The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is considered as the platform of choice for providing a unified session control on top of various access network technologies for realizing flexible multimedia applications. IMS, with its access-agnostic session layer, is also driving the concept of merging the fixed and mobile telecommunication networks with the Internet and the adoption of IP technologies within the telecom domain. IMS represents conceptually a combination of the traditional fixed and mobile networks from the telecom domain with emerging VoIP and Internet applications in order to implement a seamless multimedia service environment. This tutorial will address IMS vision, IMS concepts, procedures, protocols and services, fixed-mobile convergence, standardization activities, and early deployments of IMS networks.

After completing this course you should be able to develop an understanding of:

Concepts, principles, applications, services, and real-world experiences of IMS

Biography

Vijay K. Varma is a Senior Scientist in the Wireless Systems Research Department of Telcordia Technologies, Red Bank, NJ. He has over 20 years experience in wireless communications and has been involved in various systems issues, including modulation techniques, speech coding, signaling and call control protocols, wireless data, mobility management protocols, and wireless network architectures.

2. Baltimore IEEE Aerospace & Electronic Systems Meeting

Date: Wed Dec 5, 6pm

Thanks to everyone's support at the October meeting in Westminster, MD. Our next speaker is Joey Sevin, Navy Programs Director of Mercury Federal Systems. The topic is Enhanced Synthetic Vision System (E/SVS).The E/SVS is for air, land, and sea operations. We also expect to select officers for 2008, so please make an effort to attend if you are interested.

The meeting will be held at the Historic Electronic Museum (http://hem-usa.org/) at 1745 West Nursery Road, Linthicum, MD 21090.

Please sign up at our website (http://baltimore.ieeeaes.com/), which is a forum for AES communications, as well as a repository for meeting materials and research references.

Directions to HEM: http://hem-usa.org/pdf/directions.pdf

From Baltimore:

Route 295 South (Baltimore Washington Parkway)

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 Annapolis:

Route 97 North

Take BWI Airport exit. Right at first light onto Aviation Boulevard.

Turn right at sixth light onto Elkridge Landing Road.

Turn right at second light onto West Nursery Road.

Museum is on the right, next to the Marriott Hotel.

From Washington:

Route 295 North (Baltimore Washington Parkway)

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 (Camp Meade Road) towards Linthicum.

Left at first light onto Elm Road.

Left at light onto Elkridge Landing Road.

Right onto West Nursery Road.

Museum is on the right next to the Marriott Hotel.

From Interstate 95:

Exit onto I95 East to 295 North and follow directions from Washington (above)

3. Aerospace and Electronic Systems, Computer, and Communications Societies

The Baltimore Section is looking for individuals to assume the roles of chapter chairs of the local chapters of the Aerospace and Electronic Systems Society, the Computer Society and the Communications Society until new elections can be held. Anyone interested please contact:

Bill Semancik (wsemancik@ieee.org)

4. Update on Maryland Legislature Proposal to Tax Computer Services.

Despite 400 letters being sent in opposition to the tax on computer services, the Maryland Legislature passed the law. Efforts should be made by IEEE members to contact their legislators. According to an e-mail sent out by the Tech Council of Maryland, two other states repealed similar laws within months of the laws being passed. Considering the competitive disadvantage that this will place on Maryland computer based businesses compared with businesses in surrounding states, there is reason to continue the dialog with lawmakers.

5. Financial Engineering: a Growing Career Path for Technical Professionals

The following is a paid advertisement by T. Rowe Price, a leading global investment management firm.

It might surprise you to hear that the financial industry is now one of the hottest destinations for sharp-minded engineers. And for good reason, says Richard T. Whitney, head of Quantitative Equities at Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price, a leading global investment management firm.

“The financial industry has matured to a point where sophisticated and innovative models are now a big part of decision-making,” explains Whitney. This is prompting many financial firms to reach out to engineers and others with technical backgrounds to apply their expertise to the world of investing.

See the following website for more information:

http://www.troweprice.com/financialengineering

6. Upcoming Conferences

The following conferences are planned for Maryland, Washington, DC, and Northern Virginia. This list can be used for planning purposes and also represents potential volunteering opportunities.

2007 IEEE 38th Semiconductor Interface Specialists Conference (SISC)

06 Dec - 08 Dec 2007

Key Bridge Marriott

Arlington, VA

http://www.ieeesisc.org/

2007 Winter Simulation Conference - (WSC 2007)

09 Dec - 12 Dec 2007

JW Marriott Hotel

Washington, DC

http://www.wintersim.org

2007 IEEE International Electron Devices Meeting (IEDM)

10 Dec - 12 Dec 2007

Hilton Washington

Washington, DC

http://www.ieee.org/conference/iedm

2007 International Semiconductor Device Research Symposium (ISDRS)

12 Dec - 14 Dec 2007

Stamp Student Union, University of Maryland

College Park, MD

http://www.ece.umd.edu/isdrs2007/

2008 IASTED International Conference on Antennas, Radar and Wave Propagation (ARP)

16 Apr - 18 Apr 2008

Best Western Conference Centre

Baltimore, MD, USA

http://www.iasted.org/conferences/home-616.html

2008 Integrated Communications, Navigation and Surveillance Conference (ICNS)

05 May - 07 May 2008

Bethesda Maryland USA

http://spacecom.grc.nasa.gov/icnsconf/index.shtml

2008 IEEE 23rd Annual Conference on Computational Complexity (CCC)

22 Jun - 26 Jun 2008

University of Maryland

College Park, MD, USA

http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/jrogers/complexity/

2008 IEEE International Symposium on Modeling, Analysis & Simulation of Computer and Telecommunication Systems (MASCOTS)

07 Sep - 10 Sep 2008

Tremont Suite Hotels

Baltimore, MD

2008 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering

(CASE 2008)

23 Aug - 26 Aug 2008

Marriott Key Bridge

Arlington, VA, USA

http://www.ieee-case.org

7. Control and Robotics Symposium

Subject: Call for papers: Control and Robotics Symposium at the IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering

CONTROL AND ROBOTICS SYMPOSIUM

IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE)

May 4 to 7, 2008

Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

www.ccece08.org

CALL FOR PAPERS

Dear Colleagues,

The 2008 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE'08) will be held in Sheraton Fallsview in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada from May 4 through May 7, 2008. The venue, the city of Niagara Falls (http://www.city.niagarafalls.on.ca) with more than 15 million visitors annually, offers abundant of activities that are bound to entertain people of all ages and walks of life. Niagara Falls is located 125 km southeast of Toronto City and 27 km north of Buffalo City, New York. Niagara Falls features most popular falls that are spectacular wonders of the world and provide breathtaking views.

The conference with about 90 technical sessions will feature 8 technical symposia. The "Control and Robotics Symposium" will be a major forum for top international researchers interested in all areas of control and robotics and their applications. You are cordially invited to participate in the Control and Robotics Symposium of CCECE'08 by submitting full-length technical papers and/or organizing special sessions, workshops, tutorials and industrial exhibits. The symposium important deadlines are listed as follows:

Full-length papers submission (December 7, 2007)

Special Sessions proposals submission (December 7, 2007)

Tutorials/Workshops proposals submission (December 7, 2007)

Notification of acceptance (January 18, 2008)

Final papers submission (March 7, 2008)

For more information on the symposium scope and submission process, please consult the Control and Robotics Symposium Call For Papers (CFP) available at:

http://www.ewh.ieee.org/reg/7/ccece08/callfor.php

Please note that the best student paper of the Control and Robotics Symposium, in expanded format and size, would be considered for inclusion in the IEEE Canadian Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering. In addition, select number of papers of the symposium, in expanded format and size, would be considered for inclusion in i) Intelligent Automation and Soft Computing, ii) IEEE Systems Journal, iii) Elsevier Computers and Electrical Engineering Journal, or iv) Inderscience Automation and Control Journal. A separate and detailed journal-style review process will be applied to all papers.

We eagerly look forward to your enthusiastic participation in the symposium.

Sincerely,

Keyvan Hashtrudi-Zaad (Queen's Univ., Canada)

Chair, Control and Robotics Symposium of CCECE'08

On behalf of the symposium and CCECE'08 organizing committees

Symposium Co-chairs:

Gianluca Antonelli (Univ. of Casino, Italy)

Martin Guay (Queen's Univ., Canada)

Max Meng (Chinese Univ. of Hong Kong, China)

Bahram Shafai (Northeastern Univ., USA)

Symposium Advisory Committee:

Edward J. Davison (Univ. of Toronto, Canada)

Toshio Fukuda (Nagoya Univ., Japan)

Mo Jamshidi (Univ. of Texas at St. Antonio, USA)

Rajni V. Patel (Univ. of Western Ontario, Canada)

Tim Salcudean (Univ. of British Columbia, Canada)

Bruno Siciliano (Univ. of Naples Federico II, Italy)

Mark. W. Spong (Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA)

Bjorn Wittenmark (Lund Institute of Technology, Sweden)

8. Call for Papers and Proposals

21st Annual IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE 2008)

May 4-7 2008, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada

http://www.ccece08.org

-The Wonders of Technology-

The 2008 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE 2008) will be held in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada from May 4-7. CCECE 2008 provides a forum for the presentation of electrical and computer engineering research and development from Canada and around the world. There will be eight mini symposia and papers are invited, in French or English, including but not limited to the following topics:

- Biomedical Engineering

Chair:Karthi Umapathy, UHN-Toronto

- Communications and Networking

Chair: Murat Uysal, U. Waterloo

- Circuits, Devices and Systems

Chair: Stefano Gregori, U. Guelph

- Computer Systems and Appl's

Chair: Eddie Law, Ryerson Univ.

- Control and Robotics

Chair:K. Hashtrudi-Zaad, Queens Univ.

- Power Electronics and Systems

Chair: Bin Wu, Ryerson Univ.

- Emerging Areas

Chair: Shahram Shahbazpanahi,UOIT

- Signal and Multimedia Processing

Chair: Vijay Parsa, U. W. O.

Regular Paper Submission

Please submit full length paper(s) to the Technical Program Committee using the on-line submission process on our web site at http://www.ccece08.org before December 7, 2007. Click on Call For Papers and follow the instructions provided. All accepted and registered papers will appear in the conference proceedings and will be archived in IEEE Xplore. There are also best paper competitions.

Tutorial and Workshop Proposals Submission

Proposals for half-day tutorials and workshops should be submitted before December 7, 2007 to the Tutorials Chair at xavier@ieee.org.

Important Dates

Full length paper must be received by: Friday, December 7, 2007

Special Session proposals must be received by: Friday, December 7, 2007

Notification of acceptance will be sent out by: Friday, January 18, 2008

Author's Registration ends by: Friday, March 7, 2008

Advance Registration ends by: Friday, April 4, 2008

Industrial Exhibits and Sponsorships

For industrial exhibits please contact the Industrial Exhibits Chair at a.kormos@ieee.org. For sponsorships please contact the Sponsorship Chair at janbee@ieee.org.

Questions or Comments

For any questions or comments, please contact the Conference Secretariat:

Ms. Cathie Lowell, CCECE 2008, IEEE Canada, PO Box 63005, University Postal

Outlet, 102 Plaza Drive, Dundas, ON, L9H 4H0. Ph/Fax: (905) 628 - 9554

Email: admin@ieee.ca

Conference Chair - Sri Krishnan, Ryerson University

Technical Program Chairs

Alagan Anpalagan, Ryerson University

Bob Dony, University of Guelph

Special Sessions - Bruno Di-Stefano, Nuptek Systems Ltd

Tutorials and Workshops - Xavier Fernando, Ryerson University

Finance/Conference Advisory - Kash Husain, Dillon Consulting Ltd

Local Arrangements - Pelle Westlind, Pelle Westlind

Cons. Services - Cathie Lowell, IEEE Canada

Publications - Sean Dunne, Canadian Instrumentation

Plenaries - Dimitri Androutsos, Ryerson University

Registration - April Khademi, University of Toronto

Industrial Exhibits - Tony Kormos, IMAX Corporation

Sponsorships - Janet Bradley, Gennum Corporation

Student Activities - Shahab Ardalan, University of Waterloo

Publicity - Alex Bot, GS Research and Consulting

Webmaster - Raymond Phan, Ryerson University

IEEE Canada President - Robert Hanna, RPM Engineering Ltd

Central Canada Area Chair - Keith Brown, Ontario Power Generation

9. 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

Web Page Design

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

Baltimore Section

Bgramat@jhmi.edu