term view 30 years? maybe we wouldnt get ourselves is the same messes we get into now.Graham Field Another subject that cries out for an independent panelof engineers seconded and rotated regularly who have sole decision-making powers for major technological projects. This will protect important issues from the short-termist thinking of politicians.John K And it isnt just in the aerospace industry: I gavea talk last week about the disappearance of the edgling UK wind-turbine industry,and now the tidal industry is heading the same way with the last UK turbine developer TGL being sold by Rolls-Royce to Alstom.John Armstrong Last month I once again had reason to y out to China. Hong Kong was as impressive as always, the concentrated spirit of the bustling cosmopolitan city. It stands alone though within the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and, although incorporating many features of the typical Chinese urban environment, it is not representative of the country as a whole.We headed straight out to, well, shall we say somewherein the hinterland, and were soon into a less sophisticated environment. For those of you who havent been, it is certainlyan experience.I still remember my rst time, when the shock wasnt so much the seemingly endless miles of pothole-strewn dual carriageway taking me past the hundreds of square miles of high-rise blocks, tenements and factories but rather an intrinsic dichotomy.China has been on an accelerated development and in many ways is very modern, but this relates to the buildings and infrastructure; people have a greater inertia. This is nothing peculiar to the Chinese of course. It is a truth of human society that there will be those who immediately embrace change and equally there will be those who cannot or who do not wish to. There will also be inertia within a societys structure where the process of laws and law making cannot keep apace with the whirlwind of industrial revolution.Most notably, China has a conspicuous construction programme that redevelops, tearing down the almost new and building yet newer. An intrinsic impermanence made manifest by an overall griminess to most of the buildings, only the very newest seeming to be free of aking paint and the orange-brown tears of rust streaming down from steel balcony rails. There is an aggressive investment in development thathas driven up prices along with the subsequent pressuresfor prot on any given plot regarding which the government has only just acted, hoping to curtail the inevitable upward spiral that this creates.Whatever the cause, this has seemingly resulted in a system where, within 10 or 20 years, many buildings fall into fatal disrepair. I nd it difcult to believe that this can be anythingbut harmful. The newer building is bigger but by replacing anotherits addition to the economy is diluted. Also, an increased loadon existing services rather than implementing new layouts in a holistically planned way will more likely lead to stop gaps and eventual overload.What does this have to do with us as engineers? If we are to continue manufacturing in China, then we need to look far beyond the direct economic inuences on what we do. I fully expect another global region to become the centre for manufacture one day; this is the cyclic nature of things.However, the rst sign of such a move may not be the cost to produce an item but rather an indicator linked to Chinas appetite for perpetual rebirth ironically one of the core activities that has powered it to its current position.A trip to China leaves our anonymous blogger wondering about its futureas the worlds manufacturing centreFor those of you who havent been, China is certainlyan experienceClick here to comment on the secret engineerinyouropinionClick here to join the debatethe Paul Jackson columnIts EngineeringUKs anniversary this month. Around this time 10 years ago the Engineering and Technology Board now EngineeringUK came into being, with a remit to promote engineers and engineering. Engineering is a profession with a glowing history. But it is our glowing future that EngineeringUK is passionate about; an exciting future that we can only realise by inspiring our next generation of engineers.We have come a long way since 2002. We held a very grown-up do at the Science Museum to launch the Engineering and Technology Board. Any event we run now would be jam-packed with young people. The EngineeringUK report will be published for the 15th time this December and has become a staple for the wider engineering community government, business and industry, professional bodies and education alike. It helps us to understand the economic environment were working in and to identify challenges to the industry, and it informsthe way we collaborate to combat them.The Engineers and Engineering Brand Monitor is ve years old, giving us an understanding of how engineers and engineering are viewed by the public, and the pathways to inuence their perceptions. The British public has come a long way in termsof its understanding and perception of engineers and engineering. The ndingsof our 2012 Brand Monitor provide the engineering community with a clearcall to action for how to promote engineering careers effectively. Our programmes, The Big Bang Fair and Tomorrows Engineers, are doing what they were created to do: inspire our future engineers. It was great that these programmes were commended by business secretary Vince Cable, in his speech at the Confederation of British Industry conference on 19 November.Looking at our programmes, its difcult to believe that our rst Big Bang Fair took place in 2009 attracting 6,500 visitors. In 2012, 56,000 people attended the fair, making it the largest youth event of any kind in the UK. The 2013 event at ExCeL London in March looks set to break all previous records. Not bad for a science and engineering careers fair.Hearteningly, evidence shows that the collaborative efforts of the engineering community are making a positive impact. In 2011, the Brand Monitor found that 11 per cent of all 1216 year olds believe engineering to be a desirable career. Forty-ve per cent of secondary school students who have taken part in the Tomorrows Engineers programme and 54 per cent of 1216 year olds who have attended The Big Bang Fair think engineering is a desirable career, by comparison.There is certainly no room for complacency, however. There are plenty of challenges ahead for us yet. Although science, technology, engineering and maths STEM subjects are desirable, they are more desirable to those aged 17+, which is too late for making those all-important GCSE and A-level choices.EngineeringUK 2013 gives a positive impression of the sectors capabilities. Arguably, the most arresting gure to come out of the report is the size of the skills demand, however. The UK needs 2.7 million additional workers over the next 10 years. The message is clear: if we are to seize the opportunities afforded to us by burgeoning new technologies and low-carbon targets, we must inform, inspire, attract and retain new talent.The learner is centralto EngineeringUK, and ensuring young people understand more about engineering careers isat the core of all of our programmes.The 10-year anniversary of EngineeringUK is a chance to reect upon the challenges ahead in promoting the discipline Seize the time to inspire learnersWe must meet the challenge toinform, inspire, attract and retain new talentClick here to comment on this storyPaul Jackson is chief executive of EngineeringUK and Big Bang Education CICDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 21To request a free copy ofthe Aerospace edition please click hereTo request a free copy ofthe Aerospace edition please click hereFirst for technology & innovationThe Engineer Policy & Projects supplement4th March 2013Engineering doesnt happen in a vacuum. This supplement will look atsome of the most important aspects of public policy, which will affectthe companies, and institutions, which make up the engineering sectorover the coming year.Features will include:R&D creditsLegislation and stimuli for environmental technologiesIntellectual property protection and inward investmentCurrent major projects which are likely to have atransformative effect on the engineering sector.The UKs infrastructureviewpoint:Keith Hayward DECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 23The government has widely advertised its support for UK aerospace as a core manufacturing asset. It has backed its words with nancial support for civil aeronautics and space. However, Britains military aerospace sector faces a more uncertain future. There is no doubtingthe importance of air power to the securityof the UK, nor the value of an on-shore industry capable of supporting British armed forces. Military aerospace also provides the bulk of UK military export sales. But the governments public statements on the defence industrial base, including aerospace, have been vague and ambiguous. Indeed, some of the policies pursued by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) have tended to work contrary tothe interests of an indigenous military aerospace industry.The nature of the long-term threatto capability is subtle, yet fundamental.On the one hand, sales of the Typhoonand other current products, as well as the promise of substantial production returns from participation in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, should offer a substantial returnto British companies, supporting thousands of jobs. On the other hand, there is risk to future high-value business, the noble work contained in the deep and wide body of aerospace knowledge built up over several decades. This body of knowledge comprises such complex skills as systems integration, advanced propulsion systems, avionicsand electronics. Indeed, the latter is now often a valuable element of overseassales via incorporation in other national aerospace programmes.It represents the fundamental intellectual property (IP) that allowsUK industry to full urgent operational requirements, a degree of independence and security of supply, long-term support for deployed equipment and a core many European collaborative programmes, future joint ventures must be managed through strong central structures.But in order to participate at the highest level in international programmes andto ensure the greatest national return,UK companies must be able to offer state-of-the-art technology and process capabilities. This, again, will dependupon investment in domestic technology.There is a strong security and economic case for supporting the UK military aerospace industry; domestic procurement policies should not unreasonably increase the slope of the competitive playing eld.Support does not necessarily include, desirable though in principle this might be, commitment to expensive new platforms.In the future, large new aerospace platforms will be increasingly rare (although upgrades, consequently, will be required), but it is vital that UK systems integrators for airframes, sensors and propulsion remain in a position to assume leading roles in international programmes.To do so requires a strategic investmentin underpinning technologies.contribution to national economic welfare. This feeds a manufacturing supply chain, from international prime contractors to a myriad of smaller companies, and enables the UK to safely maintain an open and globalised approach to defence that has beneted the MoD and British industry. Should this IP begin to seriously diminish, all of these benets will rapidly disappear.The Royal Aeronautical Society believes that this is indeed the case. The UK cannot entirely rely on the production of overseas-designed equipment,or on the technology, important though it is,of novel concepts suchas unmanned aerospace systems. There is aneed to support core technologies, especially in avionics and electronics; this maybe best achieved through a programmeof technology demonstration.The UK must also continue to exploit the advantages of international collaboration with European and US partners. Butthe key consideration must again be the level of technological return deliveredby co-operation. This may still be best achieved through working in more egalitarian collaboration with European partners. However, mindful of past mistakes and the economic limitations of The UKs defence aerospace sector needstomaintain its spread of skills, says Keith Hayward of the Royal Aeronautical SocietyTaking ight for strategyProf Haywardis the Royal Aeronautical Societys head of research The UK cannot rely on production of equipment that has been designed overseasF-35 participation should garnera good return for UK companies The full discussion paper can be downloaded herefeature: vertical farming24 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012Paignton zoo in Devon is an unlikely site for a revolution: more likely, you would think, to be noted for its collection of Cuban crocodiles than its cameo at the birth of a potentially world-changing industry. But for the past three years, the zoo has been growing food for its animals using a Verticrop greenhouse, one of the worlds rst working examples of a vertical farm, a radical new approach to agriculture that many believe could address one of humanitys most pressing problems: feeding our rapidly growing population. Currently around the seven billion mark, the worlds population is expected to rise to 10 billion by 2050. But with 80 per cent of the planets usable farmland already cultivated, the effects of climate change wreaking havoc across large areas of existing farmland, and more than 10 per cent of humanity going to bed hungry every night, growing enough food for these three billion new mouths is not going to be easy. Its a bleak picture. But theres still time to do something about it. And as with many of the worlds biggest problems, engineers can play a major role whether its through the developmentof precision farming methods that use satellites and sensors to optimise agricultural operations, the invention of technology that can help make plants more resistant to a hostile environment or some more fundamental change in the way we grow, harvest and distribute our food. Dr Dickson Despommier, a former professor of microbiologyat Columbia University in the US, believes there is only one sustainable solution: sever our 12,000-year-old link with the soil, embrace technology and move farming indoors and upwards.Although he doesnt claim credit for inventing the term, Despommier is widely regarded as the founding father of the vertical farming movement, and he puts forward a compelling case for the approach in his 2010 book The Vertical Farm. In it,he envisages the creation of urban structures that would enable urban farmers to cram valuable growing space into high-rise buildings, exploiting the space-saving benets of growing upwards. Using hydroponic and aeroponic systems, rather than soil, and deploying the latest sensing technology to monitor and regulate growing conditions, these closed-loop facilities would grow crops all year round. Plants would be protected from pests and weather, all water would be recycled and there would be no agricultural run-off one of the most environmentally damaging forms of pollution. It sounds far-fetched. But from the terraced rice paddies of Southeast Asia to the hillside farms of the ancient Mayans, the use of vertically layered growing techniques is hardly a revolutionary concept. The hanging gardens of Babylon if it existed is arguably another, even earlier, example of a vertical farm.Whats changed, according to Despommier, is that we now have the technology to take the vertical farm to the next level.I believe were on the cusp of a logarithmically increasing growth Could Vertical farmingoffer a solution to one of humanitys most pressing problems? Jon Excell reportsUp on the farmHitting the heights: an artists impression of Plantagons vertical farm in Linkoping, Swedenfeature:vertical farmingDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 25phase for indoor farming so we can control everything indoors, we can make plants do what we would like them to do and we can produce so much more of the plants of our choice indoorsthan we can outdoors.And his isnt a lone voice. Since the publication of The Vertical Farm, prototypes have begun springing up all over the place. Last year, the South Korean government unveiled one in Seoul, which is using LED lighting to grow leafy-green vegetable on three storeys. A similar facility has been built in Kyoto, Japan, and prototypes are currently being constructed in Sweden, Holland and the US. And although the scale and volume of these facilities is currently fairly modest, the concept appears to be gaining credibility and momentum.Indeed, just last month (November 2012), the company behind the Paignton zoo facility Canadian company Alterrus Systems announced the formal opening of its rst fully commercial vertical farm.Based on the rooftop of a car park in downtown Vancouver,the farm is now supplying vegetables to a number of nearby restaurants through an online local grocery delivery service.Alterrus chief executive ofcer Christopher Ng told The Engineer that his group has consciously taken a step back from the huge facilities envisaged by Despommier and developed an approach to vertical farming that can be easily integrated into existing urban spaces and has immediate commercial potential. Originally devised in the UK, the companys Verticrop system uses a low-power conveyor to move a series of stainless steel racks holding 24 vertically stacked (1m x 0.5m) hydroponic trays around a greenhouse at around 2.7m/min. The companys latest facility consists of 120 individual racks, covers 4,000ft2 (372m2)of growing space and will produce 150,000lb (68 tonnes) of leafy green vegetables and herbs a year, according to Ng. He claimed that the greenhouse uses just 10 per cent of the water required in traditional eld agriculture while producing considerably higher yields. One of the keys to this is the conveyor, which ensures that all of the plants are exposed to equal levels of light, heat and humidity With 80 per cent of usable farmland already cultivated, growing enough food for the worlds rising populationis not going to be easyVerticrop: Alterrus Systems has built a vertical farm in Vancouver->feature: vertical farming26 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012growthindustryFood production isnt the only promising application for vertical farming techniquesPerhaps, though, the most compelling economic case for vertical farms currently lies beyond the world offood production. For instance, working with $40m (25m) of funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) the research arm of the US military researchers in the US have built a vertical farm that they believe could revolutionise the production ofu vaccines. Based in San Antonio, Texas,the so-called Greenvax project, a collaboration between Texas A&M University and drug facility manufacturer G-Con, has built a 145,000ft2 (13,470m2) facility that utilises tobacco plants to grow vaccines for a host of diseases, including u. Flu vaccines are largely grown today in duck eggs, with each egg producing enough vaccine to immunise one person. According to the Greenvax researchers,a plant-based method could radically boost the amount of drugs that can be produced and allow rapid response to newly emerging viruses not possible with current technology. The current facility has a projected scale capacityof 100 million doses per month.Vertical farming systems are also being investigated by space scientists who believe that the technology couldbe used to grow food for long-distance manned space missions and ultimatelyto build growing facilities on manned lunar outposts. Indeed, working with $70,000 of NASA funding, researchers at Arizona Universitys Controlled Environment Agriculture Centre (CEAC) are developing a prototype lunar greenhouse that they claim could one day form the basis for growing crops on the moon or on Mars. The team has developed an 8ft-long tubular structure that can be collapsed to a 4ft-wide disk for transport and then embedded in the surface of the moon. The system is lined with water-cooled sodium vapour lamps and long envelopes that would be loaded with seeds, readyto sprout hydroponically.The breath of the astronauts would be used to provideCO2 while water for the plants would be extracted from astronaut urine.The system is based on technologies developed for CEACs South Pole Growth Chamber a system developed to provide fresh food for the South Pole Research Station, which is cut off from the outside world for up to eight months per year.and enables the farms watering and harvesting operations to be concentrated in a particular area. We can move the entire cropto two irrigation points on the system, said Ng. Therefore, we dont have this huge infrastructure of plumbing where we needto bring water to all the crops. This also means that the crop can be harvested from one location, which allows us to be even more dense in the way we squeeze the conveyor system in. We dont need to allow for workers to be going up and down the aisles. Ng said he hopes the Vancouver installation will be the rst of many, and added that his team is already looking at developinga version of the system that features low-energy lighting in the conveyor tracks and that could be used to grow crops in buildings with little or no natural light. Meanwhile, back on this side of the Atlantic, Swedish company Plantagon is drawing up plans for a large-scale vertical farm thats perhaps more in tune with Despommiers grand vision. The company, which intriguingly is 85 per cent owned by the Onondaga native American-Indian tribe, is currently poisedto begin construction of a vertical farm at a site in the city of Linkoping, 200km south west of Stockholm. At the heart of the system is a concept for a helical growing structure, designed to enable sunlight to penetrate to the coreof the growing area. Like Verticrops system, Plantagons technology exploits the production-line benets of continuously moving crops aroundthe growing area, but rather than moving the entire conveyorthe company plans to use small machines running along the underside of the static rail to move the boxes one by one. Plantagon chief executive ofcer Hans Hassle said that these devices, which will be cheap to run and easy to maintain, are currently being Flu vaccines are largely grown in duck eggs, but a plant-based method could boost the amount of drugs that can be produced and allow rapid response to newly emerging virusesMoon garden: CEACs prototype lunar greenhousefeature:vertical farmingDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 27developed by Swedish engineering consultancy Saab Combitech. However, its the way that the system will be integrated with the pre-existing local infrastructure that will be watched most keenly. And Hassle explained that, by deriving much of its energy from existing sources of waste, the facility will be a demonstration of how vertical farms could be operated on an economically feasible basis. Its very difcult today to make a standalone vertical greenhouse economically viable, but if you think in terms of industrial symbiosis then you can make it work from an economical perspective, he said. Hassle added that Linkoping a city that prides itself on an advanced approach to waste management is the ideal site to trial this approach and that the farm will be able to use waste heat from an adjacent power plant as well as CO2 exhaust from a nearby biogas production facility. But amid all the excitement of cracking the technological challenges, Hassle is concerned that the vertical farming movement might have forgotten something: its customers. He believes that the edgling industry has a major PR battle to ght in order to persuade consumers to buy its produce and that, in tandem with the technical effort, it needs to quickly nd a viable business model. When you go to a grocery store, you can choose 30 different sorts of lettuce. What we can produce in one building is just a few vegetables and we cant produce everything at the same time. Where are you going to deliver your stuff to? Why would people want to use you?You have to nd a totally new business concept on how to sell the produce.Its a surprisingly bleak assessment from someone who is otherwise so enthusiastic about the prospects for the technology, but Hassle believes Plantagon has developed a compelling business model. And although he enigmatically declined to reveal details of what he terms the companys key bit of intellectual property, the strategy should become clear when the Linkoping farm opens for business in 2014. Despite the progress thats already been made, there are clearly signicant technological and economic challenges to overcome before vertical farming can begin to seriously compete with conventional approaches to agriculture. But Despommier believes there is no credible alternative. Inthe conclusion to The Vertical Farm, he argues that traditional agriculture is not working. Without irrigation and lots of additives, farming could not go on indenitely in the same place, he writes. At the same time that our agricultural landscapes have been pushed to their limits... our population has just about risen to the point of no return less land left to cultivate but still plenty of hungry mouths to feed. We have no choice but to conclude that farming on soil is not a long-term sustainable solution to meeting our populations energy needs the vertical farm has the potential [to advance] agriculture to a place in history it has never before occupied: one of true sustainability.I believe were on the cusp of a logarithmically increasing growth phase for vertical farmingDr Dickson DespommierFuture farm: artists impression of what Plantagons farms may one day look likeClick here to comment on this story28 | theEnGineeR | DECEMBER 2012In 1997, JET set the world record for producing the largest amount of power (16MW) from fusion using deuterium-tritium (D-T), the fuel proposed for the rst generation of fusion power plants. After a period of upgrades, the project is preparing an attempt at breaking that record.The follow-up programme, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), will try to go a step further and generate more power than is used to start the process.Experts from both projects have provided the answers toyour questions. The Engineer will continue to report on this fascinating project, as well as the parallel efforts in inertial connement or laser fusion currently taking place in the US.nWhat are the safety and environmental hazards of fusion, including waste, what protection systems do you have in place to deal with this and how does this compare to nuclear ssion plants? The fuels used in the fusion reaction are inherently less hazardous that those used in ssion. Typical input fuels for fusion will be deuterium and tritium both isotopes of hydrogen, with the latter being radioactive. The products of the reaction will be helium and fast neutrons. The neutrons can cause activation of materials they pass through. As a radioactive gas, tritium is a very low-energy beta emitter and has a half-life of about 12.6 years. However, it is highly mobile and can contaminate most materials it comes in contact with. All fusion machines vary but JET, located at Culham, Oxfordshire, and ITER, being built at Cadarache, France, will both have their inner, plasma-facing walls constructed mostly of beryllium a toxic metal that presents signicant health hazards if minute particles are inhaled.This means that the major hazards associated with operating JET or ITER are beryllium contamination, radiation from fast neutrons, tritium and the activation products in components removed from the machine. There is no possibility of the reaction going critical a major failure of the tokamak and loss of vacuum will merely lead to the loss of the plasma and thus the reaction extinguishing. During a reaction, the level of neutron ux is such that all personnel are excluded from within the biological shield while the machine is operating. All operation and maintenance of the machine is overseen by health physics staff who monitor levels of tritium and beryllium, declaring Experts from two major nuclear projects answer your questions on the challenges surrounding fusion energy and explain its commercial viabilityPositivereactionfeature: fusion Q&AFusion: cutaway view of the ITER cryosat showing the tokomak surrounded by its eld coilsDECEMBER 2012 | theEnGineeR | 29radiological and/or beryllium-contaminated controlled or supervised areas as necessary.With regard to waste, the rst thing to say is that the production of waste is relatively modest, with most coming from maintenance activities or redundant components when the current research machines are recongured. The main concern with the waste is radioactive contamination both from tritium and activation products, which will be relatively short lived. While much of the waste will be below the thresholds to even be considered as radioactive waste, there is some low-level waste and a very small proportion will be classied as intermediate-level waste. However, within 100 years or so, all of this material can be recycled or disposed of conventionally, leaving no long-term radioactive legacy for future generations to deal with. Colin Shimell, head of assurance at Culham Centre for Fusion EnergyITER will not generate any long-lived nuclear waste. Irradiated material will be transferred within a connement cask to enclosed, shielded compartments or hot cells. Inside the hot cells, several operations will be performed, such as cleaning and dust collection, detritiation, refurbishment and disposal. The waste, classied as medium level, will be stored in the ITER hot cells. All of these procedures are a part of the ITER operation as presented in the Preliminary Safety Report and are also submitted to examination of the French Nuclear Safety Authority as part of the licensing process.Detritiation systems in ITER have been designed to remove tritium from liquids and gases for reinjection into the fuelcycle. Remaining efuents will be well below authorised limits: gaseous and liquid tritium releases to the environment from ITER are predicted to be below 10Sv per year. This is well below ITERs General Safety Objective of 100Sv per year and 100 times lower than the regulatory limit in France of 1,000Sv per year. Scientists estimate our exposure to natural background radiation to be approximately 2,000Sv per year. ITER responsenWhy is it taking such a long time to return to experimenting with D-T fuel and how are you overcoming the problems youve experienced? The vast majority of JET experiments are done using deuterium only, which allows us to stud