Information Technology

Wireless sensor networks consisting of multiple objects, each capable of simple sensing, actuation, communication and processing have tremendous potential. To better realise their full capabilities researchers are developing a broad vision of innovative future applications.

Wireless sensor networks are a typical example of a network of ‘cooperating objects’, tiny embedded computers that cooperate together to produce an intended result. Such embedded systems, be they tiny processo

Airport security experts at Manchester Metropolitan University are developing new bag scanning technology that could automatically detect weapons. Dr Peter Twigg, a senior lecturer in the Department of Engineering and Technology, is carrying out tests at Manchester Airport to find out how guns, pistols and hand grenades can be identified using an automated control system. The system aims to pick up weapons by matching their outline against objects in a pre-stored database.

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VTT, Technical Research Centre of Finland, announced a new product development technology for the software industry. By using VTT’s new agile methods, savings of as much as 70 per cent can be gained in the development of new software products. The method developed by VTT is being introduced in several Finnish and European companies.

VTT has developed an agile method called Mobile-D, the results of which have been transferred to industry at a fast pace. In the pilots for the software

A revolutionary manner of distributing TV programmes via the Internet, the new peer-to-peer Tribler system, based on open-source software, has been launched.

Various public broadcasting corporations, commercial TV stations and cable and telecommunications companies are all showing keen interest in the distribution of television programmes via the Internet. While the current method makes use of centrally located computer systems, research is now being conducted at Delft Un

The revolutionary model plane has been developed as part of a £6.2m programme, involving engineers from the University of Leicester, funded jointly by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and BAE Systems.

The five-year programme is called FLAVIIR – flapless air vehicle integrated industrial research – and involves teams from Leicester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Southampton, Swansea, Warwick, York and London. Manchester University’s Goldstein Aeronautical Resea

Paper labels in supermarkets could become a thing of the past, thanks to a revolutionary digital display system that could also give mobile phones a much longer life.

The new type of electronic display could save retailers millions by allowing product information on the supermarket shelves to be changed globally, at the touch of a button. Labour costs linked to price changes in stores could plummet and supermarkets will be doing their bit for the environment by scrapping the paper