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Hampton Roads Future City Competition

Donations Needed
Please consider donating to this great cause. This competition is an investment in our future and a great opportunity to get young people involved in STEM related activities.
You can donate by registering for the event from this page and clicking whatever registration (donation) amount that you wish. Please note that this does NOT mean that you are registered to attend. This is simply to donate much needed funds to the effort. If you wish to attend the event, attendance is open to the public.
SAIC has already kindly paid for a sponsorship and we are grateful for their efforts. The competition now needs only $1250 more dollars to put on an excellent competition. Now is the time for us all to come together as a region and announce that we support such wonderful initiatives.
Nine schools from across the state (including Hampton) are already signed up for this competition. We are also currently looking for a location to hold the event. If you or someone you know may be able to provide such a venue, please contact Selena Griffett at sgriffett@hampton.gov .
Future City Competition
The 2008 National Engineers Week Future City Competition is here!! The Future City Competition challenges teams of seventh and eighth grade students, working with a volunteer Engineer mentor, to design a city of the future using SimCity software (provided by Maxis). The students then build a scale model of their city, write an essay about an assigned engineering related topic, and make an oral presentation of their project to a panel of judges.
The Future City Competition is an exciting program for the public and private middle schools of Hampton Roads, and it promotes engineering, architecture, and planning as a career path for our children. In addition, it can also be used to enhance several SOL areas.
We hope you will consider sponsoring this event. As an event sponsor, your company will be associated with an exciting educational event that is a win-win situation. Sponsors will receive good public relations exposure and are able to positively impact the students involved.
We would appreciate any level of sponsorship and are hopeful your company can participate! If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Selena Griffett at sgriffett@hampton. gov or (757) 728-2038.
Selena Griffett is looking for volunteer judges for the Future City Competition – Hampton Roads Region. Judges must be planners, engineers, or architects. All judging/scoring materials will be provided as will refreshments and lunch. You can learn more about this program at www.futurecity. org. Please contact Selena (sgriffett@hampton. gov) if you or anyone on your staff who might be interested, or if you know someone who might be interested in being a judge!
Register by Saturday 17-Jan-09 8:00 AM EST
Before 17-Jan-09
Non-Member: $25.00
Student Non-Member: $50.00
Individual: $100.00
Donation: $200.00
Donation: $250.00
Point of Contact Selena Griffett at 757.728.2038, sgriffett@hampton.gov
www.futurecity.org

Critical Mass High Tech Happy Hour - December

Event Begins: December 18, 2008 5:30 PM
Event Ends: December 18, 2008 7:30 PM
Description: Join HRTC's Critical Mass networking event at Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro. HRTC's monthly happy hour event that draws the best of
the technology crowd. Join us for drinks, networking and great conversation! The cost for this event is $10. Register by Thursday 18-Dec-08 3:30 PM EST
Pricing
Before 18-Dec-08
Member: $10.00
Non-Member: $10.00
Venue:
Sonoma Wine Bar & Bistro
189 Central Park Avenue
Virginia Beach, VA
Organization: Hampton Roads Technology Council
Point of Contact Jennifer Barker at 757.645.2447, jbarker@hrtc.org

Presentations Now Available

Selective Coordination of Electrical Over Current Protection

Presented by Bernie Wright, General Electric

Presentation Archive:

• Selective Coordination Presentation Part 1 (pdf)
• Selective Coordination Presentation Part 2 (pdf)
• GE InstaPlan Excel Workbook

Brain Teaser Challenge - November

by Butch Shadwell

I was just watching one of those reality shows on TV. This one had a dozen American city girls trying to win the heart of an Australian fellow from the outback. It was very amusing. These girls came from all sorts of backgrounds and educational experience.
Some of the young debs were upset that they could not plug in there hair dryers while living in the bush. One even had to redo her own nails … a first for her. As luck would have it, one girl had been in the Girl Scouts and one of her merit badges was in electricity. The producers of the TV show found a car battery and a power inverter to aid with the hair blowing emergency. This inverter produced a 60 Hz sine wave at 120 vrms, 15A max. The instructions said that it will not handle loads with a PF less than 0.9. If the hair dryer says that it draws 1000W or 1200 VA, will the inverter carry the load? For extra credit what is the angle between the current and voltage waveforms on this appliance? Our Girl Scout got it right.
Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email)
904-223-4510 (fax)
904-223-4465 (v)
3308 Queen Palm Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328.
www.shadtechserv.com

The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.

October Minutes

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Future Cities Needs You

The Future City Competition is an amazing program that introduces 7th and 8th grade students to the field of engineering. The students plan, design, and “build” a city of the future then present their city to a panel of expert judges at a local competition held in January. I am the regional coordinator for the Future City Competition Hampton Roads VA region and I am hoping one of you (or your colleagues) can help us out.
Eaton Middle School in Hampton has registered to compete in this years competition. However, they need help finding an engineer mentor.
Typically, an engineer mentor can expect to provide approximately 20-40 hours of assistance to the student team over the competition period (from now through January). However, that time can vary based on the students’ needs and the engineer mentor availability. You might also consider “tag-teaming” with another co-worker/engineer to meet the teams needs.
You can find more information about the role of the engineer mentor in the handbook here: www.futurecity.org/docs/2009_Engineer_Mentor_Manual.pdf
And about the Future City Competition itself here: www.futurecity.org.
If you are interested in being a mentor, please contact me either by phone (757-728-2038) or via email [sgriffett@hampton.govsgriffett@hampton.gov ] and I will answer any other questions you might have and put you in direct contact with the teacher.
Please feel free to forward this information to anyone you know who might be interested.
If you are not able to be a mentor but might be interested in serving as a judge at the competition, just let me know!
Thank you for your time and consideration and I look forward to hearing from you!
Selena

2009 IEEE Green Technology Conference

Seeks Technical Papers

Call for Papers: 2009 IEEE Green Technology Conference
NEWS from IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, N.W., Suite 1202
Washington, DC 20036-5104

WASHINGTON (9 October 2008) -- The first IEEE Green Technology Conference will examine alternative energy sources and energy-reduction technologies and their potential for helping the world meet its growing demand for energy, while reducing carbon emissions. Conference organizers are seeking technical papers on current and emerging technologies in environmentally friendly energy sources, and on ways to better manage our energy resources.

Accepted papers will be published by the IEEE and presented at the 2009 IEEE Green Technology Conference (www.ieeegreentech.org) at the Holiday Inn Hotel Towers in Lubbock, Texas, USA, 16-17 April 2009. The conference will precede the annual IEEE Region 5 Meeting.

Topics of interest include the technical and policy challenges of renewable energy sources; alternative vehicle power sources; home automation and energy management; commercial energy management strategies; energy usage reduction; and integration of green energy sources into the existing power grid. The social and economic implications of renewable and reduced carbon emission energy sources will also be examined.

Alternative energy keynote speakers will address these challenges, as will panel discussions and presentations on technology advances.

With increasing concerns about fossil fuel costs, supplies and emissions, people the world over are more closely examining the commercial viability of other energy sources. These include solar, wind, nuclear, geothermal, hydro and biomass, among others, as well as alternative vehicle power sources such as fuel cells, gasoline and liquid natural gas electric hybrids and plugin hybrid electric vehicles.

Authors are invited to submit abstracts by 31 December 2008. Accepted authors will be notified 31 January 2009, and full 8-page papers in the IEEE conference format are due by 1 March 2009.

(www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs/pubs/confpubcenter/pdfs/samplems.pdf).

Submissions must describe original work not previously published or currently under review for publication in another conference or journal. Send your submissions to green.tech09@gmail.com.

The 2009 IEEE Green Technology Conference is sponsored by IEEE Region 5, the IEEE South Plains Section and IEEE-USA.

IEEE-USA advances the public good and promotes the careers and public policy interests of more than 215,000 engineers, scientists and allied professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. IEEE-USA is part of the IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional society with 375,000 members in 160 countries. See www.ieeeusa.org.

Contact: Chris McManes
IEEE-USA Public Relations Manager
Phone: + 1 202 530 8356
E-mail: c.mcmanes@ieee.org
Submissions to green.tech09@gmail.com .

The Open Channel for November 2008

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New IEEE Award Sponsored by Toyota

Recognizes Environmental and Safety Technologies

The IEEE Foundation recently announced that Toyota Motor Corporation will sponsor a new IEEE award, the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies. This award will recognize outstanding accomplishments in the application of technology in the IEEE fields of interest that improve the environment and/or public safety.

Toyota donated US$300,000 to support the awarding of the IEEE Medal to an individual recipient, or a team of recipients up to three in number, each year, for the years 2010 through 2019.

“One of Toyota Motor Corporation’s core values has been to focus our research and development efforts on automotive environmental and safety technologies. This philosophy prompted us to work with IEEE, the world’s largest technical professional association, to create the Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies and recognize individuals and organizations that are making a difference, globally,” said Toyota Motor Corporation spokesperson. “Together with IEEE, we look forward to promoting this global movement on sustainability, and the successes achieved by each winner.”

Criteria considered for the award include: public benefits of the contribution; degree of improvement in important performance metrics; innovative design; development or application engineering; favorable influence of the contribution on technical professions. It is relevant to a wide community including power electronics, intelligent transportation systems, wireless communications, sensor networks control, control and automation, computing, and signal processing.

Each recipient of the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies will receive a gold medal, a bronze replica, a certificate and honorarium. In the event that a team up to three in number is selected, the honorarium will be equally divided.

“A truly joint effort, we are honored to partner with Toyota to bring this award to the global market as an opportunity to recognize outstanding contributions in environmental and safety technologies,” said Lew Terman, President, IEEE. “We hope the IEEE Medal for Environmental and Safety Technologies will inspire individuals and organizations to develop innovative technologies that will benefit humanity, globally.”

Toyota Motor Corporation acknowledges the cooperation and advice of Prof. Fumio Harashima, Prof. Hiroyuki Sakaki, and Prof. Toshio Fukuda in the establishment of this award. To learn more about this and other IEEE Awards, visit www.ieee.org/awards.

IEEE Sections Congress 2008 Presentations

Article Courtesy of our IEEE East Tennessee Section

The IEEE Sections Congress 2008 website has been updated to include material presented in Quebec City. All the presentations are available to be downloaded individually or as a group.

Core Track Training Material - The Core Training presentations explained the impetus for the MGA transition and provided a view of what MGA success will look like. MGA is about putting members first and at the center of IEEE. The guiding principles summarize it all: IEEE is the member and the member is IEEE. The MGA Board is a complete change from RAB and a shift in focus to the member. Sections are now part of an organization focused solely on the member and designed to inspire members’ participation in IEEE. The stage is being set for MGA to be the primary touch point for IEEE members, engaging them throughout their careers and providing them with what they need, when they need it, to be successful in their profession. Secti! on Chairs are being called to help support IEEE and act as the key point of contact for their members.

Membership Breakout Sessions - The growth and nurturing of our 375,000+ members is a core value of IEEE. The material presented in this track focuses on how a member’s relationship with IEEE can be enhanced through local engagement. Geographic unit leaders will be trained on the benefits of IEEE membership, and how to communicate and apply these benefits to the needs of members in their local area. Material presented also includes best practices for using the IEEE Membership Development tools, staff and volunteer network. Leveraging these resources will ultimately lead to significantly increased retention, recruitment and recovery of members at the local Section level.

Section/Chapter Activities Breakout Sessions - The success of IEEE depends on the continued cooperation between geographic units at the local level. This material presented in this track focuses on how to promote and facilitate the delivery of technical, professional and educational material. Issues cover a broad range of topics such as learning how to leverage Standards; acknowledging contributions of members through awards and recognition; learning about new humanitarian projects supported by IEEE and its members; and working with students and student branches. Activities your Section can undertake to enhance its image and support IEEE are also discussed.

Section Management Breakout Sessions - Running a successful Section requires having the tools and support to do the job. The material presented in this track provides information on obtaining support and resources from the IEEE organization and discusses best practices to follow. Several sessions address how to manage activities such as finances, conferences and affinity groups. Effective practices for planning successful meetings, volunteer recruitment and leadership development are also covered. New tools for supporting the volunteer administrative responsibilities will also be introduced.

SC08 Recommendations - The highlight of every Sections Congress is when delegates develop and vote on recommendations that IEEE will address in order to best serve the needs of its members. The Top ten recommendations, as ranked by the primary Section Delegates, are available.

Highlights from IEEE Sections Congress via IEEE.tv - The following video highlights from the IEEE Sections Congress and the IEEE Honors Ceremony are available via IEEE.tv.

* 2008 Sections Congress Highlights - Inspire, Enable, Empower and Engage
* 2008 Sections Congress Opening Highlights
* 2008 Honors Ceremony Program
* Profile of 2008 Medal of Honor winner Gordon Moore

See more on IEEE.tv

IEEE Seeks Volunteers for Humanitarian Technology Challenge

The Humanitarian Technology Challenge (HTC) is a partnership between IEEE and the United Nations Foundation designed to bring together technical professionals and humanitarians to develop technological solutions for pressing challenges facing humanity.
A small number of IEEE members are needed to help shape the early stages of the program, working with humanitarians to further detail challenge definitions and outline a solution process. This is a unique opportunity for IEEE volunteers experienced in systems engineering to work directly with prominent humanitarian volunteers.
The following initial challenges were identified by focus groups composed of representatives from ten humanitarian organizations:

• Reliable Electricity – Availability of power for electronic devices
• Data Connectivity of Rural District Health Offices -- Capability of exchanging data among remote field offices and central health facilities
• Local Management and Tracking of Supply Distribution – Ensure that supplies are getting to the people that need them in order to maximize the impact of assistance
• Incident Tracking – Determine locations and extent of medical problems in order to focus resources
• Patient ID and Tie to Health Records – Maintain consistent patient records, including when patients visit different clinics and when they relocate.

IEEE volunteers should be experienced in the application of technology to solve humanitarian issues and be willing to commit approximately two to four hours per week to the project. A conference call/webcast for early stage volunteers is scheduled to take place in late November, 2008. This will be followed by an in-person conference scheduled for the first quarter of 2009, where additional volunteers will be needed.
For more information, visit the HTC Web site (www.ieee.org/go/htc). Interested volunteers should contact Harold Tepper, IEEE HTC Project Manager, at h.tepper@ieee.org .

IEEE Hampton Roads PES?

Could there be a IEEE Power & Engineering Society (PES) – Hampton Roads Chapter? Yes if you help to establish it. The IEEE Power & Energy Society (recently renamed from the Power Engineering Society) or PES is the oldest society in IEEE and consists of 21,550 members. Hampton Roads is home to 169 of those members. The fields of interest in this society are in the research, development, installation and operation of systems for the generation, transmission, distribution, measurement and control of electric energy. PES provides the world’s largest forum for sharing the latest in technological developments in the electric power industry and for creating standards for the development and construction of equipment and systems.
As a chapter technical presentations can be more focused on subjects that matter most to its members. Chapters have their own officers: chair, vice-chair, secretary, and treasurer. If you are interested in establishing a IEEE Power & Engineering Society – Hampton Roads Chapter please contact Kurt Clemente or James Bolitho.

November Letter from the Chair

Thanks to all who made it to last month’s IEEE meeting at Barclay’s. Adeeb Hamzey of Virginia Power (and a friend and colleague from the IEEE Richmond section) gave a very interesting talk about the past two decades of electrical generation and transmission in Virginia. His experience in this field lent insight into the improvements that have been made, but also the issues that face the industry: attracting, developing and retaining electrical engineering talent, developing new generation sources to keep up with growing demand, and installing transmission lines to move the power around the state, to name a few. We are very appreciative of Adeeb, who took the time to answer numerous questions from the group during his presentation.
Next month we host Bernie Wright of General Electric, who will discuss issues of selective coordination. I will refer you to the meeting abstract for more information on the topic, but suffice it to say that this topic will be of great interest to power engineers to whom the increased requirements of the 2008 National Electric Code present a growing challenge for building electrical system design. General Electric obviously provides electrical equipment that can be used to meet these new requirements, but understanding the specifics of how an uncoordinated electrical system can create power disruption problems (and unhappy building occupants) is something that all members of IEEE should appreciate. Engineers must design safe electrical systems, but the new selective coordination requirements go much further to require greater service reliability at significant additional cost.
We meet this month in the Clark-Nexsen conference room, a new venue to IEEE-Hampton Roads. Please note that we will be serving pizza and charging $5 for members/non-members but admitting IEEE student members for free! It is important that you RSVP for this meeting as we will be ordering the food ahead of time. If you are an IEEE student member please provide your IEEE member # - if you cannot locate your number you may email any officer who can utilize SamIEEE to obtain this information.
Our November meeting brings us to officer elections for 2008. I greatly appreciate the assistance of James, Jim and Giuliano in their efforts as Vice-Chair, Treasurer and Secretary throughout the year; we would not have been as successful without their diligence and hard work. If you would like to be considered for a position, or would like to nominate an IEEE member for an officer positions, please do so at the November meeting. We will open the floor to nominees and conduct the election at the meeting, as this will be our last section-wide technical meeting for 2008. The opportunity is a tremendous one, and need not take up too much of your time (I know we are all busy). Please consider volunteering or nominating another IEEE member, and if you have any questions feel free to contact me.
Upcoming meetings:

• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting November 20th at Clark-Nexsen
• IEEE-HR Executive Committee meeting December 11th
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting January 22nd Annual Student Paper Competition
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting February 19th
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting March 19th

This month’s meeting will conclude our Fall 2008 technical program. I hope you are finding the meetings interesting and valuable to your career and continued pursuit of knowledge in the electrical/electronics field. For those who are licensed engineers, we know you are thinking about the required Professional Development Hours and have plans to help you gain (and document!) these in 2009 when the state board is expected to roll out the new requirements. We continue to consider starting a Power & Energy (formerly Power Engineering) chapter, which would allow us to offer more focused presentations of several hours in duration to meet these requirements. For those of you in the communications and electro-optics field, we are also considering a Computer Society chapter and Dr. Dharamsi continues his good efforts in our local LEOS (laser and electro-optic society) chapter. IEEE societies present an avenue to provide greater depth and detail on technical presentations than we could possibly achieve in our monthly 1-hour meetings, and I encourage you to express interest if you would like to assist in these. In the meantime, we will continue to seek out interesting and varied technical topics for our regular section meetings. If you have a suggested topic or speaker (or might want to present something yourself) please speak with me or any IEEE officer about this. I look forward to seeing you November!
Regards,
Kurt Clemente, PE
2008 Chair
Hampton Roads Section

kurt.clemente@ieee.org

November Meeting

Selective Coordination of Electrical Over Current Protection

Bernie Wright, General Electric

Thursday, 20 November 2008 at 6:30 PM

Clark-Nexsen
6160 Kempsville Circle, Suite 200A
Norfolk, VA 23502
+1 757.455.5800

Meal Cost (Pizza and soft drinks): Members and guests $5; Students FREE
Presentation: Free

The National Electric Code (NEC) defines selective coordination as the “localization of an over current condition to restrict outages to the circuit or equipment affected, accomplished by the choice of over current protective devices and their ratings or settings.” In a well-coordinated electrical system faults are isolated by having only the closest upstream breaker or fuse operate, leaving the rest of the electrical system in operation. Selective coordination requirements have increased with successive revisions of the NEC (NFPA-70) and as of 2008 cover 5 scenarios: health care facility essential systems, multi-elevator systems, emergency systems, legally-required standby systems and critical operation power systems. Achieving selective coordination requires the design engineer to carefully study the ratings of numerous components, as well as coordinate with the electric utility to understand the characteristics of the supply system.

More Information

Brain Teaser Challenge - October*

by Butch Shadwell

Once upon a time there lived a great green ogre in the woods at the end of the dale. From birth the children of the village were told stories of this horrible creature and what happens to those who venture too close. Because everyone in the village had been so indoctrinated from birth, no one still living in the village had been into the woods to see if the ogre was still there. The stories that had been passed down made such a journey unthinkable.
One day the people of the village were threatened with destruction as the sun was getting cooler and the winter was colder than any they could recall in over a hundred years. To get fuel to heat their homes folks had to chop trees closer and closer to the dreaded ogre’s lair. One day the inevitable confrontation occurred. As one woodcutter ventured further into the woods than anyone had before he came upon a small house. The woodcutter screwed up his courage and knocked on the door. To his relief, it was not an ogre who answered, but an average built older man with circular spectacles. Upon entering the home the woodcutter was amazed how comfortable the temperature felt, and at the array of unusual gadgets about the room.
It turns out that this wood was home to an engineer. The rumors of an ogre were started over the fact that many of the village people were afraid of math and science. It was difficult and better kept at a distance. After hearing of the village’s problems with the weather, the engineer decided to help. He told them about insulation and how to store heat in water during the day so they could use it at night. If a villager was able to heat 10000 liters of water during the day using his solar panels to a temperature of 60 degrees C, how many BTUs would be released as heat as the water cooled to 20 degrees C? It’s funny sometimes how things we fear can be worth getting to know better.
Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email)
904-223-4510 (fax)
904-223-4465 (v)
3308 Queen Palm Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328.
www.shadtechserv.com

The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.

* We seemed to have gotten behind on the challenges and answers. As of November, the October edition was the last one that Butch had sent out. Figure that one out:) - Webmaster.

September Minutes

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Brain Teaser Challenge - September*

by Butch Shadwell

Certain times of year you can see many small meteors falling to earth, streaking to the surface from somewhere out in space. There is a theory that in fact life on this planet may have been seeded through DNA from space. The first microbes would have been based on these biological codes and then more complicated organisms evolved as different genes were expressed.
The thing about DNA is that most of it is not used in the life span of most organisms. Different genes only express themselves in the physiology of the organism when they are activated by chemicals in the vicinity. Your genome may include genes for a hairy body and arms that reach your knees, but these do not express themselves in most of us (rotten luck Fred).
Electrophoresis is a technology developed many years ago to sort protein molecules based on their mass. It involves straightening and coating each molecule with a negatively charged chemical, then placing the samples into a gel. Then an electric field is applied. The smaller molecules are more mobile in the viscous gel and so migrate more quickly toward the positive electrode. The result is that you get bands made up of molecules of the same mass at various distances from the starting point.
Your chemistry question today is: what does it mean if some of these molecules are isomers?
Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email)
904-223-4510 (fax)
904-223-4465 (v)
3308 Queen Palm Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328.
www.shadtechserv.com

The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.

* We seemed to have gotten behind on the challenges and answers, so here is the last few. As of October, the September edition was the last one that Butch had sent out. Figure that one out:) - Webmaster.

October Open Channel

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More about The Open Channel

IEEE Global History Network

Goal

The IEEE Global History Network (GHN) is provided by the IEEE in support of its core purpose to foster technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. The wiki based GHN enables those throughout the world who have developed electrical, electronic, and computer products and services to share their first-hand experiences. These shared experiences will provide the premier global record for preserving and interpreting the history of technological innovation and make that history available to the public.

The Importance of Shared Experiences

The IEEE Global History Network enables IEEE members to contribute their personal involvement in technological innovation and excellence yesterday and today. Through these personalized, first-hand accounts, IEEE members have the opportunity to share their experiences in developing products and services -- from invention, R&D, design, testing, production and commercialization -- with the world. These first-hand accounts will also include the broader range of experiences that led to your success as a professional, such as your education and your affiliations.

Simply log into the site using your IEEE membership user ID and password, and you’ll be able to tell your own story in your own words, while enhancing it with photos, drawings, diagrams, documents (in both word and PDF format), and video and audio recordings. A special feature of the IEEE GHN even enables individuals to write down their engineering experiences collectively as members of a group, such as R&D lab or design team within a corporation.

At the same time you will be able, in concert with fellow members, historians and other knowledgeable parties, to write wiki-style articles about the history of technology that will help IEEE to raise the public visibility of the role of IEEE, IEEE members, engineers, and related professionals in enhancing the quality of life and the environment through the years.

Unlike other on-line encyclopedias that may include technological topics, the IEEE GHN will be solely focused on the history technology. The IEEE GHN’s content will also be unique. No other wiki site offers the personal accounts of the technical innovators themselves. In other words, the IEEE GHN serves as a living, electronic memory of all the important contributions made by IEEE members and others to technological progress — from around the globe. As such, the site will never be “complete” — it will continually grow and expand to be a central site for members and others to explore the history of technological innovation.

Visit the network!

2008 IEEE Medal of Honor

Gordon E. Moore was awarded the 2008 Medal of Honor at ceremonies attended by Hampton Roads IEEE section members, Kurt Clemente, Bill LaBelle, and Bill Clayton, in Quebec City.

Moore, co-founder and chairman of the board, emeritus, of Intel Corporation, is one of the pioneers of semiconductor and microprocessor technology. He is the namesake of Moore's Law, one of the guiding principles of the global semiconductor industry. Introduced in 1965, Moore's Law stipulated that the number of transistors on a silicon chip would double each year for ten years. In 1975, he revised the theory, stating that the complexity of chips would double every two years. Moore's Law remains an industry guidepost today for a US$200 billion per year industry that feeds a trillion dollar a year electronics industry.

In addition to his engineering contributions, Moore is among those responsible for the formation of two of the semiconductor industry's best-known companies - Intel Corporation and Fairchild Semiconductor.

Dr. Moore was among a group of eight scientists and engineers that founded Fairchild in 1957, to develop and manufacture a diffused silicon transistor. As head of Fairchild's research and development department, Dr. Moore led the creation of the first family of integrated logic circuits. Capitalizing on the almost simultaneous inventions of the integrated circuit and the MOSFET (Metal Oxide Field Effect Transistor), Fairchild became the leading producer of bipolar integrated logic circuits and was responsible for much of the device understanding for MOSFETs, which are used in most microprocessors.

To manufacture integrated circuit memories using the MOSFET transistor, Dr. Moore left Fairchild in 1968 with Robert Noyce to co-found Intel Corporation. Dr. Moore later led Intel from being simply a memory company to one focused on microprocessor development. Under his leadership, Intel has produced a number of products based on LSI technology, including the world's first microprocessor. The development of the microprocessor is considered among the most significant developments in all of technology, and Intel's success in this area has made it the largest semiconductor company in the world.

An IEEE Life Fellow and member of the National Academy of Engineering, Dr. Moore has received numerous awards, recognitions and honors, including the IEEE Founders Medal, the U.S. National Medal of Technology and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor. He most recently received the EE Times ACE Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000, Dr. Moore and his wife created the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to focus on the environment, higher education and science and the San Francisco Bay Area. He holds a bachelors degree in chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate in chemistry and physics from the California Institute of Technology.

See more on IEEE.tv

IEEE Hampton Roads Call for Nominations

Annual Election

The Hampton Roads Section will be holding its annual election of officers in November. As with all sections and chapters in IEEE the elected positions are: Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary. Send in your nominations now to William LaBelle or William Clayton.

www.MyElecEng.com

Gabe Paoletti, P.E., a Senior member of IEEE, developed the www.MyElecEng.com website to help electrical engineers connect with each other. A link to this page can be found on the Hampton Roads IEEE Site.
He has also created a Discussion Area to allow members to easily talk to each other and comment on meetings and other local issues. When you first enter the Discussion Section, you will have to sign-up to the site. You are then directed to your local discussions. You can save the link to the Discussion Section as a favorite or for your convenience, a link has been placed below the www.MyElecEng.com link on our Hampton Roads IEEE Site.
Please visit the site to help electrical engineers connect with each other. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact Gabe at gabepaoletti@comcast.net .

BPCD October 9 - 10, 2008 in Virginia Beach, VA

Broadening Participation in Computing Disciplines Conference

Sent at the request of Dr. Sandra J. DeLoatch, Dean, College of Science, Engineering, and Technology, Norfolk State University

You are cordially invited to participate in the Broadening Participation in Computing Disciplines Conference (BPCD) being sponsored by Norfolk State University and Old Dominion University on October 9 - 10, 2008 in Virginia Beach, VA. We have assembled a cadre of outstanding speakers to address this very critical issue for computer science professionals. Details regarding this NSF supported event are provided in the attached flyer and online at sst.nsu.edu/conference/BPCS.

The conference web site provides guidelines for a planned Student Poster Session and registration, hotel, and program information.

Please mark your calendars and plan to join us for what we expect to be an exciting and informative conference. Some stipends are available to support travel expenditures.

October Meeting

Adeeb Hamzey, Dominion Power
Power Engineering

Thursday, 16 October 2008 at 6:30 PM

Presentation: Free

The IEEE Power & Energy Society (recently renamed from the Power Engineering Society) or PES is the oldest society in IEEE and consists of 21,550 members. Hampton Roads is home to 169 of those members. The fields of interest in this society are in the research, development, installation and operation of systems for the generation, transmission, distribution, measurement and control of electric energy. PES provides the world’s largest forum for sharing the latest in technological developments in the electric power industry and for creating standards for the development and construction of equipment and systems.

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October Letter from the Chair

Power Engineering with Adeeb Hamzey, Virginia Dominion Power

Thanks to all who made it to last month’s IEEE meeting at Aberdeen Barn. We were fortunate to have Dr. Aftab Ahmad of Norfolk State University describe the difficulty in assessing network security and the manner in which a ITU framework can be used to begin to quantify how secure a network can be made. I was pleased to see a strong turnout from NSU and TCC, and welcome participation from all local student chapters. IEEE Hampton Roads continues our fall technical presentation series this month with Adeeb Hamzey of Virginia Power’s Richmond office. Adeeb is a past chair of IEEE-Richmond, and has over 28 years experience in electric utilities. He has observed first-hand many changes in his field, from a fully-government-regulated utility through stages of deregulation to today’s re-regulated existence. It should be interesting to hear the trends and opportunities from the point of view of a company facing unprecedented challenges in the areas of renewable energy, potential taxes on carbon from power generation and the impending shift in electric consumption habits as plug-in hybrid cars move from aftermarket kits to dealer models in 2009. Our alternating-location meeting policy takes us to the peninsula this month. We will meet at Barclay’s Bistro, a new location due to the demise of the Steak-and-Ale which we enjoyed very much. We anticipate a sizeable turnout for this exciting meeting, and have arranged a slightly larger meeting space but it is still important to RSVP prior to the meeting. Note that we return to our regular “3rd Thursday” meeting date after last month’s change.
We will be trying out an interesting change the following month, when a local business will host our meeting in their conference center. Dinner will consist of pizza, allowing us to drastically lower the price to $5 – and free for IEEE student members! The plan is for this to be a one-off arrangement, as our January student paper competition is normally a more formal dinner at a local university, if you feel the low price justifies the shift from a sit-down dinner to pizza we may try this again or make it a regular occurrence. Your feedback is welcome on this, so please email any officer with your thoughts.
Upcoming meetings:

• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting Oct 16th Adeeb Hamzey (Virginia Power) “Power Engineering”
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting Nov 20th
• IEEE-HR Executive Committee meeting December 11th
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting January 22nd Annual Student Paper Competition

We look forward to seeing you at our Fall 2008 technical programs, and hope you find them interesting and valuable. While IEEE-HR certainly “dabbles” into various technical topics to permit all of our members to learn about the many fields that constitute Electrical and Electronic Engineering, we do have one local technical society (IEEE LEOS Laser and Electro-Optical Society) and strong interest to start two additional societies (IEEE-CS Communications Society and IEEEPES Power and Energy Society). These societies permit more focused members with expertise in a particular field. If you are currently subscribe to IEEE-CS or IEEE-PES through your IEEE membership, we are studying to determine if we have the local interest and the minimum number of subscribing society members to start and sustain local chapters. One of the benefits of an IEEE society chapter at our local IEEE section is that this would open doors to IEEE distinguished lecturers from these fields, typically experts in these fields from around the country. The national IEEE societies offer a lot of support to local society chapters, and we would greatly benefit from this if sufficient interest exists to sustain meeting. As always, if you have a suggested topic or speaker or might want to present something yourself, please speak with me or any IEEE officer about this. I look forward to seeing you October!
Regards,
Kurt J. Clemente, PE
2007 Chair
Hampton Roads Section
kurt.clemente@ieee.org

Nominations Sought for Doug Ensor Award

You are invited to submit nominations for the Doug Ensor Award for 2009. The section will select its strongest candidate and forward it to the Peninsula Engineer Council for their consideration.
The Award, instituted in 1998 by the PEC, is given in recognition of an individual’s contribution to the profession for significant technical accomplishments and community involvement. The Award is intended to recognize an individual’s accomplishments in the early phases of his/her career and will be presented at the PEC Annual Awards Banquet during National Engineer’s Week.
The nomination must contain up to a three page biographical sketch outlining the candidate’s record of achievement, no more than three letters of recommendation, and a recent photograph that may be used for publicity purposes. A candidate must be less than 35 years of age and have less than 15 years of professional experience as of December 1, 2008. The candidate also must be actively practicing in the engineering field either in technical analysis, management, research, operations, maintenance, sales, or teaching, and shall have worked or been a resident of the Peninsula area for at least two years as of December 1, 2008. The Peninsula area of Virginia is defined as the cities of Hampton, Poquoson, Newport News, and Williamsburg and the counties of James City and York. The candidate’s accomplishments should be clearly outstanding relative to those of his/her peers. Equal weighting will be given in five areas to be considered by the Awards Selection Committee, and will include: technical accomplishments, leadership, service to professional societies, community service, and the content of the candidate’s letters of endorsement. Professional licensing is not a requirement, nor is membership in a professional engineering or technical society.
Your nomination package must be delivered to the Hampton Roads Awards Committee Chair by 14 November 2008. The Hampton Roads Executive Committee will make their selection at our Novembeer meeting and forward our nomination to the PEC before 1 December. The DEA committee will make its decision and present its recommendation to the full PEC during its January meeting for Council approval.
If you have any questions or would like to submit a package for consideration, please contact the Hampton Roads Awards Chair, Dan Ulinski.

IEEE Member Directory Returns

You may recall that some Region 3 long-time members were very upset with the demise of the paper IEEE Member Directory (2 volumes) for cost reasons, around 2003. As a result, in 2005 (after activist support from Bob Duggan, Jim Beall and others) then-Director Bill Harrison put an item on the RAB agenda to look into revival of the directory in some form. It was referred to Membership Development, and a plan for an on-line membership directory evolved.

That directory, called MemberNet, will be available this spring. John Day has promised that a IEEE staff member will be present at Huntsville to brief the Region 3 meeting about this development.

Briefly, owing to privacy concerns, the directory will initially contain only name and present member grade, but the member can "opt-in" to include other information as well.. The paper directory included member grade history and dates as well as work affiliation, contact information and, for Fellows, a brief biography with their citation and other awards. This latter information made it invaluable for Fellow nominators and references.

The new directory will be available through the "My IEEE" portal, and can contain a variety of information - that the member wants to share.

The directory will have advantages for peer-to-peer networking (identifying/locating other society members in your area), and for member recruitment and retention (e.g., aiding in senior member elevations). It will include a search capability. It will include higher-grade members (including associate members) but not affiliates.

It can also fill a "Rolodex" function for members, and John Day has solicited ideas for how this can be implemented and used.

The "My IEEE" portal is functional now, and can be populated with as much information as you want to put into it. Again, it will be opt-in management (by you) with the security of your web account for access.

Regards,
George

George F McClure

Nobel Laureate Public Lecture at ODU

Dr. John C. Mather, Nobel Laureate in Physics (2006)
“From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope and the discovery of alien life”

10 AM Thursday, Nov 13, 2008
Ted Constant Convocation Center
Old Dominion University
Hampton Boulevard
Norfolk, VA

AFTERNOON DISCUSSION SESSION

In addition to the morning lecture, Dr. Mather will also hold an informal discussion in an environment conducive to a free exchange of ideas.
Thursday, Nov 13, 2008, 2:30 pm
River Rooms (Rooms 1303-1305)
Webb Center, ODU

ABSTRACT

“From the Big Bang to the Nobel Prize and on to James Webb Space Telescope and the discovery of alien life”

The history of the universe in a nutshell, from the Big Bang to now, and on to the future – John Mather will tell the story of how we got here, how the Universe began with a Big Bang, how it could have produced an Earth where sentient beings can live, and how those beings are discovering their history. Mather was Project Scientist for NASA’s Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite, which measured the spectrum (the color) of the heat radiation from the Big Bang, discovered hot and cold spots in that radiation, and hunted for the first objects that formed after the great explosion. He will explain Einstein’s biggest mistake, show how Edwin Hubble discovered the expansion of the universe, how the COBE mission was built, and how the COBE data support the Big Bang theory. He will also show NASA’s plans for the next great telescope in space, the James Webb Space Telescope. It will look even farther back in time than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will look inside the dusty cocoons where stars and planets are being born today. It is capable of examining Earth-like planets around other stars using the transit technique, and future missions may find signs of life. Planned for launch in 2013, the JWST may lead to another Nobel prize for some lucky observer.

Passing of Andrew Hargrove

Our dear friend, Dr. Andrew "Grove" Hargrove died 8 September 2008 at the age of 86. Grove was a IEEE Senior Life member and an active participant in our local section activities.

August Minutes

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Brain Teaser Challenge - August*

by Butch Shadwell

I am so tired of all of the typographical errors and occasional grammatical faux pas that I read in these columns. I think somebody should do something about it.
Over the years I have invented quite a number of new technologies, circuits, systems, algorithms, etc. A small percentage of them have been patented with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The thing is that whenever I am filing for a patent on something, I suddenly find that I have a lot of writing to do. And it’s not only technical writing, but rather a strange legalistic version of a technical description. Another thing about writing patents is that you need to describe every detail of your invention so that someone with ordinary skill in the art can make one for themselves. The problem arises when you find out that the patent examiner assigned to review your claims, may not have that skill level. So you have to keep on writing.
I used to do R&D in electronic warfare. I designed a circuit once that used the voltage across a diode junction to get the log of an input sine wave function. That signal was amplified 2X and then that voltage was applied to the base of a bipolar transistor, where the collector current is proportional to antilog of the change in voltage applied to the base. What does the voltage across the collector resistor look like? In the old days we did some pretty cool math with analog components. Assume that all four quadrants are covered.
Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email)
904-223-4510 (fax)
904-223-4465 (v)
3308 Queen Palm Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328.
www.shadtechserv.com

The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.

* We seemed to have gotten behind on the challenges and answers, so here is the last few. As of September, the August edition was the last one that Butch had sent out. Figure that one out:) - Webmaster.

Earn PDH Credits towards your PE requirements!

The tutorials presented at SoutheastCon 2009 (hosted by the Atlanta Section and the Georgia Tech Student Branch) will offer a wide selection of continuing education opportunities for engineers in several different disciplines/specialty areas. Certificates will be presented to attendees, identifying the course, number of classroom hours and PDHs earned. Tutorials will be offered on Thursday, March 5, 2009, from 8 am until 5 pm. Lunch and snacks will be provided. Currently planned tutorials include Alternative Energy, Basic Radar and Artificial Intelligence. More tutorials are in the works! Please be watching for more information, both here and at www.sec09.com. Please contact Jill Gostin, Tutorials Chair, if you have any questions. jgostin@ieee.org

IEEE 15288 Systems and Software Engineering Standard

Submitted by John Clark
IEEE Hampton Roads Section

The IEEE recently issued ISO/IEC 15288- 2008 jointly as IEEE 15288-2008, and ISO/IEC 12207-2008 jointly as IEEE 12207-2008. One benefit is that 15288 and 12207 are now "harmonized" (i.e., conflicts are removed). Another benefit is that these two ISO/IEC standards are available from IEEE at less cost than from ISO/IEC. One limitation is that the guidance and figures that were in ISO/IEC 15288-2002 were moved into ISO/IEC TR 24748 which is yet to be released. ISO/IEC TR 24748 will contain guidance on how to apply both 15288 and 12207.

Region 3 Employment Assistance

The economy continues to shed people at all levels. To support Region 3 members in case they need to make a career change, we have created a Region 3 Employment Assistance web page at www.ieee.org/r3jobs
This web page has career information and a growing base of links to information that can help you write a resume, prepare for an interview and find job openings. If you are not aware of potential companies in your area or an area that you would like to move to, the web site has a Company Directory download. To use this feature, enter your geographic query into the online form. The company directory will then be emailed to you within 24 hours. We can provide more company detail with a focused request such as a city, county or zip code. Please don't ask for an entire state.
We're making constant additional updates to the site. Please let me know of any additions you would like to see especially in the "Area" job link pages. We also have a dedicated resource for working one-on-one with members. His name is Carl Hussey and can be reached at c.hussey@ieee.org
Carl is the Region 3 Representative to the IEEE-USA Career & Employment Assistance Committee and can detail a full range of employment support for IEEE members. The best way to find a new job is through "networking". Please be aware of what jobs are open within your company and bring that list to your next Section meeting. Remember, the person you help this year can help you in the years to come.
Thanks,
Lee Stogner, PMP
Region 3 Director Elect 2008 - 2009

September Letter from the Chair

Measuring Network Security

I hope you all have had a good, and possibly even restful, summer! IEEE Hampton Roads begins our fall technical presentation series with Dr. Aftab Ahmad of Norfolk State University who will discuss network security and industry standard frameworks developed to quantify levels of security. Please note that we will meet one week later this month on the 4th Thursday of the month to permit several Executive Committee members to travel to Sections Congress; we will return to our 3rd Thursday routine in October. Later this fall we plan to host Adeeb Hamzey of IEEE Richmond and a presentation about Jefferson Labs. We are also preparing some exciting new topics for the spring 2009 series, so if you have any ideas or suggestion please pass them along.

Upcoming meetings:

• IEEE-HR triennial worldwide Section Congress Sep 18th – 22nd
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting Sep 25th
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting Oct 16th
• IEEE-HR monthly technical meeting Nov 20th
• IEEE-HR Executive Committee meeting December, TBD

The topic of regular and structured technical meetings to meet the anticipated Virginia Engineering licensure requirements appears to be coming to a head, with implementation expected in early 2009. Examination of the draft regulations as well as the experiences of neighboring states shows that our IEEE topics will most likely satisfy the three requirements of presenter qualifications, relevance of technical content and sufficient meeting duration. Because the state places the education documentation burden on the engineer, one major benefit that IEEE provides is the detailed presenter biography and topic abstract published in each month’s newsletter. While simply retaining each month’s newsletter will go a long way towards documenting the educational requirement, IEEE-HR additionally archives both the newsletters and the details of the presenter and topic for each month. We continue to investigate ways in which IEEE members who are licensed engineers can find value in their membership, but as the new regulations are implemented it appears the current web site structure will be very helpful.

I hope you make it out to our Fall 2008 technical programs and find them interesting and valuable. For October and November we do plan to try something a little different in terms of format, hosting the meeting at a local Norfolk employer and serving pizza as opposed to a catered dinner. This will permit charging a much lower meeting fee, something I think we can all appreciate. As always, your feedback is most welcome – do you value the full meal, albeit at a higher price? Does the restaurant present a nice change of pace from the standard conference room? We want to know, and will seek feedback after our initial forays. If you have a suggested speaker or might want to present something yourself, please speak with me or any IEEE officer about this. I look forward to seeing you September!

Regards,
Kurt Clemente, PE
2008 Chair
Hampton Roads Section

Brain Teaser Challenge - July*

by Butch Shadwell

We bought a new 61” HDTV last Christmas. It is the DLP type, though it has some interesting innovations. Instead of the usual projector lamp and color wheel for the light source, this set uses three high output LEDs (red, green, and blue). No color wheel and motor and no projector lamp to replace. Incase you are not familiar with DLP TVs, DLP stands for digital light processing. It is based on the use of a MEMS (micro electro mechanical system) device with 2,073,600 tiny mirrors that can be electro-statically moved. The mirrors are adjusted 360 times per second successively displaying the red, green, or blue components of the image, so that we get up to 120 complete display frames per second. The amount of red, green or blue light that is added to an individual pixel (picture element) by its respective mirror, is controlled by how long the mirror allows that color light to project to the screen. Each mirror pulse width modulates the light to control how much red is blended with how much green and blue. Your eye integrates these pulsing light sources into 10,000 levels of brightness for each of the three color components.
Let’s say that my high output LEDs have a forward voltage drop of 4 volts at 25 degrees C at the junction and the forward voltage drops 3mV per degree C. Then I supply forward current to one of these LEDS through a 100 ohm resistor and a 10VDC source. So tell me the current through the LED when the junction gets up to 100 degrees C? I know this is a simple one, but I have been struggling with writers block. Good luck.
Reply to Butch Shadwell at b.shadwell@ieee.org (email)
904-223-4510 (fax)
904-223-4465 (v)
3308 Queen Palm Dr.
Jacksonville, FL 32250-2328.
www.shadtechserv.com

The names of correct respondents may be mentioned in the solution column.

* We seemed to have gotten behind on the challenges and answers, so here is the last few. As of September, the July edition was the last one that Butch had sent out. Figure that one out:) - Webmaster.

September Open Channel

IEEE Hampton Roads Section Newsletter

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September Meeting

Assessing the security of your Network - the ITU Security Framework

Speaker: Dr. Aftab Ahmad

Thursday, 25 September 2008 at 6:30 PM
Aberdeen Barn, Virginia Beach

As yet, we don't have a way of measuring security, which makes it difficult to allocate resources appropriately for secure networking. The best we have towards this end is the ITU X.805 framework that can be used to assess the security of a network. The recommendation classifies the nature of attacks and security dimensions required to thwart them. The X.805 is a slightly modified version of the Lucent Security Framework, originally designed at Bell Labs. In this presentation, we discuss this framework, how it divides a network into three layers (infrastructure, service and application) and three planes (user, control and management) and defines the attacks in terms of dimensions in each plane and on each layer. We will assess the security of a popular sensor network standard, the IEEE 802.15.4 in light of X.805. In possible future extensions of this presentation, we will analyze the Internet security architecture in view of X.805 with the help of a quality-of-service QoS) intensive application, such as compressed video transmission.

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August Executive Committee Meeting

Panera Bread, Greenbrier

Thursday, 21 August 2008 at 6:00 PM

Panera Bread
1412 Greenbrier Pkwy
Chesapeake, VA 23320
(757) 424-2600

The IEEE Hampton Roads Section Executive Committee meets twice a year to revisit strategic plans and identify new programs and opportunities. Please RSVP to officers-r3-hamptonroads@ieee.org .

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No Host Networking Opportunity

Red Star Tavern

Thursday, 17 July 2008 at 5:30 PM

City Center at Oyster Point
711 Lakefront Commons
Newport News, VA 23606
757-596-0308
The weather is too great and time too short in the summer to plan and execute full meetings. Consequently, we have summer socials to fill in the void. Take the opportunity to enjoy a local restaurant that could never host a "real" meeting. Selected members of the ExCom will be present, ready to take your comments or answer your questions. We will start about 5:30 PM and most like be out of there by 8:00. Drop by for a drink or stay for dinner. Your choice. Specifics are subject to change due to extreme weather, business closures, or repeal of the 21st amendment, so please RVSP and include your cell phone number. RSVP to officers-r3-hamptonroads@ieee.org or by calling Bill Clayton at 757-383-4707.

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No Host Networking Opportunity

Ocean View Fishing Pier

Thursday, 26 June 2008 at 5:30 PM

Ocean View Fishing Pier
400 W. Ocean View Avenue
Norfolk, VA 23503
747-583-6000

The weather is too great and time too short in the summer to plan and execute full meetings. Consequently, we have summer socials to fill in the void. Take the opportunity to enjoy a local restaurant that could never host a "real" meeting. Selected members of the ExCom will be present, ready to take your comments or answer your questions. We will start about 5:30 PM and most like be out of there by 8:00. Drop by for a drink or stay for dinner. Your choice. Specifics are subject to change due to extreme weather, business closures, or repeal of the 21st amendment, so please RVSP and include your cell phone number. RSVP to officers-r3-hamptonroads@ieee.org or by calling Bill Clayton at 757-383-4707.

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Brain Teaser Challenge - June

by Butch Shadwell

As I am writing this piece, the Fourth of July is just around the corner. Everyone looks forward to the picnics, pyrotechnics, and patriotism. This is definitely one of the happier holidays on the American calendar, the date that the Continental Congress adopted our Declaration of Independence, in Philadelphia. Eventually, there were 56 signers of this document. These brave men risked everything, including their very lives, to do what they believed was the honest and right thing. I hope our congress men and women of today will reflect on these predecessors during this holiday.

With gas prices going through the roof, holiday travel can be very expensive. As a large part of our energy consumption is for cars, it is important that we understand how to get better gas mileage. Most cars have two or three pedals on the floor. This month I am asking you to tell me which one is the cause of the most loss of fuel economy. Most folks get this one wrong.

Have a great Independence Day, … if you are in the USA that is.

May Open Channel

IEEE Hampton Roads Section Newsletter

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April Minutes

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IEEE Hampton Roads May Family Social

Tuesday 27 May 2008 Dinner at 5:30 PM Presentation at 7:00 PM

Dinner: Olive Garden Italian Restaurant 683 Lynnhaven Pkwy Virginia Beach, VA 23452 Meal Cost: Attendees are responsible for their own restaurant bill. Directions to Dinner

Presentation: Virginia Beach Planetarium Plaza Middle School 3080 Lynnhaven Road Virginia Beach, VA 23452 Cost: Free Directions to Planetarium

Join us for a trip to outer space (or at least to the Virginia Beach City Public Schools Planetarium at the Plaza Middle School, 3080 South Lynnhaven Road, Virginia Beach, VA 23452). For those who can come early, we will meet at the Olive Garden Italian Restaurant, 683 Lynnhaven Pkwy, Virginia Beach, VA 23452, at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening, the 27th of May for dinner (1.4 miles from Planetarium, on Lynnhaven Pkwy. near the Lynnhaven Mall). The one-hour planetarium show starts promptly at 7:00 p.m. at the Plaza Middle School, so do not be late or you will be locked out!

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April Open Channel

IEEE Hampton Roads Section Newsletter

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March Minutes

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IEEE-USA Legislative Update

Russ Harrison
Legislative Representative for Grassroots Activities, IEEE-USA

Thursday, 17 April 2008 at 6:30 PM
Steak and Ale, Hampton

Every year Congresses debates and votes on dozens of bills that could affect engineers and engineering. Join one of IEEE-USA’s Washington lobbyists in discussing what Congress has planed for us this year – and what we can do about it. Topics will include:

• The most sweeping change to US intellectual property law in 50 years.
• $158 Billion in federal spending on project we care about.
• High-skill immigration and H-1B visas.
• Alternative energy.
• Whatever else you care about.

Engineers could play a unique role in public policy debates, but we usually miss our chances to influence our political leaders. Our meeting will cover simple techniques for influencing politicians and the political system. Our speaker, Russell Harrison, has discussed public policy with over 90 IEEE sections and other local groups over the past five years. Join the IEEE Hampton Roads Section on April 17th for an entertaining discussion of public policy and its impact on you, your profession and your career.

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March Open Channel

IEEE Hampton Roads Section Newsletter

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February Minutes

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Video Pattern Recognition

Dr. Nazrul Islam of ODU, Video Pattern Recognition

Thursday, 20 March 2008 at 6:30 PM
Aberdeen Barn, Virginia Beach

Automatic identification of a specific object or pattern in an arbitrary input scene is an important part of any authorization, monitoring and security system. Pattern recognition is always a challenging issue because the targets are often non-cooperative, the scene may contain noise and distortions due to variable environmental conditions during recording the image. Additional requirements for an efficient pattern recognition system are that the architecture should be simple so that it can easily be implemented and be user friendly, and it should perform fast enough to make instantaneous decision on the presence of a target in the input scene. Optical joint transform correlation (JTC) technique has been found to be a versatile tool for real-time pattern recognition applications, which employs optical devices, like lens, spatial light modulator, for parallel processing of the given images. The JTC scheme provides a number of advantages over other correlation techniques, like Vanderlugt filter, in that it allows real-time updating of the reference image, permits parallel Fourier transformation of the reference image and input scene, operates at video frame rates and eliminates the precise positioning requirement of a complex matched filter in the Fourier plane. Several modifications have been proposed to improve the correlation performance of the JTC technique, namely binary JTC, phase-only JTC, fringe-adjusted JTC and shifted phase-encoded fringe-adjusted JTC. This presentation will review the features, problems and prospects of optical pattern recognition techniques.

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January Minutes

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February Open Channel

IEEE Hampton Roads Section Newsletter

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High-performance Wireless Communications in Space Systems

Speaker: Min Song, Ph.D.
Associate Professor Director, Wireless Communication and Networking Lab
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Old Dominion University
www.odu.edu/networking

Thursday, 21 February 2008 at 6:30 PM
Aberdeen Barn, Virginia Beach

Future space systems, such as spacecrafts and unmanned aircrafts, will require large-scale wireless communications for data collection, fusing and integration. This can be achieved by employing various wireless networking technologies, including wireless personal area networks (WPAN), wireless local area network (WLAN), wireless mesh networks (WMN), and wireless sensor networks (WSN), to form a self-organization and self-healing communication network. The heterogeneousness of nodes and large- scale of communications, however, bring nontrivial challenges to the research community. Among them, for example, are interference, security, and quality of service. The Wireless Communications and Networking research team at Old Dominion University has conducted significant research in space wireless communications. This talk will present several on-going research projects related to high-performance wireless communications in space systems.

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December Minutes

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January Open Channel

IEEE Hampton Roads Section Newsletter

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January Meeting - Student Papers Contest

Thursday, 24 January 2008 at 6:30 PM in the ODU Web Center

Students from each of our local student chapters compete for prize money and the honor of representing the IEEE Hampton Roads at SouthEastCon. The winners will move on to SouthEastCon where we have had an excellent track record in winning or placing.

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