2013 Berlin Conference Registration Open!

The Annual Airborne Wind Energy Conference is going to be held in Berlin this year on the 10th and 11th of September. Registration is now open, all the details are here: http://www.awec2013.de/tickets.htm . A great thing the organisers have done this year is subsidise the tickets for students so the student price is only 24 Euros!

As a reviewer for a couple of the papers I know the technical submissions are better than ever and the papers are going to be published by Springer in what will be the first book of Airborne Wind Energy papers.

A "spectacular event" is going to be held on the 9th for those there early, lets hope this is a live demo of some kite power equipment...

EMPA delivers the goods

Also recently in the news, EMPA  the Swiss material science research institution that brought you Tensairity has been collaborating with SwissKitePower on stiff lightweight kites that look to have a Tensairity stiffening member that forms the leading edge. Less bridling means less drag and a stiff leading edge means you can load the wing up more, the wing is pretty high aspect and judging by the speed it gets up to in the video below, the lift/drag ratio is pretty good, and their test site is stunning! Can't wait to see more from these guys, the EMPA spinout is called TwingTec.

"Working on similar", Jobs in Airborne Wind Energy

I once went to a talk given by the  robotics/electronics wizard and legendary toy designer Tony Ellis. He recounted stories of going to toy manufacturers to pitch his ideas. Occasionally the prospective customer would declare on the NDA that they were "Working on similar" effectively getting out of non-disclosure constraints and letting them shamelessly pinch Tony's ideas.

Very tangentially this comes to the reason why I haven't posted for over two years! I've been 'working on similar' in a UK airborne wind energy startup. I basically didn't trust myself not to disclose proprietary information, as I can get over-enthusiastic on occasion! Things have moved on somewhat now so I figure it's worth posting again.

To start with, our team keeps growing so there are 2 full-time jobs going in Airborne Wind Energy in the Southeast UK. Must have fluent English and right to work in UK.Work with a great team on a ridiculously challenging test and development programme.

1 x Software Engineering role, (Location Flexible):
Masters/PhD level or equivalent industrial experience. Ideally experience in at least 2 of the following:  Matlab, C/C++, Java, Git (or similar), Scala, AKKA, Maven (or similar), Embedded Systems, Robotics/Automation.

1x Mechanical Engineering role
Masters level or equivalent industrial experience. Ideally experience in Solidworks and in Industral design/fabrication/prototyping. Hands on aswell as computer experience preferred. NOW FILLED

You could be flying here!

We also have internships available for CompSci/AI/AeroEng/MechEng students, and can offer industrial collaboration projects for Masters theses,   if you are interested please contact me through the blog.