GE  today announced an order from AE Energia for fast, digital power in Angola. The order includes seven TM2500 mobile aeroderivative gas turbine generator sets, services agreements and digital solutions for PRODEL, the state-owned company responsible for power production. The TM2500 units will be installed in Namibe, Huila and Cuando Cubango provinces and will be capable of providing the remaining 200 megawatts (MW) of power for the government to achieve a targeted one gigawatt (GW) of electricity by end of 2018. Today’s announcement comes on the heels of  AE Energia and GE’s ongoing work together at the Soyo 750 MW combined cycle power plant, as well as six units of GE’s 2016 TM2500 project in Angola  being connected to the grid earlier in April.

“Our industry-leading TM2500 units deliver reliable and efficient power with speed, and with the addition of these seven units up to an additional 15 percent of the population of Angola can gain access to electricity,” said Scott Strazik, chief commercial officer of GE’s Gas Power Systems business. “We are very proud to help achieve this significant milestone and look forward to continuing to support Angola’s ambitious energy goals in the years to come.”

Angola’s national grid, built in the 1970’s, is now aging and in need of upgrade and rehabilitation as the grid is currently able to provide electricity to only about 30 percent of the population. The TM2500 generator set, which is trailer mounted and can be installed faster than traditional power plants, is ideally suited to meet Angola’s energy needs. Together, the seven units will be used for grid stability in existing plants as well as provide electricity to off-grid communities.

GE will provide the generating equipment, installation, commissioning, fuel treatment solution, spares and electrical balance of plant to PRODEL. The order’s multi-year service agreements for up to nine TM2500 generator sets will support optimum performance, efficiency and reliability of the equipment for a period of six years. The services agreements also include GE’s Predix*  based Asset Performance Management (APM)  software, which was deployed for the first time in aeroderative gas turbines with the Marubeni project in Japan  in April 2017. GE’s APM software leverages data analytics to monitor power generation and transmission equipment health to predict potential failures and thereby reduce unplanned downtime by up to 5%, lower operations and maintenance costs, and lower operational risks.

AE Energia, a leading Angolan promoter, integrator and implementation partner, will oversee the project execution with GE in the region to ensure seamless execution in delivering to PRODEL. “AE Energia will collaborate with GE on the project execution and work on behalf of the Angolan government to connect the best global power company with the local private sector power company delivering capability in Angola,” said Ricardo Machado, CEO of AE Energia. Our goal is to ensure the country gets full value for money as we provide the local know how to support GE in every phase of this power project responding to the national priorities for the energy sector.”

GE and the Angola Ministry of Energy and Water signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2014 to achieve the country’s additional electric power generation capacity target of 2000 MW. Currently GE technology is responsible for approximately 50 percent of Angola’s electricity generation, and today’s announcement represents another phase of the implementation of the GE Power for Angola program. GE delivers across the entire energy ecosystem (www.GEEnergyEcosystem.com) for Angola’s national development, from generation to transmission and distribution (www.GEGridSolutions.com) as well as long term service guarantees.

GE has been operating in Angola since 1967. Today, GE employs more than 500 people in Angola, in businesses spanning across key sectors including oil and gas, power, water and rail transportation.

Chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices reported lower-than-expected quarterly revenue in its business that supplies server chips, sending its shares down 11% in after-market trading on Monday.

Revenue in AMD’s business, which manufactures chips for the server industry and also gaming consoles, rose 5% to $391 million. However, that missed analysts’ average estimate of $442.1 million, according to financial data and analytics firm FactSet.

The miss overshadowed robust performance in the company’s computing and graphics business, driven by demand for its latest Ryzen processors and its graphics chips.

AMD also forecast second-quarter revenue to rise about 12% year-over-year at the midpoint.

Analysts on average were expecting revenue to rise about 9% to $1.12 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The Sunnyvale, California-based company’s new Ryzen processors, aimed at the personal computer market, have helped rekindle its rivalry with Intel, which has long dominated the industry.

AMD’s graphics processors, used in gaming consoles including Playstation 4 and Xbox One, have also gained a foothold in the low- to mid-range market for PC chips that are used to power video games. Rival Nvidia has long controlled the high-end of the market, mostly for the people that play on high-end gaming computers with the best gaming mouse for fps so they need matching hardware.

AMD’s net loss narrowed to $73 million, or 8 cents per share, in the first quarter ended April 1, from $109 million, or 14 cents per share, a year earlier.

AMD’s shares, which joined the broader S&P 500 index in March, had risen more than 20% this year through Monday’s close, outperforming the 12% gain in the Philadelphia semiconductor index.

The stock had risen more than four-fold last year.

The following software solutions can help you get to speed to making and flying your drones and UAVs.

BRL CAD

BRL-CAD is an open source combinatorial constructive solid geometry (CSG) modelling system. According to its legacy, the US military also used this software to simulate weapon systems for vulnerability and lethality analyses. Interestingly, solid modelling is frequently used in academia and industries apart from defence simulations. This software packs itself with interactive 3D solid geometry editing, high-performance ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis. With network-distributed frame buffer support, image- and signal-processing tools, path-tracing and photon mapping support, the software helps simulate realistic images of events.

As an add-on, there is an embedded scripting interface and libraries for robust high-performance geometric representation and analysis in this tool. Some interesting simulations with this software include radiation dose planning, medical visualisation, computer graphics education, CSG concepts and modelling education, and system performance benchmark testing.

Magic VLSI

Magic is an open source EDA tool that directly competes with other commercial tools in providing features for streamlining product design flow. The simplified design rules and circuit structures take manufacturing and designing process a step ahead in time, while the interactive editor and built-in layout rules, circuits, transistors and efficient routing support intuitively assist in last minute modifications and dissolve the complexity involved in the design process. Magic was originally coded to focus on tool command language but, over time, its engineers optimised it to process designs and fabrications.

myNetPCB

If you ever wanted a PCB application that has all the convenient features to support your design, the search would end with myNetPCB. This Java based Windows application helps you create schematic circuits using custom symbols, inserting wires, drawing buses, junctions and connections. The software could be stored on any USB flash drive and launched from the same location, unlike other software that are not portable in a USB. Being a Java application, it enables you to carry your designs anywhere, and plug and play from what has been saved to the utility. The software gives the freedom to import data from XML file format and export the generated design to extensible markup language (XML), portable network graphics (PNG) or joint photographic experts group (JPG) file format. It contains editing options to load symbols of inductor, LCD, diode, ground, resistor, resonator, transistor or jumper, along with the possibility to create user-defined symbols using various drawing tools, such as rectangles, ellipses, arcs, lines, triangles, pins and labels.

IndigoSCADA

Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) are dedicated software application programs for process control and real-time data gathering from remote locations to control equipment and conditions. With IndigoSCADA you can capture real-time and historical graphical representation of data in your manufacturing unit.

PX4

This open source package of software introduces you to setting up and flying PX4 drones while learning all that there is about flight control and configurations. With this software, learn how to tune a multicopter, sync flight controller with autopilot software and much more. PX4 ground control station is called QGroundControl, bundled into the package, which is an integral part of the autopilot system. QGroundControl runs on Widows, Linux and other platforms, and gets you started with real-time flight information, fully autonomous missions and drone racing.

By Shanosh Kumar -a BCA graduate from Bangalore University and MBA from Christ University, Bengaluru