The poll revealed some interesting insights:

90% of the respondents felt that engineers needed some equipment at home

• 50% have no test equipment provided for use at home
• Less than a quarter (24%) of the engineers that responded can work fully remote
• Around a third felt that only some testing should be conducted at home, with the company lab still required for specialised test equipment

These results show the need to deploy cost-effective PC scopes and similar products, offered through element14 by suppliers such as Pico Technology, to improve engineers’ efficiency by allowing them to create home labs.

James McGregor, Global Head of Test & Tools, at element14 said, “There is a growing trend to support a new hybrid working environment in the electronics industry. This demand will drive an increased need for test equipment that engineers can use on site, at the lab and at home. We want to help our customers achieve greater efficiency by providing them with market-leading test solutions that offer high performance with greater flexibility.”

Pico Technology prides itself on offering innovative, high-quality and affordable alternatives to traditional bench-top test and measurement equipment and their products have enabled hybrid working and new ways of remote learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. This trend has continued post-pandemic as more companies embrace the benefits of using low-cost PC-based scopes in combination with high-performance products to meet the changing application needs of customers in the test and measurement industry.

Pico Technology’s products available from element14 include:

• PC-based Oscilloscopes ranging from 10 MHz to 1 GHz bandwidth
• Portable Vector Network Analysers (VNAs) – low cost, portable, high performance, 6 GHz and 8.5 GHz models
• Cloud data loggers for measuring voltage, temperature & current with optional cloud-based logging enabling users to view captured data from anywhere.
• Pico Technology’s Software Solutions – are license-free enabling use on multiple devices. There are no costs involved to use the software and share data across multiple devices in the lab and at home.
• Pico Technology’s hardware  - can capture data which can be exported to a number of third-party software packages for analysis
• Value-added services – long warrantees as standard and lifetime technical support free of charge

Mike PurdayRegional Manager for EMEA, Pico Technology, said, “Far more could be done from home if engineers had access to portable equipment that met their needs. Historically test equipment has been complex, bulky and function specific, but new PC-connected test equipment now has the same performance as, or in many cases is much better than traditional bench top instruments. Other advantages include cost effectiveness, portability, enablement of remote working and ease of moving data. There will always be tests which engineers can’t recreate in a home lab, but for all those they can, they should be provided with the equipment to enable them to.”

Pico Technology has pioneered the design, development and manufacture of high-performance PC Oscilloscopes and Data Loggers for more than 30 years. During that time, the company has built an impressive portfolio of products including the PicoScope PC Oscilloscope range with bandwidths up to 30 GHz, the TC-08 and PT-104 Temperature Data Loggers and multi-award-winning Automotive Oscilloscope Kit.

Responding to the growth of test and measurement globally, element14 has invested significantly over the last 18 months to enhance its broad portfolio which includes the latest solutions from world leading suppliers. element14's in-stock range of test and tool products includes oscilloscopes, power suppliers, signal generators and digital multimeters, as well as soldering products, hand tools and 3D printers. Free technical support in local language is available to customers 24/5 from element14 in-house test and measurement specialists as well as access to online resources, data sheets, application notes, videos and webinars.

To get involved in element14's  latest snap polls on the element14 Community, go to: https://community.element14.com/members-area/f/forum

element14 has today announced the results of the second annual Global Women in Engineering Survey, in the process revealing that all genders share united views on supporting women in the electronics/engineering industry.

The results show that inequality needs to be addressed and is important to achieving the equal treatment of all, while also revealing that women around the world remain underrepresented in the industry and continue to experience various forms of sexism and discrimination.   

element14, in partnership with its Community element14.com, launched the second annual Global Women in Engineering survey in June 2022 to help shed light on women’s experiences, career paths, wider challenges and opportunities in the engineering/electronics industry. The global survey is designed to gain direct insight from all members of the industry to understand current barriers to achieving equality and how to diminish discriminatory practices in the workforce while presenting a vision for the future.

New questions covering discrimination, sexism and equality were added into the 2022 survey as these critical issues were noted as key areas in the 2021 survey analysis. 

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social-Media for element14 says: “The results of this year’s Global Women in Engineering survey were a strong indicator that the positive trends for achieving the equal treatment of all genders are continuing. Differences in opinion were expressed on the challenges women face in our industry, which could help employers to understand what is working well for women in the workplace and what could be improved. Overall, we hope these inclusive, real-world insights will help organisations around the world to deploy new policies to create better working environments for all.”

Key insights

Key insights from the Global Women in Engineering Survey included:

• Seventy per cent (70%) of survey respondents said they would intervene when seeing discrimination. However, the seniority of the person exhibiting discriminating behaviour was cited as the biggest obstacle to intervention. A small percentage believed they would not intervene because discrimination or sexism is part of their company’s culture.
• Women expressed the belief that they were perceived to be less technically capable than men, but this view was not supported by male respondents.
•  Men cited that woman “missing out on career development opportunities” was an issue.
• It is evident that sexism and discrimination are still occurring, but the situation is improving. Twenty-five per cent (25%) of survey respondents said that they have never experienced sexism in the electronics/engineering industry.
• Other discrimination challenges cited some women as obstructing other women in their career progression, although the barrier was not as great as that presented by men. Self-promotion by women was highlighted as a key issue in this year’s survey, both in reference to being discriminated against for not positively communicating their achievements versus the perception of being ‘aggressive’ when doing so.
• Genders think similarly about how to address work/life balance, however pay is one area where there is a significant difference in opinion. Men are less likely to say they have seen pay differentials, with 12% of men compared to more than 40% of female respondents.
• All genders shared similar views about the enforcement of policies. However, there was a combined decrease in enthusiasm for inclusion and diversity initiatives from 40% in 2021 to approximately 25% in 2022.
• More than half of the survey respondents said providing mentorship and development opportunities to women was important. Mentors are seen as the key to ensuring recognition by being advocates. More than three-quarters of women felt mentorship helped them in their careers.

Success stories

• The survey uncovered many anecdotal success stories of women who are already achieving great things in the electronics/engineering industry, including:
• One woman cited a major achievement of securing a 233% increase in new business from a client. She commented: “I took on Google as a customer when I was in Inside Sales. Through hard work, high level collaboration and intense focus on value-added services… we grew their account from less than 30K to 1 million over several years. Visiting their campus and connecting with those engineers in person during this timeframe was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had.”
• Another woman commented: “Twenty-seven years in engineering. I’m proud of that.”
• “BOSCH accepted my Production Part Approval Process (PPAP) when I was an intern in an automotive company.”
• There was an overwhelming response from all genders encouraging women to be more confident, trust in their abilities and take on the challenge of working in engineering. Some of the top drivers leading women to enjoy a career in engineering included the ability to work on diverse projects (25%), opportunities for getting a preview of what’s coming next in technology and seeing that come to life (16%), and career development (10%). The option for women to have flexibility and work/life balance (21%) was much higher than in the 2021 results.

More to be done

The 2022 survey matches the trends revealed in the 2021 survey, highlighting the positive steps forward the industry has made, however, there is more to be done to eliminate sexism and ensure fairness for all. Some real-world examples of sexism and discrimination shared as part of the survey included:  

• “I was in a role where I was the only female and a top performer, yet I was being paid 20% lower than the lowest paid male on the team.”
• “I was told by management before my first big conference to ensure I shop in the women's department for clothing for the event and to ensure I dressed more feminine.”
• “I have been told to ‘dress sexy’ when pitching presentations for new business to executive directors.”
• “Being told by a mentor/professor on my course that being female I would not make it in engineering as I would have to be a lot better than the men.”
• “Director level opportunities being passed directly to a male colleague without the role being advertised.”

Process

element14’s eight-week global survey was open to all genders working in the electronics/engineering industry and launched on International Women in Engineering Day (June 23). Most this year’s survey respondents (75%) were from Europe and North America with further submissions received from Asia Pacific, Central and South America, China, Middle East and Africa. There was an even distribution of age, particularly from the 25 to 54-years (totalling 74%), and 57% of respondents had more than 10 years of experience in engineering.

Farnell, an Avnet company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, has today announced the launch of the annual Global Women in Engineering Survey in partnership with the element14 Community. The survey is an opportunity for professional women in engineering to share their insights and experiences, shedding light on career development as well as the broader challenges and opportunities within the electronics engineering industry.

The survey opens on International Women in Engineering Day (June 23), and will run for two months, closing on Saturday, August 20. The global survey is designed to gain direct insight from all members of the industry to understand current barriers to achieving equality and how to further diminish discriminatory practices in the workplace while painting a vision for the future. Results of the survey will be announced in September 2022. 

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14, said: “This year we have added new questions addressing issues highlighted in the analysis of previous survey responses. While it’s clear that our industry is moving in the right direction, there is more to be done. We are also looking forward to uncovering even more amazing success stories of women who are achieving great things in our industry.”

The 2021 global survey drew responses from 370 people. Most of the respondents were aged between 25-54, and just over half said they had more than 10 years’ experience in the electronics engineering industry. The survey showed that while women in engineering are gaining support from all genders, they are still underrepresented overall and experience various degrees of discrimination.

The 2021 research further highlighted that all respondents believe the most important goal for the modern workforce is to achieve is the equal treatment of all genders. This year’s survey will be a key indicator of whether that positive trend has continued.

Other key findings of Farnell’s Global Women in Engineering Survey 2021 included:

• All genders have similar views about the benefits women bring to the engineering industry and believe that inequality needs to be addressed. Elevating more women into leadership positions where they can act as role models and mentors to other women will strengthen the implementation of equality policies and reduce inequality and sexism in the workplace.
• The research showed strong agreement on many issues, while some key differences were uncovered. Despite women citing good pay as a benefit of working in engineering, they still believe that the gender pay gap is still an issue.
• One powerful finding was that women were less worried about the need to travel for work than other genders perceive them to be. Only 15% of women surveyed suggested that reduced travel would be beneficial to their work-life balance and career prospects in contrast to the 25% of all other respondents who believed this to be true. This response suggests a further reduction in one perceived barrier to advancement in engineering careers for women.

There was an overwhelming response from all genders encouraging women to be more confident, trust in their abilities and embrace the challenge of working in engineering. Some of the top drivers leading women to enjoy a career in engineering included the opportunity to work on diverse projects, being involved at the birth of next-generation technology and establish and nurture a good work/life balance.

Farnell’s continued support for the survey will provide a comprehensive view of the challenges professional women working in the electronics engineering industry continue face and how they can successfully turn them into life-changing opportunities for themselves and the organisations they represent.

To get involved in Farnell’s new Global Women in Engineering Survey, go to: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FarnellWiE2022

element14, an Avnet Community, is continuing its Summer of FPGA celebration with a fun design challenge to test and exhibit the skills community members gained over the summer.

“We are so happy we were able to help educate members of our global community on the versatility of FPGAs in coding and device design through our Summer of FPGA program,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “We see this design challenge as a great way for our community to showcase not only their design skills, but also their creativity when it comes to the expansive uses of FPGAs and how the technology will benefit future applications.”

To participate, community members must feature the Digilent Cmod S7 in their designs. The Cmod S7 is a small, 48‐pin DIP form factor board, built around the Xilinx Spartan 7 FPGA. Some example applications include:

• Image recognition
• Home scientific equipment
• Signal processors
• Proof of concept
• Processor off-loading systems

Prizes awarded to both challengers and winners
Applications are now open to become one of the 30 sponsored challengers who will receive a free Digilent Cmod S7, a small, 48‐pin DIP form factor board, built around the Xilinx Spartan 7 FPGA. The sponsored challengers will be announced on October 1. Participants will have just over 10 weeks to complete their designs and submit 10 blog posts covering their development process. Entries will be judged on innovation, technical merit, and FPGA use.

Winners will be announced in December. The first prize winner will receive a Digilent Analog Discovery Pro AD3450 USB Oscilloscope and the runner up will receive a Digilent Analog Discovery Pro ADP 3250 and a Digilent Digital Discovery. All other challengers who complete this project by the December 3 submission deadline will receive a Multicomp Digital Multimeter.

Digilent is a subsidiary of NI and specializes in applications, tools, and information for FPGA and SoC based hardware-software systems. Their mission is to provide customizable and flexible products, while making their price point accessible to all customers.

To learn more about element14 and the “Summer of FPGA” design challenge, visit element14.com.

element14.com, an Avnet community, has released a new eBook for its members providing an insightful overview of IoT Security trends, relevant algorithms and cryptography for security use, along with a rundown of the latest in communication, edge device, gateway server, and cloud level security.

The Internet of Things (IoT) allows millions of servers, devices, and people across the world to communicate, share information, and achieve both simple and intricate goals through multiple applications. As IoT has improved over time, many service fields have benefited. However recent research shows that 90% of consumers are worried about IoT vulnerabilities concerning their data. This eBook provides an overview of both the threats and security options for IoT now and in the future, including:

• Current IoT architecture and models, ranging from the most basic three-layer model to the more advanced five-layer model.
• The most common forms of security breaches in IoT.
• Algorithms used in standard IoT security implementation, including RSA, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA), and Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC).
• Error correction and cryptography methods used to protect encrypted data.
• Security threats on edge devices, including risks around firmware interference and IC key capture, and products that can help enhance IoT security for these nodes.
• Three of the top protocols in gateway-server communication security: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and its more secure version HTTPS, Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT), and Constrained Application Protocol (COAP).
• Communication of security threats within wireless technologies and the multiple security options available to protect against third-party threats.
• Cloud level security including Secure Shell (SSH) systems, which encrypt all server traffic and prevent Man in the Middle attacks on cloud data.

The eBook also offers an inside look at the trends of IoT Security in 2021, including the new strategic adaptions and changes that organizations have made due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and how they will continue to affect the future of IoT Security moving forward, including:

• Security measures of privacy-aware machine learning (ML)
• Shifts to Cloud Security Posture Management (CSPM)
• Privacy accommodations within the Distributed Cloud
• Benefits of location-independent functions
• The evolving culture of zero trust cybersecurity
• Public key infrastructure’s (PKI) changing role in the cybersecurity industry
• Increased endpoint management solutions
• Development around Responsible Al

Newark, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, also recently hosted a webinar on the latest IoT trends based on information from its third annual global IoT survey. More than 2,000 respondents provided first-hand insights into the world of IoT, including the most popular technologies and applications for IoT design, the adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into IoT designs, the future of the IoT industry, and much more.

One of the major survey findings was that despite industrial automation and control being deemed a key market for IoT, Industry 4.0 adoption remains slow, primarily due to concerns over security. In fact, the survey revealed that security continues to be the most important aspect for developers to consider when building their designs, and it is also their primary concern.

To watch the pre-recorded webinar, please visit here. And to read the full IoT Security Trends eBook and see all of the insights, please visit element14.com.

element14, an Avnet community, today announced the winners of the recent Build Inside the Box Challenge, designed to celebrate the element14 Presents 500^th episode.

‘Build Inside the Box’ contestants participated in a competition that looked similar to Food Network’s ‘Chopped,’ a cooking challenge in which chef contestants must create a palatable dish using the ingredients they are given. The 500^th element14 Presents episode followed three contestants chosen from the element14 content creator team as they created technology with their mystery box of components for the chance to win electronics hardware prizes and a shopping cart for a local STEM organization of their choice. element14 Community members were also invited to think outside the box with their own Mystery Boxes and test their skills and creativity against the element14 Presents team.

Components for this electronic challenge included: an Arduino MKR Zero; a Microchip Operational Amplifier; a Vishay Photo Interrupter; a Microchip Temperature Sensor; a Midas OLED graphic display; a Time of Flight Sensor; a WAGO pluggable terminal block; and a MULTICOMP PRO Power Bank.

The 500^th episode was a battle of the makers with James, known widely as ‘The Bald Engineer’, coming up trumps with his Baldcoder creation. James was competing on behalf of DePaul University's $1,000 Makerspace Program which pairs underserved high schools in Chicago and the metropolitan area with the tools, training, and curriculum for teachers to integrate maker-centered learning into the classroom. The winning bundle will be distributed in conjunction with curriculum for teachers to use in covering the basics for students to learn 3D printing, CNC routing, electronics, programming, and development for the Internet of Things.

The element14 presents team also judged the creations of element14 community members who competed from home. The winning designs from community members, who each won a shopping cart, include:

• Ball on a Beam:  James O'Gorman utilized components from the Box to implement a PID algorithm, enabling a ball to balance on a beam.

• Advanced Bike Computer: by cleverly using sensors included in the Box, Mate Varga created a 3D-printed box to mount on their bike and track their ride.

• Sump Pump Alarm: houses with basements are in a constant fight with the underground water table – and if a homeowner’s sump pump isn’t working, they might just come home to an in-basement pool. The Sump Pump Alarm created by Mike Moore is a functional monitoring system that alerts homeowners when the pump isn’t working.

“Congratulations to all the winners of the Build Inside the Box challenge! We’ve been so happy to see a high level of participation and engagement from our element14 Community members as we continue to celebrate the 500^th episode of element14 Presents,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “We’ve been blown away by the talent showcased in this challenge and the ways element14 content creators and community members thought outside of the box to create innovative, functional designs.”

More information can be found here. The 500^th episode of element14 Presents, which also includes projects from element14 Presents content creators Clem, a maker and 3D printing enthusiast and electronic engineer and mother of two, Katie, can be viewed here.

You can also view more videos with the intrepid making trio in their latest videos:

• James –the winning build from the Build Inside the Box challenge airs on Friday July 9 https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-96771/l/episode-506-diy-star-trek-tricorder-from-build-inside-the-box
• Clem – Clem’s latest build revisits his Super 8 Camera and provides updates and enhancements as suggested by the element14 community https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-96758/l/episode-505-super-8-camera-digitizer
•  Katie uses RFID to make a button-free music player https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-95566/l/episode-501-raspberry-pi-nfc-button-free-music-player

element14, an Avnet community, is providing educational enrichment and skills-building opportunities for engineers all summer long with its ‘Summer of FPGAs’.

FPGAs are synonymous with artificial Intelligence, high performance computing, embedded vision, automated vehicles and the 5G transformation. element14 is making them a main focus this summer to help community members be ready to work with FPGAs in the future and hone their existing skillset.

“FPGAs are integral components for future innovations in electronics design,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “That’s why we’re partnering with leaders in the FPGA space and sharing their expert advice to help make sure members of our community continue to have the knowledge set they need as the electronics design world continues to evolve.”

Over the summer months, element14 will be offering a wide range of educational workshops, webinars, training courses, and even opportunities for members to RoadTest the latest FPGA products, such as the Microchip PolarFire Splash Kit and the Lattice Semiconductor MachXO3L Starter Kit The events and training opportunities will be geared toward everyone, from makers who are just getting started to experienced engineers looking to keep their skills sharp. element14 Community members will also have the chance to win FPGA products to include in their designs.

To ensure members of the element14 Community are able to get the most out of these sessions, element14 has partnered with the leaders in FPGA and related technologies, including Xilinx, Microchip, Lattice, Digilent, Delkin, Samtec, On Semiconductor and more.

On July 22, element14 will host a live virtual panel with experts from Xilinx, Lattice and Microchip to discuss “Getting Started with FPGAs”. This lively conversation will dive into the benefits of FPGA technology, how to begin the journey and what FPGA components need to be considered in new product designs. The panel discussion will conclude with an overview and tips on FPGA development environments, programming, design tools, and the development process. There will also be time at the end for an audience Q&A.

Additional workshops and courses include:

• A tour of Zedboard
• Developing your first projects using the Ultra-96
• Getting started – Creating board definition files
• Vision and Sound AI Workshop
• High speed interconnects for FPGA applications
• Debugging a Linux application using Vitis

element14 is part of Newark, An Avnet company, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

To learn more about the great opportunities available through element14 this summer, visit https://www.element14.com/community/groups/fpga-group

element14 Community, an Avnet Community, today introduced its Low Power IoT Design Challenge in partnership with Infineon Technologies. The challenge encourages element14 Community members to utilize Infineon Technology kits to build low-power IoT devices that enhance industrial design.

There are several industrial design applications that can benefit from a lower power and easier to use embedded solutions, ultimately saving companies time, money and operational bandwidth for optimized system power. Dedicated to improving industrial design through efficient IoT applications, Infineon Technologies provides users with the optimal hardware and platform to build smart, energy-efficient, and secure IoT systems, along with an easy-to-use and flexible software to bring ideas to life.

In its’ latest element14 design challenge, element14 Community members are invited to use the Infineon Technologies PSoC™ 6S2 + AIROC™ WiFi/Bluetooth Pioneer Kit along with the ModusToolbox™ Software environment to build a low-power IoT device to create an innovative design. Example applications could include a factory automation sensor hub, predictive maintenance module or air quality monitor.

“We are always so impressed by the innovative solutions element14 community members develop during our design challenges,” said Phil Hutchinson, Senior Specialist, Community Programs, element14 community. “By giving contestants the tools they need, Low Power IoT Design Challenge contestants have the opportunity to create efficient and secure IoT systems that benefit industrial design.”

Applications are now open to become one of 20 challengers and receive the PSOC™ 6S2 + AIROC™ Wi-Fi/Bluetooth Pioneer Kit to build your chosen project. The challengers, announced on 2^nd August, will have about 10 weeks to build their projects, and develop 10 blog posts sharing their progress with element14 Community members. Entries will be judged by a panel of judges on originality, innovation and technical merit.

Winners will be announced in October: the first prize winner will receive an 11” iPad Pro 128GB and a solar powered charger, second place will receive an iPad mini with a solar powered charger. For a chance to win one of these prizes, contestants must build their low-power project using the Pioneer Kit and ModusToolbox™.

To participate, element14 community members should submit their applications by July 25, please visit: Low Power IoT - Design Challenge

Farnell, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, has today announced the results of its Women in Engineering 2021 survey. Results showed positive support for women in engineering from all genders and a great similarity between the opinions of men and women about the need to address gender equality. While women remain underrepresented in the engineering/electronics industry, the latest research from Farnell highlighted that people believe the most important thing to achieve is the equal treatment of all genders.

This year’s survey of more than 370 people globally showed that all genders have similar views about the benefits women bring to the engineering industry and believe that inequality needs to be addressed. A key step to addressing inequality is introduce more women into leadership positions where they can act as role models and mentors to other women in the industry. While women clearly experience sexism in engineering, and all genders were united in their belief that this should not happen, respondents of other genders were more in favour of implementing stronger and more strictly enforced equality policies to prevent sexism in the workplace.

Although research showed strong agreement on many issues, there were some key differences uncovered. Research revealed that women were more likely to cite good pay as a benefit of working in engineering, however, they believe that the gender pay gap is still an issue. Women were also less worried about the need to travel for work than other genders think. Only 15% of women surveyed suggested reduced travel would be helpful, in comparison to 25% of all other respondents believing this to be important for women.

Farnell, in partnership with element14.com, an Avnet community, released the results from the Women in Engineering 2021 survey to coincide with International Women in Engineering Day and help shed light on women’s experiences and career paths as well as the wider challenges and opportunities in the engineering/electronics industry. The survey was open to all genders and ran for three months between March and May 2021. Most respondents were aged between 25 to 54 and just over half cited they had more than 10 years’ experience in the industry.

Rob Rospedzihowski, President Sales for Farnell EMEA said, “The industry has come a long way but we can always do a better job, and the job is never finished. This centres on equality and fairness for all. Women have told us that they don’t want to be part of a quota – they want to be recognised for what they do and given the opportunity to show what they can do. This is a hugely important message to get out. It’s about recognising each person in your team and your business as an individual. On Women in Engineering day I encourage this conversation. Ask yourselves, your colleagues and your teams ‘’What can we do better?’ because it’s through these conversations that we can make change happen.”

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14 says: “This important research has enabled us to  gain valuable insights directly from members of our industry, allowing us to better understand what is working well for women in the workplace and what could be improved. The survey identified some clear challenges for our industry, however, the results also offered a positive outlook for the future with both sexes presenting united views on topical issues such as the need to enforce stronger equality policies. We look forward to sharing some of the amazing success stories from women who are already achieving great things in our industry. Women should have confidence in themselves and their abilities to continue inspiring others and to drive positive change in engineering.”

The survey unearthed many anecdotal success stories showcasing how women are contributing to the electronics industry, including:

• “During my time as an intern…I have worked on/taken charge of projects for some bigger companies. Some of those projects were worth more than $1 million. This was all done while attending school full time and working full-time.”
• “My proudest achievement is taking a failing electronics manufacturing business unit and completely turning it around. My second would be stepping into a leadership role and setting a record for highest employee engagement and satisfaction in the manufacturing organisation.”
• “Taking over a project that was failing which included the creation of a new API with a third party and turning it around to the point where the company I was working for in the past won an award for its successful delivery.”
• “Writing an oscilloscope display program to display the results of data gathered from tests on a monitor back when oscilloscopes were only analogue and did not have any way to accept any sort of external data source.”

There was an overwhelming response from all genders encouraging women to be more confident, trust in their abilities and take on the challenge of working in engineering. Some of the top drivers leading women to enjoy a career in engineering included the opportunity to work on diverse projects (23%), getting a preview of what’s coming next in technology and seeing that come to life (15%), flexibility and work/life balance (12%).

element14.com, an Avnet community, is offering its members a new eBook that provides an overview of the upcoming market trends in Wi-Fi, insights into how its standards are advancing, and an overview of new features and future applications that could further expand Wi-Fi’s importance and reach.

Wi-Fi has been a wildly successful technology since its introduction two decades ago, connecting billions of devices all over the world. The growing reach of Wi-Fi is benchmarked by several advancements, highlighted throughout the eBook. Looking ahead to the future, the upcoming changes in Wi-Fi will try to meet the needs of increased traffic, import new proficiencies, enhance security, and keep up with recent application trends in the market. All of this is explored in the new eBook, including:

• An overview of Wi-Fi’s growth and expansion, including insights into the growing demands on Wi-Fi networks and how Wi-Fi will need to evolve.
• Forecasts for the future of Wi-Fi 6 device technology, which is expected to become widely used in 2021 thanks in part to its lower latency and enhancements to battery life.
• Information on Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3), which is now mandatory for all new Wi-Fi CERTIFIED™ products to help ensure that Wi-Fi devices continue to keep pace with the evolving security landscape.
• An exploration of Wi-Fi 6E, which solves Wi-Fi spectrum shortage issues by providing additional and contiguous channel bandwidth, supporting an ever-growing population of devices at unprecedented speeds.
• A look into how the proximity-based discovery feature of Wi-Fi Aware enables applications to discover each other within a certain range without network infrastructure, allowing devices to interact and enhance the user experience without the need for an access point or human oversight.
• A look at the future of Wi-Fi hotspots, which are expected to continue to thrive thanks in part to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint, which will streamline access to hotspots in public places by excluding the users’ need to locate and authenticate a network each time they connect.
• An overview of some of the application areas that will benefit from the advances in Wi-Fi technology, including the Internet of Things (IoT), the expansion of smart homes, networking technology in enterprise environments, automotive OEMs and Wi-Fi’s role in the future of mission-critical applications.
• An overview of the continued role Wi-Fi will play as a key to digital resilience, including delivering essential connectivity at the individual consumer level, allowing users to accomplish daily activities and carry out tasks that previously required physical contact.

Newark, an Avnet company, stocks a broad range of Wi-Fi enabled products that capitalize on the latest Wi-Fi technologies, including:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Computer, Model B 8GB RAM: This latest addition to the popular Raspberry Pi range of computers offers a significant increase in processor speed, rich multimedia performance, memory, and improved connectivity compared to its predecessor Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. It boasts a 64-Bit quad-core processor running at 1.5GHz, up to 8GB of RAM, dual-band 2.4/5.0 GHz wireless LAN, Bluetooth 5.0/BLE, USB 3.0, and more.
• Arduino Portenta H7: The onboard wireless module allows makers to simultaneously manage WiFi and Bluetooth connectivity. The WiFi interface can be operated as an Access Point, as a Station or as a dual mode simultaneous AP/STA and can handle up to 65 Mbps transfer rate.
• Avnet Ultra96 V2: The Ultra96-V2 is an Arm-based, Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+™ MPSoC development board based on the Linaro 96Boards Consumer Edition (CE) specification. Engineers have options of connecting to Ultra96-V2 through a Webserver using integrated wireless access point capability or to use the provided PetaLinux desktop environment which can be viewed on the integrated Mini DisplayPort video output.

To read the full eBook and see all of the insights, please visit element14.com.

After more than a decade of building projects, tearing down hardware, and educating viewers on electronics components and products, element14.com, an Avnet community, is approaching its 500^th episode of element14 presents. As a special way to mark the occasion, element14 is inviting global community members to help design its ‘Build Inside the Box’ challenge to support STEM Education.

The special 500^th element14 presents episode will look similar to Food Network’s ‘Chopped,’ a cooking challenge in which chef contestants must create a palatable dish using all ingredients they are given. element14 has chosen three hosts from around the world to Build Inside the Box – competing against each other to create something original using everything they are given in a box.

“Over the past 10 years, element14 presents has reached designers and engineers across the world with an informative content series focused on educating our community on electronics components and products,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “We’re excited to engage our community members and challenge three of our favorite element14 Presents hosts to be quick on their feet and think creatively for the special 500^th Build Inside the Box episode.”

‘The Box’ will have six to eight key components that must be incorporated into contestants’ projects. element14 is looking to its community for suggestions on what components should be in ‘The Box’. Community members are encouraged to share ideas for what components will keep this challenge interesting via element14.com by Tuesday, May 7, 2021.

‘The Box’ will also be available for members to win or purchase so they can compete in a simultaneous member challenge.

The element14 presents contestants will be competing for electronics hardware prizes and a shopping cart that will be awarded to a local STEM organization of their choice. The three participants of the ‘Build Inside the Box’ challenge are:

• Clem, a maker and 3D printing enthusiast, is taking up the challenge on behalf of George Schibranj. George is a teacher who gets his students into electronics with his initiative ‘Fabrik8’. Created in 2016, Fabrik8 aims to give the best possible 3D printing education and support of enthusiasm for electronics in pupils of all ages to aid with requirements for getting work in the industry.

• Katie, an electronics engineer and mother of two, is competing to support TECgirls, a group in Cornwall, UK, dedicated to changing the lack of women in technology, engineering and the creative areas by encouraging participation at the college, secondary and primary school levels with the goal to inspire engagement as early as possible and help girls realize that technology is open to all.

• James, known widely as ‘The Bald Engineer’, is competing on behalf of DePaul University's $1,000 Makerspace Program which pairs underserved high schools in Chicago and the metropolitan area with the tools, training, and curriculum for teachers to integrate maker-centered learning into the classroom. The winning bundle will be distributed in conjunction with curriculum for teachers to use in covering the basics for students to learn 3D printing, CNC routing, electronics, programming, and development for the Internet of Things..

The 500^th episode of element14 Presents will be airing on Friday, May 28^th. Members of the element14 Community will be able to watch it element14.com/presents.

element14 community, an Avnet community, is celebrating the fourth birthday of its popular monthly Project14 design competition on March 26, with the launch of its “Attack of the Drones” competition. The competition is a homage to Sci-Fi and its influence on drone technology.

Members can use their choice of hardware to design and develop a UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) drone such as a multi-rotor or a fixed-wing drone, an FPV (first-person view) drone, a UGV (unmanned ground vehicle) drone, a UUV (unmanned underwater vehicle) drone, or a Sci-Fi inspired drone such as a Star Wars droid or Star Trek Borg. The best entry will take away the grand prize of a $400* shopping cart from Newark, Farnell or element14. Three further members will receive a $200* shopping cart.

In honour of Arduino day, on March 27, and to inspire members interested in entering the competition, the element14 community is hosting a live Arduino Day Workshop on March 27. The workshop, NanoDrone II: AI and Computer Vision with LoRa, will be hosted by element14 community members balearicdynamics and jancumps, who will present their NanoDrone II. The NanoDrone II is an evolution of Enrico Miglino's winning project from last year's Arduino Day project14 challenge, “The Nanodrone” and a device that can be easily installed on a semi-autonomous UAV to cover large areas of terrain, or installed on a ground robotized device.

element14 community members who are unable to participate in the competition, but who still wish to get involved in the Sci-Fi fun, will be able to dive into a range of polls and community content on key dates in the Sci-Fi calendar, including May the Fourth (May 4), Revenge of the Sixth (May 6), and the first of appearance of the Borg on Star Trek (May 8, 1991). The competition itself will close on Geek Pride Day, May 25, a date the holds significance to followers of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Towel Day) and Star Wars (the release date of A New Hope in 1977). Winners will be announced on June 5, the date which observes the first public observation of an unmanned hot air balloon flight in 1783, which many consider to be the precursor to the drone.

To find out more about the element14 Project14 competition “Attack of the Drones” Project14 competition visit here.

To register for the element14 community Arduino Day workshop visit:

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-96199/l/arduino-day-2021-arduino-day-workshop-and-drone-competition

For International Women’s Day, element14.com, an Avnet community, in partnership with Farnell, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, has launched a survey to help shed light on women’s experiences, career paths, and wider challenges and opportunities in the engineering/electronics industry. Insights from the survey will be published around Women in Engineering Day, June 23, 2021.

The survey seeks to gain insight directly from members of the industry around barriers to equality, discrimination, and what they’d like to see change in the future.

“I’ve faced my share of challenges over my career working in technology and am looking forward to hearing from my peers on what their experiences have been like,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “We’re hoping to hear from people working in this industry – whatever their age, race, or gender, so that we can gain insights around what is working well for women and what could be improved.”

Some sample survey questions include:

• What challenges have you faced, or seen women face, in the electronics industry?
• What company benefits would enable women to achieve a desirable amount of work/life balance?
• What should young women aspiring to work in the electronics industry focus on?
• What challenges remain in the electronics industry to achieve gender equality? 
• What actions can a company take to provide mentorship/developmental support to women?

The survey is open until April 31, 2021 to every working professional, even those who are not engineers.

 To learn more about the element14 Community, and to complete the survey, visit here

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced the winners of its annual Community Awards. The top innovators, designers and engineers are celebrated across multiple categories, including several that are new this year. From the most innovative Project14, video and design challenge projects, to the community members who went above and beyond in contributing to and shaping the community, the awards highlight the incredible work being done on element14.com every day.

“Last year was incredibly challenging for everyone,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “We are so proud of the way our 700,000-strong community came together to create solutions to help fight COVID-19 or make socially-distanced living more manageable and enjoyable. We look forward to seeing our members continue to push the boundaries and share new, exciting designs in 2021.”

The winners of the element14 2020 Community Awards are:

• Rising Contributor of the Year –Richard Seals, United Kingdom – Richard brought a wide range of skills, a high level of creativity, and a great sense of humor to his element14 projects throughout 2020. He shared dozens of blog posts, allowing his fellow community members to follow along and learn from him.

• element14 Presents Video Project of the Year – Raspberry Pi Speech to Text LED Face Mask – Lorraine Underwood from the United Kingdom created this high-tech Raspberry Pi-powered face mask to helps break down communications barriers by transcribing what the user is saying on a light up grid across the front of the mask.

• Design Challenge Project of the Year – Measure Climate Change with Hydroponic System –

As part of the Sustain the World Design Challenge, Satoshi Suzuki from the United States built a fully functional hydroponic farm, with a web-based monitoring interface and full CO2 monitoring, using Infineon hardware. The project showed ingenuity, a broad array of engineering skills, and was an inspiration for the community.

• Project14: Project of the Year – Mr. Machine Gets an Upgrade – Gene Breniman from the United States tinkered with the classic Mr. Machine robot toy to showcase the power of creating new from old. Upgrades included replacing the original wind-up mechanism with electronic motors, improving its range of motion, adding LEDs and more.

• Project14: 2020 Decider of the Year – Gene Breniman also brought his experience and wisdom to multiple Project14 competitions throughout the year, helping to determine which projects best exemplified the monthly themes.

• Project14: 2020 Founder of the Year – Miguel Pineiro, from Chile, contributed multiple creative ideas for new competitions throughout 2020 – all a big hit with the community as a whole.

• Project14: 2020 Influencer of the Year – Frank Milburn, from the United States, submitted countless projects, blog posts and project videos over the year and played a major role in keeping Project14 the vibrant community program that it is.

Favorite Road-Tested Products of the Year – InfiniiVision 3000T X-Series Oscilloscope MSOX3034 and Raspberry Pi HQ Camera were both so popular, they resulted in a tie. The two very different products exemplify the variety of products from Farnell, the global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, available to test by element14 Community members.

• RoadTester of the Year – Jan Cumps, Belgium – A 2020 RoadTest Hero for his all-round contribution to the program, including one of 2020's best RoadTests reviewing an Infineon Blockchain kit.

• Favorite Webinar of the Year – Introduction to TinyML by Edge Impulse – Edge Impulse walked community members through solutions with embedded Machine Learning, discussing TinyML and how it can enable practical applications on extremely low-power MCUs.

The annual community awards are one of the many ways that element14 celebrates the success of its community of engineers and makers as they harness the power of electronics design to make a positive impact on their communities and the world.

To learn more about the 2020 Community Awards, visit element14.

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced its latest Project14 design contest entitled ‘Digital Fever’. The challenge celebrates the freedom of all things digital, from digital logic, and programming for complex decision making, to FPGA, which can be configured to do just about anything. Members of the online community will have the opportunity to design any type of digital project with free choice of components.  The 5 best proposals that utilise the Arduino MKR VIDOR Board or PSCoC4200 board from Cypress Infineon will receive boards to help complete their projects.

Ideas for inspiration include:

• Digital Logic µFR NFC Card Reader - part 1 which shows how you can make a simple console program that checks the type of card is on top of the reader, and get the card ID.
• VidorScout - MKR Vidor 4000 Mobile Robot​, an autonomous mobile robot that uses Sensor Fusion which combines camera vision, Time of Flight Sensor data and IR Sensors to identify objects for both avoidance and for object identification.
• Flipping Core Memory Bits Directly With a Magnetic Stylus, a project which has now been developed into a product, available to buy at www.core64.io.

Members looking to tackle a project utilising FPGA can brush up on their skills by delving into the vast range of resources available on the element14 Community including projects undertaken by members of its Path II Programmable training program, its range of essentials courses and FPGA group.

A monthly design competition open to makers and engineers of all backgrounds and skill levels, Project14 was developed to promote shared learning and cooperation among members of the element14 Community. Participants are asked to document their progress through a series of blogs, with the best executed projects eligible for a chance of winning a $200 credit for use at Farnell in Europe, Newark in North America or element14 in Asia Pacific.

All Project14 challenges are based on suggestions from element14 Community members, with each month’s theme selected by a public poll. The Digital Fever contest was inspired by a suggestion from Jan Cumps who wanted to "flip that bit" with a digital logic competition involving anything from FPGA, logic gate ICs, CMOS logic, TTL, DTL, and discrete.

To enter the Project14 Digital Fever Contest, participants simply need to register an account at the element14 Community and submit a blog entry detailing their idea and how they plan to develop it.

Submissions are open until 14 April, 2021. For more information including full terms and conditions, visit: element14.com/project14

To register to become a member of the element14 Community, visit http://www.element14.com/.

element14, an Avnet Community, is giving its members the opportunity to come up with creative and altruistic solutions for global disasters. Members are encouraged to think outside the box and share ideas that could potentially be used to combat anything from global droughts and flooding, to world hunger or even complications from long term COVID-19 symptoms or other large-scale global problems.

“As headlines continue to focus on the disasters facing our world, we’re glad to be able to offer our community members the chance to work toward finding solutions and building something that can have a positive impact,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We hope this design challenge will inspire our community members to push themselves creatively and develop something that could be of use to people in need.”

Arduino is supplying 50 selected community members with a free Arduino Nano 33 IoT to help them build their designs. The Arduino Nano 33 IoT is a dual processor board that is designed to be a practical and cost-effective solution for makers seeking to add Wi-Fi connectivity to their projects. It offers enough flexibility to be helpful for just about any project the community members come up with.

Any submission that helps to support a cause and uses the Arduino Nano 33 IoT as part of the design is eligible to participate in this challenge. Potential projects could include:

• Micro plastic monitoring buoy
• Open source security system
• Mobile refrigerator for vaccine distribution
• Pest control system
• Aids for those with long term COVID-19 symptoms
• Safer cooking options for people with sight impairments
• Mobility Aids
• Open source electric wheelchair conversion kit

Participants can apply to receive a free Arduino Nano 33 IoT online until 1^st February. These sponsored challengers will be announced on 8^th February, with projects due on 19^th April. Sponsored challengers will be required to blog throughout their process, including publishing the final code and designs for the projects on the element14.com site.

The grand prize winner of the design challenge will receive a Creality CR10-S 3D printer from Farnell, a 64GB iPad Air with WiFi, and will have $500 donated to the charity of their choice. The runner up will receive a 64GB iPad Air with WiFi and $250 donated to the charity of their choice. Those who complete the challenge and follow the participation requirements will receive a pocket digital multimeter. Winners will be announced on 3^rd May.

To learn more about the “Design For A Cause” design challenge, please visit element14.com.

element14, an Avnet community, is bringing good cheer to engineers this holiday season with its annual Engineer and Maker’s Wishlist. In addition to ideas for the perfect gift, element14, available from Newark, element14 is getting into the holiday spirit with three separate giveaways, giving its members the chance to win prize packs for circuit assembly, test and measurement and even the ultimate Raspberry Pi bundle. And to top it all off, element14 is hosting a holiday-themed design challenge for its members to share what the holidays mean to them.

This year’s gift guide includes all of the best products for electronics designers, ranging from stocking stuffers for young engineers to under-the-tree standouts for seasoned designers. The much-anticipated annual gift guide is created for engineers, by engineers, and has gifts they’re sure to love:

Stocking Stuffers for Young Engineers:

• CodeBug and accessories: The cutest, easiest to program, wearable, portable embedded electronics platform that is very 'hackable' in what it can do, Codebug is a great starter to embedded hardware control.
• Micro:bit V2 and accessories: V2 of the beloved micro:bit features additional sensors and a microphone to enhance this microcontroller platform designed to introduce programming techniques to young minds.

Connecting Up Your Prototyping:

• Magnifier with Helping Hands: Whether you're soldering something that is too hot to handle, or you just need to get a grip onto a piece of hardware, this magnifier has you covered.
• Components and Sensor Kit for Raspberry Pi: Everything you need to jump start your IoT projects on the holiday to-do list can be found in this components kit.
• Insulated Screwdriver Set: Insulated screwdrivers are not only designed to protect engineers, but also what they’re working on. A great gift for an adventurous engineer.

Show Stopper 3D Printers

• Multicomp i-20 3D Printer: This sturdy printer is great for makers who want to dive in and uniquely customize their 3D projects.
• Creality CR-20 Pro: A back to basics 3D printer with hands-on control, this quality printer is great for makers familiar with 3D printing.
•  Ultimaker S5: For those who like to dream big, this printer is capable of handling soluble print materials alongside ABS and PLA.

In addition to the dozens of product recommendations vetted by the community, element14 is keeping the holiday spirit going throughout the rest of the year with three giveaway opportunities, open through December 30:

• Test and Measurement Tool Bundle Giveaway offers the chance to win a Handheld Digital Oscilloscope, Handheld Digital Multimeter, a Humidity Meter and more.
• Circuit Assembly Tools Giveaway includes the chance to win an Anti-Static Wrist Strap, Jumper Wire Strips, a 150W Solder Station and more.
• Ultimate Raspberry Pi Bundle Giveaway features the latest hardware and a mixture of features including the Raspberry Pi 400 Starter Kit, Raspberry Pi Touchscreen, the Raspberry Pi Hi Quality Camera 12.3MP and more.

And last but not least, element14 is hosting a holiday project competition that challenges makers to create something that reflects what the holidays mean to them. In the spirit of the season, the maker that shows the most heart will be crowned the winner and receive a tool kit (~ $500 value) that includes a handheld oscilloscope, a USB soldering iron, a bench power supply, wire strippers, along with a $400 shopping cart, and an additional $100 gift to share with another member of the community for their project. For more information visit https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-95801/l/project14-holiday-special-20-win-tool-kit-bundles-shopping-carts-and-gifts-to-give-others

The element14 Community was the first community specifically built for engineers and now has over 750,000 engineer, maker and entrepreneurial members. To see the full range of suggested holiday gifts for engineers, and to enter the giveaways, be sure to check out the element14 Engineer and Maker’s Wish List 2020.

element14, an Avnet community, has seen its global membership of engineers and makers rise to the challenge to stay safe and support their friends, family and local first responders during the pandemic. The element14 Community’s focus has been on encouraging innovation to create germ-fighting solutions, providing 3D printers to produce face shields and masks, and sharing open source instructions to help deliver additional lifesaving machines as COVID-19 cases continue impact people’s lives around the world.

“Engineers develop solutions to fix problems, and our community of innovators is no different,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of the element14 Community and Social Media for Farnell. “We’re so proud of the way our community has banded together in the face of this pandemic to support each other and provide needed supplies and solutions to help people stay safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

When the pandemic first reached members of the element14 Community, they requested a new design challenge to help drive them to come up with new ways to stay safe. The Fighting Germs Design Challenge, launched in March 2020, saw a range of projects created by participants to fight COVID-19 and protect vulnerable populations. The winning designs ranged from contact-less virtual buttons, to a face mask detector system, to a contact-free temperature checker. All of the participants blogged about their designs on the element14 Community site to encourage other members to find unique ways to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

To help hospitals facing ventilator shortages, element14 shared an open source ventilator that could be locally produced to fill the gap quickly. The goal for this design was to inspire engineers and medical companies with new ways to design a ventilator and to offer something that could be mass produced quickly to offer high quality ventilation. In this innovative design, a Raspberry Pi 4 controls a Trinamic Motion control and motor driver ICs that regulate a blower fan corresponding to constantly monitored data.

element14 is part of Farnell, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, and aim to help design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

All of these projects and designs highlight the incredible work being done by the more than 750,000-member strong element14 Community to help keep their communities safe in these unprecedented times. To learn more about how element14 is supporting its members working to fight the pandemic, visit https://www.element14.com/.

element14.com, an Avnet community, today announced the launch of two new eBooks to help guide electronics designers at every level through successful careers. The latest eBooks, developed with insights from engineers at some of the world’s top electronics companies, provide expert guidance and advice on everything from landing your first job to how to measure success.

“Engineering continues to be a sought-after skillset, even in these uncertain times,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We’re glad to be able to help our community members navigate careers in engineering and offer advice from our partners on not just finding a job, but securing a job in engineering that is the best fit.”

element14 spoke with engineers from 3M, Molex, Kemet, Keysight, and Tektronix to gain their expert insight for the eBooks. This panel of skilled electronics designers range from those with more than 20 years of experience to those who just recently landed their dream jobs.

Some of the top recommendations for successful careers in engineering include getting involved in industry organizations to build your network, developing leadership skills to be ready for new opportunities that arise, seeking out mentors who can help navigate challenges and growth, and measuring your success by how much you help your customers.

Specific tips on securing an engineering job you love include using your network to find prospects, participating in college internships if possible, and being open to growth opportunities in new branches and departments within your company.

In addition to finding the right job, the eBooks cover the most pressing topics around navigating carers in engineering and electronic design, including:

• A typical day in engineering
• How to build a network
• How to restart an engineering career
• How to find the right culture fit
• Why diversity in engineering is important
• How to deal with failure
• What skills are most needed to succeed
• How to measure success

For more information on the resources available to the element14 Community and to access all of the eBooks available to members, visit element14.com/ebooks.

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced its latest Project14 design contest, themed around reducing electronics waste by upcycling vintage electronics. Members of the online community will have the opportunity to repurpose any unused appliance to make it into something new, unique and useful. By upcycling electronics that no longer serve a purpose, members of the community are able to celebrate the best parts of vintage electronics while improving them to make them function in today’s electronics environment.

A monthly design competition open to makers and engineers of all backgrounds and skill levels, Project14 was developed to promote shared learning and cooperation among members of the element14 Community. Participants are asked to document their progress through a series of blogs, with the best executed projects eligible for a chance of winning a $200 credit for use at Newark in North America, Farnell in Europe or element14 in Asia Pacific.

All Project14 challenges are based on suggestions from element14 community members, with each month’s theme selected by a public poll. The Recycle & Retrofit challenge was inspired by a workshop on Vintage Upcycling hosted by Enrico Miglino: 

To enter the Project14 Recycle & Retrofit Design Contest, participants simply need to register an account at the element14 Community and submit a blog entry detailing their idea and how they plan to develop it.

Submissions are open until December 14, 2020. For more information including full terms and conditions, visit: www.element14.com/upcycle

To register to become a member of the element14 Community, visit http://www.element14.com/

element14, an Avnet community, was recognised with two awards by The Community Roundtable to celebrate exemplary community programs and team members. The Community Roundtable has named element14’s Global Women Makers and Engineers Contest this year’s winner of the Outstanding Program of the Year Award. Additionally, Christopher Stanton, Senior Specialist of Community Insights & Engagement at element14 was named Community MVP for 2020.

“We are extremely proud and honoured that both the Global Women Makers and Engineers Contest and Christopher Stanton were recognised by The Community Roundtable,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “Our female engineering initiative showcased the immense female talent in this industry. Increasing diversity of all kinds within engineering, and showing the next generation that there are true opportunities for women to succeed is vitally important and one of the reasons we developed this program. The element14 Community has grown from strength to strength since it was first launched in 2009 and is now home to 750,000 members. I am delighted that Christopher has been recognised in this way; this award underscored his exceptional commitment and contribution which makes the element14 Community what it is today.”

element14’s Global Women Makers and Engineers Contest was recognised with a Community Roundtable Award for Outstanding Program of the Year. This design contest brought together 21 women engineers and makers from around the world to demonstrate their technical skills and develop their own video in the style of the element14 Presents show. The program was launched during Women’s History Month to inspire more female engineers and makers to showcase their skills and join the element14 Community.

This year’s Community MVP Award recognises Christopher’s dedication to his role in community management, including his willingness to share with his peers, extraordinary achievements and excellent community results. Christopher shows outstanding dedication to support our members and suppliers, ensure questions are answered, and to keep the community running smoothly every day.

The Community Roundtable has been around since 2009 and is dedicated to the practice of online communities and hosts the CR Awards each year to recognise communities that stand-out. 

element14 previously received the CR award for the best community ROI in 2018. element14 is part of Farnell, an Avnet Company and global distributor of electronic components, products and solutions, that helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

To learn more about the great work being done by the element14 Community every day, visit element14.com.

Farnell, an Avnet Company and the exclusive manufacturing partner of the Micro:bit Educational Foundation, is celebrating the manufacture of 5 million BBC micro:bit devices since its launch in 2016. The micro:bit has been adopted by multiple educational organisations around the world to support STEM learning through formal programmes, helping the Foundation reach an estimated 25 million children in more than 60 countries who have learnt digital creativity and computing skills. The micro:bit has been adopted by educational organisations around the world to support Science, Technology, Education and Mathematics (STEM) learning programmes.

Today, the Micro:bit Educational Foundation, announced a new micro:bit offering greater memory capacity, a faster processor and, for the first time, “out of the box” sound and touch functionality. More information is available from micro:bit.org. The new micro:bit will be available to order from Farnell in November.

Farnell has worked with multiple educational organisations and governments to support strategic rollouts of STEM learning solutions into the classroom, and stocks a broad range of education devices that can be supplied in class, school and multiple-school quantities. Farnell can also offer support with provision and bundling of equipment for bespoke large-scale programmes similar to the Super:bit programme in Norway.

Lee Turner, Global Head of Semiconductors and SBC at Farnell said: “Farnell is proud to be the Micro:bit Educational Foundation’s exclusive manufacturer and we are delighted to join our partners in celebrating the manufacture of 5 million micro:bit and their announcement of an updated micro:bit today.”

Farnell also provides a range of resources to assist educators and parents supporting children with STEM. The element14 Community’s STEM Academy provides a wealth of content and support for those looking to get started with the micro:bit. This dedicated online hub is designed for people who want to explore learning concepts and classroom-based design projects within the electronics and digital space. The element14 Community’s ‘The Learning Circuit’ series features a number of instructional videos which take viewers through different ways to learn and explore with micro:bit. These short videos teach users how to apply micro:bit to their designs and offer instruction and advice on bringing projects to life. The Micro:bit Educational Foundation also offer a range of resources on micro:bit.org.

To find out more about the BBC micro:bit visit farnell.com/bbc-microbit or join the conversation on the element14 Community.

As students go back to school this autumn, both in-person and virtually, element14, an Avnet Community, is offering resources and expertise to help designers, engineers and educators at every level brush up on basics and expand their skillsets through one-to-one support and multiple online resources.

“Our element14 Community consists of an incredibly smart and talented group of people who are always looking to learn something new and build their skillset,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “As virtual learning continues, we’re glad to be able to support students as they head back to school with our many online courses, video tutorials and one-to-one support.”

The element14 Community provides a range of resources to support at all levels:

• For students with some experience under their tool belts, the element14 Community offers its essentials courses, short self-paced online classes that allow designers of all ages to learn at their own pace and convenience. The courses cover electronics fundamentals, technologies and applications, serving as a refresher to help students ease out of the summer slump, and also a guide for learning new skills. Some of the most popular courses include overviews of connectors, IoT, sensors, programmable logic and more.

• For educators looking for projects and ideas for the classroom, element14 offers the STEM Academy, designed to help anyone looking to explore learning concepts and classroom-based design projects within the electronics and digital space.

• Designers looking to brush up and expand on their electronics knowledge as they head back to school can check out The Learning Circuit, an engaging video series that covers the essentials of electronics design and helps explain some of the fundamental components engineers need to master. In the series, host Karen Corbeill breaks down complex topics ranging from the fundamentals of circuits, to an overview of soldering, resistors, and more.

• Additional courses are also available through live and on-demand workshops and webinars which cover electronics applications, products and technologies such as 3D Printing, Raspberry Pi, Arduino, Artificial Intelligence and IoT.

Whether you are a graduate student looking for guidance around a thesis project, to parents or teachers helping to mentor the next generation of engineers, you can also visit the element14 Community for advice and support. Anyone signed up as a member of the element14 Community can reach out to their fellow community members for support and will typically receive a response within 24 hours.

To learn more about the educational resources offered by the element14 Community, visit the element14 website.

For the latest in its highly popular design challenge series, element14, an Avnet community, is challenging its community members to create a high-tech, sustainable farm within just one square meter, or about 10-11 square feet. To help participants develop these micro plots, element14 has teamed up with Raspberry Pi to provide 20 applicants with a challenge kit featuring a Raspberry Pi 4 2GB single board computer along with multiple Pi accessories to help with environmental monitoring and building in a confined space, including the Pimoroni PIM487 Automation Hat, PIM486 Enviro Hat, and the Pico HAT Hacker PC.

“At a time when many people are looking for ways to have a role in sustainable agriculture, this challenge allows community members to create their own mini modern farms in just one square meter of land,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We’re looking forward to seeing our community show off their green thumbs and think outside the traditional greenhouse for what can be done when farming in a small space.”

Participants are invited to use the challenge kit to create a high-tech farming system within one square meter. Potential projects could include:

• Zero gravity enclosure
• Edible algae growing system
• Electronic planting and picking operation
• High growth density mini-farm
• Entirely self-contained farming system
• Robotic pest management system

The ‘One Meter of Pi’ Challenge is open now until 23^rd November, with winners announced at the end of November. The grand prize winner of the Design Challenge will win a 13” Macbook Air, Pimoroni 8” Retro Arcade Kit and a $200 Carbon Offset. The runner up winners will receive an iPad10, 32GB, Pimoroni 8” Retro Arcade Kit and $100 Carbon Offset. All other participants who blog about the build process and outcome of the challenge will receive a USB Solar Bank and a Reusable Metal Straw and Cutlery Set. Posts that include rich visual imagery such as photos, videos and code samples will be viewed favorably in the judging process.

Challenge kits are available to 20 participants who apply online now until 7^th September. Challenge kit recipients will be announced on 14^th September. Design Challenge participants who receive the kits must use all elements of the kit in their projects and post their progress and final project in at least one blog post.

To learn more about the “One Meter of Pi” design challenge, please visit www.element14.com/1mofpi.

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced the winning designs of its “Fighting Germs” Design Challenge, where participants helped to fight COVID-19 by creating projects that protect vulnerable populations and help people cope with the crisis.

The Grand Prize winner, Shabaz Yousaf from the UK, created contact-less virtual buttons that are motion-sensor based, allowing the user to make selections without direct physical contact. The three first place winners, based in the United States, Canada and India, all created germ-fighting projects designed for safety as communities reopen. First place projects include a face mask detector system that uses cameras to determine if someone is properly wearing a face covering, a 3D printed face shield designed to clip onto the brim of a baseball cap, and a contact-free temperature checker that provides a pass, fail or borderline result to signify whether or not someone is healthy enough to be in public spaces.

“Now more than ever, we’re all working to find innovative solutions that can help us keep our friends, families and co-workers safe,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “Our community of makers and engineers are especially well equipped to find innovative solutions to the challenges this pandemic presents. We hope these projects will inspire others and help to slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19.”

The grand prize winner of this design challenge received an IR Camera, £200 shopping cart to Farnell.com and a £200 donation to a charity of choice. The three first place winners each received a germicidal lamp, a £100 shopping cart to Farnell.com and a £100 donation to a charity of choice.

element14 is part of Farnell, the Development Distributor, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

To learn more about element14 Design Challenges and see the full list of winners, visit the element14 website.

Farnell, the Development Distributor, has published a number of eBooks to educate users, develop their skills, and refresh their knowledge. The latest eBook in the market, published by Farnell is called ‘The era of AIoT, context, capabilities and future of AIoT’. The other two books titled, ‘Essential Raspberry Pi tips’, and, ‘What you need to know about 5G’,are published by element14.com, an Avnet community. The element14 community is part of Farnell, which helps design engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

• Essential Raspberry Pi tips: In recent years, Raspberry Pi has transitioned from a tool for students & hobbyists to a viable option for many types of engineering projects. In order to support users and help them overcome challenges they might face as they get started developing projects with the Raspberry Pi, the element14 Community published this ‘Essential Raspberry Pi tips’ ebook. Cabe Atwell, the element14 contributor who authored the eBook said: “If you’re considering the Raspberry Pi because you are curious about electronics and coding, or even if you're a practicing engineer, just go for it!.”

• What you need to know about 5G: The second eBook by the community puts all the speculations around 5G to rest. The eBook covers the basic concepts of 5G, the 1G to 5G evolution, a comparison between different generations of cellular technology, and potential 5G applications. Dianne Kibbey, Head of community and social media for element14 said: “The element14 community aims to support engineers throughout their careers, and provide a range of ways in which they can develop their skills and refresh their knowledge. The size of the community, and the sheer number of publicly available forums, tutorials and projects means that you will be in good company as you explore and experiment.”

• The era of AIoT, context, capabilities and future of AIoT: This ebook provides an in-depth roadmap of AI, explains the relation between AI, Machine Learning (ML), and Deep Learning (DL) and available platforms to get users started with their first AI based IoT solution. Ankur Tomar, Technical Marketing Manager, Farnell said: “Everyone is talking about how AI will revolutionise our lives. The eBook explains AI, its types, capabilities and applications exhaustively for our readers.”

element14 community members can download Raspberry Pi and 5G eBooks for free at https://www.element14.com/community/community/publications/ebooks . The AIoT book is available to download for free at https://uk.farnell.com/aiot-ebook-lp.

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced the winners of its most recent community challenge, encouraging female engineers to create an electronic project video in the style of the increasingly popular element14 Presents series.

The Grand Prize winner is Surbhika Rastogi from Uttar Pradesh, India, who created an informative video for making an automatic soap/sanitizer dispenser system. In the video, Rastogi talked through how she used an Arduino UNO, IR sensor and pump made with bottle caps and a motor lifted from an RC car, to make this innovative dispensing system that offers a contact-free way to reduce the spread of germs during the pandemic.

Other winners represent a wide array of experience, skillsets and geographies, ranging from women with PhDs and Masters Degrees to those who are self-taught designers. Their videos include directions for a light up “cycling shrug” by a costume designer from western Missouri to help cyclists stand out on the road at night, a robot vacuum created by a college student in Sydney, Australia and a smartboard alarm created by a master’s student in northern Italy that signals when food is about to expire.

“The one thing this diverse and global group of women has in common is that the vast majority are young engineers,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “If you want to see what the future of women in engineering might look like, we have a snapshot right now. These are women who want to change the world and are using electronics to do it. We’re so happy to have a chance to celebrate them and look forward to many of them joining the element14 Community as video content producers in the future.”

Everyone who participated in this challenge is eligible to become a paid content producer for the element14 Community and contribute to the series of element14 Presents videos shared every Wednesday and Friday.

Launched during Women’s History Month in March, the contest sought to highlight female designers and engineers creating innovative works. Each of the top ten winners received $500 for their submissions, and the Grand Prize winner received a digital camera kit for producing high-quality videos worth $1,800.

element14 is part of Newark, the global multi-channel distributor of electronic components, and an Avnet company, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

Visit the element14 website to see the full list of winners, and learn more about element14 Presents.

element14, an Avnet community, announced the launch of the “Fighting Germs” Project14 design challenge. The challenge is engaging element14’s problem-solving designers and engineers to find innovative solutions to fighting germs, one of the most efficient ways to slow the spread of COVID-19.

The goal of this challenge is for members of the element14 Community to create an affordable project that utilises resources and components that are readily available so others can easily replicate their designs. The hope is that numerous people around the world will be able to help slow and prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their communities with these innovative approaches.

“Everyone has the opportunity to do their part to help slow the spread of this disease, and that is especially true of our amazing community of engineers, makers and hobbyists,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “Our members came to us just as the lock-downs started and asked us to launch a challenge for new innovations in this area. We encourage our more than 720,000 members to put their unique design skills to work and create solutions to help prevent the spread of this pandemic.”

The design challenge is tackling today’s most pressing global problem head-on, while encouraging the element14 Community to be part of the solution in fighting the spread of this pandemic. Unlike other design challenges, there are no specific requirements to participate. Potential solutions could include:

• Face protection
• Body temperature monitor/access controls
• Contactless disinfection of frequently touched surfaces
• Automated disease testing

The grand prize winner of the “Fighting Germs” design challenge will win a $200 shopping cart to Farnell.com, a $200 donation to their preferred COVID-19 charitable cause and a Flir thermal imaging camera. An additional 3 winners will each receive $100 shopping carts to Farnell.com to help bring their designs to life along with a UV sanitising lamp. Members can work on tackling this challenge solo or in teams, as long as they collaborate remotely.

element14’s Project14 competition series is by members for members. For this monthly project competition, element14 Community members decide the competition, come up with ideas for new themes, and vote for the themes they want to pursue. By opening this competition to a broad audience, novices, experts, and everyone in between come together to learn from and share with each other as they work to turn their ideas into finished projects.

The “Fighting Germs” Project 14 design challenge is open now through to 15^th June. Winners will be announced by 29^th June.

To learn more about Project 14 and the “Fighting Germs” design challenge, please visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/project14/fightinggerms

element14, an Avnet community, is harnessing the power of Infineon technologies that make life easier, safer and greener with the “Sustain The World” design challenge. This challenge encourages the community to create a new design with a positive environmental impact that can be applied to a variety of sustainable ventures including recycling, CO2 monitoring, pollution monitoring, and more.

“Designers and engineers are in the unique situation to innovate real solutions that inspire a safer, greener future,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “element14 has teamed up with Infineon to inspire our community of more than 720,000 members to put their design skills to work to create every day, sustainable solutions to make life easier.”

Members of the element14 Community will compete to design the most creative green solution using a variety of evaluation boards and Kits provided by Infineon, including the Platform2GO XMC4200 MCU, the TLE94112EL motor controller, the DPS422 pressure sensor, the TLV493D A1B6 MS2GO magnetic sensor and a PROFET+2 12 smart switch shield.

Challengers are invited to use these kits from Infineon to help sustain the planet. Example applications include:

• Micro plastics monitoring buoy
• Remote pollution monitoring
• Roadside littering monitor
• CO2 monitoring station
• Self-compacting trash cans
• Recycling composition tester
• Sea level and levy monitor
• Automatic tree planter
• Trash collection bot

Although the “Sustain The World” design challenge is open to everyone, element14 Community members can apply to receive one of 20 free challenge kits featuring the above Infineon products to create their designs. Applications close on 25^th May and challengers will be announced on 1^st June. Then, participants will have until 10^th August to blog about and build their projects. Winners will be announced on 17^th August.

The first-place challenger will win $500 donated to the charity of their choice, 100 trees planted, an Envirocycle Home Composter, Click and Grow Home Smart IoT Garden, and a reusable metal straw and cutlery set. The runner up will receive $250 donated to the charity of their choice, 100 trees planted, the Click and Grow Home Smart IoT Garden, and a reusable metal straw and cutlery set. All other participants who blog about the build process and outcome of the challenge receive a Solar USB charger battery bank as well as 10 trees planted in their honour.

To learn more about element14 and the “Sustain Our World” challenge, please visit: 

https://www.element14.com/community/community/design-challenges/sustain-the-world-design-challenge

element14.com, an Avnet community, has announced the winners of its annual Community Awards for their 2019 Year in Review. The top innovators and designers are celebrated in multiple categories: Member of the Year, Design Challenge Project of the Year, Project14 Decider, Founder and Influencer of the Year, Project14 Project of the Year, Favorite Road Test Product of the Year, New RoadTester of the Year, and element14 Presents Video of the Year.

“It is so rewarding for us to take the time to reflect on the incredible achievements of our community over the past year,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “Our global community continues to blow us away with their innovative, original designs and their collaborative spirit. We’re looking forward to seeing what they all come up with in 2020 and into the future.”

The winners of the element14 2019 Community Awards are:

• Member of the Year – Shabaz Yousaf – An integral member of the element14 Community, Shabaz always shares his designs, encourages and assists other community members with their designs, and contributes to many community discussions. His numerous contributions to the element14 Community in 2019 include building a world-band radio receiver, creating a handheld electronic game, building an LCR meter as well as a logic analyzer and protocol tester.

• Design Challenge Project of the Year – Art-a-Tronic by Enrico Miglino – Enrico was the winner of the PiCasso Design Challenge with his entry, Art-A-Tronic, an interactive art installation in Gent, Belgium. Enrico’s art exhibit included an augmented mannequin that is able to host Raspberry Pi computer vision, has binaural hearing and turns to face you, as well as an MQTT connection to the "Borg Communication Nexus," an aptly named Cube featuring an MQTT Server. Aside from the articulating mannequin, the Communication Cube talks with a Raspberry Pi Smart Mirror and a cage full of Arduino controlled Bird Automata.

• Project14 Decider, Founder and Influencer of the Year – Project14 is an ongoing series by the community, for the community, where members submit ideas and vote on future design challenges and creative projects. The Decider of the Year, DAB, is one of the often-unsung heroes of Project14 who volunteer for the monumental task of deciding who will win the numerous competitions. Douglas Wong, Founder of the Year, helped to come up with ideas for the greatest number of element14 competitions in 2019. And Dubbie, Influencer of the Year, was the most active member in Project14, completing the most projects, blog posts, videos and theme ideas for competitions.

• Project14 Project of the Year – 5000W Dual Drive Electric Car by Deo Lee – Deo Lee modified and upgraded a 50W BMW i8 electric child’s car, which originally could barely move when he sat on it, to a fast and furious 5000W dual drive electric car which can reach top speeds of 60km per hour. Noted as one of the most unique Project14 submissions ever, it is a testament to the ingenuity the program has brought out of the skilled and knowledgeable community members.

• Favorite RoadTest Product of the Year – 3 Series MDO Mixed Domain Oscilloscope – This impressive piece of test equipment from Tektronix received a whopping 113 applicants for RoadTest reviews. It has many remarkable features, including a high-definition display in a compact package, built-in spectrum analyzer option for RF analysis, a wide range of available serial bus decode and trigger options, and more.

• New RoadTester of the Year – Gary Yohe – Gary joined the element14 Community in 2018, and completed his first RoadTest in 2019. A recently retired test engineer, he now does part-time consulting and has been leading the Roanoke Robotics and Makers Club for several years. He also frequently teaches classes at the local library. When working on his detailed RoadTest reviews, he often asks questions to dive deeper into a product’s capabilities and helps other members get involved in the program.

• element14 Presents Video of the Year – Raspberry Pi 4 Experimental Resin 3D Printer – Small resin-based 3D printers may be on the rise, but these printers are notorious for not being able to scale up to handle larger projects. This video followed the idea to circumvent these technical limitations with a groundbreaking giant 4K Resin 3D printer. Utilizing 2 Raspberry Pis (a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Computer & Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+,) this project proves that FEP foil can be replaced with a specialized liquid, making the LCD-masking technique viable for large format 3D printers.

The annual community awards are one of the many ways that element14 celebrates the success of its community of makers, designers and engineers as they harness the power of electronics design to make a positive impact on their communities and the world.

To learn more about the 2019 Community Awards, visit the element14 Community.

element14, an Avnet community, is launching a contest to find the best of the best female engineers to shape the future of the increasingly popular element14 presents video series. Launched on International Women’s Day, the contest is inviting female designers and engineers to share their electronics skills and passion for making with the broader community as new Video Content Producers.

Launched in 2018, element14 presents is a weekly video series featuring projects from a rotating cast of makers and engineers from all corners of the element14 Community. In addition to Friday project videos, element14 presents is also home to “The Learning Circuit”, “Workbench Wednesdays” and “The Electronics Inside.”

“Ever since element14 presents launched in 2018, we’ve been fortunate to have a great response from our community – but there is work to be done,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “Our hope is that this competition will introduce us to a wide array of female engineers and makers who can carry the series forward and shape the future of our exciting industry.”

Since launching in 2018, element14 presents has gained 40,000 subscribers (channel total: 652,000) and had 7.5 million views (channel total: 63 million)

element14 is organizing the competition into three phases with a variety of prizes being awarded throughout. Contestants will have the opportunity to submit introductory audition videos, videos of a new project concept, and the opportunity to present their project concepts at the element14 Woman Makers And Engineers Film Festival in May 2020. More details on the contest can be found here.

In addition to contest awards, all participants will automatically be considered for roles as Video Content Producers for element14 presents, where they will be able to receive free build components along with monetary compensation for their featured element14 presents videos.

Visit the element14 website to learn more about element14 presents and how to become the next element14 presents Video Content Producer.

element14, an Avnet community, is teaming up with Cypress Semiconductor and Amazon Web Services to help build a better future with IoT. The “Connected Cloud” design challenge aims to foster the community’s creativity by applying innovative IoT solutions to anything in their world that needs improving, from monitoring traffic conditions, to creating information hubs for their communities, or monitoring flood waters. The latest design challenge from element14 encourages its members to learn new IoT development skills, elevate their designs, and think outside the box to solve everyday problems.

“Learning and advancing skills in IoT is one of the most frequent requests we get from our global community members,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We’re thrilled to partner with Cypress Semiconductor and Amazon Web Services to offer our community members the opportunity to expand their IoT design knowledge using some of the best IoT tools available, all while working on a specific challenge in their world.”

The sky is the limit for what participants can design in this challenge. Sample applications could include:

• Product Monitoring System
• Hospital Information Displays
• Building-Wide Reminder Systems
• Electric Vehicle Charge Monitoring
• Meeting Room Monitoring System
• Interactive Help Systems
• Crowd Counters

Although the “Cloud connect” Design Challenge is open to everyone, element14 Community members can apply to receive one of 20 free PSoC 6 Kits. Challengers can choose a Cypress PSoC 6 WiFi-BT Pioneer Kit (CY8CKIT-062-WIFI-BT) or PSoC 6 WiFi-BT Prototyping Kit (CY8CPROTO-062-4343W) to build their projects. The Pioneer Kit enables designers to evaluate and develop their applications using the PSoC 6 MCU, Cypress’ ultra-low-power PSoC specifically for IoT products and wearables that offers higher flexibility, in-field design tuning, and faster time-to-market. Amazon Web Services will also be providing $25 Cloud Credit per sponsored challenger for their AWS IoT Platform.

All participants are required to post at least 10 blogs about their design process and interface with Amazon Web Services incorporating photos, videos and code samples. Those who complete 10 blog posts and submit a featured project that meets the requirements will receive a Multicomp Pro Multimeter Set. One first prize winner will receive a Desktop 3D Printer and the new, unannounced PSoC6 Kit. One runner up will receive a HTC VIVE Pro Virtual Reality System and the new, unannounced, PSoc6 Kit.

Applications for the free Cypress Kit open on 27^th January and close on 24^th February. The design challenge deadline is 11^th May 2020. Winners will be announced in June 2020.

To learn more about the “Cloud Connect” Design Challenge, please visit www.element14.com/connectedcloud.

Newark, the Development Distributor, the exclusive manufacturer and distributor of the BBC micro:bit, is working to support product-led educational initiatives globally. Programs supported by Newark aim to create fun and interactive learning opportunities for students to develop an understanding of computing and electronics at a young age, and build a pathway to a range of engineering and technology-driven careers.

One of the latest programs to be supported by Newark is the series of how-to videos featuring micro:bit that are part of the element14 Community’s element14Presents: The Learning Circuit video series. In these instructional videos, host Karen Corbeill takes viewers through different ways to learn and explore with micro:bit. These short videos teach users how to apply micro:bit to their designs and offer instruction and advice on bringing projects to life.

“Getting started with electronics can be quite daunting,” said Karen Corbeill. “micro:bit is a great gateway tool with an amazing number of features for such a low price point. From being able to program using code blocks or simply clipping on accessories without having to solder or even just grabbing a piece of pre-programmed code, it is a wonderful way to get newbies hooked on electronics."

Newark also continues to work with governments, re-sellers and strategic partnerships to support product-led educational initiatives globally. The micro:bit has experienced significant success since its launch through a program led by the BBC in the UK in 2016. Since this date, over 2.5m micro:bit boards have been sold globally, supporting programs as far flung as Denmark, Canada and Singapore. Sales of this popular coding device almost doubled in the last 12 months, over the previous period, with more than half of sales supporting broad educational programs.

The latest program is currently being rolled out in Norway. Entitled “super:bit”, this project is a collaboration between the national science centers, the organization “Teach kids code” and national broadcaster NRK, in Norway. The national rollout provides a classroom kit of technology to each of the 2,400 secondary schools in Norway, over two years, starting in September 2019. The kits have an interactive smart city theme and pupils will learn how to use the micro:bit through applications such as planning traffic flow around green spaces by using sensors to control traffic lights. The kits, shipped by Farnell, include micro:bits, robots, and other electronic and non-electronic components.

“We are committed to supporting the education of future generations of engineers by making it easier to introduce children to the world of electronics,” said Lee Turner, Global Head of Semiconductors and Single Board Computers at Farnell and Newark. “Series such as The Learning Circuit enable users to better understand electronics with easy access to expertise and educational resources in the form of the videos. Newark, as the manufacturer and distributor of the micro:bit, and global electronics distributor, is uniquely able to support these programs.”

“Our mission to help children and teachers to take their first steps with technology and broaden participation with digital creativity continues to grow with multiple large scale programs in over 30 countries,” added Gareth Stockdale CEO, micro:bit Educational Foundation. We continue to work with Newark to ensure that the BBC micro:bit is available all around the world and that children are able to expand their computational thinking and create their best digital future.”

micro:bit products, accessories and a variety of free-to-download educational resources and lesson plans are available online from Newark in North America, Farnell in EMEA and element14 in APAC. To watch The Learning Circuit visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/element14-presents/thelearningcircuit

element14, an Avnet community, is making spirits bright for every engineer on your holiday list with gift ideas and exciting giveaways as part of its annual Engineer and Maker's Wish List. For those seeking great last-minute gift ideas, the element14 Community has selected a mix of popular and innovative products. The list is created for engineers, by engineers, and has gifts they’re sure to love.

Decking Out the Workbench:

• All Purpose Bit Set: This all-purpose kit has everything needed for quick repairs at home or on the go at a repair cafe or hackspace.
• Multicomp Pro 150W Soldering Station: Often needed for repairing electronics, this soldering station could even be used this season to fix broken ornaments.
• Bench Vise: Perfect for an engineer who could use another set of hands, this bench vise also includes an anvil.

Embedding Processing Power:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 4GB RAM: The latest and fastest Raspberry Pi to date, with the same footprint and connectivity as its predecessors. The onboard WiFi and Bluetooth seal the deal, especially with the updated processor, USB 3 and Gigabit Ethernet.
• BeagleBone AI: Great for engineers looking to push their programming knowledge, it includes a fully open source, documented processor, board, schematics and the ability to embed it in your design from source or scratch.

Tools That Go the Extra Mile:

• Assorted Tool Kit: For the maker or engineer just starting out, this 153-piece set features the everyday essentials that a maker needs.
• BeagleBone Robotics Cape: This add-on cape expands the BeagleBone's capabilities to control the motors needed for robotics and drones.
• PiFace Control and Display: The PiFace add-on board for the Raspberry Pi is an ideal way to interface with heavy hitting hardware.

In addition to the dozens product recommendations vetted by the community, element14 is keeping the holiday spirit going throughout the rest of the year with three giveaway opportunities, open until 30^th December:

• The Test & Measurement Tools on the Go Giveaway features key products for frequently travelling engineers and includes the chance to win a USB oscilloscope, digital multimeter and a digital caliper.
• The Circuit Assembly Tools for All Giveaway includes everything an engineer needs to start building circuits, from a breadboard and jumper wires to Knipex Pliers and a nifty assembly turntable.
• The Raspberry Pi Essentials Giveaway offers Pi fans a chance to win a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+ starter kit, Speaker pHAT and waterproof camera.

The element14 Community was the first community specifically built for engineers and now has over 650,000 engineer, maker and entrepreneurial members. To see the full range of suggested holiday gifts for engineers, and to enter the giveaways, be sure to check out the element14 Engineer and Maker’s Wish List 2019.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) reshapes our world, Farnell, the Development Distributor, along with element14, an Avnet community, are expanding the AI products and resources available to help engineers develop new solutions leveraging the technology. Opportunities for engineers include availability of the BeagleBone AI single board computer and online resources to help overcome the complexity, cost and power challenges of developing for AI.

The BeagleBone AI, one of the newest AI products available from Farnell, provides a fast track solution for embedded machine learning. The single board computer facilitates everyday automation for industrial, commercial and home applications and allows developers to have their designs up and running within five minutes. You can read more about the BeagleBone AI board here.

Enabling element14 Community members to learn the fundamentals of AI in a free online course, the new AI Essentials Course begins with an overview and history of AI, and goes on to cover algorithms, the Bayes Theorem, machine and deep learning, and typical AI applications. The DIY course gives makers and engineers the tools they need to further incorporate AI into their designs.

“Artificial Intelligence, from autonomous cars to ‘lights out’ autonomous factories used to be reserved for science fiction, but the technology is becoming increasingly popular and more readily available every day,” said Cliff Ortmeyer, Global Head of Technical Marketing for Farnell.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of the element14 Community added: “We are committed to giving our customers and community members access to the latest AI products and resources, including free training, projects and tools to support them throughout their AI design journey and grow their careers.”

Additional AI offerings from Farnell and element14 include:

• AI Configurator and AI Resource Page: An interactive tool, the AI Configurator enables engineers to quickly determine the most appropriate products and solutions for their AI projects. New products such as the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Computer, Ultra96 V2 development board, and BeagleBone AI are incorporated into the tool, ensuring engineers are at the cutting edge of AI technology. The AI Configurator is part of Farnell’s AI Resource Page, a dependable resource for makers looking to expand their knowledge.

• New element14 Artificial Intelligence Page: Features all of the latest element14 content around AI including a range of member projects, Tech Spotlights, blogs and products. This area will also feature the element14 Presents weekly video series, with videos focussing on the new BeagleBone AI. Interested community members can sign up to receive updates when new AI related content is added.

Farnell is the only high service distributor with a dedicated AI space and a community of 650,000 members with an ongoing focus on AI applications. To learn more, visit Farnell’s AI Resource Page and the element14 Community.

element14.com, an Avnet community, is teaming up with ON Semiconductor and Hackster.io to inspire developers to create innovative solutions to everyday problems as part of the ThinkON Design Challenge. Both element14 and Hackster.io¹ community members are invited to design the most creative solution utilizing the ON Semiconductor RSL10 Sensor Development Kit (RSL10-SENSE-GEVK). Example projects could include solutions to monitor challenges as diverse as workers in potentially dangerous environments or elderly people at risk of falls; to fragile packages within a shipping facility, fruits and vegetables in processing areas, organ transplant shipments or even pets in transit.

ON Semiconductor’s RSL10 Sensor Development Kit is a compact and comprehensive platform for electronic designers to easily develop IoT applications with leading sensor technology and the industry's lowest power Bluetooth low energy SoC. The development kit features a full range of sensors including environmental, inertial (3-axis accelerometer, 3-asix gyroscope and a low-power smart hub for motion sensing), a geomagnetic sensor, and an ambient light sensor. Developers can use the sensors provided on the board or add their own sensors and actuators to be controlled by the RSL10 Sense and Control app.

“This new design challenge really pushes element14 and Hackster,io community members to think differently about solutions that can have a true impact on the world around them,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “ON Semiconductor’s cutting edge development kit provides engineers with the flexibility to more easily create low-power, connected IoT devices that generate valuable insights that benefit both individuals and businesses.”

Designers can apply to participate in “ThinkON” now through October 11 by submitting their proposals online. On October 18, up to 50 challengers will selected to receive the ON Semiconductor RSL10 Sensor Development Kit to build their designs. The challengers will have about 11 weeks to build their projects, and submit at least one blog post tracking their progress and sharing their design with the element14 and Hackster.io online communities.

A panel of judges from the element14 Community will evaluate entries based on originality, innovation and technical merit. Projects will be due on January 1, with winners being announced and prizes shipped on February 1. The best overall entry will receive a Lulzbot Mini 2 Desktop 3D Printer, with further prizes awarded for the best entry in each of 3 categories: the best entry in Wearables or Heathcare will receive a HTC VIVE Pro Virtual Reality System and the best entries in Safety or Asset Monitoring and Smart Home will both receive an Apple iPad Pro (12.9Inch).

To learn more about the ThinkON Design Challenge, please visit www.element14.com/ThinkON

To find out more about Farnell’s portfolio of high-performing solutions and associated technologies that enable developers to take concepts and turn them into smart connected designs across a wide range of applications visit https://uk.farnell.com/b/on-semiconductor

element14, an Avnet community, continues to make developing with programmable logic devices easier, quicker and more advantageous for its community of engineers with the launch of its Path II Programmable series, sponsored by Xilinx.

Building on the success of last year’s successful training series, Path II Programmable, the only programme of its type in the industry, will once again provide 5 community members with guidance and advice from knowledgeable community members and product specialists from Xilinx and Avnet as they journey to become FPGA design engineers. Over the course of 6 weeks, the participants will blog about their journey to share their knowledge and development experience with fellow community members.

Path II Programmable leverages the Avnet Ultra96-V2 development board, an Arm-based, Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+™ MPSoC open source board to develop software applications, hardware devices and kernel programming for operating systems. By using programmable logic to accelerate the development of deep learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms, the low-cost Avnet Ultra96-V2 makes the power of programmable logic accessible for all types of engineers, enabling software developers to take advantage of the benefits of hardware acceleration.

“Our Path to Programmable initiative provides members with a unique opportunity for professional development while continuing to address misconceptions around the complexity of developing products with programmable logic devices,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “The element14 Community is committed to supporting its members as they build projects, develop their skills and stay up to date with the latest technologies. And by using the Ultra96-V2 to complete their projects, participants will gain valuable experience for future development of AI and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.”

Through the Path II Programmable program, participants will receive the tools they need to develop smart, connected systems suitable for a wide variety of applications, including:

• Artificial Intelligence 
• Machine Learning
• IoT/Cloud Connectivity for Add-On Sensors
• Embedded Computing
• Robotics
• Entry Level Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC Development Environment
• Training Prototyping and Proof of Concept Demo Platform
• Wireless Design and Demonstrations Using WiFi and Bluetooth

“This program gives designers the skills they need to take advantage of increasingly popular of FPGAs, while leveraging the easy to use Ultra96-V2 board to accelerate software development,” said Jayson Bethurem, product line manager at Xilinx. “We are delighted to run this program with the element14 Community again this year.”

element14 is a discussion-based community comprised of more than 650,000 members that connects engineers across the globe to solve each other’s technical and design challenges, and is one of the longest running networks of its kind in the electronics industry. All element14 Community members may sign up to participate in Path II Programmable before 16 September, 2019 by visiting the element14 website. Anyone not a community member who is interested in this opportunity can join for free to gain access to the valuable resources of the element14 Community.

Last year’s Path to Programmable series took eight community members new to FPGA SOCs and trained them to better understand the technology, development tools and design flow process over the course of a 12-week program. Trainees received a mix of instruction and mentoring provided by experts from the element14 Community, Farnell and the engineering teams at Xilinx and Avnet.

To learn more about the Path II Programmable, and to sign up to enter before 16 September, please visit element14.com.

Celebrating its 10^th anniversary this summer, element14 was the first online community launched specifically for engineers and is one of the longest running networks of its kind in the electronics industry. A discussion-based community, element14 connects engineers across the globe to solve each other’s technical and design challenges. Members also have unique opportunities to road test new products and access the Design Center, a comprehensive resource that brings together the latest development tools, technical information from suppliers, community discussions, webinars, online courses, live support and regular hands-on design challenges to experience new technologies.

“During the past 10 years, we’ve cultivated a lasting, active and valuable community for engineers and entrepreneurs,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14. “Today, with more than 650,000 members, element14 is thriving in an environment where statistics show that only 1 in 10 communities make it beyond their first three years. We’ve grown the community by staying focused on our members, and collaborating with them to provide the resources and programs they need to increase their knowledge of new technology and bring their projects to life.”

Recently, Avnet announced it is giving away 20,000 free Azure Sphere starter kits to help developers create highly secure, end-to-end IoT solutions. The initiative is part of Avnet’s ongoing partnership with Microsoft’s Azure Sphere Ecosystem and supported by design challenges on both element14 and Hackster.io, with prizes valued at $70,000 USD including:

• element14 members who get their Azure kit online and send data for 15 consecutive days before August 30, 2019, get the chance to win one of 50 $200 USD gift cards.

• The element14 ‘Sensing the World’ design challenge gives members freedom to develop an IoT device that demonstrates the vast potential of Azure Sphere. Participants have the opportunity to win 3 Grand Prize bundles of Microsoft gear worth $3,500 USD each, and 10 runner-up bundles worth $1,500 USD each. The bundle can include Surface laptops or tablets, Xbox gaming systems, HoloLens VR gear, and more. Within their challenge design, participants can utilize their choice of peripherals, complementing the on-board connectivity, sensors and expansion possibilities, as well as choose their own application. Submitted projects will be judged on ingenuity and how well they achieve their stated purpose. For more information go to https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-92683/l/sensing-the-world-challenge

Dianne added; “element14 members have the opportunity to win some incredible prizes, and we are looking forward to seeing the breadth and creativity that we have learned to expect from them as they develop IOT based applications connecting the Avnet Azure Sphere kit to the cloud. Whether you get involved, or follow our member’s blogs as they develop their projects – this is going to be an amazing summer.”

The “Sensing the World challenge” closes for entries on September 30, 2019. To find out more about the Avnet Microsoft Azure giveaway, element14 community and Hackster.io challenges visit https://secureeverything.avnet.com/

element14.com, the world’s largest electronic design community, has released its latest episode of the “Workbench Wednesdays” series, hosted by James Lewis, the Bald Engineer. The online series provides engineers with tips and tricks on the latest bench top productivity tools to help build smarter. The episode released today is sure to be hair-raising as James investigates the electrostatic protection tools every engineer should have and know how to use.

“We created the ‘Workbench Wednesdays’ series to help community members expand their knowledge and ensure they understand everything their tools can do to help them create innovative products,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media at the element14 Community. “James brings a unique spin to the series and offers our 640,000-strong community a perspective they can relate to because he’s a professional engineer, too. We’re excited to continue ‘Workbench Wednesdays’ to help our community connect with each other, inspire creativity and bring their ideas to life.”

In contrast to traditional product reviews, “Workbench Wednesdays” provides hands-on tips in real-lab situations. The episodes provide engineers and makers with valuable insights to help them decide whether or not to upgrade their gadgets and why. Community members are also welcome to interact with the content and host to gain an even deeper understanding about the tools and concepts being discussed. One of the most popular episodes of Workbench Wednesday featured James reviewing the considerations for when to upgrade a soldering station as well as how-to’s on solder tip maintenance that will extend the life of their tools.

The first community specifically built for professional engineers, makers and enthusiasts alike, element14 offers a variety of benefits to its members to help them to grow their knowledge and skills. element14 is part of Premier Farnell and provides access to resources that offer information on a number of the latest development tools, technical information from suppliers, community discussions, webinars as well as live chats with the element14 support team.

New content will be featured on a weekly basis. To learn more or view the element14 Community’s “Workbench Wednesdays” series, please visit: https://www.element14.com/community/community/element14-presents/workbenchwednesdays.

element14.com, the world’s largest electronic design community, today announced it is giving its members the unique opportunity to design the sensor board of their dreams. The Dream Sensor Board campaign leverages the element14 Community, comprised of makers, engineers and designers, to crowd-source the best combination of sensor modules. Molex, a leading supplier of connectors and interconnect components, will review the feedback to create a truly crowdsourced sensor board with the features that are the most important to the element14 Community.

Sensor modules provide the ideal platform for developing electronic projects and designs that measure or detect variables including pressure, temperature, humidity, motion, colour and even physical position. Members of the element14 Community will be able to share their preferred connectivity, interface methods and what applications of the board are the most useful.

“Our community is on the front line of product development every day, and are the ideal audience to provide feedback on new components like sensor boards,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Molex to offer our community members the chance for their voices to be heard and ultimately use their dream sensor board in future designs.”

Members can mix and match components and collaborate, provide information on their preferred connectivity and interface methods, and define the most useful applications for the board. Members can also share their designs with other community members, and will vote on the best designs. The community’s creative feedback will help inform Molex’s development of upcoming sensor modules.

“Molex is several years into a transition from a company that primarily manufactured connectors to a company that manufactures a balanced mix of connectors and electronic solutions,” said Patrick Killian, Solutions Director - Power and Signal Business Unit. “As a result of this strategy, we are moving forward to develop plug-and-play multi-function sensor modules. We are looking forward to engaging with element14’s engineering community. Jointly we plan to define the combination of sensors that will be most valuable for environmental and/or mechanical applications.”

The element14 Community was the first community specifically built for engineers. With over half a million engineers, manufacturer, inventor, and innovator members, the element14 Community offers its members a number of important benefits and is a place where suppliers and customers can provide insights and trends on the industry.

To learn more about the dream sensor boards, visit: http://www.element14.com/DreamSensorBoard

element14.com, the online community for engineers, has launched a new eBook for engineers, graduates and tech professionals looking to pursue a career in the fast-growing world of IoT.

The free, downloadable publication collects advice and key insights from industry experts and business leaders representing companies such as Amazon, Eaton, Microsoft, Molex and more. Featured topics include the different career paths available to an IoT professional, the skills and attributes an IoT employer looks for during the hiring process, and how emerging trends such as machine learning and cloud security are affecting the market.

The volume is compiled from insights gathered during a series of Webinars hosted on the element14 Community which focus on professional trends and issues related to the Internet of Things.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community and Farnell, said: “As the world’s largest online community for engineers and makers, we’re seeing more and more of our members harnessing the power of IoT to shape their careers and pursue new opportunities in the tech space.”

“This new eBook underscores the commitment of the element14 Community alongside Farnell, the Development Distributor, to develop the next generation of engineers; and I believe that the unique insight provided by the industry-leading experts we invite onto our webinars makes it an invaluable resource for graduates and experienced tech professionals alike.”

The eBook, entitled ‘Engineering Your Future: Professional Advice on Pursuing a Career in IoT’ can be downloaded for free along with an extensive library of eBooks by becoming a registered member of the element14.com Community. Visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/publications/ebooks to browse the full collection.

The Webinar series that inspired the eBook can also be accessed as free recordings available to registered members of the element14 Community.

Are You Ready for an IoT Career in 2019 (featuring Amazon and Eaton): https://www.element14.com/community/events/5251/l/are-you-ready-for-an-iot-career-in-2019

Are You Wired for a Great Job in IoT? (featuring Molex and Microsoft): https://www.element14.com/community/events/5222/l/are-you-wired-for-a-great-job-in-iot-featuring-molex-and-microsoft

How To Start and Grow Your IoT Career (featuring Microchip Technology Inc and The Things Network): https://www.element14.com/community/events/5192/l/how-to-start-and-grow-your-iot-career-featuring-microchip-technology-inc-and-the-things-network

element14.com, the online community for engineers, has announced the launch of their latest STEM initiative, the Summer Code Club Challenge, in association with educational project kit developers Kitronik.

Following the success of last year’s Great micro:bit giveaway – which inspired creative design projects from educators in locations including Chile, Romania, New Zealand and Canada – the Summer Code Club Challenge aims to empower parents, teachers and STEM ambassadors to set up summer code clubs in their local communities, helping young people access coding and digital literacy resources and support while schools are closed.

Anyone who runs or would like to run a code club between the months of June and August 2019 can submit an application detailing when, where and how they plan to run their local club. Successful applicants will be provided with micro:bit club packs and Kitronik Inventor Kits containing all the equipment and resources needed to run a full curriculum of simple projects and experiments.

In addition, participating clubs will be challenged to come up with a simple interactive game using the resources provided. At the end of the summer, a panel of expert judges will select one creative gaming project to be awarded a batch of ten Raspberry Pi model B+ Starter Kits, worth around $500 at RRP.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community, said: “Volunteer-run code clubs are an invaluable resource for young people who wish to develop their knowledge of electronics and digital literacy.”

“After our last education initiative involving the micro:bit inspired so many incredible projects from our members around the world, we are excited to build on this success and empower our members to run code clubs in their local communities with the help of our partners at Kitronik.”

Kevin Spurr, Sales and Marketing Director at Kitronik, added “As a company that specialises in developing electronic project kits, supporting coding opportunities for young people is at the heart of what we do as a business.”

“Our Inventor Kits were designed to make learning with micro:bit creative, accessible and fun for all ages. We’re delighted to be supporting our partners at the element14 Community in this initiative to share our kits with STEM clubs around the world.”

Applications for the Summer Code Club Challenge are open now and will close on Friday 31^st May. Applicants simply need to register an account at the element14 Community and leave a comment underneath the announcement post detailing where and when they’d like to run their club, and how many students they’d anticipate taking part. Established code clubs are welcome to apply.

For more information including full terms and conditions, visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/stem-academy/microbit

To register to become a member of the element14 Community, visit http://www.element14.com/

To find out more about the micro:bit and resources available visit Farnell in Europe, Newark in North America and element14 in Asia Pacific.

element14.com, the community for engineers, has announced the winners of its “Sixth Sense” Design Challenge. As one of five challenges the element14 Community runs each year, element14 encouraged its members to create a small, remotely-operated or autonomous vehicle, leveraging the powerful processing capabilities of STMicroelectronics and TE Connectivity products to improve remote vehicle sensing and data collection.

The element14 Community team of judges selected a Grand Prize and Runner Up winner for the design challenge:

• Grand Prize – Douglas Wong, Canada – Douglas created GraffitiBot, a fully autonomous ground vehicle capable of printing graphics on the surface it traverses and producing a liquid canvas drawing. Although the GraffitiBot itself might be small, the scope of the project was anything but, incorporating mechanical, electronics, software and hydraulic design.

• Runner Up – Rod B, UK – Rod created a robot to help those working in construction by hauling heavy materials such as sand or gravel. To achieve this, Rod made his own PCB to host the TE Magnet sensor so that it would be board-mountable, showing an inventive way of using the required technology. This was Rod’s first ever element14 design challenge.

Through detailed blog posts, the challengers made all of their build steps and code open source, so other element14 Community members can learn from these designs and replicate projects on their own.

“As the Development Distributor, we are committed to being a champion for makers and are proud to help drive innovation for our 600,000-plus member community,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “As always, we were very impressed by the creativity and innovative spirit our community demonstrated with this challenge and are looking forward to offering more opportunities for our members to push the boundaries of electronic design.”

The element14 Community is part of Premier Farnell, the development distributor, which helps design engineers, maintenance and test engineers, makers, parents, and teachers develop the future generation of coders and products that apply technology to change our world for the better.

To learn more about element14 design challenges and the community’s commitment to drive innovation and champion makers, visit: https://www.element14.com/community/community/design-challenges

element14.com, an online engineering community, has announced the graduation of the charter class of engineers in its Path to Programmable training program. The program, sponsored by Avnet, Inc. and Xilinx, Inc., was designed to accelerate the adoption of programmable logic devices in electronic hardware design.

The training program enrolled five community members and trained them on FPGA/SoC technology to speed up their understanding of the technology, development tools, and design flow process. FPGA/SoCs are key to delivering smart, connected systems suitable for a wide variety of cutting edge applications, spanning aerospace & defense, automotive, data center, high performance computing, industrial IOT, medical, and 5G Wireless.

The engineers received mentoring from experts at the element14 Community and the engineering team at Xilinx and Avnet. Support included element14 Essentials learning modules on Programmable Logic and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The engineers were also given an Avnet Minized, a single-core Zynq 7Z007S development board designed for entry-level Zynq SoC developers. The program wrapped up with the engineer-trainees building a project of their choice using the skills they acquired during the training.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community said: “The growth in the use of programmable logic devices such as FPGAs in drones, wireless networks, data centers, IoT and ADAS vehicles makes this training both timely and critical for the development of the next generation of engineers. This new program from the element14 Community provided our members with a great opportunity for professional development and helped them accelerate their technology adoption of designing hardware controlled by FPGAs/SoCs."

Dianne added, “We are already planning for a further intake of engineers into the program, with the intention of helping more and more engineers understand how simple FPGAs can be.”

“It’s been really exciting following the progress of the participants, and exciting to see a new group of users learn Xilinx technology,” says Jayson Bethurem, product line manager, Xilinx. “Interest in FPGAs has been increasing at an exponential rate and we’re proud to partner with a community like element14 to bring educational content on programmable logic devices, like the Zynq-7000 SoCs, to more people than ever.”

The element14 Community was the first community specifically built for engineers and now has over 650,000 engineering, maker and entrepreneurial members. The Path to Programmable program was developed following feedback from the members themselves, aimed to help engineers quickly adopt programmable logic device technology and to address any misconceptions they have about the difficulty of working with them.

Xilinx products are available from Newark in North America, Farnell in Europe and element14 in APAC.

element14.com, the world’s largest electronic design community, today announced the winners of its annual Community Awards. The awards showcase how  Premier Farnell, the Development Distributor, and element14.com encourage its members to create new and exciting electronics designs, and then share their process so others can learn from it.

A recent survey of the element14 Community shows that design engineers rely on a range of IoT hardware platforms to accelerate the development pace of their projects. Many community members said they depend on single board computers’ ready-to-use embedded development platforms for building end-products. One single board computer called out for its reliability was the Raspberry Pi, which is a key component of this year’s Best Design Challenge Project.

“Every year, our community blows us away with what they’re able to achieve, by combining their creativity and intelligence with Premier Farnell products, to come up with something completely original,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for element14.com and Premier Farnell. “Our community is always encouraging and supporting each other to keep pushing and creating new and interesting designs, and these awards are a true reflection of that. We’re so happy to be able offer a platform for our over 600,000-strong community to collaborate and can’t wait to see what they come up with in 2019.”

The top designs and most helpful contributors are featured in five winning categories: Member of the Year, Roadtester of the Year, Best Design Challenge Project of the Year, element14 Presents Video Project of the Year and Project14 Theme of the Year.

The winners of the element14 2018 Community Awards are:

• Member of the Year – Dixon Selvan – Selvan is a first-time Community Awards winner. He competed in the Design for a Cause challenge, submitted several RoadTest reviews, and contributed multiple projects to the monthly Project14 competitions. Selvan is a frequent contributor and integral member of the element14 Community.

• RoadTester of the Year – Gough Lui – Lui is this year’s top roadtester thanks to his extremely thorough review of a high-end Rohde & Schwarz oscilloscope that not only shared its benefits and capabilities with the community, but also helped to discover some minor software improvements. By taking the time to complete such a comprehensive roadtest, Lui helped the community get a better understanding of the product, and also helped make it better for future use.

• Best Design Challenge Project of the Year – Smart Range Hood by James O’Gorman – O’Gorman created a 5-star design with his impressive smart range hood that used custom sheet metal, 3D printed enclosures, and an interactive app to control the fan, touchscreen display and even a custom “Summon Husband” button. This project showed an array of skills, from design and coding, to 3D printing and PCB design. O’Gorman thoroughly documented his fails as well as his victories, sharing important insights into the design and build process.

• element14 Presents Video Project of the Year – Andy West’s “Game Genie” – West made vintage Atari fans’ dreams come true with his innovative “Game Geenie” for the Atari 2600 game system. Using FPGA, West created a way for players of the beloved classic video game to manipulate their games to make things easier (or harder), and even access content that wasn’t included in the proper release of the game.

• Project14 Theme of the Year – A new award for 2018, Robots With Wheels was the community’s favorite theme in 2018. Project14 hosts monthly project competitions around a specific theme, and by spurring on such fun designs like the 3D-printed CupRobot, RoboBobLet and even a real-life R2D2, it’s not hard to see why this theme was the community’s favorite.

To learn more about the 2018 Community Awards, visit

https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-91798/l/the-element14-community-2018-member-awards-winners-announced

element14.com, the online community for engineers, has announced their latest Project14 design contest, themed around ‘Home Automation’. Members of the online community will have the opportunity to create a project that enhances their living space using tech-based solutions such as machine learning, artificial intelligence and automated comfort control.

A monthly design competition open to makers and engineers of all backgrounds and skill levels, Project14 was developed to promote shared learning and co-operation among members of the element14 community. Participants are asked to document their progress through a series of blogs, with the best executed projects in with a chance of winning a $100 shopping cart for use at Farnell element14 in Europe, Newark element14 in North America or element14 in Asia Pacific.

All Project14 challenges are based on suggestions from element14 Community members, with each month’s theme selected by a public poll. The home automation challenge was suggested by community member Cristina Harrison, a developer from Dallas, USA. She was partially inspired by the popular sci-fi series Eureka, which featured an artificially intelligent home called S.A.R.A.H. (Self Actuated Residential Automated Habitat).

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community and Premier Farnell, said: “Project14 is an opportunity for makers and engineers to build confidence, share their talents and showcase their technical skills and creativity, no matter how much prior experience they may have.”

“By opening our monthly competitions to as broad an audience as possible, Project14 is enabling novices, experts and everyone in between to learn from each other and share the journey of turning an idea into a fully realised engineering project, without the need to invest a large amount of time or money.”

“The theme of Home Automation reflects a global rise in interest in smart domestic devices and connected living. I’m excited to see what our members come up with, and to welcome new creative voices into our community through this project.”

To enter the Project14 Home Automation Design Contest, participants simply need to register an account at the element14 Community and submit a blog entry detailing their idea and how they plan to develop it.

Submissions are open until 14 March 2019. For more information including full terms and conditions, visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/project14/homeautomation

To register to become a member of the element14 Community, visit http://www.element14.com/

element14.com, the world’s largest electronic design community, has launched the ‘Pi-Casso’ Design Challenge, encouraging its community to think outside the frame and create digital artwork that showcases the versatility of the Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. This latest design challenge from Premier Farnell underscores the Development Distributor’s commitment to push its community to create groundbreaking designs that surpass conventional thinking of what electronics projects can be.

“The world’s most famous artists from Van Gogh to Picasso broke barriers and created artwork that made a profound impact on the world, and our community members are creating groundbreaking designs every day that impact the world around them too,” said Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community. “With a focus on electronic designs and a product as versatile as Raspberry Pi as the centerpiece for this challenge, there’s no limit to what our community can accomplish.”

Challengers can either push their boundaries by using the computing power of Pi as the brains of their artistic work or use it to improve the aesthetics of their surroundings. Sample projects could include:

• Raspberry Pi art installation
• Camera Vision processing art
• Internet connected installation
• Interactive wall paper
• Room lighting control
• Gallery control system
• Mobile VR experience

Designers can apply to participate in Pi-Casso through February 28 by submitting their proposal online. On March 8, up to 15 challengers will be notified and given the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+, a Piface Digital 2, and a Raspberry Pi Camera V2 to build their design, but will only be required to use Raspberry Pi in their design. The challengers will have about 15 weeks to build their projects, and develop 10 blog posts sharing their progress with the element14 Community. Entries will be judged by a panel of judges from the Raspberry Pi Foundation, the element 14 Community and others on originality, innovation and technical merit. Winners will be announced in early June.

First prize winners will receive a MJI Mavic 2 Pro Videography Drone, second place winners will receive a Nikon D3500 DSLR, along with lenses and a lighting kit, and design challenge finishers will receive a Raspberry Pi Arcade Kit to help turn their Raspberry Pi into a miniature arcade cabinet.

To learn more about the ‘Pi-Casso’ Design Challenge, please visit www.element14.com/PiCasso

element14.com, the online community for engineers, has donated 250 micro:bit devices to support coding in the classroom, providing teachers around the world with the tools they need to facilitate a range of inspiring education projects.

‘The Great micro:bit Education Giveaway’ was launched in August 2018 and invited STEM educators to submit a proposal for a project they would like to run using micro:bit. 25 applicants were selected to receive a micro:bit club pack – each containing ten devices and associated accessories including batteries, adapters and USB cables.

The successful applicants were asked to document the progress of their projects on the element14 Community. Highlights included maker sessions for young and vulnerable children in New Brunswick, Canada, in a series of projects for G:RL Power Code Fest Americas - an event supporting young female coders in Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru – and the development of an interactive mental arithmetic challenge by a group of students in Pennsylvania, USA.

Three projects which were deemed to have demonstrated exceptional merit and creativity were selected for special recognition and a micro:bit prize package to help further their development. Educators Robert Ancell from New Zealand, Andrei Beloiu from Romania and Wil Lindsay from the USA were announced as the winners.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community and Premier Farnell, said: “As a key distributing partner for the micro:bit foundation, promoting coding and digital literacy in education is one of our highest priorities. The overwhelming global response to our Great Education Giveaway is a testament to the incredible things STEM teachers can accomplish with the right tools and support.”

Details of the Great micro:bit Education Challenge, including the winner blogs and project highlights, can be found here: https://www.element14.com/community/docs/DOC-91357/l/the-great-microbit-education-giveaway-winners

To register to become a member of the element14 Community, visit http://www.element14.com/

element14.com, the online community for engineers, has launched a second volume of their popular ‘Essential Tips for Makers’ eBook series, a free downloadable guidebook filled with practical tips and inspiration for readers looking to improve their skills in hands-on electronics.

The latest volume follows a highly successful first edition which was launched in 2017, and compiles advice from element14.com employees, engineers, professional makers and members of the element14 Community. Key topics include advice for getting the most out of a 3D printing project, how to maintain a professional-standard workbench and build a component inventory, safety in the workshop and more.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community , said: “As the world’s largest online community for electronics makers and engineers, we’re constantly inspired by the creativity and innovation displayed by our members. This new eBook shares tips from some of our most prolific contributors, partners from Hackster.io and the ‘element14 Presents’ team, among others. We hope the latest edition of our Essential Tips for Makers eBook offers some fresh perspective and encouragement to makers of all skill and experience levels.”

The new ‘Essential Tips for Makers’ eBook can be downloaded for free along with an extensive library of eBooks by becoming a registered member of the element14.com Community. Visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/publications/ebooks to browse the full collection.

element14.com, the online community for engineers, has announced the launch of their latest Project14 design contest, offering members the opportunity to develop a test instrumentation project using any components they like. The most creative submissions will be in with a chance of winning a professional tool set from Farnell element14 and a $100 shopping cart to use on the Farnell element14 transactional site.

A monthly design competition open to entrants of all skill levels, Project14 is aimed at helping participants to showcase their talents and learn from one another. Members of the element14 Community vote in an open poll to select a new theme each month, which entrants can then interpret in any way they see fit.

Prizes for the Test Instrumentation Design Contest include an 18-piece Journeyman tool set and a six-piece trim-out tool kit, both from Klein Tools. In addition, entrants who submit an idea involving the BBC micro:bit will receive a free device from the element14 Community to help them to develop their project.

Dianne Kibbey, Global Head of Community and Social Media for the element14 Community and Premier Farnell, said: “At element14.com, we welcome members of all skill levels, from new starters to experienced engineers. Project14 is our way of encouraging these members to share their skills and turn their ideas into real world projects.”

“The theme of test instrumentation incorporates many of the core disciplines of engineering, from working with microcontrollers and development boards to soldering and customisation. I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of creative and innovative projects our members are able to come up with for this competition.”

element14 Community member and Project14 participant Frank Milburn added “I would encourage anyone, especially students and those that might be watching from the sidelines, to enter these contests. I have learned something from each one I have entered, and have always received encouragement and helpful suggestions from community members.”

To enter the Project14 Test Instrumentation Design Contest, participants simply need to register an account at the element14 Community and submit a blog entry detailing their idea and how they plan to develop it.

Submissions are open until 14 November 2018. For more information including full terms and conditions, visit https://www.element14.com/community/community/project14/test-instrumentation

To register to become a member of the element14 Community, visit http://www.element14.com/