Focus on innovation and renewal during D&E event

The renewed edition of the annual D&E event of FHI is over and was a great success. On Wednesday April 19, 254 visitors reported to Congrescentrum 1931 in 's-Hertogenbosch to be updated on trends and developments around design automation and embedded systems.

This year, for the first time, the exhibitors organized live demonstrations on the trade fair floor. Interested parties could try out an innovation themselves to see how it works. Many demos were linked to the lecture program so that visitors could put the theory into practice immediately after the presentation. This setup was worth repeating, as was evident from the enthusiastic reactions afterwards from visitors and exhibitors.

“It was all very positive. The atmosphere was good, the halls were full, there was genuine interest in the substantive lectures and there were positive sounds from exhibitors. The interest in the D&E event is illustrative of the potential of the field”.

Paul Petersen, director of FHI

Ecological footprint electronics

Program manager Geert Willems of imec opened the event with a technical lecture on the ecological footprint of electronics. Willems focused on the concept of a lean ecodesign methodology, based on a parameterized Life Cycle Inventory analysis. He made his audience aware of the impact that electronics has on our environment and what companies can do in concrete terms to make their processes more sustainable.

Humor

After the opening lecture, visitors could choose from parallel sessions with a focus on hardware, software, test and measurement, engineering or research & development. In addition to serious content, there was also time for humor. 

For example, Hans Zijlstra of Elincom electronics had been working with Li-Ion batteries in his backyard the weekend before the event. He showed visitors what happens when you use batteries in the wrong conditions. The explosions that followed, generated a lot of commentary from the audience and made it clear in one fell swoop how important correct battery use is for safety. 

Awareness

Visitors could also count on action at the INDES-IDS stand. Using a real-life crasher, the company gave an example of problems that can occur in embedded systems and how to detect and solve these problems. 

The plenary double lecture of ASML presented by Dick van Hees and Ruud van Beek, about right first time was a worthy conclusion of the successful day. Very nice was the connection that the presenters made with the demos of Phoenix Contact and Würth Elektronik. ASML translated the error margins that were made on the trade show floor during the demos to an ASML machine.

During the drinks, exhibitors and visitors continued to chat for a long time and it became clear once again how topical embedded systems and design automation are for the rapidly changing technological developments worldwide.

The presentations of the D&E event are to read back on the event website. 

See you next year at D&E 2024!