NEWSLETTER

A House  Journal of

IEEE Kerala Section

Volume 9 Number 3
July - September 2000

 

YEAR 2000 
Chairman's Message 

Dear Enginieeer 

I had the privilege of representing the section at the IEEE Region 1- Meeting (29-30- Sep 2000) just concluded at Langkawi, Malaysia. Apart from the members of the Region 10 Directorate and the Regional Activities Board (RAB), there were delegates from Australia, Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore and Taiwan. Takuo Sugano - Region 10 Director - presided over the meetings and Mr.Antonio C Bestos - VP (Regional Activities) and RAB Chair - spoke at the opening session on 29th. 

On 30th, Mr.Teck Seng Low, the R 10 Director for 2001, presented his team and the proposed activities for 2001. TENCON 2001 (19-22 Aug 2001) will be held at Superstar Virgo, Straits of Malacca Cruise, with stops at Phuket Island, Lankawi Island and Singapore. TENCON 2002 will be in Beijing. The IEEE Section Congress 2002 will be in Washington in Oct.2002. 

Two day training session at Langkawi addressed many important issues. I bring you some of the highlights of interest. 
1. GOLD Programme (http://www.ieee.org/gold/) 

IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) programme for Region 10 is co-ordinated by Mr. A.Anoop of Bangalore Section (a.anoop@ieee.org). GOLD is a peer group among IEEE young members to help bridge the transition from student to career professional. Kerala Section needs to look closely at this opportunity. 

a. Create an affinity group of GOLD members. (Section will receive USD 180 as rebate for such a group). 

b. Have a GOLD chair at the section. (We will do this at our next EC). 

c. The GOLD programme is eligible for a Quick Start Incentive Funding (QSIF) of upto USD 500. 

d. Organise Gold Activities like Special Interest Groups, Distinguished Lecture Talks, Mentor Programmes, Social Activities, Fun activities, etc. 

I feel it will be a good idea to build the Gold programmes to start with, at Kerala Section around Technopark where we have several young members. The benefits to the section are the young volunteer force, membership development and increased interest in IEEE among students and young engineers, and the benefits to members include networking opportunities, leadership training, career guidance, recognition, team experience etc. Another encouraging trend in this direction in Kerala in these days, is that a few companies have started funding IEEE membership to fresh campus recruits. 

2. Student Activities. (Contact: Ms.Gozde bozdagi, RAB Vice Chair, Student Activities at g.bozdagi@ieee.org) 

Student Exchange Programmes and Student Branch Awards are the new interesting concepts that we need to explore. Another idea is to create web pages for student branches and Society Chapters where their activities can be projected. I request Ajay Ghosh to take note and act on this. For every student member, there is a subsidy of USD 1 and for every new student branch, a start-up fund of USD 100. 

3. IEEE Reference List of Educational Programmes (REP List) 

The IEEE Reference list of Educational Programs Committee (REPCOM) has requested for our help in maintaining the currency of the REP list. The REP list is the list of approved programmes for granting Member Grade to graduates. So it is in the interest of our Section that we regularly update the list. From among the Kerala Colleges, the Engineering Colleges that have some (but not all) of their programmes listed in the REP List are: 
Calicut (REC), Cannannore, Chengannur, Cochin, Kothamangalam, Kottayam, Palghat, Quilon, Trichur and Trivandrum. I request the Student Activities Co-ordinator at IEEE Kerala Section to take initiative to update the REP list. I have with me the REP questionnaire forms for recommending Educational Programmes. 

The 26th Annual Convention and Exhibition of IEEE India Council will be held at Mumbai during Dec 15-17 2000 on the theme “Software Challenges Ahead”. The Mumbai Section has sought for our support in promoting the event and in getting good participation from Kerala. 

Before concluding, let me remind all members of the IEEE Annual Elections 2000. Please do vote and send your ballots in me. Among the candidates for Region 10 Director - Elect, 
2001-02 we have Prof.HP Khincha from India. 

To VOTE, follow these three simple steps. 
a. SIGN the ballot in the BOX. 
b. Vote the candidate of your choice 
c. Put the ballot (including the signed portion) in the ballot envelope, seal and send either directly or through IEEE Kerala Section. I would recommend sending through the IEEE Kerala Section at the following address: 
IEEE Kerala Section, Harmonieee, 2696-5, Ambujavilasom Road, 
Thiruvananthapuram 695 001 

 
K G satheeshkumar 

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Diary of Events 

05-07-2000 “Internet - Broad band Options” - Er. N.T Nair, Vice President, CMS Computers. 
07 to 09-07-2000  IEEE Students Congress-2000 at MRC Nagar, R.A.Puram, Chennai-600028. 
12-07-2000 “R & D Management” - V.B.Sreenivasan, CMD, Keltron at Amphitheatre, ER&DCI. 
18-07-2000 Fifth Executive Committee meeting of IEEE Kerala Section at 18.30 hrs. 
19-07-2000 “Digital Image Processing & its Applications” - Dr. K. Kesavasamy, TCS, Technopark, Trivandrum. 
26-07-2000 “Creativity, Time and Management” - Dr. N.N Panicker, Tatsat Corporation. 
28 to 29-07-2000 Annual seminar on “Technology Convergence for Global Communication” organised at Technopark, Trivandrum. 
02-08-2000 “Sustainable Development” - Er. S.Subramania Ayyar, Former Chairman, Railway Recruitment Board, Kerala. 
09-08-2000 “Computer in Medicine” - Dr. Jothy Dev, Asst. Professor of Medicine, Medical College, Trivandrum. 
16-08-2000 “Towards Dependable Software” - Er. R.Narayanan, Tata Consultancy Services. 
23-08-2000 “Automobile Design” - Er. Rajiv Nair, Auto-Design Consultant. 
24-08-2000 One day workshop on “Latest Trends in Power Electronics” by IA & IE Societies Chapter at ER&DCI. 
30-08-2000 “Creativity in Youth Mobilisation” - Dr. N.N.Panicker, Tatsat Corporation. 
06-09-2000 “Smart Structural Systems” - Dr. A.R.Acharya, Dy. Director, VSSC. 
20-09-2000 “Networking & Process Control” - Er. N.Krishnan, Additional Director, ER&DCI. 
23-09-2000 Sixth Executive Committee meeting at 18.30 hrs. 
   
Forthcoming Events 

04-10-2000 “Vacuum Dewatered Concrete” - R. Subash Chandra Bose, 
Rtd S.E, PWD. 
11-10-2000 “Role of Professional Societies in the Information Age”- 
N.T. Nair, Vice President, CMS Computers, Trivandrum. 
13 to 15-10-2000 “e-go” a National Convention of Computer Engineers at IE hall, Trivandrum organised by IE (I), Kerala Centre. 
24-10-2000 “Optical Networks” - R.Muraleedharan, OSS Systems (I) Pvt Ltd, Mumbai (under IEEE Computer Society India Distinguished Visitors Programme). 
10 & 11 -11-2000 All Kerala IEEE Students Congress 2000 at Mammen Mappilai Hall, Ko 

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Section Activities 

MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS 

Er. P.P Ramachandran, Principal General Manager, Kerala Telecom delivered the keynote address on “Mobile Communications” on 17-05-2000 in connection with the World Communications Day. He gave a bird's eye view on his perceptions on communication techniques in a very impressive manner. All human beings have an urge to communicate.  Even as a child, it communicates by crying.  Access to information is even more essential than basic raw materials in economic development. Internet with its vast spread and reach has made information available and telecommunication provides access to that information. 

He remarked that  Cellular mobile communication is growing rapidly due to the convenience it provides to the users.  It can reach inaccessible areas where conventional telephones cannot penetrate.  The third generation (3G) system of mobile phones will come into the market in the next two years and then “seamless global roaming” will become common.  It will also lead to converge between cellular mobile and the internet.  He opined that if tariff structure is reduced mobile telephones will become more popular in India also. The Department of Telecom may provide mobile telephone service from 2001-2002 and the tariffs may then become affordable to common man.  Radio paging, mobile radio trunk services, etc. are other mobile communication systems, even though they are not very popular is our country.  WLL (Wireless Local Loop) has limited mobile capacity and will be introduced in Kerala soon. 

He concluded his talk with the remark that the mobile Satellite personal communication, as and when introduced, will be the most attractive mobile communication system, even though it may be very expensive. 

PETROLEUM CONSERVATION IN TRANSPORT 

On 24-05-2000 Er. M.N.Prasad, Chairman (Rtd), Railway Board, rendered a lecture on “Petroleum Conservation in Transport”. In his speech he said that India's yearly consumption of petroleum products is estimated at 108 million tonnes, of which around 50 m.t are met from imports.  The transport sector accounts for 90% of the petrol and 80% of the diesel consumed in the country. 

Railways are the most energy-efficient mode of overland transport, consuming only about one-fifth of the energy needed for road haulage.  In terms of the net tonnage hauled, the advantage of the railways is more pronounced in the case of freight traffic than that of passenger traffic, because of the better payload-to-tare ratio of the former. 

In the matter of petroleum conservation, Indian Railways have the added advantage that nearly 60% of its freight traffic is hauled by electric traction. 

In view of the foregoing, it would be in the interest of the national economy to maximise the Railways' share of traffic, especially freight.  But unfortunately, the Railways' share of freight traffic has been coming down steeply, over the years, despite the fact that the quantum of rail-borne traffic has been increasing year by year. From a detailed study, it could be evident that the accelerated diversion of freight traffic from rail to road during the last 8 year period, resulting in excess consumption of HSD to the tune of nearly 3 million tonnes. 

Mr. Prasad concluded his speech with the remark “it would be in the national interest to arrest this unfavourable trend through suitable policy measures, as well as assigning higher priority to the Railway's capacity augmentation needs, both infrastructure and rolling stock”. 

ENERGY MANAGEMENT 

On 07-06-2000 Prof. V.K.Damodaran, Director Energy Management Centre, presented a talk on Energy Management. It dealt with Energy Management Priorities for India, in which the highlighted the economic and technical compulsions for evolving a Policy and charting out a realistic and time bound action programme embracing all sections of the society for energy management.  Inspite of growth of energy production both in the conventional and non-conventional sources of energy in the country, the position of increasing scarcity in the years to come as well as the growing burden on foreign exchange reserves were graphically unraveled through authentic data by the speaker. 

He pointed out that the energy intensity of India is still high, inspite of many developments in the area of energy conservation. In industries, the productivity can be raised and environment stipulations met satisfactorily by going through proper energy management, at the same time reducing on inputs and raising profits. Domestic, commercial, transportation and agricultural sectors can also reap large benefits through energy conservation. 

Citing the activities of Energy Management Centre - Kerala in all the above sectors, Prof. Damodran stated that the introduction of Information Technology techniques can control energy consumption for huge savings for the users, in an otherwise low technology, traditional sector. He concluded the speech by assuring that at domestic and community levels, use of firewood through simple gadgets designed by the Centre, can be brought down drastically to levels of 20-25 percentage. 

The talk was interesting and also interactive. 

THE ENGINEER AND PROFESSIONAL RISKS 

A talk on 'The Engineer and Professional Risks' was held on 14-06-2000 by Er. P.N.Bhaskaran Nair, M.D(Rtd), RITES. Under the various safety regulations now in vogue, any engineer could be charged with criminal prosecution for "something done or not done at work".  Efforts should be made to minimise the risk of engineers being punished for actions which they are not directly responsible.  Engineers have developed an impressive number of scientifically based mathematical models, which are enshrined as codes, standards and regulations. These models have many limitations and they are not known to the community. So the people are under the impression that the models give precise and comprehensive answers to technical problems.  This image is not totally correct and the people should be informed about it. 

In spite of mathematical models, we heavily depend on adhoc assumptions.  An example is the "factor of safety" concept.  Even our latest codes may use directly only notional probability of failure, which does not give sufficient weight to the risk of human error.  It has been estimated that only 10 percent of all structural failures can be attributed to a statistical variation in either the applied load or the member resistance.  Human error accounts for the remaining 90 per cent. 

He continued that our ideas of safety are dependent on linear modeling of systems and hence cannot be realistic for all circumstances. It is how recognised that nature is full of something called "deterministic chaos".  The insights from the "chaos theory" may enable engineers to make the community understand that engineering is not an exact science and that as in most professions, a risk is involved in most engineering decisions.  The new insight of "Chaos" converge on the notions that no boundary condition is discrete and that any boundary conditions such as tolerances can collapse into instability without any warning. 

He concluded by stating that a conscious effort should be made to heighten the understanding within the community about the risks involved even in proper engineering practices and thus create a better environment of the profession. 

CUSTOM POWER 

Mrs. K.A.Fathima, Additional Director, ER&DCI rendered a speech on "Custom Power" on 21-06-2000. She started her presentation by narrating the power line disturbances such as voltage spikes, sags and outages incur heavy loss to electric utility customers.  The basic reason in that the minor power disruptions which once would have been notices only as a momentary flickering of the lights may now interrupt a whole automated factory assembly line, because of sensitive electronic controllers or make all the computers in an office go blank at once.  Even one cycle of outage or two cycles of a 25 % voltage dip can cause unprotected computers to malfunction. 

To overcome these difficulties she proposed the idea of custom power. Custom power devices are  a group of new generation power electronic controllers installed on distribution side which will enable utilities to provide premium quality electricity to customers with sensitive loads.  This provides customers with a cost effective alternative to installing their own power conditioning equipments.  Custom power devices consist of different types of power electronic controllers like Solid State Breakers (SSBs) Solid State Transfer Switch (SSTS), Dynamic Voltage Restorer (DVR), Static Compensator (STARCOM) etc. The talk was very informative and well attended by professionals. 

CREATIVITY IN WATER MANAGEMENT 

On 06-28-2000  Dr. N.N.Panicker presented a talk on "Creativity in Water Management". Explaining the severity of water problem all over the world, Dr. Panicker proposed ways and means to solve the problem by creative management  very beginning from the resource in the various phases of collection to storage, transport, use, reuse, recycle and recharge.  A mere 100 mm of rainfall when captured in one hectare of land gives as much as one million litres of water.  So we can conclude that a paradigm shift is required on our perception about water management.  Securing good water is everyone's responsibility and right.  So facilitation of self-management through self-employment is the solution. 

He pointed out that even though 60% of all water is utilised for irrigation, irrigated land is producing only 36% of the total food grains.  New methods of agriculture, where wastage of water is prevented, should be developed.  Crops with shorter duration, salt-tolerant corps, etc. can be tried.  Compost manure can improve water-retentivity.  Industrial effluents can be treated by bio-technical methods and water reused. 

INTERNET-BROAD BAND OPTIONS 

Internet - Broad band Options” is the topic presented by Er. N.T Nair, Vice President, CMS Computers 05-07-2000. He pronounced that once, a sleepy computer network for researchers and academics, the internet has now become a mass medium and a global market place in just a few short years.  With the increase in its use for mail exchange, web surfing, video on demand etc. even by the common man, there is a sudden demand for higher band width to avail the services at a higher speed. 

Major break through came in the form of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).  By this, ordinary phone lines are transformed into super fast digital pipes for internet use.  This allow the internet to be always on and has a capacity of 8 Mbps downstream of 1 Mbps upstream.  There are various improved versions of DSL such as ADSL, G-LITE-ADSL, VDSL, etc.  With a cable modem, cable TV network can be used for internet connections.  But for uploading, phone also has be used and so it may not be profitable.  DSL will overtake cable modem in connectivity.  Optical fibre will be the delivery-medium ultimately, possibly till last point. 

He concluded by stating that there is also a move towards wireless web to provide internet facility in mobile phones. 

R & D MANAGEMENT 

On 12-07-2000 V.B.Sreenivasan, CMD, Keltron rendered a talk on "R & D Management". He started from the inception of the modern management theory and said that R & D is essential for technological progress.  R & D alone can lead to cost effectiveness.  R & D involves concepts of functional design, tolerance design, reliability, maintainability, productivity, concurrent engineering and design of experiment. 

R & D requires thinkers and they look for recognition, professional satisfaction, and opportunities  to excel.  So in man-management of R & D persons, an environment must be created so as to make everyone involved in the job.  This will develop a sense of belonging in  them and will lead to successful functioning of the organisation.  The techniques of general management are equally applicable in R & D. He stressed that software is also a part of it which can adopt available management technique. 

DIGITAL IMAGE PROCESSING & ITS     APPLICATIONS 

A talk on "Digital Image Processing & its Applications" by Dr. K. Kesavasamy, TCS, Technopark, Trivandrum was held on 19-07-2000. He explained how Digital Images are represented by a matrix of numbers and how they are used as different components of Digital Image Processing such as statistics, filtering, enhancement, classification, rectification etc.  The images may have noises (distortions) and there are noise removal algorithms like distance weighted and central weighted filters.  For edge enhancement/ edge extraction, high pass filters are used.  The applications of DIP are wide and some of the important fields where DIP finds lot of importance are remote sensing, medical field and crime detection.  Misinterpretation of original images through DIP is a remote possibility and better enhancement and interpretation of images overweighs this negative aspect. The talk was well attended by a good audience including students. 
 

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IEEE Chapter News 

IEEE Computer Society News 

DISTINGUISHED VISITOR PROGRAMME (DVP) 

The IEEE Computer Society India Distinguished Visitors Programme for the year 2000-2001 has been finalised and the following are the details. 
The office bearers and members are encouraged to make maximum use of this programme funded by the IEEE Computer Society by arranging talks on their areas of expertise. For this contact the Programme Committee Co-ordinator. 
The IEEE Computer Society will reimburse the Speaker the to and fro air fare to the Section and the Section need only take care of the local hospitality of the Speaker. 
Programme Committee Coordinator: 
Prof. S.S.S.P.Rao 
Computer Science and Engineering Department 
IIT Mumbai,Powai, Mumbai 400 076. 
e-mail:ssspr@cse.iitb.ernet.in 

India-DVP Speakers list: 

1. Prof. Gautam Barua, IIT, Guwahati 781 001. 
 e-mail: gb0iitg.ernet.in 
 Areas: Distributed Systems, Computer Networks,   Computer Architecture. 

2. Mr. P.Sadanandan, NCST, Mumbai 400 005. 
 e-mail:ps@ncst.ernet.in 
 Areas: Software Engineering, Database Management,  Data Warehousing. 

3. Dr. S.P. Mudur, NCST, Mumbai 400 005. 
 email : mudur@ncst.ernet.in 
 Areas : Computer Graphics and Vision, Geometric   modeling, Global illumination and image synthesis, physically based modeling and visualisation, Localisation, and multimedia virtual environment technology, geometry compression and web based imaging. 

 4. Mr. S. Manivanan, VSL Instruments Ltd, Bangalore 561 229, 
 email : mani@vxlind.globemail.com 
 Areas : System Hardware Design, Computer Engg. & Parallel  Processing. 

5. Prof: H.S. Jamadagni, II Sc, Bangalore - 560 012. 
 email : hasjam@cedt.iisc.ernet.in 
 Areas : Computer Networks, VLSI for wireless networks,  Embedded systems. 

6. Prof. G. Sivakumar, IIT, Bombay 
 email : siva@dse.iitb.ernet.in 
 Topics : Computer Networks, Logic Programming, Distributed  Systems and Algorithms Software and Protocol Verification. 

7. Dr.G.Venkatesh, Silicon Automation Systems, Bangalore. 
 email : gv@sasi.ernet.in 
 Topics: Logic Programming, Temporal Logic and its 
 applications, VLSI and CAD Tools. 

8. Mr.R.Muralidharan, OSS Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd.,Mumbai. 
 email : r.muralidharan@ieee.org 
 Areas: Real Time Systems, Computer Architecture, Software  Engineering, Hardware-Software co-design, Optical Networks & Management. 

9. Mr.Rajat Gupta, Cypress (India) Pvt Ltd., Bangalore. 
 email: arg@cypress.com 
 Areas: Alternative VLSI design paradigms, viz. Analog- 
 Digital partitioning, tradeoffs, discovery. 

IAS & IES Chapter 

WORKSHOP ON LATEST TRENDS IN  
POWER   ELECTRONICS 

The joint chapter on Industry Applications & Industrial Electronics Societies has organised a 
 one day workshop on "Latest Trends in Power Electronics" on 24-08-2000 at Amphitheatre, ER&DCI, Trivandrum. The event is co-sponsored by ER&DCI, Trivandrum and Keptech Power Controls (P) Ltd, New Delhi. 

Technical papers were presented by experts from IISc, Bangalore, ER&DCI, Trivandrum and Energy Management Centre, Trivandrum. More than 30 delegates from various industries, research institutes and academic institutions were attended the workshop. 
The workshop was inaugurated by Mr. P.C.Rajan Babu, Chief Electrical Inspector, Government of Kerala with Mr.K.G.Satheesh Kumar, Chief Executive, Technopark, Trivandrum in the presidential chair. Dr. Madhu Mangal, Chairman, Joint Chapter IAS & IES proposed welcome speech and Mr. R.Sudeepkumar, Secretary Joint Chapter IAS & IES delivered vote of thanks. 
 The papers presented in the technical session are "Power Electronics and Energy management" by Prof V.K.Damodaran, Energy Management Centre, "Switched Mode Power conversion" by Prof V.Ramanarayanan, IISc Bangalore, "Power Electronic controller for Electronic Vehicle Propulsion" by Dr. Z.V.Lakaparambil, ER&DCI, "Power Controller for Wind Electric Generators" by A.K.Unnikrishnan, ER&DCI and "Sensorless AC Drive" Gautam Poddar, ER&DCI. 
 

From inaugural session of Workshop
Prof. Rama Narayanan, PC Rajan Babu, KG Satheeshkumar, VK Damodaran & Sudeepkumar

Prof. V rama Narayanan presenting paper on
"Switched Mode Power Electronics"

After the technical session, Dr. N.Prabhakaran, Professor, REC Calicut made a concluding technical speech regarding the workshop and his experience in the field.The workshop provided a platform for engineers and researchers to discuss the present scenario of Power Electronics and to the manufacturers a unique opportunity to gain insight into the recent developments in the field and to present the ideas based on their experience. 
 

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Students Corner  
Activities and Reports 

ACTIVITIES 

College of Engineering, Chengannur Students Branch has conducted the following programmes in the last quarter. 
 *Computer classes on C++ and HTML & Web Design 
 *Mock interview 

STUDENTS CONGRESS 2000 

The IEEE Students Congress 2000 was conducted with the theme "IT and Education" at Chennai on 7th to 9th July 2000. The Congress was inaugurated by Dr. R.Natarajan, Director, IIT Chennai. Dr.A.K.Aggarwal, Chairman IEEE, India Council presided and Dr. M.Ananthakrishnan delivered the key note address on IT and Education. A number of topics such as SPAC, SPAVe, Yuforic, Gold programmes, Leadership Training, Communication Skills & Team Working, etc were dealt with by many IEEE members over the three days. 

Mohamed Shamim former Chairman Student branch Chengannur Engineering College has attended the Congress. 

ELIXIR 
Exploring the frontiers of technology 

All Kerala IEEE Students Congress 2000 

Date 
November 10th and 11th 2000 

Hosted by 
College of Engineering, Chengannur. 

Venue 
Mammen Mappilai Hall, Kottayam. 

EVENTS 
* ELIXIR SCRIPTS – On-the-spot programming contest 
* ELIXIR INFO QUEST – Technical Quiz 
* ELIXIR BRAIN WAVES – Electronic Circuit Design contest 
*ELIXIR THE PAPERS – Paper presentation 
* ELIXIR Ad Blitz – Brand wars 
* ELIXIR SYMPOSIUM – Technical seminar. 

Students from professional and non-professional colleges hailing from all over the State are invited. 
For more details contact: 
AMITH RAJ NAIR 
Chairman, IEEE Student Branch 
College of Engineering, Chengannur. 
e-mail: ieeecec@bharatmail.com 

ATTENTION TO IEEE MEMBERS 

IEEE 2000 ANNUAL ELECTION  
Members are requested to exercise the votes in the ballot received from the Headquarters and sent in time.

Please note:  
* The Region 10 Delegate-Elect/Director-Elect, 2001-2002 
 candidates are: 
   1. H.P Khincha, IISc, Bangalore. 
   2. Janina Mazierka, James Cook University, Australia. 
   3. Juny U. Seo, Ministry of Science & Technology. 
* Remember the last date to reach USA is 1st November 2000. 

Your vote is important as well as your signature in the box. 
To avoid possible delay in mail service–  MAIL EARLY 
To increase voter participation IEEE is condu- cting a draw. Ten winners, one for each of the ten regions will be selected to win a PALM PIOLET hand held computer. 

 
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Editorial  

A statistical data newly emerged in a message through e-mail group service for IEEE Kerala Section Members, unveiled a fact that the strength of our student members has drastically deteriorated during the current year. This portends the necessity of a more conscious and rigorous student activities in Engineering Colleges in the ensuing days. 

In this context, I recollect  a 'question' rather than a 'doubt' that is being sprouted from the students whenever we visit  Engineering Colleges as  IEEE member and  on the other hand the student members attend the IEEE meetings. This always seems to be a unique and is: 
"Why we join IEEE? or, What 'benefit' we get?" This is the students' perspective.  No doubt this has relevance with the 'slash' in the student data. 

We, the members of IEEE have to think   as to why this 'doubt' arose among the student folk? Is it due to the lack of activities of the Student Chapters? or due to the negligence on the part of the Section towards the Student Chapters? 

Unquestionably, the Executive Committee recently discussed the same issue of 'how to improve the service of IEEE to its student members' and mobilized suggestions for the improvement and accepted for implementation.  Also  there was discussion in the committee to clear up this 'doubt' through sufficient explanation and finding ways and means to attract the students towards IEEE activities. 

We know that the IEEE offers a direct connection to technical information, career enhancement and a life-long network of colleagues which will help them now and also in future to succeed in their chosen professions. It is fundamental to make their utmost skills and opportunities, by joining IEEE. 

Today we have machinery to achieve the above goals. Each student branch is under the guidance of a Counsellor and their activities are co-ordinated by an Office-bearer in the Section Executive. In addition to this, the Heads of various Society Chapters and a few ‘Members-at-large’ are keenly interested and constantly in touch with the affairs of student members. 

Despite, the Kerala Section is unceasingly a step afore in all disciplines compared to other Sections in achieving fame and renown. The Section is extremely dynamic and conscious in professional activities especially in encouraging their endeavours in all spectrum. They are always in the forefront in launching new ideas and  are in hand with activities of other professional bodies. 
Every year the students have to renew their membership by remitting a sum which is not insignificant as far as they are concerned. They have very high ambitions and perceptions by joining IEEE and are, therefore, eager in getting 'direct connection' to their future, to achieve life-long benefits, to accomplish technical resources, to attain career advantages and so on and so forth. 

Unfortunately, students are unsatisfied with their activities(?) and a tendency of showing  reluctance in joining EEE. Why this happen? Either they are not properly co-ordinating the activities at their branch or failing to convince the other students in projecting the outcome of their efforts to retain the membership and to attract the new ones. Every year they are organising several events such as technical talks, industrial tours, discussions on various subjects, refresher courses, competitions, etc for the benefit of the student members and to some extend non members also. This will help to attain ample opportunity to interact with others. S-PAC, Student Congress, project competitions are some other major general events to enhance the activities of the students. The outcome of all such activities should reflect through the hike in student members. 

Owing to the situation, we have to thrash out the doubts raised by the students by properly guiding, developing their leadership skills, exchanging information with innovators in their area of expertise, bringing up the  services and publications, giving access to the latest on-line technical information, etc as highlighted by the headquarters. The suggestions like the programme for personality development, project assistance, design contest, paper contest, on-line assistance for knowledge updation,  creating web pages, starting Journal, on-the-job training, campus recruitment, career assistance, boosting quality and standard to meet the employment opportunities,  etc  will also absolutely attract them towards IEEE. 

Evidently, little effort is required on  the part of the students to revamp their activities and to lead them to global placement network - leave nothing to chance and get the best worldwide. Equip with the best by horning their skills and techniques by refining their personality along with the professionalism must be the motto. As seniors we have to welcome them to an environment that may treat the young adults, to prepare and keep them to choose a career as they wish to pursue and to train them to succeed in competitions. Then only we can keep them in the track.  We have to find out innovative methods and ideas and to contribute to them through different means so as to explore the immense possibilities. More suggestions are invited from the members so as to have open discussions to surmount the situation. 

Over and above, the young generation has to exhibit their sense of assimilation to explore the opportunity by breaking the barriers and to have access to the colourful benefits of membership through their excellent performance, talented approach and dedicated efforts result in attracting their classmates too in the organisation. This should not be constricted among office bearers or a group of student members only but needs ample propaganda and publicity to communicate and expose to others in their college/institution. Along with, they could convince the Section through creative means for adequate assistance and support. Remember the 'benefits' can never be gained through 'spoon feeding'. 

K Gopalan Nair 
 
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Award Winners 

CYBER MILLENNIUM  
Mr. N.A.P. Thampi, Director, Software Development and Training Centre (STDC) of ER&DCI has been selected for the Cyber Millennium Award instituted by the Science and Technology Education Council. Mr. Thampi is currently the Chairman of Educational Activities of IEEE Kerala Section and one among the three veterans selected for the award in the State. He is also the recipient of IEEE Millennium Award in May 2000. 

GOLDEN PEACOAK 
Mr. R.Narayanan, Corporate Manager (Education & Training), TCS, Trivandrum has been selected for Golden Peacock Award for ‘excellence in Training’. He is currently the Vice-Chairman of IEEE Kerala Section. 
Mr. Narayanan has received the award on behalf of TCS from Union  Home Minister Sree  LK Adwani 
   

 
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TECON 2000 

A seminar on “Technology Convergence for Global  Communication” (TECON 2000) was inaugurated  by Smt. Aruna Sundararaj, Secretary, IT Department, Govt. of Kerala, on 29-07-2000 at 9.00 am at  Technopark, Trivandrum. 

The seminar was organised in connection with the Silver Jubilee year celebration of IEEE, Kerala Section. TECON 2000, was intended to shed light on the cutting edge technologies in the communication arena saving way for a global village. 

Inaugurating the seminar Mrs. Aruna Sundararaj emphasised that the topic chosen by the organisers is very relevant to the time and perhaps the most extensively debated one.  She narrated the recent trends in IT and how it influenced the society as a whole.  "We have seen the impact of IT in everyday life and now we witness the synergy between the computing and telecommunication" she added.  The technologists, engineers, managers and policy makers have to realise the developments and to specifically look out as to how to adopt these developments in India, so that technology should have affordable and accessible by common man.  She concluded her speech by presenting a comparative data of tele density and cable penetration in India and China from 1960 onwards and remarked that the forum like the seminar organised by IEEE will definitely pave way to adapt the technology to the benefit of the common man in India. More than 160 delegates attended, including engineers, managers and professionals from various organisations. 

Mr.R.Narayanan, Vice Chairman IEEE gave an overview of the Seminar and Mr.Nandakumar, MD, SunTec delivered a keynote ddress on m-Commerce. Mr. Nandakumar gave a clear picture on M-Commerce including its definition, advantages, various applications, in a simple and lucid style. Representing IE(I) Mr. N.T.Nair, IETE Trivandrum Local Centre, Mr. Anandakumar Menon and CSI Mr. Madhusudanan Nair gave felicitation. 

Mr.K.G.Satheeshkumar, Chairman IEEE Kerala Section gave welcome speech and Mr.Philip John, Chairman, Ushustech,  extended vote of thanks. 

Following the inaugural function, in the technical session the following presentations were made: 
1. 3G Mobile by Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, IIT, Kanpur. 
2. MPLS by Pramoda Nallur, Alcatel, Internet working Pvt, Ltd. 
3. Bluetooth by Srividhya Srinivasan, Impulse soft Pvt, Ltd. 
4. WCDMA by Ajit Kumar Chaturvedi, IIT, Kanpur. 
5. GSM/GPRS by Yogish K.Lavanis, Motorola India Electronics Ltd. 
6. WAP by Devaraj Krishnamurthy, NeST. 
7. VoIP by Cecil Mathews, Nokia IP Telephony. 
8. DSL by Biju Sukumaran, Infineon/Siemens. 

The seminar ended with the concluding session, in which the Organising Committee Chairman Mr. Philip John and Organising Committee Secretary Mr. Simon Zachariah were honoured by presenting them mementos by the Section Chairman, Mr. Satheesh Kumar. Mr. Unnikrishnan A.K, Secretary IEEE Kerala Section proposed vote of thanks. 

From inaugural session of TECON 2000
KG Satheeshkumar, Aruna Sundararajan & Nandakumar

 

From concluding session of TECON 2000
AK Unnikrishnan, R Narayanan, KG Satheeshkumar, Philip John & Simon Zachariah

    

 
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Announcements 

IT COMPETITION FOR STUDENTS 

"IT Mela" is organising on 13th & 14th October at St. Alberts College, Ernakulam. 
Major features are IT project competition for students of Engineering Colleges, IT Seminar, IT Counselling, IT Quiz and IT Exhibition. 
Students can contact: 
Co-ordinator 
IT Mela for Campus, Malayala Manorama 
Panampally Nagar, Cochin. 

WORKSHOP IN POWER ELECTRONICS 

NSF Workshop on "Multimedia Delivery of Modern Power Electronics Curriculum" at Orlando, Florida, USA. Date: 11-13th November 2000 
For details contact: 
Mickey Gravois 
Workshop Coordinator, College of Engg & 
Computer Science, University of Central Florida. 
e-mail: Mgravois@mail.ucf.edu 

IAS AWARD 

V.Kamalesh, John Joseph and B. Theenathayalan, IEEE student members from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore won third place in the IAS Myron Zucker Student Design Award for 2000. They receive the award in the IAS Annual Conference in Rome in October 2000. 
This is the first time any student or student team in India has won in the Myron Zucker Award. Reported that the branch is forming an IAS Student Chapter in their College. 

IAS OUTSTANDING CHAPTER AWARD 

The 1999-2000 IAS Outstanding Small Joint Chapter is won by the Hyderabad Chapter. 

WORKSHOP ON ELECTRICAL SAFETY 

The IAS Chapter of Bombay Section is exploring the possibility of organising the third IAS Cosponsored Electrical Safety Workshop at Bombay in 2001. 

VISIT OF PROF. P.TENTI 

At the request of IAS Chapters of India, Prof. P.Tenti,FIEEE, University of Rome, a past President of IAS will be visiting IAS Chapters in India during 2001 as IAS Distinguished Lecturer to deliver lectures on "Design Methods to meet EMC Standards/Directives". Chapters may initiate steps to avail the facility. 

TUTORIAL OUTREACH PROGRAMME 

Launching of the new IAS initiative - Tutorial Outreach Programme and its extension to different Chapters in 2001 is on the way and expect the decision soon. 
   

 

 

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Software Workers & Ophthalmic Problems  
Compiled by  N.T.NAIR 

A recent study conducted among 2000 computer professionals (mostly software persons) at 
Bangalore has revealed that 78 % of those exposed to computers for over 6 hours everyday suffered from Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) or some eye complaint.  The average age of those involved was just 24 years.  The study was conducted by a Consultant Ophthalmologist Dr.Ram S Mirlay & his associates, taking cue from the findings of an earlier study conducted by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, USA. 

CVS or Computer Eye Strain Syndrome is in many ways a dry eye condition, very often thought to be the result of urban pollution.  CVS is now considered to be the new dry eye and has been increasingly been reported from all parts of the globe. 

CVS happens because of a combination of factors.  Firstly, the human eye is designed to seen reflected lights.  The PC screen is a set of millions of spots of flashing flickering lights, which go on and off to create the text, graphs etc.  When one stares at a screen or at anything for that matter, the blinking rate comes down drastically.  This causes faster evaporation of tears (tear film) in the eye, leading to complaints like burning, irritation and watering. 

The experts have observed that most computer screens are kept in ergonomically incorrect postures, making the users to view the screen obliquely.  This results in pain due to strain of muscles and contributes partly to CVS.  Also, constant, relentless focussing at near distance (12-18 inches) needed for software work puts a strain on the focussing muscle of the eye, the ciliary body, which causes blurred vision, dull eye pain and other complaints among software professionals. 

The following steps have also been suggested as part of the study, to circumvent most of these problems : 

* Use tear substitutes, to combat dry eye problem, in consultation with a doctor. 

* Positioning of monitor should be in front of chest, not to the left or right, neither at eye level.     Brightness should be moderate, not dull.  A slight tilt of screen  is recommended. 

* For those with focussing related eye strain, computer distance corrected glasses would help. 

* Take short breaks for a few minutes every hour or less. 

–Courtesy : ToI 

 
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FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE BANK 

100 Gbit/Inch2 HDD 

The 2000 IEEE International Magnetics Conference (INTERMAG 2000), an international meeting on magnetic recording, three HDD manufacturers announced densities of 50 Gbits/inch2 or higher. Details of tests successfully conducted and their results are also published recently, indicating they are well within reach. 

Evidently, we have seen the gradual increase in the storage capacity of the hard disk during the past forty years. Last year has witnessed a range of numbers, especially the storage capacity of the 3.5 inch HDD under 7 GB per platter. But within one year the volume production has begun on drives with almost three-fold the capacity ie 20 GB per platter. The manufacturers target is a phenomenal annual growth of 100%in the production and a 150% annual growth during research stages. 

Prices have also changed dramatically and the trend toward larger capacities and lower prices is accelerating day by day. Last year in our market the price of 7 GB was Rs 5000. In the current year 7 Gb, 10 GB, 15 GB, 20 GB hold the market prices (approximately) Rs. 3500, 4500, 5000, and 5000 respectively. 

The next target is to demonstrate 100 Gbits/inch2 and expecting to successfully demonstrate by INTERMAG 2001. At this density, both sides of a single 3.5 platter would yield about 140 GB capacity. By 2002, single-platter drives of capacity range 70-140 GB at reduced price would be very popular, even sooner breaking the predictions. 

DSC - 350 Digital Camera 

D_LINK India, has announced the launch of DSC - 350 digital camera at a very reasoable price compared to the other brands now available in India. 
The DSC - 350 is the latest state–of–the–art product from D_LINK. This camera allows user to shoot, edit and view pictures in a couple of munutes with a resolution of 350 K pixels. It is smaller, lighter and smarter and can support JPEG and offers three image quality settings. 

IEEE XploreTM 

IEEE members can meet their research needs with IEEE XploreTM  – the new and improved online delivery system for IEEE scientifc and technical information. Members can search IEEE transactions, journals, magazines and conference proceedings published since 1988 and current IEEE standards, from a single, user-friendly platform. Members can view IEEE abstract/citation records and articles in IEEE Spectrum magazine. All users can browse the complete collection of tables of contents.  

Full-text access is based on an active online subscription. (Online access to additional titles may be added throughout the year.) 
visit www.ieee.org/ieeexplore 

 
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ACE 2000 

 
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Printed and published by K.Gopalan Nair, T.C.5/1637, Ambalmukku, Peroorkada,
Trivandrum - 695005  on behalf of IEEE, Kerala Section. Typesetting: Akshara Offset,
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Editor: K. Gopalan Nair  E-mail: kgnairs@hotmail.com   phone: 437449