摘要:

The debate, promoted by the deliberations of the Committee of Inquiry into the Engineering Profession, has shown the need to have an academic strategy for the future. Many considerations should influence this strategy. The flow of information into schools should provide a much clearer picture of the opportunities that engineering provides. This is one task which should receive priority from any statutory authority emerging from the Committee recommendations. An attempt to classify the activities of engineers leads to the conclusion that there are two separable groups – diploma engineers and qualified engineers – for whom distinct types of degree course should be provided. The design of courses for qualified engineers is discussed in general terms. The paper concludes with an account of some of the ways in which the Electrical Department at Imperial College has responded to the ever-changing technological scene.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0001

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

A restrained extrapolation is made on the basis of the further development of some of today's technology seen against a background of the finite radio spectrum and limited energy resources. Present-day communications have become established as a set of complementary services, radio, television, telephone, letters, newspapers, records, films etc, with separate terminal devices and each having their own distribution channels. It is assumed that in the 21st century the techniques, such as antenna array signal processing, will lead to much more effective use of the radio spectrum and that optical fibres will provide a wideband switched network to the local area. In these circumstances it will be economically and operationally attractive to integrate communications systems providing a wide variety of functions. It is postulated that most ‘deliveries’ connected with information and entertainment will be electronic, leaving physical transportation for essentials like food and fuel or luxuries like ‘limited editions’ and paintings where there is pleasure derived from direct association with the originator of the art work. The question of man adapting to the machine or the machine adapting to man is discussed. It is concluded that further developments in speech recognition are more likely than man learning to speak or read in a binary language suitable for direct communication with computers. It is noted that there has been little change in the basic transducers of electronic communications (i.e. the microphone, loudspeaker, television-camera tube and c.r.t. display) since their first introduction. Although electronic aural communications are close to saturating the capability of the human receptor, electronic visual communication has a long way to go before it saturates the capability of the eye-brain combination.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0002

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

A review of the prospects for increasing the use of electricity for transport reveals that the means are readily at hand. Both private and nationalised organisations within the UK have invested heavily in research and development, and the UK now holds a world lead in a number of the key technologies required for expanding the use of electricity in transport. A comparison of power flows when refuelling with petrol and refuelling with electricity leads to a set of conclusions on which most of the current research and development programmes seem to have been based. The limited-range battery-electric vehicle, the hybrid vehicle and main-line traction developments are considered, and the possibilities offered by all these technologies are reviewed. It is concluded that it is now up to the Government to act decisively in announcing an energy strategy that will take the UK into the 21st Century. It is inconceivable that the extended use of electricity for transport wifi not form part of such a strategy.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0003

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

25 years ago, the subjects of control and digital computing were developing more or less independently. Today they are very closely interrelated, and the formation of the new Computing & Control Division is an expression of this and of the fact that information engineering now underlies the work of many electrical engineers. The rapid transfer of computing and control technology into industry in general, and into UK manufacturing industry in particular, is an urgent need to ensure improved productivity and greater efficiency in the use of energy and raw materials. The influences governing such transfer are many, some of them are considered here, particularly in relation to three facets of technical development – primary measurement, distributed control systems and human factors. Effective control using microelectronics requires developments in primary measurement which will, in turn, be achieved partly by improved sensors and partly by the creation of intelligent instruments, themselves relying on microelectronics. Distribution of control function is a natural consequence of the development of microelectronics leading to greater reliability and more extensive applications of computing and control technology. The highest-level controller will always be human, and hence the continuing importance of the man-machine interface whether it be with manufacturing machinery, process controllers or industrial robots. The accelerating pace of technology transfer in our field will ensure a rewarding professional workload for members of the new Division in the years ahead as the concepts and visions of a generation of computing and control engineers are transferred into commercial and industrial practice.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0004

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

Magic and technology appear at first sight to be very far removed from each other. Nevertheless, both in mythology and history, the threads of magic and technology sometimes run close together, and indeed occasionally seem to be woven into a single fabric. Both magic and technology are capable of effecting highly desirable transformations, but each is also capable of unleashing powerful forces sometimes fraught with terrible dangers. For hundreds of years there has been a conflict between those who believed that technology was a benign influence helping the progress of mankind, and those who thought that it was a baneful force leading to ultimate ruin. The present argument between those who see technology as saviour and those who see it as destroyer is really a continuation of the old disagreement. But the tension is greater today than in the past because the stakes are higher; more people are affected, and more seriously, by the way in which the argument is resolved. Engineers therefore should be concerned with the likely effect of their work on society, although a responsible approach is not to be equated with one that is overcautious and unenterprising. It is impossible to avoid all risk.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0005

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

A practical technique is presented for the numerical solution of general three-dimensional electrodynamic field problems. Circuit models are derived separately for the electric and magnetic parts of the field. Conventional network-analysis techniques are then developed to isolate the independent closed paths that link the models. This avoids the difficulty, inherent in the usual differential equation approach, of describing the field interactions. Network techniques are again employed to formulate a straightforward solution. Sample calculations are performed for three power-frequency steady-state a.c. problems to demonstrate the application of the method.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0006

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

Approximate formulas for the calculation of the output voltage, ripple voltage, and the r.m.s. and peak values of the source current of bridge, and one- and two-phase halfwave rectifier circuits are presented. These have been derived by replacing sines and cosines by the first two terms of their series expansions. It is shown that the approximations made introduce errors which, in the great majority of practical applications, are less than 1%. Brief comments on the practical application of the formulas are made, and some calculated and measured values of the output and ripple voltages presented, showing good agreement.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0007

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET

摘要:

In automating the marketing process, the objective is to gain higher efficiency, with a consequent economic benefit, through improved control. Many elements of the marketing process lend themselves to this approach as an aid to decision making, but, in exploring this field, engineering has lagged behind other sectors of industrial activity. Basic research into the behaviour of markets, organisations and individuals is a prerequisite, and much of the progress in this field is the result of work done in the USA. The focus of interest is on simulation techniques, and it has been demonstrated that many aspects of the marketing process can be modelled and simulated. The techniques are most rewarding when they are used with interactive computing facilities. These are now widely available, so further development of such techniques in engineering marketing is governed largely by the extent to which managerial interest, research talent and interactive computing facilities can be brought together.

DOI:10.1049/ip-a-1.1980.0008

出版商:IEE    

年代:1980

数据来源: IET