New-Tech Europe Digital Magazine | May 2016

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Waterford County Matters show and a video of the initial test drive is also available on www.wit.ie/selfdrivecar2016 and WIT social media accounts. Berry’s advice for school leavers and college applicants impressed by this project and who want to know if they would be suited a future in electronic engineering to get in contact with WIT staff. “People can get in touch through the individual course pages. You can come in and have a look around at WIT, there is always a warm welcome in WIT Applied Robotics Lab.” There are also ways of learning about electronics from home. “Get yourself an arduino board and play with it right now, they are very cheap and there are loads of cool projects on the web. If you like the projects, who knows you might be onto something.” Previous graduates have been employed by Intel, Honeywell, Ericsson, Dell, Analog Devices, Bausch & Lomb, EMC. Career opportunities for graduates of this course exist in various areas such as telecommunications, software and computer industry, research and development, electronic and IC design, production, test/maintenance, and control/ automation departments. data and delivers them to the astronomical community, but for this supply chain to work, we need a reliable backbone, where we can support this process, and that is where Cisco plays a fundamental role”, said Jorge Ibsen, Director of the Computing Department of ALMA. “For over 10 years we’ve been working with Cisco solutions and have always given us cutting edge technology, which is what ALMA needs to generate large amounts of reusable scientific data. We currently produce about 200 terabyte (TB) TB per year, and that volume of data is expected to increase significantly over the following years in operations”. “For a unique operation such as Alma to work, it is essential that the infrastructure operates in extreme conditions, but with the same advanced features and capabilities as if they were in a traditional office environment. One of the secrets to Cisco’s success is our ability to customize our solutions to meet the needs in various industries, their special requirements and unique conditions”, explained Mariana Portela, account manager at Cisco Chile. Unveiling the Mysteries of the Universe For that purpose, ALMA is using Cisco Catalyst 6500 Core

“Achieving the ‘White Board to Self-Drive Car’ project in 12 weeks, eight WIT Electronic Engineering students have proven that anything is possible, if you keep moving forward. They have just completed a project never before attempted within WIT, in 12 weeks and it worked. One of the coolest sounds we have ever heard on a project was listening to the car increasing revs as its gets ready to go,” said lecturer Jason Berry, the Lead Engineer in WIT’s Applied Robotics Lab (ARL) lectures on the Higher Cert in Electronics, BEng in Electronics, BSc in Applied Computing, Masters in Electronic Engineering and Post Graduate Diploma in Business in Innovation Practice. “The project is the bread and butter of what any engineer is all about – figuring stuff out for yourself. Third year is a big transition for our students into the world of self =-learning.” Head of the School of Engineering at WIT, Ken Thomas outlined the prospects for students of electronic engineering. “Electronic Engineers are in high demand and short supply in Ireland. We in WIT want more Electronics students to equip them with the cutting-edge knowledge and skills that will allow them be very successful – and have great fun along the way with projects like Robo Car.” The team have since recorded a test drive for IrishTV’s Located at 5,000 meter altitude at the Atacama Desert in Chile, ALMA, Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array, the world’s largest radio observatory, is literally pushing Cisco® technology to the limits. Having 66 antennas almost 15 meters tall – the eyes of ALMA – operating day and night to capture the signals of the universe to explain how stars and planets were formed is not an easy task. Low temperatures, high winds and snow, low humidity, dust, and a lack of oxygen are tough challenges that the ALMA staff and its network infrastructure have to endure. To deal with one of the most extreme environments of the planet, it’s required a robust and reliable digital network architecture to take all the data from the antennas to the brain of ALMA, a supercomputer capable of processing the information from the ALMA antennas in real-time and transforming it into one cohesive data stream. Cisco solutions are deeply integrated within ALMA operations, making Cisco an end-to-end solution provider helping ALMA, the world’s largest observatory, to fulfill its mission: unveiling the mysteries of the Universe. “ALMA is, in simple words, a factory that produces scientific

ALMA Observatory pushing high Cisco technology

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