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IEEE Utah Section Newsletter, September 2002

Subj: 	IEEE Utah Section September Newsletter
Date: 	Wednesday, September 4, 2002 3:43:51 PM
From: 	rharker@xmission.com
To:   	utah-section@ieee.org

IEEE UTAH SECTION NEWSLETTER
September 2002

IN THIS ISSUE. . .
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
Fall Picnic
DISTINGUISHED LECTURE TOUR - Dr. John Proakis
Utah Computer Society Chapter October Meeting
Section Officer Elections
NEWSLETTER LISTSERV

CALENDAR OF EVENTS*
SEPTEMBER 14TH - PICNIC
SEPTEMBER 19TH - DR. JOHN PROAKIS, IEEE DISTINGUISHED LECTURER
SEPTEMBER - SECTION OFFICER ELECTION
OCTOBER - IOMEGA

Fall Picnic
Saturday, September 14th, 2002
Lunch: 12:30
Highland Glen Park
Highland, UT
Come enjoy a great (nearly free) lunch, and visit with fellow IEEE 
members/families while the kids play in the park. Take advantage of the 
location/time/drive to do something you've long thought you should do some 
day - visit the famous and fabulous Timpanogos Cave (you'll be glad you 
did)!
Highland city is located in northern Utah county. Driving directions will 
be provided with reservation confirmation.
Cost for IEEE members and families/partners (subsidized by the section):
·	$1 each for youngsters (12 and younger)
·	$2 each (13 and older)
(Pay at the picnic with cash, or check to "IEEE Utah Section")
RSVP to: Rusty Scott at rustys@ieee.org (if no email, call (801)974-3625). 
Include IEEE member #, and number of persons (by age group).
RSVP deadline: 12:00 noon on Thursday 12 Sep.
Menu (catered by Wallaby's Fresh Grill):
·	Choice of meat: Smoked Beef or Pulled Pork.
·	Drink.
·	Garden salad with Ranch dressing.
·	Seasoned rice.
·	Smashers (mashed potatoes, cheese, seasoning).
·	Roll/butter.
·	Dessert.
Last year we held our first Fall picnic in Roy, adjacent to the Air Museum 
at Hill AFB. The picnic was well attended, and despite the fact that the 
museum was closed (due to security restrictions after 9/11), we got a lot 
of positive feedback from those who came. Based on that experience, we 
decided to have a Fall picnic again this year, but at a different location, 
to make it more accessible to a different group of members. Our original 
idea was to have the picnic near, and arrange for a group tour of, 
Timpanogos Cave. But we ran into some snags: Timpanogos doesn't have a 
reservable picnic area, they don't offer group tour discounts, and tour 
groups are limited to 20 people. We decided that the logistics of trying to 
coordinate ticket reservations for everyone would be excessively difficult. 
But not willing to completely abandon the original idea, we decided to hold 
the picnic in close proximity to Timpanogos, and provide information so 
that those who wish to can get their own tickets and tour the cave before 
or after lunch. [If you do go to the cave, be SURE to allow enough time for 
transit and hiking between locations! Tour (Visitor Center departure) times 
before 8:30 or after 1:30 are your best bets.] Whether or not you choose to 
go to the cave, there is a nice play area for the kids at the picnic park. 
Boating, floating, and fishing can be done in the pond. (For park info, see 
http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/utahco.htm#anchor-highlan-39703)
Timpanogos Cave information:
http://www.nps.gov/tica/index.htm (read the "TRAVEL 
BASICS", "ACTIVITIES", "FACILITIES" and "FEES/PERMITS" pages).
Visitor Center phone: 801-756-5238.
On Sep 14, the Timpanogos Cave tours run every 10 - 30 minutes between 
8:00am and 3:30pm (approximate Visitor Center departure time - allow for 
hiking time!) The cave tour itself takes about 1 hour. The hike from the 
Visitor Center to the cave entrance is 1.5 miles with a 1065 ft rise. It's 
considered a strenuous hike (1.0 - 1.5 hours, each way). Suitable walking 
shoes, water, and a jacket (45 °F in the cave) are recommended. Tickets can 
be purchased in advance (which is highly recommended) for $6, $5, or $3 per 
person, depending on age. The fee to drive into the canyon is $3 per 
vehicle. From the picnic park to the Timpanogos Visitor Center is 
approximately 4 miles.

The Signal Processing and Communications Society
Chapter of the IEEE Utah Section
is honored to host John G. Proakis as part of the
Distinguished Lecture Tour
Dr. Proakis will be speaking on
Iterative Equalization and Decoding
Date: 19 September 2002
Time: 6:30 - 7:00 PM, hors d'oeuvres
7:00 - 8:00 PM, Talk
Place: Hilton Salt Lake City Center
255 South West Temple
Admission: $5.00 for IEEE Members and students
$10.00 for non-IEEE Members
$5.00 for full time students*
RSVP: Michael Rice (mdr@ee.byu.edu) by 11 Sept 2002.
Abstract
This talk considers iterative channel equalization and decoding, also 
called turbo equalization, for combating intersymbol interference in time-
dispersive channels. Two equalizer structures are considered. One is the 
optimum channel equalizer based on the maximum a posteriori (MAP) 
criterion. The other is a decision-feedback equalizer (DFE). The 
concatenation of each of these equalizers with the decoder allows us to 
make multiple passes through a block of data, where in each pass, the 
decoder feeds back to the equalizer soft-output information on each 
transmitted symbol. This information is used by the equalizer (as a priori 
information in the case of the MAP equalizer) in processing the block of 
data in each pass.  Experimental results are given for underwater acoustic 
transmission to illustrate the benefits of iterative equalization and 
decoding in underwater acoustic channels.
* There is no charge for students who are members of either the 
Communications Society or the Signal Processing Society.
About John Proakis
Dr. Proakis received the BSEE from the University of Cincinnati in 1959, 
the MSEE from MIT in 1961 and the Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1967. He 
is an Adjunct Professor at the University of California at San Diego and a 
Professor Emeritus at Northeastern University. He was a faculty member at 
Northeastern University from 1969 through 1998. He is active in research in 
the areas of digital communications and digital signal processing and is 
the author of the book Digital Communications (New York: McGraw-Hill) and 
co-author of the books, Introduction to Digital Signal Processing (New 
York: Macmillan); Digital Signal Processing Laboratory (Englewood Cliffs: 
Prentice Hall, 1991); Advanced Digital Signal Processing (New York: 
Macmillan, 1992); Algorithms for Statistical Signal Processing (Englewood 
Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 2002); Discrete-Time Processing of Speech Signals 
(New York: Macmillan, 1992, IEEE Press, 2000); Communication Systems 
Engineering, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1994,first edition, 2002, 
second edition); Digital Signal Processing Using MATLAB V.4 (Boston: 
Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning, 1997, 2000); Contemporary Communication 
Systems Using MATLAB (Boston: Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning, 1998, 2000). 
Dr. Proakis is a Fellow of the IEEE. He holds five patents and has 
published over 150 papers.

Utah Computer Society Chapter
October Meeting
Security for XML and SOAP Messages
The October meeting will cover the basics of what message security entails 
in terms of cryptographic enhancements, how it's done for XML, how SOAP is 
related to XML and how the security applies to SOAP messages.  The 
presentation will be about an hour with questions afterward.  The date and 
place have not been determined yet.
We had our first meeting in July and had 21 people show up.  We are 
planning for this meeting in Utah County.  For more information, contact 
Russell Hunter, at rhunter@microsoft.com.

Section Officer Elections
Elections for the Utah Section officers will take place in September due to 
delays in generation of the ballot material.  Please follow the directions 
that accompany the ballot and return your votes ASAP.
We would like to thank all that have been involved in the election process, 
both those that are running for office and those serving on the election 
committee.

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