HP has opened the 3D Printing and DigitalManufacturing Center of Excellence in Barcelona, Spain. The research and development facility will offer working space so HP can collaborate with partners. Last week, HP Inc. opened the doors of its 3D Printing and Digital Manufacturing Center of Excellence in Barcelona, Spain. According to HP, the campus is one largest and most advanced research and development facilities for 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The new center brings together hundreds of additive manufacturing experts in more than 150,000 square feet of innovation space – about the size of three football fields. The company notes that the goal of the center is to transform the way the world designs and manufactures products. For years, Barcelona civic leaders have worked to position the city as a technology hub for Europe. The city is home to major technology trade shows, including IoT World Conference and Mobile World Congress. “Barcelona has always played a significant role in our journey to accelerate the future of digital manufacturing,” Ramon Pastor, GM and global head of plastics solutions for 3D printing and digital manufacturing at HP, told Design News. “Barcelona is at the forefront of innovation, helping us reinvent manufacturing and playing a key role in the development of our most impressive and advanced 3D printing technologies like Multi Jet Fusion and Metal Jet.” HP’s 3+ acre Barcelona facility is dedicated to the development of the company’s industrial 3D printing portfolio, providing a large-scale factory environment to collaborate with partners on digital manufacturing technologies. The center is designed to bring together digital manufacturing experts in systems engineering, data intelligence, software, materials science, design, and applications. “At the new facility, we’re uniting experts across multiple disciplines with the goal to bring new capabilities to our customers and further advance the role of emerging technologies, like 3D printing, within the larger digital manufacturing landscape,” said Pastor. The facility will integrate flexible and interactive layouts, co-development environments, and fleets of the latest HP plastics and metals 3D production systems. Companies such as BASF, GKN Metallurgy, Siemens, Volkswagen, and others across the automotive, industrial, healthcare, and consumer goods sectors will collaborate with HP on new 3D printing and digital manufacturing innovations. HP sees these collaborations as essential to expanding the capabilities and usefulness of 3D printing. “We believe that the key to wider adoption of industrial 3D printing lies in greater ecosystem collaboration – through the development of 3D technologies, software innovation, materials development, data intelligence, and parts production,” said Pastor. “With the opening of the center, we’re fostering a place to collaborate with our partners and experts to create solutions that enable the growth of digital manufacturing.” An Ec...

More than 20 billion Wi-Fi devices are forecasted to ship between 2019 and 2024, according to a new market data report from global tech market advisory firm, ABI Research. Continued growth in traditional markets of strength, alongside traction in mesh networking systems, smart home, automotive, and IoT applications will drive the Wi-Fi market forward to nearly 4 billion annual device shipments by 2024. “2019 marks the 20th anniversary of Wi-Fi, though the technology shows no signs of slowing down,” says Andrew Zignani, Principal Analyst, ABI Research. “Wi-Fi 6 is quickly gaining momentum in networking devices, while client devices are already arriving into the market and are anticipated to ramp up considerably over the next 12-18 months. The need for faster, more reliable, more efficient, and more widespread Wi-Fi coverage is becoming increasingly vital in a world filled with more Wi-Fi devices at both ends of the performance spectrum, from high resolution streaming and low latency gaming to battery constrained IoT devices,” says Zignani. Wi-Fi’s expansion into the 60GHz and sub-1GHz bands through WiGig and HaLow have been considerably slower, though ABI Research anticipates these technologies will carve out their own success in the coming years. “WiGig still has considerable potential for point-to-point applications such as wireless video streaming, virtual reality, and docking, and has recently seen considerable traction in fixed wireless access applications. HaLow chipsets and IP are finally coming to the market thanks to efforts from start-ups as Newracom, Morse Micro, and Palma Ceia SemiDesign among others, and the inherent flexibility of the technology could make it very attractive in LPWA type applications,” says Zignani. However, most exciting of all is the anticipated availability of 6GHz spectrum over the next few years. “Though there is much work to be done here from a regulatory perspective, the addition of a possible 1.2GHz of additional spectrum for Wi-Fi that will be unencumbered by legacy Wi-Fi technologies could lead to an unprecedented performance and capacity boost for Wi-Fi in the future,” says Zignani. “The Wi-Fi 6 standard is adding support for 6GHz capabilities, and work is already underway for the next generation that will take full advantage of the new spectrum. These enhancements combined will ensure that Wi-Fi will continue to drive value well into its 30th anniversary and beyond,” Zignani concludes. These findings are from ABI Research’s Wireless Connectivity Technology Segmentation & Addressable Markets market data. This report is part of the company’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Wireless Connectivity research service, which includes research, data, and analyst Insights. Market Data spreadsheets are composed of deep data, market share analysis, and highly segmented, service-specific forecasts to provide detailed insight where opportunities lie.

Melbourne will be the first city outside the US to host trials of Uber Air, a service the company describes as “aerial ridesharing” that will shuttle people from rooftop to rooftop for the price of an UberX. The company has flagged test flights will begin next year, with commercial operations to start in 2023. Passengers will travel in “electric vertical take-off” contraptions. The service will operate using the Uber app, allowing passengers to travel across a network of landing pads called “Skyports”. Uber spokesman Eric Allison said the concept had the potential to reduce traffic congestion which costs the Australian economy an estimated $16.5bn a year. “The 19km journey from the CBD to Melbourne airport can take anywhere from 25 minutes to around an hour by car in peak hour, but with Uber Air this will take around 10 minutes,” Allison said. Dallas and Los Angeles in the US will also be pilot cities. Melbourne beat cities in Brazil, France, India and Japan. The Victorian treasurer, Tim Pallas, said the announcement was testament to Melbourne’s record of innovation. “Victorians have a can-do attitude and we hope Uber Air will give us the altitude to match it,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday. Pallas said there had been no request from Uber for financing. He said he wanted to put his hand up as the first customer. “I’m Uber excited,” he joked. RMIT University aerospace engineer expert Matthew Marino said the concept would potentially be safer than driverless cars. “While a driverless car would be faced with obstacles on the road like pedestrians on their mobile phones or other vehicles like trams and buses, aerial autonomous vehicles don’t have these obstructions,” he said. “We need to prove to people that this technology can be as safe as helicopters, which regularly fly in our cities. More research and development are needed in this area.” Centre for Urban Research expert Chris De Gruyter was sceptical about whether Uber Air can can solve transport problems. “These vehicles are very low capacity – similar to what a car could carry – while there are also questions about if these vehicles will create visual clutter in the sky and how environmentally friendly they are,” he said. “Another risk is empty running, where there are no passengers, but the vehicle has to travel to pick people up from another location.”

Connected technologies have revolutionized modern life in countless ways, and they are now starting to change the way cities work. The “smart city” movement is gaining traction worldwide, and it’s opened up a new world of possibilities to forward-thinking municipal planners. Transportation demand management (TDM) is a key part in the emergence of smart city strategy and smart mobility around the world. The role of technology is expected to increase as ICTs continue to be integrated in cities in novel ways. With the rise of the sharing economy, new modes, and a variety of app-based mobility services, people have more choices for getting around than ever before. The challenge for planners and large employers is to optimize efficiency, and help commuters make sense of and use these new choices in safe, sustainable ways. While smart mobility often relies on technology, it is critical to develop and implement thoughtful programs and policy to support it. With those factors in mind, let’s explore a few emerging concepts around smart mobility and smart transportation. Smart Mobility at the Policy Level Smart cities are born at the municipal planning level, when city officials make a financial and philosophical commitment to building one. Specific to TDM, some examples of high-impact smart transportation policies include concepts like congestion pricing, demand-based parking fees, low-emission zones, and toll lanes on roads and highways. Congestion pricing is a strategy that sees drivers and public transit users pay a premium to access roads and services at peak times. In theory, it provides a strong disincentive for joining the traffic fray during high-volume periods, which in turn reduces congestion and crowding while facilitating the smoother flow of traffic. Similarly, demand-based parking fees are designed to maximize both space usage and availability. Low-emission zones are becoming popular in European cities. They are designed to restrict or prevent the entry of high-pollution vehicles to low-emission urban areas, thus cutting pollution and improving local air quality. In North America and elsewhere, toll lanes are appearing with greater frequency. Several different toll models are used, with one of the most common requiring drivers to pay to use express highway lanes. Vehicles carrying a certain minimum number of passengers can be exempted from the fee, providing a financial motivation for carpooling. There are many other examples of such policies. For instance, some cities use license plate restrictions to limit vehicle use on certain days, while others use entry regulations to cut vehicle volumes and traffic congestion. The Connected Vehicle Connected sensors, known as the Internet of Things (IoT) can provide valuable data to city planners. Supported by smart programs, data from IoT can be used to further improve traffic flow and service performance. Connected devices in the IoT include the smart phones and other personal devices many of u...

The global e-sports market is set to reach new heights, according to a recent study. Total revenue for the global e-sports market will hit $1.1 billion in 2019, representing a 26.7% year-over-year growth rate compared to the $897.2 million it generated in 2018, says a new study from gaming researcher NewZoo. If e-sports can reach that level, it’ll be the first time the industry has posted earnings of $1 billion in a single year. According to NewZoo, the lion’s share of the proceeds—$456.7 million—will come byway of sponsorships that see companies paying players and venues to promote their brands. Media rights will hit $251.3 million this year, followed by advertising income of $189.2 million. Merchandise and tickets and game publisher fees will round out the spending with $103.7 million and $95.2 million in earnings, respectively. The data clearly shows what many industry watchers have known for quite some time: e-sports have officially become big business. In competitions around the globe, video game players compete in e-sports tournaments in teams or individually. They compete in a variety of games, including Madden NFL, Fortnite, Dota 2, and others. Along the way, players can make a nice living just by being among the top video game players in the world. The revenue growth is due in no small part to the industry’s rapid audience growth. In 2017, there were 335 million people interested in e-sports around the world, according to NewZoo. That figure will grow to 454 million this year and could reach 645 million in 2022. That year, total earnings is expected to hit $1.8 billion, but if the industry continues to boost its monetization opportunities, it could hit a height of $3.2 billion in 2022, NewZoo said.

China produced 794,000 new energy vehicles in 2017, a substantial rise of 53.8% from a year earlier, including 478,000 battery-electric passenger vehicles, an upsurge of 81.7% year on year, and 114,000 plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles, up 40.3% year on year, 188,000 battery-electric commercial vehicles, rising by 22.2% year on year, and 14,000 plug-in hybrid commercial vehicles, decreasing by 24.9% year on year. In 2017, new energy vehicles made up 2.7% of China’s total production and sales of automobiles (output: 29.015 million units, sales: 28.879 million units), an increase of 0.9 percentage points over the previous year. New energy vehicle ownership approximated 1.53 million units in China in 2017, basically attaining the phased target of the Planning for the Development of New Energy Vehicle during 2012-2020. It is expected that EV sales will reach 2.11 million units in 2020 with EV ownership exceeding 5 million units. Driven by rapid development of new energy vehicles, the supporting facilities like charging station and charging pile also flourish. Charging station ownership in China soared from 76 in 2010 to 6,900 in 2017 at a CAGR of 190%. The number of public charging piles skyrocketed from 1,122 to 230,000 at a CAGR of 213.9% during the same period. In addition to public charging piles, private charging pile ownership reached around 245,000 units in 2017, thus bringing the country’s total number of charging piles up to nearly 630,000. The construction of charging piles in major cities that promote new energy vehicles in China is as follows: 1. By the end of 2017, Beijing had built approximately 115,000 charging piles. There were about 80,800 charging piles for private use, around 18,800 charging piles for public use (in 2,070 open sites), and 13,000 charging piles in more than 1,500 charging/battery swap stations built for special purpose and in the public places owned by enterprises and institutions. 2. By the end of 2017, 129,986 charging/battery swap facilities had been connected to the municipal platform in Shanghai, including 25,707 pubic charging piles, 21,332 dedicated charging piles, and 82,947 private charging piles. Shanghai had a total of 161,748 new energy vehicles on a car-to-pile ratio of 1:0.81. 3. By the end of 2017, Guangdong had built 690 charging stations and 60,000 charging piles, including 38 intercity quick-charge stations and 120 intercity quick-charge piles at expressway service areas. As to industrial policies, China introduced a series of documents, such as the Circular on Issues Related to the Policy on Price of Electricity Used by EVs, the Circular on Rewarding the Construction of New Energy Vehicle Charging Facilities, and the Circular on Incentive Policies on New Energy Vehicle Charging Facilities and Strengthening the Popularization and Application of New Energy Vehicles during the 13th Five-year Plan Period (Draft for Comment), encouraging the construction of charging piles and allocating central fiscal ...