Alan V. Oppenheim, considered by many to be one of the “founding fathers” of DSP, has been named the 2007 recipient of the IEEE Jack S. Kilby Signal Processing Medal. Oppenheim, currently a principal investigator in MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics, is being honored for his numerous research contributions to digital signal processing (DSP), impacting several different disciplines including speech coding and recognition, seismic signal processing, radar, sonar, and artificial intelligence, as well as his leadership role in helping others advance the field of signal processing. The award, also sponsored by Texas Instruments, Inc., will be presented to Oppenheim on 16 June at the 2007 IEEE Honors Award Ceremony in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Read more

The annual IEEE Workshop on Signal Processing Systems (SiPS) will be held in Shanghai, China on 17-19 October 2007. The conference, now in its 25th year, is a major international forum for the discussion of recent progress and new innovations in the design and implementation of multimedia and telecom centered digital signal processing systems. To register for the conference or for more information, please visit the conference website.

 
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As multicore digital signal processing (DSP) chips move into a wider range of applications, and as the number of cores per chip grows, it has become harder for manufacturers to partition workloads among cores, according to experts, who say the situation creates a challenge for established vendors. DSP chips have been the preferred solution for many applications because they have been easy to use, but if the expansion of multicore designs makes DSPs significantly harder to use, current DSP vendors risk being leapfrogged by manufacturers that deploy more effective multicore development tools and strategies. In order to remain competitive, current producers need to create a viable solution that guarantees the widespread use of their multicores, even if DSPs become more difficult to use. Read more

 
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Ceva, Inc., has just released its third-generation digital signal processing (DSP) architecture, with high performance and low power consumption, for use in HD-DVD, Blu-ray Disc, set top-boxes, digital television with advanced audio, and mobile and 3G applications. Ceva says its TeakLite III product covers 3G baseband, HD audio applications, a complete set of Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby TrueHD, and other codecs, an improvement over the previous release, which was limited to 2G and 2.5G baseband. The firm says its new release is compatible with previous TeakLite cores, and features native 32-bit processing, which includes a 32 by 32 MAC unit and a 10-stage pipeline that allows the core to reach operating speeds of up to 350 megahertz in a 90-nanometer process and 425 megahertz in a 65 nanometer process. Read more

 
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A surveillance system that can automatically detect millimeter-scale changes to an area by rapidly scanning it with a laser has been developed by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The system keeps track of static objects in a location through the use of reflecting tags attached to important items, allowing a connected sensor to monitor their location precisely. Instead of detecting intruders or monitoring people, the system issues an alert if one of the tags is moved, or disturbed even slightly, according to researchers, who say the system might be useful in high-security situations where even closed-circuit television is a risk, since video footage can be intercepted and reveal sensitive information. The laser surveillance system does not require human supervision, and can scan a room many times per second to keep track of numerous tags, though the greater the number of tags the slower the scanning speed. The system can not be duped by placing a dummy tag in front of the laser, according to researchers, since it is impossible to do so quickly and accurately enough. Read more

 
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A call for papers has been sent out for the “Meeting the Growing Demand for Engineers and their Educators 2010-2020” International Conference to be held in Munich, Germany on 9 - 11 November 2007, sponsored by the IEEE and the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE). The conference will bring together decision makers from industry, government and education to discuss and plan the preparation of future engineers and the people who educate them. The specific focus for the conference will be to analyze and address the lack of engineers and technical educators worldwide. Attendance of the conference will be limited to ensure quality interaction between participants. Deadline for proposed paper synopsis is 30 June 2007; the deadline for final paper submissions is 1 October 2007. For more information about submitting a paper or the conference in general, please visit the conference website.

 
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The human brain only chooses to remember memories it thinks are most relevant, and actively suppresses those that are similar but less used, helping to lessen the cognitive load and prevent confusion, according to a study by researchers at Stanford University, who used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure the brain activity of 20 healthy adults in memory tests. Participants were given word pairs to memorize, including two pairs that were closely associated, and then asked to recall all three pairs using the first words as cues. Researchers say, on average, the subjects were 15 percent worse at recalling the similar word pairs than at recalling the unrelated pair. The fMRI data taken during the test revealed participants’ brains were highly active in a region known for handling competing memories, as well as in an area believed to induce memory suppression, researchers say. Read more

 
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Ultrashort pulse (USP) lasers that can switch on and off once every femtosecond may drive “an explosion of innovation bigger than the microprocessor revolution that has powered the world economy for the past 30 years,” according to Barry M. Schuler, former CEO of Time Warner’s AOL unit, who raised $25 million in venture funding to exploit the technology through his laser startup firm. Unlike conventional lasers, USP blasts can obliterate any material a few atoms at a time without heating or melting the surrounding material. The technology’s greatest promise may be in military lasers, according to experts, who said USPs of 1,000 watts or more on an aircraft at 10,000 feet could scan the ground to detect concealed roadside bombs, determine their composition and, at a higher power level, destroy the electronic trigger on the bombs – all without alerting the enemy. Read more

 
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The IEEE and the Association for Electrical, Electronic & Information Technologies (VDE) are sponsoring the “Meeting the Growing Demand for Engineers and their Educators 2010-2020” International Conference to be held in Munich, Germany on 9-11 November 2007. The conference will bring together decision makers from industry, government and education to discuss and plan the preparation of future engineers and the people who educate them. The specific focus for the conference will be to analyze and address the lack of engineers and technical educators worldwide. Main objectives for the summit include establishing and expanding partnerships between the attendees, opening channels of communication, and developing action plans to ensure the proper recruitment and training of future engineers and engineering educators. Attendance of the conference will be limited to ensure quality interaction between participants. Deadline for early registration is 15 August 2007; late registration ends 17 October 2007. For more information about registration or the conference in general, please visit the conference website.

 
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