The latest technologies and the future of engineering.

National Instruments reports that over 600 delegates from across Northern Europe attended this years NIDays in London (GB) in November. They collectively represented a vast field of industrial and professional sectors.

Engineering Impact Awards

The previous evening, the Engineering Impact Awards took place at the RSA House and showcased the most innovative projects based on NI software and hardware.

The University of Bristol and Lund University won “Application of the year” Award for the world records in 5G wireless spectral efficiency using massive MIMO. Read more about the winners below:

- Biomedical - Combating Unilateral Facial Paralysis with Low-Latency Muscle Reanimation

- Education - MSc Physics Students Take Ownership of Their Learning with LabVIEW

- Electronical test & measurement - Train Zero Model Based Design Facility

- Control - Adaptive Truss: Structural strength when you need it

- Physical test & measurement - Characterizing Levitating Space Dust with 3D Scatterometry

- Innovative Research - Kinelab: Assessing the Motor-Cognitive Skills of School Children with LabVIEW

- Student Design (Judges Choice) - Project ALAN: Robotic Rehabilitation for Stroke Survivors

- Student Design (People’s Choice) - Colorophone: Enabling Blind People to Listen to Light

- RF & Wireless communications/ App of the year - World Records in 5G Wireless Spectral Efficiency Using Massive MIMO

The event dedicated to technological innovation and discovery in science began with the keynote ‘Impacting Today’s Business’ hosted by Neil Crossan, RF and core test Technical Marketing Engineer for Northern Europe. Delegates also heard from Colin Freeman of Frazer Nash consultancy about the Train Zero model that had won an award the previous evening at the prestigious Engineering Impact Awards.

56 exhibitors demonstrated their work in the main exhibition hall with everything from Quicksilver who quest to break the world water speed record, Quadbots; a kick-starter campaign to inspire makers of all ages to other incredible customers, partners and alliance partners on display. The expo floor also had ‘Meet the Engineer’ booth was able to help those on the spot with their most technical challenges. Track sessions including LabVIEW community sessions and user group sessions were popular sessions with engaged participants. In-depth presentations filled the day too with presenters such as Maxime Lecuona from JLR and Daniel Jubb from the falcon project, one of the world’s leading rocket scientists.

‘‘NIDays is an opportunity to unleash game-changing technologies to the engineering and scientific communities, but the day wouldn’t mean anything without the technical professionals who attend. There was an incredible atmosphere throughout the day and we are thrilled to be connecting great minds from industry and academia under one roof... that’s how true innovation begins,’’ says Richard Roberts, Academic Technical Marketing Engineer for Northern Europe

The afternoon keynote welcomed Joel Gibbard, CEO and co-founder of Open Bionics: he presented his open source, 3D printable bionic limbs that rival the current style, price and design of those available on the market today. Keynote speaker Richard Roberts also emphasized how the Internet of Things is profoundly impacting product design, manufacturing, education and infrastructure and how technology must evolve to realise the true potential of the IoT. With the future technology of Time Sensitive Networking being discussed, future engineers and the Software Tech Preview, the afternoon was filled with a comprehensive outlook into upcoming trends in engineering, science and beyond.

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