NEWSLETTER
A House  Journal of
IEEE Kerala Section
Volume 12 Number 2
April - June 2003

Contents

Diary Of Events
Forthcoming Events
Systems Thinking
Section Activities
PES Activities
Scoop News
S-PAC
IEEE Computer Society
Autonomic Computing - The Next Revolution
Gold Activities Report
Editorial
Digital Rights Management
Wireless Networking
Spects 2003

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Diary of Events

28-03-2003	Seminar on IT Futures and on 29-03-2003 a Workshop on IT enabled Services at Senate Chamber, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram organized by Department of Future Studies, University of Kerala and co-sponsored by IEEE Kerala Section.
29-03-2003	Workshop on IT enabled Services at Senate Chamber, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram. Organized by Department of Future Studies and co-sponsored by IEEE Kerala Section.
02-04-2003	“Learning Structural Design from Nature”, V. Rajendra Babu, Dean of P.G. Studies, College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram.
3&4 -04-2003	Workshop on Transactional Analysis at IE Hall by IE (I).
09-04-2003	“CISCO Remote Access Networks”, Anish Philipose, Network Consultant, Time Technologies.net Pvt. Ltd, Thiruvananthapuram.
12-04-2003	Second Executive Committee meeting - 2003 of IEEE Kerala Section at ‘Harmonieee’, Thiruvananthapuram.
16-04-2003	“Principles of Nature Cure”, V. Rajendra Babu, Dean PG Studies, College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram.
23-04-2003	“From E-Commerce to E-Business - Contours of the New Technology”, Satish Babu, InApp Techno Park, Thiruvananthapuram.
07-05-2003	“Geriatric Neurological Disorders”, Vinod Thampi, Neurologist, SUT Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
28-05-2003	“Bioinformatics”, Amarnatha Raja, InApp, Technopark, Thiruvananthapuram.
18-06-2003	“Impoundment of Water Resources in Forest Eco-system”, V.R. Krishnan Nair.
25-06-2003	“The Concept of Sustainable Development”, K.Ravi.

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Forthcoming Events
02-07-2003	“Harnessing Daylight”, K.K. Vasu, Director, Electrical Design Centre, Thiruvananthapuram.
30-07-2003	“Role of Engineers in Sustainable development”, K.Ravi, Advisor to Chief Minister of Kerala.
23-08-2003	“Wireless Networking”, one day conference by IEEE Kerala.
10 to 12 09-2003	International Conference on Integrated Circuits, Devices and Systems, at Singapore organized by Nanyang Technological University in co-operation with IEEE Singapore Section.
14to17-10-2003	IEEE TENCON 2003 at Taj Residency, Bangalore organized by IEEE Bangalore Section. www.ieee.org/bangalore/tencon2003.
17to20-11-2003	The Fifth International Conference on Power Electronics and Drive Systems (PEDS 2003) at Singapore.
22to25-12-2003	Sixth International Conference on Information Technology at Bhubaneswar organised by Orissa Information Technology Society, co-sponsored by IEEE India Council's Computer Society Chapter. Contact: cse2003@litkgp.ernet.in
27to30-12-2003	Fifth International Workshop on Distributed Computing (IWDC) organised by Jadavpur University, Kolkata & IIM Calcutta, co-sponsored by IEEE India Council's Computer Society Chapter. Contact: chandanm@vsnl.com

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Systems Thinking - R.Narayanan, Chairman IEEE Kerala Section

Engineer as a problem solver

Engineers are expected to provide design solutions for societal problems. The level of complexity of societal problems is continuously increasing. Engineers need to be equipped with concepts, methodologies and tools to recognize and handle the complexity.

Engineering education emphasizes analytical skills – breaking down a complex problem into simpler sub-problems and backward integration of the solutions of the sub-problems. Techniques such as Divide and Conquer are taught to handle complexity, but this may prove counter productive in understanding the problem correctly. What gets missed out in the analytical approach is the effect of interplay or interconnectedness of the subsystems. As a result technologically excellent solutions are offered, which turn out to be the solution of “some” problem and not “the” problem awaiting a solution.

Nature of real-world problems

Real world problems do not present themselves in sanitized easily decomposable forms. Consultants often see clouds of information hanging haphazardly. They need to have the ability to synthesize these into the correct problem description – a mental framework to “see” every system as a union of interrelated subsystems. Instead of focusing on the Cause-Effect between two parameters (Linear Thinking), they should be inculcated with a mindset that promotes circular thinking.

When the initial problem is posed, even the originator of the problem may not have a “total” picture. The influence that the solution may have on “hidden” stakeholders may not be obvious unless probing questions are asked. Experience in the industry shows that whenever a consulting assignment results in client dissatisfaction, the reason does not lie in the technology layer. The cause invariably turns out to be

Ignorance of some dimension of the problem arising due to hesitation in asking stupid, dumb questions upfront

Making invalid assumptions about the interplay among parameters

The “art” of posing the right questions is one of the attributes required of a true professional. Even seemingly disjoint influences should not be ignored in the initial phase. They could be consciously omitted after careful reasoning and dialogue with a group of relevant stakeholders.

Complexity – sources and characteristics

Complexity in problems arise from:

Domain: Recent trends in Financial Services or Telecommunication

Technology: Variety of Information systems, man-machine interfaces

People & Processes: Project management (managing the client, team members, technology, quality, cost & schedule), Human Resources Management, Training

Complex problems exhibit the following characteristics:

Large number of degrees of freedom (often interacting in a circular way)

Time variant behavioral dynamics

Stakeholders with conflicting needs and constraints

Processes with feedback loops, feed forward loops (strategies of the competition, governmental policies, geo-political developments, advertisements influencing consumption patterns) and

Delays (inherent and man made)

In the above context, budding engineers need to go “beyond” and “behind” the stated requirements & specifications. They need to “see” the hidden patterns and structures in a problem and they need to understand complexity in a system in terms of its parts and relationships. In short they need to develop a “holistic” view of problem solving.

Systems Approach

Systems Approach is a multidisciplinary approach to the study of innate complexity, which by synthesizing systemic findings from the natural, social, technological, behavioral, life sciences and other specialized fields brings holistic perspectives to the solution of problems. Systems Approach borrows heavily from the intersection of the following sub-disciplines:

Systems Thinking creates a progression of mindsets

Reactive thinking ---à Responsive thinking ----à Generative thinking
(based on events) (based on patterns) (based on systemic structures)

It comprises a conceptual framework, a Body of Knowledge and tools to make the full pattern clearer. It also helps us see how to change things effectively and with least amount of effort- to find leverage points of the system.

Multi-modeling

There has always been a debate about quantitative models and qualitative models. Both have to coexist. No complex problem can be captured by a single model. Students need to be exposed to a variety of models for use in different phases of problem solving. During the discovery phase of problem understanding, models such as brainstorming, Nominal Group Technique may be useful. The objective is to broaden the problem statement and identify the issues of concern through divergence and convergence routes.

During the Diagnosis phase we identify the barriers in achieving the purpose, decisions to be made and recognize the constraints beyond our control. In the subsequent Design phase, we generate and design interventions in order to arrive at a stable and robust solution. A separate suite of modeling techniques is available for the Diagnosis and Design phases. Following is a partial list of such modeling mechanisms that have been widely used in the context of societal problems:

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Section Activities

PRESCRIPTION FOR AN IT GRADE UPS

A talk on 'Prescription for an IT grade UPS' by C M. Varughese was arranged on 27-12-2002. With an introduction to the necessity of UPS in computers the speaker stated that in everyday life computer has become a part and parcel and consequently the power supply feeding the Computers has also become very critical. The international Electro-technical Commission (IEC) has established standards for various types of UPS system. They have defined the UPS systems under three categories namely, Passive Standby where the inverter comes on only when the mains fail, Line interactive where the operation is similar to passive Standby but with some amount of output voltage correction and filtering during mains operation and Double Conversion where the output is truly uninterrupted since the inverter is always on feeding the load.

Sizing of the UPS system is very important and should be based on the name plate date of all the equipment connected with due consideration for power factor and growth factor. The cost of installation would also include the cost of Air Conditioner needed whose capacity is dependent on the losses in the system. Thus the efficiency of the system is also an important factor.

TRANSMISSION & DISTRIBUTION MANAGEMENT IN KERALA

On 4-12-2002, P.S Chandramohan gave a talk on 'Transmission & Distribution Management in Kerala'. India has been facing severe electricity shortages for the last two decades. Considering the present trends of growth in consumption and addition of generation capacity, it can be observed that the gap between demand and supply of electricity is likely to continue for many years to come. During the last decade, Southern region has been facing more severe power problems. Import of power by KSEB has grown from 1248 MU (Million Unit) in 1992 to over 5540 MU last year. Import of such large quantity of thermal power will have power will have considerable impact on the average selling cost of electricity. About 75% of energy is distributed through LT distribution network and the remaining part is through EHT /HT lines. Today, the weakest link of electricity supply system in India is the distribution network.

Published official data show that T&D losses in India as well as Kerala have been above 20% for the past several years. Critics say that it is about one-third of power generated. Even if official data are taken for granted, why and how this much losses should occur? Most of the developed countries and many of the developing countries have only about 5-7% of T&D losses. 'Don’t we have any remedial measures when a number of technological options are available today?', he raised this point for the opinion of the professionals present. 'Considering the present technology and resource constrains, it is quite possible to limit T& D losses to about 10-12% in our country', he added. This talk highlighted some of the options available in this regard.

EMERGING INTERNET TECHNOLOGIES

'Emerging Internet Technologies - Opportunities and Issues' was the topic of M.C Hayakrishnan's talk on 18-12-2002. A number of initiatives are being drawn up by different software corporations to bring about quantum changes in the nature and quality of their internet services as the Internet transforms itself from a researcher’s tool to a pervasive utility. Some of these services promise exciting and revolutionary ways of accessing informational, entertainment and educational content as well as doing business or shopping.

However, many of these technologies also raise issues including those of privacy, freedom of choice and ethics. While these concerns may largely be irrelevant for individual users, they become significant for communities, societies, and nations. The recent growth in popularity of Free Linux and Open Source Software (FLOSS) reflects these growing concerns. This lecture introduced some of the technologies and services that have been launched or are in the process of being popularized by large software companies, and also highlighted some of the concerns hat have been articulated in this context.

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S-PAC - A report

Engineers must be technically proficient, professionally astute, and aware of their responsibility to society. Student Professional Awareness Conferences (S-PAC) explores the non-technical subjects that affect engineers’ careers, regardless of how well engineers prepare themselves technically. First introduced in 1979, S-PACs are an effective vehicle to transmit the professional considerations in an engineering vehicle to transmit the professional considerations in an engineering career to students and young engineers. This knowledge enhances the technical education they receive in engineering school. During an S-PAC, engineering students learn from the varied experience of successful engineers through a set of oral presentations and panel discussions in a conference–style format. The conference itself is planned and run by members of an IEEE Student branch and supported by volunteers and staff, with funding provided by IEEE’s United States Activities Board (USAB) and Regional Activities Board (RAB).

IEEE Student Branch of Noorul Islam college of Engineering organized S-PAC on 22nd February 2003.The conference was auspiciously inaugurated by R.Narayanan, Chairman, IEEE Kerala section and Vice President, Tata Consultancy Services, Thiruvananthapuram. The morning session of the conference started with the presentation by R. Narayanan on “Engineering as a profession: Expectation vs. Reality”. S. Gopakumar, Chair of IEEE Students’ activities and Head, Computer Division, VSSC, Thiruvananthapuram, who is leading, guiding and shaping student volunteers to become members, took the second presentation on “Molding Professional engineers through IEEE”. The morning session ended with the presentation on “Successful Interview-Show’em what you got, Tell’em what you want” by K. Kesavasamy, Convener, IEEE Students Educational Activities and Senior Consultant, TCS, Thiruvananthapuram .

The afternoon session began with the presentation on “Winning Resumes” by Deepthi, Faculty member at Corporate Training and Education Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, Thiruvananthapuram. The final presentation was by R. Ratish, Faculty member at Corporate Training and Education Centre, Tata Consultancy Services, on “Neurolinguistic”. The conference ended with distribution of the certificates to the delegates by A.P. Majeed Khan, Chairman, Noorul Islam College of Engineering in the presence of the Principal P.Krishnamoorthy Iyer and the Branch Councilor T. Krishnaswamy.

Rameez Mohammad M
Chair Person, IEEE Student Branch, NICE.

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IEEE - Computer Society

Information Systems – Security Challenges and Solutions

The IEEE-CS organized the seminar on data security titled “Information Systems – Security Challenges and Solutions” on 14 December, 2002 at the ER & DC Amphitheatre. The seminar was sponsored by IEEE Kerala Chapter and co-sponsored by NeST.

The seminar was divided into three distinct sections. The first talk by K. P. Sreekumar was titled “Threats to Information Security” and proved to be the base on which the other seminars built upon. K. P. Sreekumar led the teams that created a number of security products at NeST. This talk concentrated on providing the basis and need for data security requirements and why it is a key aspect of today’s corporate. The second talk was titled “Enhancing Operating System Security” by Ram Mohan of NeST. He was one of the members instrumental in creating this product at NeST. This dealt with the ways and means of bolstering the operating system to be more secure from a security view point. The talk also touched upon a product created by NeST called HackerSafe which enhances the operating system security.

The other two seminars discussed about data in the physical medium and on methods / products that made this data secure. The first talk was on making data over fiber cables secure using a product created by NeST called FiberSentinel. This was taken by P. Satish who was actively involved in the creation of FiberSentinel. Contrary to popular conception, data in a fiber channel can easily be tapped. FiberSentinel is a product that ensures that if data in the fiber channel is tapped it is detected and made secure, with relatively low latency. The second talk concentrated on making the wireless data secure. This talk concentrated on the wireless network standards and the ways and means of securing data sent through this medium. This talk was handled by Unni Sankar who is currently involved in creating wireless security product.

The seminar started at 2 pm and was attended by around 40 people. Though the number of attendees was very less compared to what was expected, it was heartening to see that around 75% of the strength was made up by IEEE student members. This seminar therefore paves the way for other similar seminars / talks directed towards the student community.

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Autonomic Computing - The Next Revolution
Compiled by: N.T.Nair, Editor, IEEE India Bulletin

Now that computers have reached almost every segment of the society, naturally all of them want hassle-free working of the systems too. Having a gigabyte of fast RAM, a 3 GHz processor, 100GB of hard disk etc look great on paper but in practice it just means you get into more trouble faster. Going one step further, network together hundreds of these computers and give them complex tasks with huge data sets, and the problems you get managing performance, reliability, security, consistency and scalability, multiply out of control. We will be hitting the limits.

Computer hardware increases in speed and capacity by factors of thousands each decade; computer software piles on new features and fancier interfaces nearly as fast. So why do computers still waste our time and drive us crazy?

One quarter of those under age 25 polled in a recent British survey said they had kicked their computers or seen friends do so. And the cost of sophisticated networked systems (on which nearly all large organizations are coming to depend) is now dominated not by ever-cheaper hardware and software but by the rising salaries of the gurus who can keep it all up and running. According to a study published in March 2002 by researchers at the University of California at Berkeley, the labor costs outstrip equipment by factors of three to 18, depending on the type of system. And one third to one half the total budget is spent preventing or recovering from crashes. And no wonder, a system failure at a brokerage or credit-card authorization center can run up millions of dollars per hour in lost business.

At a conference in California sometime back, research leaders from most of the largest computer companies and several universities agreed on the problem as it was sketched out in a "manifesto" released later by IBM. "The growing complexity of the IT infrastructure threatens to undermine the very benefits information technology aims to provide," the anonymously authored manifesto asserts. The sheer number of computer devices is forecasted to rise at a compound rate of 38 percent a year; most of these devices will be connected to one another other and to the Internet. "Up until now, we've relied mainly on human intervention and administration to manage this complexity," the manifesto continues. "Unfortunately, we are starting to gunk up the works."

What is the way out? Industry pundits have been burning mid-night oil for finding ways to circumvent this. The answer, according to IBM, Sun, HP and many others, is autonomic computing. As the name suggests, this is an analogy of our own body’s autonomic nervous system –the bits that run the mechanisms of staying alive while our higher consciousness gets on with wondering about really important stuff, like what strategy is to be adopted in the meeting later in the day or invasion of Iraq etc.

Autonomic computing systems have the ability to manage themselves and dynamically adapt to changes in accordance with business policies and objectives. Self-managing systems can perform activities based on situations they observe or sense in the IT environment. Rather than having IT professionals initiating those activities, however, the system observes something about itself and acts accordingly. This allows IT professionals to focus on higher-value tasks.

Complexity is the number-one headache for Chief Information Officers. And that's just the complexity of conventional systems within the enterprise. Now, think about the e-business on demand era, with its ubiquitous integration of business processes, applications and millions, ultimately billions, of devices. Computing systems will rapidly become too complex for humans to manage effectively - or to configure, secure, optimize, or repair. The solution? Technology that manages itself - mimicking the human autonomic nervous system.

Over the past year, IBM has launched an autonomic computing initiative that outlines the four basic tenets that make a system autonomic. They include:

IBM argues in its treatise that the goal should be "autonomic" computer systems analogous to the involuntary nervous system that allows the human body to cope with environmental change, external attack and internal failures. "Our bodies have great availability," Morris observes. "I have soft errors all the time: my memory fails once in a while, but I don’t ‘crash.’ My whole body doesn’t shut down when I cut a finger."

Morris and the other heads of IBM’s autonomic computing research effort have more in mind than just fault tolerance. The manifesto lists eight defining characteristics of autonomic computing systems. Some have already been demonstrated in prototypes.

An autonomic system must have a sense of self, for example. It must keep track of its parts, some of which may be borrowed from or lent out to other systems. And it must keep its public and private parts segregated. At Columbia University, Gail Kaiser and colleagues in the Programming Systems Lab have worked out ways to add software probes, gauges and configuration controls to certain kinds of existing systems so that they can be monitored, tuned and even repaired automatically rather than by highly paid engineers.

Autonomic systems should also be able to heal, to recover from damage by some means other than a suicidal crash. Armando Fox and co-workers at Stanford University have demonstrated one way to accomplish this. Fox redesigned a satellite ground station system so that every subsystem can be rebooted independently if--or rather, when--it gets knocked offline. The system still goes down occasionally, but now it can resume operation in six seconds rather than 30. The same principle, called recursive restartability, could be applied to many kinds of complex systems to prevent small glitches from accumulating and cascading into full-blown outages.

Possible Solutions

Experimental Systems

Finally, the goal may be changing to easier, more reliable and less deserving of a swift kick.

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Gold Activities Report

On 06 June 2003, the GOLD (Graduates of the Last Decade) Chapter of the IEEE Kerala Section organized a visit for a group of thirty physically challenged special needs’ students from National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) to TOONZ India Pvt. Ltd. (Toonz) and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) companies located in Technopark, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.

The students first visited Toonz. Toonz has already made its mark in the field of animated pictures and cartoons. At Toonz, they were first briefed about the various activities that went on behind making a cartoon. These include the main artist making a rough sketch of the characters,
the artist’s assistants doing the “Cleanup” of the character, the main artist again drawing at least eight main actions of this “cleaned up” character, etc. When the character is ready with the actions, the backgrounds are prepared manually. These images are then scanned and they are ready for use after being animated and edited using different animation software tools. The visitors were surprised to know that it could take almost 24 images for making a one second of cartoon.

A collection of several animated cartoons made by Toonz, was screened. Prosen Ganguly of Toonz took the students around the Toonz Animation Studio and its facilities to see the artists in action and to see all the procedures in the making of an animated cartoon.

The students then were taken to the Corporate Learning Center of TCS. K.L. Prasad, Training–in–Charge, and S. Neethi, Senior Faculty talked to them. The students had a lot of questions to ask these senior IEEE members, about the various activities of TCS, the way the training activities are conducted etc. They were also shown around the premises and had many of their queries answered when the networking of TCS - Trivandrum was explained in detail. After the three hour-long visit to the two Technopark companies, TCS provided the students with light refreshments.

The feedback later received from the students indicated that they left with a sense of satisfaction. Some of the feedbacks were as follows: “This helped us to know more about animation. The presentations were in such a way that we all could understand it very well. We even got the opportunity to clear our doubts. This helped us to clear many doubts we had. Hope we get a chance to visit in future also like this...”

Aju Thomas Abraham, Chairman GOLD Kerala Section and Koshy Vaidyan, Member, GOLD Kerala Section, both of TCS, led the group during the whole visit. Murali and Shirley of NISH were the interpreters of the students.

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Editorial

The greater our knowledge increases, the greater our ignorance unfolds. Today the advancements in technology envision our dreams into a reality in the form of biochips built into the human body which unfolds our ignorance on the secrets behind the behaviour and structure of our body. These chips, the product of nanotechnology where things are made in the size of one atom or molecule with programmed precision, act as sensors performing as lifesavers by self-monitoring and guarding. Remaining invisible, by manipulating matter at the molecular scale, each element in it is smart enough to repair and replicate itself as and when required.

In 1959, when the theoretical concept of Nanotechnology was conceived, people were quite apprehensive about such a phenomenon and regarded such weird and wonderful ideas as impossible. Later on, technologists succeeded in understanding the properties and assembly of individual molecules, and building of molecular machines. The trick is to manipulate atoms individually and place them exactly where needed to produce the desired structure by understanding various properties in an intelligent manner to develop highly efficient systems. Example of minute devices is ‘smart dust’ otherwise called ‘motes’, which is the wireless computers that are smart enough to be integrated into anything to create robust wireless networks. Even though this evolution is in its genuine stage by exploiting the revolution in a better way, various applications from biosensors in the human body to intelligent systems embedded in real-time applications, are plenty.

India is a global player in biotechnology — with almost two hundred firms, big and small, and with increasing involvement of more and more State Governments in blossoming area. Another emerging field is the bioinformatics which is the study of biotechnology in relation to the use of computer sciences. Perhaps, this could be the biggest opportunity for the IT industry since Y2K, giving promises in technological developments. This new research area involves the use of Internet tools, artificial intelligence and other computational methods. This high potential area uses information storage, data analysis and clusters for large scale computing to deal with the mass of information on decoded genes, where biology, computer science and IT combine to form a single discipline. Several companies believed that they could make a mark and much money by providing bioinformatics services with the belief that their prior expertise in information technology can be quickly applied to bioinformatics.

Our mission objective is to make India a “global information technology power” which is nearing reality. At the same time, research and developments are widespread global phenomena. Today’s advances offer tremendous possibilities and “the convergence of nanotechnology and biological sciences is in the horizon, India is even better placed to exploit this revolution than any other nation”. The scope is quite evident and appropriate to harness the benefits of the advances by closely involving with several foreign organizations predominantly working on these fields. The use of computers, especially the software expertise and support is for genome-based biotech companies around the globe for storing and analyzing generated data and to find right solutions. Many organisations offer unparallel support for many tasks common in the field, providing free and open resources for accession and further development that may lead to new discoveries as knowledge or product.

Of course, the new wonderful advances offer tremendous possibilities to new technocrats and to provide them with more powerful, smaller passive handheld devices which we haven’t heard before. Various organizations and research institutes look forward for cost effective and high quality researches to attain the end results. The need of the technocrats in these emerging fields may be the reason for the rapid rising in number of the professional institutions in addition to the liberalization in the education sector and the demand for the disciplines of advanced IT such as Medical-imaging Technology, Bio-technology, Bio-informatics, Networking and Web technology, etc. It is also a fact that the jobseekers in the high-end IT sector offers exciting pay packages to their employers.

Let’s truly throw open the facilities provided by public and private sector educational institutions offering courses in this field what we call the ‘wonderful’ or ‘emerging’. Lack of inadequate training and other infrastructural facilities and faculties with ample exposure to their relevant subjects are the pitfalls to keep the students up-to-date with the changing scenarios. The students who rush behind the ‘emerging’ areas especially to the institutions claiming having ‘international standards’ in professional education by anticipating the salient features of such institutions through advertisement on the basis of which they attract the students as well as parents, only feel the inadequacy later. Even though there are clear disclosure norms for all such institutions there is asymmetry of information and facts. Despite this, several students are deprived of their chance to undergo such courses owing to the exorbitant fees being levied by the institutions covering the facilities outside the State. Well-off sections of the society can only afford and entertain such good quality education.

In the present situation the parents and students find it difficult to pick up the right course from the right institution. Their choice should be appropriate in consonance with their ambition to survive and to attain remunerative posts without hitting their prospects. The Chairman of our Section has pointed out in his message in the Newsletter Vol. 11 #3 regarding the definite declination in the quality of the output from technical education. The quality mentioned therein was in the conventional branches of engineering for which facilities are greater and teachers with enormous expertise are plenty. But in the case of the new institutions offering courses in ‘emerging fields’ with limited facilities and resources, what will be their future? Available statistics from the reliable sources closely associated with such institutions point that the State could not produce skilled candidates to tap the job market in the most promising areas in the advanced IT industry as mentioned earlier. This is totally disappointing. Many companies even enticing students with short and long-term courses promising, exciting and immediate employment in the field.

In fact, there will only two products, the efficient and the inefficient in the education field. We hope for the efficient products without compromise to any other factor deteriorating their efficiency to face challenges in the coming years that too with some tie-up with the institutions and research organizations predominantly working in the advanced areas.

K.Gopalan Nair

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Digital Rights Management
- TS Ajayghosh C-DAC (Formerly ER&DCI), Thiruvananthapuram

With the emergence of information infrastructure in to every day life, the opportunity to copy or unauthorized use of information has increased enormously. This unauthorized use of information is not only significant economically; it also reflects a mind-set that could ultimately be destructive to the prosperity of an information economy. But the population of both information consumers and information producers or distributors is not well informed about the rules that currently guide the handling of this valuable commodity. Some of the infringement occurs because people do not understand the basic dogmas of intellectual property law. So a standardised scheme for the management of rights in a digital environment is inevitable. Here comes the importance of Digital Rights Management (DRM).

What is DRM?
DRM technology enables the setting up of a legal framework for content creators to authorize or prohibit the use of their work in a manner they consider consistent with their economic status and ambitions. DRM is an emerging and vital business concept driven by the need for secure electronic distribution of high-value digital content. It is the process of protecting and managing the rights of all participants like creator, publisher, aggregator, distributor, retailer, consumer etc., engaged in the electronic commerce and digital distribution of content. By adopting suitable DRM technology, the participants will have a safe, secure method for meeting the consumer’s need for interactive, on-demand access to movies, online games, books, music and software critical/proprietary data. The major functions of DRM are rights description and rights enforcement.

Why DRM?
The supply of high-value content like video, audio, text and images, generated by media and entertainment companies, publishers and commercial enterprises continues to grow. With the advent of Internet, high-speed computing and broadband connectivity, traditional methods of media distribution and consumption are being complemented by Internet-based access and streaming or downloading to a wide range of personal digital devices. The need for a safe and secure method for accessing, distributing and merchandising digital content is in evidence throughout the commercial value chain. The basic DRM value chain involves mainly three functions namely protection of content, distribution of protected content and licenses and usage of protected content. By protecting the content, the creators and rights owners can assure copyright integrity, safeguard revenue generation, expand business model alternatives and protect brand identity. Similarly service providers, distributors and retailers will get the advantage of maximising business opportunities, protecting revenue streams, minimizing the risk of unauthorized distribution and expanding potential customer base. Again the actual consumers will have the benefit of broadening digital content choices, simplifying authorized playback and enabling full featured user experience.

How DRM works
Effective DRM technologies work by allowing distributors of electronic content to control viewing access to the content - whether printed matter, music, or images - with some form of customized encryption. Individual "keys" for viewing or listening to the content are provided to an end user who has purchased rights, which generally include limitations on copying, printing, and redistribution. When a prospective owner of digital rights downloads a content file, DRM software checks the user's identity, contacts a financial clearinghouse to arrange payment, decrypts the file, and assigns a key - such as a password - for future access. The publisher of the content can configure access in numerous ways. For example, a document might be viewable but not printable, or may only be used for a limited time.

Application
The main market applications of DRM are the following:

Architecture
In the initial stage, DRM focused on security and encryption as a means of solving the issue of unauthorized copying, that is, lock the content and limit its distribution to only those who pay. This was the first-generation of DRM, and it represented a substantial narrowing of the real and broader capabilities of DRM. The second-generation of DRM covers the description, identification, trading, protection, monitoring and tracking of all forms of rights usages including management of rights holders relationships. In designing and implementing DRM systems, there are two critical architectures to consider. The first is the Functional Architecture, which covers the high-level modules or components of the DRM system that together provide an end-to-end management of rights. The second critical architecture is the Information Architecture, which covers the modeling of the entities within a DRM system as well as their relationships. Other architectural layers that also need to be considered are the Conceptual, Module, Execution, and Code layers. The overall DRM framework suited to building digital rights-enabled systems can be modeled in three areas - Intellectual Property (IP) Asset Creation and Capture, IP Asset Management and IP Asset Usage. But these models need to be complemented by the Functional Architecture that provides the framework for the modules to implement DRM functionality.

DRM Tools & Technologies
A lot of current and emerging client devices and technologies like Windows, Mac, Linux, PalmOS, Epoc32, WAP, etc. are available for which DRM is an important factor in enabling digital content trading. The DRM platform primarily uses encryption as the underlying mechanism for securing access to digital content. A number of third-party technologies exist and a combination of factors affects the suitability of each technology for use in a given scenario. These include target client platform, security, licensing and pricing requirements. A range of mechanisms and protocols can be employed for delivering digital content to end-users; for example, Internet download (via various protocols), CD distribution or direct streaming. DRM solutions focus on protecting just a single format of digital content - most popularly audio and software. If a content publisher wishes to protect more than one content type, several technologies must be used.

Digital watermarking technologies provide a mechanism for embedding a pattern of bits representing additional information like creator details, number of copies etc. into the raw digital content itself, prior to protection, in such a way as to be either undetectable or unnoticeable during normal use, but provide the content publisher with traceability. Watermarking itself does not protect the content. When used as part of a content protection system, watermarking is typically used to carry content management information (CMI). This technology enables to suppress illegal copy and data falsification and to specify the fact and the spot of data falsification. Watermarking can have other uses within a content protection system as well, such as the fragile watermark defined in Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI).

Policy based information management’s tools using digital rights languages like XrML, XMCL etc. are available for securely specifying and managing rights and conditions associated with all kinds of resources including digital content as well as services. Another mechanism called “Content ID”, which is a set of well-defined meta-data including a unique code embedded in each digital content item, is used for promoting digital content commerce over network. Various other device / media authentication tools are used for Copy Generation Management. For example, Serial Copy Management System (SCMS) is used in digital recording devices like DAT, MD, DCC etc. Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) is used in digital music devices and Content Scramble System (CSS) in DVD devices. Again tamper-resistant technology based hardware and software tools are also being developed for digital content protection.

An overall framework or architecture is needed to ensure that the content is protected in an efficient and effective way as it passes from one technology to another within the content protection system. The Content Protection System Architecture (CPSA) defines a comprehensive and efficient framework that makes it possible to integrate major existing content protection technologies as well as new technologies as they emerge. CPSA is equally effective for PC and consumer electronics implementation. It protects audio and video content in both the analog and digital domains. CPSA also comprehends both physical and electronic content distribution methods. Adoption of CPSA architecture can strengthen the overall content protection system, ease implementation burdens on developers, and bring consistent guidelines to content protection efforts.

Trust
Trust is an essential factor in enabling business in e-Commerce and Enterprise systems. For example, a consumer engaged in an e-Commerce purchase transaction must submit personal details, such as their credit card number, over the Internet; they must be assured that a malicious third party cannot intercept the transaction, and the clearing house must be assured that the clearance request came from a trusted source. The technology provides some protections, but social processes including deterrence, detection, and legal enforcement as well as insurance-based compensation for parties that fall victim to cracks in the system are integral to the overall protection of digital rights. In balancing the contributions achieved through these various approaches, Electronic Book Exchange (EBX) Working Group provides assurance to all parties—publishers, authors, insurers and law enforcement—that adequate precautions have been taken to protect the intellectual rights of authors and publishers. Emerging technologies such as smartcards and biometrics are set to play an increasingly important role in the trust domain. DRM should work alongside these technologies, providing content providers and consumers alike with the secure environment they require to maximise the business benefit of digital commerce.

Interoperability
DRM technology needs to be interoperable. The plurality of content player platforms and distribution infrastructures result in a wide range of DRM implementations. So technologies, that allows different DRM Systems to cooperate, such that content can flow between proprietary DRM infrastructures, need to be developed. These technologies need to be flexible and under full control of the DRM systems involved. That is, a license bought by a consumer using one DRM technology must be valid even when the DRM technology is changed.

Future
DRM’s success will depend on a number of factors including its role in providing a balance between protection of rights holders interests and those of users and consumers who wish to use and access materials. Ease of use, whether you are a consumer, single creator or the manager of an extensive library collection is probably essential to wide adoption of DRM systems. It may also be desirable to include provisions for free as well as remunerated use of materials. If a system does not include the traditional copyright notion of fair dealing and it locks up digital content, users may well bypass or undermine it. Knowledge and use of DRM systems are likely to be absorbed into normal business skills and practices within the next few years.

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Wireless Networking

IEEE Kerala Section
Is organizing a one-day conference on
Wireless Networking

The conference focuses on the available and emerging
Wireless technologies and the leaders in each of these areas
Are expected to present papers in the conference

The topics that will be covered include:

BROADBAND WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES
3G TECHNOLOGIES
WIFI, CORDECT
NAVINI TECHNOLOGY
AIRSPAN TECHNOLOGY / IP WIRELESS
BLUETOOTH, CDMA 2000

The delegates to the conference will be mainly from the Industry
Government, R&D organizations and the Academia

On 23 August 2003
Venue: Hotel Residency Towers, Thiruvananthapuram

Entitle sponsorship is available in three slabs:
DIAMOND, GOLD & SILVER

For more details contact:

Sasi P.M
95471-2723333 (O)
95471-2310978 (R)
sasipm@ieee.org

or

Hemachandran
95471-2364790 (O)
95471-2540488 (R)
chandrahema@eth.net
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/kerala

e-Fabrics

The latest in clothing is possibly e-fabrics. It is electronic clothes designed by the US Defense Research. The clothes contain electronic circuits and chips that store the essentially required data for astronauts, servicemen, etc. At present US Defense Research is trying to fit equipments like mine sensors, earth quake warning signals, etc., also into the electronic clothing.

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SPCTS 2003

STUDENT PAPER CONTEST AND TECHNICAL SYPPOSIUM ON
COMPUTER, ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERING

Jointly organized by

IEEE
Gujarat Section

And

Department of Computer Science, Rollwala Computer Centre
Gujarat University, Ahmedabad

18, 19 OCTOBER 2003
Papers are invited for presentation from all those students
Undergoing Postgraduate/Undergraduate course in
Electrical, Electronics Engineering and Computer
Science/Applications or Allied subjects from any
Institutions in India. Separate entries for graduate and post graduate students.

Contact for further details:
e-mail: spcts2003@rollwala.org, ieee.guj@ad.growthnet.net
www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/gujarat
savitac@rollwala.org

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