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13. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
Information on the following Conferences can be obtained from
Andrew Parfitt (Tel: 9372-4187)
14. DETAILS OF UPCOMING JOINT
TECHNICAL MEETINGS
UNIVERSAL
MOBILE TELEPHONE SYSTEM
(3rd Generation) Thursday, 8 November 2001 Speaker:
Thomas
Jubb is team leader of wireless
instructors at Nortel Networks in the fields of Switching, GSM, CDMA and UMTS.
SYNOPSIS:
The Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation technology for mobile
systems that have evolved from GSM (2nd Generation) and GPRS (2.5
generation). The new system has to cope with the explosive growth of data
exchanges resulting from the expansion of the Internet and is expected to be
capable of supporting multi-media applications like video-teleconferencing; high
speed Internet; speech and high data rates (up to 2Mbps). The topics discussed
will include:
FORENSIC
ENGINEERING & IEAust AGM Thursday, 22 November 2001 Speaker:
Richard
Clarke has had twenty years of experience in health and safety at the University
of Sydney and with the NSW Government. During a 10-year period he managed major
investigations with WorkCover NSW as Chief Inspector including bringing matter
to Court.
SYNOPSIS:
Engineering investigation for legal purposes is a subject that many
engineers only experience rarely, if at all, in their professional career.
Little if any training is given to engineers in this area, yet engineers may be
thrust into a forensic matter after an incident without notice or preparation.
The talk will outline the techniques that can be used in an investigation for
both litigants and defenders. It will also touch on the powers of government
agencies in carrying out investigations and how to effectively work with other
investigators.
ENSURING
ROBUST DESIGN OF ELECTRONIC
CIRCUITS WITH THE AID OF SIX SIGMA
Thursday, 14 February 2002 Speaker:
Stefan
Mozar, General Manager of Covaris
Pty. Ltd. a Sydney based technology consulting company which specializes in
asset management, process capability improvement, reliability engineering &
technology management.
SYNOPSIS:
The presentation will briefly explain the need for design robustness
and the penalties a non-robust design may incur. Design robustness deals with
ensuring a circuit will perform well within specification, despite component
tolerances. The interaction of component tolerances from components, which are
all within specification, can cause major problems in production. Production
staff find it difficult to find solutions to these problems, as all components
are good and within their prescribed specification. Consequently non-robustness
can cause substantial and costly interruptions to the design department.
Applying six sigma and other statistical techniques can help substantially
reduce surprises with design robustness. The methods presented were developed by
the author in the Video Development laboratories of Philips in Singapore. These
techniques will be illustrated with some practical examples.
NON-LINE-OF-SIGHT WIRELESS LOCAL LOOP (Fixed Wireless
Broadband Access)
Thursday, 28 February 2002 Speaker:
Allan Sangster is an Electrical Engineer who has worked in the
Telecommunications and Building/Data Communications area for 40 years and been
involved in Microwave radio installations since graduating from London
University in 1963.
Recent involvements include membership of ACIF Committees (Australian
Communications Industry Forum) writing standards for “End to End Network
Performance” also “Call Charging and Billing Accuracy” and as a Member of
the Independent Appeals Body ACIF.
Allan is also Chairman of the Electrical Branch, IE Aust. Sydney, an
Accredited Certifier EPA Act NSW and member of CIRCEA (College of Investigative
and Remedial Consulting Engineers of Australia).
His experience has covered 20 years with Telstra, 12 years consulting, 5
years building telephone company (Netex) to $60m p.a. and 3 years running a VoIP
network. SYNOPSIS: Growth in use of internet for surfing the net, large file transfers, streaming audio, video on demand and email, has promoted the need for high speed access to the internet. Often the bottleneck in communications is the connection between the Home/Office and the Internet Service Provider. An overview is provided of a new microwave radio system which provides broadband Internet connection to Households, SOHO and SME, as an alternative to other methods such as ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line). The system may also be used to provide a telephone service to households by means of VoIP. The BWIF (Broadband Wireless Internet Forum) has developed a new MMDS (Multichannel Multipoint Distribution System) based on VOFDM (Vectored Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) and providing for Non Line of Sight microwave radio communications in the 2GHz to 6GHz frequency band. The 51 members of the BWIF include companies such as CISCO, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, National SemiConductor and Motorola. The overview describes broad engineering principles and also the financial benefits of such a system.
15. A MESSAGE FROM IEEE PRESIDENT
JOEL SNYDER
I'd like to tell you about an IEEE
service that I've found to be invaluable in all aspects of my professional life.
It's a selection of free email newsletters called "What's New @ IEEE."
https://www.ieee.org/whats-new.
"What's New" provides the latest news on IEEE activities, industry
trends, member benefits, career tips, and new IEEE products. There are 11
newsletters for engineers and other technology professionals. I subscribe to all
of them, but you can select as many as you would like. You can choose from the following
"What's New @ IEEE" newsletters:
It's easy to subscribe or unsubscribe, so you control what
information you receive.
To subscribe, simply log on to https://www.ieee.org/whats-new. Then select one or more of the email newsletters,
enter your email address and click "subscribe." Your email address
will not be shared with anyone outside of IEEE.
I'm very pleased that IEEE has
developed a service such as this. I encourage you to sign up for this free
"What's New" email newsletter service and give it a try. Sincerely, Joel Snyder 2001 IEEE President
16. THE FUN OF VOLUNTEERING: AN
ALLEGORY
Panos E. Papamichalis
(Reprinted
from IEEE Power Engineering Review, June 2001)
Tom was good as an engineer and researcher, and he knew it.
He was proud of his analytical and problem-solving abilities (under his
façade of humility), and that is why he had chosen to focus on signal
processing.
And, of course, he was quite ambitious. Tom’s dream was to distinguish himself in his profession.
He enjoyed the technical part of his work, no question about it, but what
would be wrong with combining this fun with some administration from his
colleagues?
Take, for instance, the president of his Society.
The President’s Column usually bored him to death, but wouldn’t it be
nice to have his picture in the magazine like the president?
Tom felt that it must be quite powerful to be president of the Society.
But how do you go about becoming more prominent in the eyes of your
peers? Tom’s break came.
He was approached by an officer of the local IEEE Section, who was
looking for someone to spearhead the creation of a local Chapter of the Society.
That would certainly put the spotlight on him.
Just imagine, “cofounder of the local Chapter…”
And it would certainly look good on his resume.
Tom accepted immediately and started working hard.
He and his covolunteers had to do all sorts of things:
they had to contact IEEE for information and paperwork, approach other
local Society members for signatures, and after securing the approval for the
new Chapter, spend quite a long time making plans for the activities of the
Chapter.
They had to invite speakers, prepare the announcements, and do the
mailing.
When the presentation time came, they had to host the speakers and make
sure that all the logistics were taken care of. Tom was a proud man, and he worked diligently to make sure
that everything was done properly.
Yes, his colleagues were coming to him now to ask questions, offer
suggestions, volunteer, or even complain about the program.
This was the spotlight, right? But Tom also started discovering some other interesting
things. During the long hours of planning and work with his covolunteers, he
developed friendships with some very nice people.
Before, he had some casual conversations with them, but now he was
finding that they were wittier than he had thought;
they had some very interesting technical insights that occasionally
raised his eyebrows;
and they gave him ideas on how to do his job more effectively.
When he attended the Society’s annual international conference, these
colleagues introduced him to other people, sometimes famous authors of papers
and books that he was using as references.
He hadn’t known about this perk of volunteering. On occasion, he would come across someone on his volunteer
team who did not deliver on his assignment, and Tom would have to carry some of
that load too.
But, that’s life, he philosophised. Tom was doing quite well.
It was a testimonial to his recognition when one of the more senior
members in his Chapter asked him to join, as treasurer, a team organising a
workshop of the Society.
He accepted.
And this brought Tom to another level.
Now, he had the opportunity to communicate with the Society staff and
officers.
He had to interact with Society officials who needed information, as well
as with workshop attendees who were asking for help.
It was his nature to be helpful to others, but he discovered an amazing
reciprocity.
He found out that there were real people behind the names on paper who,
just like him, were ready to share a joke or discuss a technical idea in a
simple and friendly way.
And many of them already knew him by his first name.
The workshop was a big success both from technical and financial
standpoints.
And people recognised Tom’s contribution. So, it felt almost natural for Tom to propose to the Technical
Committee the organisation of the next workshop.
It was an easy decision for the Technical Committee.
Tom had his team, and he was the leader.
But he did not really feel like a boss.
His team members were his friends, and it was a chance to have some more
fun together.
Plus, it would be nice to have these distinguished researchers come to
his workshop.
Of course, everything worked again like clockwork (it always does in
made-up stories…).
Now, Tom addressed his distinguished colleagues in the plenary session
and had lots of opportunities to chat with them.
It was a memorable event. After the successful workshop was over, Tom was tired but
quite pleased.
Anyone could see that he was distinguishing himself among his peers.
But, somehow, this did not mean as much to him as he had dreamed earlier.
He found out that something else was the source of much higher
satisfaction.
The friendships he had established, the networking with colleagues, and
the sense of contribution to his peers were a lot more valuable and meaningful
to him now. The president’s picture keeps appearing in the magazine, and the President’s Column is as boring as ever. But now Tom knows. The president probably does not have any more power than he does, but they both certainly share the same priceless reward: the fun of volunteering.
17. FAILURE OF THE U.S. RESTRUCTURED
ELECTRICITY MARKETS
(The
following brief report is reproduced from a recent Energex Bulletin) Restructured electricity markets have failed to provide lower
power rates and improved service, making consumers much better off in states
that have not deregulated, according to a report by the Consumer Federation of
America. The report claims that individual electricity markets need at least
twice as many power suppliers, up to 10 companies, as currently deemed
sufficient to support competition. The reality of the current market is that
firms raise prices to increase their profits because they do not lose enough
sales to competitors. The report also says that utilities should be required to
set aside more power reserves in case of supply emergencies. This would help
keep the price for power from being bid up, because more supplies could quickly
be brought on line. Reserve margins need to be well above traditional levels of
15% – 20%, perhaps as high as 40% to prevent the abuse of market power,"
the report said. In addition, the report says transmission power lines should be
independent of all electricity generators' control and operated by entities
whose sole purpose is to promote the public interest. Only a dramatic change in
approach by federal and state policy-makers can offer consumers the possibility
of lower prices and better service. Until the underlying problems in electricity
market are addressed, the group recommends any state that has not deregulated or
is in the process of doing so should slow those efforts or stop them altogether.
The group also says federal authorities should declare a moratorium on utility
mergers until market competition is firmly established. However, the Edison
Electric Institute says that mergers help power companies cut costs that are
ultimately passed on to consumers. Also, requiring utilities to have the large
power reserve margins called for in the report would force companies to produce
too much electricity they could not readily sell. The report listed several
problems found in key deregulated states:
W.R. Lachs EDITOR |
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