IEEE Central Texas SectionTHE ANALOG |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Volume 54-09 |
September 2010 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Newsletter of the Central Texas Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc. Published monthly. Deadline for inclusion is the 27th day of the previous month. Send submissions, comments, questions to John Purvis, Editor, john.purvis@ieee.org CONTENTS1. Section Activities2. Chapter Activities3. News & Information4. Local Conferences5. Other ConferencesIEEE EXTERNAL LINKS
|
1. Section ActivitiesChairman's ColumnDid you know that a number of top IEEE technical conferences and workshops are held each year in the Austin/San Antonio area?Did you know that the CTS sponsor workshops that are specifically tailored to the members in our area? Did you know that you’re Society and Chapter Officers participate in the planning of these events? Did you know that having these conferences and workshops is an opportunity for the members of the CTS to get inside information or networking contacts within the industry? With the challenging economic times, many companies have reduced or ended their support for engineers to travel to attend technical conferences. This caused the lack of opportunity for engineers to network and to maintain their technical expertise with the fast changing technology of the world. In the past few years, the CTS has encourage its’ chapters to organize workshops or bringing International Conference to the CTS area. One of the major reasons is to reduce the cost for engineers to participate in conferences and workshops and to further their career development. The CTS conference chair Thuy Dao has been actively working with Chapter leaders to brainstorm ideas and has led interaction with international conference organizers to bring conferences to the CTS area. In 2010, there were several successful workshops and conferences financially sponsored by IEEE CTS that were held in Austin and San Antonio starting with Consulting nuts & Bolts workshop, I2MTC, TMC EM Symposium, and Frequency Synthesizer workshop. In each of these events, many of the IEEE CTS members have volunteered to work at the conferences and events and have been given access to the conference and the associated networking opportunities at little or no cost to them. In the next few months, there are several exciting workshops planned in the CTS starting with the Solar Technology Workshop on 9/16, the PES NEC update on 10/15, and the ACISC. These are just the beginning of the events that the CTS will be hosting/supporting the reminder of this year and into 2011. Hot of the press is the news that CTS has been awarded the Globecom conference for 2014. All these workshops & conferences required many volunteers and dedication to make them successful events. The list of volunteers is much longer than the space in this column would allowed for me to thank all volunteers adequately. However, I would like to acknowledge the following leaders for their contributions in making the CTS a premier section for bringing the conference benefits to our members: Kai Wong, Hao Xing Ren, Mike Noth, Michael Frye, Kenny Rice, Dina Triyoso, Scott Atkinson and Ross Carlton. Contact Thuy Dao (Thuy.Dao@freescale.com) or your Chapter Chair for information on how you can participate in these exciting events. Tom
Grim Back to TOP Membership DevelopmentAnnual IEEE Election ? VOTE? VOTE? VOTE!Annual Election Process Has Begun: Look for your annual election ballot package to arrive in August or by early September. All members eligible to vote will receive a paper ballot and a postage-paid reply envelope via first-class mail. Included is information about how to vote electronically. VOTE TODAY AT www.ieee.org/election. Did you know about IEEE - IEEE Job Site Did You Know - The IEEE maintains a jobsite with current high quality positions for exclusive use by IEEE members. Jobsite highlights:
Note: the site is paid for by companies posting jobs on the site. Postings are free for new companies if recommended by an IEEE member. Joe
Redfield Back to TOP Section & Chapter NewsSolar Technology WorkshopThe Electron Devices Society Chapter is sponsoring the Solar Technology Workshop, Thursday, September 16, 7:30am - 5:00pm at Freescale Semiconductior, 7700 W Parmer Ln Austin, TX78729. Early registration ends September 9. Please visit the website for additional information regarding the workshop and registration: https://www.ieee.org/stw https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/stw/ 2011 National Electrical Code Change Review The Austin PES is sponsoring a Code Change Class for the 2011 National Electrical Code. This is a full day instructional class taught by Mr. James Stallcup. The class is will be held October 15, 2010 in downtown Austin, TX. This class is only being offered one day, and will be limited by the room capacity. Sign up now to guarrentee your seat in the class! Attendees will be given an 8.0 PDH certificate upon completion of the class. The class will be held Friday, October 15 at the City of Austin Bldg, 721 Barton Springs Rd., Austin, Texas. The cost is $175 for Non IEEE members, and $130 for IEEE members. The cost includes class, lunch and refreshments, and James Stallcup’s book: "2011 Illustrated Code Changes. " Download this pdf registration form. Back to TOP Continuing EducationNothing this monthBack to TOP Student BranchesSt
Mary's University - San Antonio (https://engineering.stmarytx.edu/ieee/) Texas
State University - San Marcos (new
branch, 2009) Trinity
University - San Antonio University
of Texas at Austin (https://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/) University
of Texas at San Antonio (https://ieee.utsaengineering.org) Student Member NewsBack to TOP Calls for VolunteersNone this monthBack to TOP 2. Chapter ActivitiesMultiple Chapter EventsJoint Section / San Antonio Computer SocietyJoint Section meeting Thursday September 16, 2010 with the San Antonio Computer Society Chapter. The meeting will feature the 6th Annual Student Night by Various Local University Students, and will be held at MEB Room 322, Moody Engineering Building, Trinity University (Directions). See San Antonio Computer Society Chapter information below for more details. Back to TOP Chapter Meeting NoticesAntennas
& Propagation/Microwave Theory and Techniques
No meeting scheduled at this time.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Topic/Title |
IEEE Distinguished
Lecture: Learning From Nature to Make Machines See and Robots Walk |
|---|---|
|
Speaker |
Prof. Ralph
Etienne-Cummings, John Hopkins University |
|
Abstract |
Over the past 20
years, there has been a quiet growth in the number of researchers
looking to biology for inspiration for developing computational and
robotics systems. This should not be surprising because
throughout history many innovators have used ideas from nature in their
designs. As examples we have Leonardo da Vinci’s
(circa 1493) “helicopter” which is based on a
sycamore seeds, and Gaudi’s (circa 1910) Casa Mila was
inspired by nautilus shells. In a similar vein, in the late
1980s Carver Mead, who was one of the pioneers of integrated circuits,
made the observation that electron transport in silicon field effect
transistors was similar to the ion transport in nerve cells, and
therefore suggested that integrated circuits may be used to design
computers and sensors that operate like our brains, eyes and
ears. This approach seeded the development of the
Neuromorphic Engineering field, and is now well established across the
globe (see www.ine-web.org).
As the idea germinated, grew and spread, researchers started looking at
the entire organism for inspiration, thereby migrating from
Neuromorphic to Biomorphic Engineering. Recently, the field
has taken another lurch towards Biomorphic Cognition Engineering, in an
effort to host perceptive and cognitive processes in engineered bodies
such as computers and robots. Prof. Etienne-Cummings has been involved
in Neurormorphic and Biomorphic Engineering from their inceptions, and
he will describe the evolution of the field through his work.
He will start by motivating his work on visual information processing,
modeling the biological retina and parts of the visual cortex, and then
focus on this recent research on modeling the spinal cord locomotion
networks in silicon. Using these models, he will show that a
“paralyzed” animal can be made to work again,
implying that these systems may be useful in helping individuals with
spinal cord injuries. Finally, he will speculate about what
the future holds for this research, particularly in the area of fully
neurally integrated prosthetic limbs and biomorphic robots. |
|
Date/Time |
Tuesday, September 28, 2010, 6:30pm-8:00pm |
|
Cost |
|
|
Reservations |
|
|
Location |
UT Campus ACES 2.402 |
|
Notes |
The joint Circuits & Systems/Solid State Circuits Societies normally meet on the 2nd Tuesday of every month. This meeting is open to the public and interested parties. Additional details will be posted at the website. If you have any questions about this meeting or this group, please contact renhaoxing@ieee.org or zhuoli@ieee.org
Back to TOP
No meeting scheduled at this time.
Back to TOP
|
Topic/title |
MESH Routing Empowered Scalable and Intelligent WLAN |
|---|---|
|
Speaker |
Dr. Xin Wu,
Director, WuXi Nebula Networks Co. Ltd. |
|
Abstract |
he MESH WLAN has
been well researched within the last decade. The real-world deployment of MESH WLAN projects has demonstrated that with the proactive routing methods (such as OLSR), it is feasible to mesh 1000+ nodes with shared gateways. In real-world deployment, to overcome the difficulties of manageability of wireless networks, a proactive monitoring approach and intelligent self-diagnosing, self-healing mechanisms has recently been developed by Nebula Networks. Together with MESH routing, smart, scalable and reliable wireless network may be deployed and managed by IT clueless people. Another challenge for MESH WLAN is client roaming. To enable the seamlessly quick hand-off between Mesh APs within and/or among networks becomes the necessary features for mobile applications such as VoWIFI and mobile video surveillance. In this talk, the roaming approach will be reviewed. As part of the talk, the live demo of Nebula’s proprietary intelligent mesh WLAN will be presented. |
|
Date/time |
Wednesday,
September 15, 2010 7:15 pm
Presentation, with Q/A |
|
Location |
National
Instruments, Room 1S13 Bldg C, 11500 North Mopac |
|
Cost |
None |
|
Reservations |
None |
|
Notes |
|
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title |
6th Annual Student Night by Various Local University Students |
|---|---|
| Speaker | |
| Abstract |
Design Presentations by various University student groups |
| Date/Time |
Thursday September 16, 2010 |
| Location |
Networking and
Dinner and Presentation at MEB Room 322 |
| Cost |
None |
| Reservations |
None required, but please drop Yu Zhang (yzhang@cs.trinity.edu) a note so that sufficient pizza can be ordered. |
| Notes | See https://www.ieee-cs-cts.org
for directions and parking information. This meeting is open to the
public. Joint meeting with Central Texas Section |
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title | MINITRENDS:
Seizing the Future Before It's Defined |
|---|---|
| Speaker |
Dr. John Vanston |
| Speaker Bio | Dr. John Vanston
is Chairman of Technology Futures, Inc. (TFI), a company he founded in
1978 and has built into a leading authority in custom research,
forecasting, and trend analysis in telecom and other high-technology
industries. John has conducted analyses of emerging technologies for a
wide range of Fortune 500, governmental, and academic organizations.
Prior to TFI, John served as a Professor of Nuclear Engineering at The
University of Texas at Austin and as Deputy Director of the
University's Center for Energy Studies. Earlier, John served as a Lt.
Col. in the U.S. Army. |
| Abstract |
Minitrends are
emerging trends that promise to become of significant importance within
the next 2 to 5 years. When applied properly, Minitrends provides you
with the opportunity to utilize and express your imagination, your
perceptiveness, your originality, your logic, your innovative nature,
and your basic good sense. Minitrend involvement also provides you a
way to distinguish yourself from your colleagues and contemporaries. |
| Date |
Wednesday,
September 22, 2010, Networking at 6:00 pm,
Business and |
| Location |
China Star Restaurant, 6134 Hwy 290 E, Austin TX. Westbound access road of 290E, just east of IH 35 |
| Cost |
$5.00 minimum charge for the restaurant. Supper is at optional extra cost. |
| Reservations |
Not required. All interested parties are invited to attend. |
| Notes |
For more information, contact Ed Gordon, ebg@ieee.org, or Kai Wong, kaiwong@ieee.org |
Do a friend a favor. Bring your colleagues to grow the Consultants Network.
More information on Consultants Networks: https://www.ieeeusa.org/business/whatis.asp
Back to TOP
No meeting scheduled at this time.
Back to TOP
|
Topic/Title |
Nanoscale Materials
Engineering for Phase Change and Magnetoresistive |
|---|---|
|
Speaker |
Prof. Santosh Kurinec (Rochester Institute of Technology) |
|
Abstract |
The arena of
non-volatile memory (NVM) technology is a flourishing industry due to an inundation of portable electronic devices in the market today. Floating Gate technology, which is the current NVM mainstay faces an uncertain future due to scalability and reliability issues. This has led to a host of heretofore unorthodox NVM technologies to surface as potential heirs. Among the mix are Phase Change Memory (PCM) and Magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM), which form the focus of the discussion of this paper. The spotlight is on bilayer chalcogenide based PCM and CoFeB|MgO|CoFeB based Magnetic Tunnel Junctions (MTJ) as building blocks for emerging nonvolatile memory. The appeal in bilayer PCM lies in the possibility of achieving multi-state behavior, improved capability of withstanding thermal cycles and possibility of creating a device with tunable electrical properties. The crystallization of CoFe, which is enabled by boron out diffusion, is the key for obtaining high tunneling magnetoresistance ratio in MTJs and is described from physical and materials principles. This paper presents a comprehensive material characterization studies using high resolution TEM/EELS and time resolved X-ray diffraction for understanding materials engineering of these devices. These studies also reveal processing constraints involved in integration of these devices into silicon platform for NVM applications. |
|
Date/Time |
Friday September 17, 2010 Refreshments 5:00pm - 5:30pm Presentation 5:30pm - 7:00pm |
|
Refreshments |
|
|
Reservations |
Please RSVP to Christian Catalan at Christian.Catalan@amd.com. We need accurate count to purchase refreshments. |
|
Location |
Meeting
Location: Rio Grande Conference room at SVTC Map: https://www.sematech.org/corporate/map.htm |
|
Notes |
The Electron
Devices Society Chapter is sponsoring the Solar Technology Workshop,
Thursday,
September 16, 7:30am - 5:00pm at Freescale Semiconductior,
7700 W Parmer Ln Austin, TX78729 Please visit the website for additional information regarding the workshop and registration: https://www.ieee.org/stw https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/stw/ |
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title |
Closed loop control of clinical sedation |
|---|---|
| Speaker |
Brett Moore, Ph.D. |
| Abstract |
Dr. Moore will present his recent doctoral work from Texas Tech on closed loop control of sedation. Sedation management is an on-going problem for intensivists and leads to many complications for patients. Adaptation to the drugs and periodic “sedation vacations” are only two of the difficulties encountered when attempting to automate the process. Dr. Moore’s work tackled many of the most significant challenges in implementing automated control of sedation and along the way has addressed several of the challenges of implementing closed-loop control in clinical settings in general. Please come learn about the leading edge of signal processing, pharmacology, and systems physiology sciences to solve one of the most persistent critical care needs. |
| Date/Time |
Wednesday, September 15 2010 - 7:00-9:00 pm |
| Cost |
$10 IEEE members, $15 non-members, students are free |
| Reservations |
Please email Royce
Johnson ( johnsonr@Kci1.com
) |
| Location |
KCI
R&D, 6203 Farinon
Dr.,
Last KCI building on your right |
| Notes | Note the new location. |
Back to TOP
The Engineering Management Society has become the Technology Management Council. Information about meetings can be found in the sections for Technology Management Council - Austin and Technology Management Council - San Antonio
Back to TOP
No meeting scheduled at this time.
For more Information contact Jeffrey Langston (axu913@my.utsa.edu).
More information on GOLD: https://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/gold/index.html
Back to TOP
No meeting scheduled at this time.
For more information, contact Ray Chen
Back to TOP
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title |
Medium Voltage Cables |
|---|---|
| Speaker |
Mark Thiele,
Director - Central Region, Southwire Company |
| Abstract |
Medium Voltage (5 to 35kV) cables will be covered with the discussion including basic components, insulation types, jacket types and, if needed, armoring. We will also discuss the most appropriate MV cable constructions for particular applications. Installation issues will be covered as a majority of cable failures can be traced backed to mechanical damage during installation. Finally, new developments in cable insulations and jackets will be presented. |
| Date/Time |
Tuesday, September
28
2010 |
| Location |
El Gallo Mexican
Restaurant |
| Cost |
$11 or $13 for IEEE
members and accompanying spouses |
| Reservations |
Please RSVP if you plan to attend. To reply or for further information, please contact Kevin Ewing via email at kewing@shermco.com. |
| Notes |
The bar will be available to those who care to purchase a drink or beer. When you order, you will have a choice from nine special selections and six traditional combinations on our menu. |
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title |
Bulletproof Energy Storage |
|---|---|
| Speaker |
Sriram Emani, Xtreme Power Solutions |
| Abstract | |
| Date/Time | Thursday, 30 March 2010 6:00 to 6:30PM Social 6:30 to 7:00PM Dinner 7:00 to 8:00PM Speaker Presentation |
| Location |
Grady's BBQ, 6510 San Pedro, San Antonio (210-806-8036) |
| Cost |
$10 members, $15 non-members, Free for students The price includes drink (iced tea or water), tip and tax. Barbeque meal includes brisket, beans and potato salad. |
| Reservations |
RSVP to Christina Gaydos via e-mail at chris@grubbengineering.com or via phone at (210) 658-7250. |
| Notes |
For more information please go to our web site at https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/sanantonio |
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title |
Global Approval and Testing Requirements for Wireless Devices |
|---|---|
| Speaker | Thanh Nguyen, Regulatory Engineer |
| Abstract | |
| Date/Time |
Tuesday, September 21, 2010 6:30 - 8:00 PM |
| Cost |
None |
| Reservations |
Not necessary |
| Location |
Dell Parmer South
Campus Confirm location on
Chapter Web
site |
| Notes |
Nominations for Chapter Officers |
We encourage you, others in your organization, or other interested parties to participate in our meetings. The PSES meets on the third Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm, with the program starting at 7:00pm. For further information about the PSES, please contact Dale Ritzen at (512) 651-5338.
Back to TOP
|
Topic/Title |
The Limited Feedback Revolution in Wireless Communication |
|---|---|
|
Speaker |
Prof. Robert W. Heath Jr. received the B.S. and M.S. degrees from the University of Virginia and the Ph.D. from Stanford University, all in electrical engineering. Previously he was a Senior Member of the Technical Staff then a Senior Consultant at Iospan Wireless Inc, San Jose, CA where he worked on the design and implementation of the physical and link layers of the first commercial MIMO-OFDM communication system. Currently he is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin, and Associate Director of the Wireless Networking and Communications Group. He is also founder and President of MIMO Wireless Inc. and VP of Innovation at Kuma Signals LLC. Dr. Heath's research interests include several aspects of MIMO communication: limited feedback techniques, multihop networking, multiuser MIMO, interference mitigation, 60GHz communication techniques, and multi-media signal processing. |
|
Abstract |
Wireless communication systems have improved efficiency in several dimensions in the past decade. One prominent change is the sweeping incorporation of multiple antennas, at both the transmitter and receiver, to achieve higher capacity, better quality, and resilience to interference through new modes of operation. A corresponding advance, resulting from increasing flexibility in the transmitter configuration, is algorithms that adapt the transmit strategy to the dynamic propagation environment. The concept of limited feedback lies at the heart of these two fundamental changes in wireless design. This presentation reviews several breakthroughs in limited feedback multiple antenna wireless communication. The connection between limited feedback and quantization on the Grassmann manifold is explained. Then, a new approach for adaptive high resolution limited feedback beamforming is revealed. It leverages temporal correlation in the channel through a new predictive coding framework that reduces feedback rates and/or increases effective resolution. The presentation concludes with a review of experimental activities and directions for future work in wireless networks. |
|
Date/Time |
Thursday, September 16, 2010 at 6:00-7:30 pm |
|
Location |
AT&T Labs - 9505 Arboretum Blvd, Austin, TX 78759 |
|
Cost |
Admission is Free |
|
Reservations |
|
|
Notes |
Check our website https://www.cts-comsoc-sp.org for details. |
Back to TOP
No meetings are scheduled at this time.
Back to TOP
| Topic/Title | An Update on Seed Stage investing in Austin, the State, and the Nation |
|---|---|
| Speaker | TBD |
| Date/Time | Wednesday, September 8, 2010 11:30am - 1:00pm |
| Location | Satay Restaurant 3202 West Anderson Lane Austin TX 78757 (map) |
| Cost | $12 for IEEE members, $14 for non-IEEE members |
| Registration | Register here |
| Notes | This meeting is free and open to the public. See https://www.austin-tmc.org for details and to RSVP. |
Contact Doug Russell for more information about the Austin TMC.
Back to TOP
Contact Nils Smith (nils.smith@ieee.org) for information about the San Antonio TMC.
Back to TOP
No meeting scheduled at this time.
More information on WIE: https://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/women/women_about.html
Back to TOP
August issue of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer includes these features:
Back to TOP
2010 IEEE Solar Technology Workshop on September 16, 2010 in Austin at Freescale Semiconductor. For more information see https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/stw/
2010 IEEE Bipolar/BiCMOS Circuits and Technology Meeting - BCTM on October 4 - 6, 2010 at the Austin Radisson Hotel & Suites. For more information see https://www.ieee-bctm.org/.
IEEE 19th Conference on Electrical Performance of Electronic Packaging and Systems (EPEPS) on October 25 - 27, 2010 at the Austin Crowne Plaza Hotel. For more information see https://www.epeps.org.
2010 IEEE International Test Conference (ITC) on November 2 - 4, 2010 at Marriott Austin Downtown/Convention Center. For more information see https://www.itctestweek.org/.
IEEE Conference Search can be found at https://www.ieee.org/web/conferences/search/index.html.
See also https://www.wikicfp.com - A place to organize and share Calls for Papers.
Back to TOP