Engineering the Future With Mobile Phones

The rise of the mobile phone, from the large brick-like phones of the 80’s to today’s modern business tool is now driving economic growth in the developing world, according to Tom Standage, Digital Editor of The Economist. Standage stated that the cell phone is ‘the single most transformative tool for development’. Of the six billion mobile phones in the world, three-quarters of them are found in developing countries, and their impact cannot be questioned. Robert Jensen, an economist at Harvard, recently completed research measuring the impact mobile phones had on the economy of developing nations. He studied the prices of fish in Southern India and discovered that after the introduction of the mobile phone and sufficient network coverage, waste was reduced, consumer prices fell and fishermen’s profits increased by eight per cent.

Getting to this stage wasn’t easy though, especially not for engineers. We look at three areas of engineering that have helped enable this development of the mobile phone industry and why they are still busy shaping the future of the cell phone.

Electronic engineering

After years of researching how technology can build new products and developing new processes for manufacturing and design, electronic and electrical engineers have finally managed to create mobile phones capable of browsing the web and phoning friends or colleagues who are the other side of the world whilst still being capable of fitting in your pocket.

This particular field of engineering is ever expanding and is partly why the UK government believe there will be an increase in demand for engineering graduates within the next ten years.

Manufacturing engineering

Modern manufacturing engineers have been able to use their skills to reduce costs and increase output within mobile phone factories. Automation and robotics are now playing a crucial part in the manufacturing process, allowing companies to reduce their costs whilst increasing their productivity. The phone companies are always looking for ways to increase their profits though, whether that be through enhancing existing systems or developing new ones. Manufacturing engineering is a field that is changing, but definitely not declining. If this is a field you want to be a part of you can browse our course directory to find manufacturing engineering courses abroad.

Telecommunications engineers

The rapid development, expansion and acceptance of mobile phones has lead to the development of a new role within the engineering role; that of the telecommunications engineer. Telecommunication is a diverse field of engineering and includes electronics, civil, structural, and electrical engineering. This new role is one that encompasses and touches all corners of the world through the mobile phone industry, from the production of the phones, to enhancing the signal strength in a lonely town in Australia, a role as a telecoms engineer really could take you anywhere. Ultimately, telecommunications engineers are responsible for providing customers the infrastructure and tools to use the telephone in their pocket with high-speed data services. If this is an area of engineering that you want to work in, you can use our search tool to find telecommunications engineering courses abroad.

The engineering world is changing rapidly, fuelled largely by the increase in popularity of the mobile phone across the planet. Becoming an engineer could give you the chance to shape what is to come.

Check out our Engineering Directory for more information on studying engineering degrees abroad.