IEEE Communications Society Launches New Wireless Communications Certificate Program
A new program to certify the competency, practical knowledge and skills of practicing communications engineers has been launched by the IEEE Communications Society. The IEEE Wireless Communication Engineering Technologies (IEEE WCET) Certification program, designed to address the worldwide wireless industry’s growing need for qualified communications professionals, will help wireless professionals advance in their field, develop new opportunities in a global marketplace and certify their expertise with real-world applications.
The IEEE WCET Certification exam is administered online, and has a program fee of US$450 for IEEE members and US$500 for non-members. The first testing period is scheduled for late September 2008 at more than 500 testing sites located in 75 countries. The next testing period is slated for March 2009. Wireless areas including RF engineering, propagation and antennas; access technologies; network and service architecture; network management and security; facilities infrastructure; agreements, standards, policies and regulations; and fundamental knowledge are covered in the exam. For more information on IEEE WCET Certification, visit the program web site.
For specific program details, read the full press release.
Survey: WiFi, 3G Happy Together
There is no clear winner in the competition between WiFi and 3G wireless technologies, according to experts, who conducted a survey of more than 3,000 customers and found that business users increased their WiFi hotspot usage 89 percent in the second half of 2007 compared with the second half of the previous year. Usage of 3G also increased, accounting for 70 percent of business cell phone connections. Results from the iPass Mobile Broadband Index indicate that no single technology can meet all the needs of an enterprise workforce. While 3G provides broadband download speeds in domestic metropolitan areas, users need WiFi hotspots for fast bi-directional access everywhere else. The index also showed that Europe is outpacing the United States in wireless growth, with WiFi growing in Europe, making its worldwide hotspot market share jump from 31 percent to 40 percent, while the United States ranking dropped to 51 percent from 59 percent. Read more
Learn more about 3G wireless technologies in IEEE Xplore®
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Register for the Wireless Communication & Networking Conference
There is still time to register for IEEE WCNC – the premier wireless event. IEEE WCNC, co-located with CTIA WIRELESS 2008 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 31 March – 3 April 2008, will feature the latest developments in broadband and wireless technologies, systems and services. The conference includes technical programs, tutorials and panel discussions highlighting the future of wireless communications technologies, business applications and market trends. IEEE WCNC offers nearly 600 technical presentations covering the best in PHY, MAC networking, and wireless services research and design. Register today
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U.S. Launches New GPS Satellite
The U.S. Air Force, using one of its final Delta 2 rockets, continued a year-long launch surge of new Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites with a successful blastoff from Cape Canaveral earlier this month. The GPS 2R-19 spacecraft, worth US$75 million, rode a three-stage rocket into a preliminary orbit stretching 11,000 miles at its highest point and 100 miles at its lowest, then separated from the booster 68 minutes after liftoff while flying over the western Pacific, according to Col. Jim Planeaux, Delta Group Commander. While launches of GPS satellites had become less frequent in the past couple of years, a projection that several of the aging satellites in the orbiting navigation network could soon fail caused military officials to order the remaining five current-generation GPS satellites be launched to replace the older crafts. The replacement launches are allowing the Air Force to put into service the new craft with their enhanced features and shift the old craft into backup roles as in-space spares to get the last bit of use out of the satellites. Read more
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Independent Wireless Solutions Division Launched in South Africa
Trinity Telecomms, an established name in the wireless components and related services market in South Africa, has announced the launch of an independent wireless division, Trinity Wireless Solutions. The new entity will offer turnkey wireless solutions and services to the corporate market. The initial offering will focus on and cater wireless solutions in the energy management, security management and facilities management sectors. Energy management solutions and services, for both the residential housing and corporate market, will encompass power management, smart metering and electric appliance control and monitoring. Security solutions and services will include remote security systems management and make use of the Global System for Mobile Communications/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) network for wireless communications. “Trinity Wireless Solutions will have the in-house expertise in wireless technology, as well as a large network of customers and partners who have developed a wide range of wireless products. This will enable us to pull together various resources to deliver powerful turnkey solutions for the local market,” said William Hardie, Trinity Telecomms MD. Read more
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Call for Papers: Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks Symposium
The International Symposium on Dynamic Spectrum Access Networks (DySPAN) is the preeminent event for international economists, engineers, network architects, researchers and academic scholars to share the latest advances in research and demonstrations of emerging wireless technology. DySPAN 2008 will feature new cutting-edge research in the technology, policy, economic and legal dimensions of dynamic, decentralized access to the radio spectrum. The third annual DySPAN will be held 14-17 October 2008 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Submissions are welcomed for original research and position papers in emerging areas of systems, networks and devices that access the spectrum in a decentralized manner. This includes techniques such as cognitive radio, adaptive systems and unlicensed technologies and covers technology, policy, legal and economic issues. The intent to submit deadline is 15 April 2008. Final papers will be due 21 August 2008. For a list of potential topics, paper submission instructions and deadlines, please visit the symposium web site.
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Study Outlines Wireless Route to Patients’ Hearts
It is possible to hack implanted medical devices to extract private information and reprogram the devices to shut down or deliver potentially fatal jolts of electricity. According to a study from the University of Washington, USA, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, USA and Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, researcgers used a radio to hack a combination heart defibrillator and pacemaker. The researchers say there has never been a reported case of a patient with an implantable cardiac defibrillator or pacemaker being targeted by hackers, but that one aim of the study was to encourage the industry to think more carefully about safeguards. The researchers outlined three defense mechanisms that require no battery power, making them easier to incorporate in the devices without extensive redesigning: a device that audibly alerts patients of security breaches, one that authenticates requests for access from outside devices and a vibrating device that patients can sense. Read more
Learn more about pacemaker technology in IEEE Xplore®
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Communications Society Offers Free Tutorial and Webinar
The IEEE Communications Society is pleased to offer a free online tutorial presentation and a free webinar on wireless technologies.
Free Tutorial: Advances in Wireless Local Area Networks
Duration: 2 hours, 10 minutes.
Presented by Analog Devices, the tutorial provides a concise discussion on several key topics related to current and emerging 802.11 technologies. Learn more
Free Webinar: Ethernet for the Carrier
Date: Thursday, 24 April 2008, 11:00 am EDT
Duration: 90 minutes
Moderated by Joseph Berthold, Ciena, the webinar will discuss what’s new, what’s different and lessons learned in the field of carrier Ethernet. Specific topics include carrier migration from TDM to Ethernet; feature requirements and critical standards; system architecture challenges; SLA, OA&M and other enhancements of carrier over enterprise Ethernet; and cost-effective implementation of silicon and systems. Register now
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Call for Proposals: Real World Engineering Projects
The IEEE is continuing with a second year of funding for a program to develop projects in IEEE fields of interest for use with first-year students studying electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science and electrical engineering technology. The program seeks high quality, hands-on, team-based projects that focus on real-world problems whose solutions benefit society. Projects are expected to make electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science and electrical engineering technology more relevant to first-year students and illustrate how the work of engineers and computer scientists directly impacts society. Ideal projects will allow students to discover the importance of a contemporary problem, and excite their interest in creative solutions. It will demonstrate how and why technical methods work, rather than simply providing a recipe for a solution and allow the students to discover underlying complex engineering and science principles while providing motivation for further study and engagement.
Completed projects will be disseminated by IEEE for use by faculty in the development of first-year courses. Projects should be stand-alone modules requiring a combined 10 to 30 hours of lecture and laboratory instruction, and should be easily replicated at institutions worldwide with reasonable cost and effort. Authors of completed projects will receive an honorarium from IEEE. Submissions are open to all faculty members who teach Electrical Engineering (EE), Computer Engineering (CE), Computer Science (CS) and/or Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) at a university that grants degrees in accredited EE, CE, CS and/or EET programs. Deadline for abstracts is 15 April 2008. View complete details for the call for proposals or contact the Real World Engineering program at realworldengineering@ieee.org
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Vietnam to Launch Communications Satellite
Vietnam is scheduled to launch its first satellite in April, making it the sixth Southeast Asian nation to “secure space sovereignty,” according to the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT), which funded the satellite project. The medium-sized communications satellite, Vinasat-1, which weighs 2.6 tons and was built by Lockheed Martin, will be launched from French Guiana to its geostationary orbit position of 132 degrees East using an Ariane-5 rocket. The satellite has the transmission capacity equivalent to 10,000 voice, Internet and data channels and a lifespan of between 15 and 20 years. According to VNPT, the satellite’s 20 transponders will provide service in Southeast Asia, part of China, India, Korea, Japan, Australia and Hawaii. Read more
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Researchers Boost Wireless Networks Performance
The transmission rate of conventional wireless networks can be quadrupled from 54 megabytes per second (Mbps) to 216 Mbps by using multiple antenna technology, according to Swiss researchers, who say they are the first to demonstrate that the principle of multiple antenna systems is actually feasible for use in complex wireless networks. The development originates from a research project called Multiple-Access Space-Time Coding Testbed (MASCOT), funded by the European Union. Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) technology makes it possible for several transceivers to communicate with each other on the same bandwidth, at the same time. The researchers constructed a compact multi-user system, currently with three stations in a bench scale, where every station transmits or receives via four antennae and the utilization of the frequency range for each of the three users could be up to four times higher than with present-day WLAN networks. Read more
Learn more about wireless networks in IEEE Xplore®
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Wireless LAN Stress Test Uncovers 802.11 Problems
Many wireless LANs could run into a performance ceiling as they grow in size and traffic because of the design of the 802.11 protocol, according to Novarum, a consulting firm that conducted a large-scale, WLAN stress test using equipment from multiple vendors. The test confirms co-channel radio interference among the access points and that conventional thin access point/controller architecture does not scale well as the number of access points increase in a given area. According to Novarum, the problems are related to the way the 802.11 media access control layer is designed, how it handles acknowledgements and retries and how these become problematic under high and sustained traffic loads. High-throughput WLANs based on 802.11n, especially running in the 5 gigahertz band, will partly mitigate these effects, the researchers say, but because 11n offers a larger 'data pipe,' users seek to do voice and streaming video, which can push the net toward overload. Read more
Learn more about the 802.11 protocol in IEEE Xplore®
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