In this blogpost we focus on three areas that IET Local Networks have been discussing - Wearable technology, hybrid aircraft and brain modeling – and find out from the experts what impact these will have on our everyday lives now and in the future...Architecture of wearable technology
IET Dorset and South Wiltshire Network

 

Wearable technology is the next step in communication and data sharing, providing us with the ability to take and analyse simple measurements that give us access to more detailed information about ourselves and our environment.

 

As everyone moves towards a greater digital presence, the traditional tools of keyboards and smartphones are no longer enough to communicate the complex data people want to share. From simple video and pictures to body monitoring and location sharing, we want to share more and more about what we are doing, who we are with and how we are feeling and the answer may lie with wearable technology.

 

The benefits of wearable technology can be seen across a variety of sectors, but in the short-term, Barry Kirby, Managing Director, K Sharp Ltd, believes the biggest benefit will be seen within healthcare.

 

“With the ability for people to share their own vital measurements with medical professionals to enable better initial diagnosis and ongoing monitoring, the better, and cheaper, overall care will become,” he notes.

 

Barry notes that wearable technology is also a fundamental building block for the Internet of Things  (IoT) and the development of Smart Cities. However, with the current level of trust in data protection relatively low, there is as much of a perception issue to solve as a technological one.

 
Hybrid hopes - Airlander 10 gets green light for lift-off
IET Surrey Network

 

Hybrid aircraft offer the ability to stay airborne for days at a time and land on any relatively flat surface from ice to marshland. Coupled with the capacity to transport exceptionally large loads, they can serve myriad functions from luxury tourism to surveillance, humanitarian relief, remote transportation and communications.

 

“Hybrid aircraft produce less noise and are a green alternative to current aircraft, requiring minimal infrastructure. They are also cheaper to operate than aircraft with similar capabilities,” says Hybrid Air Vehicles’ Chris Daniels - the company behind Airlander 10. “This means that overall environmental impact from aviation will be hugely reduced, along with the associated costs, meaning a much more serene transport experience coupled with a cleaner, greener and quieter world.”

 

During his talk Chris explained that one of the first markets to embrace this technology is likely to be surveillance.

 

“We see the initial market being around surveillance tasks, whether military or civil. Airlander provides the ‘Holy Grail’ of surveillance – persistence. It stays on task for days and can power up and carry the heaviest and most sophisticated surveillance equipment on a very stable platform,” Chris notes.

 

“We also see passenger experience flights as an early adopter and there is a ready market for this. Ultimately we see cargo being the largest market, but given the multiple nodes and distance from maintenance hangars and spare parts, it is likely this will be a second market once Airlander is more established.”

 

Another area hybrid aircraft could make a big impact is communications. 

 

“With the Internet of Things (IoT) beginning to become a reality in our day-to-day lives, we feel Airlander could offer a stable platform for 4G/LTE and 3G in areas of exceptional peak data usage, say a festival or major sporting event.

And we are even looking at being an airborne aircraft carrier for delivery drones like those Amazon is proposing. This is a number of years away but being a mothership and large distribution van in the sky may be an interesting idea!”

 
SpiNNaker and the Human Brain Project
IET Manchester Network

 

SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network Architecture) is a computer being developed to emulate the way brain neurons fire signals, offering uniquely scalable and flexible brain-modelling capabilities.

 

The man behind the project, Manchester University’s Professor Steve Furber, highlighted during his lecture that the machine currently has half-a-million ARM processor cores: “which is still less than one per cent of the scale required to model a complete human brain, but should be enough for a few mouse brains!”

 

SpiNNaker is just one part of the Human Brain Project (HBP), an EU ICT Flagship project that aims to deliver a range of ICT ‘platforms’ to support brain science, and in the long-term could provide positive ramifications in sectors as varied as healthcare and AI.

 

“Diseases of the brain cost developed economies more than cancer, heart disease and diabetes put together, and are very traumatic for their sufferers and their families. The very long-term goal of the HBP and SpiNNaker is to develop computer models that support the development of new treatments for brain diseases,” says Professor Furber.

 

“Alongside this, as we understand more about the fundamental principles of information processing in the brain, this will help us build more efficient and intelligent computers.

 

“The brain remains one of the great mysteries of science. Any progress in understanding how it works will have transformative consequences,” he adds.

 
If you are interested in any of these subjects then you should attend your IET Local Network's events. They are usually free to attend and you don't have to be a member of the IET - these talks are open to anyone with an interest in engineering and technology and how they will impact all our lives in the future. To find your Local Network please use our interactive map.