NEWSLETTER OF
THE
MARCH 2006
The web site for the
IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Signal Processing Society and AES
Society Joint Meeting Notice
2. Reliability
Society Luncheon Meeting Notice
3. Lasers
and Electro-Optics Society Meeting Notice
5. Maryland
Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
6. Subject:
IEEE Mentoring Program Pilot Invitation - Call for Mentors
7. IEEE
Personal Financial Plan for Members
1. Signal Processing Society and AES Society Joint Meeting Notice
We have a meeting planned for March 2 that will feature a talk by Dr. Damon Tull, who leads a start-up company specializing in high-quality image processing R & D (DVIP Multimedia, Inc.). A synopsis of this presentation is given below.
This meeting will be a joint meeting of the Signal Processing Society and the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society (AES). We are attempting to revive the AES Society so some of the signal processing meetings will be joint meetings with AES. If anyone is interested in running the AES Society, you can let me know.
Please respond to ronald_aloysius@ieee.org if you are planning to attend this meeting. Also, let me know if you will be joining us afterwards at Ruby Tuesdays for dinner so I can make reservations. The IEEE will only pay for the speaker’s dinner. The rest of us need to pay our own way.
Topic:
A Biologically Motivated "In-Situ" Digital Image Formation
Speaker:
Damon Tull, Ph.D
CEO
DVIP Multimedia, Inc.
Date:
Thursday, March 2, 2006
Time:
5:45 PM: Refreshments.
6:00 PM: Presentation.
Location:
Historical
410-765-0230
Directions below
Please respond to:
Special Note:
Dinner afterwards at Ruby Tuesdays.
Abstract
In this talk we describe the need to reform the image formation strategies of present day digital imaging systems. The current digital image formation strategies, inherited from film photography, allow image distortions to corrupt the final image and to limit the utility of the image after capture.
Recent discoveries in biological image formation reveal mechanisms that predict and prevent image distortions. These mechanisms are expected to have a significant impact on digital image processing.
DVIP Multimedia, Inc. has begun to capture these mechanisms in a class of adaptive algorithms and, in this talk, the impact of these algorithms in the area of image restoration is demonstrated. We will conclude with a discussion of future directions.
Keywords: Image Formation, Biological Imaging Mechanisms
Biography
Dr. Damon Tull is co-founder and President of DVIP
Multimedia Inc., an early stage digital imaging company that produces advanced
imaging software technology targeted for mission critical digital imaging
systems. He is the author of a number of publications, patents, and standards
contributions in digital video and image processing. He has experience at some of the nation's premier
academic and corporate research centers.
He holds the BSEE degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the
MSEE and PhD (EE) degrees from
Directions to HEM:
The Historical Electronics Museum (HEM) is located near BWI airport. The address for the HEM is:
Historical
410-765-0230
The directions for the HEM are as follows:
From
Route
Take West Nursery Road exit, turn left
at light and go through four stoplights.
Museum is on the left, next to the
Marriott Hotel.
From
Route 97
Turn right at sixth light onto
Turn right at second light onto
Museum is on the right, next to the
Marriott Hotel.
From
Route
Take West Nursery Road exit, stay right
on ramp.
Go through three stoplights.
Museum is on the left, next to the
Marriott Hotel.
From Route 195
Route 170 North (
Left at first light onto
Left at light onto
Right onto
Museum is on the right next to the
Marriott Hotel.
From Interstate 95
Exit onto I95 East to 295 North and
follow directions from
2. Reliability Society Luncheon Meeting Notice
Topic:
Prognostics and Health Monitoring
Speaker:
Dr. Michael Pecht
Chair
Professor and Director of the CALCE Electronic Products and
Date:
Friday March 17th 2006
Time:
11:30 am
Location:
Northrop Grumman ES
MS 1300-1
Conference Room
Please RSVP by March 13th to:
Walt Willing
(410) 765-7372 / (443) 622-3390 (cell)
Special Notes:
Attendees must be US Citizens
Pizza and Sodas will be provided
Abstract:
There has been a growing interest in monitoring the ongoing "health" of products and systems in order to receive an early warning to avoid catastrophic failure and to be able to schedule preventative maintenance. In this presentation, various prognostic methods to assess the health, as well as the remaining life, of products will be explained. These methods involve sensing and interpretation of the product's operating parameters and environment to continuously assess the amount of a product's degradation. A case study to estimate the remaining life of a printed circuit board assembly in an automobile under-hood environment will be presented. Studies to assess the electronics in the NASA space shuttle arm and booster rockets will also be discussed. Some additional examples of in-situ semiconductor health monitors and MEMS sensors for health monitoring will then be given, along with concepts for future research development.
Directions to Northrop Grumman:
Take I-95 or I-295 to I-195 East (Toward
Exit onto
At 3rd Light, Turn Left into Northrop Grumman Parking Lot (GATE 2)
Look for Visitor Parking Spaces,
Please do not park in reserved spaces.
Look for Visitor Entrance and sign in.
We will have escorts to bring you to the Conference Room.
3. Lasers and Electro-Optics Society Meeting Notice
The Baltimore Chapter of the Lasers and Electro-Optics
Society is pleased to announce the next speaker in the Chapter’s Technical
Seminar Series. The event will be held
at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Howard County
Room 3 on Wednesday March 29. A light
dinner will be served at
Speaker:
Dale Linne von Berg, Naval Research Laboratory
Topic:
System Considerations for Networked Airborne
Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance Systems
Location:
JHU Applied Physics Laboratory Howard County Room 3
Date:
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Time:
6PM Dinner
7PM Lecture
Also, keep in mind the upcoming 2nd Annual Baltimore and DC/Northern VA LEOS Chapter Co-Sponsored Graduate Student Poster Competition on Wednesday, April 26. Original or recently published poster presentations from graduate students in the Baltimore-DC-Northern Virginia area are welcome. An independent panel of judges will evaluate the posters, and a cash award and merit certificate will be awarded to the best poster. All students and professionals from the region are welcome to come for education, networking, talent scouting, etc.
4. Robot Challenge
The Robot Challenge will be held on April 22 and 23 at the
5. Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation
The following is a message from Janine McDonald at the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.
“Dear Communications and Media Professionals:
Recently I have come on board at the Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation in the position of Communications Specialist for their five professional licensing design boards: Architects, Professional Engineers, Professional Land Surveyors, Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects. I will be handling editorial and publications responsibilities for their newsletter, ByDesign posted on DLLR's Web site as well as communications outreach to licensees and consumers.
Although primarily a vehicle for the Design Boards and the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing, ByDesign often includes information from various associations representing the five professions. There may be occasions when you have information about your organization and/or its members you believe worthy of inclusion in the newsletter. If so, we would welcome your submitting it to us for consideration. Please direct your material to me at jmcdonald@dllr.state.md.us. Of course, we reserve the right to both determine its appropriateness for ByDesign and to edit it as we deem necessary.
I am located at Maryland Department of Labor, Licensing
and Regulation,
Cordially,
Janine S. McDonald
Administrative Officer/Communications Specialist”
6. Subject: IEEE Mentoring Program Pilot Invitation - Call for Mentors
IEEE is offering its members the opportunity to participate in an online program designed to match IEEE members for the purpose of facilitating a mentoring partnership. We value your involvement in IEEE activities and ask that you use your career and life experiences to help other IEEE members in their professional development through a mentoring partnership.
IEEE is partnering with The Training Connection, a vendor that has developed a web-based mentoring program to facilitate the matching process. Participation in the pilot program is voluntary and open to all IEEE members above the grade of Student Member. Presently, we are operating the program as a pilot with members residing in Region 1 (Northeastern United States) and would like to increase our potential mentor pool with IEEE members residing in Regions 2 (Eastern United States) and 3 (Southeastern United States). If you are interested in being a mentor, or would be interested in additional information on the program, please go to http://www.ieee.org/mentoring. This IEEE site also provides the information necessary for access to enter the program’s web site by offering the Group ID.
We hope that you have the interest and time to participate! If you have any questions, please contact Cathy Downer, IEEE Mentoring Program Coordinator at:
mailto:c.downer@ieee.org.
7. IEEE Personal Financial Plan for Members
The following is some information about financial planning for IEEE members.
Larry N. Grogan is President of Grogan Advisory Services. Serving IEEE since 2005, Grogan Advisory Services is an independent financial services firm focusing on planning to strategically guide our clients through life stages. Grogan Advisory Services offers complete financial planning, asset management, insurance, analytical portfolio analysis, and consultation.
Immediately, through March 31, 2006, Grogan Advisory Services is offering free portfolio reviews for all IEEE members. This review will identify exactly how your assets are allocated, diversified, risk / reward analysis, sectors, stock overlap and more. A free and confidential consultation is included.
In addition, we are offering a 50% discount on all financial plans through March 31. We offer 5 distinct financial plans and each plan is customized for your needs and will assist you in any financial goal you may have. To learn more about our plans go:
http://www.efs529.com/ieeefinancial/index.cfm
View our recent presentation made for the Region 2 Spring Conference at:
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/2/R2M/2006/feb_06/index_Meeting_060204.htm
8. Continuing EE Education
We are re-running this request for interest in a continuing education program. This program will be in the format of seminars focused on a particular topic of interest. The seminars may run either during the week after work hours or possibly on Saturday. The idea for the program is described below.
Name of project: Continuing EE Education (“CEEE”)
Goal: A section-level program aimed at:
Updating the IEEE members on new developments in the EE field.
Familiarizing engineers with basic new tools, products and techniques as well as giving them the initial knowledge and skills to use them.
Inviting representatives from different vendors to present leading novel products.
Giving tutorials in new areas.
Helping IEEE fellow members become more competitive, especially in times of uncertain jobs, off-shoring and salary stagnation.
Facilitating networking.
Broadening the horizon of each IEEE member.
Fostering collaboration between members of different societies as well as generation of new ideas (“cross-pollination” element).
The program should be open to all IEEE members, including students. It is meant to be a cross-societies initiative, i.e. should not be limited to narrow topics serving the interests of a single chapter only. Emphasis should be placed on meeting with experienced experts from different fields. Critical comparisons between different solutions of EE problems are expected to be made, and trends should be discussed.
Potential topics of interest could include, but are not limited to:
Software tools:
Programming languages
Compilers
Real-Time Operating systems
Debuggers
Emulators
Hardware tools:
Novel electronic components
Single-Board Computers (SBC)
Embedded solutions
FPGAs
Printed circuit board design (schematics capture, layout)
Circuit simulation (PSPICE)
Portable devices
Signal and image processing (examples, tools, help)
Wireless devices:
Theory
Standards
Available OEM products
Trends
Internet-based methods and devices:
Standards
Available tools
Contemporary design tools (like AutoCad and Solid Works)
Reliability and Compliance issues
We plan to invite qualified speakers from academia, industry and governmental institutions. The speakers will be professionals who can give first-hand information and share front-line experience on the technology, methods and tools being presented.
We plan to organize 2-4 meetings annually. Each meeting is planned to last for 2 hours or more. We could meet on weekdays, or on Saturdays.
Please send us your suggestions and preferences regarding topics, time and place of meetings, the name/acronym of the program etc.
Boris Gramatikov
Chair,
Bgramat@jhmi.edu