January 2012

The January 2012 edition covers Connectivity and Microprocessors, microcontrollers & DSP, as well as Electronic Manufacturing & Production.

Connectivity kicks off with a product review by Conical Technologies that announces a novel precision quick test adapter, the QT3.5mmTM. This is followed by Oliver Pauzet's article from Sierra Wireless, where the case for public cellular communications is stated in terms of smart metering applications of the future.

Three articles are contained in Microprocessors, MCUs & DSP: The first article by Khalid Wani at Western Digital questions the future of digital storage technology, and briefly reviews the cutting edge technology of the day, namely solid state drives and the latest in mechanical reading and writing techniques. The second article announces SESSA member Dr Anthony Keen's energy efficiency award and acknowledges the tireless work he does in the field of renewable energy. The third article in this feature, from information supplied by Agilent Technologies, unveils the company's fast and accurate evaluation and testing methodologies using a source-measure unit (SMU).

Electronic Manufacturing & Production brings us a very interesting article by Sabine Sauter at Siemens, namely "Tapping invisible rivers". The article shows Siemens' solution to generate electricity from tidal currents or the flow in larger rivers. Also presented here is an article by Dr Peter Harrop, the chairman of IDTechEx, that defines the ‘death by a thousand cuts' of lead-acid batteries, and reviews the replacement solutions that are available. Then, Schneider Electric briefly shares their planning expertise in ‘managing plant modernisation without downtime', before "The China effect" is described by Dave McDonald, Divisional MD at Jasco Electrical Manufacturers.

Pierre van Rhyn, Pr Sci Nat, MSc (Eng)
Editor

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