National Instruments has announced the shortlisted finalists in the 2014 Engineering Impact Awards, to honour the UK & Ireland’s most innovative engineering projects using NI software and hardware. 

NI provides powerful, flexible technology solutions that accelerate productivity and drive rapid innovation, helping engineers and scientists overcome complexity to exceed even their own expectations, answering the most challenging questions. Through these pursuits, NI customers have brought hundreds of thousands of products to market and overcome innumerable technological roadblocks. If you can turn it on, connect it, drive it, or launch it, chances are NI technology helped make it happen.

The NI judging panel recognised the following UK customer applications in this year’s awards:

Advanced Research

  • Autonomous and Ultra Rapid Cavitation Control Feedback Loop for Focused Ultrasound Surgery – University of Dundee
  • Tracking WIFI Signals to Passively See Through Walls – University College London

Biomedical

  • Revolutionary Thermal Imaging Device for Noncontact Respiration Monitoring – Sheffield Hallam University
  • Verifying Devices That Prevent HIV Transmission between Mother and Child during Breastfeeding – University of Cambridge

Electronics Test & Measurement

  • Creating an Automated, Highly Accelerated Stress Screening Test Solution for Three Avionics PCBs in Parallel – TBG Solutions
  • Developing Earth Observation Cameras Attached to the International Space Station for Streaming Live High-Definition Footage across the Internet – STFC RAL Space

Machine Control

  • Improving the Lives of Cerebral Palsy Sufferers by Creating a Distributable Therapy Device – Key Engineering Solutions
  • Producing an Organic LED Deposition and Research System – VG Scienta

Physical Test & Measurement

  • Getting the Skylon Space Plane Project off the Ground – Reaction Engines
  • Modernisation of Brake Testing – TBG Solutions

System Design in the Classroom

  • A University Physics Department Uses and Teaches LabVIEW – Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Making Electronics Interesting for Product Design Undergraduates – University of Leeds

Transportation

  • Remote Condition Monitoring of London Underground Track Circuits – London Underground
  • Replacing Diesel with Hybrid Power in Buses - Vantage Power

NI is committed to inspiring, engaging and preparing the next generation of innovators. As well as honouring industry excellence, the Engineering Impact Awards also celebrate the remarkable work and research of students in the UK. NI has recognised the following three outstanding submissions to the Student Design Competition 2014:

  • Cyclocopter: The Generation of Lift from a Cycloidal Blade System – University of Bath
  • MyRIO Powered UAV Submarine – Cardiff University
  • SquidROV: A Biomimetic ROV Propulsion Prototype – University of Edinburgh

Winners will be announced at the Engineering Impact Awards ceremony, held at The Royal Academy of Engineering, London, on Monday 3rd November. Several finalists will present their applications in technical sessions at the NIDays conference and exhibition, held at The Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, Westminster, London, the following day. For more details about NIDays, including the agenda and how to register, go to uk.ni.com/nidays

To learn more about the NI UK & Ireland Engineering Impact Awards or to submit an entry for next year’s contest, visit uk.ni.com/eiawards