A GPS-enabled fabric map developed by Electrical and Electronic Engineering students from the University of Southampton has been showcased at the UK's leading event for wearable and emerging technologies.

The innovative prototype was created over the past year in an undergraduate group design project with the all-weather map designer SplashMaps.

The eSplashMaps concept was presented by SplashMaps' David Overton and Southampton's Professor Steve Beeby at Tuesday’s virtual Wearable Technology Show 2021, where discussions centred on preparing the device for market.

The washable and weatherproof map identifies the user's location via LEDs aligned with the gridlines on the map's edges. The device is wirelessly powered using inductive coupling between the map and a portable power module.

The e-map is the second generation of the student-led prototype to be developed from a partnership between SplashMaps and Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS).

The latest design has been advanced by MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering students Jake Norman, David Court, Mario Pulze, Samuel Evans, and Benjamin Gomm, with MEng Electronic Engineering student Alicja Bochnacka.

Professor Beeby, Head of the Smart Electronic Materials and Systems Research Group, says: "The students have delivered an impressively robust, functioning electronic textile map. This has served as an excellent stepping stone towards a future e-map product with future iterations providing improved positional resolution, further miniaturised electronics and even printed light emitting features to point the way."

ECS group design projects provide students with an opportunity to put skills into practice and experience working for an industry or academic customer. As part of a small team of students from different disciplines, groups design and implement an innovative solution to a real-world problem, while at the same time developing new transferable skills.

David Overton, SplashMaps Managing Director, says: "We're delighted to have, in our hands, a working version of a long-held vision thanks to the students’ work. We’re proud to represent this work at the Wearable Technology Show as a significant step on the way to a fully dynamic and interactive fabric map."

Tuesday's presentation delivered an overview of the €5.5 million SmartT programme that brings together specialists from the UK and France to unlock the potential of innovative smart textiles

The Interreg grant, which is led by Professor Beeby and the School of Chemistry's Professor David Harrowven, is aiming to generate 100 smart inks that each emit different coloured light following electrical stimulation, creating a colour chart spanning the entire visible spectrum from red to violet, and beyond into the ultraviolet region.

The functional inks are ideally suited for new applications in fashion, sport, safety ware, and advertising, as well as mapmaking.

Professor Beeby says: "The research vision for e-textiles in ECS is to integrate electronic functionality into textiles in a manner that is undetectable to the wearer. These emerging e-textiles have to be reliable and robust, withstanding the rigours of use, and be implemented in a low-cost, sustainable manner."

Professor Paul Lewin has been awarded the 2021 IEEE Eric O Forster Distinguished Service Award for significant advancement of dielectrics and electrical insulation.

The prestigious honour from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS) recognises outstanding contributions and sustained leadership in its field.

Professor Lewin is the Director of the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory, an active centre on Highfield Campus for research and commercial testing. He is the Professor of Electrical Power Engineering and Head of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), having built an international reputation for his work in High Voltage Engineering across three decades at Southampton.

Professor Lewin says: "I am delighted to accept this award, I think it truly reflects the achievements of the Tony Davies High Voltage Laboratory and our standing internationally, especially in terms of our work in dielectric materials and electrical insulation.

"As we move towards a future with greater reliance on sustainable green electrical energy, there are real research challenges to be solved in order to ensure the reliability and long term performance of high voltage equipment and their electrical insulation systems. I am very pleased that our contributions in this area have been recognised."

The biennial award, which was first given in 1992, is named in honour of the late Eric O Forster for his distinguished service on behalf of DEIS.

Paul C Gaberson, President of the DEIS, says: "I have personally known Professor Lewin for several years and can attest to his dedication to the field of dielectrics, his students, his university, and to the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society (DEIS). Paul leads by example and is always willing to contribute his enthusiasm and energy when he is asked to participate in a project.

"He has supported the DEIS in many volunteer positions including AdCom Secretary, VP Technical, VP Administrative, and President. He has also taken a leadership role in the Society’s key conference (the Electrical Insulation Conference) where he acted as General Chair. The Society has benefited greatly from his contributions."

Professor Lewin joined Southampton’s Department of Electrical Engineering in 1989, before moving to Electronics and Computer Science in 1999. Across his career, he has received funding and grants in excess of £30m, supervised 50 graduate students to successful completion of their doctoral theses and published over 500 refereed conference and journal papers.

He is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the IET and IEEE and was general chair of IEEE International Conference on Solid Dielectrics 2007 and IEEE Electrical Insulation Conference 2015. In 2016, he was appointed as Head of ECS.

The University of Southampton was ranked first in the UK for Electrical and Electronic Engineering in the Guardian University Guide 2021. The ranking marks Southampton’s eleventh consecutive year in the Guide’s UK subject top 10, having also been ranked first from 2011-14 and again from 2016-17.

Dr Basel Halak will enhance the security of anti-tamper embedded devices in a new Royal Academy of Engineering Industrial Fellowship at the University of Southampton.

The award is Dr Halak’s second successive Industrial Fellowship with security experts Arm Holdings.

Embedded systems have become targets for hackers with smart devices prone to be taken over and controlled. This latest Fellowship will see the University and Arm further develop responsive and adaptive defence mechanisms to ward off unwanted security threats.

Dr Halak, of the Cyber Security Research Group, says: "Compromised hardware products pose serious threats if used in critical infrastructure and military applications. The continuously evolving landscape of security threats, calls for equally effective and adaptive defence mechanisms.

"This project will develop such a mechanism, using machine learning algorithms to achieve a rapid detection of malicious behaviours in an embedded system and intercede more quickly to stop a potential attack."

Dr Halak's research expertise includes the evaluation of security of hardware devices, the development of appropriate countermeasures, the development of mathematical formalism of reliability issues in CMOS circuits (e.g. crosstalk, radiation, ageing), and the use of fault tolerance techniques to improve the robustness of electronics systems.

The latest round of Industrial Fellowships marks a new direction for the Royal Academy of Engineering, with Industrial Fellows being embedded into academic institutions for the first time, as well as the traditional approach of academic researchers being placed in an industrial environment to transfer their knowledge.

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