Impact on engineering assessed and acknowledged!

Muc-Off’s Innovation in Testing Technology for Sir Bradley Wiggins’ Bicycle Chain wins Application of the Year 2015

National Instruments has unveiled the winners of the 2015 Engineering Impact Awards at a ceremony held at the Royal Academy of Engineering, London (GB), as part of the annual NI Days event. The awards highlight Northern Europe’s most innovative engineering projects using NI technology to solve some of the world’s most demanding engineering challenges.

National Instruments Team at the end of another successful NI Days in London

NI Engineering Impact Awards 2015

Advanced Research: Merlin: Developing a High-Speed X-Ray Imaging System for Synchrotron Beam Lines Using FlexRIO and LabVIEW – Quantum Detectors

Education: Robotic Table Football: Revolutionising Mechatronics Education Using myRIO and LabVIEW – Loughborough University

Electronics Test & Measurement:  ON Semiconductor Speeds Up Test Times With the Semiconductor Test System – ON Semiconductor

Internet of Things: Preparing Today for the Grid of Tomorrow – National Grid UK

Life Sciences: Holographic Tweezers: Positioning Living Stem Cells in 3D – University of Nottingham

Machine Control: Subsea Cable Survey and Inspection ROV Control System – TBG Solutions

Physical Test & Measurement: Lubricating the Gears of Greatness – Muc-Off  

Student Design: MedSIM - A Haptic Simulator for Medical Training – University of Leeds

The 2015 Application of the Year Award was presented to Martin Mathias and Alex Trimnell, from Muc-Off for their case study detailing their use of NI hardware and software for chain lubricant optimisation for professional cycling teams. Ultimately, this helped to contribute to Sir Bradley Wiggins’ success in setting the current UCI World Hour record.

Muc-Off and Team Sky collaborated to bring a new science to cycling, for the very first time in the history of the sport. Muc-Off used LabVIEW and CompactDAQ to create a comprehensive testing system to quantify the quality of their lubricants and prove to Team Sky that they had the expertise to create the world’s best bicycle chain lubricant.

With no previous experience of using LabVIEW and a very tight time frame, the Muc-Off team worked with NI to develop a training plan, adaptable hardware configuration with CompactDAQ and a scalable software development approach. This enabled Muc-Off to create a test rig that gives immediate results, simultaneously, to both the technical engineering team and the non-technical cyclists, to vastly improve development time. This innovation in testing is leading the development of a new class of lubricant, incorporating military grade materials and Nano-Tube technology.

Using this technology Muc-Off supplied a fully tested and optimised chain to Wiggins on the day of his 1 hour record attempt. In professional cycling, the smallest improvement can make a huge competitive difference and Muc-Off’s new, optimised chain contributed to Wiggins smashing the world record by more than 3%, travelling 54.526km (33.88 miles) in only 60 minutes.

“We now work with NI frequently to help drive further marginal gains in professional cycling, while always aiming to bring the best of this technology to the everyday cyclist,” said Martin Mathias, co-author of the Application of the Year. “So whether it is in-depth sound and vibration analysis or reproducing climate conditions, NI has the breadth of experience across many industries to assist in specifying and utilising the hardware and software to achieve our upcoming goals.”

• Visit the NI Engineering Impact Awards website to submit an entry for next year’s contest.

Graphical system design conference & exhibition registration!

National Instruments UK & Ireland has officially opened registration for NIDays 2014, the annual Graphical System Design Conference for engineers, scientists and educators.  This leading industry event, held on Tuesday 4th November in London (GB), features the latest technology to accelerate productivity for software-defined systems in test, measurement and control.

Professor Mark Miodownik

With a choice of technical tracks representing a spectrum of industries (from automotive and telecommunications to robotics and energy), NIDays gives delegates the opportunity to experience, learn and network with a full day of inspiring and technical sessions.  By exploring the latest software tools, emerging hardware platforms and innovative industry applications, delegates will learn how NI solutions can save time and money without sacrificing flexibility and longevity. Suitable for all technical levels, whether novice, intermediate or advanced developers, this free conference offers keynote presentations, hands-on workshops and interactive sessions taught by NI and industry experts.

The NIDays keynotes provide a first look at the latest NI tools and cutting-edge technology used by engineers and scientists to accelerate productivity and drive rapid innovation across a wide variety of industries. 

This year’s keynotes will explore the critical role engineers play in solving the world's grand challenges and how NI empowers the next generation of innovators to improve the world we live in. Trends covered include the Internet of Things, 5G, Industrie 4.0 and the smart grid. In addition, NIDays 2014 keynote headliner, Mark Miodownik, Professor of Materials and Society at University College London and BBC broadcaster will showcase his research on 3D-printed bike helmets. 

• Readout attended this event in 2012. See what we thought "No boxes with magic pixies at Westminster!"

New venue announced for conference!

National Instruments has announced that NIDays 2011 for Ireland and Britain, its annual professional development conference for engineers, scientists and educators, will this year be held at a new location, The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, on Wednesday 9th November.  The move to a larger venue for NIDays has become necessary as delegate numbers have outgrown the capacity at Savoy Place, the home of NIDays over the past five years, due to the continued growth and success of this industry event.

They selected the award-winning Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre (QEIICC) as the new home of NIDays because it combines modern comfort and the latest technology, in a stunning location.

With capacity for up to 3,000 delegates, and 26 conference and event spaces across 7 floors, the QEIICC will allow NIDays attendance to continue to grow.  And with 2,000m2 exhibition space on one floor, the NIDays exhibition can now be held all on a single floor.  The additional space in the Centre enables more technical sessions to be offered to delegates.

The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre is an ideal venue for NIDays as it is situated in the very heart of Westminster, near Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and the London Eye.  Boasting superb transport links, the Centre is within walking distance from three mainline and two underground stations, plus easy access to five international airports.

Known as one of the most technologically intelligent conference centres in Britain, the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre provides wireless internet access throughout, digital signage across seven floors and high definition audio visual equipment, as well as excellent access for delegates and exhibitors. 

“NI is excited about taking its successful premier technical conference, NIDays, to the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre” said Mark Gradwell, Marketing Communications Manager, “It will enable us to deliver an even better experience for our customers, partners and exhibitors, as well as allowing us to continue to grow and develop the event as more and more engineers and scientists attend each year”.

Engineers, scientists and educators involved in test, control and design are invited to attend NIDays 2011 a free one-day, multi-track conference and exhibition, offering hands-on training; in-depth technical sessions covering the latest NI technologies; and demonstrations of innovative uses of graphical system design.

Final paper call! (Ireland & Britain!)

Successful paper earns trip, flight & accomodation to NI Week in United States! 

Engineers and scientists from industry or academia are invited to submit their case study to the Graphical System Design Case Study Contest, organised by National Instruments UK & Ireland.  This annual technical paper contest, now in its 6th year, showcases the most innovative solutions for measurement and automation, using NI products and technologies. 

Winners of the Graphical System Design Case Study Contest will be announced the night before NIDays conference and exhibition, at a prestigious Awards dinner to be held on 8th November at One Birdcage Walk in Westminster, London (GB), home of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.  The Awards will be hosted by NI UK leadership with presentations given by Dave Wilson, NI Corporate and Academic Marketing Director.

The author of the winning paper will receive a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0  and one ticket, including flights and accommodation, to NIWeek, "the industry's premier worldwide graphical system design conference and exhibition", taking place in Austin, Texas, in August 2012. 

Runners-up will each be recognised for their achievement with the prize of a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0  together with some of the latest NI measurement hardware or software.

Dr. David Keeling and Ali Alazmani from the University of Leeds and Leeds General Infirmary won last year’s Graphical System Design Paper Contest with their case study detailing how NI LabVIEW and NI CompactRIO were used in the development of an intelligent, mechanical heart simulator, known as the Ventricular Assist Device.

To enter the Graphical System Design Case Study Contest, download the Author Packet (PDF) from the NI Site and send submissions by email to papercontest.ukie@ni.com The deadline for abstracts is 1st July, with final papers due no later than 22nd July, 2011.

Contest entries are published online (ni.com/uk/casestudies and ni.com/ireland/casestudies) and in the NIDays 2011 Case Study booklet, given to every delegate attending the conference and exhibition.  Winning authors from the Graphical System Design Case Study Contest will also be recognised on the main stage at NIDays.

Registration is now open for NIDays 2011, the annual professional development conference for engineers, scientists and educators, this year held at a new location, The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster, London, on Wednesday 9th November.  This free one-day, multi-track conference and exhibition offers hands-on training; in-depth technical sessions covering the latest NI technologies in test, control and design; and demonstrations of innovative uses of graphical system design.

Recognising engineering and science innovation

Mechanical Heart Simulator by University of Leeds & Leeds General Infirmary wins NIDays 2010 Graphical System Design Case study contest

Left to right Dave Wilson, Dr David Keeling, Ali Alazmani & Robert Morton

National Instruments UK & Ireland recognised innovative applications developed by engineers, scientists and researchers in its NIDays 2010 Graphical System Design Case Study Contest. This annual technical paper contest, now in its 5^th year, is intended to encourage and showcase the most innovative uses of virtual instrumentation and graphical system design in teaching or by engineers in industry. The winner and finalists, who used graphical system design to develop applications that meet complex engineering and science challenges, were congratulated by Dave Wilson, National Instruments Director of Academic and Corporate Marketing, in an award ceremony attended by over 500 engineers and scientists during NIDays 2010 at Savoy Place, London.

Dr. David Keeling and Ali Alazmani from the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Leeds accepted the award for the winning paper, on behalf of their colleagues at the University and Leeds General Infirmary, who developed an intelligent, mechanical heart simulator or Ventricular Assist Device. The simulator is an artificial muscle wrap that assists a failing heart by applying compressive force, synchronous to the native rhythm, around the external surface of the heart’s ventricles. This cyclic “squeezing” action augments heart muscle efforts, leading to an improved output for the diseased heart. The team created a unique hardware-in-the-loop heart simulator that combines a real-time software blood flow model with a physical 3D mechanical heart. They used NI LabVIEW graphical programming environment and NI CompactRIO to enhance the testing environment so the heart simulator could operate as a stand-alone system and run reliably for prolonged periods of time. Dr Keeling commented that “CompactRIO offered a rugged, reliable, stand-alone platform, enabling our team to conduct prolonged testing, which would not have been possible on a traditional computer."

Wilson presented Dr Keeling with the first prize of a ticket, (including flights and accommodation), for NIWeek, the industry's premier global graphical system design conference and exhibition, taking place in Austin, Texas, in August 2011, together with a commemorative award plaque and a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT 2.0.

“Today’s innovators are asked to solve increasingly challenging and critical problems,” said Robert Morton, Managing Director, National Instruments UK & Ireland. “These awards recognise the cutting-edge ways engineers and scientists in the UK & Ireland are using the NI graphical system design approach in both the development and deployment of ground-breaking solutions to address the grand challenges facing humanity and to improve everyday life.”

Racing Green Endurance and Wavebob were also congratulated as the contest’s two finalists.

The case study written by Alec de Zegher and Tobias Schulz from Racing Green Endurance details the design and implementation of a control system for an electric super-car using CompactRIO. In less than nine months, the Racing Green Endurance team built a 400bhp twin-motor battery electric vehicle, to traverse the Pan-American Highway, the longest road in the world. CompactRIO, with its onboard Real-Time controller and field-programmable gate array was used to implement a tough, advanced and safe vehicle control system in less than four months. CompactRIO controls the vehicle’s battery management system which ensures the constant well being of the Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries and also manages the motor controllers, driver interface and safety systems.

Wavebob harnesses the immense power of the ocean to produce clean, renewable energy. Eugene Doogan’s paper describes the design of a prototype floating buoy device that automatically adjusts its response to suit the prevailing wave climate to maximise the amount of useful power delivered to the electricity grid on-shore. The control and data acquisition system of this prototype wave energy converter is powered by LabVIEW, Compact FieldPoint and CompactRIO. Wavebob’s goal is to develop a commercial wave energy converter that can produce significant electrical power for the onshore grid on coastlines with a suitable wave climate. (See also our article: Power from the Sea, April 2010)

The standard of case studies in this year’s contest was so high that National Instruments UK & Ireland gave Honourable Mentions to Rodrigue Akkari from BPP-TECH, for his paper about creating a riser management system for deepwater drill ships and semi submersible; and to Stuart Watson and colleagues from the Universites of Glamorgan and Swansea, for developing a magnetic induction tomography system for the detection of intracerebral haemorrhage using very low-noise RF signals .

To learn more about the NIDays 2010 Graphical System Design Case Study Contest and to read all of this year’s winning entries, visit ni.com/uk/papercontest

'Rock Star Physicist' to shine at annual conference

‘Why We Need Explorers’ keynote at National Instruments UK & Ireland Annual Conference & Exhibition

National Instruments UK & Ireland has announced that Professor Brian Cox OBE, the ‘Rock Star Physicist’, will deliver the keynote address at NIDays 2010. Cox is Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester (GB) and one of the leaders on the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC), as well as a hugely popular TV presenter, author and media figure. NIDays is the UK and Ireland’s largest graphical system design conference and exhibition, held at the London home of Institution of Engineering & Technology, Savoy Place, on Tuesday 9th November 2010.

Professor Cox will explain ‘Why We Need Explorers’. In tough economic times, our exploratory science programmes - from space probes to the LHC - are first to suffer budget cuts. But Professor Cox will explain how curiosity-driven science pays for itself, powering innovation, fostering a profound appreciation of our existence, and inspiring the next generation of scientists and engineers.
“We are excited to welcome Professor Brian Cox to NIDays as this year's guest keynote speaker” said Robert Morton, UK & Ireland Managing Director at National Instruments. "As well as his work with the LHC at CERN, Professor Cox is an inspirational and passionate voice for science and technology. His high profile role as a STEM advocate has been influential in popularising and explaining big science to the general public. I'm positive the hundreds of NIDays attendees who are continually innovating and pushing the boundaries of science and engineering will enjoy his perspective on the importance of scientific exploration and discovery."

Brian obtained a first class degree and a PhD in High Energy Particle Physics, at the same time as playing keyboards with the Irish rock band, D’Ream (whose song, ‘Things Can Only Get Better’, was famously used as the Labour Party election song in 1997). He is now Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester and one of the leaders on the ATLAS experiment at the LHC at CERN in Geneva (CH). He has also become a hugely popular TV presenter, author and media advocate for STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). Brian’s television credits include the BBC blockbuster, Wonders of the Solar System, which will be followed by a new series on the Universe; he has also fronted Space Hoppers, The Big Bang and numerous specials for Horizon. His book Why Does E=mc2? quickly became a bestseller.

Brian’s talks inspire audiences around the globe, from TED in America to the World Economic Forum in Davos and China. With staggering images, his presentations show that science breaks down barriers and can both shock and excite. He also describes the breathtaking work at CERN, where scientists are recreating conditions a billionth of a second after Big Bang “in the hope of revealing the underlying simplicity of the universe.”

An International Fellow of the Explorers Club, a Royal Society University Research Fellow and winner of the prestigious British Association Lord Kelvin Award for his work promoting science, Brian was awarded an OBE in 2010. When he isn’t filming in far away places, he writes both for tabloids and broadsheets, and co-presents BBC Radio 4’s Infinite Monkey Cage with his friend, the comedian Robin Ince.

Engineers, scientists and educators involved in test, control and design are invited to attend NIDays 2010 and watch Cox’s Keynote speech. NIDays is a multi-track conference and exhibition exploring the latest innovations, tools and technologies from National Instruments and its partners, offering more than 50 hours of in-depth technical sessions, including 30 hours of hands-on training.