Last night was the conference dinner, and before you ask, yes I feel that today. It was held in an old church in Edinburgh called Mansfield Traquair, which is a really beautiful old building that has been refurbished into a social venue.
We started out with a "wee" glass of champagne as the Scots would say, and then were guided to our tables in the main hall of the church. The food was excellent and the wine was good, but I must say that the entertainment was not quite my cup of tea, with musical numbers between each course performed by "Stars of the West End". Mind you, they were all great performers, but I'm not very keen on all those musical songs. They even managed to mangle Queen's "We are the champions" at the end...
Fortunately, due to great company at the table by Simon Roberts and others, the evening was not a total loss. Thanks guys.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
SEAS / DTC conference
Today and tomorrow I'm in Edinburgh for the Systems Engineering for Autonomous Systems conference. This is a conference on autonomous systems put on by the British Ministry of Defense, presenting the results of research done for mostly military purpose.
Then why am I here? The short answer is that we try to learn what we can about buiding autonomous systems in our own domain (oil and gas operations), and the research has come furthest in the military domain. We were first turned on to this conference last year by our good friends at AOS last year, and have been participating ever since. This year it is my turn.
I hope to learn as much as I can about the wast range of topics presented, ranging from architecture of autonomous systems to sensor utilization and communication.
I really think this could be relevant for our work in the coming years.
Also very interested to hear in the opening session this morning the focus on agility and agile concepts in wast research projects such as these. It is good to see that even though they talk about systems engineering, the focus of analysis and specification has been turned down in favor of capabilities and demonstration.
Then why am I here? The short answer is that we try to learn what we can about buiding autonomous systems in our own domain (oil and gas operations), and the research has come furthest in the military domain. We were first turned on to this conference last year by our good friends at AOS last year, and have been participating ever since. This year it is my turn.
I hope to learn as much as I can about the wast range of topics presented, ranging from architecture of autonomous systems to sensor utilization and communication.
I really think this could be relevant for our work in the coming years.
Also very interested to hear in the opening session this morning the focus on agility and agile concepts in wast research projects such as these. It is good to see that even though they talk about systems engineering, the focus of analysis and specification has been turned down in favor of capabilities and demonstration.
Monday, June 23, 2008
The beautiful city of Edinburgh
I'm here in Edinburgh for the SEAS/DTC conference (more on this later), and I must say that this is a very beautiful city. I'm especially taken by the location of the castle on the hill in the middle of the city.
I went for a walk tonight after settling in at the hotel, and got to see the sun set on the parapets of the castle. Very beautiful indeed. You should definitely come here if you get the chance.
I went for a walk tonight after settling in at the hotel, and got to see the sun set on the parapets of the castle. Very beautiful indeed. You should definitely come here if you get the chance.
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