The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act signed by President Obama back in August of last year has implications way beyond the US and the financial community at which it was primarily targeted. The law, which came into effect in April 2011 forces manufacturers subject to US regulation to report on how they source what are called ‘conflict minerals’. Conflict minerals include minerals such as cassiserite, coltan and wolfranite, which are mined in a number of African states including, in particular, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and are widely used in mobile phones and laptops.

Machine-to-machine (M2M) communication has been with us for a very long time but it’s the growth of communications networks, in particular wireless networks, that has led to rapid expansion in M2M communication over the last couple of decades and as Lance Hemmings, a product manager at RS Components explains, it’s a trend that analysts forecast will continue.

Jean-François Galey-Sand, CEO, Bluwan explains how a new, cost efficient wireless technology called Fibre Through The Air (FTTA) is delivering fibre-like speeds without any cables.

2011 is shaping up to be the year of super-fast broadband, as numerous providers enhance their offerings in an attempt to bridge the digital divide. Research from Point Topic highlighted the extent of the divide, with urban areas of Britain scoring 67% on the Broadband Infrastructure Index in mid-2010, whereas rural areas scored only 25%; a figure that is set to increase. In a move designed to reduce this gap, Bluwan has launched its carrier grade, super-fast, high-capacity Fibre Through The Air (FTTA) solution, enabling service providers to dramatically increase network capacity and deploy next generation services to areas where fibre cannot go.

The limitations of current lithium ion battery technology are becoming increasingly apparent and are set to worsen. However, the use of silicon in place of carbon for battery anodes could be the key, as Scott Brown explains

Our lifestyles would be hard to imagine without batteries. The plethora of electronic devices we carry around, from cell phones, tablets and portable computers to digital cameras, depend on specially designed battery modules. The technology of choice is lithium ion (Li-ion) rechargeable batteries. As well as avoiding the high cost and environmental disposal problems of disposable cells, Li-ion batteries have the best performance characteristics: in particular, the lifetime between charges, the cell capacity and the size and weight of the batteries.

As Mark Gardner explains developments in both materials and design are helping to supply the rail industry with ever more rugged and high-speed rail connectors, in accordance with more stringent performance specifications.

Today, many rail customers are seeking smaller, lighter, more dynamic connector solutions that meet the rail industry’s stringent performance and durability specifications. Connectors designed for use in harsh environment, safety-critical rail applications are required to perform consistently and reliably regardless of shock, vibration, high pressure, extreme temperature and other harsh environment conditions. A connector’s design and the materials used in its manufacture directly impact its performance and reliability. Recent design and material developments have enabled advancements in connector technology which meet these demanding performance and environmental parameters for rail applications in the 21st century.

The interconnection industry in the UK has a new voice and Neil Tyler talks to two of the founding members of the British Connector Manufacturers Association, John Biggs and the association’s current chairman Peter Hannon.

According to Colin Dente, the CEO of Akya, lengthening design and verification times with standard tools are posing a real threat to further chip innovation.

“The electronics business has been storing up trouble for itself for a while now. Everyone knows that reductions in the size of chip process nodes always bring fresh complexities in chip production; but this isn’t the biggest issue faced by the industry right now.

Phil Inness considers whether the EMS sector can create jobs for the future and become the centre of high value manufacturing excellence?

Most of my colleagues in manufacturing were not terribly disappointed with the recent proposals to reduce public spending. We all know we must follow common sense housekeeping – we can only spend what can be afforded. It does mean though that there are estimated to be 500,000 public sector staff looking for work in the next few years. Making matters worse, at the other end of the scale, increasing university tuition fees to £9000 per year means that many youngsters will be questioning the payback of a university degree, especially when jobs for new graduates are so scarce.

At this year’s electronica CIE managed to spend some time with Linear’s CEO, Lothar Maier, who talked about the challenges of the past few years and how Linear planned to move forward as the recovery takes hold.

As the cost of electronics becomes more significant in new defence programmes so the need for more cost effective solutions grows. According to Bob Hunt, Head of Strategic Technology at CMAC MicroTechnology, this is leading to an increase in the use of materials proven in applications from other industries.

During the Cold War era, the requirements for a country’s armed forces in order to repel a threat were clear, and changes to nature of the threat and an enemy’s capability could be predicted. The development of new military aircraft to fulfil a specific role could be planned and executed with reasonable expectation that the threat would not change substantially during the development phase.

As hard economic realities drive more to look at replacing gold with copper, Richard Holliday considers the true value of gold bonding wire in semiconductor packaging.

Despite decades of innovation in the electronics industry, gold has remained the material of choice for manufacturers because of its contribution to quality and high performance. With the price of gold reaching new highs however, the viability of its continued use is being challenged.