SlimFS: a thin and unobtrusive file system for embedded systems and consumer products

It is common place for embedded systems and consumer products to contain flash memory for nonvolatile storage. While there are many applications that require the data stored in the flash memory to be in a given structure enabling the data to be externally accessed, there are also many embedded consumer applications where the content of the flash memory is only accessed locally. In this case, the local application can benefit from having a minimized bespoke file system optimized for the application, resulting in lower power and faster access speed than using public file systems. This paper analyses the overhead in using the commonly used File Allocation Table File System (FatFS), and proposes a significantly faster, smaller footprint, and hence lower power file system, termed SlimFS. The work has clear applications to low power embedded consumer applications, specifically battery driven wearable devices for healthcare and ‘green’ electronic systems

3D Printing of multi-functional structures

3D printing has generally been relegated to fabricating conceptual models and prototypes; however, increasingly, research is now focusing on fabricating functional end-use products. As patents for 3D printing expire, new low-cost desktop systems are being adopted more widely and this trend is leading to products being fabricated locally. However, currently the technology is limited in the number of materials used in fabrication and consequently is confined to fabricating simple static structures. For additively manufactured products to be economically meaningful, additional functionalities are required to be incorporated in terms of electronic, electromechanical, electromagnetic, thermodynamic, chemical and optical content. By interrupting the 3D printing and employing complementary manufacturing processes, additional functional content can be included in mass-customized structures. This presentation will review work in multi-process 3D printing for creating structures with consumer-specific wearable electronics, electromechanical actuation, electromagnetics, propulsion and embedded sensors in soft tooling and even in metal and ceramic structures. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Beyond 'Global Production Networks': Australian Fashion Week's Trans-Sectoral Synergies

When studies of industrial organisation are informed by commodity chain, actor network, or global production network theories and focus on tracing commodity flows, social networks, or a combination of the two, they can easily overlook the less routine trans-sectoral associations that are crucial to the creation and realisation of value. This paper shifts attention to identifying the sites at which diverse specialisations meet to concentrate and amplify mutually reinforcing circuits of value. These valorisation processes are demonstrated in the case of Australian Fashion Week, an event in which multiple interests converge to synchronize different expressions of fashion ideas, actively construct fashion markets and enhance the value of a diverse range of fashionable commodities. Conceptualising these interconnected industries as components of a trans-sectoral fashion complex has implications for understanding regional development, world cities, production location, and the manner in which production systems “touch down” in different places

Il turista della società post-moderna: la cultura del new life tourism Spazio, luogo e non luogo Turismo, paesaggio, spazi pubblici e rigenerazione urbana Tematismi e tematizzazione. Itinerari culturali e strade turistiche per una ricomposizione spaziale.

I materiali sono composti dalle prime tre presentazioni, i contributi dedicati al tema dell'autenticità, della diversa interpretazione di spazio, luogo e non luogo e degli itinerari culturali. Completano questo primo deposito di materiale didattico due approfondimenti sulla Consumer Culture Theory e Service Dominat Logic

Bioengineered Textiles and Nonwovens – the convergence of bio-miniaturisation and electroactive conductive polymers for assistive healthcare, portable power and design-led wearable technology

Today, there is an opportunity to bring together creative design activities to exploit the responsive and adaptive ‘smart’ materials that are a result of rapid development in electro, photo active polymers or OFEDs (organic thin film electronic devices), bio-responsive hydrogels, integrated into MEMS/NEMS devices and systems respectively. Some of these integrated systems are summarised in this paper, highlighting their use to create enhanced functionality in textiles, fabrics and non-woven large area thin films. By understanding the characteristics and properties of OFEDs and bio polymers and how they can be transformed into implementable physical forms, innovative products and services can be developed, with wide implications. The paper outlines some of these opportunities and applications, in particular, an ambient living platform, dealing with human centred needs, of people at work, people at home and people at play. The innovative design affords the accelerated development of intelligent materials (interactive, responsive and adaptive) for a new product & service design landscape, encompassing assistive healthcare (smart bandages and digital theranostics), ambient living, renewable energy (organic PV and solar textiles), interactive consumer products, interactive personal & beauty care (e-Scent) and a more intelligent built environment

Federated Robust Embedded Systems: Concepts and Challenges

The development within the area of embedded systems (ESs) is moving rapidly, not least due to falling costs of computation and communication equipment. It is believed that increased communication opportunities will lead to the future ESs no longer being parts of isolated products, but rather parts of larger communities or federations of ESs, within which information is exchanged for the benefit of all participants. This vision is asserted by a number of interrelated research topics, such as the internet of things, cyber-physical systems, systems of systems, and multi-agent systems. In this work, the focus is primarily on ESs, with their specific real-time and safety requirements. While the vision of interconnected ESs is quite promising, it also brings great challenges to the development of future systems in an efficient, safe, and reliable way. In this work, a pre-study has been carried out in order to gain a better understanding about common concepts and challenges that naturally arise in federations of ESs. The work was organized around a series of workshops, with contributions from both academic participants and industrial partners with a strong experience in ES development. During the workshops, a portfolio of possible ES federation scenarios was collected, and a number of application examples were discussed more thoroughly on different abstraction levels, starting from screening the nature of interactions on the federation level and proceeding down to the implementation details within each ES. These discussions led to a better understanding of what can be expected in the future federated ESs. In this report, the discussed applications are summarized, together with their characteristics, challenges, and necessary solution elements, providing a ground for the future research within the area of communicating ESs

Comics, robots, fashion and programming: outlining the concept of actDresses

This paper concerns the design of physical languages for controlling and programming robotic consumer products. For this purpose we explore basic theories of semiotics represented in the two separate fields of comics and fashion, and how these could be used as resources in the development of new physical languages. Based on these theories, the design concept of actDresses is defined, and supplemented by three example scenarios of how the concept can be used for controlling, programming, and predicting the behaviour of robotic systems