Past Events

IEEE GOLD — 12 December 2011

Speaker:	Ir G. Richard Gibbons CEng FIET CPEng IntPE(NZ) FIPENZ FNZIM AMInstD General Manager, LineTech Consulting
Title:	Making Decisions in Your Career Where are you going? –A journey your GPS will not help you plan!
Time:	6:30 pm
Date:	Monday, 12 December 2011
Venue:	Government Building Lecture Theatre 2 (GBLT2) Victoria University of Wellington, Pipitea Campus 15 Lambton Quay, Wellington
RSVP:	This is a free event Please RSVP for catering purposes at https://goldcareer.eventbrite.com/.
Richard Gibbons is a highly accomplished professional engineer and he will share his experience to help you set goals in your career. This talk has been very highly received with similar audiences: participants rated it the best of all the sessions at the IEEE Region 10 (Asia-Pacific) Student/GOLD/WIE Congress in Auckland earlier this year. Refreshments will be served after the talk. We’ll also run a short discussion on how the IEEE should be supporting you as a young professional. For further information, contact us at ieee.nzc.gold@gmail.com. Abstract For a whole range of reasons you have ended up with an engineering degree. When completing forms that ask for your occupation, you proudly write the words “Professional Engineer”. It’s a great achievement to have made it this far—but you have perhaps 35 or 40 years ahead of you. · What are your goals? · How do you set your goals? · How much do they matter? How fixed should they be? · Do you know if what you are aiming for is right for you – will you be happy when you achieve get there? This presentation will help you look at options and make choices as your career moves forward. Drawing from my 40 years’ experience in the profession I will share the experiences of making a variety of career moves (not necessarily all good!) that may help you when faced with your own choices. About the speaker Richard Gibbons has over 35 years’ experience in the electrical power industry. He is presently the General Manager of LineTech Consulting and TLM Consulting Ltd, and a member of the Standards NZ Council. After beginning his career in power systems in London, he moved to Auckland and has held managing roles with the Auckland Electrical Power Board and Mercury Energy. He has subsequently held executive roles in contracting and consulting companies as well as providing consulting assistance to contractors, power and gas companies, regulators and industry bodies in both New Zealand and overseas. Ir Gibbons has also acted as an expert witness in several legal actions. Ir Gibbons is a past president of the Electricity Engineers’ Association (NZ) and a current member of its Executive Committee, a Fellow of IPENZ and the IET, a Chartered Engineer (UK), a Chartered Professional Engineer and an International Professional Engineer (NZ), a Fellow of the NZ Institute of Management and an Accredited Member of the Institute of Directors (NZ). Why haven’t I heard about IEEE GOLD before now? Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) is the group for young professionals within the IEEE. Designed to help with the transition from students to professionals, GOLD runs highly successful programmes all over the world, including in Auckland and Christchurch. Valued IEEE members who graduated with their first degree in the last ten years are automatically a GOLD member. But Wellington, until now, hasn’t had a GOLD group to serve this membership. That’s changing. We’re excited about bringing these activities to young professionals in our region. If you want to be involved, please get in touch with us at ieee.nzc.gold@gmail.com—we’d love to hear from you.

AGM — 8 December 2011

Speaker:	Professor Kim Jong-Hwan, Department of Electrical Engineering, KAIST
Title:	Recent Progress and Development of Intelligence Technology for Robots That Think
Time:	Refreshments from 6 pm and AGM starting with presentation 6:45pm
Date:	Thursday, 8 December 2011
Venue:	James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor 147 The Terrace Wellington
More Details:	Agenda, Presentation Abstract & Speaker Biography
RSVPs desired for catering purposes. To send an RSVP or apology: Email K.Morris@computer.org

Conferences in the region

ENZCon 2011	https://enzcon.org.nz
The Electronics New Zealand Conference (ENZCon 2011) will be held in Palmerston North on 22 November, 2011. Paper submissions have closed and reviews are being completed for this event. It is being organised by Mr Ken Mercer of Massey University and he can be contacted for further details.
ICST 2011	https://www-ist.massey.ac.nz/seat/conferences/icst2011/new/
The Fifth International Conference on Sensing Technology (ICST 2011) is intended to provide a common forum for researchers, scientists, engineers and practitioners throughout the world to present their latest research findings, ideas, developments and applications in the area of sensing technology. 28th Nov -1st Dec 2011 at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. Enquiries to Prof Subhas Mukhopadhyay.
ICARA 2011	https://seat.massey.ac.nz/conferences/icara2011/
The 5th International Conference on Automation, Robots and Applications (ICARA 2011) will be held in Wellington, New Zealand, from 6th to 8th December, 2011. Please contact Dr Gourab Sen Gupta for further details.

Implementing Image Processing on FPGAs — 23-25 November 2011

Venue:	Massey University Palmerston North
Promotional Flier:	Download here
IEEE NZ Central Section and Massey University would like to invite you to participate in a short course "Implementing Image Processing on FPGAs". The course will take place in Palmerston North on 23-25 November. Further details are on promptional flyer. Note, registrations are limited, so please register early to avoid disappointment. Feel free to forward the flyer on to colleagues who may be interested.

Next Generation Wireless Communication Systems — 24 November 2011

Organisers:	IEEE New Zealand Central Section Joint Chapter on Communications, Signal Processing and Information Theory
Speaker:	Prof. Yoshikazu Miyanaga
When:	24 November 2011, 2pm - 3pm
Venue:	Cotton Club, Cotton 350, Gate 6, Kelburn Parade, Victoria University of Wellington
Queries:	Pawel.Dmochowski@ecs.vuw.ac.nz
Abstract: Currently sophisticated wireless technologies, such as digital broad casting, wireless LAN and wireless PAN, have enabled high-speed data transmission in home and personal networks. The IEEE802.11a based wireless LAN supports the maximum of 54 Mbps at a 20-MHz frequency band by using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). As the next wireless LAN system, the Enhanced Wireless Consortium (EWC) proposal set a goal to achieve the maximum of 600 Mbps using a multiple-input and multiple-out (MIMO) stream technique with OFDM. The EWC proposal was to be adopted in the IEEE802.11n standard. The standardization of IEEE802.11n was concluded in 2009 autumn. There are four main modifications from the IEEE802.11a standard, i.e., a 40-MHz baseband bandwidth, a 400-ns short guard interval, 5/6 coding rate and a 4x4 MIMO scheme. A new study group of IEEE802.11, i.e., IEEE 802.11ac, has started since the last year and they would like to develop Over Giga Bit Wireless Networks. In this topic, a system over 1G bps throughput, over 80MHz bandwidth and less than 6GHz carrier is introduced. Our past system had the goal to achieve the data rate of 600 Mbps by use of an 80-MHz baseband bandwidth and a 2x2 MIMO scheme several years ago. This system occupies a double bandwidth compared with IEEE 802.11n. If we apply 4x4 MIMO scheme as the next system, we can design a 1.2G bps wireless communication system. This is one of candidates on the Next Generation Wireless Communication Network. This topic describes the VLSI implementation of our proposed 4x4 MIMO-OFDM (2.6G bps with 160MHz BW) and 8x8 MIMO-OFDM systems. A low-latency and a full-pipelined architecture are employed for all processing blocks to provide the real-time operations on OFDM modulation and MIMO detection. The designed transceiver has been evaluated in the circuit size and power dissipation by using a 90-nm CMOS process. In an FPGA board, the proposed total system has been implemented. For the designed system, the circuit behavior on gate size and power consumption is verified. The communication performance is also evaluated.
Speaker Biography: Prof. Yoshikazu Miyanaga received the B.S., M.S., and Dr. Eng. degrees from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, in 1979, 1981, and 1986, respectively. Since 1983 he has been with Hokkaido University. He is now Professor at Division of Information Communication Systems in Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University. From 1984 to 1985, he was a visiting researcher at Department of Computer Science, University of Illinois, USA. His research interests are in the areas of speech signal processing, wireless communication signal processing and low-power VLSI system design. He has published 3 books, 72 Transaction/Journal papers, 150 International Conference/Symposium/Workshop papers and more than 180 technical reports. Dr. Miyanaga served as an associate editor of IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics, Communications and Computer Science from 1996 to 1999, editors of IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals, Special Issues. He is also an associa te editor of Journal of Signal Processing, RISP Japan (2005-present). He was a delegate of IEICE, Engineering Sciences Society Steering Committee, i.e., IEICE ESS Officers from 2004 to 2006. He was a chair of Technical Group on Smart Info-Media System, IEICE (IEICE TG-SIS) during the same period and now a member of the advisory committee, IEICE TG-SIS. He served as a member in the board of directors, IEEE Japan Council as a chair of student activity committee from 2002 to 2004. He is a chair of student activity committee in IEEE Sapporo Section (1998-present). He was a secretary of IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, Technical Committee on Digital Signal Processing (IEEE CASS DSP TC) (2004-2006) and is its chair (2006-2008). He has been serving as a chair of international steering committee, IEEE ISPACS (2005-2007), IEEE ISCIT (2006-present) and IEICE SISA (2007-present). He is also an international steering committee member of IEEE ICME, IEEE/EURASIP NSIP, IEICE SISB et. al. He was a honorary chair and general chair/co-chairs of some international symposiums/workshops, i.e., ISPACS 2003, ITC-CSCC 2003, ISCIT 2004, ISCIT 2005, NSIP 2005 , ISCIT 2006, SISB 2007, ISPACS 2008, ISMAC 2009 and APSIPA ASC 2009.

Transmission Tomorrow – The Technical Side — 7 November 2011

Organisers:	IEEE PES Chapter – NZCS, Transpower NZ Limited, Victoria University of Wellington
Speaker:	John Clarke, General Manager- Grid Development, T ranspower NZ Ltd.
When:	7^th November 2011, 4pm.
Venue:	Seminar Room, Ground Floor, Transpower House, The Terrace, Wellington
Promotional Flier:	Download here
Transmission Tomorrow was a look at how the National Grid will be developed and operated over the next 20 to 30 years and what this means for the transmission service. As the owner and operator of the grid, Transpower must plan its development to meet the needs of individual users - generators and commercial, residential and rural consumers - and the economy as a whole. Rather than build more lines to deal with increasing demand, Transmission Tomorrow focuses on strategies and technologies that get more out of the existing transmission and electricity system. This talk was a continuation to the Road Show of talks presented by Dr. Patrick Strange, CEO, Transpower and Mr John Clarke since July this year across the country. In this talk John will provide the technical details related to the strategies and technologies discussed in the document. John Clarke John was appointed General Manager Grid Development in 2008, following ten years with the Transpower System Operator. John is a professional electrical engineer and has had a varied career within the electricity sector including numerous senior management roles with Transpower. His role with the System Operator included responsibility for grid operating security planning, as well as leading operational management initiatives of tight supply situations on the grid.

Post-Graduate Presentations — 1 September 2011

Time:	2:00 pm – 6:00pm (approximately)
Venue:	Government Building Lecture Theatre Two (GBLT2) Pipitea Campus, Victoria University of Wellington
Promotional Flier	Download here
As part of the IEEE New Zealand Central Section’s technical activities we are organizing a half day event to showcase engineering post-graduate research work in the Central region. The event will provide post-graduate students pursuing higher degree studies in engineering an opportunity to present their research work and to share their knowledge with fellow students and peers. The event will allow networking between students and IEEE members. Each presentation will be time-limited to only 10 minutes with approximately 2 minutes for discussion and questions. Prizes for best presentations will be awarded. Post-graduate students, please email your name, institution and talk title to Christopher Hollitt at chollitt@ieee.org by the 29th of August. If you are an IEEE member please also provide your membership number. Participation is open to all – it is not limited to IEEE members. IEEE members or others wishing to attend the event please also contact chollitt@ieee.org so that we can determine catering requirements. IEEE, IPENZ and IET members and colleagues are welcome to attend the event. Please drop in at any time that your schedule allows. You will be most welcome.

Transmission Tomorrow — 12 July to 11 August 2011

This event is jointly hosted by IPENZ, IET, IEEE & EEA

Lecture Brief

Transmission Tomorrow is a look at how the National Grid will be developed and operated over the next 20 to 30 years and what this means for the transmission service. As the owner and operator of the grid, Transpower must plan its development to meet the needs of individual users - generators and commercial, residential and rural consumers - and the economy as a whole. Rather than build more lines to deal with increasing demand, Transmission Tomorrow focuses on strategies and technologies that get more out of the existing transmission and electricity system.

Transpower Transmission Tomorrow PDF document

Speaker Biographies

Dr Patrick Strange

Patrick holds a PhD in engineering and has held a number of senior executive roles in the energy sector in both the United States and New Zealand, including Chief Executive of Vector Limited between 1998 and 2003 and directorships of Contact Energy Limited and Mighty River Power.

Patrick was instrumental in leading the 2003 Winter Power Taskforce established by the Government and the electricity industry. He was appointed Chief Executive of Transpower in November 2007.

John Clarke

John was appointed General Manager Grid Development in 2008, following ten years with the Transpower System Operator.

John is a professional electrical engineer and has had a varied career within the electricity sector including numerous senior management roles with Transpower. His role with the System Operator included responsibility for grid operating security planning, as well as leading operational management initiatives of tight supply situations on the grid. He is also a member of the National Winter Group.

Lecture Details

Wellington

Wellington hosted the launch event for the Transmission Tomorrow: The Future of the National Grid lecture series. This was a breakfast presentation.

Date: Tuesday 12 July
Time: 7.30am
Venue: Chancellor 2, James Cook Hotel Grand Chancellor, 147 The Terrace, Wellington
Speaker: Dr Patrick Strange, Chief Executive, Transpower
Promotional Flier

Christchurch

Date: Wednesday 13 July
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: E5 Lecture Theatre, School of Engineering, University of Canterbury (entry off Engineering Road).
Link to map: https://www.canterbury.ac.nz/theuni/maps/
Speaker: John Clarke, General Manager Grid Development, Transpower
Event contact: Anthony Lister - ajlister@theiet.org

Hamilton

Date: Wednesday 20 July
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: S.G.03, S Building, Waikato University, gate 1, Knighton Road, Hamilton
Link to map: https://www.waikato.ac.nz/contacts/map.pdf
Speaker: John Clarke, General Manager Grid Development, Transpower
Event contact: TBC

Auckland

Date: Thursday 21 July
Time: 6.30pm
Venue: Eng3401/403-401, Engineering lecture theatre 401 in the School of Engineering, 20 Symonds Street, Auckland
Speaker: Dr Patrick Strange, Chief Executive, Transpower
Event contact: John Irving - JRIrving@xtra.co.nz

Dunedin

Date: Monday 25 July
Time: 6.00pm
Venue: Quad 1, Geology Building, University of Otago, Leith Street, Dunedin (situated behind the clock tower building)
Link to map: https://www.otago.ac.nz/prodcons/groups/public/documents/webcontent/otago000718.pdf
Speaker: John Clarke, General Manager Grid Development, Transpower
Event contact: Greg Leonard - greg.leonard@surveying.otago.ac.nz

Palmerston North

Date: Thursday 11 August
Time: 1.00pm
Venue: Presentation Lab (Riddet R12 2.07), Riddet Building, Massey University, Palmerston North
Link to map: https://contact.massey.ac.nz/massey/fms//About%20Massey/contact-us/maps/PN.pdf
Speaker: John Clarke, General Manager Grid Development, Transpower
Event contact: TBC

Pure Spin Currents: Discharging Spintronics — 9 August 2011

IEEE MAGNETICS SOCIETY DISTINGUISHED LECTURE
Speaker:	Axel Hoffmann Materials Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL, USA.
Venue:	Hugh Mckenzie LT002 Kelburn Campus Gate 7 Kelburn Parade
Date:	Tuesday, 9 August 2011
Time:	11:50am-13:10pm
As semiconducting electronic devices are miniaturized to ever-smaller dimensions, power dissipation becomes an ever-increasing problem due to leakage charge currents. Spintronics may help addressing some of these issues by utilizing besides the charge degree of freedom also the electron spin. Conventional spintronics approaches are used for non-volatile devices, such as magnetic random access memory, where spin currents are mainly considered as spin-polarized charge currents and as a result the spin and charge currents are in parallel and directly coupled. Looking further into the future, the question arises, whether eliminating charge currents altogether could provide additional benefits for applications. Towards addressing this question, non-local device geometries allow for separating spin and charge currents, which in turn enables the investigation and use of pure spin currents [1]. This approach opens up new opportunities to study spin-dependent physics and gives rise to novel approaches for generating and controlling angular momentum flow. In this lecture, I will discuss different approaches for generating pure spin currents, such as non-local electrical injection from a ferromagnet, charge-to-spin current conversion via spin Hall effects, and spin pumping from ferromagnetic resonance. Furthermore, I will show how spin currents can then be used for gaining new insights into spin dependent phenomena. In particular, the temperature dependence of spin and charge relaxation times allows to identify different spin relaxation mechanisms [2]. In addition, spin pumping facilitates the generation of macroscopically large pure spin currents. This permits to quantify spin Hall effects with great precision, even in materials where these effects are relatively weak [3,4]. Finally, I will conclude with a brief outlook on the current scientific and future technological opportunities for pure spin currents. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences, under contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357 [1] A. Hoffmann, Phys. Stat. Sol. (c) 4, 4236 (2007). [2] G. Mihajlović, J. E. Pearson, S. D. Bader, and A. Hoffmann, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 237202 (2010). [3] O. Mosendz, J. E. Pearson, F. Y. Fradin, G. E. W. Bauer, S. D. Bader, and A. Hoffmann, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 046601 (2010). [4] O. Mosendz, V. Vlaminck, J. E. Pearson, F. Y. Fradin, G. E. W. Bauer, S. D. Bader, and A. Hoffmann, Phys. Rev. B 82, 214403 (2010). Non Members welcome.

Smart Energy for Tomorrow – illusion or reality? — 16 June 2011

This event was hosted by the IET Wellington Network

Title:	Smart Energy for Tomorrow – illusion or reality?
Speaker:	John Scott, Chiltern Power Limited
Venue:	Transpower House, 96 The Terrace, Wellington
Date:	Thursday, 16 June 2011
Time:	12:00 to 13:30
Around the world there are stirrings deep in the big power companies: can it really be the case that, after 80 years of growth and maturity, there are fundamental changes ahead for our energy systems? Some commentators have described this as The Third Industrial Revolution: a fundamental change in the way we generate, transmit, distribute and use energy. John Scott will present the IET 2011 Prestige Lectures and explore this challenging agenda; he will describe what is actually happening internationally, outline in non-technical language what is envisaged by ‘Smart Grids’ and why they are gaining the attention of governments, regulators and forward-looking companies. What are the opportunities for Research and Development, for innovative suppliers and new market entrants, and for the established institutions; importantly, how will this affect us as users at home (arguably the single most important element of a ‘smarter grid’) and what might our reaction be? John is an independent consultant operating from his own company, Chiltern Power Limited based in the UK. He was formerly Director, Network Innovation at KEMA Consulting Ltd. Prior roles have included Technical Director for Ofgem, the British electricity and gas regulator, Director of Engineering for National Grid Company, and manager of the National Electricity Control Centre in the UK. He was vice chairman of the European Smart Grids Technology Platform, is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology (IET) and a Member of their Board of Trustees, a Visiting Professor at the University of Bath, UK and a member of the Advisory Board to the UK Energy Research Centre. For further information contact: jfoster@theiet.org Proceedings will commence with refreshments and conversation at 12:00, followed by the presentation at 12:30. Non Members welcome.

Ohm’s Law for Superconductor — 10 June 2011

Jointly organized by IEEE I&M Society New Zealand Chapter Seminar and School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Massey University

Title:	Ohm’s Law for Superconductor
Speaker:	Dr. Kailash P. Thakur, Landcare Research, Palmerston North
Venue:	R12 Presentation laboratory, Riddet Building, Massey University, Palmerston North
Date:	10 June 2011
Time:	11.00 am – 12.00 pm
Promotional Flier:	Download Here
Abstract: The seminar will present a broad survey and overview of the current research work on superconductors. I will talk about current- voltage (I-V) behaviour of superconductor which varies with frequency. I will discuss the metastability of superconducting vortex matter, resulting from the competition between the experimental speed and the response speed of vortices. This I-V behaviour controls the magnetic and transport properties of the superconductor and its ac loss. The behaviour of superconductor changes with several factors including its geometry, the presence of ferromagnetic materials in the neighbourhood and external magnetic field. Biography: Dr. Kailash Thakur is a postdoctoral researcher at the Landcare Research since September 2010. Formerly, He was a senior scientist at Industrial Research Limited in the HTS team in Gracefield, Lower Hutt. He was Professor of Physics at University of Asmara, Bhagalpur University. He holds a degree of D.Sc. and Ph.D. from Allahabad University and M.Sc. and B.Sc Hons from Bhagalpur University, India. He has authored over 100 research papers in international journals. His research interests include, high temperature superconductors and devices, microwave inverse scattering, medical imaging, vehicle dynamics, human factors in engineering, atomistic models and crystal elasticity. All IEEE Members and non-members are welcome to attend this event.

Energy – Our Secret Weapon — 1 June 2011

This event is being hosted by the IET Wellington Network

Title:	Distinguished Lecture #2: Energy – Our Secret Weapon
Speaker:	Mike Underhill, Chief Executive, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
Venue:	Spectrum Theatre, Cnr Customhouse Quay & Johnston St. Wellington CBD
Date:	Wednesday 1 June 2011
Time:	Refreshments and conversation at 17:00, followed by the presentation at 17:30.
Promotional Flier:	Download Here
Energy underpins everything we do. How we generate and use energy every day has a massive impact on our wellbeing, our nation’s profitability, our international reputation and our environment. New Zealand is blessed with amazing renewable energy resources that give us an enviable platform to build from. We have the technologies and the knowledge to shave millions from our collective business energy bills, and we have a residential market that is increasingly looking for ways to make better use of the energy they use every day. If we are clever, we can capitalize on these opportunities to underpin a prosperous and internationally competitive economy In his talk, Mike will outline some of these opportunities, the barriers we need to tackle and the consequences of getting it right. Mike has extensive management experience in the gas and electricity sector in New Zealand and overseas. He has been chief executive of WEL Networks, TransAlta, and Energy Direct. He has also had significant governance experience in this sector, and has been chairman of Pacific Energy Ltd, EECA, and Katolyst, the Waikato Regional Development agency. He has a Bachelor's degree in engineering, a Master's degree in economics, has completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard, and is a Fellow of the Institution of Professional Engineers. Mike Underhill joined EECA as Chief Executive in May 2007. Proceedings will commence with refreshments and conversation at 17:00, followed by the presentation at 17:30. Non Members welcome.

Our Newest IEEE Fellow — 25 May 2011

Title:	Research on Embedded Sensing and IEEE Networking
Speaker:	Associate Professor Subhas Mukhopadhyay, FIEEE
Venue:	Presentation Lab (Riddet R12 2.07), Massey University Manawatu Campus, Palmerston North.
Date:	Wednesday 25 May 2011
Time:	4:30pm (Seminar to commence around 5pm and will be preceded by some light refreshments.)
RSVP:	Please RSVP for catering purposes to R.Harris@massey.ac.nz by Close of Business, Monday 23 May 2011
Additional Networking:	There will be an optional meal following the seminar. Details will be sent to those who have RSVPed for the seminar
Promotional Flier:	Download Here
We have been delighted to learn that the IEEE New Zealand Central Section now has a new IEEE Fellow: Associate Professor Subhas Mukhopadhyay. These are extremely rare awards and there is no fixed number either by country or otherwise on a per year basis. There were 321 Fellows awarded by the IEEE in 2010 (for effect in 2011) worldwide. Upon checking the list of IEEE Fellows it will be found that Subhas Mukhopadhyay was the only Fellow listed from New Zealand in that awards list. The citation read: Subhas Chandra Mukhopadhyay Massey University Palmerston North, New Zealand For development of low-cost smart sensors and sensing systems The IEEE Grade of Fellow is conferred by the Board of Directors upon a person with an extraordinary record of accomplishments in any of the IEEE fields of interest. The total number selected in any one year cannot exceed one-tenth per cent of the total voting membership. IEEE Fellow is the highest grade of membership and is recognized by the technical community as a prestigious honour and an important career achievement. Subhas was the inaugural Sub-Section and Section Secretary when the IEEE Subsection and Section were started a few years ago. Subhas is now the Chapter Chair for the New Zealand Instrumentation and Measurement Chapter. In order to honour this achievement the IEEE New Zealand Central Section has asked Subhas to present a lecture that reviews the background to this wonderful achievement. Accordingly, we are holding a special seminar to celebrate this achievement. Abstract: The presentation will consist of two parts: In the first part of the presentation Subhas shall provide an overview of his current research activities on sensors and sensors network towards the development of low cost smart-sensors and sensing systems. In the second part, Subhas shall briefly review his involvement in IEEE related activities. The seminar will present an outline of the activities towards the elevation to IEEE Fellow. IEEE Members and non-members welcome to attend this event.

A Perspective on Future Instrumentation and Measurement — 23 May 2011

This event is being hosted by the IEEE IMS Society New Zealand Chapter

Title:	A Perspective on Future Instrumentation and Measurement
Speaker:	Kim Fowler, President, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society and Dr. Shreekanth Mandayam, VP-Publications, IEEE IMS
Venue:	CO350 Cotton Building, Kelburn Campus, Victoria University of Wellington (The Cotton building is in the Kelburn Campus and is located at gate 6, Kelburn parade)
Date:	Monday 23 May 2011
Time:	10 am to 11 am
Promotional Flier:	Download Here
Abstract: The talk has three distinct sections. The first section of the talk covers the challenge of instrumentation - understanding and remembering the basic need for measurement. The second section of the talk considers the future of instrumentation by reviewing some survey results from two years ago, in which 450 respondents across industries and disciplines looked into the future and gave their thoughts. The third section of the talk summarizes some of the activities of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society that address the issues brought forward in the first two sections of the talk. Short Biography: Kim has nearly 30 years in the design, development, and project management of medical, military, and satellite equipment. He co-founded Stimsoft, a medical products company, and has worked for JHU/APL and Ixthos; currently he consults in technical product development and engineering processes and is considering starting an environmental monitoring company. Kim Fowler is the President of the IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society for 2010 and 2011. He is an adjunct professor for the Johns Hopkins University Engineering Professional Program and lectures internationally on systems engineering and developing real-time embedded. Kim has written 7 textbooks, published over 50 articles in engineering journals and proceedings, and has 18 patents - granted, pending, or disclosed. Shreekanth Mandayam is Professor and Chair of Electrical & Computer Engineering at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, USA. He directs the Imaging and Virtual Reality Laboratory in the South Jersey Technology Park at Rowan University. Dr. Mandayam has served as the VP-Publications (2011- present), VP-Finance (2009-2010) and Chair of the AdHoc Committee on Education (2008-2009) for the IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Society (IMS). He presently serves as the General Chair of the IEEE Sensors Applications Symposium (www.sensorapps.org). From 2004-2008, Dr. Mandayam served as the Student Activities Chair for IEEE Region-2 (Eastern United States). Further information about Dr. Mandayam is available at https://users.rowan.edu/~shreek/ Dr. Mandayam’s presentation will focus on recent initiatives of the IMS to expand opportunities for members to enhance their technical knowledge, share best-practices and promote the growth of the instrumentation and measurement community. New fellowships and awards for education have been established, in addition to design competitions, travel grants and best paper awards to students for attending IMS sponsored conferences. The educational video tutorial program seeks to create a portal for IMS members and students to exchange information in the field. The presentation will include a discussion on the flagship conferences of the Society and its key publications, the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation & Measurement and the Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine.

Microwave and Millimeter Wave Imaging for NDE Applications – Past, Present and Future — 21 April 2011

This event is being hosted by the IEEE I&M Society New Zealand Chapter

Title:	Microwave and Millimeter Wave Imaging for NDE Applications – Past, Present and Future
Speaker:	Professor Reza Zoughi Schlumberger Endowed Professor Electrical and Computer Engineering Department Missouri University of Science and Technology
Venue:	Industrial Research Limited, Lower Hutt Room: : Alan MacDiarmid Centre, IRL, Lower Hutt
Date:	Thursday 21 April 2011
Time:	2 pm to 4 pm
Promotional Flier:	Download Here
Abstract Millimeter-wave signals span the frequency range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz, corresponding to a wavelength range of 10 mm to 1 mm. Signals at these frequencies can easily penetrate inside dielectric materials and composites and interact with their inner structures. The relatively small wavelengths and wide bandwidths associated with these signals enable the production of high spatial-resolution images of materials and structures. Incorporating imaging techniques such as lens-focused and near-field techniques, synthetic aperture focusing, holographical methods, robust back-propagation algorithms with more advanced and unique millimeter wave imaging systems have brought upon a flurry of activities in this area and in particular for non-destructive evaluation (NDE) applications. These imaging systems and techniques have been successfully applied for a wide range of applications including: ∗ detection and evaluation of corrosion under paint, ∗ inspection of the space shuttle external fuel tank spray-on foam insulation (SOFI) and acreage heat tiles for interior flaw and corrosion detection and evaluation, ∗ inspection of layered composites such as radomes and control surfaces for interior flaws and moisture ingress, and ∗ detection and evaluation of disbond in carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) retrofitted concrete bridge members. Near-field techniques have been prominently used for these applications. However, undesired issues related with changing standoff have resulted in several innovative and automatic standoff distance variation removal techniques. Ultimately, imaging techniques must produce high resolution (in 3D) images, become real-time, and use portable systems. To this end and to expedite the imaging process while providing a high-resolution images of a structure, recently the design and demonstration of a 6” by 6” one-shot, rapid and portable imaging system (Microwave Camera), consisting of 576 resonant slot elements, was completed. Currently, efforts are being expended to enable mono-static imaging and increasing its operating frequency into higher millimeter wave frequencies. This presentation provides an overview of these techniques, along with illustration of several typical examples where these imaging techniques have effectively provided viable solutions to many critical problems. About the Speaker R. Zoughi received his B.S.E.E, M.S.E.E, and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering (radar remote sensing, radar systems, and microwaves) from the University of Kansas where from 1981 until 1987 he was at the Radar Systems and Remote Sensing Laboratory (RSL). Subsequently, in 1987 he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Colorado State University (CSU), where he established the Applied Microwave Nondestructive Testing Laboratory (amntl). He held the position of Business Challenge Endowed Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering from 1995 to 1997 while at CSU. In 2001 he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Missouri University of Science and Technology (S&T), formerly University of Missouri-Rolla (UMR), as the Schlumberger Distinguished Professor. His current areas of research include developing new nondestructive techniques for microwave and millimeter wave testing and evaluation of materials (NDT&E), developing new electromagnetic probes and sensors to measure characteristic properties of material at microwave frequencies, developing embedded modulated scattering techniques for NDT&E purposes and real-time high resolution imaging system development. He is the author of a textbook entitled “Microwave Nondestructive Testing and Evaluation Principles” KLUWER Academic Publishers, 2000, and the co-author with A. Bahr, and N. Qaddoumi of a chapter on Microwave Techniques in an undergraduate introductory textbook entitled “Nondestructive Evaluation: Theory, Techniques, and Applications” edited by P.J. Shull, Marcel and Dekker, Inc., 2002. He has been the recipient of numerous teaching awards both at CSU and Missouri S&T. He is the co-author of over 455 journal papers, conference proceedings and presentations and technical reports. He has ten patents to his credit all in the field of microwave nondestructive testing and evaluation. He was the recipient of the 2007 recipient of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society Distinguished Service Award, the 2009 American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT) Research Award for Sustained Excellence, and the 2011 IEEE Joseph F. Keithley Award in Instrumentation & Measurement. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), a Fellow of American Society for Nondestructive Testing (ASNT), and the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. For more information please see https://amntl.mst.edu/people/zoughi.html and https://amntl.mst.edu/.

Ultra-Fast Broadband - Why They Will Come Once we Build — 29 March 2011

This event was hosted by the IET Wellington Network

Title:	IET Distinguished Lecture Series Ultra-Fast Broadband - Why They Will Come Once we Build
Speaker:	Ernie Newman
Venue:	Spectrum Theatre, Cnr Customhouse Quay & Johnston St, Wellington
Date:	Tuesday, 29 March 2011
Time:	17:00 to 19:00
Promotional Flier:	Download Here
Ernie Newman talked about the evolution of the Internet; its current impact on our lives, and his prognosis for the next decade or two. He reviewed where the social and economic returns will occur between now and 2025 - which are the sectors with most to gain, and where the real opportunities will arise from a development perspective. As a passionate believer in the crucial importance of connectivity, he explained why New Zealand has more to gain from ubiquitous connectivity than any other nation on earth, and more to lose if we don't get ahead of the game. Ernie Newman was Chief Executive of TUANZ, the Telecommunications Users Association of NZ, for 12 years, leading that organisation through the massive policy reforms of 2000-2010 before moving on in September of last year. During that period he was an active participant in international affairs, holding office in the influential Netherlands-based International Telecommunications Users Group for most of that period including three years as its global Chairman. He led the user delegation to APECTel, the Telecommunications and IT Working Group of APEC for many years, and participated regularly in meetings of several other international bodies including the OECD. He has been a regular speaker at numerous conferences both in New Zealand and overseas, including London, Tokyo, Bangalore, Stockholm and Paris. Since leaving TUANZ to become a consultant he has maintained a keen interest in usages of ultra-fast broadband, with his current assignments including a significant amount of work in the e-Health environment.

Knowledge-Based Decision Support Systems for Industrial Applications — 25 March 2011

This event is being hosted by the IEEE NZ Central Section and Victoria University

Title:	Knowledge-Based Decision Support Systems for Industrial Applications
Speaker:	Professor Xinghuo Yu, IEEE Fellow RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
Venue:	CO 350, Cotton Building, Gate 6, Kelburn Parade, Kelburn Campus, Victoria University, Wellington
Date:	Friday 25 March 2011
Time:	4:10-5:00pm
Abstract The increasing complexity of industrial processes and the competitive marketplace demand innovative ways for performance improvement and cost reduction. There is a rapidly growing need for smart Decision Support in dynamic industrial environments, which is more about exploiting strategies for optimal operations, cost reduction and human performance improvement. Although there has been an extensive research done in decision support systems for organizational and business information management, the decision support for industrial processes has received attention only recently. In this talk, we will present a smart industrial decision support framework and its industrial applications. We will particularly discuss how to incorporate intelligent systems technologies such as knowledge based systems, fuzzy systems, and conventional modelling and optimisation methods for practical applications. We will also outline some of the research challenges for the future industrial decision support research. This talk will be accompanied by showcasing several successful industrial applications in aerospace engineering design process, sugar mill supervisory process control, and sustainable weed management. About the Speaker Xinghuo Yu received BSc and MSc degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei China, in 1982 and 1984, and PhD degree from South-East University, Nanjing China in 1988, respectively. He is now with RMIT University (Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology), Melbourne Australia, where he is the Director of RMIT Platform Technologies Research Institute. Professor Yu's research interests include variable structure and nonlinear control, complex and intelligent systems and industrial applications. He has published over 380 refereed papers in technical journals, books and conference proceedings. Professor Yu is serving as an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems Part I, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, and several other scholarly journals. He received an award under the Thousand Talents Program of the Chinese Government in 2010, a Chang Jiang Scholar (Chair Professor) Award from the Ministry of Education of China in 2009, the 1995 Central Queensland University Vice Chancellor's Award for Research, and was made Emeritus Professor of Central Queensland University in 2002 for his long term contributions. Professor Yu is a Fellow of the IEEE, Vice-President (Planning and Development) of IEEE Industrial Electronics Society and an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer. He is also a Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia and the Australian Computer Society.

A Semidefinite Relaxation Method For MIMO Detection of High-Order Non-Square QAM Constellations — 22 March 2011

Title:	A Semidefinite Relaxation Method For MIMO Detection of High-Order Non-Square QAM Constellations
Speaker:	Sudhir Singh
Venue:	Robertson D-12 Video Conferencing Room, D-Block, Industrial Research Ltd (69 Gracefield Road, Lower Hutt)
Date:	Tuesday, 22 March 2011
Time:	10:00 am
Maximum-likelihood (ML) detection for MIMO is an NP-hard problem. Sphere decoding is a computationally efficient method of providing an ML solution to this problem for low order constellations at high SNR. However, sphere decoders are generally inefficient at handling high dimensional problems and high order constellations. It is also known that the expected complexity of sphere decoders is exponential. Recently, it has been shown that semidefinite relaxation (SDR) techniques provide an alternative method of MIMO detection for high order QAM constellations at polynomial time complexity. This work shows how SDR can be extended to MIMO detection of non-square QAM constellations at polynomial time complexity.

Worldwide Railway Development - Challenges and Opportunities — 16 March 2011

This event was hosted by the IET Wellington Network

Title:	Worldwide Railway Development - Challenges and Opportunities
Speaker:	Ir C.S. Chang, CEO Pypun-KD & Associates Ltd, Hong Kong
Venue:	Terrace Conference Centre, 114 The Terrace, Wellington
Date:	Wednesday, 16 March 2011
Time:	12:00 to 13:30
Over the past 25 years, CS has been involved in railway projects in a variety of roles including system designer, system integrator, independent safety assessor, project manager and project quality manager. His talk will review recent projects, from brand new railways and extensions to the upgrade of existing railway networks, in the UK, Saudi Arabia and Hong Kong. He will focus on the difficulties encountered during different phases of the project lifecycle as well as the opportunities they present to the various stakeholders. Ir CS Chang obtained his BSc in Electrical Engineering from the University of Hong Kong and an MBA from Chinese University of Hong Kong. He worked in France to develop software used in the MTRC Island Line Train Control System in 1985. Since then, he has worked as a project manager on various multi-disciplinary control, communication and signaling projects for the Mass Transit Railway and Kowloon Canton Railway Corporations. He now runs his own consultancy and is an active in the leadership of the IET and Control Automation and Instrumentation Division of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers. He has been a Visiting Lecturer to the City University of Hong Kong and sits on various boards and panels in both industrial and academic bodies in Hong Kong and overseas.

SKA Industry Briefing Series – Wellington, 18 February

The Australia and New Zealand SKA Project

The New Zealand SKA Industry Consortium, NZSKAIC, in association with the NZICT Group and New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, will be hosting an SKA (“Square Kilometre Array”) SKA Industry Briefing Series in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill during February/March 2011. This is to provide an update on industry opportunities associated with the Australia and New Zealand SKA Project.

The Wellington briefing is scheduled for 18 February, 16:00 – 18:00, at the Royal Society of New Zealand. This will cover an introduction to the project and its current status, and a presentation on the potential benefits to industry through engagement in the initiative in areas of renewable/off-grid energy, remote infrastructure management, advanced signal processing and software development. The project engagement prospects are anticipated via:.

· Connection opportunities with major high-technology Multi-National Corporations, which are seeking to be prime contractors and lead technology developers in the project.

· Access to networks of high-technology research and development groups.

· Capability building and investment prospects.

· Pilot project technology development and testing possibilities.

The technology areas of focus are:

ICT: The SKA antenna array systems will demand innovation in high performance signal processing, and ultra-high speed telecommunications. As the signals are analysed this will produce extremely large volumes of raw data, with attendant demands on data intensive processing and management. Solutions are expected to feature heterogenous computing architectures, hardware and software based ultra-high speed telecommunication networking solutions, and very large scale – and automated – data and image analysis. Anticipated related applications include automated decision support systems based on data rich instrumentation and sensor networks (e.g., in agriculture). The project will entail large scale and complex demands on project management, logistics and software development.

Energy & Engineering: With extreme sensitivity to Radio Frequency Interference, the SKA antenna systems must be located in very remote areas; hence the electric power demands of the on-site signal and data processing systems will require off-grid energy solutions. The energy requirement is estimated at 100MW for the core site and 500-1,000KW at satellite sites. The international SKA community has also mandated renewable energy sources; therefore the technology challenge is to provide substantial off-grid renewable electricity supply with high availability and remote management. Potential solutions under investigation include geothermal (“hot rock”), solar-thermal and photo-voltaic energy sources. Cooling and energy storage and conditioning systems will also be required, and innovation on data centre power management. There may be an application for carbon sequestration.

Joint Session with EURASIAPAC:

The Wellington SKA Industry Briefing is being held jointly with a preceding (optional) EURASIAPAC workshop, and will be followed by a combined Networking Cocktail “New Zealand Wine Tasting” function.

For further details see: 2nd Asia-Pacific Workshop in New Zealand

Registration:

Fill in the joint registration form with the EURASIAPAC workshop.

Agenda:

16:00 SKA Industry Briefing

18:00 Networking cocktail, New Zealand Wine Tasting (co-hosted by NZICT)

Venue:

Lecture Theatre

Science House

11 Turnbull Street

Thorndon

WELLINGTON

No registration fee.

The key speaking points will be:

1. General introduction to the Australia/New Zealand SKA Bid and the role of NZSKAIC

· What the bid is

· Why is NZ involved

· What is the role of NZSKAIC

2. What opportunities does the SKA project present to ICT and Energy firms in NZ

· Connection opportunities with major high-technology Multi-National Corporations, which are seeking to be prime contractors and lead technology developers in the project.

· Access to networks of high-technology research and development groups.

· Capability building and investment prospects.

· Pilot project technology development and testing possibilities.

3. The Rutherford Forum

4. How can NZ firms engage

5. Q&A (Including questions on particular areas of focus for local firms)

DELTA 2011 — 17 - 19 January 2011

Title:	The 6th International Symposium on Electronic Design, Test and Applications (DELTA 2011)
Venue:	Rydges Lakeland Resort, Queenstown, New Zealand
More Information:	Conference Website