IEEE Central Texas Section

THE ANALOG

Volume 56-09

September 2012

Newsletter of the Central Texas Section of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers, Inc.

Archives of The Analog can be found on the CTS web site here.

Published monthly. Deadline for inclusion is the 26th day of the previous month. Send submissions, comments, questions to John Purvis, Editor, john.purvis@ieee.org


CONTENTS


General Interest

Chairman's Column

Membership Development

News of Interest to the Section

Continuing Education

Student Branches

Calls for Volunteers


Local Chapter Activities

Antennas & Propagation/Microwave Theory and Techniques

Joint Circuits and Systems/Solid-State Circuits

Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology

Computer Society - Austin

Computer Society - San Antonio

Consultants Network

Electromagnetic Compatibility Society

Electron Devices Society

Engineering in Medicine and Biology

Graduates of the Last Decade

Instrumentation and Measurement Society

Laser and Electro Optics Society

Life Members Affinity Group

Joint Power and Energy, Power Electronics, Industrial Electronics, and Industrial Applications Societies - Austin

Power Engineering Society - San Antonio

Product Safety Engineering Society

Joint Signal Processing/Communications Society - Austin

Joint Communications and Signal Processing Society - San Antonio

Systems, Man and Cybernetics

Technology Management Council - Austin

Technology Management Council - San Antonio

Women in Engineering


Conferences, Events and Other Meetings

Local IEEE Conferences, Events and Workshops

Non-IEEE Meetings and Events of interest suggested by the membership



Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Events and Information

Career

Tips, Tools and Gadgets

IEEE EXTERNAL LINKS

IEEE

IEEE-USA

IEEE Region 5

IEEE Central Texas Section

Call for Papers

IEEEXplore - full text access to IEEE Publications

What's New at IEEE

SocietyNews from IEEE

IEEE Standards Association

The Spectrum Online - The Magazine for Technology Insiders

IEEE Regional News




General Interest


Chairman's Column

The summer vacation season has come to a close, the students are back in school and CTS Chapter meetings are back in full swing. September is filled with interesting meetings from many of the chapters, check out the list below and plan to attend. A few weeks ago I attended the 1st meeting of our newest chapter, CEDA (Council on Electronic Design Automation). It was a review of DAC 2012 and was attended by about 50 members. You will be hearing a lot about DAC in the coming months, because the 50th DAC will be in Austin in June of 2013. For more information go to https://www.DAC.com.

Elections for the 2013 chapter officers should be held by November and the results reported to the Section Secretary, Zhuo Li, zhuoli@ieee.org, by December. If a chapter does not plan to have a meeting in November then the election should be held before then. CTS Chapter officers terms of office start January 1 and go to December 31. For more details please refer to the IEEE MGA Operations Manual, section 9.0, paragraph F.  https://www.ieee.org/documents/section09_30june2012.pdf.

Kenny Rice
Chairman, Central Texas Section
krice@ieee.org

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Membership Development

Annual 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 NOW AT https://www.ieee.org/election.

Not an IEEE Member
Join IEEE today and get 16 months of membership for the price of 12.  That’s right signup today and renewals will be deferred till the end of 2013.  Checkout the updated benefits of being an IEEE member at https://www.ieee.org/membership

Did you know about IEEE – eLearning Library
Did You Know -
The IEEE has created an IEEE eLearning Library, the premier online collection of short courses and conference workshops.  Login with your IEEE login and view many recorded webinars and training tutorials.  Login as a guest and see public content.  Check it out at https://www.ieee.org/elearning

Joe Redfield
CTS Membership Development Chair
J.Redfield@ieee.org
210-522-3729

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News of Interest to the Section

Congratulations to new Senior Members
Congratulations to the following Central Texas Section members who were recently elevated to Senior Member at the latest Admission & Advancement (A&A) review panel meeting: Andrew Bluiett, Scott Fish, Rohan Mandrekar, Michael Orshansky, and Michael Sorensen.

Free eBook for September

IEEE-USA is offering two free e-books to IEEE members the next two months as a special benefit of IEEE membership. In September members can receive "The Best of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer on Career Survival." In October, the free featured publication will be "Writing for Success -- An Engineer's Guide, Volume 1: Designing for Success."

"The Best of Today's Engineer on Career Survival" can be downloaded at https://www.ieeeusa.org/communications/ebooks/files/wisao2sf/Best-of-TE-On-Career-Survival-V1.pdf for free to IEEE members. The nonmember price is $5.99.

Median Income of Electrotechnology, IT Professionals Rises to Nearly $120,000 but Increase Slows from Previous Year
Median income for electrotechnology and information technology professionals continued to rise in 2011, but the increase was less than half what it was in 2010, according to the latest "IEEE-USA Salary & Benefits Survey."

Median incomes from primary sources -- salary, commissions, bonuses and net self-employment income -- for U.S. IEEE members working full-time in their primary area of technical competence (job specialty) rose from $118,000 in the 2010 tax year to $119,950 in 2011, a 1.7 percent increase. The rise from 2009 ($113,500) to 2010 was 3.96 percent.

The lowest median incomes were recorded by those in energy and power engineering ($107,820), industrial applications ($110,000) and systems and control ($112,000).

Salary Calculator Available to Members and HR Professionals

IEEE members who completed the 2011 salary survey are entitled to five free uses of the IEEE-USA Salary Calculator (https://ieeeusa.gallup.com). This online tool helps you benchmark your salary and benefits against other professionals in your job specialty and in areas like age, years in the profession and geographic location. Members who would like more uses can purchase additional five-use packages of the salary calculator. This is a member-only benefit.

Members and human resources professionals can also purchase an unlimited annual subscription to the IEEE-USA Salary Service (https://ieeeusa.gallup.com). This provides companies access to the IEEE-USA Salary Calculator so they can set attractive compensation packages to recruit and retain electrotechnology and IT professionals. "IEEE-USA Salary & Benefits Survey eReports" (2009-2012) are included.

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
The new NCEES Software Engineering PE exam is ready and will be offered for the first time in April 2013.  Everyone practicing software engineering is encouraged to register for the exam.  If you or someone you know is interested in the exam, more information can be found here: https://engineers.texas.gov/software.html

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Continuing Education

09/06/2012 SPECTRUM WEBCASTS Quality Assurance for Medical Devices
2:00 PM EDT / 11:00 AM PT / 18:00 GMT
For more information see https://spectrum.ieee.org/webinar/2108886
Register here

09/06/2012: Develop Your Skills in Wireless Delve into Seven Key Areas - Take a One Day Course
Wireless Communications Engineering: Current Practice
  6 September 2012
  9:00am - 4:30pm EDT
  Instructor: Jonathan Levine
  $300 non-member; $250 IEEE/ComSoc member

09/17-21/2012: 5-Day Wireless Communications Engineering Intermediate Fundamentals Review & Current Practices
9:00am - 11:00am; then again from 1:00pm - 3:00pm EDT - online
Instructors: Lee Vishloff and Daniel Wong
$725 non-member; $625 IEEE/ComSoc member
Register by 11 September 2012 to participate.
Learn more. Register. NOTE: There is a combination package available if you are interested in taking the WCET Exam this Fall.

09/18/2012: Maintaining Security & Compliance as IT Services Move to the Cloud

Click here to register for this FREE WEBINAR!
DATE: Tuesday, September 18, 2012
TIME: 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT / 18:00 GMT
DURATION: 1 hour
https://computer.org/webinars/09182012

09/20/2012: Unifying Requirements and Design with a Simplified Requirements Analysis Workflow
Change is inevitable.  The success or failure of product and system development often hinges on the ability to respond quickly to customer, business or market requirements changes. Paul Urban discusses how utilizing a new workflow provided by the Rational Solution for Systems and Software Engineering simplifies the way that systems engineers and software developers can trace requirements to design information. The new workflow, made possible by Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration (OSLC), makes it easier to understand and manage the impact of change on the design with bi-directional traceability between requirements and design information.                      
 
Click here to register for this FREE WEBINAR!
DATE:Thursday, September 20, 2012
TIME: 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT / 18:00 GMT
DURATION: 1 hour
https://computer.org/webinars/09202012

09/25/2012: Introduction to Professional Wireless Communications
25 September 2012
9:00am - 4:30pm EDT - online
Instructor: Lee Vishloff
$300 non-member; $250 IEEE/ComSoc member
Register by 17 September.
Learn more. Register.

09/27/2012: Adopting Agile Methods for Safety-Critical Systems Development
Click here to register for this FREE WEBINAR!
DATE: Thursday, September 27, 2012
TIME: 2:00 PM ET / 11:00 AM PT / 18:00 GMT
DURATION: 1 hour
https://computer.org/webinars/09272012

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Student Branches

St Mary's University - San Antonio (https://engineering.stmarytx.edu/ieee/)
Faculty Adviser: Djaffer Ibaroudene, email: dibaroudene@stmarytx.edu
Branch Chair: Jordan Dean, email: jdean5@mail.stmarytx.edu

Texas State University - San Marcos (new branch, 2009)
Faculty Adviser: Larry Larson, email: Larry.Larson@TXState.edu
Branch Chair: Adrian Fabian, email: af1362@txstate.edu

Trinity University - San Antonio (https://www.engr.trinity.edu/)
Faculty Adviser: Farzan Aminian, email: Farzan.Aminian@Trinity.edu
Branch Chair: Mohsin Rahim, email: mrahim@trinity.edu

University of Texas at Austin (https://ieee.ece.utexas.edu/)
Faculty Adviser: Sriram Vishwanath, email: sriram@ece.utexas.edu
Branch Chair: Connor Weins, email: chair@ieee.ece.utexas.edu

University of Texas at San Antonio (https://www.utsaieee.org/)
Faculty Adviser: Shuo Wang, email: Shuo.Wang@utsa.edu
Branch Chair: Michael Starkweather, email: michael.starkweather@ieee.org

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Calls for Volunteers


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Local Chapter Activities

Antennas & Propagation/Microwave Theory and Techniques (APS/MTTS)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ap_mtt/


Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

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Joint Circuits and Systems/Solid-State Circuits (CASS/SSCS)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ssc_css/

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

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Components, Packaging and Manufacturing Technology (CPMT) - Austin
https://cpmtaustinchapter.org/

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

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Topic/Title

The Voltage Level Shifter: Ubiquitous Circuit Component Often Misunderstood and Ignored

Speaker Dr. Sanchez Hector, Freescale
Date/Time Sep. 20, 2012 / 6:00pm-7:30pm
Cost
Location Roundup conference room, Freescale (Building B), 7700 Parmer Ln, Austin, TX 78729
Notes

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Computer Society - Austin (CS)
https://www.austin-cs.org/

Topic/title

Bjarne Stroustrup Presents - C++11 Style – A Touch of Class

Speaker

Bjarne Stroustrup is the designer and original implementer of C++ and the author of several books (incl. "Programming -- Principles and Practice using C++" and "The C++ Programming Language") and many popular and academic publications. His research interests include distributed systems, design, programming techniques, software development tools, and programming languages. He is actively involved in the ISO standardization of C++. Dr. Stroustrup is a Distinguished Professor at Texas A&M University and the holder of the College of Engineering Chair in Computer Science. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, an IEEE Fellow, and an ACM fellow. Born in Aarhus Denmark. Cand.Scient. (Mathematics and Computer Science), University of Aarhus Denmark. Ph.D. (Computer Science) Cambridge University, England. https://www.stroustrup.com

Abstract

We know how to write bad code: Litter our programs with casts, macros, pointers, naked new and deletes, and complicated control structures. Alternatively (or in addition), obscure every design decision in a mess of deeply nested abstractions using the latest object-oriented programming and generic programming tricks. For good measure, complicate our algorithms with interesting special cases. Such code is incomprehensible, unmaintainable, usually inefficient, and not uncommon.

But how do we write good code? What principles, techniques, and idioms can we exploit to make it easier to produce quality code? I will make an argument for type-rich interfaces, compact data structures, integrated resource management and error handling, and highly-structured algorithmic code. I will illustrate my ideas and motivate my guidelines with a few idiomatic code examples.

I will use C++11 freely. Examples include auto, general constant expressions, uniform initialization, type aliases, type safe threading, and user-defined literals. C++ features are only just starting to appear in production compilers, so some of my suggestions have the nature of conjecture. However, developing a “modern style” is essential if we don’t want to maintain newly-written 1970s and 1980s style code in 2020.

This presentation reflects my thoughts on what “Modern C++” should mean in the 2010s: a language for programming based on light-weight abstraction with a direct and efficient mapping to hardware, suitable for infrastructure code.

Date/time

Wednesday, September 19th at 6:30 PM
6:30 p.m. Networking and Gathering
7:00 p.m. Call to Order, Announcement
7:15 p.m. Presentation, with Q/A
8:45 p.m. Meeting Evaluation, Adjourn

Location

NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS BUILDING C
Cafe 1 and Cafe 2
11500 North Mopac
Austin, TX 78759

Cost


Reservations

https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/13647

Notes

Follow the Austin chapter on Twitter @AustinIEEECS, and please feel to tweet with our tag for relevant content to our community.

We've officially launched the LinkedIn group for our the Austin chapter of the IEEE Computer Society.  Feel free to sign up at the following URL:  https://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=4064900.


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Computer Society - San Antonio (CS)
https://www.ieee-cs-cts.org/

Topic/Title

The Central Texas Future Cities Competition

Speaker Joules Webb – STEM Education Specialist

Joules is a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Connect-the-Dotter.

She is an Education Leader with a passion and expertise gained through over twenty years of experience serving in both education and industry. In education, she has served as a Texas HS science teacher and campus instructional technologist, a science teacher instructional coach, and currently as a STEM Educational Specialist with Transformation 2013 Texas STEM (T-STEM) Center. She is also a doctoral student in the Integrative STEM Education program at Virginia Tech.
Abstract This program will give an overview of the IEEE Future Cities Competition.

The Central Texas Section is the primary sponsor of the Central Texas Future Cities Competition planned for Saturday, January 19, 2013 at Texas State university in San Marcos, TX. The Future City Competition is an integrated, multidisciplinary, holistic approach to relevant issues and is a strong example of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Mathematics) education that addresses national and state academic content standards. The program asks 6th, 7th and 8th grade students from our local area to team with engineer-volunteer mentors to create — first on computer and then in large, three-dimensional models — their visions of the city of tomorrow.

Students work as a team with an educator and engineer mentor to plan cities using SimCity™ 4 Deluxe software; research and write solutions to an engineering problem; build tabletop scale models with recycled materials; and present their ideas before judges at Regional Competitions in January. Regional winners represent their region at the National Finals in Washington, DC in February.

If you are an area engineer who is looking for a worthwhile way of contributing to our nation’s future scientific minds, please consider joining the Future City Competition team of mentors and judges for the 2012-2013 school year!
Date/Time Tuesday, September 18, 2012; Dinner 6:30, Networking 7:15, Program 7:30
Location Conference Room B, University Center, St. Mary’s University, San Antonio, TX
Cost

Dinner will be in the St. Mary’s Cafeteria downstairs in the University Center.  They have an all you can eat buffet for $7.50 plus tax.  Each person will pay for his or her own meal.  We will have a block of tables so we can sit together – look for Small IEEE Computer Society Signs.

Reservations

Not Required but for head count please email Dr. Djaffer Ibaroudene, dibaroudende@stmarytx.edu , or call (210) 431-2050

https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/13941

Notes See website for directions and parking,
  https://www.ieee-cs-cts.org

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Central Texas Consultants Network Affinity Group
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/cn

Topic/Title Automating the Modeling of the Scalability of Computing Systems Performance Using Industry Standard (SPEC) Benchmarks
Speaker Dr. Ted Lehr
Speaker Bio Dr. Ted Lehr is a Senior Software Engineer at CA Technologies.  He has over 25 years of experience analyzing, modeling, supporting, and managing computer performance.  He has seven patents and has over 20 published technical articles.  He received his Ph.D in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.
Abstract

Although not a Big Data problem, the large amount of performance data on the many computing platforms that are engineered and deployed every month present problems in being able to objectively assess how the performance of these systems really compare.    This presentation will discuss techniques to acquire and process industry standard benchmarks (SPEC) using algorithms for product models that predict how the performance of those systems scale under changing workloads.

Date Wednesday,  September 26, 2012
Networking at 6:00 pm; 
Business and Program from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Location PoK-e-Jo’s,  2121 W. Parmer Lane at Lamplight Village,  Austin  TX  78727
Cost $5.00 minimum charge for the restaurant.   Supper is at optional extra cost.
Reservations Not required.  All interested parties are invited to attend.
For more information, go to:  https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/cn/

Notes

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

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Electromagnetic Compatibility Society
https://ewh.ieee.org/mu/ctx-emcs/

No meeting scheduled at this time.

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No meeting scheduled at thist time

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Electron Devices Society (EDS)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/eds/

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

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Refreshments


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Notes

Sponsoring the Solar Technology Workshop, September 16.  See IEEE Meetings section for details. 

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Engineering in Medicine and Biology (EMBS)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/embs/index.html

Topic/Title The Interaction of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields and Biology
Speaker Dr. Bennett Ibey.

Dr. Bennett Ibey is current director of cellular and molecular research activities for AFRL/RHDR at the Tri-Service Research Laboratory located at Fort Sam Houston.  He is at the forefront of research on the cellular effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields.  His doctorate research at Texas A&M involved application of biomedical optics for glucose measurement.
Abstract
Date/Time Sept 20, 2012, at 6:00 pm
Cost

None

Reservations RSVP can be made to brett.moore@ieee.org.
Location

KCI Building 5
6203 Farinon Dr
San Antonio, TX

Notes

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Engineering Management
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/ems

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

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Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) Affinity Group

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
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More information on GOLD: https://www.ieee.org/membership_services/membership/gold/index.html

GOLD Launches Mentoring Connection Webinar
Are you interested in becoming a mentor or finding a mentor to help with  your professional development? If the answer is yes, check out a free new IEEE Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) webinar aimed at
helping mentors and mentees connect with each other. Learn more at https://bmsmail3.ieee.org:80/u/17953/32170

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Instrumentation and Measurement Society (I&M)

Topic/Title

Designing Instrumentation for Regulated Industry: Case Study – bioPotential Module

Speaker

Dr. Nachiket M. Kharalkar, National Instruments

Nachiket got his Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Government College of Engineering Pune in June, 2001. He entered graduate school at The University of Texas at Austin in August 2001. He received the degrees of Master of Science & Doctorate of Philosophy in Electrical and Computer engineering (Major: Biomedical engineering) from The University of Texas at Austin. As a part of his master’s thesis he developed a novel test for the measurement of endothelial dysfunction, which helps in the early prediction of heart attack (IP licensed to: Endothelix Inc.). His doctoral research was focused on the assessment of vulnerable plaque using thermal properties.

Nachiket did his summer internship at Reliant Technologies in California, where he designed and developed prototypes of the laser instruments for skin resurfacing. He worked for Plexon Inc. (located in Dallas - Texas) from 2008-2011. At Plexon he developed hardware and user interface software for 16-channel neural stimulator. He has been working for National Instruments as a Systems Engineer, since October 2011.

At UT Austin along with the academic activities, Nachiket served on various university committees as a graduate student representative. He served on the search committee for Senior Associate Vice President & Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for Human Resources. He was on executive committee of the Graduate Student Assembly during 2004-2005 academic year. In Spring 2006, he was inducted into the Friar’s Society.

Abstract

In this seminar we will analyze the world of making medical devices. We will look at how to turn current medical device design challenges into opportunities, to differentiate your device from the competition. In the second part we will look at some of the key technologies that can help us tackle these challenges. In the end I will present a case study showcasing the design of a custom mezzanine card (or daughter card) for the National Instruments single-board RIO platform (NI-9606). A bioPotential medical device is my use case which includes challenges in designing for regulated markets.

Date/Time

September 17, 2012 - Reception 6-6:15pm, Presentation 6:15-7:30pm

Cost


Reservations

https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/13859

Location

National Instruments Building C 1S13

Notes



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Laser and Electro Optics Society

No meeting scheduled at this time.

For more information, contact Ray Chen

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Life Members (LM) Affinity Group - San Antonio

Topic/Title Texas Instruments "Speak and Spell" - an IEEE Milestone
Speaker Dr. Richard Wiggins

After receiving his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics at Harvard, Dr Wiggins joined the MITRE Corporation, where he worked in the development and implementation of speech coding technology for narrowband voice communication.  Dr Wiggins received several patents for the new speech coders such as the Piecewise Linear Predictive Coder (PLPC) which took advantage of spectral folding of under-
sampled band-passed signals to reduced computational complexity.
     A major goal of the digital speech coding algorithm development was real-time implementation using high speed programmable processors.  These processors took advantage of parallelism, pipelining, and used dedicated multipliers and adders to achieve double precision accumulation of inner products, a basic operation in many digital signal processing (DSP) algorithms.
    Dr Wiggins joined the Central Research Laboratories at TI in 1976 and one of his first projects was to investigate and propose techniques for the speech synthesizer for the Speak & Spell, a learning aid for spelling.  His work resulted in an integrated circuit (IC) for speech generation using LPC synthesis.  This work resulted in the highly successful product line of speaking learning aids for Texas Instruments and numerous other products using speech synthesis.
    Dr Wiggins received key patents for his work on speech synthesis and he was one of three TI’ers awarded the 1993 IEEE Masaru Ibuka Technical Field Award in consumer electronics “For Pioneering contributions to consumer electronics products employing synthetic speech for education and entertainment.”
Abstract When TI introduced the Speak & Spell in 1978, the product was featured on the cover of Business Week Magazine.  The impact of the product was greatly enhanced by the high quality voice of the product that was enabled by the development of a single chip speech synthesizer.  This chip used a fairly recently developed digital signal processing (DSP) algorithm that was not widely known or used.  While the product was hailed  as opening a new market for talking products, it was also recognized as a demonstration of the power and flexibility of DSP systems.
 This talk addresses three aspects of Speak & Spell.  1: Events surrounding the product development and the basic speech synthesis technology implemented in the integrated circuit.  2: The impact that this product had on accelerating the adaption of the now wide-spread use of DSP techniques in a variety of everyday devices.  3: Lessons the development of the Speak & Spell provides concerning technical innovation.
Date/Time September 20, 2012
11:30 to 1:00 PM
Location Lion & Rose British Restaurant & Pub, 842 NW Loop 410 (Park North Shopping Center)
San Antonio, TX
Cost

We will order from the regular menu, and the restaurant will provide separate checks.

Reservations So that we may have an accurate headcount, RSVP to Tom O'Brien, Life Members (SA) Chair, 210.481.3443 or t.p.obrien@ieee.org
Notes



More information on LM: https://www.ieee.org/societies_communities/geo_activities/life_members/index.html

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Power and Energy Society - Austin (PES)
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/austin

Topic/Title Vulnerability of the Power Grid
Speaker Dr. Ross Baldick, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
 
Dr. Baldick is a Professor and Leland Barclay Fellow in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. He is an IEEE Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer. His current research involves optimization and economic theory as applied to electric power systems.
Abstract  In this presentation, Dr. Baldick will provide background on the U.S. electric power system, congestion, security and vulnerabilities. He will show the importance of analyzing vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks and describe our modeling approach. He will demonstrate how to perform this analysis with our tools, briefly describing some recent extensions.
Date/Time Tuesday, September 25, 2012
6:00 to 6:30 PM Social
6:30 to 7:00 PM Dinner
7:00 to 7:30 PM Business Meeting
7:30 to 8:30 PM Program
9:00 PM room closes for the benefit of long distance drivers and early risers
Location El Gallo Mexican Restaurant, 512-444-2205
2910 S Congress (directions below)
Austin, Texas
Cost IEEE members and accompanying spouses: $11 or $13 for dinners.
Non-IEEE members: $14 or $16 for dinners.
Member non-meal participants: $2.
All: $2 for non-alcoholic beverages.
Student members: FREE or $2 for special selections for dinners.
Student visitors and non-meal participants: $5.
A bar is available for those who care to purchase a beer or other alcoholic beverage.
Reservations If you plan on attending, please RSVP by sending an e-mail to ieee.pi2.austin@zxtech.net.
Notes See the map linked from our website: https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/ .
From I–35:  Exit at Oltorf and drive west. At S. Congress, turn left (south). El Gallo is about 500 feet past the next traffic light (Cumberland), on the right (west) side of Congress, directly across from the entrance to St. Edward’s University.
From Ben White Blvd. (US290/SH71):  Exit at S. Congress Avenue and drive north. El Gallo is about 600 feet past the next traffic light (Woodward), on the left (west) side of Congress directly across from the entrance to St. Edward’s University.

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Power and Energy Society - San Antonio
https://ewh.ieee.org/soc/pes/centraltexas/sanantonio

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker
Abstract
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Product Safety Engineering Society (PSES)
https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/

Topic/Title Drinking water: What is it really and how safe is it?
Speaker Dale Ritzen, Quality Manager, Austin Manufacturing Services
Abstract
Date/Time Tuesday, August 21, 2012 - 6:30 - 8:00 PM
Cost The cost of the movie plus food
Reservations Please so we have some idea of how many people are coming
 For more information: Call Gary Schrempp (512) 724-3757 for details and directions
  https://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/pses/
Location  Dell Parmer South Campus, Parmer South Building S4
  Victoria Conference Room
  701 East Parmer Lane
  Austin, TX
Notes  Call Dale Ritzen (512) 651-5338 for details and directions

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.

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Joint Signal Processing/Communications Society - Austin

https://sites.ieee.org/ct-comsp/



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Joint Communications and Signal Processing Society - San Antonio (Com/SP)
https://ewh.ieee.org/r5/central_texas/satx

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker


Abstract


Date/Time


Location


Cost


Reservations


Notes


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Systems, Man & Cybernetics Society

Topic/Title

No meeting scheduled at thist time

Speaker


Abstract


Date/Time


Location


Cost


Reservations


Notes

For further information, contact David Akopian david.akopian@utsa.edu

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Technology Management Council - Austin
https://www.austin-tmc.org/

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker
Date/Time
Location
Cost
Registration
Notes Receipts and Certifications for PDHs will be available.  Doug will have a limited number of copies of his book available for purchase.

int meeting with the Women in Engineering chapter

Contact Leslie Martinich (lmartinich@ieee.org) for more information about the Austin TMC.

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Technology Management Council - San Antonio (TMC)

https://webinabox.vtools.ieee.org/wibp_home/index/CH05214
Topic/Title TMC SA has no scheduled meetings for September
Speaker
Abstract
Date/Time
Location
Cost
Registration
Notes

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Women in Engineering Affinity Group
https://www.austin-wie.org/

Topic/Title No meeting scheduled at thist time
Speaker
Date/Time
Location
Cost
Registration
Notes Receipts and Certifications for PDHs will be available.  Doug will have a limited number of copies of his book available for purchase.

Joint meeting with the Austin Technology Management Council chapter

Contact Leslie Martinich (lmartinich@ieee.org) for more information about the Austin TMC.

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Conferences, Other Meetings and Events

Local IEEE Conferences, Events or Workshops

  • October 27, 2012: IEEE CAS/SSC Workshop: Data Parallelism for Multi-Core Chips and GPU

      Lunch and Snack are provided.

      Location: Freescale Auditorium, Building A, 7700 W Parmer Ln.,
    Austin,  Texas, United States 78759
      Date:   October 27, 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM

      Registration:
    https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/13461

      Who should attend:
     This workshop will provide a valuable overview
    of parallel software and hardware implementation for new comers, and
    also serve as a tutorial for   experienced professionals. It will
    start with OpenCL, the new standard for parallel programming, and then
    discuss several hardware infrastructures that enable the parallel
    programming. Finally it ends with a live demo and tutorial on how to
    program with OpenCL. Professionals at design companies, software
    companies, and EDA companies, as well as professors and students
    interested in parallel programming should attend.

       Speakers are from IBM, AMD, Altera and Texas A&M University.

       Fee: IEEE Student/Life Member: $15, IEEE member: $50, Non-IEEE member: $70

  • November 5-7, 2012 Austin, Texas Marriott Austin South - Plain Talk about the Electric Power System
    Education for Power Industry Professionals. CHOOSE YOUR ENROLLMENT OPTION:
    THREE COURSE ENROLLMENT (please check the appropriate box)
    □ Early Bird Fee (paid registration on or before October 8, 2012) - $1,935
    □ Regular Fee (paid registration after October 8, 2012 and on site) - $2,150
    □ Group Rate (10% discount from Early Bird or Regular Fee)
    On or before October 8, 2012: $1,742 per person After October 8: $1,935 per person Group Name: ___________________
    TWO COURSE ENROLLMENT (please check the appropriate box)
    □ Early Bird Fee (paid registration on or before October 8, 2012) - $1,360
    □ Regular Fee (paid registration after October 8, 2012 and on site) - $1,510
    □ Group Rate (10% discount from Early Bird or Regular Fee)
    On or before October 8, 2012: $1,224 per person After October 8: $1,360 per person Group Name: ___________________
    ONE COURSE ENROLLMENT (please check the appropriate box)
    □ Early Bird Fee (paid registration on or before October 8, 2012) - $715
    □ Regular Fee (paid registration after October 8, 2012 and on site) - $795
    □ Group Rate (10% discount from Early Bird or Regular Fee)
    On or before October 8, 2012: $644 per person After October 8, 2012: $715 per person
    TO REGISTER ONLINE, AND TO FIND INFORMATION ON LOCATION AND ACCOMMODATIONS: https://ieee-pes.org/plain-talk-austin-2012
  • April 7-10, 2013: 21st IEEE Symposium on Computer Arithmetic, AT&T Conference Center, Austin, Texas, USA.  See https://www.arithsymposium.org for information
    Deadline for paper submission: Sept 10, 2012

  • 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.


Non-IEEE Meetings and Events of interest suggested by the membership



September 19, 2012: Door64 Happy Hour (North Austin)
What: Door64 Happy Hour, sponsored by Samsung Austin R&D Center [Careers]
Who: Door64.com members
When: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 / 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: The Park, 11601 Domain Drive #200, Austin, TX 78758 [Map]
How (much): Free!
For information see https://door64.com/sep2012n

September 20, 2012: Door64 Happy Hour (Downtown Austin)
What: Door64 Happy Hour, sponsored by Samsung Austin R&D Center [Careers]
Who: Door64.com members
When: Thursday, September 20, 2012 / 5:30pm - 8:30pm
Where: Six Lounge, 117 West 4th Street, Austin, TX 78701 [Map]
How (much): Free!
For information see https://door64.com/sep2012

September 20, 2012: The  Funding Forum in Round Rock is open for Entrepreneur Pitches.
Submit your executive summary through our CONNECT Program.  (If you have pitched before, contact Hall Martin directly to express your interest in this forum).
Location: Round Rock Chamber of Commerce, 212 E. Main St.
Cost to observe: $15.00 (plus applicable fees)

September 23, 2012: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Women in Science Event
4801 La Crosse Avenue, 78739 (512) 232-0100
FREE Admission, Extended Hours
Sunday, September 23, 9 to 5:30 p.m.
Join the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center for its annual Women in Science event on Austin Museum Day September 23rd. This special event encourages and inspires young women (and boys) to pursue science careers. Meet women scientists including astronomers, biologists, ecologists, mathematicians, chemists and engineers who will answer your questions and share their careers from 2 to 4 p.m. Please help us spread the word to your networkds serving young girls and women in the STEM community. https://www.wildflower.org/austinmuseumday/

September 26, 2012: Tech Forum & Expo
Presented by the Central Texas Electronics Association
Norris Conference Center

Anderson Lane & Burnet Road, Austin, TX
Info & Register at:   https://www.SMTA.org/Expos/#Austin

October 5, 2012:  Fall 2012 Software Painpoint Job Fair
Co-located with the 8000-attendee ITEXPO Conference in Austin.  Employer registration is now open, and premium booth selection is on a first-come, first-serve basis.  If you anticipate your company will need Java developers, .NET developers, UI/UX practitioners, and/or Software QA engineers within the next three months, and/or you are aware of the benefits of keeping your talent pipeline full, join us on October 5 to meet these professionals in Austin!

October 19, 2012: Semiconductor Painpoint Job Fair - Oct 19
Door64, Austin's largest technology organization with a membership of over 20,000 technology professionals, is proud to announce our next focused job fair, the Semiconductor Painpoint Job Fair. This event is specifically targeting the below front-end semiconductor job titles identified as a critical hiring pain-point at semiconductor companies:
    IC Design (Logic, Circuit, and Mixed Signal)
    Integration
    Verification and Validation
    Firmware / embedded software development
For information see https://door64.com/painpoint/SEMIfall2012

November 16, 2012: 2012 Agile Austin Conference – Keep Austin Agile
Please visit the conference site at https://2012conf.agileaustin.org/ for more information. To register, CLICK HERE! .

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Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Events and Information

September 4, 2012: "TEDxAustin: A Million Decisions Behind One Big Idea"
with Nancy Giordano,  Brand Futurist + Curator, TEDxAustin; and Shawna Butler, Strategy Advisor + Curator, TEDxAustin
 
WHAT: The Austin Forum on Science, Technology & Society
 
WHEN: Tuesday, September 4
     5:45-6:30pm    Networking Reception
     6:30-7:30pm    Presentation and Q&A
 
WHERE: AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center, 1900 University, Amphitheater (Room 204)
 
COST: Free and open to the public
WEBSITE: https://www.austinforum.org  
RSVP: info@austinforum.org

Computer Science Teachers Association
https://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/HighlightedResources.html

The Computers Science Teachers Association (CSTA)
https://csta.acm.org/Resources/sub/HighlightedResources.html
CSTA is a professional organization that helps teachers in the field learn about professional development opportunities, along with offering them the opportunity to network. This section of then CSTA's website provides access to over a dozen helpful resources, including an instructional video and a college selection website. First-time visitors should check out the Quizzes with a Theme. Here they will find a set of computer science themed quizzes developed by Professor Bruce Maxwell of Colby College. Also, the CS Unplugged Videos area is quite a bit of fun. The videos here include a one-hour computer science show in which students encounter many concepts from computer science, along with short clips of activities that can be used in the classroom. Additionally, the site includes a selection of computer games designed for young women and a link to resources promoting excitement about computer science from Carnegie Mellon University.

The Higher Education Academy Engineering
https://www.heacademy.ac.uk/disciplines/engineering

Based in Britain, the Higher Education Academy (HEA) "supports a large network of learning and teaching practitioners involved in engineering and materials.” This particular section of their impressive website brings together learning resources, best practices materials, and pedagogical studies designed to help persons who teach engineering. On the left-hand side of the page, visitors will find seven sections, including "Engineering Teaching Guides," "Engineering Events," and their "STEM Blog.” In the "Engineering Teaching Guides" area, visitors will find several valuable guides, including "Approaches to the Teaching of Design,” "Assessing Creativity in Design,” and "Introduction to Learning and Teaching.” The "STEM Blog" is a real gem because a variety of commentators give their opinions about new online interactive tools and teaching techniques related to the STEM fields. The site is rounded out by a link to the UK Centre for Materials Education and archived material from the main site.

Career

The IEEE-USA Career Manager (https://www.ieeeusa.org/careers) is organized into eight categories designed to help you manage and advance in your career:

* Career Management Interactive Workshop
* Salary Service
* Consulting and Entrepreneurship
* Professional Development Webinars
* Employment Assistance and Job Search
* IEEE Online Distance Learning
* E-Book Library
* IEEE.tv

Tips, Tools and Gadgets

There are many courses available now on-line from different major universities.  Keeping up with those separate offerings is troublesome.  A new web site solves that by providing a aggregate of the offerings. Their tag line is "Take the World's Best Courses, Online, For Free." That site is https://www.coursera.org/.  They have 16 course categories, most in technology areas from 16 major universities. 

Another listing of college level courses available can be found at Saylor.org: Free Education (https://www.saylor.org/). The tag line of the Saylor website is "Harnessing Technology to Make Education Free." Although Saylor.org does not grant degrees, students can download a certificate of completion for successfully passing the exam at the end of each course. There are thirteen areas of study that visitors can choose to explore, including Computer Science, Chemistry, Mathematics, and Mechanical Engineering.

Are you looking for groups in your technical area beyond the monthly IEEE Society meetings?  Try https://www.meetup.com and look at the Tech meetups listed.  When I checked, there were 132 within 25 miles of Austin and 12 within 25 miles of San Antonio. 

If you have comments, or suggestions as to something I should mention in a future issue, please let me know at john.purvis@ieee.org.  I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.