Future of communication

by | Mar 2, 2021 | Design, Essay

Starlink

A 500-word journalistic article about the future of communication.

When you think about the future, a few names may pop into your mind. For some people, it may be Tony stark with the iron man suit. For some others, it may be Bill Gates with technology from Microsoft. There are a lot of cool technologies yet to come from all the big tech companies. But with the recent development in space, the final frontier. SpaceX, a company own by Elon Musk, has just made a massive step towards the future.

Are you happy with your current internet speed? Have you ever had trouble connecting to the world in the wild? That is where Starlink comes in. Starlink is the latest technology the tech giant Elon Musk is putting up. The idea is to provide people with fast, reliable everywhere, even the most remote places.
Starlink has said the users should experience above-average speed. Saying the download speed up to 150 Mb/s and latency as low as 20 ms. This is a huge deal! For business, this means you can pass information such as stock much quicker. If a London business wants to know some information from the New York stock exchange. Typically, it would take on average 76 ms at the moment. However, with Starlink, the latency theoretically would be around 43 ms due to how it is set up. That is a 77 percent increase in speed! The difference in time to a business could mean the difference of millions of pounds.

How does SpaceX do it?

The plan is to have an initial constellation of 12,000 satellites. This would be creating a network at a low earth orbit of 550km. Each satellite will communicate with each other by using lasers. In space, there is no atmosphere. Therefore lasers can travel with less resistance. All the users need is a kit that consists of only 4 components. It is straightforward for ordinary people to install.

12,000 satellites? That is a lot! What about space pollutions? Isn’t there are already too much?

The Starlink satellites have a trick up their sleeves. They can deorbit themselves with an onboard booster. Meaning that they will burn up in the atmosphere at the end of their life. Very eco-friendly!

All the compliment aside, Starlink did have some troubles along the way. After the first two test satellite, SpaceX launched 360 more satellite into orbit. It was a sight to behold, but it caused pain to the astronomers. Because of the material Starlink was made from, they were very reflective. In 2019, two astronomers were looking at some images from a telescope in Chile. All they saw was the train of satellites flies across the sky. That is a huge issue, as that is only 360 satellites. What would 12,000 do? SpaceX has since addressed the issue by giving the satellites darkening treatments. “We are currently detecting roughly a 55 percent reduction in the reflective brightness of DarkSat compared to the other Starlink satellites.” Says Jeremy Tregloan-Reed from the University of Antofagasta. But according to other experts, it is still too bright.

Whether or not Starlink is the future of the internet is still to be decided. But the direction of SpaceX looks just as bright as their satellites.

Image from the video ‘ Why SpaceX is Making Starlink’

Time laps image showing the passage of the Starlink satellites through Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile. Credit: CTIO, NOIRLab, NSF AURA and DECam DELVE Survey

Week 1

by | Apr 18, 2019 | Design

Week 1

during the first week, I did research into some of the images that I have gathered and looking into some inspirations. I also made some mood boards just to show my thought process and try to inspier myself.

Personal inspiration board

I made a personal manifesto board that shows what my inspirations are, where I got them and what my design aim is. The board is made up of images from the Tentsmuir Forest that expresses nature and some existing product that is addressing some of the environmental issues and reconnecting people with nature.

Product Design 

For the product design mood board, I looked into some of the existing product, from swimming suit made out of completely out of plastic found in sea to a mushroom lamp. I also found inspirations that I gathered in Tentsmuir. I also added in some quick modelling of some ideas that I have thought of, that includes a collapsible staircase to sun chair inspired by shells.

Found object 

This is a found object that I was able to find. It’s an old car radio. This particular one is quite old, there is both a and Cassette player as well as FM and AM  radio. I took it apart and had a look through the component looking to get some inspiration.

As I was taking the radio apart, I saw that the radio had an old fashioned channel diel. So I thought that as it’s a classic it quite cool. Therefore, I looked into some of the old radios.
These are some of the classic radios, they are all made out of wood, and they all have an arrow pointer to show the channel.

History on radios

  • Nikolai Tesla is the person who invented the first radio
  • Before 1920s radio was for ships at sea communicating with each other via Morse code.
  • WWI where the military found the radio to be a very useful tool for communication.
  • 1920 where radio became increasingly popular among the civilians.
  • 1922 The BBC started as the first broadcasting channel.
  • 1926 AT & T started broadcasting.
  • 1926 newspaper strike so the BBC became the mainstream of news broadcasting channel.
  • WWII radio while still being useful on the battlefield journalists started to use it and relay information to the public and gain public support.
  • After WWII the Top 40 started as a music entertainment around the same time FM takes over AM
  • Modern days we have two-way digital radios.

To reconnect people to nature, people needs to take a step out first. I started looking things that would aid people relax in the wild. 

Hammock

I looked into hammocks because they are a piece of common relaxing equipment used in camping and expeditions. They are easy to set up and depending on which one you get, they can be packed up very small.

Swing

Swing is also a good method for relaxation, most people find the motion of a swing relaxing, by having a swing in the wild, people can enjoy them self and reconnect with nature while relaxing.

Sun chair

Sun chairs are a popular product that people use to relax by the pool, by the sea or just in their back garden. However, by making the chair more eco-friendly, not only they would look more athletically pleasing, they are also saving the planet.

Tents

when you go out camping, a tent is a must. having a great tent can enhance the camping experience and it’s where you would rest after a day of activities.

Materials

I looked into some of materials that might be good to use on my products

Upright type

This moss type is known as Poltrichum and is found on lawns that have dry areas. They form an upright growth habit and can grow up to 100mm high but can adapt and tolerate close mowing down to a height of 25mm.

Mat-forming Moss

These moss types are known as Byrum and Ceratodon spp, the small vertical stems grow from 1mm – 25mm high and form in a tight mat.

Epoxy

they are great to work with and you can die whatever colour you want, which give you a lot of variations. they are also waterproof and they can bond to a wide range of materials.

Inspiration

Fish

To reconnect with nature, so I thought “What about fish?”. They have a naturally streamlined body shape, this property would make a great outline for a modern product. Also, 71 per cent of the earth is covered by water, therefore there are no better spices than fish to reconnect with nature.

Week 2

by | Apr 18, 2019 | Design

Week 2

With all the research done last week, I started to draw up some concept ideas. each had some influence from at least one area of research.

This idea is a collapsible staircase. I have thought of it during my research, but with further research on resin, I thought that, if I were to incorporate resin, people could add personalisation to the product. by having half of the original thickness on the stair board took away, you can put in anything customer would like to add to personalise their staircase. As sown in drawing, you can even make a mountain range by only cut away part of the material.
With this idea, I looked into the natural shapes of shell, how they have this beautiful curve. so I experimented on some of the curvy shapes for a sun chair. The chair will be laminated or it will be built on a flexible skeleton. Lamination is to ensure the material can bend ever so slightly, this way the user can have that bouncy feeling when sitting on the product. And the flexible skeleton is so that the user can adjust the position of the chair, and therefore to find the perfect position whenever needed. The material I have chosen to be bamboo, they are a fast growing and versatile material that is perfect for lamination and work with, the material is also cheap.
I looked into ideas for a swing. I took some inspiration from park swings, there is those basket where people can sit in them and swing. the surface area on those kinds of swing allows the user to lay back and enjoy which is one of the huge benefits to help people relax. The second kind is seating swing in a cocoon shape. This way the swing gives the user the ability to sit back and enjoy nature. These kinds of swing will also be lined with mat form moss, therefore, to achieve max comfort while using natural material. The last idea is simple. it’s to reuse fishing net and turn them into hammocks.
I was inspired by the innovation of having tents that are hanging from a tree. Most tents are to be pinned to the ground. and most ideas I have seen that is hanging from a tree, they all very cool, but if the weather was bad them their stability is questionable. So I thought, what about a tent that is wrapped around a tree? this way the tree itself is will become the support.
I was inspired by fish and radio. Here I am designing a radio that you can listen to the sound of nature anywhere around the globe. All ideas include the old fashioned channel slide bar. I also thought of using the outline of fish to show elements of nature. There are the back dorsal fins and just simple outline of a fish.

Models

Below are some simple models that I have made to test out my ideas

This was to show the collapsible staircase at it’s collapsed state

This shows when the staircase is extended, how people would walk on it

This shows the tent wrapped around a tree

This is a hammock that is made from Fishnet

Suns bench that is made to bend to the human body

Another bench shape inspired by shells

This is a model where the idea is that the material itself will be flexible and springy, this will provide comfort to the user.

This is a model I made using found objects. it’s representing a radio where the cutouts are the CD and the cassette player and the two knobs I took off of a car radio

This is one variation of the seating swing model

This is a model to show the disc swings, how it ould look with rope

This is another disc-shaped swing with a different mounting method

This is a swing where moss will grow on its skeleton and become a comfortable swing chair

Week 3 – 4

by | Apr 18, 2019 | Design

Week 3 – 4

At the beginning of week 3, I started to develop and select design ideas that I want to carry on with.

i decided to carry forward my Tent and Radio ideas

Tent

 

I chose to develop my tent idea. I thought about how the tent will actually be used. the tent would have a strap for the tent to be hung from the base of a branch, this way the tent can support its vertical weight. There is also a zip down the middle of the tent so that the user can zit the tent around the tree. the bottom will be inflated for structural support as well as comfort.

This design idea benefits the user as this tent have 360 degrees of living space and the tent can withstand potential rough weather.

 

 

For further development, I took the idea a bit further. The further developed version has all the basic features as the previous one. But, this time I added s storage space at the bottom of the tent. This way user can maximise the living space up on top. The storage space is separated by the inflatable floor and a trap door with zippers. Campers can take out their essential gear and leave all the other luggage in the storage compartment, and therefore, minimise the mess within the tents.

Radio

So thinking of having a map, but how do I want users to see the world map? so I first thought that by using an LCD screen, you can project the locations of the source of the natural sound.
To develop the Radio idea, keeping the channel diel, I thought of adding some of the basic features on the radio like a CD player or a Cassette player. but then I thought that if the radio is broadcasted all around the world, then people would want to know where the sound is from. So I thought a map would really help.
Model
I finally decided to go with the Radio idea and started to model some improvements that I could be making to the product.
I cut out the shape of the radio so I can draw on it and have a good idea of where everything is, and how they can fit together. I added a CD player to see how it would fit together and then I tested with the world map. This is just to see how aesthetically they would compare.
I liked the model with the world map on as I feel that gives the product more character. So I took the 2D model and made it into 3D, this way I can see what the product may look like.
During modeling I realised that to reconnect people with nature, it would be better for the user if they wish, to find out what creature is making the noise in the radio. This way people can learn about what they are listening to, this would include basic information as their habitat and their main food source and how endangered they are. therefore, by using the product we can raise awearness to the enviromental changes that are around the world.
This is a model of simulating how the channel diel would work underneath the surface of the radio. This perticuler model did not work as there was too much friction on the rollers, therefore, the string would not operate as expected.

Final design & Prototype

I did a final design drawing, and on it, I have included the LCD screen for the animal identification. And instead of an LCD screen for the map too, I went with the design where there is just a lot of small LED lights that all the LED light together makes a world map. This way it would bring down the cost of the product and shows the accurate position of where the sounds are from. The product will also be made out of FSC approved wood, this was the radio can maintain the characteristic of all vintage radio dose as they are all made from wood.

In this model, to simulate the LED working I made a pressure switch so that when pressed on the side, the prototype LED would light up.

Instruction booklet

I have made this instruction booklet to help the user a more in-depth guide on how to use the product.

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