When we started planning WUELUG09, we already knew it would be a special occasion; after all, it was our 2nd anniversary! What we did not anticipate however, was the necessity of completely digitising it! Our latest meeting had a record attendance, informative presentations about DIAdem and error handling and of course Snake on an FPGA!
Digitising WUELUG
Due to the ongoing pandemic, ensuring the safety and health of all our participants was our utmost priority. Naturally, we immediately made the switch to an online platform. Fortunately, two presentations were already planned to be remote.
We hosted WUELUG09 on Microsoft Teams. We made this decision after testing many other solutions with our customers. Teams offered the best combination in features, stability and quality. Of course, it wasn’t without its hitches, but after a bit of set-up everything ran relatively smoothly.
Our workflow consisted of disabling everyone’s mics and cameras, except for the current speaker and moderator. Unfortunately, due to the lessened opportunities for socialising this meeting was a bit more formal than usual. And of course, our beloved pizza-break was sorely missed…
The presentations of WUELUG09
We kicked off the meeting with a presentation from Walter Rick, any employee of National Instruments. He demonstrated the capabilities and functionalities of DIAdem. DIAdem was created in response to the growing ubiquity of big data in the current world. This software is an easy way to analyse all your measurement data and even create reports from it. Walter gave us a valuable insight into how it works, and we are definitely considering implementing it in our workflow.
The next presentation was by our virtual hosts. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the opportunity for an actual insight into the company, but we learned more than enough from Thomas Henkel. EP Ehrler Prüftechnik Engineering‘s speciality is the measurement technology of fluid dynamics. They are heavily involved with testing, calibrating and inspecting systems.
Perhaps the most fun presentation was Pascal Heinen’s. Pascal is a big fan of retro-gaming and he one day decided to merge his hobby with his work. After a huge amount of work, he made the well-known Snake run on an FPGA. He demonstrated the functionalities and gave an in-depth explanation of exactly how it works. Even how he hand-drew the required pixel art.
Employees of EP Ehrler Prüftechnik Engineering returned once again for a presentation, this time on their error handling workflow.
Conclusion and what’s next
As always, we had tremendous fun! Even a fully digital WUELUG is enjoyable. In fact, this WUELUG had the highest attendance ever! We’re so glad, that WUELUG can continue to grow even against adversity. Another benefit of taking part is gathering recertification points. Some members even managed to recertify for their CLA and CLD exams.
The next WUELUG meeting is in three months. According to our plans, Firma Weber will be our host. However, realistically thinking, there’s an enormous chance, that we’ll be remote once again. This has proven to be no obstacle for us and we are looking froward to meting all of you again!
Of course, a huge bonus of having remote meetings is the recording capabilities. So, if you missed out for some reason, be sure to check out the video! It is long, but definitely worth it! 🙂
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