THE INSTITUTE OF     ELECTRICAL AND     ELECTRONICS     ENGINEERS, INC.
Newfoundland and Labrador Section

IEEE SECTION WEB SITE
The official IEEE Newfoundland and Labrador Section web site was launched early this year thanks to Peter Green’s efforts.  This site is regularly updated with a list of current events, news and information concerning the section activities. Be sure to bookmark www.ieee.nfld.net and reference often the current events.

IEEE SECTION ListServ
We now have a listserv available for distribution of information to IEEE members and interested industry partners. Now, if you want to stay in touch with local section activities, in addition to referencing our web site you can subscribe to the listserv as follows: send an e-mail to Majordomo@engr.mun.ca, with "subscribe ieee" (no quotes) as the body of the message. You should receive an e-mail asking you to confirm your subscription within 24 hours. This will not (at least initially) be a moderated list; the intent is that it will be used for notification of IEEE events and news. We urge you to subscribe to the listserv as it will be the primary forum for e-mail announcements. If you have any questions please feel free to contact Dennis Peters (dpeters@engr.mun.ca). If you ever need to get in contact with the owner of the list (if you have trouble subscribing, or have questions about the list itself), send email to owner-ieee@engr.mun.ca.

MUN-IEEE Night 1999

IEEE Night is the professional part of the MUN Electrical Engineering Term 8 project. The April 1 evening began with three oral presentations that had been selected based on the ENGR 8800 academic oral presentations held March 24 and 25. The presenters were Paul Yanchus (Voice Over IP), Paul Andrews (Performance Digital Distributorless Ignition System) and Faustina Hwang (DEMON: Discrete Event Modeling of Navigation Simulating mobile robots in a 2-D semi-structured environment). Following the oral presentations, all students demonstrated their projects to interested industry visitors. The evening concluded with refreshments and the presentation of the awards.

The IEEE section judges for the presentations were Y. Fontaine (NewTel Communications), P. Hatcher (Cable Atlantic) and J. Mackey (Stratos Global).  All students had excellent presentations, making the judging that much more challenging.  The IEEE Newfoundland and Labrador Section Awards for IEEE Night 1999 presentations were distributed by Paul Hatcher as follows: 1st place ($250) Faustina Hwang, 2nd place ($150) Paul Yanchus and 3rd place ($100) Paul Andrews.

For the first time, IEEE Night was preceded by afternoon demonstrations of the MUN Electrical Engineering Term 8 projects. This gave the demonstration judges ample time to visit each individual student's project. The team of judges consisted of MUN faculty members and industry members noted below:

J. Robinson (MUN), T. Norvell (MUN), H. Heys (MUN), D. Peters (MUN), M. P. Bruce-Lockhart (MUN), B. Jeyasurya (MUN), J.E. Quaicoe (MUN), R. Hale (MUN), S. O'Young (MUN), P. LeFeuvre (C-CORE), E. Woodman (IDON East Corp), N. Chaulk (ICAN Ltd), P. Green (NewTel Communications), J. Arsenault (Hibernia), D. Tilley (NewTel Communications)

As a distributed team the judges reviewed all the student projects and then, as a collective team, decided upon the top demonstrations. The team was unable to narrow down to three winning demos, so it was decided that a 4th prize would be awarded.  The IEEE Newfoundland and Labrador Section awards for IEEE Night 1999 demonstrations where distributed by Peter Green as follows: Andrew Vardy (Visual Interpretation of Human Hand Gestures for Wearable Computing Applications), Darrel Wells (Electronic Spirometer for Asthma Detection), Stefan Tarrant (Measurement of Shear Wave Velocity of Soft Sediments) and a team award to Chris Harbin (Software Driver Library for the RT200 Robot) and Jamie King (A Vision System for an Autonomous Robot Arm). Each prize was valued at $100.

The evening was well attended by IEEE members from the local community. Dr R. Venkatesan is credited for co-ordinating yet another successful IEEE Night and ENGR 8800 - Electrical Engineering Project.  Congratulations to all students; we appreciate the time the judges and organizers made available to ensure a successful event.  Pictures of this event can be found at: www.ieee.nfld.net.
 

TECHNICAL MEETINGS The 1st Quarter

We are maintaining an active schedule of regular technical meetings, intended to be of interest to a wide cross-section of our membership. Some of the recent technical meetings are listed below (see the "Upcoming Events" section for future meetings). If you have any suggestions for meeting topics, speakers or tours please feel free to pass them along to Dennis Peters at dpeters@engr.mun.ca or 737-8929, or through any member of your Section executive.

Thursday, March 4, 1999
Stratos Mobile Networks
Location: 34 Glencoe Drive, Donovan's Industrial Park
By: John Mackey
Stratos is a global provider of mobile satellite communication services with network facilities in Canada, the United States and Australia.  Combining the technology of satellite systems such as Inmarsat, MSAT and Iridium with unique software and hardware solutions, Stratos is recognized as one of the leading providers of portable satellite communications.

The technical meeting consisted of a short presentation on the company's services and network facilities, followed by a tour and demonstration of various types of satellite equipment.

Thursday, January 7, 1999
Active Filters for Power Conditioning
Location: Engineering (S.J. Carew) Building, MUN, Room EN-4002 (Board Room)
By: Dr. H. Akagi of the Okayama University, Japan.
Dr. Akagi is an IEEE Fellow and presently Industry Applications Society's Distinguished Lecturer for 1998-1999. He received his Ph. D from the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1979. He is one of the world authorities on active filters and active filter applications for power systems as well as power electronics.
 

UPCOMING EVENTS

Technical Meeting
Directions in Private-Key Cryptography
Dr. Howard Heys

Date: Wednesday, May 5, 1999
Time: 7:15 for 7:30 pm
Location: EN-4002, S. J. Carew (Engineering) Building, MUN

Cryptography is becoming an increasingly important tool for maintaining the privacy and authenticity of electronic communication. The field of private key cryptography--where the cipher uses the same key for both encryption and decryption--has a long history but its practical application to modern computers and communications is still in its infancy.

In this seminar, new developments in the design and analysis of modern private key ciphers will be discussed. In particular, the basic principles used in modern ciphers will be introduced and the recently discovered methods of "breaking" ciphers will be presented. Specific emphasis in the seminar will also be given to developments in the recent ongoing effort to develop a new "world" standard referred to as the Advanced Encryption Standard.

Note: Attending technical meetings normally qualifies as `informal activity' for the purposes of the APEGN professional development program.

National Conferences

IEEE Northern Canada Section Conferences - 1999

Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering - May 9-12, 1999, Engineering Solutions for the next Millennium- will be held in Edmonton, Alberta from May 9 to May 12 at the Shaw Conference Center. This event provides a forum for the presentation of electrical and computer engineering research and development from Canada and around the world.  Registration $450, Student $175, IEEE Member $400.  Industrial Exhibits space is available. Contact the Conference Secretariat at Fax: 780-492-1811, Email: ccece99@ee.ualberta.ca or visit the conference web site at www.ee.ualberta.ca/ccece99 for more information.

Summer Power Meeting - July 18-22, 1999, Reliability Management in the New Era

Edmonton Power is proud to host the 1999 IEEE Power Engineering Society Summer Meeting, running from July 18 through 22 in Edmonton, Alberta. A warm welcome is extended to all of the attendees by "Canada's Festival City", and we hope that you will be able to take in some of the many local attractions during your stay.  The theme for the 1999 Summer Meeting is "Reliability Management in the New Era" and three main tracks have been identified to focus the technical program activities. These technical tracks are: Reliability Management in the New Market Structures; Power Quality; and Distributed Generation. Please see the IEEE Power Engineering Society site for information regarding Preferred Subjects and the Call for Papers.

Terra Garneau
Product Manager - Circuit Switched Data Services
7th Floor, 10044 - 108 St.
Edmonton, AB   T5J 3S7
780 441-2640    Phone
780 423-0573   Fax
email: terra.garneau@telus.com

IEEE Annual Lobster Boil
Date:  Friday, June 4, 1999
Time:  6:30 for 7:00 PM
Location: Elk’s Club, Carpasian Rd.

The menu will include steak, vegetarian and, of course, lobster.  The entertainment will be as lavish as usual.  While the pricing has not been finalized, you may use the following guidelines:

 IEEE Member & Guest: $ 20
 Non-member & Guest:  $ 25
 Single: $ 10 Member, $ 13 non-member

Buy your tickets early before the stampede: contact any of the Section Executive members.  As we near this momentous event we will establish other ticket outlets near you. So, please come on out to see friends and associates from your Section and community in a very informal setting.  A good time is nigh well guaranteed…

NECEC '99
Wednesday, November 10, 1999
The aim of NECEC ‘99 is to provide a forum where professionals in electrical, electronic, computer engineering and information technologies can present their work to the growing technical community within the province. The conference will focus on technical concepts, innovations and implementations. NECEC ‘99 will be structured in a format similar to that found successful in previous years. The conference this year will include a complementary wine and cheese closing reception.

The conference will be eligible for APEGN Professional Development Hours

For the first time NECEC will have two conference chairs: Ray Miller of xwave solutions and Craig Warren of Nfld & Lab Hydro, and two technical co-chairs: John Robinson of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science of MUN and Don S. Bryant of xwave solutions.

NECEC ’99 Important Dates:
Friday, July 30 - Deadline for receipt of abstracts
Friday, September 10 - Notification of acceptance
Tuesday, October 19 - Deadline for copy-ready paper
Wednesday, November 10 - NECEC '99 Presentation Day

Note that details concerning the conference can be found on the Call for Papers insert distributed with this mailing.  Everyone is encouraged to participate to make this yet another successful conference.

In addition, look to www.ieee.nfld.net for the latest concerning conference details as they unfold.

2001 – A Conference Odyssey

Looking ahead to 2001, we are currently trying to establish a significant conference or symposium, as a means to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Marconi’s wireless trans-Atlantic message receipt at Signal Hill.  This historic event occurred on December 12, 1901.  Newfoundland has been a significant player in the development of wireless and wireline technologies.  We would like to recognize and highlight this with a relevant conference.

So, if you have any ideas on this, please contact any of the Section executive.  We are keen to garner your participation.
 

IEEE SECTION EXECUTIVE

The 1999 IEEE Newfoundland and Labrador Section Executive is comprised of the following members and functions:

John Robinson, Chair & Awards and Scholarships, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science MUN
Gervase White, Past Chair & Membership Development, NewTech Instruments
Yves Fontaine, Vice-Chair, Newsletter & NECEC Liaison, NewTel Communications
Doug Squires, Treasurer, IEEE Executive
Peter Green, Secretary & WebMaster, NewTel Communications
Dennis Peters, Technical Activities, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science MUN
Siu O'Young, Student Activities & 2001 Conference, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science MUN
Stephen Hiscock, GOLD member, Cable Atlantic
Active representation from the IEEE Student Section

Message from the Chair

Since our last newsletter the Section has celebrated three important events:

The IEEE Student Night, always one of the highlights of our year, is given front-page coverage in this newsletter. Thanks to all - students, judges, organizers, guests - who made the evening such a success.

The opening of the McNaughton Centre on October 28 was the culmination of years of planning and effort by MUN Electrical Engineering classes and IEEE Section Executives.  Funded by IEEE Canada, the Newfoundland and Labrador Section and the Student Section, the Centre's theme is audio signal processing, with a particular emphasis on tube amplifiers. Dr Siu O'Young, the current Section Student Activities Chair, an expert in this field, and an enthusiastic group of students are committed to expanding student activity in this area. To recognize the foundation of the Centre, the Section awarded two scholarships in 1998, rather than the usual one. These went to Chris Whitt and Jagan Seshadri, two student leaders who contributed outstandingly to the McNaughton Centre.

NECEC'98, the eighth Newfoundland Electrical and Computer Engineering Conference, was held at Memorial University on Friday November 13th, 1998.  Some 118 attendees heard technical presentations from the three-track programme of 37 papers, including a keynote address from Dave Collett (Executive Vice President of Production - Newfoundland &Labrador Hydro and President - Churchill Falls Labrador Corporation) on the Lower Churchill power development project in Labrador. Participants judged the event a great success. Congratulations to conference chair Ray Miller and his organizing committee.

Major events coming up include the Annual Lobster Boil and NECEC'99, both of which feature in this Newsletter. I encourage you to come along to both. NECEC is becoming a major regional conference; this year's event is already shaping up to build on previous years’ successes.  Attendance is eligible for APEGN Professional Development hours; attendance at the lobster boil is not, but it does give a great opportunity to meet other electrical and computer engineers in the community, and this year we're trying to book an entertainer who can actually sing!

Finally, thanks very much to Peter Green and Yves Fontaine for editing our Newsletter.  Also thanks to Peter for our dynamic website: Don't miss it.

John Robinson, PhD PEng
Chair - IEEE Nfld & Lab Section

McNaughton Center

The McNaughton Centre is a resource centre founded by the members of the IEEE Student Branch at Memorial University, one of many such centres across Canada.  The McNaughton Centre at MUN is intended to provide resources for students to pursue interests in audio engineering.  It is through the dedication and leadership of Chris Whitt and Jagan Seshadri, two Engineering students,  that this dream was finally realized at MUN.  Their contribution cannot be overstated.

In 1998 the MUN student branch was awarded a $9000 grant from the IEEE Canada Foundation, with assistance from the local Section, to start the centre.  The student branch is currently in the process of acquiring equipment.  The Engineering Faculty at Memorial has provided a room to house the centre, and the student branch has already purchased a computer, reference amplifiers, and calibrated speaker and microphone.  Not only will the centre facilitate individual pursuit of audio-related engineering disciplines, but it will also promote membership and involvement in the IEEE student branch.

Questions of comments ? Please contact:
Christopher Whitt       cwhitt@plato.ucs.mun.ca

SCHOLARSHIPS
In 1998 the Section endowed a scholarship at Memorial University of Newfoundland with a one-time donation of $15,000. This will support a yearly award of $1,000 to a student in term 6 of the Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering programme. The objectives of the scholarship include increasing student interest in and recognition of the IEEE, enhancing a promising student's ability to succeed at the undergraduate level and providing students a reason and opportunity to think seriously about their professional goals.

To be eligible for the scholarship a student must be an active IEEE student member, of scholarship standing as defined by the University and not a previous recipient of the scholarship. Students apply in October, with a two page application letter describing their IEEE involvement, their student activities in the areas of electrical and computer engineering and their professional goals.

Selection is made on the basis of demonstrated ability, potential and contribution to the student branch of IEEE.  The scholarship is presented during the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Faculty of Engineering and Applied Science awards luncheon, on behalf of the Newfoundland and Labrador Section of the IEEE.

Newsletter Submissions

Any event notices, technical information, potential technical activities or suggestions and comments are welcomed for Newsletter submission.  Please email any suggestion to yfontaine@newtel.com or call:
739-2722.