• Question: Have you ever invented something "new"?

    Asked by 579spcn52 to Andrew, Hina, Ian, Kathryn, Leah-Nani, Xu on 12 Jun 2018.
    • Photo: Kathryn Burrows

      Kathryn Burrows answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      No not really. The code I write is technically ‘new’ but it is not an invention as such.

    • Photo: Ian Jones

      Ian Jones answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      Yes. I designed the digital signal processor for the Inmarsat Aero satellite phone. This was before digital modems were developed and pioneered the design of digital modems.

      I also designed a software system for controlling satellite earth stations. This allowed the BBC News producers to press a few buttons to connect to any news correspondent via satellite link.

      As part of a team, I developed the system for correcting the Doppler shift on Inmarsat satellites – this was the system that was used to detect the direction that the lost Malaysian Airlines jet took.

    • Photo: Andrew Margetts-Kelly

      Andrew Margetts-Kelly answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      I’ve invented a few things, one was a clever way to make a RADAR work in a tricky environment.

      The one I’m most proud of though is a new battery chemistry that’ll hopefully make it to market in the coming years. It’ll hopefully transform the cost and performance of electric vehicles, as well as make it possible to have huge grid storage batteries to store renewable energy.

    • Photo: Leah-Nani Alconcel

      Leah-Nani Alconcel answered on 12 Jun 2018:

      Not in the sense that I developed something you could patent. But I have made measurements of things that have never been observed before. That’s what a lot of science research does. I measured properties of the smashed-up bits of molecules that are formed during combustion processes.

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