The professional competence of people working on safety related systems is important to all of us, especially as electrical engineers. Ray Ward will discuss the IET guidelines on this subject, the background to them, current work and the way forward. Can you afford to miss this important review?

For forty years, transistors have been shrinking, and computers have been growing more powerful, but transistors will reach their size limit in ten years' time. Researchers are therefore looking at all sorts of new nanometre-scale devices, including single electron transistors, quantum cellular automata, molecule-sized transistors and other exotica. This talk will sketch out the prospects for the future.

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Anglia Polytechnic University, Rivermead Campus

This annual commemorative lecture always features a high profile speaker on a key subject. Watch out for further details in the IET Essex Newsletters.

Followed by dinner in the Riverside Dining Room.

Contact Alison Ford at Savoy Place for information and dinner tickets:-0207 344 5436

Geophysical survey is now used routinely for the location and mapping of archaeological remains. A wide range of techniques are employed and this lecture aims to introduce the principles and instrumentation involved, illustrated by case studies undertaken by the English Heritage, Archaeometry Branch.

A summer outing by coach is proposed to Littlebrook Power Station and The Historic Dockyard, Chatham for Saturday 22nd June, 2002. Charge for the outing is £25 per person not including lunch.

Our visit to Littlebrook Power Station will consist of a 2 hours guided tour. Construction of Station A was started in 1939. Stations B, C and D followed in 1945, 1949 and 1977. Oil fired Station D is the only one still operational today. There are three GEC 35 MW gas turbines capable of starting up the station should there be a complete collapse of the grid system. An electrostatic precipitator is used to remove dust particles from the flue gasses. The old Station A boiler house has been converted to house a reactor simulator. On privatisation ownership passed to National Power now renamed Innogy.

The Historic Dockyard Chatham occupies an 80 acres site and is the most complete dockyard from the age of sail in the world. Our visit will include a 1½ hours guided tour. Some aspects and sights attractive to visitors are listed below.

47 scheduled ancient monuments, mainly Georgian and Victorian.
Commissioner's garden
Wooden Walls - shows how warships in the age of sail were built including working exhibitions with sights, sounds and smells of the original working dockyard.
Ropery - traditional rope making displayed in ¼ mile long building.
Royal Dockyard Museum showing 400 years of dockyard history.
Sloop HMS Gannet (Victorian)
Destroyer HMS Cavalier (World War II)
Submarine HMS Ocelot (built at Chatham)
RNLI national collection of lifeboats.

The provisional timetable is as follows:-
08.35 board coach in Railway Street, behind Chelmsford Railway Station.
08.50 to 09.30 coach to Littlebrook Power Station
09.30 to 11.30 guided tour of Power Station
11.30 to 12.00 coach to Historic Dockyard, Chatham
12.00 to 13.30 lunch if required in the Wheelwrights' Restaurant
13.30 to 15.00 guided tour of Historic Dockyard
15.00 to 16.00 further touring of Dockyard (no guide)
16.00 board coach
16.15 to 17.30 coach back to Railway Street, Chelmsford.

Use multi-storey car park in Mill Road behind Chelmsford Railway Station. (Charge £1.60 on Saturdays)

Rega's philosophy is to manufacture audiophile standard audio equipment at reasonable prices. Come and see their manufacturing location, and find out how they strike the balance between quality and cost.
Pre-registration required: email events.essex@iee.org