A DTI-backed business support programme has expanded of its programme to provide electronics engineering undergraduates to companies for short- and long-term project placements

Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering, the DTI-backed business support programme, has expanded of its programme to provide electronics engineering undergraduates to companies for short- and long-term project placements. Thanks to a 250% increase in applications from UK electronics engineering undergraduates Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering is now actively seeking more UK companies wishing to benefit from having skilled undergraduates to take on clearly defined, business-driven, electronics projects.

In 2002 the Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering programme successfully placed undergraduates in around 140 SME companies.

All the undergraduates undertook electronics-related projects designed to deliver significant business benefits to the host organisations.

Project timescales ranged from a few weeks to a year and business benefits included reduced prototyping timescales and tangible cost reductions, which, in the case of one company, were as high as GBP 500,000 per year.

As well as learning new skills and acquiring essential business experience, many of the students were subsequently offered employment by their host companies.

Discussing the expansion of the Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering initiative, Philip Donnelly, the Managing Director of Step Enterprise, comments: ‘Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering aims to build on the success of last year’s programme by identifying more relevant short-term and long-term projects for electronics undergraduates within UK industry.

These projects typically result in significant bottom line benefits for the companies involved while adding an extra dimension to the students’ practical and business skill base.

Research clearly indicates that students who undertake such projects are much more likely to remain within the electronics industry following graduation, so we also see this programme as an ideal tool for tackling the lack of suitably skilled graduates taking up careers in electrical and electronic engineering’.

During the summer of 2002, Sensatech, a small engineering and development business based in Brighton, took on Step student Jack Ormond, and gave him the task of testing an electromechanical weight measurement system.

In just eight weeks Ormond was able to analyse the existing system, suggest how it could be improved, and manufacture a new design prototype.

The project has had a great impact as Tom Bach, Managing Director of Sensatech, explains ‘I’ve been working on electronically measuring springs for about 12 years but Jack tried many things I hadn’t the nerve to do’.

Bach went on to add: ‘Jack bought in many mechanical mathematical skills that were missing in Sensatech and the results from the project have allowed me to suggest a new sensor to a major automotive company.

I consider the programme a total success and hope to employ Jack part-time in the future’.

Step Solutions: Electronic Engineering is open to companies of all sizes.

The 10-person boutique advertising and graphic design agency, whose sales are expected to reach $1 million this year, has headquarters in both San Francisco and New York City, so Skaggs and his wife and co-founder, Jonina, are often on the go. All the technology Skaggs uses is, by design, mobile. And rather than buying, he arranges for leases that let him update his gadgets more frequently.

“The last thing you want is to have a bunch of computers piled up in the corner,” says Skaggs, who enjoys the flexibility leasing gives him to keep his equipment up-to-date.

So what could Skaggs buy now if his lease was up? And what about your business: Are you thinking about adding to your arsenal? No matter your situation, you’ll find the answers you need in our special annual report on technology products, trends and innovations that make the life of the mobile entrepreneur a little bit easier–from cell phones and data communications devices to full-featured notebook computers. If you’re on the go, at least one of these products is for you.

Call Me Anytime

When it comes to mobile phones, the thinner, the better. But that’s no reason to sacrifice all the goodies you’ve come to expect in mobile handsets, including larger, crisper color displays; basic text-messaging support; digital cameras; and Bluetooth wireless connectivity for running peripherals such as hands-free headsets.

“We’re finally at a point where consumers understand they can do more with their mobile phones than voice,” says David Linsalata, analyst for mobile devices at research firm IDC in Framingham, Massachusetts. “Voice will always be the killer application, but they’re starting to look beyond that.”

Another researcher, Gartner Inc. in Dripping Springs, Texas, projects 13 percent unit growth in mobile phone sales this year, to approximately 750 million units. For the first quarter of 2005, Gartner and IDC reported that worldwide phone shipments reached approximately 180 million devices. While Nokia retained its No. 1 position globally, Motorola was the leader in the United States, buoyed in part by interest in its ultrathin RAZR V3, both research firms reported.

Weighing 3.3 ounces, the RAZR V3 measures 3.8 inches long by 2 inches wide by 0.5 inches thick. The phone supports quad-band usage, and its technical specifications claim a talk time of five hours. It comes with Bluetooth, a 4x digital zoom camera and a speakerphone, among other features; the price in mid-September was $249 (all prices street), or $]99 with a two-year contract from Cingular or T-Mobile.

This fall, Motorola plans to introduce at least two variations on the RAZR platform, both designed to take advantage of EDGE communications services, which will support applications such as music and data file down-loads. The first phone, called SLVR, will come with push-to-talk capabilities (the walkie-talkie-style feature popularized by Nextel Communications) and the ability to add up to 512MB of memory. The PEBL V6, due by the end of 2005, will feature an oval-shaped, dual-hinged design.

LG Electronics, which ranks fourth worldwide in mobile-phone shipments, is also coming on strong in the North American market, according to IDC. One of its latest phones is the LG VX8000, a flip phone that takes advantage of 3G data services. In mid-September, the phone cost approximately $155 after a $70 mail-in rebate from LG.

Linsalata says handset manufacturers will continue to stress more multimedia features into early 2006, improving cameras and enhancing audio capabilities. While these advances are primarily consumer-focused, they will provide the foundation for business applications such as two-way mobile videoconferencing, he says. While some carriers offer entry-level phones for next to nothing if you make a long-term commitment to their monthly service, you can expect to pay a differential of $200 to $250 for these premium features.

This latest twist in the evolution of mobile phones points toward a new kind of converged device–in this case, one that marries the phone with a portable digital music player. A deal between Apple and Motorola, for example, lets you download files from the iTunes online music store onto certain next-generation handsets. While this won’t necessarily help you seal a business deal, it might help you kill time in an airport lounge.

Palm Reading

Of course, the most prevalent converged mobile device remains the smartphone, which combines the ability to make voice calls with data-centric communications tasks such as retrieving and sending e-mail or downloading file attachments or other content from remote servers.

In the present work, we investigate the use at universities of some of the classical Tools of Quality for educational purposes. The area of digital electronics practices has been chosen to apply the tools: specifically the second year of the first cycle of Telecommunications Engineering (electronic systems speciality).

First, we briefly explain the course plan of these engineering studies and the needs recognised by the teaching team. Then, we present the objectives of the present paper and the proposed methodology. Results obtained and student opinions of the method are also given. Finally, we provide some conclusions, show the benefits of the research, and give guidelines for future activities.

The course plan of these studies2 determines that the goals of the educational process must be to assure the students develop the following attitudes and capacities:

* to detect and analyse technological problems;

* to design and develop projects to solve those problems;

* to adapt to a variable technological and professional environment;

* creativity;

* communication ability, information analysis and decision making.

The educational process used by the teachers should foment the student’s analysis and decision making abilities. In this way, they should be able to adapt and solve technological problems they will face in their professional future, characterised by a continuous evolution.

Several needs can be deduced from the above arguments:

* Engineers must know a work methodology in order to allow them to develop the above abilities.

* This methodology will be the base of a work style characterised by its rigour and quality.

* The student will have to learn how to apply the methodology to different situations, such as those they will meet in their professional future.

Objectives and proposed methodology

The present work intends to cover the needs detailed in the previous paragraph. The main objective is to provide students with a methodology to manage all kinds of technological problems in a systematic, clear and rigorous way; the methodology should be adapted to teamwork and to professional applications.

The method proposed is student training in the use of Tools of Quality. Among the seven classical Tools of Quality3 (Check list, Histogram, Pareto Chart, Cause and Effect Diagram, Stratification and Scatter Diagram) we have chosen two: Pareto Chart4 and Cause and Effect Diagram5, the reason being that these two tools are easy to use, and are simple and versatile.

As the ideas of quality used to be explained in terms related to management or statistics, the present work has applied them to laboratory practices in digital electronics. In this way, we try to surprise the students with this interdisciplinary approach, which leads them to mix knowledge from two different areas (while students usually think they are isolated). We cause the student to think about the method as a global work style.

The process of application has been developed in the following steps:

1 Explanation to the students.

2 Data collection and analysis of the results obtained by the students.

3 Data combined and summaried by teachers.

4 Conclusions. Talk to the students.

Development and results

Explanation to the students

As a starting point, the objectives of the approach were explained to the students, paying attention to the usefulness of the method in their professional future. We proposed that the conclusions obtained would be the base for the students next year, starting in this way a process of continuous improvement in the subject. Thus, students become more involved in the educational process. Of course, student effort must have a reward: the work performed contributed 10% of the final mark (1 point).

The process includes the following steps: data collection by the students, data set combination and drawing conclusions by teachers and a final talk to the students. All steps were previously explained to the students as well as the method needed to apply the two chosen Tools of Quality.

Everywhere in the electronics industry today, collaborative e-business is simplifying operations, improving quality control and cutting costs. It’s transformation time for the value chain. How are you going to play to win?

Your product is designed in Palo Alto. The chips come from Scotland, the boards from Penang. It’s manufactured and assembled in Shandong, and must be shipped to a customer in Punta Arenas. Somehow, it’s your job to make it all work. Fortunately, there’s help. It’s all about creating collaborative workflow up and down the value chain. It can get even the farthest-flung enterprise humming.

E-BUSINESS: THE TRANSFORMATION GAME

e-business doesn’t just fine-tune your business, it dramatically transforms it. Even in a down cycle.

Particularly when demand is falling or flat, you have to be at your best to gain a competitive advantage. It’s when the tough get even tougher. You have to bring new products to the market faster to drive better returns. At the same time, you have to wring costs from operations. It’s all about protecting and expanding your margins. Enter Electronics Value Chain Management.

What can value chain management do for you? Create efficiencies by getting everyone on the same page at the same time. Share information up and down the value chain - from designers to suppliers to manufacturers to distributors to retailers and their customers. Value chain management can cut procurement costs by creating commonality in parts and suppliers. It controls inventory by getting the supply chain talking to the demand chain. It cuts transaction costs by integrating with public and private exchanges. Overall, it’s a framework for reducing costs for electronics manufacturers by 10 to 30 percent. It’s e-business. And it works.

CASE STUDY: PHILIPS CONSUMER ELECTRONICS

In 2001, the electronics industry was facing a slowing economy and increasinly fierce competition. In the face of this challenge, Philips Consumer Electronics North America needed to maximize customer satisfaction and increase profitability as quickly as possible.

They turned to IBM to develop a transformation road map that included a supply chain overhaul. The challenge involved improving the customer experience while reducing costs in the same breath.

The plan addressed all process and infrastructure elements of the supply chain. From procurement through manufacturing and order fulfillment. IBM analyzed consumer electronics trends and the changing requirements of key customers. The result? An optimized supply chain network.

Best-in-class warehouse and transportation management systems have been integrated into the SAP[R] system Philips was running. Logistics issues were addressed by outsourcing transportation and warehousing. management to a world-class, third-party provider. And the IBM Lean Manufacturing methodology was applied to identify, prioritize and implement improvements to manufacturing reliability.

In a business environment characterized by companies working to get bigger largely through acquisition, this is not an approach that Hella KgaA Hueck & Co. (Lippstadt, Germany) is taking. Rather, according to its CEO, Dr. Rolf Breidenbach, as the company moves forward, it will do so as it has for more than 100 years, which is as an independent company, with the growth expected being the consequence of a strategy that includes improved deployment of internal and external resources. Broken down into constituent parts, this includes:
* Fractal concept. The Hella organization (23,900 employees arrayed in three business divisions–Electronics, Light, Aftermarket & Special OE–working in 18 countries) personnel are units working in an entrepreneurial manner to fulfill customer needs.
* Triple I philosophy. Working on product and service innovations. Achieving synergistic integration with internal and external participants. Being available to customers internationally.

* Network strategy. Working with other companies either in joint ventures or as partners. While there is ownership in a joint venture company (e.g., HBPO GmbH, which is an organization that is jointly owned by Hella, Behr GmbH & Co., KG (Stuttgart), a specialist in air conditioning and engine cooling, and Plastic Omnium Auto Exterior (Paris), a supplier of body components and parts), the partnership approach is one whereby, Breidenbach explains, there is mutual benefit achieved by collaborative work between companies.
* Continuous improvement. Of both product and process.

That said, a question arises. Consider that privately held Hella is competing in the market with major, publicly owned suppliers. In lighting for example, with the likes of Visteon and Valeo. How can it compete with companies that are 10 times bigger or more in developing technology? Breidenbach suggests that the independence has an advantage, as they are not focused on the results that will be obtained during the next three to 12 months. Rather they have a mid- to long-term strategy that is “not attractive” to those who are more driven by short-term financials. “When we can’t afford to develop new technology, we bring in partners.”

Another thing that they’ve done is to organize into three divisions–electronics, light, aftermarket & special OE (as in large truck manufacturers)–that are roughly the same size and which tend to be counter-cyclical so that there is balance.

Within the markets that they serve, Breidenbach says that they want to be second to no other company which, he admits, is “a quite challenging goal.” So they’re building on what he describes as “four pillars”: leadership in Technology/Innovation, Service, Quality, and Cost.

A DEVELOPMENT-MANUFACTURING STRATEGY

Hella operates a 34,250-[m.sup.2] plant in Paderborn, Germany, which it opened at the start of the decade. Inside the factory, there are several tail lamps produced for cars including the Opel Astra, BMW 5 series, Volvo S60, and Mercedes SLK. Output is on the order of 20,000 signal lamps per day. The production process consists primarily of injection molding the lenses (e.g., the two-colored Astra lamps are molded with a polymethylmethacrylate material; in one area of the lens small polymer particles with a different refraction index are injected into the base material so that the area appears to be frosted glass; this is said to be the first such application of the material in a mass produced vehicle); vacuum metalizing the reflectors, and assembling the products. When the plant was opened, there were six production lines. Even though the layout of those lines was based on a lean system that provided a 25 to 30% improvement as compared with the layouts used in older Hella plants, it was deemed necessary to add two additional lines just a year later.

The event, held at the Holiday Inn in Cortland, drew about 150 people. They listened to researchers from several universities discuss their work and trends in several areas, including information technologies and wireless innovations; life sciences, biotechnology, and pharmaceuticals; microelectronics; and energy.

The Emerging Technology Alliance organized the event. The alliance is a consortium of regional technology-development centers and universities funded by the New York State Office of Science, Technology, and Academic Research.
The idea was to foster growth and development in Upstate and Central New York by increasing collaboration and cooperation across the region and to highlight the region’s strength in scientific research, according to organizers.

The area has a strong research base with 35 colleges and universities. The largest research institutions in the region Clarkson University, Cornell University, the State University of New York (SUNY) College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse University, and the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome have more than $1.2 billion in annual research-anddevelopment funding, which is more than 10 percent above the per capita national average, according to organizers.
Leveraging those advantages is key to regional growth, said Marilyn Higgins, vice president for economic development at Niagara Mohawk and the program’s moderator.

One of the trends researchers discussed was the need for improved methods of energy production.

Meeting the world’s energy needs will be one of the most significant challenges humanity will face in the coming decades, said Francis DiSalvo, a professor at Cornell University and director of the Cornell Center for Materials Research. Recent disruptions in oil production caused by hurricanes will pale in comparison to the problems created when oil runs out, he said.

“As bad as the hurricane was, those are minor blips compared to what’s coming,” he said. “Nobody knows where all the power is going to come from. It’s going to cause all kinds of political and economic dislocations.”

The center is working on developing new materials for use in fuel cells, which are one possible solution to energy shortages. The cells transform chemical energy into electrical energy.

Currently, however, they are expensive and not very durable. That is because fuel cells still use many of the same materials, like platinum, as the original 19th-century design, DiSalvo said.

“New materials are needed to solve these problems,” he said. “We know we need the materials. We believe we can find these materials. But we have no timescale to tell us how long it’s going to take. We need to invent them.”

Researchers also discussed the increasing proliferation and advancement of sensors.

One of the keys to making the most of sensors is integrating them and helping them talk to each other more effectively, said Lee McKnight, a professor at Syracuse University. In the future, health-care professionals may be able to attach monitors to patients in an ambulance and transmit that information immediately back to an emergency room, he said.

That instant information transfer will save time and potentially lives, he added.

“These sensors are becoming more evolved and ubiquitous,” McKnight said. “There’s much more that can be done in making sensors, sensor networks, and devices communicate with each other.”

Scientists from the Cornell University Center for Life Science Enterprise discussed projects as diverse as using materials from within the human body to create pill casings and using DNA molecules to make polymers.

DNA-based materials could be used for everything from tissue engineering to detection of biological weapons.

“DNA has biological functions, but it also has mechanical, physical, and chemical properties,” said Dan Luo, a Cornell professor. “It can be programmed and adapted.”

Scientists in the region are working on microelectronics as well. Bahgat Sammakia, director of the Integrated Electronics Engineering Center and executive director for economic development at Binghamton University, gave the audience an overview of a new research center in Endicott.

The Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing is a partnership among Binghamton University, Cornell University, and Endicott Interconnect Technologies. It will focus on researching new methods for manufacturing electronics.

The methods will focus on electronics that are lightweight, inexpensive, and rugged, but less powerful.0

The market for LEDs for display and communications applications is projected to grow 7% annually on average to 614.7 billion yen ($5.5 bil) in 2008, up 30% over the 2004 level. As the brightness of white LEDs is expected to increase from 701m/W in 2005 to 1,001m/W in 2008, they will be used in wider applications ranging from automobile headlights to general lighting products. The Japanese makers will continue to account for more than 90% of the global white LED market.

The retarder film market will reach 157.2 billion yen (1.4 bil) in 2008, expanding 12% annually on average. Japanese makers monopolize the retarder film market, and Fuji Photo Film, Zeon, and Konica Minolta Opto will continue to supply retarder films for various large LCD applications.

The report projects that the flexible electronic paper (or flexible sheet display) market will commercially emerge in 2006, reaching 5.7 billion yen ($51 mil), and grow to 19.8 billion yen ($177 mil) in 2008. Sony has developed an e-paper product, and Dai Nippon Paper and Fuji Xerox are planning to market the product from 2006.

“The numbers say it all - the consumer electronics industry is hot,” said Gary Shapiro, CEA’s president and CEO. “Sales exceeded our expectations in 2005, totaling $125.9 billion and we’re forecasting 8 percent growth in 2006. Consumer electronics sales are consistently growing, breaking records every year, because our industry is constantly changing to provide products that consumers love and can’t live without. I cannot wait to see the thousands of new products unveiled this week at the International CES that will continue to grow this amazing industry.”

The 2006 projections, 2005 year-end figures and more are included in CEA’s bi-annual U.S. Consumer Electronics Sales and Forecasts report, which is released every year at the International CES and updated mid-year. According to the report, 2005 year-end totals exceeded CEA’s initial projection of $122 billion, increasing by 11 percent over 2004. CEA attributes much of the growth in 2005 to next-generation product lines and innovations to wireless devices, flat panel displays, MP3 devices and gaming consoles and software.

CEA projects that sales of digital television (DTV) will continue to drive industry sales to new heights in 2006, forecasting total sales to surpass $23 billion and 18 million units. DTV sales in 2005 grew 60 percent to $17 billion. This growth is attributable to the growing popularity and competitive price declines of flat panel displays such as LCD and plasma. Combined, these displays accounted for 40 percent of all DTV sales. Analog and digital LCD TVs combined for $3 billion and four million units. Plasma TVs sold nearly two million units for a total of $4 billion in dollar sales. High-definition television (HDTV) continues to claim 85 percent of the total DTV market.

Launches of next-generation gaming consoles will continue throughout early 2006, pushing the gaming market to $14 billion. The gaming category experienced healthy growth in 2005 with total shipment revenues of $12 billion as the first releases of next-generation gaming consoles and compatible software titles hit dealer shelves.

CEA also forecasts a continued strong market for MP3 players as devices with video playback capability grab the attention of consumers.

“We are projecting an increase in sales of MP3 players to $4.5 billion in 2006, with 30 percent of all MP3 players sold having video playback capability,” said CEA Director of Industry Analysis Sean Wargo. “MP3 technology helped boost the audio and accessories markets in 2005. With the introduction of video playback capability, MP3 player sales surged 200 percent in 2005 to $3 billion. Trends in 2006 should be no different.”

CEA is predicting that total wireless handset sales will exceed $16 billion in factory-to-dealer sales this year. Wireless communications devices such as telephones drove the CE industry in 2005, largely in part to the introduction of phones that have multiple features and functions. Many phones in today’s wireless market come equipped with digital cameras and camcorders, MP3 players, GPS navigation, live TV capability and even serve as portable modem connections. Some 104 million wireless handsets were sold in 2005 for a total of $13.5 billion.

Using idle summer hours to get your electronics service house in order

NOT ALL AUTOMATION PROjects can be big. Not all projects can break ground with new technology. Not all projects can add percentage points to the plant floor productivity. Sometimes there is not enough money in the budget, not enough time (or maybe not the desire) to launch a significant automation venture.

That doesn’t mean that there aren’t projects that electrical personnel can undertake. Whether you are a technician, a programmer, an engineer, or a leader, you know that there are always lots of little things that never seem to get done. So here are five project suggestions that might interest those of us in this fast-paced world. In fact, like the current trend toward cooking fast meals, these projects should be achievable in about one day each. That’s fast!
Update your info

How many times have you gone to do maintenance on something and found that you didn’t have the appropriate addressing information about a PLC or drive system? Further, what happens if you are the second or third person to work on the system and the previous people did not leave updated information? So turn your pain into a good one-day project.

First, establish a spreadsheet that records all PLC’s and drives by machine. If there are other electronic components such as process contrailers, temperature controllers, or displays that require programming, add these to the spreadsheet as well.

Once you have recorded all of the devices, make a trip to each machine and record or copy the appropriate programming information. For PLC’s, this requires ensuring a completely annotated PLC program that is up to date with the existing processor memory. For drives and controllers, this includes recording the parameter settings.

In order for this project to be truly effective, every electronic component must be recorded and the information about that component organized. Likely, this will lead to questions about equipment for which you have never had the full information, so you may see some additional research projects spawned from this particular oneday project. Now take this little project one step further and make a laminated copy of the recorded settings and information and attach this to the inside of the door of the control cabinet.

Check your connections

One of the largest sources of equipment failure, control cabinet fires, or other intermittent problems is the simple loose wire. That’s why a great oneday project is to organize a group to proceed through the facility in an organized manner, checking and tightening all electrical connections.

It is true that many machines are subject to significant amounts of vibration, causing connections to loosen up. A structured method of proceeding through the control panels and machine may be helpful. Start with the main power connections and proceed through the control panel connections down to the control circuit terminals. Where motor leads are exiting the control panel to motors or other loads, be sure those connections have not become worn with a risk of possible grounding.

Many end users are now learning the benefits of thermal scanning. A thermal scan is a process using infrared cameras to “view” electrical circuits in control panels and switchgear, as well as on machines, looking for hot spots.

This scanning process can really be accomplished while the machine is operating. In fact, this may be preferable in order to get the maximum loading.

Many thermal scanning companies will provide a detailed report as to the results of the imaging scan and statistically one catastrophic failure from a bad connection my more than pay for the thermal scanning effort.

These thermal scanning results can be organized and kept on an ongoing basis, giving maintenance a historical view of the electrical connections on the machine or switchgear. This fits in with the “loose wire” project, because a thermoscan often identifies power wires that are loose and causing excessive heat.

Reduce that heat

One of the biggest causes of electronic and automation equipment failure on the plant floor is heat. Even a power supply or a PLC when not even fully loaded, let alone overloaded, still generates heat.

It is normal for these electronic devices to dissipate this heat throughout the control cabinet and depending on the cabinet and the designer’s requirements, additional cooling capabilities may have been added to the enclosure.

Most industrial enclosures now have good sealing for dust and other environmental particles. However, the buildup of dirt on heat-generating devices limits the cooling capacity and then will cause premature failure.

Even though it shouldn’t happen, enclosure doors get left open and fans and filters get plugged up. This oneday project asks you to define a list of your plant equipment and electrical controls and then make a structured attack toward cleaning them and the cooling equipment of the devices.

A lot of that reduction will come from the relentless improvements in the surface-mounted ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) chips, such as the decoder integrated circuits that control how map data is retrieved from DVDs (and constitute a large part of the DVD unit’s cost). But some will come from greater integration and economies of scale. Right now, each OEM’s nav system is largely unique, but the push is on to integrate navigation into sound system head units, which would allow suppliers to
standardize components over high volumes and bring prices down.

On the software development side, cost-cutting through standardization is also becoming more prevalent. While each OEM wants a unique customer interface, they don’t much care how the underlying route calculation algorithms are written, as long as they work. So, MEAA has designed a software package called “Victoria” that allows it to use the same basic calculation code across all of its customers (which include DaimlerChrysler, Volvo and Mitsubishi), while allowing each to develop unique interfaces. To help reduce development time for the OEMs, Antrim explains that Victoria is both more object-oriented and more modular than traditional packages, (it also runs on a standard Windows operating system), allowing engineers to “drag-and-drop” a lot of their code writing. Antrim estimates that Victoria can reduce development time by 67%, and that hardware and software savings combined will put built-in navigation units in “every vehicle except entry-level within 7 to 8 years.”

NAV BY RADIO. If you don’t want to wait that long for affordable navigation, iBiquity Digital Corp. (Columbia, MD) is currently launching an approach you might call “navigation lite.” Using the spectrum space between analog radio signals, iBiquity equips local radio stations to broadcast digital signals containing real-time traffic information which is decoded by an aftermarket head unit in the vehicle. The system does without a DVD unit, a large screen or a satellite antenna, so hardware costs are kept low. In fact, according to Joe D’Angelo, vice president, data services, the only significant cost increase over a standard head unit is a proprietary digital signal decoder chipset that sells for less than $40. Of course, iBiquity doesn’t offer the amenities of a high-cost system like voice activation or turn-by-turn directions. But D’Angelo argues that the chief concern of a lot of the drivers in the 50 biggest U.S. metro areas where the service will eventually be available is avoiding congestion and backups during daily commutes; and iBiquity’s 50 kilobit per station data pipeline is more than enough to broadcast the details of every traffic slowdown in a major metropolitan area. Two types of head units will be available (Delphi, Visteon and Panasonic are all building models): one with a narrow screen that will only display text messages; and one with a larger screen that will show a color route map with congestion areas marked by warning symbols.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

CELLULAR NAVIGATION. But the cheapest and fastest way to bring navigation to the multitudes may be by bypassing built-in systems altogether and working through cell phones and PDAs. Thanks in part to a federal law designed to ensure that “911″ callers can be easily located, all new mobile communication devices will have built-in GPS chips that can be tracked via satellite. And while that may conjure visions of Big Brother to some, it provides the necessary prerequisite for “location-based services” like navigation. Taking advantage of this potentially huge market, Motorola has developed a Java-based software package called “Viamoto” that allows users to download real-time turn-by-turn directions to a mobile device. The Viamoto server that delivers the map data stores it in a format that optimizes access speed, so that even at the low bandwidth capacity of cellular networks, directions can be transmitted quickly. Although Motorola is a major handset maker, it designed Viamoto to work with any of its competitors’ units by coding its distributed software components using the standard Internet protocols TCP/IP; UDP/IP; http and XML. Lee Callaway, director of product marketing for location solutions, says of the open architecture approach, “We want to see the mass of consumers having a navigation experience.” To that end Motorola is using Viamoto to power the cell phone-based nav system dubbed “Avis Assist” which has been rolled out to 57 Avis rental car locations across the U.S. Callaway says Avis expects take rates of 10-20%, which means thousands of people who have never used navigation before will in the next few years. Add to that all of the Nextel customers who sign up for the recently launched $10/month Viamoto service, and it becomes clear that by the time built-in nav systems prices reach “avalanche” levels, a sizable number of people will have been getting nav by phone for years. Which may only serve to enhance the penetration of built-in systems as people realize they like having navigation, but want more features than they can get on a tiny phone display.