 We must watch our back door!
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT
Does SA have regulations that give the government access to the cables that land on our shores? Other countries are collaborating in sharing "back door data", why should SA be different?... (more)
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 In conversation with Dave Wibberley
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT
Dave Wibberley is MD of Adroit Technologies and chairman of the Industrial Instrumentation Group (IIG). Dave says the future of innovation lies with small companies... (more)
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Virtual panel discussion: Encryption and cloud security
by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT
Encryption related to cloud and general data security issues are of fundamental concern in the digital world. We invited a number of industry experts to share their advice on encryption... ( more)
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Africa's cellular operators need to capitalise on loyalty quickly
by Bill Hearmon, chairman 4G Africa
The heady salad days of yesteryear '90s are over. When cellular operators were spoiled and got away with per minute billing associated with frustrating dropped calls due to capacity shortages... ( more)
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Q&A: Ask an expert - Guided wave radar TDR level measurement
Answers from Rocky Stephens, Krohne South Africa
In the 1990s the first process radar devices were introduced in measuring technology. These became the forerunner in the field of radar devices based on the time domain reflectometery (TDR) principle, using guided electromagnetic pulses... (more)
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by Steve Alves, Concilium Technologies
Engineers will make their equipment decisions with total awareness of the business needs, but may not always be involved with the equipment maintenance decisions. How therefore is the risk managed, and what is the impact on the business related to the thoroughness of the calibration?... ( more) |
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The business case for Agile
by Stephan Pienaar, Framework One
Since the Agile Manifesto was written in 2001, Agile software development methodology has become a mainstay of innovative, high-energy developers the world over. Agile methodology refers to a development process focused on iterative changes and updates, and encourages collaboration among self-managing teams... ( more)
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Big Data Climate Challenge launched
Information from GEO Secretariat
The Big Data Climate Challenge, an innovative competition aimed at stimulating the use of big data to highlight the impacts of climate change, has received an overwhelming response from the global scientific community. The United Nations Global Pulse hosted the competition... (more)
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Energy efficiency event to spark dialogue
Information from Schneider Electric
Xperience Efficiency is an event that tackles the demand drivers that are forcing change: economic and government rebalancing, urbanisation, digitisation, and sustainable resources. It creates the ideal platform to discuss and demonstrate efficient energy opportunities... ( more)
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by Sanna-Kaisa Ehanto, ABB Drives, Finland
Climate change, increasing water demands due to global urbanisation, and the legal obligations of the EU's Water Framework Directive are all making the water sector an attractive arena for technologies that can help reduce costs and contribute to reducing the effects of climate change... ( more)
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Testing the limits of IEEE 802.11ac wireless networking standard
by Elias W. Faraclas, National Instruments, USA
As the IEEE 802.11ac wireless standard evolves, it continues to breed new challenges for those tasked with testing and measuring these wireless systems... ( more) |
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Green light for straight tube
by Reiner Scheulen, Krohne, Germany
Users expect flowmeter readings to be accurate, independent of process parameters and media properties such as viscosity, temperature or pressure. An installation at BYK-Chemie in Wesel demonstrates how a mass flowmeter's design impacts the accuracy of the measurement for products with different viscosities...
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Measuring the transverse sensitivity of vibration transducers
by CS Veldman, National Metrology Laboratory of South Africa
As a mechanical device, the principle sensing axis of an accelerometer is not 100% perpendicular to the mounting axis. This gives rise to the effect that the accelerometer will produce an electrical output even when a mechanical input perpendicular to the principle measurement axis is applied... ( more)
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by Roger Lilley, EE Publishers
The Droogfontein solar farm is one of two solar farms which Mainstream, Globelec's main sub-contractor, has built in the Northern Cape, the other being a 50 MW farm near De Aar. The two projects are electrically similar, although the physical layout differs because of differences in the shape of the two sites... (more)
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by Hans van de Groenendaal, EngineerIT
There are many myths around solar energy, as well as confusion between solar water heaters with solar panels which harness the sun to charge batteries or supply the house or office; and that all solar panel are the same. There are three different type of solar panels on the market, each with its own characteristics... ( more)
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by Joe Skorjanec, Eaton
Increasingly, data centres need to monitor every piece of power-drawing equipment in the data centre, and with high accuracy and granularity. The ability to stay running requires rack power distribution units that can precisely monitor every aspect of power as well as enable the management of power distribution... ( more)
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by Carrie Higbie, The Siemon Company, USA
Once considered a benign fixture, racks and cabinets now have an active role to play in data centre operation. Choice of design will define the long term outcome for the data centre in terms of flexibility, cooling and power consumption. Equipment and port density will be decided largely on rack and cabinet choices... ( more)
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by Jack Faett, GE Intelligent Platforms
This article explores the merits of integrating power synchronisation and measurement into the backup power monitoring and control system. Functionality required for grid synchronisation and measurement is detailed... ( more)
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Gadgets4Geeks - August 2014
- Keep a phone battery back-up in your wallet
- Portable back-up power on a trolley
- Protect your PC from power surges and lightning
- Add class to your video conferencing... (more)
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Compiled by Matthew White
- Internet connectivity boosting African e-commerce
- World Bank approves US$92-million grant to Congo
- Etisalat Egypt plans US$500-million Cairo IPO
- Airtel invests US$100-million in Ghana network expansion
- Kenya's mobile penetration tops 78%
- Nigeria to lower taxes for telecom firms
- Rwanda completes switches from analogue to digital TV
- Somali Telecom companies agree to link services
- Helios Towers Africa raises $630-million in new equity resources... (more)
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Amateur radio must keep innovating
by Hans van de Groenendaal ZS6AKV, South African Radio League
"Amateur radio as a hobby has reached an important turning point", said South African Radio League (SARL) president, Geoff Levey at the Radio Technology in Action symposium held in Durban recently. He said that the trend of activity and interest now as compared to five or even ten years ago is changing... (more)
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Views, Comment and Opinion
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