IEEE-Digital Library

IEEE Xplore Digital Library Enhanced To Include Smart Grid Values

2010-08-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

Building on a chief platform enhancement accomplished earlier this year, IEEE has improved its Xplore digital library to include the Foundations for Smart Grid Standards subscription.

Available as a stand-alone subscription or as a part of a complete subscription package, Foundations for Smart Grid Standards includes details about 54 dynamic IEEE standards, six active current drafts, 35 archival editions of active standards and 66 archival drafts.

IEEE says Xplore was upgraded to progress search capabilities and the user interface, while also adding up new personalization tools. Overall, Xplore contains more than two million documents, the organization adds.

Are Latest IETF Switching, Routing Spectacles Needed?

2010-08-09T03:57:00.000-07:00

Two high-profile provisions twisting their way through the IETF agree to improve data center switching and service donor routing, but advances from Cisco and Juniper Networks raise questions about how much the goggles are even needed.

For switching, the IETF is functioning on Transparent Interconnection of Lots of Links (TRILL), which is anticipated to conquer limitations of the Spanning Tree protocol in scale and topology reconvergence. For routing, the IETF is investigating the Locator/ID Separation Protocol (LISP), which is intended to improve addressing and load balancing for enterprises working with multiple ISPs.

While these may appear like solutions to long tardy networking problems, they may also be surplus with capabilities already or soon to be on the market. In the case of TRILL, Ethernet switch market leader Cisco will quickly be shipping Fabric Path for its Nexus 7000 switch that accomplishes the same tasks TRILL is projected to address though providing many more capabilities.

Symmetricom Announces New Managerial Vice President for Government Business Unit

2010-08-06T05:44:00.000-07:00

Symmetricom a worldwide leader in specific time and frequency technologies, now announced that Daniel Scharre has been promoted to managerial vice president, general manager of the company's Government Business Unit. Previously, he was vice president, marketing and business development of the same unit.

In his new position, Scharre is liable for supervision of the growth and management of the company's time and frequency skill products that target the government, enterprise, science, aerospace and resistance industries. He reports to Symmetricom president and CEO, Dave Cote.

Dan has an outstanding track trace with his more than 20 years experience in growing technology companies, and we are providential to have him as part of our Symmetricom team, said Dave Cote, president and CEO. Under his leadership, Symmetricom will be able to identify and perform on new market opportunities for customers who demand the most steadfast and exact timing and frequency control products.

IEEE Launches Latest Features For IEEE Xplore Digital Library

2010-08-02T02:05:00.000-07:00

IEEE, the world's chief technical expert association for the progression of technology, has launched several new enhancements to the IEEE Xplore digital library. Highlights of this update consist of support for Athens and Shibboleth authentication, the IEEE Foundations for Smart Grid Standards subscription package, and availability of the National Electrical Safety Code on mobile devices.

This new update builds on a major platform upgrade earlier this year. In February 2010, IEEE launched a fully redesigned IEEE Xplore, based on general input and feedback from users, librarians, professionals and IEEE members across the globe. The objective was to spectacularly improve the user interface and search capabilities, while adding new personalization tools, to make exploring IEEE Xplore's more than two million documents faster and more dynamic.

Our successful start of the redesigned IEEE Xplore earlier this year was both stimulating and satisfying to everyone who contributed to this important milestone in the evolution of the IEEE Xplore platform, said Prakash Bellur, Director, Online Platform Services. This latest update not only enhances the value of IEEE Xplore, but makes IEEE's wealth of technical resources easier to locate and use by professionals and organizations around the world.

NASA Mars Odyssey Releases Most Perfect Martian Plan Constantly

2010-07-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

NASA’s Mars Odyssey orbiter, launched technique back in April 2001, reached Mars in October of that year and began its operations in February of 2002. For the past eight and a half years, the outpost has been snapping photos, using its multi-band infrared camera.

That camera, called THEMIS (THermal EMission Imaging System), managed to take over 21,000 photos of the surface of Mars as its work began. NASA’s Jet impulsion Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers at Arizona State University’s Mars Space Flight Facility, has been working on this map for years, and is finally able to show it off to the world.

Those 21,000 photos have been, in NASA’s words, smoothed, matched, blended and cartographically restricted to make a giant mosaic. The ultimate outcome is almost Google-Maps-like experience that allows panning and zooming with the click or swipe of a mouse. You can zoom in attractive far–the smallest surface facts that can be seen are about 100 meters wide, which is a new record for photography of Mars.

IEEE 802.3af/At-Biddable PSE Controller Saves Gap and Cost in Poe+ Mechanical Plans

2010-07-29T04:22:00.000-07:00

The MAX5971B integrates a 0.5ohm power MOSFET, intellect resistor, and recent monitor to keep space and cost in PSE system the distinctive function circuit requires less than eight outer components. Additionally, the MAX5971B includes a 9-bit ADC and I2C boundary to facilitate advanced control management and power budgeting. Capable of delivering up to 40 W/port for PoE+ powered devices (PDs), the MAX5971B is well suited for IP phones, IP cameras, wireless LAN access points, and video surveillance cameras.

This PSE controller is wholly compliant to the IEEE 802.3af and IEEE 802.3at standards. The tool operates from 32 V to 60 V and provides IEEE 802.3af/at-compliant PD discovery, classification, and DC/AC load-detach detection. Class 5 and two-incident classification are supported for exposure and classification of high-power PDs. The MAX5971B also detect legacy PDs that use elevated capacitance as the discovery signature.

The device is totally software configurable through its I2C-compatible, 2-wire serial interface. The MAX5971B can be controlled with a system microcontroller it can be configured to activate autonomously without the necessitate for a host microcontroller or software; or it can be configured to drive in manual or semiautomatic modes, which offer design flexibility as well as field debug and diagnostic capabilities.

Fermi-Based NVIDIA Quadro Video Cards Made Official

2010-07-28T02:37:00.000-07:00

In terms of user graphics cards, NVIDIA is still a way rotten from covering the complete market by DirectX 11-capable models. The similar cannot be believed about the professional front, however, now that the Santa Clara, California-based company has unleashed its line of Fermi-based series of Quadro adapters, all enabled by the GF100 graphics processing unit. This new collection promises higher performance and a wider feature set compared to its predecessor.

So far, NVIDIA has unleashed five products. The Quadro 4000 has 2GB of GDDR5 memory and 256 stream processors (SP). Also, the Quadro 5000 has 2.5GB VRAM and 352 torrent processors, whereas the Quadro 5000M, for mobile workstations, boasts 2GB GDDR5 and 320 SP.

Moreover the Quadro 6000 has a good 6GB VRAM and 448 stream processors. As for the Quadro Plex, it is the most dominant by far, with a massive 12GB of memory and 896 SP.

We have build engines like AXE to facilitate the conception of next-gen applications. When you connect these technologies with our Fermi architecture, the result is a new Quadro family that's exponentially better than anything the market has ever seen said Jeff Brown, general manager, professional solutions group at Nvidia.

Inemi Workshop to Highlight On Medical Electronics Packaging Technologies

2010-07-26T02:02:00.000-07:00

The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI), an industry-led consortium, is sponsoring a workshop on the technical and dogmatic challenges estimated in the implantable and portable segments of the medical electronics industry. The day-and-a-half workshop, scheduled for September 16-17 in Berlin will focus on identifying the technology challenges and regularity gaps that can best be solved by collaborative efforts by the medical electronics industry.

In the past 10 years, innovation has led to major advances in medical diplomacy and the therapies they deliver, said Bill Bader, CEO of iNEMI. The volatile growth of implantable and personal medical electronics is driving accelerated approval of efficiency technologies. Continuous technology improvements, the high-reliability requirements innate in medical electronics and the unique necessity for compatibility with the human body, present significant challenges for substrate, packaging and interrelate technologies used in these products.

iNEMI has road mapped the technology wants of the medical electronics segment for several years, continued Bader, and we have recognized multiple areas where further technology development is needed. With this workshop, we hope to bring together medical electronics companies from the implantable, portable and imaging segments to categorize the most critical needs, determine which needs are best solved through mutual efforts and then form action groups to begin the required work.

Etegent Technologies Awarded Two Navy Research

2010-07-23T04:22:00.000-07:00

Etegent Technologies Ltd., formerly SDL, a high-tech, research and development company, today announced that it has been awarded two Phase I SBIR research contracts from the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, Md. The projects include the progress of low cost, dual function, control and diagnostic sensors for aircraft turbine engines and the development of robust pressure transducers for aircraft turbine engine control systems. In addition to the two new contracts, Etegent is also presently working on three additional SBIR projects with the U.S. Navy, with a Phase II SBIR deal focused on the progress of a computerized tool for exposure aircraft damage and queuing and viewing repairs.

For the indicative sensors project, Etegent will show the likelihood of a new sensor suite model that can sense pressure, temperature and vibration in an aircraft turbine engine, and incorporate self diagnosis/performance verification and IEEE 1451.4 Standard for Transducer Electronic Data Sheets capability. This project is supported by the Joint Strike Fighter and PMA-0261, H-53 Heavy Lift Helicopter programs.

As part of the transducers project, Etegent will influence its existing sensor technology to widen robust pressure sensors that can work reliably in awfully cruel environments such as a turbine engine combustor. The new sensor technology is likely to improve the potential of military and commercial monitoring and control systems.

ABB Expands Magnetically Actuated Outdoor Surf Technology to 38 KV

2010-07-22T02:21:00.000-07:00

ABB, the primary power and automation technology company, announces the release of the 38 kV R-MAG outdoor vacuum circuit breaker.

First introduced in 2002 for 15 kV and 27 kV applications, the R-MAG breaker utilizes a magnetic actuator design that has only one moving part, offering an advance over the conventional spring charging device. Rated for 10,000 operations, the 38 kV R-MAG surf provides more than five times the IEEE necessity for fortitude capabilities. Moreover, the magnetic actuator requires no regular upholding during the life of the breaker, thus tumbling costly maintenance intervals, while increasing consistency and safety.

The 38 kV R-MAG breaker takes advantage of embedded pole technology, providing a compressed and modular design, suitable for a wide range of climatic and environmental conditions. Embedded in a solid insulating material of high dielectric strength, the vacuum interrupters are insulated from external effects of mechanical shock, dust, and humidity.

The R-MAG breaker is field proven, with thousands of units in service worldwide. ABB magnetic actuator technology delivers the state-of-the-art in distribution class breakers, while providing compact maintenance costs and improved consistency of our customers.

Corporate Wireless Exchange Options for Professional Consumers

2010-07-21T01:59:00.000-07:00

A group of members more than 390,000 IT professionals from around 150 countries planned to introduce the 40 Gigabit Ethernet technology in July 2006. This group known as the IEEE or the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers was liable for the Ethernet standards that brought us the top data transfer technology known to man.

As of now, we are motionless dependent on their 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) technology for our data exchange needs. What the IEEE aims for was to increase this routine for up to 4 and 10 times. After almost a year of study, the project was seen greatly favorable, and so a mission force was assembled to take charge.

A label of 802.3ba, following the original 802.3, was given to the project. And its primary goal was to be able to distribute speed standards 40GbE and 100GbE, both greater than the 10GbE. There are two speed rates, as to be able to gratify to both small sever needs like home offices (40GbE) and large server demands like that of the internet (100GbE).

Although there are already 40 Gigabit technology being implemented by means of combining four 10GbE technologies into a single mode, the aspired 40GbE is completely dissimilar. The latest 40GbE will be molded into just one individual figure, like a 10GbE network technology with wider capabilities.

Nano Korea 2010 Among IEEE NANO Is On!

2010-07-20T03:24:00.000-07:00

The Nano Korea Society team announced that 'Nano Korea 2010 with IEEE NANO ' will be held from August 17 to 20 at KINTEX, Korea. The theme of its 8th event is Nanotechnology for a Green World'. During the occasion they will redefine a range of issues regarding location and energy in the nano-technical viewpoint, share of nano-technology information from the world's scholars as well as exchange different opinions to solve these issues.

Principally this year, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) to swarm the seminar and large numbers of international scholars will visit including two Nobel Prize winners in the pasture of nanotechnology. It is definite that the status of Korea is No. 4 in Nanotechnology, internationally.

Starting with major speeches by Robert Grubbs (2005 Nobel Prize), Peter Gruenberg (2007 Nobel Physics Prize), Kim Ki-nam, President of Samsung Electronic, 1,000 studies will be announced with more than 300 lectures for four days. The IEEE NANO representative conference in IEEE will be divided into 14 professional areas.

Young Professors of Trinity Society Invited To Attend IEEE Conference

2010-07-19T04:11:00.000-07:00

Trinity Institute Professor Ashutosh Dubey has been invited to attend IEEE Conference 2010, which will take place at Mangalore from29th July -1st August 2010.

Prof. Ashutosh had 5 years of experience in private sector and intellectual field. He was allied with number of indigenization and modernizing projects. He has presented a number of research papers in different National Conference.

The research paper titled A Complete Analysis of Grid Computing System in J2ME for Efficient Mobile Computing Techniques was chosen for IEEE Conference in which he analyzes numerous aspects of data mining services which are valid on Mobile computing which is functional for data warehousing conference.

He is also planned as a reviewer panel in several international conferences together with conferences in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia which is officially sponsored by IEEE Malaysia section.

Prof. Yogesh had 4 years of experience in studious field and his paper elected in IEEE seminar held at MANIT Allahabad. His research paper title is “A Low intricacy chosen for mapping for max out to average power reduction in OFDM.

Mr. Prakash Ramani, Mr. K C Jain, Dr. H L Vachhani, Dr S M Bhatia of Trinity Institute of Technology & Research congratulated the faculties for their outstanding achievement.

Student Wins International Explore Competition

2010-07-16T02:14:00.000-07:00

A senior from National Cheng Kung University won the top prize at a global student research contest sponsored by the U.S. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), the university said in a press report yesterday.

Huang Tsung-wei won the contest in Anaheim, California in mid June with research in digital micro fluidic bio-chips, said the university.

Huang's prize-winning effort involves drip routing algorithms for digital micro fluidic biochips and was praised by Iris Bahar, the competition organizer and a professor at Brown University, as a marvelous study concert, the statement said.

According to Cheng Kung University, Huang's research explores a way used to process biochips on a nanoscale as small as one-billionth of a meter. The process allows manufacturers to correctly complete all essential biochemical reactions, attain optimal revealing and raise the efficiency of micro fluidic chip detection.

Huang has published three papers in international conferences, together with the 2009 IEEE International discussion on Computer Design, the 2009 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Computer Aided Design, and the 2010 ACM International Symposium on Physical Design.

PoE Technologies Release 120 Watt 8 Port PoE Network Switch

2010-07-15T03:33:00.000-07:00

PoE Technologies announces the expulsion of their latest product, the NS-PoE-8, an 8 port Power-over-Ethernet switch. 120 watts of power balanced over 8 ports. Also projected for the recently ratified standard IEEE-802.3at, this new standard allows for PoE to have up to 25 watts of power per RJ45 Port.

The NS-PoE-8 was engineered for the physical safety market in mind, allowing for Integrators and Value-Added-Resellers (VARs) to easily solve power issues. The NS-PoE-8 increases the adaptability of a project, by providing superior power to PoE procedure such as high powered PTZ and door access controls.

With the ratification of IEEE-802.3at our clients will be able to take complex of the higher watt output. The NS-PoE-8 can now be used with both IEEE-802.3af and IEEE802.3at interchangeability. By using PoE regulars can save time and money by not having to afford separate cabling for power, says James H Riggs President/CEO of PoE Technologies.

Hybrid WiGig-Wi-Fi Chip Planned by Atheros, Wilocity

2010-07-14T06:08:00.000-07:00

Atheros and Wilocity, which signify the Wi-Fi and 60-GHz wireless HDMI camps, have granted to work mutually to widen hybrid "tri-band" chipsets.

The two companies could increase their first product samples by early 2011, and transport them later that year, said Tal Tamir, chief executive of Wilocity, in an interview.

To date, Wi-Fi and the wireless multimedia technologies such as WirelessHD, WiGig, and others have been in quasi-competition with one another, as both strive to be the home's key wireless network technology. The battleground has been the living room, with the ultimate exclusion of the HDMI cable that currently serves as the transport mechanism for encrypted multimedia data.

Although the WiGig technology claims to have ranges beyond ten meters, the technology still can't rather match the coverage of 802.11n, roughly 70 meters (230 feet) indoors. Likewise, even the 150-Mbit/s maximum throughput 802.11n allows can't compete with the 7-Gbits/s throughput the WiGig measurement defines.

IEEE Calls For Involvement To Widen Standards For Quantifying GHG Emissions From Small Hydro And Wind Power Projects, And Grid Baseline Conditions

2010-07-13T03:09:00.000-07:00

The IEEE Standards Association announced today a call for contribution for the IEEE P1595 Working Group to help develop new principles for quantifying greenhouse gas (GHG) emission credits from small hydro and wind power projects and for grid baseline setting. The IEEE P1595 Working Group is part of the Climate Change Technology Sub-Committee (CCTSC) of the Energy Development and Power Generation Committee (EDPGC) of the IEEE Power and Energy Society (IEEE-PES).

The IEEE P1595 standard will utilize protocols for wind power, small hydro and grid baseline developed by the Government of Canada’s Department of Natural Resources CANMET Energy Technology Centre (NRCan-CETC) as its seed documents. These protocols were developed in accord with the ISO 14064 Part 2 International Standard for GHG Projects, which is used by regulated carbon offset credit markets such as in the Province of Alberta and in the Province of British Columbia. ISO 14064 Part 2 has also been adopted by the Voluntary Carbon Standard.

The IEEE P1595 functioning group will be working in assistance with the Climate CHECK, a collaborative solutions provider in the GHG and fresh technology markets. The IEEE P1595 working group will be utilizing Climate Check’s online standards development platform, which was developed in connection with the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute (GHGMI).

Online conventional exchanges

2010-07-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

To improve their Online marketing is the obvious focus for many companies attempting to improve their reputation at the moment. Success stories like Dell’s use of Twitter or Nike’s Chalkbot are placed on a pedestal, and the hype surrounding brands using Facebook is at boiling point. One of the trends we’ve seen developing over the past year is the notion of targeting evangelists over influencers. Marmite’s Marmarati is a great example of engaging with a smaller group of passionate fans, instead of going after high-profile influencers was vast networks at their disposal.

The theory is that those with real interest in the product or service you’re trying to promote are far more likely to spread the word to those with a similar mindset. Though smart PRs have been playing by a version of this rule for years (targeting those with interest in the right subject, but also with a large reach), tying social media into this to spread the word online is still a relatively underused concept. Blogger relations should be treated in the same way, but is quite often marred by a scattergun approach.

Nomadic the Web

2010-07-12T04:34:00.000-07:00

The Smart Grid Information Clearinghouse launched a beta version website to assist stakeholders and the general public to contact the site. Funded during the Recovery Act to provide scientific, legislative, and project information on smart grid management, the Clearinghouse is managed by and run from the Virginia Tech Advanced Research Institute in Arlington, Va., with support from the IEEE Power & Energy Society and EnerNex Corporation.

Katherine Hamilton, president of Grid Wise Alliance, serves on the Advisory Board for the Clearinghouse. The team at Virginia Tech and IEEE has integrated key stakeholder groups, a mixture of end users, and the Grid Wise association execution Work set in the evaluation process. The team now encourages people to discover the site to see if they can find the information about smart grid they most need. The position starts with basic information and gradually gets more technical as you work through it, Hamilton added.

Forty Countries Represented At Leading IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference

2010-07-09T05:50:00.000-07:00

The Organizing team of the 35th IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists Conference, the highest running global gather of PV scientists and engineers, reported today a record attendance at this year's conference. Over 1,380 attendees traveled to Honolulu from 40 countries across the globe, including the Netherlands, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, South Korea and Australia. In addition, the conference hosted a lively exhibition hall with 40 booths that was also dwelling to an exciting display of over 500 top-tier notice presentations.

A record 930 technical presentations took place at the Hawaii Convention Center, representing an increase of over 40% from the 2009 conference. Participating industry and government notables included Hawaii Lt. Governor James "Duke" Aiona, SEIA's Rhone Resch, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's Jae Edmonds, Peter Cousins of Sunpower, DOE's John Lushetsky and Hawaii State Representative Hermina Morita. Numerous international universities and labs were represented in addition to council from IBM, CH2M Hill and many more.

We were thrilled to see the world's leading PV scientists and engineers meeting at our international conference to extra hasten solar technology as a cross-occupant solution to our energy needs, said Robert Walters, Conference Chair for the 35th IEEE PV Specialists Conference. The keenness for solar in the Hawaiian Islands made it the ideal forum for intellectual collaboration and discussion around PV.

IEEE Improves Power Grid Concert with IEEE P1547.8 Standard

2010-07-08T01:53:00.000-07:00

IEEE, the world's top professional association for the development of technology announced IEEE P1547.8, a draft standard establishing a common scientific platform for distributed assets interconnection applications. The proposed standard expands upon IEEE 1547, while incorporating industry and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recommendations for enhanced interconnection routine functionality. It also addresses energy storage challenges coming into play across the distributed resources and Smart Grid industries. Authorization of IEEE P1547.8, which is sponsored by the IEEE Standards Coordinating Committee 21 (SCC21), is targeted for calendar year 2012.

With IEEE 1547, the energy and service industries gained a stable, strong foundation for the additional construction and development of distributed resource networks. With more renewable energy sources coming online, storage capabilities are becoming more and more important and need to be addressed earlier rather than later, said Dick DeBlasio, program manager at the National Renewable Energy Lab facility of the U.S. Department of Energy, and IEEE Smart Grid liaison to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). By incorporating support for rising storage technologies, as well as other industry-driven recommendations, IEEE P1547.8 future-proofs the original scaffold by both extending current functionality and laying the groundwork for future advancements.

IEEE, Laptop Makers to Join Forces on Universal Power Supply

2010-07-07T04:33:00.000-07:00

Some laptop manufacturers and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) are planning to work together on a consistent laptop power supply design.

The interest of the IEEE will be crucial to getting manufacturers to adopt any standards that emerge, according to reports in Australia.

The laptop makers involved in the plan are said to include big brands such as ASUS and Acer as well as the OEM manufacturers like Quanta and Compal.

By introducing standards to the laptop market the group hopes to facilitate the interoperability that has been a trademark of desktop PC designs.

This lack of standards in laptop manufacture has lead to the provoking situation where every firm has its own power supply design.

Ethernet QFSP

2010-07-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

Avago has developed a new four-channel pluggable similar optic QSFP transceiver module for 40 Gigabit Ethernet applications.

The section is completely biddable to the IEEE 802.3ba 40GBASE SR4 design and provides a solution for multilane data communication and interconnects applications that incorporate four independent 10 Gbps data lanes in each direction to provide 40 Gbps cumulative bandwidth. In addition to 40 Gbps Ethernet interconnects, this transceiver can be used in datacom/telecom switch and router connections, as well as data aggregation and backplane applications.

With data rates of 10 Gbps for up to 100 metres using OM3 fibre, the transceiver is designed to operate over multimode fibre systems using a nominal wavelength of 850 nm. The electrical interface uses a 38-contact edge type connector while the optical interface uses either an 8 or 12 fibre MTP (MPO) connector. The element also provides greater electro-optical concert to enable low jitter required for high-speed computing, server clustering, Infiniband and Ethernet switching and core routers. Additionally, this transceiver is hot pluggable for ease of installation and servicing, and backward compatible with 5 and 2, 5 Gbps per channel applications.

IEEE Researcher John McDonald Gives Testimony on Advancement of Standards Development and Cyber Security for Smart Grid

2010-07-05T01:58:00.000-07:00

IEEE, the world's leading professional association for the improvement of technology, today announced that John McDonald, IEEE Fellow and Director of Technical Strategy and Policy Development for GE’s Digital Energy business gave witness on the progress of standards for Smart Grid interoperability and cyber security before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation, House Committee on Science and Technology. Held July 01, 2010, the investigation was entitled Smart Grid Architecture and Standards Assessing Coordination and Progress.

The purpose of the inquiry was to review the efforts of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to coordinate the development of standards for Smart Grid technologies. The hearing examined the status of the standards development process and focused on whether the current efforts are meeting the needs of stakeholders and are advancing national Smart Grid efforts. Mr. McDonald’s testimony addressed key issues such as:

• The skill of the Smart Grid Interoperability Panel in coordinating tasks for the standards development process and assembly stakeholder input, as well as the policies and events currently in place to ensure private stakeholder buy-in and adoption of the standards that appear from the process.

• Which standards are currently existing to achieve interoperability of Smart Grid technologies and the top standard-related priorities for advancing their deployment

During the hearing, Mr. McDonald and four other leading Smart Grid experts addressed a range of important issues including testing & certification, cyber security and privacy matters, in addition to standards.

Call For Participation: IEEE Standard For Universal Power Adapter For Mobile Devices

2010-07-02T04:27:00.000-07:00

The IEEE Standards Association recently announced a call for partaking for Universal Power Adapter for Mobile Devices Working Group.

Universal Power Adapter for Mobile Devices (UPAMDTM) or IEEE P1823TM is a new standard with a purpose to drastically reduce the electronic waste caused by the failure to reuse a power adapter with changing devices. Acquisition cost of new mobile devices could be lowered by 10-15% with the reclaim of already owned power adapters.

The Working Group will categorize a power delivery link between a power adapter and a power using device in the 10 Watt to 130 Watt range. A communications link between the power adapter and the mobile power using device is also definite for safety and adaptability. Efforts will focus on defining the common connector, power specification, and communications protocol.

While planned for handy computing and entertainment devices, this standard may also be used with other mobile devices in use around the office, home or vehicle. The project is sponsored by the Microprocessor Standards Committee of the IEEE Computer Society.

IEEE Delivers 1815 DNP3 Standard for Power Systems Interactions

2010-07-01T01:54:00.000-07:00

IEEE has announced the authority of the 1815 Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3) standard for electric power systems communications. The new standard, which improves appliance interoperability and strengthens security protocols, was fast-tracked for achievement and was delivered in only seven months. Programmed for final publication in July 2010, IEEE 1815 is expected to play a important role in the development and exploitation of Smart Grid technologies.

IEEE 1815 is a collaboratively developed, flexible framework that is the base for achieving better device interoperability and security. The robust, multi-layered protocol specifies an agile, forward-looking architecture enabling better optimized and more secure information gathering, exchange, and use, particularly in managerial control and data achievement (SCADA) systems. Expanding on widely used industry protocols, the comprehensive standard also preserves previous significant infrastructure investments by enduring backward friendly with existing object models, while incorporating emerging Smart Grid and other new technologies. Newly ratified as IEEE 1815, the protocols will benefit from the wide support, proficiency, and resources that IEEE offers, providing a basis for the continued deployment of Smart Grid technologies.

The accelerated exploitation of Smart Grid technologies, as well as thousands of new and legacy device installations in process automation settings like the electric utility, energy, and water industries, dictated the need for IEEE 1815. IEEE, in combination with the DNP Users Group, fast-tracked the protocol’s sustained development and approval. The standard passed precise evaluation by each group before being submitted to a diverse pool of more than 100 IEEE balloters.

Infiniband to Outpace Ethernet's Expected Force

2010-06-30T02:40:00.000-07:00

Every good plan in networking ultimately seems to be borged into the Ethernet protocol. Even so, there's still a place in the market for its key rival in the data center, InfiniBand, which has constantly offered more bandwidth, lower latency, and often lower power use and cost-per-port than Ethernet.

But can InfiniBand keep outrunning the tank that is Ethernet? The members of the InfiniBand Trade Association, the association that manages the InfiniBand specification, think so.

InfiniBand, which is the result of the fusion in 1999 of the Future I/O spec espoused by Compaq, IBM, and Hewlett-Packard and the Next Generation I/O contending spec from Intel, Microsoft, and Sun Microsystems, represents one of those rare moments when key players came together to create a new technology then kept moving it forward. Sure, InfiniBand was relegated to a role in high-performance computing clusters, lashing nodes together, rather than flattering a universal fabric for server, storage, and peripheral connectivity. Roadmaps don't always pan out.

But since the first 10 Gb/sec InfiniBand products hit the market in 2001, it's InfiniBand, more than Ethernet, which has kept pace with the discharge core counts in servers and gigantic storage arrays to feed them, which stipulate massive amounts of I/O bandwidth in the switches that link them. Which is why InfiniBand has persisted despite the offensive of Ethernet, which jumped to Gigabit and then 10 Gigabit speeds while InfiniBand evolved to 40 Gb/sec?

IEEE 1471 Block Diagram

2010-06-29T02:48:00.000-07:00

IEEE Hammers Out Two Principles for Elegant Grids

2010-06-28T00:41:00.000-07:00

The IEEE concluded one standard and superior another to help lay the groundwork for interoperable smart electric grids.

The IEEE ratified its 1815 Distributed Network Protocol standard for electric power systems communications. Then protocol is a version of a bequest technology expanded for greater device interoperability and security particularly in managerial control and data purchase systems.

The standard was completed in seven months in association with the DNP Users Group. DNP3 is already one of the most prevalent and commonly specific protocols in use today, said George Arnold, NIST’s National Coordinator for Smart Grid Interoperability. IEEE has done a significant job of uniting an array of stakeholders to deliver a firm based upon which Smart Grid technologies can be built and deployed, he said in a press statement.

IEEE 1815 supports a NIST goal of mapping DNP to the IEC's 61850 Object standard. Separately, the IEEE has completed a draft standard for 1547.8. The pattern provides a platform for distributed resources interconnection applications and supports distributed energy storage systems. The spec should be ratified in 2012.

The standard provides greater support for alternating renewable energy sources, and more flexible use of inverters such as found in home solar power systems. It also addresses energy storage devices, hybrid generation-storage systems and aspects of plug-in electric vehicles.

Force10 Networks Issues Statement Supporting IEEE Passing Its P802.3ba 40 And 100 Gigabit Ethernet Standard

2010-06-25T02:11:00.000-07:00

Force10 Networks, a data center service provider, announced it has released a statement commending the IEEE and its Task Force for ratifying its P802.3ba standard for 40 and 100 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE).

The ratification sets a needed standard as dynamic data center setting impose aggregating more traffic at 40 GbE and 100 GbE speeds. Employees of Force10 Networks played an important role to help begin the standard ratification process by indicating how, through a variety of Ethernet use cases, their customers believed there was a need for higher Ethernet speeds.

We commend the IEEE for their efforts as the standardization of 40 and 100 GbE is a key step, from a bandwidth viewpoint, toward converging storage, compute and network wealth on to Ethernet technology, said Henry Wasik, president and CEO, Force10 Networks. The standard is a necessary yardstick and an important step from which clients can build low-latency solutions capable of handling network traffic well into the future.

According to Force10, the consent of 40 GbE and 100 GbE is probable to help drive initiatives by data center managers and service providers to modernize its respective networks. Going forward, even as they task their network to perform greater, they want smaller amount network layers to manage and less uplinks required in the network since consolidated I/O will perform much better with increments of 40 GbE. These configurations can transfer from 4 x 10G uplinks and move to 2 x 40 GbE, doubling bandwidth while reducing port count by 50 percent.

IEEE Standards Will Unite High-Speed Ethernet, Says Force10

2010-06-24T02:27:00.000-07:00

The special elements of the high-speed Ethernet market will congregate as IEEE standards are adopted, according to Force10 Networks. President and chief executive officer Henry Wasik praises the IEEE - the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for its work on the P802.3ba standard, ratified for both 40 GbE and 100 GbE.

He says: "We entrust the IEEE for their efforts as the standardization of 40 and 100 GbE is a key step, from a bandwidth perspective, toward converging storage, compute and network resources on to Ethernet technology."

Force10 Networks adds that its own employees were involved in the early stages of the consent process, demonstrating the desire among clients for higher Ethernet speeds to become possible.

John D'Ambrosia from Force10 Networks also co-wrote the 2008 Ethernet Alliance Technology Overview of 40 and 100 GbE, which was published following the IEEE's own journal of a draft adjustment to the 802.3 Ethernet standards, an important step towards unifying 40 and 100 GbE within its specifications.

RASIRC and Fraunhofer Will Present Paper at IEEE Photovoltaic Forum

2010-06-23T02:49:00.000-07:00

The research paper titled “Purified Steam for Thermal Oxidation Processes” will provide an assessment between purified steam and pyrolytic vapor meant for falsehood of silicon solar cells. This paper will be presented during the “Posters, Crystalline Silicon: Device Fabrication and Manufacturing” conference session held on June 24.

The paper draws a similarity between the two steam production techniques, analyzes the physical uniqueness of steam-grown, purified thermal oxides, as well as implements a direct oxidation process that is based on steam into an industrial production chain meant for rear-surface passivity solar cells. It is found that by utilizing industrial equipment for thermal oxidation and wet chemical cleaning, high efficient carrier lifetimes can be achieved.

Jeffrey Spiegelman, president and founder of RASIRC, said that the company’s research activity with Fraunhofer on the subject of the treatment of purified steam in the fabrication process of solar cells has produced copious positive as well as cost-effective results. He also added that this result signifies that purified steam facilitates the growth of thermal oxides meant for the industrial production of silicon solar cells that are thermal oxide-passivity.

100 Gigabit Ethernet Standard Ratified

2010-06-22T00:18:00.000-07:00

The IEEE 802.3ba 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Ethernet standard has been ratified by who else? The IEEE P802.3ba 40Gb/s and 100Gb/s Ethernet Task Force.

Ubiquitous acceptance of bandwidth-rigorous technologies and applications, such as converged system services, video-on-demand, and social networking, is producing rapidly escalating demand for higher-rate throughput.

Non-standard 100Gb/s setups have already appeared in the field for example, the Dutch education networkers at SURF net announced Monday that they had achieved 100Gb/s speeds on T Series Core Routers from Juniper Networks. Global Quotes notes that Cisco, Brocade, and Extreme Networks have also developed 100Gb/s Ethernet routers, cards, and switches.

But as was true after the long and sore 802.11n wireless networking standards process, developers of current 100Gb/s hardware shouldn't have a complex time making the indispensable tweaks if any to be fully 802.3ba-compliant.

2010 IEEE Medal of Nobility for Viterbi

2010-06-18T03:22:00.000-07:00

IEEE Life colleague Andrew J. Viterbi, whose Viterbi algorithm is used in all four international standards for digital cellular telephones, as well as data terminals and digital satellite transmit receivers, will be presented with the IEEE Medal of Honor at the 2010 IEEE Honors Ceremony. This year's event will be held on June 26 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

In 1985, Viterbi cofounded Qualcomm with Irwin Jacobs and helped develop Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) technology, which applied spread spectrum to cellular phones. Viterbi's assistance to communications technology has impacted the lives of people throughout the world. There is a Viterbi detector in almost every disk drive and high-capacity MP3 player, images transmitted from deep space are made possible by the Viterbi algorithm, and third-generation mobile telephones employ one or more of Viterbi's systems.

Viterbi developed what became known as the Viterbi Algorithm in 1967 while a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The Viterbi Algorithm was penetrating in wireless technology that alienated information from background noise, and it primarily changed the way digital communications are processed. The algorithm is used in most digital cellular phones and satellite receivers as well as in such sundry fields as magnetic recording, voice recognition, and DNA sequence analysis. It also has been incorporated into all NASA deep-space spacecraft since the 1970s.

Wimax Forum Publishes Femtocell Standard

2010-06-17T03:54:00.000-07:00

The WiMAX Forum and the Femto Forum today announced the publication of the first WiMAX femtocell standard allowing vendors to start increasing consistent femtocells and allied network tools based on the IEEE 802.16e radio line and profiles. The WiMAX Forum aims to start certifying friendly products in early 2011 to guarantee efficient and effective interoperability between different vendors’ access points and core network equipment.

WiMAX femtocells cost-effectively boost coverage and power inside buildings and in small outdoor areas as well as sustaining advanced new services. The WiMAX Forum has been working with the Femto Forum since June 2009 to make sure that the entire femtocell and WiMAX ecosystems assist to enable the most efficient possible standard and discharge the full potential of both technologies.

The provision incorporates a safety scaffold that allows WiMAX networks to sustain a large number of access points via typical commercial IPSec based security gateways. This segment of specifications also contains simple Self Organizing Network (SON) capabilities to allow automatic design of large statistics of femtocells. Future revisions will promote the SON capabilities to regulate automatic interference management between femtocells and macro base stations.

IEEE Operational Group to Allocate Confined File Sharing

2010-06-16T02:44:00.000-07:00

The IEEE P1817 working group has come into result last month and proposes a file security system that aims to allow users to share their digital files but keep them confined from complete copying at the same time. Known as Digital Personal Property (DPP), it includes two pieces of a digital file and would be a less restraining alternative to DRM file protection. There would be a title folder and a play key. The title folder would contain the encrypted file, while a play key would grant access.

Users could liberally share the title folder, but conceding access to the file within would only be acceptable if they shared a play key. It would be limited within either a tamper-protected circuit inside a computer or personal device or online at a play key hosting site. The play key is then lent out like a library book. Owners would need to be alert who they lend the play key out to, however, as the borrower could move it and never return it, much like lending out a physical item such as a CD.

Broadband Providers Maintain FCC Scheme

2010-06-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

We, the undersigned spirited local exchange carriers and independent Internet Service Providers, cuddle an open and competitive market, and we know asset and innovation result when the rules of the game are steady and clear and the playing field is level. We also know patrons benefit when there is more broadband competition offering more choices. That's why we support Chairman Genachowski's proposal for a narrowly-tailored scaffold for oversight of broadband access.

The FCC is functioning tough to make sure every American can enjoy the opportunities broadband brings by ensuring its continual authority to supervise broadband access. Expressly, the FCC's proposal uses tightly targeted leniency and a light rigid touch pursuant to Title II to ensure it can stop anti-competitive behavior that could hurt consumers or the competitive broadband market. Approval of a Notice of Inquiry on the projected Third Way is the necessary step to uphold continual innovation, imagination, and investment in the technology sector that will result in fiscal growth and job creation. We add our communal voice to those sustaining the Third Way and acclaim the FCC for showing the kind of pioneering thinking and leadership grave in a broadband world.

ConnectBlue wins ZigBee-based power competence blueprint

2010-06-14T04:55:00.000-07:00

ConnectBlue has acknowledged a 350,000 euros order from Schneider Electric for the growth of a wireless energy efficiency system based on IEEE 802.15.4 / ZigBee technology.

The system consists of numerous ConnectBlue (Malmý, Sweden) standard products and a wireless technology platform and includes ZigBee sensor modules, gateways, repeaters, configuration tools and installation testing tools.

ConnectBlue has become our usual partner in various wireless projects from Bluetooth technology to wireless LAN and now IEEE 802.15.4 / ZigBee, said Marc Bruel, power business/solutions/wireless instrumentation program manager at Schneider Electric.

47th DAC: Design Ecosystem Comes Collectively To Deliver Solutions from Design To Manufacturing

2010-06-12T00:09:00.000-07:00

The 47th Design Automation Conference (DAC), the foremost conference devoted to electronic design and design automation, which starts Monday, June 14 at the Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, CA, will be remembered as the year that front-end and back-end design together, allowing attendees to see solutions that cover all processes from design through manufacturing. EDA tool companies, intellectual property (IP) companies, and service companies will reveal and present information on solutions that facilitate integrated circuit (IC) and system-on-chip (SOC) designers to optimize for performance and manufacturability at advanced process nodes. Major foundries are participating at an exceptional level to help design team customers recognize accelerated design, reduced design costs, faster system-to-IC implementation, and faster time-to-volume. For example:

• GLOBAL-FOUNDRIES will broadcast details of its partner ecosystem during DAC, going far beyond the design kits of the past to include EDA partners, IP partners, service partners, mask service partners, and assembly and test partners.

The increasing association of foundries in creating partnerships between design and IP are lowering the barrier to building a system, all the way from concept to feigned silicon, said Sachin Sapatnekar, General Chair of the 47th DAC Executive Committee. EDA is no longer just about the minutiae of producing silicon. It's nearly up to the system level, and at the same time, building on the foundry ecosystems so that complex designs can move efficiently into manufacturing.

TREND Net Introduces Its Latest Wireless N Gigabit Router

2010-06-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

The 450 Mbps wireless N gigabit router features three external antennas broadcasting on the 2.4 GHz spectrum, with three spatial streams per antenna.

TREND net announced the general availability of its new 450 Mbps wireless N gigabit router this week. The router, model TEW-691GR was designed for intense performance, according to TREND net.

The router features three external antennas broadcasting on the 2.4 GHz spectrum. Three spatial streams per antenna produce a high 450 Mbps wireless throughput.

Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology boosts wireless exposure, signal strength, and throughput speed. One gigabit-wide area network port and four gigabit local area network ports offer high levels of wired throughput performance.

In addition, the new 450 Mbps wireless N gigabit router employs wireless encryption and a secure firewall protection. Moreover, WMM quality of service (QoS) technology prioritizes gaming, Internet calls, and video streams.

IEEE-ISTO Announces Discussion to Progress Interconnect Modeling Standard

2010-06-10T02:37:00.000-07:00

IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO), the foremost trusted partner of the global technology community for the development, embracing, and certification of industry standards, has entered into a partnership with Synopsys to form a technical advisory board to facilitate the evolution of Synopsys' Interconnect Technology Format (ITF) into an industry standard format for interconnect parasitic modeling.

The founding members of the Interconnect Modeling TAB (IMTAB) are legislature from industry-leading semiconductor companies, EDA companies and silicon foundries including Altera Corporation, AMD, Apache Design Solutions, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, LSI, Magma Design Automation, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics and Synopsys.

IMTAB will join IEEE-ISTO's expanding federation of member programs. IMTAB will leverage ITF as the basis of interconnect modeling standard and drive its development to address future industry demands. ITF will be available industry-wide through an open source license agreement with Synopsys. IEEE-ISTO will manage the operations of IMTAB.

Startpage Search Engine Co-Sponsors International IEEE Tech & Society Symposium

2010-06-09T04:10:00.000-07:00

Startpage (by Ixquick), the world's primary Internet privacy search engine, is conceited to announce its sponsorship of the ISTAS 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society, taking place this week in New South Wales, Australia. Startpage is also sponsoring the attendance of privacy expert Dr. Katherine Albrecht, an executive with the company, who has been invited by IEEE to present her research on implantable RFID microchips and cancer.

Startpage, a leader in securing privacy and ambiguity through its proxy search engine Startpage.com, is ardently concerned with the impact of technology on privacy and civil liberties. The company is supporting ISTAS 2010 as part of its ongoing commitment to an open discussion of these themes.

ISTAS is an annual international symposium where the world's leading scientists and thinkers gather to discuss their research and assess the societal effects of new technologies. The forum is put on each year by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the world’s largest professional engineering association. This year's event is hosted by the University of Wollongong, in New South Wales, Australia.

IEEE-ISTO Announces discussion to Evolve Interconnect Modeling Standard

2010-06-08T03:13:00.000-07:00

The origin members of the Interconnect Modeling TAB (IMTAB) are representatives from industry-leading semiconductor companies, EDA companies and silicon foundries together with Altera Corporation, AMD, Apache Design Solutions, GLOBALFOUNDRIES, LSI, Magma Design Automation, NVIDIA, Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics and Synopsys.

IMTAB will join IEEE-ISTO's expanding federation of member programs. IMTAB will control ITF as the basis of interconnect modeling standard and drive its development to address upcoming industry demands. ITF will be available industry-wide through an open source license agreement with Synopsys. IEEE-ISTO will manage the operations of IMTAB.

IEEE-ISTO has a proven track record beginning and promoting new initiatives that foster market approval of standards, such as ITF, said Rich Goldman, vice president of corporate marketing and strategic alliances at Synopsys. IEEE-ISTO's guidance and support will enable IMTAB to fruitfully meet its goals during formation and beyond.

IMTAB marks the second Technical Advisory Board collaboration between IEEE-ISTO and Synopsys. The Liberty Technical Advisory Board was formed in 2008 and maintains the Liberty library modeling format the semiconductor industry's most widely accepted library standard.

How Ethernet First Mile can condense leased line costs

2010-06-03T04:50:00.000-07:00

Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM), also known as IEEE 802.3ah, is defined as a collection of protocols specified in IEEE 802.3, defining the Ethernet in the access networks. The first mile, is the link between the end user and the public network. On a typical LAN setting DSL and cable modems operate at a modest 5-10% of the LAN setup’s total capacity which causes application bottlenecks. Bottlenecks happen even with E1 lines, at speeds of 1.5 Mbps. Though E1 lines are faster they are expensive.

Ethernet in the first mile (EFM) can overcome this, using existing physical infrastructure whether it is ordinary telephone lines or dark fibre links. This technique is claimed to be the new highly resilient copper based Ethernet service, with the ability to transfer high bandwidth data at up to 10 Mbps speeds into users’ premises without the need for any end-to-end fibre leased lines.

An important aspect of the EFM is that it does not offer any improvement over nor replace existing equipment but it is just a set of additional stipulation that will enable users to run Ethernet protocol over previously unsupported media, such as single pairs of telephone wiring and single strands of single-mode fibre (SMF). It is more suited for subscriber access networks networks that connect subscribers to their respective service providers.

The access network in many areas is made up of copper cable based point to point connections and EFM can easily blend with the copper infrastructure because EFM mixes new technology with ‘old world’ copper in the first mile. As a network access technology, Ethernet offers a long list of quantitative and qualitative advantages over legacy first mile technologies.

IEEE Computer Society Rolls Out Assessment Courses for its CSDA and CSDP Software Development Certification Exams

2010-06-01T23:47:00.000-07:00

The IEEE Computer Society is mounting its line of career-assistance assistance for software developers with the introduction of assessment courses for its Certified Software Development Associate and Certified Software Development Professional examinations.

The CSDA and CSDP assessment courses are intended to help software professionals who wish to evaluate their mastery of the software engineering body of knowledge, particularly those preparing for the CSDA or CSDP examinations. The courses help software developers assess the breadth and depth of their understanding in the 15 Knowledge Areas (KAs) contained in Version 3 of the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK Guide).

The Computer Society has prosperity of high-quality content, and the relevant knowledge of our members and contributors is unmatched, said IEEE Computer Society Executive Director Angela Burgess. When we combine those strengths with the professional education tools our partners offer, I think we have a very robust and substantive set of courses.

The online, self-paced judgment courses were developed by 14 subject-matter experts in the software engineering field. We paired up software engineering experts from industry and academia so each course provides a balanced viewpoint. The self-assessment quizzes are particularly effective at investigative areas of strength and highlighting resources for further study.

Take the IEEE Green Your World Confront To Celebrate World Environment Day, 5 June 2010

2010-06-01T00:35:00.000-07:00

In festivity of the 2010 World Environment Day (WED), and the positive impact global sustainability technologies have made on the environment, IEEE, the world's largest technical professional association, initiates a call-to-action asking citizens of the world to accept the IEEE Green Your World Challenge.

Take the Challenge! Starting 1 June 2010, and enduring throughout the week leading up to WED (5 June 2010), IEEE invites folks from around the globe to take one or more of the five challenges, and commit to making simple, yet commanding changes in daily life that can benefit humanity and the environment:

• Step into the (Energy Efficient) Light: restore incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) or light emitting diode (LED) light bulbs
• Be an e-Waste Hero: Find a narrow electronics recycler, and eco-consciously dispose of old computers, TVs, and mobile phones
• Every Drop Counts: Reduce your daily in-home water usage
• Reforest Your Community: Plant a tree or garden and create a sustainable future

• Stop 'Energy Vampires' from Draining Your Resources: Unplug standby electronics

When it comes to our environment, we must be agents of vary in our daily routines and in our support for sustainable developments through advancements in technology, said Pedro Ray, 2010 IEEE president and chief executive officer. IEEE and its members are working globally to exploit on the impact technology plays in sustainability efforts from implementing water maintenance and irrigation systems in underserved areas, and lowering the carbon footprint of consumer devices by engineering smaller, faster semiconductors, to preserving the Earth's natural resources by exploring new alternative energy sources. I encourage every individual to take the IEEE Green Your World Challenge and do their part to better serve this planet.

European micro robots win at IEEE games

2010-05-31T03:45:00.000-07:00

Swiss and French micro robots walked away with gold at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Alaska this week.

In the Mobile Micro robotics test, six teams from Canada, Europe and the United States pitted sub-mm machines beside each other in three tests a 2mm dash an assembly task inserting pegs into designated holes and a freestyle contest.

In the 2mm dash, the microbot from Carnegie Mellon University broke the world record held by Switzerland's ETH Zurich with an average time of 78ms. The triumph was short-lived as, less than an hour later the French team shattered the mark with an average time of 32ms.

ETH Zurich was the champion in the assembly event with a perfect 12, steering 12 500µm pegs into holes at the edge of its 2mm arena. Runner-up was Carnegie Mellon whose microbot placed four pegs of nine. ETH Zurich's robot also captured the freestyle event, astonishing viewers with its unique ability to man oeuvre in three dimensions within its water-packed environment.

Australia's CSIRO Hits U.S. Carriers on WLAN Patents

2010-05-28T00:11:00.000-07:00

The Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) is suing three of the largest U.S. mobile operators, charging they infringed a patent by selling wireless LAN products.

CSIRO last year settled with 14 wireless LAN vendors, including Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Dell, after suing them in 2005 over the same copyright. The current lawsuits, filed in late February in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern Division of Texas, target AT&T, Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile USA.

CSIRO is a government-funded research institute with facilities all over Australia. It claims tenure of U.S. Patent No. 5,487,069, issued in 1996, entitled "Wireless LAN," which it claims covers fundamental aspects of the IEEE 802.11a,b,g and n standards. In the three lawsuits filed in February, CSIRO is going after companies that are mainly sellers rather than makers of Wi-Fi products.

In three separate complaints, CSIRO alleges each mobile operator is deliberately infringing the patent because it informed them about the infringement last year. The agency is seeking vague damages as well as injunctions to stop the carriers from selling infringing products. CSIRO wants a jury to hear the case. One exemption to the complaints is that the allegedly infringing products don't include those made with Intel chips. Intel was one of the companies that settled with CSIRO last year.

Computer Solves Depiction Puzzles

2010-05-26T21:12:00.000-07:00

A GROUP OF MIT boffin has come up with some tattered technology that allows a computer to solve jigsaw puzzles. According to a paper with the catchy title "A Probabilistic Image Jigsaw Puzzle Solver", which was presented to the 2010 IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition? The idea was dreamed up by Taeg Sang Cho.

It can solve puzzles created from complex images like landscape photographs and can handle an almost unlimited number of colors. It has already solved a world record-setting puzzle with 400 pieces, beating the previous effort for computerized jigsaw solving.

Cho's technique uses simple squares, forcing the AI to rely entirely on color and pattern recognition. The software first scans for wide colour patterns, and by comparing those to a database of known images, arrange the pieces in an approximation of the final picture.

IEEE-SA ICSG's Free XML plan Brings New competence to Computer-Security Industry's allocation of Malware Samples

2010-05-25T03:07:00.000-07:00

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) Industry Connections Security Group (ICSG) today announced the accessibility of a free XML schema designed to aid the quick, cost-effective sharing of samples of malware (malicious software such as viruses, worms and spyware) by computer-security organizations. AVG Technologies, McAfee Inc., Microsoft Corp., Panda Security, Sophos, Symantec Corp. and Trend Micro have adopted the flexible ICSG solution as part of their efforts to more quickly deliver the protection that their users most urgently need.

In 2009, Symantec identified more than 240 million distinct new malicious programs. The amount of time and assets that the computer-security industry spends in researching, processing and exchanging data on these millions of malicious files is substantial, said Vincent Weafer, vice president of Symantec Security Response. ICSG's XML schema not only makes the process significantly more efficient, it also enables an organization to prioritize the threats. It all adds up to faster rollout of more relevant protection for our customers.

India finds a voice in 4G

2010-05-24T02:35:00.000-07:00

A hushed looking professor from IIT Chennai has been quite busy over the past months outside the classroom holding discussions, making presentations, liaising with Indian telecom operators. Slowly, he has been scripting an Indian story in the next generation international wireless standardization, which ensures that equipments talk to each other. In other words, assurance that a radio transmitter built by one company, for instance, effectively communicates with the radio receiver built by another firm.

The man in question, Bhaskar Ramamurthi heads the Centre of quality in Wireless Technology (CEWiT), a society set up jointly by the department of IT (DIT) and industry. One of its missions is to join in these standardizations, addressing Indian market requirements. Historically, the country has been missing the bus when it came to contributing to wireless standard setting. When research organizations and the industry woke up a few years ago, the 3G standard had already been finalized. They currently visualize a good chance with the 4th generation of radio technologies, which seeks to really enhance the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks.

CEWiT is participating in two major ongoing 4G standardization efforts 802.16m and LTE advanced. 802.16 is a series of wireless broadband standards authored by the IEEE, an association that advances scientific innovation. Recently, the IEEE 802.16 Working Group convened in Bangalore to thrash out the new ‘m’ standard.

IEEE P2030 Smart Grid Functioning Group Conference To Be Held At Connectivity week, May 25-28, 2010

2010-05-21T05:50:00.000-07:00

The IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) announced details today of the next meeting of its P2030 Smart Grid Working Group for the clout engineering, communications and information technology industries, which will take place May 25-28 at Connectivity Week at the Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA. The Connectivity Week conference, which begins on Monday, May 24, is designed to blend technical discussions and application strategy into a cohesive understanding of how smart, connected devices and systems will shape the future, providing synergistic venue for IEEE’s P2030 Working Group meeting.

Individuals and organizations interested in shaping the smart grid can register online at Connectivity Week to attend the P2030 meeting in person. Registration includes access to the full Connectivity Week agenda. Alternatively, IEEE will again offer live meeting web conferencing for this event.

Vital Action Required To Secure Undersea Data Transmission, IEEE Statement Says

2010-05-20T00:14:00.000-07:00

It’s not just media pirates and cyber-villains that Web safety experts are concerned about today. Add Somali pirates, terrorists, saboteurs, and petty scrap metal thieves to the list. A report issued by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) says vital action is needed to secure and expand our undersea cables, as a malicious attack or accident could interrupt the incredibly backbone on which the Internet depends, turning global commerce into turmoil.

Undersea cables handle the awesome majority of our communications, carrying more than 99 percent of all data traffic across the oceans. Those cables pass through choke points generally in places where larger bodies of water narrow, such as the Suez Canal or the Luzon strait between Taiwan and the Philippines. At such points cables are susceptible, and damage to them could down entire phone networks or stump data flow to entire regions.

Layer 8 Solutions Provides Power over Ethernet Clocks from Inova Solutions to Canadian Market

2010-05-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

OnTime digital clocks block into an Ethernet jack on your local area network. No AC plug is required, so installation is inexpensive and it’s easy to move clocks around. Power is supplied over standard Cat-5 wiring using the IEEE 802.3af Power over Ethernet standard, the equivalent power source as Voice-over-IP telephones.

OnTime digital clocks are highly accurate and receive coordinated time updates automatically over the network. Inova Solutions keeps things simple by eliminating the need for dedicated software control one or hundreds of clocks from any PC on the network with a effortless telnet session. OnTime clocks will find an accessible Simple Network Time Protocol server on your network, or you can set up a new one, making synchronized time easy. Consistent and perfect time across an organization keeps things running proficiently and easily. In a corporate environment, time exhausted on waiting for co-workers to arrive at a meeting or training session translates directly into lost yield. Synchronized time in manufacturing environments promotes schedule observance, helping the entire team meet output goals. In healthcare facilities, matched time is critical to daily operations, whether it's checking on patients or delivering medications.

WiFi Camps to Combat It Away At 60 GHz

2010-05-14T02:22:00.001-07:00

There's nothing more cruel in ICT than a values battle and there's one brewing over WiFi at 60GHz. It's the usual front line creation competing vendor groups going to market early because standards-setting is too slow.

A swath of international and basically vacant unlicensed 60 GHz spectrum has now become the official battleground for the next Wi-Fi wireless networking technology, IEEE 802.11ad.

The battle for persuade over unlicensed frequencies surrounding 60 GHz and a technology that will give clients access to this spectrum began this week, when interest groups began planning to gain leverage over the 802.11ad standardization process. The action will continue next week in Beijing, when the IEEE will pay attention to proposals for the informative standard.

Tamper Manifest CPU Warns Of Malicious Backdoors

2010-05-13T03:21:00.000-07:00

Scientists have devised a chip design to ensure microprocessors haven not been covertly set with malicious backdoors that could be used to tap sensitive information or obtain instructions from adversaries.

The on-chip engines at the heart of these tamper evident microprocessors are the computer correspondent of cellophane shrink wrap or aluminum seals that flag food or drug packages that have been opened by someone other than the consumer. They are designed to monitor operations curving through a CPU for signs its microcode has been changed by malicious insiders during the design cycle.

At the heart of their proposal are two engines hardwired into a processor that continuously monitor chip interactions for anomalies. One of the engines, dubbed Trust Net, sends an alert whenever a unit executes more or fewer instructions than is expected. A second, called DataWatch, watches chip data for signs the CPU has been maliciously modified.

WiMAX Forum selects Mformation Service Manager for OMA DM Certification

2010-05-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

Mformation Technologies Inc., a leading supplier of superior mobile device management (MDM) solutions, announced the WiMAX Forum has selected Mformation Service Manager for its OMA DM certification platform for 4G WiMAX devices. The Mformation solution is the central orientation point as part of the WiMAX Forum’s comprehensive Open Retail project that tests and certifies WiMAX devices for service activation and remote management.

Mformation’s solutions for OMA DM device management, as specified by the Open Mobile Alliance, allow operators to mechanically configure and manage devices. Activation and remote management of 4G WiMAX devices and services are central to helping operators and handset manufactures deliver a quality end-user experience right out of the box, said Ron Resnick, President and Chairman, WiMAX Forum.

Mformation Service Manager is a market leader and an excellent, strong reference platform for the capabilities upon which the WiMAX Forum relies on as part of our certification work. In addition to reducing the risks related with device management and service delivery for operators and device manufacturers, certification is critical element to driving the 4G WiMAX market forward to ensure products work in any operator network around the globe.

Fujitsu extends notebook battery runtimes

2010-05-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

Fujitsu has improved the battery runtime of it's new Life book notebooks by as much as 75% from the earlier generation, with batteries that last through even the longest flights and workdays.

Energy-efficient notebooks and batteries transform into more efficient work days for users. For notebook users who are frequently on the road, struggling to find a power socket to juice up their notebook until the next stop can be time consuming and annoying.

Fujitsu Life books have constantly had long battery runtimes the latest generation of Li-Ion batteries and a second battery in the modular bay extend these even further. By using superior technologies such as low tolerance, well-matched circuitry and energy-efficient LED displays throughout the portfolio, Fujitsu's Life books are more competent than ever. Fujitsu's Life book E780 even reaches a battery runtime of as much as 18 hours.

Fujitsu's EcoButton offers another advance to battery life, by giving users a simple way to save energy and widen battery runtime. With the touch of a button, users can switch off the most resource-hungry functions such as Fire wire (IEEE 1394), card slots, optical disk drives as well as reducing display brightness. Fujitsu's green approach is also proven by independent organizations; most of Fujitsu's Life books have Energy Star 5.0 and EPEAT Gold certifications.

Power 10 to Go With 40 Gbe

2010-05-07T23:15:00.000-07:00

Force10 Networks will integrate the rising IEEE standard 40 Gigabit Ethernet (40 GbE) into its switch/router solutions to offer the most reasonable incremental step from 10 GbE for dynamic data centers.

The company says that 40 GbE currently represents a more economical increase in Ethernet transmission rates than stepping up to 100 GbE technologies.

From the uplink at the server edge to the network core, Force10 plans to take a guidance role and develop solutions focused on this important emerging IEEE standard. 40 GbE is expected to be ratified by the IEEE in June.

It is an stimulating time as the outlay made by the industry over the past four years in 40 GbE and 100 GbE is set to conclude in June with the authorization of the IEEE P802.3ba standard, said John D'Ambrosia, chair of the IEEE P802.3ba Task Force and director of standards for Force10 Networks. This standard will offer the tools needed to add bandwidth and reduce intricacy in the data centre.

Michael Howard, co-founder and principal forecaster for carrier and data centre networks, Infonetics Research added the inevitable rout of data is causing scaling problems in data centers that are today limited to 10 GbE networks. Even though 100 GbE is preferred, data centre owners are looking for practical relief offered in the lower-cost 40 GbE. 100 GbE makes logic at some point as the technology becomes more cost effective, but customers want solutions to shorten their data centre networks and drive down costs today.

Atheros Aims Designed For Wi-Fi/Power Line Standard

2010-05-06T02:58:00.000-07:00

Combining wireless technologies like Wi-Fi with powerline systems has been discussed for years, but a real constraint is rising in growth areas like the smart grid, home monitoring and full-house digital media networks. Having acquired a powerline chip specialist, Intellon, last year, Wi-Fi bigwig Atheros is looking to incorporate its technologies more closely and, in the process, try to create a de facto standard.

On acquiring Intellon last September, Atheros CEO Craig Barratt said the Wi-Fi/powerline combination, plus Ethernet, could take the role of the backbone of the home network. However, powerline has its own standards issues, with six different candidates, while other wireless platforms like ZigBee and Bluetooth are also looking to drive into the smart home. Atheros hopes its proposal will gather sufficient industry weight to help sort out the standards mess, and is focusing on a mesh networking approach.

A mesh acceptance Wi-Fi and powerline and also the MoCA (Multimedia over Coax) home networking stage would considerably enhance the conception of standardized in-home systems, says Atheros' CTO Bill McFarland. Speaking at the recent Embedded Systems Conference, he said. We are interested in consistency, but we will do it in a focused way. We are only talking about home networking. In the past, various attempts to create mesh standards have floundered because their remit was too broad, covering greatly different mesh applications from metro area networks to military to home.

U.S. Physicist Visualized the Perception of SMS In 1909

2010-05-05T02:15:00.000-07:00

Texting may be a benefit in today's world, but the idea was visualized more than a century ago. And, it was a original American physicist who had predicted about the moveable messaging service, like the SMS, via a hand-held device in the 'Popular Mechanics' magazine in 1909, its Technology Editor Seth Porges has claimed.

Nikola Tesla, the physicist and a mechanical engineer, whose name lives on at the electric car maker Tesla Motors, saw wireless energy as the only way to make electricity flourish, according to Porges.

Telsa wrote in the magazine that one day it would be probable to 'transmit wireless messages' all over the world and likely that such a hand-held device would be simple to use and one day everyone in the world would communicate to friends using it, Porges said. This would accompany in a new era of technology, Telsa wrote in the publication.

Nikola Tesla was able to foresee technology which is still in its emerging forms a
hundred years later. He talked a lot about his other great zeal, which was wireless power.

US, Europe Press China to Plunge Tech Security Rule

2010-04-28T01:46:00.000-07:00

Global technology suppliers face an alarming Chinese deadline to expose the inner workings of computer encryption and other security products in a move the United States and Europe say is protectionist.

Suppliers must fulfill with the rules that take effect Saturday or risk being shut out of the billions of dollars in purchases that the Chinese government makes of smart cards, secure routers, anti-spam software and other security products. Encryption codes and other trade secrets would have to be disclosed to a government panel, and the foreign companies’ worry they might be leaked to Chinese rivals.

It is the latest in a string of disputes over complaints Beijing is using regulations to support its companies at the expense of foreign rivals. It comes less than a month after China defused a separate clash with the United States and Europe by scaling back a plan to favor Chinese technology in government procurement.

Bill Gates touts Teach for America, McDonald’s burgers at MIT

2010-04-22T01:54:00.000-07:00

Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Patron Bill Gates today told Massachusetts Institute of Technology students that there are opportunities for the school's brightest minds to solve some of the world’s biggest problems.

There are less than 100 scientists working on malaria, a disease that kills more than a million people a year, Gates said.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with an endowment of $33.5 billion, supports research and programs in health, education and technology in the United States and developing countries.

Gates stressed that investing in schools is crucial to improving the standard of living. But he said it’s not necessary to go outside the U.S. to work on failing schools.

Gates had no idea of how poorly our education is working, he said. Over 30 percent of kids drop out of high school and if you are a minority the number is over 50 percent. Of the ones who complete high school, many of them have had a really poor education.

Gates hailed the 96 recent MIT graduates who joined Teach for America, a national nonprofit that human resources outstanding college graduates to teach for two years in urban and rural public schools. Every one of those kids who chose the program would have had other opportunities that would have been far more productive, Gates said

How essential Islam might overcome the West: A reprise

2010-04-19T03:37:00.000-07:00

A decade ago they argued that radical Islam might repel the West into acquiescence through the mass forgo of Muslim lives. During the past two weeks Iran has almost invited a nuclear exchange with the West, in a series of statements that blend a disturbed sort of bristle with malicious calculation.

Iran's Kayhan press service warned last week, if the US strikes Iran with nuclear weapons, there are elements which will react with nuclear blasts in the centers of America's main cities. Meanwhile, Behzad Soltani, the number two man at Iran's Atomic Commission, proclaimed last week, Iran will join the world nuclear club within a month in a proposal to daunt possible attacks on the country, adding, No country would even think about attacking Iran once it is in the club.

By the normal standards of subtlety, these statements appear grotesquely false as well as self-defeating. If Iran brags openly that it has delivered nuclear weapons to terrorists weapons that it does not yet possess it invites a Western military response. The menace itself demonstrates that Iran is confident that the West is too supine to respond. Iran has taken our assess well the theocratic rule evinced an infinite enthusiasm for sacrifice during its decade-long war with Iraq in the 1980s. It is swayed, and with good reason, the eventual horror of a military conflict is too terrible for the West to bear.

Barack Obama's favorite weapons

2010-04-17T04:17:00.000-07:00

President's Obama's firm approval, CIA pilotless Predator and harvester whirr planes firing Hellfire arsenal are killing actual and alleged high-level terrorists. As Jane Perlez reports flying overhead, sometimes four at a time in Pakistan, the drones are also betrothed in targeted assassinations in Afghanistan. It has been reported but the CIA and President Obama give us no facts that in his first year, Obama has approved more of these strikes than in George W. Bush's eight years.

Operated half a world away by remote control in Langley, Va. and outside of Las Vegas, the deaths sometimes accidentally include those of guiltless civilians, and are criticized here and in the targeted countries as extra-judicial executions.

Amid the growing argument, State Department Legal Adviser Harold Koh insists that these whine attacks fulfill with all applicable law, including the laws of war.

Koh, when he was Dean of Yale Law School, was a strong opponent of the legal rationalizations of the Bush-Cheney war on terrorism. He is now part of what I call The Obama alteration, along with such other fervent opponents of the previous administration's dark side as Attorney General Eric Holder and CIA Director Leon Panetta. These former critics are now loyal members of the Obama team.

Liverpool Put Up for Sale, New Chairman Appointed

2010-04-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

London Premier League club Liverpool went up for sale on Friday after American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett appointed Barclays Capital to find a buyer.

Following several terminology of curiosity from third parties, the Club has engaged Barclays Capital to warn on the sale process, a report read on the club website (www.liverpoolfc.tv).

The Club has the full sustain of its existing bankers for this process and has financing in place which will fully support the Club's operations.

Liverpool, sixth in the league after a disappointing season, also said that British Airways Chief Martin Broughton had been allotted as chairman with immediate effect and will manage the sale process.

Al Zahra Hospital Organizes Health Awareness Clinic

2010-04-14T23:19:00.000-07:00

Al Zahra Hospital, the first and largest private general hospital in the UAE, planned on Monday its first university health clinic, which took place in Sharjah at the American University of Sharjah campus. The clinic intended at spreading health awareness among young people in the UAE, and was the first in a series of clinics to be organized by Al Zahra that will tour the universities and malls of the UAE in the coming months.

This type of direction program is vital for instilling healthy habits in young people and spreading a culture of prevention. Al Zahra Hospital is dedicated to this cause and we encourage individuals, organizations and communities to understand the importance of this issue, said Dr. Tariq Mehmood, Marketing and Public Relations manager at Al Zahra Hospital.

The campaign plagued students, staff members and faculty, who came in droves to participate. They were all given health screenings, including measurements of BMI, blood pressure, sugar levels, and lung capacity. At the end of the camp, participants were issued health certificates and given directions on how to lead a healthier lifestyle.

Dangers of kids abusing prescription drugs: Physicians warn parents

2010-04-12T22:56:00.000-07:00

With information of increased prescription drug overdoses in emergency departments, the nation's emergency physicians are issuing a strong warning to parents about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs, which are now the second most abused drugs, after marijuana. Hospital visits caused by accidental and unintended prescription drug overdoses went up 37 percent between 1999 and 2006, according to new data released by the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Often when you hear that someone has overdosed on drugs you think of illicit substances, such as cocaine or heroin, said Dr. Angela Gardner, president of the American College of Emergency Physicians. But parents need to know that many young people are taking prescription drugs from the medicine cabinets. Many of the kids mistakenly believe the drugs are not addictive, and they do not recognize they can be lethal.

Practically three-quarters of a million people (741,425) needed emergency care in 2006 because of prescription drug abuse. The types of prescription drugs most commonly harmed are painkillers, such as OxyContin and Vicodin. Also, central nervous system depressants such as Valium and Xanax, are common. Twelve- to 14-year old girls are more likely than boys to have abused prescription drugs and to have higher rates of confidence.

Wilma Man killer Service Likely to Draw Thousands

2010-04-09T22:58:00.000-07:00

Cherokee Nation officials expect thousands of people at the memorial service today for former tribal Chief Wilma Man killer, one of the most apparent American Indian leaders in recent years and among the few women to ever lead a major tribe.

The memorial for Man killer, who died Tuesday at age 64 after a spell with pancreatic cancer, will be held outside at the Cherokee Nation Cultural Grounds in Tahlequah, about 70 miles east of Tulsa.

Volunteers helped set up about 3,000 chairs, and seating will be available during a service that will emphasize Cherokee culture, tribal spokesman Mike Miller said Friday.

Mankiller led the Cherokee Nation, which now has about 290,000 members, from December 1985 until 1995, when she decided not to run for re-election. Under her decade of supervision, the tribe tripled its conscription, doubled employment and built new health centers and children's programs.

She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom the highest civilian honor in the U.S. from President Clinton in 1998. She met with other U.S. presidents and dignitaries, but was also known for working closely with everyday members of the tribe.

UC Berkeley suspensions draw ACLU censure

2010-04-08T00:34:00.000-07:00

UC Berkeley battered its authority by cruelly punishing two student protesters with little evidence of illegal behavior and should change its policies before violating the rights of dozens of others facing restraint, the American Civil Liberties Union told Chancellor Robert Birgeneau this week.

The university's attorney did not quarrel most of the ACLU's objections. We take their letter seriously, said Mike Smith, campus counsel. The recommendation they have about the Student Code of Conduct, they agree with some of them.

The university has been cracking down recently on students who participated in any of several campus protests against budget cuts in November and December. The administration has accused at least 63 students for violating the Code of Student Conduct, which the ACLU said should be modified to protect student’s rights in accordance with state law.

In a nine-page letter, the ACLU analyzed the cases of two students junior Zach Bowin and sophomore Angela Miller who were present on Dec.11 when dozens of protesters shattered windows, lamps and planters at Birgeneau's campus residence. They are the only students disciplined so far. As reported in a recent Chronicle story, dozens of others are being offered suspensions of varying lengths in exchange for avoiding the possibility of more cruel punishment.

Wind Turbine Electrical Control Systems AMSC receives $20mn order

2010-04-06T23:52:00.000-07:00

American Superconductor Corporation, a universal power technologies company, announced that it has received an initial order for full wind turbine electrical control systems worth more than US$20 mn from Ghodawat Energy Pvt. Ltd. (GEPL). Under the provisions of the contract, AMSC will begin shipping the electrical control systems to Ghodawat in the middle of calendar 2010 and will complete all shipments by the end of calendar 2013 at the latest. Ghodawat is the sixth customer to place a volume production order for wind turbine power electronic components or systems with AMSC over the past 12 months.

Pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and energy independence are growing, global concerns that are helping to drive the agreement of clean, renewable power, said Shrenik Ghodawat, Managing Director of GEPL. We are now beginning the production of wind turbines in India that are at the leading edge of technology to help meet this critical need. Our goal is to achieve 25 percent market share in India's wind power market while also building our business in foreign markets.

AMSC's wind turbine electrical control systems and core electrical components include the company's proprietary PowerModuleT power converters, hurl and yaw converters, SCADA systems and other power electronics. They enable consistent, high-performance wind turbine operation by controlling power flows, regulating voltage, monitoring system performance, controlling the pitch of wind turbine blades and the yaw of the turbines to maximize efficiency.

Assembly-line schools from a long-gone era

2010-04-04T23:08:00.000-07:00

Despite the fading of most of the steel mills from our state, the assembly-line method is alive and well. It can be observed nearly intact in many of our high schools. The traditional high school structure emerged as a parallel to the factory model that saw a division of labor, mechanical routines and large-scale production as the most efficient way to make things whether the products were steel beams, automobiles or prolific citizens.

Consider the start of seven classes a day, 45 minutes each, in rooms filled with students sitting in orderly rows writing down notes and completing cyclic exercises in preparation for multiple-choice exams. This is an efficient method of material production, but it's no way to educate human beings.

Under such conditions, it should not be surprising that the products these industrial-era schools discharges into our communities often lack the ability to join forces with others and hold in the critical analysis necessary for success in a complex society. Many of our young people are set wandering in a world they don't fully understand and have skills to influence.

Cloud Computing Improves Security, Unisys Architect Says

2010-04-01T02:12:00.000-07:00

It's nice to see usual wisdom flipped on its head sometimes. A good example of CW flipping comes with remarks by Unisys Chief Architect Scott Sanchez, who will convey a gathering at the upcoming Cloud Expo at the Javits Center in New York entitled, How Cloud Computing Improves Security.

The thinking behind this title, of course, runs counter to the soaked of hands and gnashing of teeth by IT managers and consultants about the potential security problems posed by a student body left shit to Cloud Computing. As he writes, we are constantly bombarded with articles and presentations about the security risks in cloud computing and why organizations need to be concerned about them as they consider a move. The truth is that organizations need to be concerned about security but they needn’t be paralyzed by fear.

In fact, he continues, the sensitive concern we are seeing has actually become a prompt to action and has begun to drive cloud security to a whole new level.

Scott's session, which will be held on Tuesday, April 20 at 9:10am, will spotlight on the key areas where a successful voyage to cloud computing can actually improve security and reduce risk, and address some of the major issues to account for before and during that migration, he writes.

Indian-American engineer set to transform US power grid

2010-03-30T23:56:00.000-07:00

Though the US power trade is one of the supreme engineering marvels, ageing technology and an increase in demand are creating problems for the power grid that needs fixing. Now, an Indian-American engineer is set to transform the way power is generated.

Venkat Selvamanickam, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Houston, is developing a technology with high temperature superconducting wires that is revolutionizing the way power is generated, transported and used.

It is expected that high-temperature superconducting wires could eliminate 131 million tones of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and equalize the emission of the equivalent of 40 conventional power-generating plants.

The country’s electric transmission grid currently consists of about 160,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, with forecasters predicting an additional 12,900 miles needed over the next five years to meet increasing demand, said Selvamanickam.

Superconducting power cables can spread up to 10 times more power than traditional copper cables without the major loss of traditional cables and are considered environmentally friendly.

Finisar, EXFO, and Ixia demonstrate 100G Ethernet optical link

2010-03-29T23:41:00.000-07:00

Finisar Corp., maker of high-speed optical communications, jointly with EXFO Inc. and Ixia, demonstrated a standard-compliant 100G Ethernet (100GE) optical link at OFC in San Diego last week. The display consisted of an Ixia "K2" 100G tester and an EXFO 40G/100G Ethernet Packet Blazer tester communicating error-free at 103.1 Gb/s using Finisar's 100GE-LR4 CFP optical transceiver modules.

Error-free process was demonstrated by transmitting IP packets between the 100G testers over 20 kilometers of single-mode fiber, exceeding the 10 kilometer maximum distance being standardized for this application.

The Finisar FTLC1181R optical transceiver modules are compliant with the CFP Multi-source Agreement (MSA) and support the 100GBASE-LR4 (4 x 25 Gb/s) optical interface defined by the IEEE P802.3ba Draft standard. They are part of a family of Finisar CFP transceivers that also includes 40G Ethernet single-mode and multimode fiber versions. Finisar's entire portfolio of CFP transceiver modules employ internally developed integrated circuits and internally packaged optics.

Next Up, Learning

2010-03-29T00:02:00.000-07:00

After more than a year when the focus remained fixed on the doctor's office and the hospital room, attention switches this week to the classrooms of America. Today, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan will announce the first-round winners of the Race to the Top, the $4 billion competition he set up to reward the states with the most motivated plans for improving their public schools.

When I asked Duncan last week what he hoped people would say about this extraordinary contest, he responded, so many were skeptical when we announced this a year ago as part of the stimulus package. I hope they recognize now that a very high bar has been set.

Duncan, the tall former Chicago schools chief who plays pickup basketball with the president, has been given what none of his predecessors in the Education Department ever had a giant chunk of cash, borrowed from abroad as part of the two-year, $787 billion effort to liberate the economy from subside. Fifteen of the 40 states that submitted plans were named as finalists in the Race to the Top earlier this month, along with the District of Columbia. The winners will pick up millions for their advance projects.

Oracle Is Quick to Recover

2010-03-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

Oracle Corp. felt the recession effect later than most companies in the technology sector. But the software maker does not have to wait as long to recover.

The producer of database and business software posted a 17% raise in revenue for its fiscal third quarter, marking its second successive quarter of growth after a string of declines in the recession.

While Oracle's profit fell 11% in the quarter because of charges related to its achievement of computer-server maker Sun Microsystems Inc., which closed in late January, the company forecast strong growth. Oracle projected total revenue for the current quarter would jump 31% to 36% from a year earlier.

"Our channel is very strong in both software and hardware," said Safra Catz, Oracle's co-president.

The demand is coming from clients like Matthew Leeds, vice president of operations at digital media company Gracenote, a division of Sony Corp. Mr. Leeds thought he plans to buy software from Oracle and hardware from Sun before the end of the month. "I have the budget so I'm placing an order," he said.

Oil giants propose limiting federal lapse of fracturing

2010-03-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

BP, ConocoPhillips and Shell Oil Co. have provided Senate lawmakers with speech to include in a pending climate change bill that essentially would block federal oversight of hydraulic fracturing, a skill that's key to the current natural gas drilling boom.

The companies arranged the document, according to sources familiar with it, at the appeal of the Senate team that is drafting climate change law, which includes Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., Lindsey Graham, and R-S.C., and Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn.
If integrated into the climate change law, it would keep the Environmental Protection Agency from striking regulations on fracturing, which is now regulated at the state level.

The document recommends that states adopt standards for disclosing the contents of hydraulic fracturing chemicals “to health professionals or state agencies” in order to protect health or environmental safety but maintain “the confidentiality of trade secret information” in the fluids.

Detecting bogus wine vintages: It's an (atomic) blast

2010-03-23T22:26:00.000-07:00

Two decades of atomic bomb testing in the atmosphere are yielding an unexpected bonus for consumers, scientists reported here at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). It's a new test to decide whether that Bordeaux or burgundy is from a fine vintage year and commands premium price or actually is a counterfeit vine ordinaries or cheap plonk worth much less.

Graham Jones, Ph.D., who headed the research, said that misrepresenting the vintage the year the wine was made is an ongoing problem. He is with the University of Adelaide, Australia. Some years bring perfect rising conditions for vineyards in a country or region of a country and the grapes produce excellent wines that command premium prices. In other years, bad weather, such as heavy late-season rains that bloat grapes with water or long hot, dry spells at harvest, means poor quality wines. Some wine experts estimate that up to 5 percent of the fine wine sold today is fake.

Images of Catholic Health Association Notable Health Reform

2010-03-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

Catholic Health Association Congratulates Nation's Leaders for Enacting Notable Health Reform

2010-03-21T21:58:00.000-07:00

The Catholic Health Association applauds the U.S. House of Representatives and President Obama for enacting health care reform legislation that will bring security and health to millions of American families. The reform law will save and improve lives across our country. It represents great progress in the long effort to make health care available and affordable to everyone in the United States.

We call upon the U.S. Senate to move quickly to enact the accompanying correction legislation in order that the full benefits of reform become a reality.

While not perfect, the reform law notably expands coverage, especially to low-income and weak populations, and is a tremendous step toward protecting human pride and promoting the common good. The law will prevent insurance companies from denying policies to those with pre-existing conditions protect families from bankruptcy due to medical expenses help small businesses provide insurance for their workers improve Medicare drug benefit coverage by closing the doughnut hole and significantly cut the federal deficit. Most importantly, 32 million people who were previously uninsured will be able to obtain meaningful coverage at an affordable price.

New TSA consultant fights for Muslim rights

2010-03-19T22:57:00.000-07:00

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Nawar Shora, the legal director for the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee, has sparred with the federal government over what he saw as security abuses against minorities. Now, he is joining the Transportation Security Administration as a senior consultant for its office of civil rights and liberties.

Shora, 33, said the move next month to the Department of Homeland Security will back up what he has been telling interns for a decade, urging them to enter federal service.

"I'm finally practicing what I preach," said Shora, a self-described "Arab country boy" who was born in Syria and raised in Huntington, W.Va.

Airlines expand admittance to mobile boarding passes

2010-03-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

Paper boarding passes could become an scarce species as more airlines offer boarding passes via mobile devices, which allow you to download a bar code to your Web-enabled phone or other device in place of printing a piece of paper.

United Airlines began offering the service last week in 13 airports. The airline expects to expand the service to 30 other airports by summer, according to a spokeswoman.

"It gives customers added convenience," said Sarah Massier, a United spokeswoman.
American Airlines last week added 19 new airports to the eight where it already had offered the service.

Hosted Drupal CMS intended for midyear

2010-03-17T21:29:00.000-07:00

Acquia hopes to make a hosted description of its Drupal open-source content management system extensively available in about three months, the company's CTO said Wednesday.

The service, called Drupal Garden, is in beta testing now with a "couple of thousand" users, said Dries Buytaert, who created Drupal and cofounded Acquia to build a commercial business around it. The service will be based on Drupal 7, an upgrade to the CMS software that will be released at about the same time, Buytaert said at the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Drupal is a software platform for publishing Web sites and managing text, images and other content on those sites. It has been used by folks to publish blogs and by larger organizations, including the White House and NASA, to run their Web sites.

Michelle Obama talks anti-corpulence to food giants

2010-03-16T21:20:00.000-07:00

WASHINGTON | Michelle Obama is urging the nation’s largest food companies to speed up efforts to make healthier foods and reduce marketing of unhealthy foods to children.

Obama asked the companies, gathered at a meeting of the Grocery Manufacturers Association on Tuesday, to “step it up” and put less fat, salt and sugar in foods.

“We need you not to just twist around the edges but totally rethink the products you are offering, the information that you provide about these products, and how you market those products to our children,” she said.

US consulate employees killed in Mexico drug wars

2010-03-14T23:55:00.000-07:00

The drug wars in Mexico took a menacing turn over the weekend when a US consulate employee and her husband were killed as they left a children's birthday party in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most violent city. Only minutes earlier gunmen also killed the Mexican husband of another member of the consular staff and wounded his two children.

While a number of US citizens have been killed in Mexico's increasingly bloody drug wars between rival cartels, it is the first time an American government employee has been killed.

President Barack Obama has expressed outrage over the killings, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon promised a swift investigation.

for more details refer website : http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7061983.ece

American Airlines facing $787,500 in protection fines from FAA

2010-03-12T22:16:00.000-08:00

The Federal Aviation Administration proposed fines of $787,500 against American Airlines Inc. on Friday for three cases involving improper maintenance.

American said it had seen the FAA's findings and plans to meet with FAA officials after it reviews them.

"American Airlines is very proud of our safety record and our employees' commitment to safety every day," spokesman Tim Smith said. "Safety is fundamental to the American Airlines culture and to our success."

The biggest penalty, $625,000, was for allowing a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 to fly even though the aircraft had problems with one of its two central air data computers, the FAA said.

Auto parts firm Sensata's shares rise in debut

2010-03-11T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hopes for a recovering auto industry buoyed car parts maker Sensata Technologies Holding in its market debut on Thursday, sending its shares up as much as 5.6 percent.

Sensate manufactures sensors for automakers, thermal circuit breakers for aircraft, temperature controllers for electric motors, and other industrial technology. In 2009 more than half of its revenue came from the auto industry.

"One of its biggest customers right now is Ford and Ford is cranking on all cylinders," said IPO Boutique Senior Managing Partner Scott Sweet.
Ford Motor Co's U.S. sales of cars and light trucks in February were 45.3 percent ahead of where they were a year ago.

For details refer website : http://in.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idINTRE62A31K20100312?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

IBM hopes to make mobile devices more accessible

2010-03-10T22:06:00.000-08:00

IBM is embarking on a research project to design mobile gadgets that are easier to use for people who have disabilities or aren't fully cultured.
As part of the project, announced Wednesday, Big Blue will collaborate with India's National Institute of Design and the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology.

The goal is to develop a common interface for mobile devices that will make them easier to use. As digital information becomes more vital, IBM said, it believes the Internet needs to be more reachable to a wider range of people, including those who are illiterate, blind, deaf, and elderly, and those in developing countries.

"Through this collaborative research proposal, we will uncover real information convenience requirements and issues that the elderly and people in developing economies are facing today," Chieko Asakawa, an IBM Fellow and chief technology officer of IBM's accessibility research, said in a statement. "By focusing on mobile devices, which have a tremendous potential to empower them, we believe the findings will help us offer reasonable services to a large population, who are still deprived of access to key information sources."

Images of American Spaceship

2010-03-09T21:31:00.000-08:00

Lost in Time, Letters Confine American Grief for a President

2010-03-08T21:14:00.000-08:00

Days after President John F. Kennedy was killed, Dr. Ira Seiler sat at his desk and wrote a letter of concern to his widow, Jacqueline Kennedy.

“Today, on Thanksgiving, I wholeheartedly sense his death for it was just three years ago today that I forced my breath into the lungs of his newly born son,” Dr. Seiler wrote. John F. Kennedy Jr. was born premature, Dr. Seiler, a pediatric resident, said he placed a tube in the baby’s trachea and breathed air into his lungs.

“I met your husband only once after this but the part I played in saving his son’s life gave me a feeling of deep closeness to your husband,” Dr. Seiler wrote. He added “I only wish I had been able to give my life in place of that of your husband. He had so much to offer.”

For more details visit website : http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/09/us/09kennedy.html

American falls to Lehigh, 79-57, in Patriot League men's basketball semifinals

2010-03-07T21:56:00.000-08:00

Jeff Jones set the outline minutes after fourth-seeded American's 79-57 loss at top-seeded Lehigh in the Patriot League semifinals on Sunday when the Eagles coach told his team to enjoy the upcoming break from the season's conclusion, but understand what awaits this off season.
"In all of my years as a head coach," said Jones, who coached eight years at Virginia and has been at American for 10, "this will be by far the hardest off season of any team."
Jones said the players must "face adversity" and "grow up physically and mentally."

for more details visit site:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/07/AR2010030703784.html

American Airlines flight attendants may strike after talks

2010-03-04T22:13:00.000-08:00

Flight attendants for the airline may strike subsequent a reported failure to reach an agreement with contract planning Dallas, Texas Flight attendants for American Airlines may strike following a failure to come to an agreement during contract discussions Wednesday night. As reported by the Dallas Morning News, the Association of Professional Flight Attendants recently spoke of plans to request that the National Mediation Board begin a 30-day cooling-off period, which could lead to a strike by the union.

Wireless-Wi-Fi Images

2010-03-03T23:02:00.000-08:00

This images show a brief idea how wireless Wi-fi works and the block diagram.

Skype in train:America

2010-03-02T22:47:00.000-08:00

For years, rail travel in North especiallyAmerica has seemed more like sea travel attractive, but not a vital part of the useful. However, in Europe and Asia, trains important way people get around. They’re fast and reliable, but most for the business traveler, you don’t have to switch off your phone when the train pulls out of the station. And increasingly, you don’t have to log off Face book either.
Onboard Wi-Fi in Europe has become as fast and reliable as the trains themselves, and this month, Amtrak in the U.S. is following suit The rail company launched limited service two days ago, and Via has decided service by the end of the year to upgrade its disappointing.

For more details refer site:http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/travel/skype-on-a-train/article1487226/

Almost a best Olympics for North America: McCollum's Column

2010-03-01T21:58:00.000-08:00

The Winter Olympics ended perfectly for those in North America.
The last bureaucrat event was one of the greatest and most exciting Olympic ice hockey games ever played when Canada won the gold medal it had to win with the 2-1 sudden-death victory over the Americans.U.S. won most medals. Canada won most gold medals.
The Russians, who went home humiliated in hockey and failed to win a figure skating gold, went home to what we expect to be a rigorous training program or else (Siberia has a year-round winter climate) when it hosts in four years.

At the closing ceremony, the Canadians ran out just about every icon entertainer and every classic symbol of the country and found a way to work parts of “Oh Canada” (one of the best as national anthems) in almost all segments.

For more details refer website:http://thecabin.net/news/2010-03-01/mccollums-column-almost-best-case-olympics-north-america

Tsunami warning lifted in much of south Pacific region

2010-02-28T20:45:00.000-08:00

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Sunday canceled its tsunami warning for many countries in the Pacific region.

The center's warning has been lifted in French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Tonga, American Samoa, Tokelau, Fiji, Hawaii the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Solomon Islands, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, the Pitcairn Islands, Niue, Guam, the Northern Marianas, Pohnpei, Chuuk and Yap.

The warning, issued after a magnitude 8.8 earthquake struck Chile, sparked evacuations in some countries but many people have now been told they can return home.

French Polynesia appeared to have suffered the worst effects of the tsunami with the Marquesas islands in the north of French Polynesia experiencing waves up to four meters high, Radio New Zealand International reported. There are no reports of casualties or major damage. The measurement for Tahiti is 40 cm.

Democrats Are Listening to the American People Opinion

2010-02-25T21:57:00.003-08:00

On Thursday, I sat down with President Obama and my congressional colleagues from both parties to try to find a way out of the health care crisis looming our families and businesses. It was a time to face facts none of us can deny that insurance premium doubled more than last decade, with no sign of stopping that most of our smallest businesses can't afford to cover their employees anymore that America pays more per person for health care than any other mechanized country in the world, without seeing better health.

Those are some of the reasons Democrats have worked so hard to pass a centrist health reform bill, many of whose provisions are similar to those endorsed by former Republican Senate leaders Bob Dole and Howard Baker. At today's summit, we also discussed the numerous bipartisan areas of agreement that already exist and are already in the health care bill. I believe in bipartisan conciliation but Senate Minority Leader John Boehner's recent AOL News op-ed piece was more about political talking points than common solutions. It deserves a line by line rebuttal.

"Americans want Washington to scrap this job-killing government takeover of health care and start over."

It's really the growing cost of health care that's killing jobs. A study from economists at USC and Harvard shows that passing health insurance reform would create 4 million more jobs over the next decade.

Travel Alert for Mexico

2010-02-24T21:54:00.000-08:00

This week the U.S. Department of State extended its travel alert for Mexico, adding two Mexican states to the areas it warns U.S. travelers to avoid. The updated alert includes Durango and Coahuila in northern Mexico.

The killing of four U.S. citizens in late 2009 and early 2010 in Gomez Palacio, Durango, contributed to the updated alert, the State Department said in a release. "The cities of Durango and Gomez Palacio in the state of Durango, and the area known as 'La Laguna' in the state of Coahuila, which includes the city of Torreon, experienced sharp increases in violence," the department said. Drug trafficking is the primary cause of the rise in violence, the release said.

The alert could be a further blow to Mexican tourism, which is recovering after reports of violence and H1N1 virus concerns significantly reduced the number of tourists in Mexico during 2009. The State Department continued to urge travelers to delay unnecessary travel to Michoacán in central Mexico and Chihuahua.

For more details refer to the site:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704240004575085532638748128.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Brake override software-Toyota Canada to install on extended range of vehicles

2010-02-23T22:19:00.000-08:00

TORONTO --Toyota Canada is offering to install new protection software on three more vehicles, on Tuesday adding the Tacoma, Venza and Sequoia to a list of cars and trucks eligible for a brake override system intended to protect against brake or accelerator pedal problems.

The move is part of an enduring attempt by Toyota to resolve its tattered public image, but analysts questioned whether the move could backfire.
"Toyota's got to be very careful," said Tony Faria, co-director of the automotive research centre at the University of Windsor.

"Almost anything they do is going to get media attention, and while they're going to try and organize what they're doing, the way the actions they take are interpreted are not necessarily always going to be the way Toyota is hoping those actions are going to be interpreted."

The Japanese automaker has recalled 8.5 million vehicles worldwide in recent months to deal with safety problems involving gas pedals, floor mats and brakes, some of which have been linked to fatal accidents. In Canada, a total of 270,000 vehicles have been recalled due to a problem involving sticky accelerator pedals.