On 2 December 2013, Professor Edward Stansfield (IMA Councillor and member) will be giving a lecture in conjunction with the Institute of Physics at AWE in Aldermaston, West Berkshire.
The Seventh and final IOP branch lecture of the 2013 series is a joint lecture with the IMA and will be “Communications and Navigation: Driven by Mathematics” by Edward Stansfield and will take place on the 2nd December at the William Penney Theatre at AWE. Tea/Coffee and Biscuits will be served from 7pm and the lecture will start at 7:30pm. The lecture is open to all, including children and non-members. Please email Dave Parkes (David.Parkes@awe.co.uk)if you wish to attend so that the correct amount of refreshments can be arranged.
Abstract:
This talk will explain the basic principles of modern communications and navigations systems. It will first be shown how the way in which humans produce speech is exploited in the digital age, leading to today’s proliferation of mobile telephones. It will then be shown how the methods used by the early mariners have been updated in modern navigation aids to provide safer transport on land, at sea and in the air. Attention will be drawn to the fact that that although these two distinct technologies are seemingly very different, they actually require similar mathematical algorithms for their operation. The talk will finish with a short demonstration to provide some mathematical entertainment.
Speaker Biography:
After gaining a BSc in electrical engineering from UCL, Edward spent a summer vacation working on an aircraft blind landing system. He then studied speech recognition at Imperial College for his PhD. For the next 9 years he was in The Netherlands, working on military voice and data communications. He then joined Racal Research (now Thales) in Reading, where for more than 31 years he worked on the design and analysis of algorithms for communications, navigation and other systems. During this period, he also studied pure and applied mathematics for his BA from the Open University. Now retired, he continues to be active as an IMA Councillor and a Visiting Professor at Reading University in the School of Systems Engineering. He is a Chartered Engineer, Mathematician and Scientist.
There is no charge for the lecture, but so that the organisers can cater for tea/coffee and biscuits, please contact Dave Parkes (David.Parkes@awe.co.uk) if you wish to attend.
