ENGINEERING

Introduction

Engineering is the creative application of science, mathematical methods, and empirical evidence to the innovation, design, construction, operation and maintenance of structures, machines, materials, devices, systems, processes, and organizations for the benefit of humankind.

The branch of science and technology concerned with the design, building, and use of engines, machines, and structures.

Engineers apply the principles of science and mathematics to develop economical solutions to technical problems. Their work is the link between scientific discoveries and the commercial applications that meet societal and consumer needs:

Use math and science knowledge.

Find innovative ways to solve problems.

                 Design new products and technology.

The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD, the predecessor of ABET) has defined "engineering" as:

The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property.

Engineering has existed since ancient times, when humans devised inventions such as the wedge, lever, wheel and pulley.
 DEFINITION

“One who practices engineering is called an engineer, and those licensed to do so may have more formal designations such as Professional EngineerChartered EngineerIncorporated EngineerIngenious, European Engineer, or Designated Engineering Representative.”
Types of Work
Consulting
Design
Development
Teaching
Manufacturing
Testing
Modeling
Planning
Production
Research
Sales
Prototyping
Maintenance
Analysis

Different Fields OF Engineering

Aerospace

Agricultural

Biomedical

Chemical

Civil

Electrical

Electronics & Communication

Computer Science

Environmental

Industrial & Manufacturing

Mechanical

Materials

Mining

Nuclear

Ocean

Transportation

What do Engineer do?

Design and Develop New Products

Use Principle of Science

Run Tests

Create and Build Things

Use the Design Process to help solve problems

Engineering Design Process

A series of steps Engineers uses to create products

STEP 1:  IDENTIFY THE PROBLEM

What is the problem?

What are the goals?

STEP 2: RESEARCH THE PROBLEM

What caused the problem?

State of   Problem (how bad is it)

What are the solutions?

STEP 3:  DEVELOP POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

Brainstorm Possible  solutions

STEP 4:SELECT THE POSSIBLE SOLUTION

Determine which solutions best meets requirements

STEP 5: CONSTRUCT THE PROTOTYPE

Model the solution:

Drawing it out

Building the part

Follow the plan

Create it

STEP 6: TEST AND EVALUATE THE SOLUTION

Is it working

Does it meet requirement

STEP 7: COMMUNICATE THE SOLUTION

Share with peers why this solution works and best fit the problem.

Present finding and final results.

STEP 8: REDESIGN

Make improvements.

If solution did not solve problem or have created new problem, repeat step 2- 8 as necessary.

Invention & Inventor:

Various branches of Engineering
There are major primary branches of engineering such as chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.
There are numerous other engineering sub disciplines and interdisciplinary subjects that may or may not be part of these major engineering branches. 

They are following:-

Chemical Engineering

It is a branch of engineering that uses principles of chemistry, physics, mathematics, and economics to efficiently use, produce, transform, and transport chemicals, materials, and energy. A chemical engineer designs large-scale processes that convert chemicals, raw materials, living cells, microorganisms, and energy into useful forms and products.

Chemical engineers are involved in many aspects of plant design and operation, including safety and hazard assessments, process design and analysis, control engineering, chemical reaction engineering, construction specification, and operating instructions.

Sub discipline	Scope	Major Specialities
Bio molecular engineering	Focuses on the manufacturing of bio molecules.	·         Genetic engineering  ·         Immunology and bio molecular/biochemical engineering ·         Engineering of DNA and RNA(related to genetic engineering)
Materials engineering	Involves properties of matter (material) and its applications to engineering.	·         Metallurgical engineering, works with metals ·         Ceramic engineering works with raw oxide materials and non-oxide ceramics ·         Polymer engineering  ·         Crystal engineering works with the design and synthesis of molecular solid-state structures ·         Bio materials engineering works with natural and living systems
Molecular engineering	Focuses on the manufacturing of molecules.
Process engineering	Focuses on the design, operation, control and optimization of chemical processes.	·         Petroleum refinery engineering works on the manufacture of refined products ·         Plastics engineering works on the plastics products ·         Paper engineering works on paper products ·         Textile engineering works on fiber, textile and apparel products.
Corrosion engineering	Applies scientific knowledge, natural laws and physical resources in order to design and implement materials, structures, devices, systems and procedures to manage corrosion.

Civil Engineering

It is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewerage systems, pipelines, and railways.

It takes place in the public sector from municipal through to national governments, and in the private sector from individual homeowners through to international companies.  

          

Sub discipline	Scope	Major Specialties
Environmental engineering	The application of engineering to the improvement and protection of the environment.	·        Ecological engineering ·        Fire protection engineering ·        Sanitary engineering ·        Wastewater engineering ·        Municipal or urban engineering
Geotechnical engineering	Concerned with the behavior of earth materials at the site of a civil engineering project.	·        Mining engineering ·        Foundation (engineering)
Structural engineering	The engineering of structures that support or resist structural loads.	·         Earthquake engineering ·         Wind engineering ·         Architectural engineering ·         Ocean engineering,
Mining engineering	Mining engineering is closely related to many other disciplines like mineral processing and metallurgy, geotechnical engineering and surveying. A mining engineer manages all phases of mining operations – from exploration and discovery of the mineral resource, through feasibility studies, mine design, development of plans, production and operations, to mine closure.
Transport engineering	The use of engineering to ensure safe and efficient transportation of people and goods.	·         Traffic engineering ·         Highway engineering ·         Railway systems engineering
Utility Engineering	A branch of Civil Engineering that focuses on the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and asset management of any and all utility systems, as well as the interaction between utility infrastructure and other civil infrastructure	·        Subsurface Utility Engineering
Water resources engineering	Prediction, planning, development and management of water resources.	·         Hydraulic engineering ·         River engineering ·         Coastal engineering ·         Groundwater engineering

Electrical Engineering 

                    It is a professional engineering discipline that generally deals with the  study and application of electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism.
     

Sub discipline	Scope	Major Specialties
Electronic engineering	The creation of physical devices and abstract methods that make it possible to conduct electricity, magnetism and light, through low power electrical circuits deemed electronic circuits as well as through communication channels.	·         Control engineering, · Telecommunications engineering, ·         Digital electronics .
Computer engineering	The design and control of computing devices with the application of electrical systems.	·         Software engineering ·     Hardware engineering, ·         Network engineering
Power engineering	The generation, transmission and distribution of electricity and the design of devices such as transformers etc
Optical engineering	The design of instruments and systems that utilize the properties of electromagnetic radiation.

 Mechanical Engineering

               It is the discipline that applies engineering, physics  engineering mathematics, and materials science principles to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems.
     

Sub discipline	Scope	Major Specialties
Acoustical engineering	Concerns the manipulation and control of vibration, especially vibration isolation and the reduction of unwanted sounds.
Manufacturing engineering	Concerns dealing with different manufacturing practices and the research and development of systems, processes, machines, tools and equipment.
Opto mechanical engineering	Field specific to the mechanical aspects of optical systems. Includes design, packaging, mounting and alignment mechanisms specific to optical systems	·         Fiber optics ·         Laser systems ·         Telescopes ·         Cameras ·         Optical instrumentation
Thermal engineering	Concerns heating or cooling of processes, equipment, or enclosed environments.	·         Air conditioning ·         Refrigeration ·       Heating, ventilating
Sports engineering	Is a field of engineering that involves the design, development and testing of sport equipment. The equipment used by athletes has always gone through technological design and development based on current knowledge and understanding.
Vehicle engineering	The design, manufacture and operation of the systems and equipment that propel and control vehicles.	·         Automotive engineering ·         Naval architecture, ·         Aerospace engineering ·         Marine engineering  ·         oceanographic engineering
Power plant engineering	Field of engineering that designs, construct and maintains different types of power plants. Serves as the prime mover to produce electricity.	·         Geothermal power plants ·         Coal-fired power plants ·         Hydroelectric power plants ·         Diesel engine (ICE) power plants ·         Tidal power plants ·         Wind turbine power plants ·         Solar power plants
Energy engineering	Energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance and energy production.

Indisciplinary Engineering:

These are also types of engineering.

              

Discipline	Scope	Major Specialities
Aerospace engineering	Aerospace systems such as aircraft, spacecraft and ground control systems, primarily on the systems level.	·         Aeronautics, the design and development of aircraft and air traffic control systems ·         Astronautics, spacecraft, with an emphasis on spacecraft systems, ground control systems and orbital mechanics
Agricultural engineering	Farm power and machinery, biological material processes, bioenergy, farm structures and agricultural natural resources.	·         Aquaculture engineering ·         Biomechanical engineering ·         Bioprocess engineering ·         Biotechnical engineering ·         Ecological engineering ·         Food engineering ·         Forest engineering ·         Health and safety engineering ·         Natural resources engineering ·         Machinery systems engineering ·         Information & electrical systems engineering
Applied engineering	Systems integration, manufacturing and management	·         Automation/control systems/mechatronics/robotics ·         Computer-aided drawing and design (CADD) ·         Construction ·         Electronics ·         General ·         Graphics ·         Nanotechnology
Biological engineering		·         Bioacoustics ·         Biochemical engineering ·         Biosystems engineering ·         Biomedical engineering ·         Biotechnical engineering ·         Biomolecular engineering ·         Bioresource engineering ·         Bioprocess engineering ·         Cellular engineering ·         Genetic engineering ·         Food and biological process engineering ·         Health and safety engineering ·         Microbiological engineering ·         Molecular engineering ·         Protein engineering ·         Systems biology ·         Synthetic biology
Biomedical engineering, Biomedical nano engineering	Medicine and healthcare biology, biocompatible prostheses, diagnostic and therapeutic devices ranging from clinical equipment to micro-implants, imaging equipment such as MRIs and EEGs, tissue regeneration and pharmaceuticals. The increased utilization of nanotechnology across the existing areas of this branch has lead the specialization Biomedical nanoengineering.	·         Bioinstrumentation, devices and tools used in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. ·         Bioinformatics, digital tools to collect and analyze biomedical data, such as DNA ·         Biomechanics, motion, material deformation, transport of chemical substances across biological membranes and flow inside the body. Artificial heart valves, artificial kidneys and artificial hips. ·         Biomaterial, materials implanted in the body ·         Biomedical optics ·         Bio signal processing, recording and processing biological signals for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, such as cardiac signals, speech recognition and brain activity ·         Biotechnology, use of living systems to make useful products such as pharmaceuticals and foods ·         Clinical engineering, hospital-related products, including data management, instruments and monitoriing systems ·         Medical imaging, MRIs, EEGs, ultrasound, PET ·         Neural engineering, replacement/restoration of lost sensory and motor abilities, neurorobots, neuro electronics. ·         Pharmaceutical engineering, pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical delivery ·         Rehabilitation engineering, products that aid individuals with physical and other impairments, to improve e.g., mobility, seating and communication ·         Tissue engineering
Building services engineering	internal environment and environmental impact of buildings and other structures	·         Architectural engineering ·         Mechanical engineering ·         Heating, ventilation and air conditioning ·         Refrigeration ·         Public health engineering ·         Electrical engineering ·         Lightning protection ·         Security, video and alarm systems ·         Escalators and lifts ·         Fire engineering, including fire detection and fire protection ·         Building façade engineering ·         Energy supply -gas, electricity and renewable sources
Energy engineering	Energy efficiency, energy services, facility management, plant engineering, environmental compliance and energy production	·         Solar engineering, photovoltaic systems, solar thermal systems ·         Wind engineering, wind turbines
Information engineering	Generation, distribution, analysis, and use of information, data and knowledge in systems.	·         Machine learning ·         Data science ·         Artificial intelligence ·         Control theory ·         Signal processing ·         Telecommunications ·         Image processing ·         Information theory ·         Computer vision ·         Natural language processing ·         Bioinformatics ·         Medical image computing ·         Autonomous robotics ·         Mobile robotics
Industrial engineering	Logistical and resource management systems	·         Manufacturing engineering ·         Component engineering ·         Systems engineering ·         Construction engineering ·         Safety engineering ·         Reliability engineering
Mechatronics engineering	Mechanical and electrical engineering hybrid	·         Robotics ·         Instrumentation engineering ·         Optomechatronics engineering ·         Biomechatronics engineering ·         Avionics
Engineering management	Management of engineers and engineering processes
Military engineering	Military weapons and vehicles, such as artillery and tanks	·         Combat engineering
Nano engineering	The introduction of nanotechnology into existing fields of engineering.	·         Materials nanoengineering creating Nanomaterials ·         Biomedical nanoengineering creating Nanomedicine (Biosensors) ·         Instrumentation engineering creating Nanosensors ·         Electronic nanoengineering creating  Nanoelectronics
Nuclear engineering	Terrestrial and marine nuclear power plants	· Medical physics ·         Nuclear fuel ·         Radiation protection
Petroleum engineering	Oil and natural gas, including oil refining	· Reservoir engineering · Drilling engineering · Production engineering
Project engineering	A "project" consists of a coordinated series of activities or tasks performed by engineers and designers	·         Mechanical engineering ·         Process engineering ·         Instrumentation and control engineering ·         Civil engineering ·         Structural engineering ·         Environmental engineering ·         Electrical engineering
Railway engineering	Railway systems, including wheeled and maglev systems
Software engineering	Software engineering;the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation and maintenance of software and the study of these approaches	·         Cryptographic engineering ·         Information technology engineering ·         Teletraffic engineering · Web engineering
Systems engineering	Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how to design and manage complex engineering projects over their life cycles Issues.	·         Systems engineering deals with work-processes, optimization methods and risk management tools.
Textile engineering	Textile engineering courses deal with the application of scientific and engineering principles to the design and control of all aspects of fiber, textile and apparel processes, products and machinery.	·         Apparel engineering ·         Fabric engineering ·         Industrial & production engineering ·         Textile engineering management ·         Textile fashion & design ·         Textile machinery design & maintenance ·         Wet process engineering ·         Yarn engineering

Brief History of Electronics and Its Development

In this 21st century, every day we are dealing with the electronic circuits and devices in some or the other forms because gadgets, home appliances, computers, transport systems, cell phones, cameras, TV, etc. all have electronic components and devices. Today’s world of electronics has made deep inroads in several areas, such as healthcare, medical diagnosis, automobiles, industries, electronics projects etc. and convinced everyone that without electronics, it is really impossible to work.

Therefore, looking forward to know the past and about the brief history of electronics is necessary to revive our minds and to get inspired by those individuals who sacrificed their  lives by engaging themselves in such amazing discoveries and inventions that costs everything for them, but nothing for us, and, in turn, benefitted us immensely since then.

Electronics’ actual history began with the invention of vacuum diode by J.A. Fleming, in 1897; and, after that, a vacuum triode was implemented by Lee De Forest to amplify electrical signals. This led to the introduction of tetrode and pentode tubes that dominated the world until the World War II.

Subsequently, the transistor era began with the junction transistor invention in 1948. Even though, this particular invention got a Nobel Prize, yet it was later replaced with a bulky vacuum tube that would consume high power for its operation. The use of germanium and silicon semiconductor materials made these transistors gain the popularity and wide-acceptance usage in different electronic circuits.

 The subsequent years witnessed the invention of the integrated circuits (ICs) that drastically changed the electronic circuits’ nature as the entire electronic circuit got integrated on a single chip, which resulted in low: cost, size and weight electronic devices. The years 1958 to 1975 marked the introduction of IC with enlarged capabilities of over several thousand components on a single chip such as small-scale integration, medium,large scale and very-large scale integration ICs.

And the trend further carried forward with the JFETS and MOSFETs that were developed during 1951 to 1958 by improving the device designing process and by making more reliable and powerful transistors.

Digital integrated circuits were yet another robust IC development that changed the overall architecture of computers. These ICs were developed with Transistor-transistor logic (TTL), integrated injection logic (I2L) and emitter coupled logic (ECL) technologies. Later these digital ICs employed PMOS, NMOS, and CMOS fabrication design technologies.

All these radical changes in all these components led to the introduction of microprocessor in 1969 by Intel. Soon after, the analog integrated circuits were developed that introduced an operational amplifier for an analog signal processing. These analog circuits include analog multipliers, ADC and DAC converters and analog filters. This is all about the fundamental understanding of the electronics history.

This history of electronics technology costs greater investment of time, efforts and talent from the real heroes, some of them are described below.

Luigi Galvani (1737-1798)
Luigi Galvani was a professor in the University of Bologna. He studied the effects of electricity on animals, especially on frogs. With the help of experiments, he showed the presence of electricity in frogs in the year 1791.

Charles Coulomb (1737-1806)

Charles coulomb was a great scientist of the 18th century. He experimented with the mechanical resistance and developed coulomb’s law of electro-static charges in the year 1799.

Allesandro Volta (1745-1827)

Allesandro Volta was an Italian scientist. He invented battery in the year 1799. He was the first to develop a battery (Voltaic cell) that could produce electricity as a result of chemical reaction.

Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1852)

Hans Christian Oersted showed that whenever a current flows through a conductor, a magnetic field is associated with it. He initiated the study of electromagnetism and discovered Aluminum in the year 1820.

George Simon Ohm (1789-1854)

George Simon Ohm was a German physicist. He experimented with the electrical circuits and made his own part including the wire. He found that some conductors worked when compared to others. He discovered Ohms law in the year 1827, which is a relation between current, voltage& resistance. The unit for resistance is named after him.

Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

Michael Faraday was a British scientist and great pioneer experimenter in electricity and magnetism. After the discovery by Oersted, he demonstrated electromagnetic induction in the year 1831. This is the basic principle of the working of generators.

James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879)

James Clerk Maxwell was a British physicist, and he wrote treatise on magnetism and electricity in the year 1873. He developed the electromagnetic field equations in the year 1864. The equations in it were explained and predicted by hertz’s work and faradays’ work. James Clerk Maxwell formulated an important theory – that is, electromagnetic theory of light.

Henrich Rudolph Hertz (1857-1894)

Henrich Rudolph Hertz was a German physicist born in 1857 in Hamburg. He demonstrated the electromagnetic radiation predicted by Maxwell. By using experimental procedures, he proved the theory by engineering instruments to transmit and receive radio pulses. He was the first person to demonstrate the photo-electric effect. The unit of frequency was named Hertz in his honorarium.

Andre Marie Ampere (1775-1836)

Andre Marie Ampere was a French mathematician and physicist. He studied the effects of electric current and invented solenoid. The SI unit of electric current (the Ampere) was named after him.

Karl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855)

Karl Friedrich Gauss was a physical scientist and a greatest German mathematician. He contributed to many fields like algebra, analysis, statistics, electrostatics and astronomy. The CGS unit of magnetic field density was named after him.

Wilhelm Eduard Weber (1804-1891)

Wilhelm Eduard Weber was a German physicist. He investigated terrestrial magnetism with his friend Carl fried rich. He devised an electromagnetic telegraph in the year 1833, and also established a system of absolute electrical units, and the MKS unit of flux was named after Weber.

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1932)

Thomas Alva Edison was a businessman and an American inventor. He developed many devices like, practical electric bulb, motion picture camera, photograph and other such things. While inventing the electric lamp, he observed the Edison effect.

Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)

Nikola Tesla invented the Tesla coil; the Tesla induction motor; alternating current (AC); electrical supply system that includes a transformer; 3-phase electricity and motor. In 1891, Tesla coil was invented and used in electronic equipment, television and radio sets. The unit of magnetic field density was named after him.

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (1824-1887)

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff was a German physicist. He developed Kirchhoff’s law that allows calculation of the voltages, currents and resistance of electrical networks.

James Prescott Joule (1818-1889)

James Prescott Joule was a brewer and an English physicist. He discovered the law of conservation of energy. The unit of energy – Joule was named in his honor. To develop the scale of temperature, he worked with Lord Kelvin.

Joseph Henry (1799-1878)

Joseph Henry was an American scientist, and independently discovered electromagnetic induction in the year 1831 – a year before faraday’s discovery. The unit of induction was named after him.

Lee De Forest (1873-1961)

Lee de forest was an American inventor, and he invented the first triode vacuum tube: Audio tube in 1906. He was honored as the father of radio.

Walter schottky (1886-1997)

Walter schottky was a German physicist. He defined shot noise-random electron noise in thermionic tubes, and invented the multiple grid vacuum tube.

Edwin Howard Armstrong (1890-1954)

Edwin Howard Armstrong was an inventor and an American electrical engineer. He invented electronic oscillator and regenerative feedback. In 1917, he invented super-heterodyne radio and patented FM radio in the year 1933.

History of communication

                       Communication in Ancient Times

The first means of communication was, of course, the human voice but about 3,200 BC writing was invented in Iraq and Egypt. It was invented about 1,500 BC in China. However the only American civilization to invent a true system of writing was the Mayans.
The next big step was the invention of the alphabet in what is now Israel and Lebanon about 1,600 BC.
In the Ancient World many civilizations including Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Rome and China had efficient postal systems to deliver messages to parts of their empires using relays of horses.
In the ancient world people wrote on papyrus or parchment. However the Chinese invented paper about 200 BC. The knowledge of how to make paper passed to the Arabs and in the Middle Ages it reached Europe.
Communication 1500-1800
The next major improvement in communication was the invention of printing. The Chinese invented printing with blocks in the 6th century AD but the first known printed book was the Diamond Sutra of 686. In Europe in the mid-15th century Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press, which made books much cheaper and allowed newspapers to be invented. William Caxton introduced the printing press into England in 1476.
The first newspapers were printed in the 17th century. The first newspaper in England was printed in 1641. (However the word newspaper was not recorded until 1670). The first successful daily newspaper in Britain was printed in 1702.
Meanwhile European monarchs set up postal services to carry their messages. In France Louis XI founded one in 1477 and in England Henry VIII created the Royal Mail in 1512. In 1635 to raise money Charles I allowed private citizens to send messages by Royal Mail, for a fee.
Meanwhile the pencil was invented in 1564.
Communication in the 19th Century
Communication became far more efficient in the 19th century. In the early 19th century the recipient of a letter had to pay the postage, not the sender. Then in 1840 Rowland Hill invented the Penny Post. From then on the sender of a letter paid. Cheap mail made it much easier for people to keep in touch with loved ones who lived a long way off.
Meanwhile Ralph Wedgwood invented carbon paper in 1806.
The telegraph was invented in 1837. A cable was laid across the Channel in 1850 and after 1866 it was possible to send messages across the Atlantic.
Meanwhile the first fax machine was invented in 1843. A Scot, Alexander Graham Bell, invented the telephone in 1876. The first telephone exchange in Britain opened in 1879. The first telephone directory in London was published in 1880. The first telephone line from Paris to Brussels was established in 1887. The first line from London to Paris opened in 1891. The first transatlantic telephone line opened in 1927. In 1930 a telephone link from Britain to Australia was established.
Meanwhile the first successful typewriter went on sale in 1874 and the first successful fountain pen was made in 1884.
In 1829 Louis Braille invented an embossed typeface for the blind and in 1837 Isaac Pitman invented shorthand. The first successful rotary printing press was invented by Richard M Hoe in 1846.
Communication in The 20th Century
Communication continued to improve in the 20th century. In 1901 Marconi sent a radio message across the Atlantic. Radio broadcasting began in Britain in 1922 when the BBC was formed. By 1933 half the households in Britain had a radio. Following the 1972 Sound Broadcasting Act independent radio stations were formed. In the 1990s new radio stations included Radio 5 Live (1990) and Classic FM (1991).
Television was invented in 1925 by John Logie Baird and the BBC began regular, high definition broadcasting in 1936. TV was suspended in Britain during World War II but it began again in 1946. TV first became common in the 1950s. A lot of people bought a TV set to watch the coronation of Elizabeth II and a survey at the end of the that year showed that about one quarter of households had one. By 1959 about two thirds of homes had a TV. By 1964 the figure had reached 90% and TV had become the main form of entertainment - at the expense of cinema, which declined in popularity.
At first there was only one TV channel in Britain but between 1955 and 1957 the ITV companies began broadcasting. BBC2 began in 1964 and Channel 4 began in 1982. Channel 5 began in 1997. In Britain BBC2 began broadcasting in color in 1967, BBC 1 and ITV followed in 1969. Satellite television began in Britain in 1989.
Meanwhile commercial TV began in the USA in 1941. TV began in Australia in 1956 and in New Zealand in 1960.
Meanwhile in 1960 the first communications satellite, Echo was launched. The laser printer was invented by Gary Starkweather in 1969.
Meanwhile in Britain telephones became common in people's homes in the 1970s. In 1969 only 40% of British households had a phone but by 1979 the figure had reached 69%. Martin Cooper invented the first handheld first cell phone in 1973. The first mobile phone call in Britain was made in 1985. The first commercial text was sent in 1992. In Britain smartphones were introduced in 1996.
Communication in The 21st Century
In the early 21st century the internet became an important form of communication. Today email has become one of the most popular methods of communication. In the 2010 ebook readers became common.

History Of Electronic Communications

Electronic communications is any communication based on electricity. The basis for this wasn’t properly harnessed until both direct current and alternating current electricity were mastered and popularized in the late 19^th century. Thomas Edison warned that direct current electricity was safer, and thus should form the basis of a national power company. Unfortunately, alternating current electricity had better transmission capabilities and although it is more dangerous, became the basis for modern electrical power. These basic truths would ultimately form the foundation for modern electronic communication. All communications formed with alternating electrical current will be investigated.

What we know of as electronic communications originated with the telegraph. The telegraph was a simple electrical circuit that transmitted electrical impulses across country via wire. It had two signals, a dot and a dash. This formed a code that could be interpreted as words. This code was Morse code. Over time, the code would be translated into all languages and became state-of-the-art technology. It permitted coast to coast data transmissions and formed the basis for facsimile transmission as well.

The next major communications invention was the telephone. The “plain old telephone” has changed very little since it was invented in the early 19^th century. It has just become more popular and accepted since its invention. It was patented by Alexander Gram Bell in 1876 but more than likely invented by Innocenzo Manzetti and was originally called the “speaking telegraph”. The history indicates that the telephone as actually being demonstrated in England some nine years before Alexander Bell filed his patent in America. The idea that the phone was invented in America is a misconception. Regardless of its origins, there was nothing as convenient as the phone until wireless radio transmissions became fashionable quite a while later.

The idea of sending messages via radio waves didn’t become popular until Faraday proved that such transmissions were possible and done easily and cheaply. Wireless transmissions evolved from simple messages with ranges of only a few miles to the cellular phones we use today. Wireless transmissions eventually have become the premier communications medium. Wired transmissions are looked at as backwards and troublesome in comparison. This viewpoint comes from the fact that wires are prone to trouble. Cables break, get dug up and become disconnected from equipment. Virtually every wired industry in the world today wishes to become wireless. There are many business benefits to dropping the cable. The most important of which is to increase reliability. Today customers see wires as a weakness and low standard of technology. Modern communications, with the way cell phones work, have grown by leaps in bounds in terms of size, scale and the ability to reach others. Now a person with just a satellite phone can call someone on the other side of the planet without an operator and complex operation. This was unthinkable just 50 years ago.

The history of communications is moving faster and faster. Our communications are becoming more complex and our handsets are become more powerful. Who knows what the future holds?

The 5 next trends in electronics

The era of electronics began with the invention of the transistor in 1947 and silicon-based semiconductor technology. Seven decades later, we are surrounded by electronic devices and, much as we try to deny it, we rely on them in our everyday lives.

The performance of silicon-based devices has improved rapidly in the past few decades, mostly due to novel processing and patterning technologies, while nanotechnology has allowed for miniaturization and cost reduction.
For many years silicon remained the only option in electronics. But recent developments in materials-engineering and nanotechnology have introduced new pathways for electronics. While traditional silicon electronics will remain the main focus, alternative trends are emerging. These include:

1.   2-D electronics

Interest in the field started with the discovery of graphene, a structural variant of carbon. Carbon atoms in graphene form a hexagonal two-dimensional lattice, and this atom-thick layer has attracted attention due to its high electrical and thermal conductivity, mechanical flexibility and very high tensile strength. Graphene is the strongest material ever tested.
In 2010, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov for their “groundbreaking experiments” in graphene research.
Graphnene  may have started this 2D revolution in electronics, but silicene, phosphorene and stanene, atom-thick allotropes of silicon, phosphorus and tin, respectively, have a similar honeycomb structure with different properties, resulting in different applications.
All four have the potential to change electronics as we know it, allowing for miniaturization, higher performance and cost reduction. Several companies around the globe, including Samsung and Apple, are developing applications based on graphene.

2.   Organic electronics

The development of conducting polymers and their applications resulted in another Nobel prize in 2000, this time in chemistry. Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa proved that plastic can conduct electricity.
Unlike conventional inorganic conductors and semiconductors, organic electronic materials are constructed from organic (carbon-based) molecules or polymers using chemical synthesis. Organic electronics is not limited to conducting polymers, but includes other organic materials that might be of use in electronics. These include a variety of dyes, organic charge-transfer complexes, and many other organic molecules.
In terms of performance and industrial development, organic molecules and polymers cannot yet compete with their inorganic counterparts. However, organic electronics have some advantages over conventional electronic materials. Low material and production costs, mechanical flexibility, adaptability of synthesis processes and biocompatibility make organic electronics a desirable choice for certain applications.
Commercially available high-tech products relying on organic semiconductors, such as curved television screens, displays for smartphones, coloured light sources and portable solar cells, demonstrate the industrial maturity of organic electronics. In fact, several high-tech companies, including LG Electronics and Samsung, have invested in cheap and high-performance organic-electronic devices. It is expected that the organic electronics market will grow rapidly in the coming years.

3.   Memristors

In 1971 Leon Chua reasoned from symmetry arguments that there should be a fourth fundamental electronic circuit-board element (in addition to the resistor, capacitor and inductor) which he called memristor, a portmanteau of the words memory and resistor. Although Chua showed that memristors have many interesting and valuable properties, it wasn’t until 2007 that a group of researchers from Hewlett Packard Labs found that the memristance effect can be present in nano scale systems under certain conditions. Many researchers believe that memristors could end electronics as we know it and begin a new era of “ionics”.
While commonly available transistor functions use a flow of electrons, the memristor couples the electrons with ions, or electrically charged atoms. In transistors, once the flow of electrons is interrupted (for example by switching off the power) all information is lost. Memristors “memorize” and store information about the amount of charge that has flowed through them, even when the power is off.
The discovery of memristors paves the way to better information storage, making novel memory devices faster, safer and more efficient. There will be no information loss, even if the power is off. Memristor-based circuits will allow us to switch computers on and off instantly, and start work straight away.
For the past several years, Hewlett Packard has been working on a new type of computer based on memristor technology. HP plans to launch the product by 2020.

4.   Spintronics

Spintronics, a portmanteau word meaning “spin transport electronics”, is the use of a fundamental property of particles known as “electron spin” for information processing. Electron spin can be detected as a magnetic field with one of two orientations: up and down. This provides an additional two binary states to the conventional low and high logic values, which are represented by simple currents. Carrying information in both the charge and spin of an electron potentially offers devices with a greater diversity of functionality.
So far, spintronic technology has been tested in information-storage devices, such as hard drives and spin-based transistors. Spintronics technology also shows promise for digital electronics in general. The ability to manipulate four, rather than only two, defined logic states may result in greater information-processing power, higher data transfer speed, and higher information-storage capacity.
It is expected that spin transport electronic devices will be smaller, more versatile and more robust compared with their silicon counterparts. So far this technology is in the early development stage and, irrespective of intense research, we have to wait a couple of years to see the first commercial spin-based electronic chip.

5.   Molecular electronics

The ultimate goal of electrical circuits is miniaturization. Also known as single molecule electronics, this is a branch of nanotechnology that uses single molecules or collections of single molecules as electronic building blocks.
Molecular electronics and the organic electronics described above have a lot in common, and these two fields overlap each other in some aspects. To clarify, organic electronics refers to bulk applications, while molecular-scale electronics refers to nano-scale, single-molecule applications.
Conventional electronics are traditionally made from bulk materials. However, the trend of miniaturization in electronics has forced the feature sizes of the electronic components to shrink accordingly. In single-molecule electronics, the bulk material is replaced by single molecules. The smaller size of the electronic components decreases power consumption while increasing the sensitivity (and sometimes performance) of the device. Another advantage of some molecular systems is their tendency to self-assemble into functional blocks. Self-assembly is a phenomenon in which the components of a system come together spontaneously, due to an interaction or environmental factors, to form a larger functional unit.
Several molecular electronic solutions have been developed, including molecular wires, single-molecule transistors and rectifiers. However, molecular electronics is still in the early research phase, and none of these devices has left the laboratory.