Engineering Science and Education Journal

The ready availability of low-cost high-speed digital signal processor chips has resulted in their widespread use in many areas of industrial and consumer electronics for processes such as filtering, coding, estimation and spectral analysis. This article explores the opportunities of learning about digital signal processing (DSP) using a spreadsheet and a specialized simulation software package, d... View full abstract»

The paper describes the use of computer-assistance in the teaching of a number of areas of control engineering. The use of computer-assistance is fairly common in all the areas described, but the material has been carefully selected to illustrate a progression in the use of computer-assistance, from an area where it is desirable and helpful to an area where it is indispensable. This provides a gui... View full abstract»

A system for monitoring sound transmission through the human lung is described and the possibility of using this information in order to construct a functional map of the lung is investigated. Lung morphology (structure) may be monitored by using X-rays or computerised axial tomography (CAT). However, the size, cost and the possible adverse effects of high doses of X-rays make these techniques uns... View full abstract»

This paper, drawing on earlier studies of the historical dynamics in which mankind has evolved, examines the effect of network development on popular expectations and attitudes. It suggests that this mechanism, the greatest of all human artefacts, is being incorporated in our collective identity, and that engineers, who have always carefully balanced technological skills and social considerations,... View full abstract»

Devices based on the flux-compression process provide extremely effective and inexpensive alternatives to the capacitor bank as a means of generating high-current and high-energy pulses. The energy is however released at too slow a rate for many applications and, when a fast-rising current is to be driven through a high-impedance load, one or more stages of pulse sharpening are necessary between t... View full abstract»

In spite of continued marketing by semiconductor companies, distributors and design houses, the uptake of application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) technology in the UK continues to lag behind that of its leading competitor nations. The reasons for this slow uptake are reviewed with reference to a number of surveys performed by the author and others. The author proposes a model for technology... View full abstract»