Topical Workshop on Electronics for Particle Physics

The purpose of the workshop was to present results and original concepts for electronics research and development relevant to particle physics experiments as well as accelerator and beam instrumentation at future facilities; to review the status of electronics for the LHC experiments; to identify and encourage common efforts for the development of electronics; and to promote information exchange and collaboration in the relevant engineering and physics communities

Changing corporate strategies in a period of crisis: high technology multinational corporations in Scotland

The dissertation proposes that the economics of the crisis of capital accumulation and the extraordinary pace of technological and market change have led to new corporate strategies and industry structures in the high tech electronics industry. The research, survey of management in fourteen leading computer and semiconductor multinationals, was designed to integrate and explore the usefulness of theories on industrial structure and labour markets. The product life cycle model cannot solve the problems of diversified and increasingly competitive global markets and their ever more sophisticated demand for customised products. Similarly rigid barriers between differentiated and non-competing labour markets in dual labour market theory cannot account for new associations of labour and technologies or for the new importance of non-wage differences in global labour supplies. The research demonstrated the necessity of linking both demand and supply conditions in explaining contemporary industrial structure. The data persuasively supports the view that the supply conditions in local labour markets not only are critical to the global distribution of capital, but more importantly shape those investments. Scotland provided the industry with an annual labour supply and appropriate skills and a training/education sector responsive to industry needs, offering unique ways for corporations to minimise the cost of reshaping and retaining their workforce. Combining with significant state support of capital investment, the region provided cost - and risk-minimising opportunities for using expensive advanced technologies, expanding and extending their effectiveness in rapidly changing markets. Further, gender was a major factor in the emergence structure of work and the speed of industry adjustment. Rising male unemployment, shrinking employment vacancies for men, and the support of the region's women worker led to the industry's hiring men as the new production workforce, allowing new job design, recruitment criteria, employment expectations and worker commitment, necessary to increase the productivity of new investments

Proceedings of the 5th International Workshop on Reconfigurable Communication-centric Systems on Chip 2010 - ReCoSoC\u2710 - May 17-19, 2010 Karlsruhe, Germany. (KIT Scientific Reports ; 7551)

ReCoSoC is intended to be a periodic annual meeting to expose and discuss gathered expertise as well as state of the art research around SoC related topics through plenary invited papers and posters. The workshop aims to provide a prospective view of tomorrow\u27s challenges in the multibillion transistor era, taking into account the emerging techniques and architectures exploring the synergy between flexible on-chip communication and system reconfigurability

A scalable packetised radio astronomy imager

Includes bibliographical referencesModern radio astronomy telescopes the world over require digital back-ends. The complexity of these systems depends on many site-specific factors, including the number of antennas, beams and frequency channels and the bandwidth to be processed. With the increasing popularity for ever larger interferometric arrays, the processing requirements for these back-ends have increased significantly. While the techniques for building these back-ends are well understood, every installation typically still takes many years to develop as the instruments use highly specialised, custom hardware in order to cope with the demanding engineering requirements. Modern technology has enabled reprogrammable FPGA-based processing boards, together with packet-based switching techniques, to perform all the digital signal processing requirements of a modern radio telescope array. The various instruments used by radio telescopes are functionally very different, but the component operations remain remarkably similar and many share core functionalities. Generic processing platforms are thus able to share signal processing libraries and can acquire different personalities to perform different functions simply by reprogramming them and rerouting the data appropriately. Furthermore, Ethernet-based packet-switched networks are highly flexible and scalable, enabling the same instrument design to be scaled to larger installations simply by adding additional processing nodes and larger network switches. The ability of a packetised network to transfer data to arbitrary processing nodes, along with these nodes' reconfigurability, allows for unrestrained partitioning of designs and resource allocation. This thesis describes the design and construction of the first working radio astronomy imaging instrument hosted on Ethernet-interconnected re- programmable FPGA hardware. I attempt to establish an optimal packetised architecture for the most popular instruments with particular attention to the core array functions of correlation and beamforming. Emphasis is placed on requirements for South Africa's MeerKAT array. A demonstration system is constructed and deployed on the KAT-7 array, MeerKAT's prototype. This research promises reduced instrument development time, lower costs, improved reliability and closer collaboration between telescope design teams

A Company-led Methodology for the Specification of Product Design Capabilities in Small and Medium Sized Electronics Companies

It is the aim of the research reported in this thesis to improve the product design effectiveness of small and medium sized electronics companies in the United Kingdom. It does so by presenting a methodology for use by such firms which will enable them to specify product design capabilities which are resilient to changes in their respective business environments. The research has not, however, concerned itself with the details of particular electronics component technologies or with the advantages of various CAD or CAE products, although these are both important aspects of any design capability. Nor is it concerned with the implementation of the product design capability. The methodology, which represents a significant improvement on current practice, is a structured, company-driven approach which draws extensively upon the lessons of international design best practice. It uses well-proven tools and techniques to guide firms through the entire process of creating such capabilities - from the development of an appropriate Mission Statement to the identification of cost effective and appropriate design system solutions which can readily be translated into action plans for improvement. The work emphasises the importance of adopting a holistic, systems approach which acknowledges the interrelationship between the management of the design process, as well as its operational and supporting activities. The research has been structured around the experiences of companies which have implemented electronics design systems and which "own" the problem in question. Hence, a research strategy was adopted which was based upon a case study approach and upon the development of close collaborative links with two leading design automation tool vendor companies. Case study interviews were undertaken in 18 U.K. and European electronics companies and in 11 U.S., Japanese and Korean electronics firms. The work proceeded in two distinct phases. Firstly, the author participated with other researchers to jointly develop a functional specification of an electronics designers' toolset to support the process of product design in an integrated manufacturing environment. The first phase provided the context for Phase 2, the development of the AGILITY methodology for specifying product design capabilities which represents the author's individual contribution. The contribution to knowledge made by the research lies in the creation of a process methodology which, for the first time, will help U.K. electronics companies to define for themselves product design capabilities which are robust and which support their wider business objectives. No such methodology is currently available in a form which is both accessible and affordable to smaller firms. Furthermore, the author has uncovered no evidence of the existence of such a methodology even for use by large electronics firms. Validation of the methodology is subject to an ongoing process of feedback.Racal Redac Lt