Research at the SRI is focussing on the effect of vibration and shock on portable electronics such as mobile phones, helping to understand how components mounted within the phones will respond to these stresses. Finite element analysis is used to model the behaviour of the printed circuit board under impact conditions (simulating a phone dropping from a table) and the stress and strain waves within the board are then used as boundary conditions for detailed solder joint models, allowing the life of the joint to be estimated. Use is also made of CAD and rapid prototyping facilities to build experimental models for testing.