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Monthly Archives: November 2013

Elektra Awards 2013 – The Winners

Elektra Awards statuettes

The Elektra Awards 2013 were presented at a Gala Dinner at the Grosvenor House, Park Lane earlier tonight. Photo Gallery: Elektra Awards 2013 Attendees » Photo Gallery: Elektra Awards 2013 Winners » This established annual highpoint of the electronics industry, was hosted by comedian and author Tony Hawks, and watched by a large and enthusiastic audience representing all sectors of ...

Recovery? Yes, recovery

Is the manufacturing sector starting to outpace the service sector in leading the economic recovery? The UK’s gross domestic product (GDP) rose by 0.8% in the last three months, its fastest growth rate for three years, according to figure from the Office of National Statistics (ONS). With construction going like a train at 2.5% growth, the interesting figure for the supply chain is the ...

Li-FI research at Edinburgh goes global

A new research centre at the University of Edinburgh will focus on the development of an optical communications technology, known as Li-Fi, which is transmitted using light waves instead of existing radio technology. The intention is to encourage collaboration between researchers at the University and other key research institutes around the world. A key player in the new centre will be Professor Harald Haas, who is ...

The Importance Of Government

In the 1980s the US government came up with a series of initiatives which allowed the US semiconductor industry to avoid annihilation at the hands of the Japanese.

Distributor sees recovery start in electronics markets

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Markets are “coming back to life” says the chief executive of UK-based distributor and manufacturer Acal. Acal which has posted postive first half year results today, has seen its main European markets of France and the UK growing at 11%. The distributor’s smaller German business, where it has made new acquisition, is growing even faster. “There are signs the industry ...

Challenges of measuring big voltages on the railways

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The rail traction and industrial market sectors are noted as extremely challenging environments in terms of electronic systems that are created to monitor the flow of electrical power within them. They demand the highest levels of reliability and performance, and both require that systems continue to operate in very aggressive environmental conditions. These sectors also need the highest levels of ...

Glasgow to measure gravitational waves

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Scottish technology will be at the heart of an space mission to detect the ripples in space-time caused by some of the most violent events in the universe. The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that one of its next two ‘large’ (L-class) missions will be to establish a gravitational wave observatory in space. Known as the evolved Laser Interferometry ...

Surface mount power inductor handles high currents

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TDK’s latest EPCOS surface mount power inductors are designed for rated currents between 0.33 A and 7.5 A. The range of inductance values is from 1.0µH to 1000µH, and the typical DC resistance is between 6.0mΩ and 1.95Ω. The power inductors, which are qualified to AEC-Q200, are suitable for operating temperatures from -55 °C to +150 °C and are suitable ...

Double-sided contact simplifes switch design in electric vehicles

ALPS Electric has developed a surface mount two-pole sliding contact micro switch specifically for use in electric vehicle parking brakes (EPB). Typically the design of EPBs has used two micro switches, but this has led to problems such as the on/off timing of the switches going out of sync during low-speed operation. The SPVQC micro switches use a double-sided sliding ...