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IEEE Presidents’ Change the World Competition
Do you know a student who is making a positive impact on the world? To help celebrate 125 years of engineering the future, IEEE is hosting a global competition for students who develop unique solutions to real-world problems using engineering, science, computing and leadership skills to benefit their community or humanity. Winners could walk away with up to US$10,000 and a trip to the 2009 IEEE Honors Ceremony in Los Angeles, California, USA. The competition runs from 1 September 2008 to 28 February 2009. For more information, read the Competition Flyer
Also be sure to visit the IEEE 125th Anniversary Web site for information on how you can help celebrate IEEE’s 125th Anniversary.
Report: Percentage of U.S. Wireless Households Increases
A report from the Nielsen Company reveals that the use of wireless technology continues to increase in the U.S., having reached 20.2 million households, or 17.1 percent of all U.S. households by the end of June 2008. One in five U.S. households could be without a landline phone by the end of 2008. “As wireless network quality improves and unlimited calling becomes increasingly pervasive, we expect the trend toward wireless substitution to continue," said Alison LeBreton, Vice President of Client Services for Nielsen Mobile. Wireless technology does not work for everyone, however. According to the study, 10 percent of current landline users experimented with cord-cutting at one point, but eventually reinstated landline service. Nielsen reports that needing a landline for another service (security system, satellite TV, pay-per-view, fax machine, etc.) is the primary reason people return. Read more
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IEEE Researching Gigabit WiFi
IEEE is considering two possible technologies which could take WiFi to Gigabit speeds by 2012. Gigabit WiFi is practical, according to IEEE's Very High Throughput (VHT) study group. The group is lobbying to get work started on a faster wireless LAN standard even as IEEE postponed its final publication of 802.11n, today’s current top WiFi and a potentially faster ultra-wideband technology. Almost all WiFi vendors have products which meet the draft 802.11n specification and claim of up to 600Mbit/s, although actual throughput only approaches the 100Mbit/s of normal Ethernet. The VHT study group has suggested two avenues to real Gigabit throughput on WiFi networks, one using frequencies below 6GHz, where current WiFi networks operate, and the other above 60GHz, where much unlicensed short range radio spectrum is available. Read more
Learn more about WiFi in IEEE Xplore®
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Google Helps Fund African Wireless Broadband Effort
Google is backing a new venture to use satellites to provide broadband to a poorly served area of equatorial Africa. Called O3b Networks, named for the other 3 billion that are not currently getting Internet service, the venture will deploy in Africa and ultimately aims to bring its access model to other poorly served countries. To address such challenges as political fragmentation and instability over undeveloped areas, O3b plans to go wireless and leverage Africa’s current installed base of cell phones and their existing tower infrastructure. It will add hardware, enabling 3G and WiMax networking, linked to a series of low-earth orbit satellites which bridge to the wider world at speeds approaching 10Gbps. Other investors, including networking provider Liberty Global and HSBC, are reported to be joining Google in providing a tenth of the satellite funding needed, and plans for further financing are in the works. The plan is scalable with partial rollout planned for 2010 and more service added gradually as more satellites come online. Read more
Learn more about wireless broadband in IEEE Xplore®
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Register for the Internal Dynamic Spectrum Access Network Symposium
There is still time to register for the IEEE Internal Dynamic Spectrum Access Network Symposium (IEEE DySPAN)—the preeminent event for economists, engineers, network architects, researchers and academic scholars to share cutting-edge research on and demonstrations of emerging wireless technology. IEEE DySPAN is being held 14-17 October 2008 in Chicago, Illinois, USA, and will present new cutting-edge research in the technology, policy, economic and legal dimensions of dynamic, decentralized access to the radio spectrum both on a consensual and non-consensual basis. Industry and academic experts will deliver exciting and thought-provoking keynote addresses and technical presentations, comprised of technology and policy tracks including panels and poster sessions. In addition to the technical program, the program offers a full day of tutorials and three days of live demonstrations by world-leading technology companies and academic research institutions focusing on smart wireless and dynamic spectrum access systems. Register today
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Communications Society Offers Free Technology Tutorials
The IEEE Communications Society is pleased to offer three free online tutorial presentations covering the latest in broadband technology.
WiMax: Mobilizing the Internet
Discusses how WiMax technology has changed the way we use the Internet.
Next Generation Cellular Networks
Emphasizes the fundamental concepts and design tradeoffs involved with next generation cellular networks and discusses relevant algorithms for maximizing performance.
Broadband Fiber Access
Covers broadband fiber access technologies currently being employed and discusses new concepts and technologies that will be implemented in the future.
Free access for these tutorials is for a limited time only. Sign up today
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Powerful Global Applications to Come from 4G Wireless Location Services
Even as 3G networks are deployed in the U.S. to support such devices as the Apple iPhone, 4G networks are also in development as the next step in wireless communication. Both Long Term Evolution (LTE) and the IEEE Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) network, two competing 4G standards, promise to be truly broadband networks supporting a new world of advanced voice and data applications. The proliferation of 4G networks also promises to create a convergence resulting in a single, unified global wireless infrastructure for content-rich applications where location awareness is ubiquitous and transparent. However, current Global Positioning Satellite (GPS)-only solutions are limited. A hybrid approach using multiple wireless location technologies pooled with pattern matching technologies that determine exact handset location will provide the accuracy, latency, reliability and yield needed for 4G networks. Standards groups such as the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) will help wireless location services vendors leverage this wide net of technologies throughout a global network. Possible applications include tracking inventory, assets and deliveries around the world, supervising employees as they travel around a service area or identifying the closest roadside assistance to a customer needing help. Read more
Learn more about 4G wireless technologies in IEEE Xplore®
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Constant Internet Connection to Result from Satellite-Cell Combo
Elektrobit Corp., located in Oulunsalo, Finland, has demonstrated the benefits of a combination satellite-cellular communication device through its introduction of reference designs for mobile handsets, PDAs and a general purpose connectivity module. The reference designs will enable remote users with a USB port to maintain Internet connectivity regardless of location by automatically switching between cellular and satellite networks. "Applications for the connectivity module include everything from laptops to service vehicles to remote meters that can be read wirelessly," said Jani Lyrintzis, Director of Wireless Solutions at Elektrobit. Earlier this year, Electrobit reported that TerreStar Corp. selected its mobile handset reference design for an integrated communications network being designed in cooperation with AT&T. Read more
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Top Wireless Carriers View Future of Open Networks
Leaders from three of the biggest U.S. wireless carriers discussed how open their networks would be in the near future at the keynote session of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association conference in San Francisco, California, USA. While it would be beneficial for consumers and operators, executives agreed, openness also will lead to issues regarding security, optimization and price. Sprint CEO Dan Hesse pointed to devices like the Amazon Kindle, which uses Sprint's EV-DO service, but he expects true device openness to occur with the company's next-generation 4G network, with the embedded chip model for WiMax. Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam said the potential of near-broadband mobile speeds made the company’s decision to open up its network to third-party software, developers and mobile handsets almost a logistical necessity. T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson explained how the company’s network is already fairly open as users can insert a subscriber identity module (SIM) card into nearly any handset and use the T-Mobile network. The wireless leaders agreed that truly opening up the networks has pitfalls related to user experience and higher cost of handsets, and carriers must exert a certain level of stewardship and control. Read more
Learn more about open wireless networks in IEEE Xplore®
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Proceedings of the IEEE Features Microscopic Technologies
The September issue of Proceedings of the IEEE looks at self-assembly on the microscopic scale, energy harvesting for wireless devices and modeling for nanoscale devices. This regular paper issue also discusses the opening of the U.S. communications market and profiles the life and professional accomplishments of Electrical Engineering Hall of Fame member Harold H. Beverage. View current issue of Proceedings of the IEEE
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