Past Events - 2021

New items will appear here as they are completed.

First IEEE NZCS meeting for 2021: BBQ at Milner Consulting Limited

Following on from the survey held prior to Christmas, it has been determined that the preferred details for our New Year BBQ are:

Date and Time: Saturday 30 January, commencing around 1pm.
Venue: 21 Rangatira Road, Tawa, Wellington 5028.

All Section members and their partners were welcome. For catering purposes, please register your participation with Murray Milner at wemurray.milner@xtra.co.nz. Including any dietary preferences. We are looking forward to a sunny day so that we can enjoy good company, excellent food and beverages and perhaps a game of petanque.

Special Student and Young Professionals Event - Thursday, May 13, 2021

Are you an undergraduate student and hesitating whether to to do postgraduate study or an industry job? Are you a postgraduate student and hesitating whether to have an academic career or industry career?

The IEEE New Zealand Central Section Young Professionals and Student Branches will help you answer the above pivotal questions by organising an event, “Success After Graduation”. The event benefits a wide range of students, including undergraduate and postgraduate students. We invited four speakers who have extensive knowledge in both academic and industry environments to offer a broad view from both perspectives. We can also provide a Zoom link for people who cannot attend in person. Following the discussion, free pizza is provided for networking and any further discussions.

The event flyer is available from here. If you are interested in the event, please register by May 12, 2021.
Details are as follows:

Date: 5:00-7:00 pm, Thursday, May 13, 2021
Venue: AM106, Alan Macdiarmid Building, Victoria University of Wellington, Kelburn Campus
Title: Success After Graduation
Cost: Free
Registration: https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/271432
Zoom link: https://vuw.zoom.us/j/8441867488

Speakers:
1. Dr Murray Milner: He is widely recognised within his profession for his leadership in ICT development in New Zealand, including being presented with the Chairman’s award by the Telecommunications User Association of NZ (TUANZ) 2005. He has been awarded Fellowships to work and study in both the UK and USA during his career. He is a Fellow of IPENZ, an active member of IET and IEEE and is on the editorial panel for the Telecommunications Journal of Australia. He is currently serving as Secretary and Immediate Past Chair of IEEE NZ Central Section.

2. Prof Bing Xue: Professor Xue received her PhD degree in 2014 at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. She is currently a Professor in Computer Science at VUW and leading the Postgraduate Artificial Intelligence program at VUW. She is active in IEEE activities and is now leading the Women in Engineering group, IEEE NZ Central Section.

3. A/Prof Ramesh Rayudu: He is currently an Associate Professor with VUW. He has more than 15 years of industrial work experience both in India and New Zealand. He is also involved in consultation work for several international firms in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, India, and the USA. He is a very active IEEE member and is currently the Chair of the local PES Chapter.

4. Dr Yi Mei: He is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Engineering and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington (VUW), New Zealand. Before joining VUW, he worked as a Provost’s Research Associate (2010-2012, Financial Optimization) at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and ARC Discovery Research Fellow (2012-2015, Large Scale Optimisation) RMIT University, Australia. He is an IEEE Senior Member and is currently serving as chair of the IEEE NZ Central Section.

Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer Virtual Lecture - 29th May

You are invited to attend the following IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Distinguished Lecturer (DL) Virtual Lecture organised by the IEEE Joint NZ North, South, and Central ComSoc Chapter. PLEASE NOTE THE NEW DATE FOR THIS TALK.

Speaker: Professor Sudip Misra (Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur)
Title: UAV Networks: Architectures, Opportunities, Challenges, and Future
Date: Saturday 29 May 2021
Time: Starting at 4 pm (NZ time)

Link to Registration (Free): https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/272039 Please contact Associate Professor Nurul I Sarkar at nurul.sarkar@aut.ac.nz for more details.

Biography:
Sudip Misra is a Professor and Abdul Kalam Technology Innovation National Fellow in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He received his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. His current research interests include Wireless Sensor Networks and Internet of Things. Professor Misra is the author of over 300 scholarly research papers. He has won nine research paper awards in different conferences. He was awarded the IEEE ComSoc Asia Pacific Outstanding Young Researcher Award at IEEE GLOBECOM 2012, California, USA. He was also the recipient of several academic awards and fellowships such as the Faculty Excellence Award (IIT Kharagpur), Young Scientist Award (National Academy of Sciences, India), Young Systems Scientist Award (Systems Society of India), Young Engineers Award (Institution of Engineers, India), (Canadian) Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal at Carleton University, the University Outstanding Graduate Student Award in the Doctoral level at Carleton University and the National Academy of Sciences, India – Swarna Jayanti Puraskar (Golden Jubilee Award), Samsung Innovation Awards-2014 at IIT Kharagpur, IETE-Biman Behari Sen Memorial Award-2014, and the Careers360 Outstanding Faculty Award in Computer Science for the year 2018 from the Honourable Minister for Human Resource Development (MHRD) of India. He was the consecutively twice recipient of the IEEE Systems Journal Best Paper Award in 2018 and 2019. He was awarded the Canadian Government’s prestigious NSERC Postdoc Fellowship and the Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellowship in Germany. His team received the GYTI Award 2018 in the hands of the President of India for socially relevant innovations. Dr. Misra has been serving as the Associate Editor of different journals such as the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Computing, IEEE Network, and IEEE Systems Journal. He is the Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (NASI), India, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), UK, British Computer Society (BCS), UK, Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH), UK, and the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering (IETE), India. He is the Director and Co-Founder of the IoT startup, SensorDrops Networks Private Limited (https://www.sensordropsnetworks.com).

Abstract:
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are pilotless flying vehicles with numerous applications, which include search and rescue operations, establishing communication (aerial base stations), monitoring and surveillance, as well as military operations. They are also useful in disaster-hit areas for localizing survivors, quantifying damage, sensing hazardous fumes, and others. Although the scope of UAVs is diverse, it has several challenges. Typically, these challenges span across controlling single UAVs, coordination among a swarm of UAVs, coverage, and placement, and communication with remote sinks. Further, while manual control may be useful for an unknown environment, autonomous UAVs reduce the need for manual intervention, which makes tasks easier to accomplish. Thus, there is a need for a novel network and control architectures. Another important challenge is that these UAVs have a heterogeneous set of sensors that produce a huge amount of data and require smart analytics to make inferences. This lecture presents algorithms and architectures leveraging the key features of cloud/edge/fog computing platforms. Further, it includes concepts that optimize flight time, energy consumption, payload, manoeuvrability, and others. Additionally, this lecture also presents how the UAVs and its properties also deem fit for the upcoming components of THz communication technologies such as mmWave and small cells.

Joint Institution Event - Sounds Air: Electric Aircraft and their Journey... June 9

Date: 09 Jun 2021,
Time: 5.00PM – 6.30PM
Sessions: Online and Wellington
Duration: 1 hr 30 mins
Cost: Free event
Venue:
Engineering New Zealand
Level 6, 40 Taranaki Street
Te Aro
Wellington
6011
New Zealand

Registration Link: https://www.engineeringnz.org/courses-events/event/sounds-air-electric-aircraft-and-their-journey-to-/

We were delighted to invite members of Engineering New Zealand, the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and Royal Aeronautical Society (RAes) to join us for a unique insight into the potential use of electric aircraft for regional flights and the very real opportunity for it to be realised within the Wellington region. We were lucky enough to have Rhyan Wardman, Board Chairman and Director of Sounds Air, present to us on their journey to date with Heart Aerospace and the very real opportunity to put New Zealand at the forefront of sustainable air travel. Following the presentation Rhyan will be available to take questions. The event started at 5:00pm with drinks and nibbles, with the presentation starting at 5:30pm sharp.

Report:

Around 70 people participated in person and over 250 in total including virtual attendees. It is hoped that the speaker might be available next year to update us on developments in this very interesting and fascinating area!

Communications Society Distinguished Lecturer Virtual Lecture - 17th June

You are invited to attend the following IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc) Distinguished Lecturer (DL) Virtual Lecture organised by the IEEE Joint NZ North, South, and Central ComSoc Chapter.

Speaker: Professor Biplab Sikdar (National University of Singapore)
Title: Cyber Security and Privacy for Smart Cities
Date: Thursday 17 June 2021
Time: Starting at 4 pm (NZ time)

Link to Registration (Free): https://events.vtools.ieee.org/event/register/271448

Please contact Associate Professor Nurul I Sarkar at nurul.sarkar@aut.ac.nz for more details

Biography:
Biplab Sikdar is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the National University of Singapore where he also serves as the Vice Dean in the Faculty of Engineering. He received the B. Tech. degree in electronics and communication engineering from North Eastern Hill University, Shillong, India, in 1996, the M.Tech. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India, in 1998, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA, in 2001. His research interests include IoT and cyber-physical system security, network security, and network performance evaluation. He is a recipient of the NSF CAREER award, the Tan Chin Tuan fellowship from NTU Singapore, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science fellowship, and the Leiv Eiriksson fellowship from the Research Council of Norway. Dr. Sikdar is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi. He served as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Communications from 2007 to 2012 and as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing from 2014-2017. He received the best paper award from IEEE GLOBECOM (2007) and the IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine (2020).

Abstract:
Modern cities have embarked on a path toward becoming ``smarter’’ in order to maintain their economic growth and provide improved and more efficient civic infrastructure to its residents and businesses. Such cities allow easy access to data and information, make extensive use of computing and information technologies in the operation of its physical infrastructure as well as social services, and in its economy and industries. The efficiency and convenience brought about by these applications also come with unintended consequences. Much of the data collected by sensors and actuators in smart city applications contain sensitive data that can leak private information about individuals and organization. This talk will explore some of the unintended privacy concerns that stem from the use of data collection and exploitation in smart cities. We will also explore how adversaries target smart city applications to extract sensitive information. The talk will conclude with a discussion on possible solutions for privacy, as well as the need for technological and policy related frameworks for privacy.