The Link Issue Sep 05 Issue

CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE

Greetings to you. IEEE is the world’s largest association promoting the advancement of technology. In today’s world, one has to be very conscious of the new developments, especially in terms of electrical, electronic communication, information technologies and related sciences. IEEE’s vision is to advance global prosperity by fostering technological innovations, enabling members’ careers and promoting community worldwide and the membership advantage is really determined by your own personal values, needs and involvement. Our endeavour should be to get the latest information through newer modalities of communication, like looking at the web spaces on the internet and availing the host of services offered by IEEE.

Multi disciplinary approach – a unique feature of IEEE has been adopted so that our members cannot only educate themselves but also contribute to better understanding of the various facets of leadership, communication and project management skills.

Our enthusiastic fellow members and young and dynamic student members should be scouting the website soas to look at the latest advances and pass on the information to other colleagues and readers of our Newsletter, by contributing the original articles, updates etc.,

This part of the calendar year holds the door for many a young individual’s career. The frantic scramble for application, facing entrance tests, interviews, awaiting with bated breath for admission cards and so forth, occupies the waking hours for a sizeable section of our youth. While entrance tests are getting computerized and objective with nuances of knowledge and intelligence being probed, aptitude is not tested. This is a gap that must be covered. For an engineering profession like ours, aptitude to the chosen field, is very essential to sustain the young mind, through the long gestation period of being competent in a very demanding call of service and knowledge. We must promote the cause of assessing aptitude also, in the entrance test to the Engineering colleges. The planners, the Engineering Counsellors and educationists, have a role, in addressing this specific problem.

I Invite you to share your thoughts and send in your suggestions. I wish to reiterate that your engagement counts and I will count on your participation and co-operation, on our march forward.

FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

This September issue of LINK seems to have been dedicated to student branches. A no. of student branch activities been reported in detail. While many were centered near Chennai, the Student Professional Awareness Conference was held at National Engineering College, Kovilpatti. It is really heartening to note that the IEEE Madras Section has 105 student branches.

We have an interesting article extract (by Mr. Senthil Kumar) from New Scientist on Advanced Speech Encoding project of DARPA. More details on this project can be seen at http://www.darpa.mil/ato/solicit/ASE/index.htm. A short write-up on weight on other planets by three students of VIT, Vellore explains the details why things weigh differently. While these articles provide some information, they lack depth. We are looking at original contributions dealing on the developmental projects being carried by students. We would appreciate if the faculty members take a note of this request and guide the students accordingly.

The issue carries the Election Notice for the year 2006 with a deadline of 30th Sep 2005. Members desirous of serving the IEEE Madras Section may please respond as detailed in the notice.

ESD, Electrostatic Discharge is an important issue in the electronics industry and the technical meeting held last month was timely. A brief note on the presentation by Dr. Sisir K Das has appeared in this issue. From the detailed programme of the EOS/ESD International Symposium of the Electrostatic Discharge Association (EDA) highlights the significance of this. For more details on EDA and the symposium please visit the association home page at http://www.esda.org/ A visit to the ESD journal site at http://www.esdjournal.com/ would be highly rewarding to those interested in ESD.

We are sure that the update and the analysis of the 350 papers received for the INDICON 2005 published in this issue would tempt many to register for the conference. The various committees of INDICON are working in full swing to make this conference a star event of the year.

A gentle reminder from the editorial team to our professional members. May we have your contributions in LINK?

IEEE Madras Section - Election 2006

Section Chair	1 post
Vice Chairmen	2 posts
Secretary	1 post
Treasurer	1 post
Members	7 posts

Please send your nominations with IEEE Membership number, postal address, e-mail ID, contact telephone numbers etc. so as to reach before 4.30 p.m. on 30.09.2005. Nominations received beyond 4.30 p.m. on 30.09.2005 will be rejected. The details may be sent either by e-mail to ieeemas@eth.net or ieeemas@vsnl.net or by post to the Chairman, Nominating Committee (Election 2006), IEEE Madras Section, Room 3, ISTE Professional Centre, Gandhi Mandapam Road, Chennai 600 025.

Prof. S. Srinivasan
Chairman
Nominating Committee (Election 2006)
IEEE Madras Section

IEEE Student Branch of Sri Subramaniya College of Engineering & Technology celebrates anniversary

The anniversary celebration was conducted by the IEEE Student Branch (Branch no 62921) of SSCOET, for the year 2005. Dr S. Salivahanan, Principal of SSN College of Engineering, Chennai was the chief guest for theunction. He delivered a talk on the “ROLE PLAYED BY IEEE IN BOOSTING ONE’S OWN CAREER PPORTUNITY” on 12th August 2005.

Dr N.Marisami, Principal, delivered the presidential address, Mr A. undaram, Registrar Cum Administrative Officer, IEEE Student Branch Counselor Mrs P.Gnana Sundari also took part in the meeting. IEEE Student Branch Chairman Mr Deepak.V, welcomed the gathering and introduced the Chief Guest.

Crescent Engineering College Guest Lecture

The IEEE Student Branch of B S A Crescent Engineering College, organised a special Guest Lecture on 22nd july 2005, on the topic “Satellite Based Remote Weather Acquisition System” by Mr.Sathish Chetty of Red Hat Linux, USA.

Mr.Sathish Chetty was a member of a project for installing weather acqusition equipments in Antartica. He explained the various limitations and problems encountered by their team and how they tackled it successfully. The team has erected a plant for continuous weather monitoring.

The chief guest was felicitated by the college and the student branch. The Principal Dr.V.M.Periasamy gave the presidential address.The lecture was also attended by student members, staff and civil Engineering department students.

Inauguration of IEEE Student Branch at Veltech Engg. College, Avadi on 15th September 2005

IEEE Student Branch was inaugurated by Mr. P. Suresh Chander Pal, Chairman IEEE Madras Section,

Mr. K.V.D. Kishore Kumar, Director of Vel group of institutions, offered felicitation and appealed to students to join in large members in the IEEE Student Branch and assured the support and encouragement from the management. He explained the methodologies and training given to the students for scoring high marks in the examinations.

The IEEE student members were invited to the dais and they were joined by Section Chair, Director and the Branch Counselor, Prof. Prasanna Kumar, in lighting the Kuthu Vilakku, marking the symbolic inauguration of the IEEE Student Branch.

Dr. Ramasamy, Principal of Vel Tech Engg. College, Prof. Uthaya Kumar, Principal of Vel Multimedia Engg.College, Prof. A.M. Prasanna Kumar, IEEE Branch Counselor and Asst. Prof. P.V. Rao of Vel Tech, shared their views on IEEE Student Branch activities.

IEEE Student Branch Activities co-coordinator, Mr. S. Venkatesan, gave brief report on the annual plan of activities to be conducted in their college, for 2005 & 2006.

The inaugural speech by Section Chair was received with rapt attention. IEEE-non-members showed great interest to join IEEE. Prof. Prasanna Kumar, Mr. Venkatesh and Mr. Rao and the IEEE Student Branch Chair & Secretary spoke about IEEE activities, with great enthusiasm.

Student Professional Awareness Conference
National Engineering College, Kovilpatti

The Student branch of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) at National Engineering College, Kovilpatti conducted one day Student Professional Awareness Conference (S-PAC) for the benefit of engineering college students on 5th September 2005. This program was approved by IEEE, USA. An information brouchure about the conduct of S-PAC at NEC was prepared and dispatched to as many as 45 Engineering colleges situated in Southern Districts of Tamilnadu. They received response from 15 colleges and a total of 180 engineering students registered and participated in this event.

On the day of S-PAC, the inaugural session was presided over by Prof. P. Brahmanayagam, Head of EIE Dept., NEC in the presence of Prof. V. Vijayarangan, Branch Counselor as well as Head of ECE Dept., NEC. The Chief guest was Mr. T.S. Rangarajan, Treasurer, IEEE Madras Section and as the Head of RFID Division of TATA Consultancy Services, Chennai. Mr. Babu, Student Secretary of IEEE welcomed the gathering.

Mr. T.S. Rangarajan delivered a lecture on “Higher Education for Engineering Students”, in the first session, which was followed by another lecture on the topic “Resume writing and Job-hunting” by Prof.S. Sankararajan. Mr. K.M. Shanmugam, Chief Regional Manager, APLAB Ltd., Chennai was the special guest of S-PAC and he delivered a talk on “How to be Successful in Interviews”.

In the afternoon, two Resource persons, Mr. M. Sethumadhavan and Mr. M.P. Pillai from KEY Consultants, Nagercoil delivered a lecture on “Careers for Engineering Graduates”.

All these sessions were made lively with active participation by the participants. The speaker evaluationsheets were distributed to the participants and, nearly 20 students representing various colleges gave excellent feedback about this S-PAC.

The valedictory session was presided over by Thiru. K.R. Arunachalam, College Managing Committee Member in the presence of Dr.Kn.K.S.K. Chockalingam, Principal. Mr. B. Priestly Shan, Student Chairman of IEEE read the report on S-PAC. In the concluding session, Mr. T.S. Rangarajan spoke on IEEE Membership Benefits and highlighted the advantages of organizing such conferences through IEEE. Thiru K.R. Arunachalam distributed the certificates to the participants of S-PAC Prof. S. Sankaralingam proposed vote of thanks.

The technical lecture on Electronics & Electrostatic Discharge Effect

Electrostatic discharge (ESD), is “the transfer of electrostatic charges developed in human bodies at different electrostatic potentials (voltages), to sensitive electronics devices, by direct contact or induced by an electrostatic field”. We have many experiences in ESD. While walking across a carpeted floor and touching a metal doorknob, we often feel a small shock on our finger. When two materials are rubbed together or separated rapidly, one material tends to attract electrons away, from the other material. This leaves differently charged voltage levels on each material. When a charge or uncharged region, is brought into close proximity with an oppositely charged region, electrostatic discharge, may occur, because of the attraction of unlike charges. If this electrostatic discharge occurs near electronic components, the components are often damaged or destroyed.

ESD damage to electronic component and assemblies has been a major problem of the electronics industry in recent years. This is because most ESD damage is caused unknowingly by individuals inspecting, sorting, or installing ESD sensitive devices. Devices that aren’t destroyed during handling, are often damaged during some time later. This damage is known as “latent” damage and often is not detectable by routine quality tests, and could appear after the device is installed in it’s host equipment.

The lecture by Dr. Sisir K. Das, on 20.8.2005, highlighted the phenomenon, effects, international standards and remedies.

Inauguration of the IEEE Student Branch at Easwari Engineering College

The IEEE Student branch was inaugurated on the 13th of September 2005. The function was held at the auditorium at Easwari Engineering College, with Mr.P.Suresh Chander Pal, Chairman, IEEE Madras Section, inaugurating the Branch.

The function was also graced with the presence of the Principal, Dr. T.Krishnan and HOD of the Dept. of ECE, Mr. Uma Rajaram, delivering the welcome address.

Mrs.S. Ramalatha, Asst, Professor, Dept. of ECE and IEEE Student Branch counselor, introduced the Chief Guest.

Introduction of the new office bearers was done by Mrs. Padmasini, senior lecturer, Dept. of CSE. the vote of thanks was proposed by Mrs. Umayal, Senior Lecturer, Dept. of EEE.

For the attention of IEEE Students Branches

(1) It has come to our notice that some students, when selecting their University or college, they select the University to which the college, they are attending, is affiliated. There are many University systems in our state, which have a few colleges, affiliated to them. The students should select the college they are attending.

(2) The student branches should quote the Branch code and the School code numbers, allotted to them, in all the correspondences.

(3) To be valid and to be eligible for the US $ 2.00 rebate from Head Quarters and US $ 1.00 from Region per student on rolls and US $ 100 grant for the new Student Branch having sustained membership strength (as of 31 Dec.) of over 50 in the first and second year, the S.B. has to submit the Annual Report of Activities, due 1 May or within 2 months after the academic year ends and Annual Plan of Activities due 1 November or within 2 months, after the academic year begins. The Principal officers’ list along with list of members with membership numbers, postal address, phone, cell nos., email id etc.
should be sent to

l.durrett@ieee.org

s.takenchi@ieee.org

marzuki@utmkl.utm.my

c.jankownski@ieee.org

yas@ff.f.dendai.ac.tp

c.eldridge@ieee.org

k.kum81@ff.f.dendai.ac.tp

ieeemas@eth.net

suresh372001@yahoo.co.in

hkalyan@ieee.org

mmshah@ieee.org

pmgrka@hth.bhel.co.in

Students Branches in IEEE Madras Section

At present there are 93 Student Branches.

Recent additions, after our second representation:

1. Francis Xavier Engg. College (SC41678913)

2. Arasu Engg. College (SC41688746)

3. Infant Jesus Engg. College (SC 41688768)

New SBs being formed:

1. Annai Theresa, Neyveli

2. Bannari Amman, Trichy

3. Ramanujam Engg. College, Chennai

4. Kamaraj Engg. Technology, Tirunelveli

5. Panimalar Engg. College, Poonamallee

6. Thangavel Engg. Collge, Thorapakkam

7. KCG College of Technology, Karapakkam

8. Sri Balaji Chockalingam Engg. College, Irumbedu,
Tiruvannamalai Dist.

9. SSM Engg. College, Kumarapalayam

Kindly contact the office of IEEE Madras Section, for any assistance or information, for opening new IEEE Student Branch or for any clarification or assistance, on
IEEE matters. You can join online at www.ieee.org/join

Weight on Other Planets

Vellore Institute Of Technology (Deemed University),
Vellore-632014

It’s good to talk - but don’t make a sound

Soon we may be using phones that can be heard over the din of loud background noise such as in a factory or loud bar. One of the technologies being pursued by the US military is aimed at replacing the microphone in a mobile phone with nonacoustic sensors worn around the user’s neck that can detect movement in the vocal cords. Just think how peaceful– people all around having conversations on their mobile phones, but without uttering a sound.

Thanks to some military research, this social nirvana just might come true. DARPA, the US Department of Defense research agency, is working on a project known as Advanced Speech Encoding, aimed at replacing microphones with non-acoustic sensors that detect speech via the speaker’s nerve and muscle activity, rather than sound itself.

One system, being developed for DARPA by Rick Brown of Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Massachusetts, relies on a sensor worn around the neck called a tuned electromagnetic resonator collar (TERC). Using sensing techniques developed for magnetic resonance imaging, the collar detects changes in capacitance caused by movement of the vocal cords, and is designed to allow speech to be heard above loud background noise.

DARPA is also pursuing an approach first developed at NASA’s Ames lab, which involves placing electrodes called electromyographic sensors on the neck, to detect changes in impedance during speech. A neural network processes the data and identifies the pattern of words. The sensor can even detect subvocal or silent speech. The speech pattern is sent to a computerised voice generator that recreates the speaker’s words.

DARPA envisages issuing the technology to soldiers on covert missions, crews in noisy vehicles or divers working underwater. But one day civilians might use a refined version to be heard over the din of a factory or engine room, or a loud bar or party. More importantly, perhaps, the technology would allow people to use phones in places such as train carriages, cinemas or libraries without disturbing others. Brown has produced a TERC prototype, and an electromyographic prototype is expected in 2008.

However, both systems come at a cost. Because the words are produced by a computer, the receiver of the call would hear the speaker talking with an artificial voice. But for some that may be a price worth paying for a little peace and quiet.

IEEE IND CON 2005

December 11-13, 2005

An International Conference and Exhibition under the aegis of IEEE India Council

Organized by IEEE - Madras Section

General Chair

Rajendra K. Asthana

Organizing Committee Chair

Suresh Chander Pal P

Members

Gowri Sri

Kamalakkannan T.V

Kamalakkannan T.V Ponnavaikko M

Ramanathan K

Rangarajan T.S

Srinivasan R

Program Committee Chair

Srinivasan S

Members

Amitava DasGupta

Chandra Sekar C

Chidambaram M

David Koilpillai R

Geetha T. V

Gonsalves T. A

Gunasekaran N

Harishankar Ramachandran

Jagadeesh Kumar V

Kamakoti V

Kannan S.R

Karmalkar S

Krishna Vasudevan
Mehatha

Muthukrishnan C. R

Rama Subba Reddy M

Salivahanan S

Sarathi R

Udaykumar K

Secretariat

IEEE Madras Section

ISTE Professional Center

Gandhi Mandapam Road

Chennai 600 025, India

Ph: 91 44 2442 3939

Mobile: 93823 28776

FAX: 91 44 2442 3939

Email: ieeemas@eth.net

ieeemas@vsnl.net

About the Conference

IEEE India Council has been holding an Annual Conference and Exhibition (ACE) at different locations in India. From 2004, ACE is rechristened as IEEE INDICON. The IEEE Kharagpur Section organized IEEE INDICON 2004. This year, IEEE Madras Section is organizing the IEEE INDICON 2005, an International Conference and Exposition under the aegis of IEEE India Council. The venue of the conference is IIT Madras, Chennai. As in the past, the Conference will provide a forum for scientists, educators and practicing engineers to meet and exchange ideas and explore new avenues of research and cooperation. Apart from the presentation of contributed papers peer reviewed by an international panel of reviewers, INDICON 2005 will also feature tutorials, exhibitions and invited talks by pioneers in the field.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Original contributions reporting results of research and development are solicited on topics covered under the broad areas of Power Systems and High Voltage, Power Electronics and Drives, Control and Instrumentation, Microelectronics and VLSI, Fiber Optics and Optical Communication, Wireless Technologies, Biomedical Systems, Communication Systems and Signal Processing, Computer Communication Networks, Pervasive Computing, Computational Intelligence and Robotics, and Software Engineering. Prospective authors are requested to submit their full papers, not exceeding four pages, prepared in the two-column IEEE format, which is available in the conference website. All papers should be submitted “on-line” at the conference website http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/madras. Accepted papers will be published in the proceedings of the conference, provided at least one of the authors registers, attends and presents the paper.

Theme of the Conference

The conference will focus on “Emerging Trends in Electrical, Electronics and Information Technologies”.

We have received over 350 papers. The applications received, in different areas, are given below:

Biomedical Systems	21
Communication Systems and Signal Processing	48
Computational Intelligence and Robotics	25
Computer Communication Networks	42
Control and Instrumentation	30
Fiber Optics and Optical Communication	11
Microelectronics and VLSI	33
Pervasive Computing	1
Power Electronics and Drives	38
Power Systems & High Voltage	61
Software Engineering	11
Wireless Technologies	30

In view of the reasons that the response was overwhelming and a large number of papers were received, the review process is being delayed. The review process is expected to be completed shortly and the status of the papers will be made available on the website by 30th September 2005.

The Program Committee met on 14.9.05 at lIT Madras. The meeting was chaired by Prof. S. Srinivasan. The meeting was well attended by the members including our Section Chair Mr. P. Suresh Chander Pal, Treasurer Mr. T.S. Ranagarajan and Past Chair Dr. R. Srinivasan. The Committee decided to meet again on 29.09.05 to finalise (1) list of papers to be accepted, (2) speakers for tutorials and invited talks and (3) arrangements for exhibitions. More details will be published in the next issue.

Registration Fees	Indian Delegates	Foreign Delegates
IEEE Members	Rs. 2000	US$ 200
Non-members	Rs. 3000	US$ 300
Students	Rs. 750	US$ 75

Intimation of acceptance	September 30, 2005
Last date for registration (for at least one author to ensure publication)	October 15, 2005
For more details visit http://www.ewh.ieee.org/r10/madras

“Electrostatic Discharge Effect On Electronics” – Memento was
presented to Dr. Sisir K. Das Senior Member IEEE, SAMEER – Centre
for Electromagnetics, on 20.8.2005 at Hotel Palmgrove, Chennai

The anniversary was conducted by IEEE student Branch (Branch No.
62921) at SSCET, Palani, for the year 2005. Dr S.Salivahanan, Principal of
SSN College of Engineering, Chennai was the Chief Guest for the function.
He delivered a talk on the “ROLE PLAYED BY IEEE IN BOOSTING ONE’S
OWN CAREER OPPORTUNITY” on 12th August 2005.

The IEEE Student Branch of B S A Crescent Engineering College
organised a special Guest Lecture on 22nd July 2005 on the topic
“Satellite Based Remote Weather Acquisition System” by Mr.Sathish
Chetty of Red Hat Linux, USA.

Inauguration of the IEEE Student Branch at Easwari Engineering College
on 13th September 2005. (L-R) S. Ramalatha, Dr. T. Krishnan,
P. Suresh Chander Pal, Chair, IEEE Madras Section,
Mrs. Uma Rajaram, Mr. Hari Haran, IVth Year ECE.

A section of the students, who attended the meeting on 22nd July 2005 ,
“Satellite Based Remote Weather Acquisition System” IEEE Student Branch of B S A Crescent Engineering College

Mr. T.S. Rangarajan, Treasurer, IEEE Madras Section,
delivered a lecture on Higher Education for Engineering
Students at S-PAC, National Engineering College,
Kovilpatti on 5.9.2005.

A section of the students, who attended the meeting on 5th September 2005,
at S-PAC, National Engineering College, Kovilpatti