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Electronics, automation, computer, information and communications technology in engineering
 
Issue number 38
October 2010 
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In this issue...
- The importance of measurements in 2010
- Pursuing the champion of digital terrestrial television standards
- Tomorrow's engineers excel at SATNAC
- GSM base stations for rural and low density areas
- SATNAC 2010 - Customer experience the next magic marketing tool?
- Cloud computing - a perfect storm, or a storm in a teacup?
- How to cut costs in legacy data centres
- Ground rules for high-speed circuits
- More efficiency for 3-level inverters
- Reducing unaccounted-for or non-revenue water
- In defence of wireless field devices
- Solutions for M2M applications
- IP camera for additional safety
- Roadmap for industrial Ethernet
- Amateur radio's contribution to satellite technology
- Telecoms developments in Africa
- Gadgets for geeks
- Views and opinion
- Industry and institute news
- Space technology
- Product and company news
Your magazines
 
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Steve SidneyThe importance of measurements in 2010
by Steve Sidney, National Laboratory Association

It is an unfortunate reality that in the modern era in which we live, young and old alike have to a large degree forgotten the importance and role that measurements play in our lives... (more)
Pursuing the champion of digital terrestrial television standards
by Gerhard Petrick, Sadiba

The International Broadcasting Convention is widely recognised as the premier event on the broadcasting calendar. More than 45 000 professionals from at least 140 countries attended the event in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 2010... (more
Tomorrow's engineers excel at SATNAC
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT

A highlight at the Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks & Applications (SATNAC) conference was the papers and poster sessions presented by students - tomorrow's engineers - covering research projects at the Telkom Centres of Excellence... (more)
GSM base stations for rural and low density areas 
by Richard Smuts-Steyn, Multisource
 
While most of us take mobile phone access for granted, with GSM coverage almost ubiquitous, there still remains worldwide an estimated 1,2-billion consumers who live in areas not covered by the mobile operators... (more)
SATNAC 2010 - Customer experience the next magic marketing tool?
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT  
 
Customer experience is becoming a top priority in efforts to reduce churn and increase customer retention. Is it the new magic marketing tool?... (more
Cloud computing - a perfect storm, or a storm in a teacup?
by Chris Norton, VMware Southern Africa

Every decade or so, the IT industry goes through a step change. This step change is brought on by a positively disruptive technology that makes it onto the IT manager or CIO's agenda... (more)
How to cut costs in legacy data centres
by Rachel Cooke, HP
 
Our research shows that the average South African data centre is over ten years old. A lot has changed since that initial design, which leaves plenty of headroom for improvement... (more)
Ground rules for high-speed circuits

by Don Brockman and Arnold Williams, Analog Devices, USA


This article covers the elements of good practice for high-resolution "video speed" converters, i.e. converters of 10-bit or greater resolution, operating at word rates above 1 MHz... (more
)
More efficiency for 3-level inverters
by Norbert Pluschke, Semikron, Hong Kong and Thomas Grasshoff, Semikron, Germany

Use of renewable energy is a key issues when it comes to creating a new basis for worldwide energy supply.
Wind power has been in use for over 20 years now, with technical advances in this area leading to improvements in efficiency... (more)
Reducing unaccounted-for or non-revenue water
by John Alexander, Krohne 
  
 
Changes in metering technology have shifted the focus to monitoring and management systems. It seems the heart of the management systems is being overlooked and a revisit to the heart is necessary to help reduce non-revenue water (NRW)... (more)
In defence of wireless field devices 
by Eugene Horak, Automation Ocean 
 
Data networks, maintenance data, trip data, historical data, stress and strain data, alarms, duty and standby systems, incoming and outgoing material flow rates - must all be at the manager's fingertips... (more
Solutions for M2M applications
by Ronaldo Robl, Cinterion Wireless Systems, Germany and Zeljko Maric, Cinterion Wireless Systems, Croatia

Java is crucial for developing successful M2M technology, as it is one of the most widely used programming standards in the world with billions of installed devices and a large and devoted developer community... (more
IP camera for additional safety
by Doron Kowensky, H3iSquared
 
Traditional CCTV systems were analogue-based and required a control room for viewing camera feeds. The control room operator would attempt to view and analyse camera feeds - a time-consuming and laborious process... (more
Roadmap for industrial Ethernet
by Jason Jenkinson, Dimension Data Middle East & Africa
 
With industrial Ethernet successfully establishing a solid position at controller level, implementation at device level is now entering a rapid growth phase. End users are compelling automation suppliers to introduce more and more Ethernet-enabled products... (more
Amateur radio: Amateur radio's contribution to satellite technology

The story of amateur radio and satellites is in many ways a repeat of when radio was first invented. In the early 1900s radio amateurs pioneered the use of short-wave for world-wide communications, enabling countries to broadcast to their distant colonies... (more)
Telecoms developments in Africa
compiled by Matthew White, Iona Press Services

  • New sub-marine cable to link Africa and South America
  • East African consumers benefit from mobile call rate war
  • Accesskenya to lay own metro fibre cable
  • Namibia - wind to power MTC reception
  • More Nitel, Mtel employees to be laid off
  • Bharti Airtel to extend partnership with IBM to Africa
  • Malawi's regulator revokes G-Mobile's licence
  • Mozambique mobile firms suspend text messaging
  • Somalia - amid the chaos, money transfer is booming business... (more)
Gadgets for geeks

We bring you the latest in gadgetry: the Echo smart pen now even smarter; BlackBerry Torch 9800 smartphone; and a Bluetooth headset that works... (more)
Space technology  
Product and company news

Gigabit Ethernet speeds

500 W FM transmitter/exciter

FM radio transmitters supplied to Tanzania

UMTS/HsDPA for infotainment

Intel to acquire Infineon's wireless solutions

Gadgets for Geeks

Display update

Shutdown application

Software partnership

Entry-level tower server

Satellite-based communication

Heavy duty telephones

Battery distribution agency

New data centre opened

Wireless system in mobile base stations

Old UPS systems

Efficiencies in data centres

Data centre efficiency

Managed gigabit Ethernet switch

Remote device information retrieval

Wireless network for monitoring and control

HSDPA for 2G and 3G networks

Power wireless applications

Process management

Emergency shutdown valve

Express data acquisition module

Telecontrol option for process visualisation system

Upgrade for integrated production control system

Integrated quality control system for paper mills

CAN-to-fibre converter

Switch with routing functionality

Heavy-duty digital pressure sensor

Next level instrumentation

Silo level weighing kits

New measurement capabilities

New option in display and analysis software

Thermal dispersion flow switch

Vibration switch for monitoring plant equipment

Code reading via smart cameras

Electronic point level sensors

Function library for vision sensors

High performance Rogowski current probe

Cold storage and packaging plant

Industrial Ethernet switches

Explosion-proof electronic switches

Distribution agreement

Pressure sensors for flammable atmospheres

Compact pressure instrumentation

Profibus indicators for hazardous and safe areas

Upgraded digital multimeter

Accurate field measurements

Industrial contactors

Integrated filter

High-powered connectors

Negative charge pump

Microcontrollers for energy monitoring

GSM/GPRS module

Digital TV system-on-chip

High-density 8-bit microcontrollers

Report released

Compact multifunction PND

Ethernet patch cable

Single output regulated converter

Universal RF remote control platform

USB adapter

Hermaphroditic push-pull connectors

Plastic connectors

500 W AC-DC power supplies

 

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