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Mackay's Musings

Posted: 23/01/2012 11:56:03 PM

Why Wireless (sadly) won’t replace the landline

Many of us tolerate unbelievably bad ‘broadband’ in remote locations with so-called DSL. Very high speed fiber-to-the-kerb is only a dream. There is thus much animated discussion about the possibilities with the relatively new Long-Term Evolution (LTE) Wireless standard that is going to be the solution to all our problems. This particular standard promises download speeds of 100 Megabits/second and peak rates of up to 300Megabits/second. It is reckoned that this will challenge copper, coaxial and perhaps even optical fiber. Surely this means that that no telecommunications provider in their right mind is going to dig trenches and provide fiber any longer with this (wireless) elephant in the room.

What exactly is LTE - in a few words?
It comes from a 3G form of mobile telephony called GSM (Global System to Mobile Communications) although it is often (officially) referred to as a 4G technology. It uses two separate radio links – one for downloading from the cell tower and the other for uploading. The uplink tolerates a weak signal from the cell phones as it has gigantic antennas and powerful receivers.

So what exactly are the problems with Wireless systems such as LTE?
The problem is that the high throughput with wireless is only achievable with low congestion. Definitely not a problem for fiber optic which can achieve orders of magnitude greater throughputs because of the size of the physical pipe. When the number of wireless users in an area, exceed a tower’s capacity, the throughput drops off dramatically.

So, especially in densely populated areas, the available bandwidth while it is supposedly gigabits/second for a few users, rapidly reduces to a crawl, when the number of users exceeds the available slices of spectrum.

Finally, the cost per bit of wireless is dramatically more than copper or fiber. Well, for a typical installation (obviously not one remote user hundreds of kms away from the mobile tower). Some suggest, wireless is of the order of two orders of magnitude more expensive than landline.

So all in all – don’t discard the incredible possibilities offered by Fiber. Wireless is still a compromise. Naturally, if you don’t have a choice (you are located in a remote location, are a mobile user or don’t have any cable), you will have to live with wireless.

Note that FTTC (Fiber to the Corner) or FTTH (Fiber to the Home) has so much potential bandwidth that even a few fibers can easily give you huge bandwidth. Far more than LTE Wireless can ever hope for.
 
Thanks to the Economist for a tremendous set of articles on the topic.

Bear in mind in this rapidly developing area, as Donald R. Gannon remarks: Where facts are few, experts are many.

Yours in engineering learning

Steve

Posted: 18/01/2012 11:27:14 PM

Use the Engineering Know-how at your Fingertips Wisely

I watch my 14yo son with some bemusement when he expertly uses Google to search for information for school projects or simply to find out about something that intrigues him. He is reluctant to use my favourite source of information – books. There is a massive paradigm shift that is occurring at present where people are using search engines from Google, Yahoo and Microsoft to secure the knowledge, information and data they require by simply typing a request into a search engine. Know-how all available at your fingertips – or fingertip knowledge.

Elliot Masie, a learning futurist, indicated his astonishment after presenting to a group of 200 learning professionals. He asked them a simple question: ‘If tomorrow you needed to learn something new, what would be your first step?’ He expected a range of typical responses including books, e-learning, classroom-based learning and asking a colleague. But more than 90% of those present indicated that they would simply do a Google search. This is a profound change from consulting your peers or locating the information in a book – either online or in a library.

Engineering professionals want information immediately - available at their fingertips. Most organizations do have information available, but most storage systems are hierarchical menu-based systems that require one to memorise key navigational paths or key steps. What makes search engines such as Google so incredibly powerful is their simplicity and ease of access. Whether at home, in an office or travelling through an airport, access to Google is easy. Furthermore, when searching, the engine facilitates even fairly loosely defined strings and some misspellings - there is a lot of ‘forgiveness, including typo’s and formats’ (Masie 2006).

Fingertip knowledge is also now diversifying. Knowledge is being secured using devices such as iPhones, iPads or smart phones.

However – with this deluge of information it is vital to use the information wisely.

So how can we improve our searching for know-how on the web?

• You need to learn the rules and tricks for searching to understand how you can effectively get information. For example, using quotations around key words will allow you to search for a fixed combination of terms. In Google, have a look at the advanced search facilities. These allow you to exclude words and do other nifty searches rather than the boring old searches we do on a daily basis.
• You have to learn the tips and tricks to identify good information from bad such as articles which are well written and are from reputable sources such as universities and companies with good track records.
• Ensure that that this ability to search quickly and effectively is available to you wherever you are. For work efficiency, the use of smartphones or iPads and quick access to notebook computers, whilst on site or travelling, is becoming essential for the busy engineering professional.
• You need to work out mechanisms to make your engineering knowledge within an organization easily accessible by your colleagues and even by yourself for later retrieval. For example, tags containing information such as the author, the key words describing the document and perhaps an expiry date (after which the information is no longer usable) should be created. This would allow any one else in the organization to search for the stored information using a Google type search. Be systematic about how you save details of web sites and information sources so that you can quickly go back to them without engaging in another arduous search from scratch.

In conclusion, Elliot Masie (2006) makes the point that ‘…we need to start to develop the ability to be very good at Fingertip Knowledge: both very good at finding resources and also very good at the critical thinking that goes to figure out: are they true, are they relevant, are they biased or unbiased?’

And remember when looking for that very hard-to-find item of information, Abraham Lincoln's comment: 'Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing'.

Yours in engineering learning

Steve

Posted: 18/01/2012 8:59:53 PM

As Engineering professionals we need to be Foolish more often in Engineering

As engineering professionals we are all trained to be logical and rational and rely on proven facts in making decisions. The approach with engineers is to vigorously apply the blowtorch to any concept which is rather nebulous and stick to solid engineering design practice. However as Margot Cairnes, a leadership strategist recently pointed out: ‘This often means being conventional, boring and underperforming (when creating solutions to difficult problems). In a changing world, creativity is essential, not only to keep pace with change but to be at the crest of the wave’.

I am sure you have been in numerous engineering meetings which grind on and on regarding some trivial but critical design issue. Important, perhaps in many cases. But we submerge our creativity under this overwhelming conventional but safe engineering thinking. It is staggering how many brilliant and effective products are out there which were created through creative thinking and “thinking foolishly”. These range from products as varied as the 3M Post it Note, the Kreepy Krauly pool cleaner, the iPod to the ubiquitous telephone.

Here at work, we brainstorm foolishly at times when designing new services or products. Initially my rational engineering mind is irritated and uncomfortable. However, when creative impulses intrude, the crazy content which appeared illegal, unsafe and even dangerous, can, with a more chaotic and lateral vision begin to appear quite stunningly brilliant. The trick, when the ideas are flowing, is to get other people to comment on them and to turn them around and see whether they can be made useful and productive. 

When you are engaged in another meeting examining a difficult problem; be foolish. According to the Entrepeneur magazine, the following framework is recommended:

• Pose an initial question to get the “show on the road”
• Identify a challenge which you want to solve
• Suspend criticism of all ideas that are presented
• Postpone evaluation whilst the ideas are being presented
• Build on others’ ideas in a fast paced manner

Do not risk life and limb, but as the inimitable Steve Jobs said many years ago: ‘Stay hungry, stay foolish.’

Yours in engineering learning

Steve

Posted: 18/01/2012 8:56:57 PM

Do you do a ferociously good Engineering Presentation?

Yesterday I was slumped listening to a highly experienced engineer doing a rather mediocre presentation for motivating the development of a new product. He received a rather cool response although I know his product concept was excellent. He would have got far better results if he had followed some simple rules as far as presentations.

What was wrong?
The presentation which lacked lustre used a plethora of power points and words, often delivered in a monotone and all tightly compressed into an hour – slides were thrust out to the bemused audience in machine gun succession. And inevitably there was no interaction with the audience. The poor reviews were predictable.

A galvanizing speaker
On the other hand, however, one of the best speakers I have encountered was an engineer hailing from the Mid West of the good old US of A. He galvanized the audience with an excellent and humorous opening quote; he showed passion for his subject and then after presenting two slides, efficiently broke the 80 strong audience into small groups of five. Each group was given two short, four minute assignments to illustrate the points made. Each group had to write up its findings on flip charts during which time the presenter circulated, assisting the groups as they prepared their findings. The results were then displayed around the room.

The interaction was fearsome, the delegates, without exception, were talking vigorously with each other about the topic at hand. A small prize for the best group was also helpful in achieving a carnival atmosphere. There was the hum of real learning going on. The participants were following the ‘constructivist’ approach of learning - constructing their own knowledge and understanding of the topic.

People walking into the room at the end of the proceedings would have been surprised – the presenter was delivering the last part of his presentation, surrounded by the audience, from the middle of the room - using a remote microphone and controlling the slides remotely. And the room was festooned with at least 40 large sheets of paper summarizing each group’s findings. The reviews afterwards were outstanding.

A few suggestions for your next presentation:

• Interact with your audience from beginning to end
• “Sell” the topic to the audience – why it will be important to them
• Show everyone that you have passion for your subject
• Challenge the audience, with every slide you use, to come up with their own comments and understanding
• Give the delegates tasks to enable them to construct their own learning - perhaps in the form of small groups
• Make the delegates interact with each other

As far as a stimulating presentation is concerned; Dorothy Parker hit the nail on the head with: ‘The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity’.

Yours in engineering learning

Steve