burlington, camden, gloucester (nj)...

Almanack 1 September 2015

Membership in these counties: Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia, (PA) Burlington, Camden, Gloucester (NJ)

Vol. 60, No. 7 www.ieeephiladelphia.org September 2015

SECTION MEETING Sept. 15, 2015 Dinner: 6 pm Speaker: 7 pm Sheraton University City Philadelphia Meal Cost: $25.00 (students $15.00) Parking cost paid by section Engineering Philadelphia: The Sellers Family and the Industrial Metropolis Domenic Vitiello, U. Penn

xLAB@UPenn: Experience Design & Technology Lab for Content-coupled Internet of Things Rahul Mangharam, U. Penn

Orkan Telhan, U. Penn

Note: In the event of bad weather please call the Sheraton after 1pm the day of

the meeting at 215-387-8000. Ask the front desk if the meeting has been canceled.

September 2015 Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat 1 CONET 2 3 4 5

6 7 Labor Day

8 Adcom 9 10 11 12

13 14 Rosh Hashanah

15 IEEE Night

16 PES/IAS

17 CSS

18 CSS

19

20 21 22 23 Yom Kippur

24 25 26 Maker Faire

27 28 29 30

PHILADELPHIA SECTION of the IEEE

Almanack

Inside the Almanack. Chapters and Affinity Groups 2, 6, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20 Scholarships & Awards 2, 7, 19 CONET 3, 4, 5 Section notes 6, 7 Obituary 7 Awards search is on 8, 9 ISEC ’16 10 Radarconf16 10, 11 Ernest’s 1, 12 Mobile Security Conf. 13 WIE 14 Maker Faire 14, 15 ITC 2015 17 Unconference 18, 19 IEEE Night 21, 22 Chair’s Message 23 Licensing 24

CSS 25


New Joint Chapter The requirements of the MGA Board Operations Manual have been met, and the IEEE Central Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia Joint Sections Council of Electronic Design Automation Chapter has been formed. The effective date of the chapter formation is 07 July 2015. Xin Li of Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh) has been recorded as the Chapter Chair.

CSS. CAS and SMCS Summer Seminar On August 10, the CSS, CAS, and SMCS Chapter hosted a seminar at Skirkanich Hall,

University of Pennsylvania. The invited speaker was Dr. Danielle S. Bassett, Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at U. Penn. Topic was “How You Think; Structural Network Mechanisms of Human Brain Function.”

Scholarships The section awarded three $5000 IEEE Student-Branch Leadership Scholarships effective 2015-2016. We congratulate these recipients:

Jeffrey Thomas Eker Jr., Rowan University Charlie Wolfgang Grab, Rowan University Dhantha Abeydeera Gunarathna, Drexel University

The section thanks the selection committee: Larry Alexander, Drexel University; Daniel J. Graham, InTEST Corp.; Patricia C. Woody, NSWCCD-SSES.


CONET Meeting News The IEEE Philadelphia Consultants Network (CONET, www.PhilaCONET.com) held a joint

meeting with the USA Section of the Chartered Institute for IT (formerly the British

Computing Society) on Tuesday, May 26. The next CONET meeting will be held on Tuesday,

September 1.

The May 26 meeting featured a

presentation by Mr. Paul Burton, President of

the USA Section of the Chartered Institute for IT,

on the Agile software development

methodology. Mr. Burton specializes in

Information Technology software development

management. Scrum, sprint, kaizen, kaiban, SAFe

… these are among the many keywords and key

concepts of the Agile methodology that Mr.

Burton covered with his presentation, along

with Agile-related standards and certification

information.

Mr. Burton also shared his experience and insights on applying the Agile methodology on

cross-continental teams and advised consultants on key questions to ask when engaging clients

who employ the Agile methodology. Mr. Burton’s presentation, and other past CONET

presentations, may be accessed at www.PhilaCONET.com. Meeting attendees were also regaled by a brief History of Technology presentation

contributed by Mike Mayor, PE, CONET’s Chairman and a systems science expert. This

particular History of Technology presentation features the biography and technical

accomplishments of Augusta Ada King (née Byron), Countess of Lovelace, an English

mathematician and writer chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage’s mechanical

computer known as the Analytic Engine, and is credited for what is recognized as the first

algorithm intended to be executed by a machine.

Next Meeting: The next CONET meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 1. It

will feature a “Short History of Vacuum Tube” segment by Dr. Jonathan Allen (RF expert and

CONET Recording Secretary) and a “Future of Communications” presentation and discussion

to be led by Mr. Baw Ch’ng (President of BAWMAN Consulting, CONET Vice Chair), where

various commercial, public policy, and technology factors will be examined in an attempt to

envisage what the future of communications may look like.

Kindly visit www.PhilaCONET.com for information on membership, up-

coming meetings, past meeting presentations, and to learn more about the wide

range of consulting services offered by CONET consultants from CONET’s online

Consultant Directory.


Section notes

IEEE PHILA. SECTION OFFICERS Chair: Philip Gonski, P.E.; [email protected] Vice Chair: Adam Fontecchio. Ph.D.; [email protected] Treasurer: Richard Primerano; [email protected] Secretary: Tal Singer; [email protected] Past Chair: Mark Soffa; [email protected]

Adcom meets second Tuesday of the month (Sept. 8) at the Sheraton University City. Members are welcome to attend. Reserve a seat by calling the office by the Friday before.

Almanack Staff Publisher: Phil Gonski, P.E. Editor: Peter Silverberg Asst. Editor: Janet English-Cartwright, Ph.D.; [email protected] News and notices contact [email protected] or 856.461.6615 or fax 509.461.6617 Deadline for the October issue is September 8, 2015.

New & improved web site: www.ieeephiladelphia.org

ADVERTISE IN THE ALMANACK: The Philadelphia Section of the IEEE encourages placement of technical, professional, promotional and commercial advertisements in the Almanack. The Almanack is published ten times a year and is read by more than 4,000 members with an average annual salary of over $70,000 in over 150 key industries. For more information, contact Peter Silverberg at 856.461.6615 or [email protected] Rates: Full Page: 7.5x10: $100 3/4 Page: 7.5x7.5: $75 1/2 Page: 5 x 5: $50 1/4 Page: 2.5 x 5: $25 1/8 Page: 2.5 x 2.5: $12.50

Email blasts: We send emails every week. The first time we send an ad, it costs $50. We will send the identical ad three more times for $25 each time. If the copy changes, the $50 applies. If four times are done, the fifth time is like a first time i.e. $50. We might be bandwidth limited, so please keep them short.

Main Office: 11 Bala Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004, 484.270.5136 [email protected] Young Professionals Group New name for this affinity group resulted in summer activity. They met twice: July 14 and August 11 at THE BARDS (2013 Walnut St., Philadelphia) for Happy Hour. More of these will be scheduled in the next few months. Watch your emails and the Almanack.


Obituary George L. Butts Jr.

1961 - 2015 George L. Butts, Jr., 54, passed away July 15, 2015 surrounded by his family at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. His passion for family, music, biking and cooking was larger than life. George thrived on long bike rides exploring trails until dark. He lived in the moment and never lost his sense of wonder. Everyone that knew George knew that the Blues was a part of his soul. He was a father who always involved himself in every detail of his son’s and daughter’s lives and supported, respected and loved his wife unconditionally. He cherished family vacations to Bartlett Lodge in Algonquin Park and Yellowstone National Park and Salmon, Idaho.

George was born in Drexel Hill, PA, in 1961. After graduating from Lansdowne-Aldan High School, he attended Spring Garden College where he majored in Electrical Engineering. George’s career in the computer networking and IT industry started over thirty years ago as a Sales Engineer with C-Cor Electronics. He then worked as an Account Executive for Dell and most recently for Vistacom. He was a member and volunteer of IEEE, a member of Marple Newtown Amateur Radio Club and loyal volunteer for WXPN.

He is survived by his loving wife of 26 years, Lorraine, daughter, Natalie, and son, George IV. He was preceded in death by his father George L. Butts, Sr. He is also survived by his mother, Grace Butts, sister, Leslie Telthorster (Robert), sister, Audrey Morrison (Bill), brother, Chris Butts (Marilyn) and brother, Robert Butts (Leslie). His large family of brothers and sisters-in law, nieces and nephews, cousins, and close friends both personal and professional will miss him dearly. Visitation was at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Delaware County, 145 W. Rose Tree Road (Media, PA) on Saturday, August 15, 2015 from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. A Celebration of Life Service followed.

Honors in Student Branches By Savannah M. Lee

Drexel’s IEEE Undergraduate Student Branch received two national IEEE Student Branch Awards: Gold in the Darrel Chong Student Activity Award for the DragonHacks Hackathon Event Also: Exemplary Student Branch for Region 2.

I (SML) was awarded the Larry K Wilson Regional Student Activities Award from National IEEE as recognition of “the Student member most responsible for an extraordinary accomplishment associated with Student Activities.”

Congratulations, Savannah!

We, in the Philadelphia Section, are proud of you and wish you continuing success in your IEEE endeavors and your professional development. Please let us know how we can be of further assistance in your upcoming senior year at Drexel. Cheers! Barney Adler

Published in The Daily Times

on July 24, 2015


Philadelphia Section Looking for IEEE Awards Candidates The Philadelphia Section IEEE Awards Committee needs your help in the process of nominating members (yourself included) to the Senior Member and Fellow membership grades, and to receive IEEE awards and medals. The committee is seeking the names and biographies of individuals whose meritorious achievements in one of the areas of IEEE interest — Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and allied branches of Engineering, Arts and Sciences — deserve wide recognition. Many significant contributions to the profession that originated in Delaware Valley companies and universities are yet to be promoted and properly recognized by the IEEE. The Senior Member grade is the highest professional IEEE grade for which application can be made. This grade requires the candidate to have been active professional practice for at least ten years. Evidence is requested for significant performance of the candidate over at least five of these years, as an engineer, scientist, educator, technical executive, or technical originator. The awards committee will gladly furnish application forms to interested members, and help in preparing the application. The Fellow grade recognizes unusual distinction in the profession, and is conferred by the IEEE Board of Directors. IEEE Fellows are individuals of outstanding and extraordinary qualification and experience in IEEE fields of interest. Nominations to the Fellow grade are made by peers of the nominee, and are usually supported by other Fellows, by local IEEE Chapters and by an IEEE Society. The IEEE also bestows recognition on its most outstanding members in the form of a Medal of Honor, IEEE Medals, Technical Field Awards, Service Awards, and Paper- Prize Awards. The IEEE Philadelphia Section will help nominators and nominees in preparing forms, locating appropriate nominators, endorsing candidates for awards and medals, and sometimes serving as the nomination body. We strongly encourage members of our Section to contact the committee for information, nomination kits, and general assistance in the process.

The various Philadelphia Section Awards available for nomination are:

Philadelphia Section Engineer of the Year Award The Philadelphia Section Executive Committee seeks nominations for the IEEE Delaware Valley Electrical Engineer of the Year Award. The Electrical Engineer of the Year will be recognized at the Section’s Annual Awards Banquet. Nominees should be engineers who are members of the section, and who have demonstrated excellence in technical, scientific, academic, or managerial endeavors. The award emphasizes creative, important, and widely recognized work. *Nominators are asked to submit a short letter of nomination (1-2 pages) and a resume of the candidate. Young Electrical Engineer of the Year Award The Philadelphia Section Executive Committee seeks nominations for the IEEE Delaware Valley Young Electrical Engineer of the Year Award. This person will be recognized at the Section’s Annual Awards Banquet. The nominee must be under 35 years of age before January 1, 2016 and should be a graduate of an accredited curriculum with a degree in Engineering or a related field. The award emphasizes creative, important, and widely recognized work. An additional part of the judging will be the candidate’s contribution to professional, civic, and charitable affairs. *Nominators are asked to submit a short letter of nomination (1-2 pages) as well as a resume of the

candidate.

Benjamin Franklin Key Award The IEEE Philadelphia Section invites nominations for its annual Benjamin Franklin Key Award to recognize an electrical engineer in the Philadelphia Section for outstanding technical innovation and


technological contributions that have had significant practical applications. The award emphasizes technical innovation, such as a system (design and application), a significant improvement to a system, or patents of clear practical values. Emphasis will be put on tangible technical and technological achievements that demonstrate intellectual, industrial, economical or human benefits. *Nominations should include: 1. A description of the nominee’s technical invention, system, project, or

patent 2. A proposed citation (30 words or less) 3. The nominee’s curriculum vitae 4. Additional evidence

demonstrating the invention, system, project, or patent

Philadelphia Section Corporate Technology Innovation Award The IEEE Philadelphia Section invites nominations for its annual Corporate Technology Innovation Award. This award recognizes a company or corporation for its outstanding contribution to electrotechnology. The award emphasis developments, projects, products, and other group achievements, that have been very innovative and successful. *Nominations should include: 1.A description of the nominee’s technical accomplishment 2. A proposed

citation (30 words or less) 3. Any additional appropriate information � Submit ALL nominations by December 15, 2015 to: Merrill W. Buckley, Jr., Awards Committee Chair IEEE Section Office, 11 Bala Avenue, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004. Think carefully about your fellow workers and about your own contributions. Don’t be shy! We really need your help. Call with the name of a potential awardee; even your own. For more information, please call the Section office at 484.270.5136, or use email at [email protected], or contact any member of the committee: Merrill W. Buckley, Jr. 484.573.5156 Thomas Fagan 484.678.1078 Dr. Victor Schutz 610.649.9331 Donald C. Dunn 856.227.2458

Save the Date: IEEE Day 2015 is 6 October IEEE Day 2015 will be held on Tuesday, 6 October. This will be the sixth anniversary of IEEE members celebrating the anniversary of the first time IEEE members gathered to share their technical ideas in 1884.

Since the first IEEE Day event in 2010, the number of events worldwide has grown over 600%, from 80 to over 520! The IEEE Day team needs you to help grow this annual event even larger.

This is a great opportunity for you to connect your members to IEEE on a local and global scale. Section and Chapter leadership engagement is critical to IEEE Day's success. Start collaborating with your volunteers and Student Branch leaders to plan and commemorate the day. No idea or event is too small.

Visit the IEEE Day 2015 website for more information. You can also follow IEEE Day on Facebook, Google+, and Twitter.

Thank you for all you do for the members of IEEE.


6th IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC ’16) Friend Center at Princeton University

Princeton, NJ, March 5, 2016

We welcome submissions for the 6th IEEE Integrated STEM Education Conference (ISEC ’16), which will be held Saturday, March 5, 2016 at Friend Center, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ. ISEC is known for presenting cutting-edge research and experiences with integrated approaches to the study of science, math, and technology through experiences and activities based in engineering and other design disciplines.

This year’s theme is promoting a Community of STE(a)M Learning. While all papers on methods of and experience with integrating education (or interdisciplinary education) in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) studies are welcome, we are very interested in papers on STEaM initiatives that have resulted in the development of a community that encourages, mentors, and uplifts its members in STEM studies, especially among members from underrepresented populations.

Submission opens on Thursday, October 15, 2015 with a deadline of 11:59 pm EST Sunday, December 13, 2015. Your work must not have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Your submission(s) will be one or more of the following: a work in progress paper of 2 – 3 pages, a full paper of 5 – 8 pages, or an abstract for a poster by K-12 students you mentor. There is no preliminary abstract phase for WIP or full papers. All presented papers will be submitted for archival in IEEE Xplore.

Information on the Trenton Computer Festival, which will be held on Saturday, March 19, 2016 is available at tcf-nj.org, and on the Information Technology Professionals Conference, to be held Friday and Saturday, March 18 - 19, 2016 is at princetonacm.acm.org/tcfpro/. You are also encouraged to submit abstracts to these conferences; see the web sites for date and submission information.

ISEC 2016 is sponsored by the IEEE Princeton/Central Jersey Section with technical co-sponsorship by IEEE Region 1 and the IEEE Education Society.

More information and templates are available at http://ewh.ieee.org/conf/stem. Contact us at [email protected], like us on Facebook (search for ISEC), and follow us @IEEE_ISEC. We look forward to your participation in ISEC 2016!

CALL FOR PAPERS 2016 IEEE Radar Conference

Enabling Technologies for Advances in Radar www.radarconf16.org

Key Dates Paper Summaries Due: 14 November 2015 Notification of Acceptance: 04 January 2016 Paper Submission Due: 05 February 2016 2016 Radar Conference: May 2 – 6, 2016 Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Guide to Paper Submissions Authors are required to submit a three to four page (inclusive of figures) summary. Electronic submission is required in Adobe pdf format. The cover page must include the title, names of authors (with the contact author identified), organizational affiliation, address, telephone and fax numbers, and email addresses. Authors are permitted to indicate paper suitability for a poster format presentation. Student papers (two to four pages) are also strongly encouraged to be submitted.


All papers must be electronically submitted to the Technical Program Chairman at the radarconf16.org web site (available to upload not later than 90 days before the deadline). The deadline for submission of summaries is 14 November 2015. Authors will be notified of acceptance by 4 January 2016, and will receive instructions and forms for publication at that time. Authors will be limited to orally presenting at most two papers at the conference. Your electronically submitted papers in final form will be required by 5 February 2016. They are limited to six pages inclusive of text, figures, and tables. If applicable, government approval for publication as an unclassified, public-release paper will also be required with the final paper submission.

Lockheed Martin Space Fence

Main tracks A list of topics within these tracks is on the web site <www.radarconf16.org>.

Authors can indicate preference for a track.

Component & Subsystem Development Radar Signal & Data Processing Technical Program Chair Antenna Technology David J. Farina Phenomenology Lockheed Martin MST Radar Systems [email protected] Emerging Technologies


Mixed thoughts Ernest’s Page by Ernest Cohen

In previous columns, I had raised the question of what would have to be in the program for an artificial brain to be self-aware, and possibly even have emotions. As humans, we fully comprehend what this means. I was reminded of this by the robotic child, Ethan, on the TV show, Extant. Of course, the part is played by a real human child, but it makes us think of a possible future, when robots with brains may be among us.

I had also challenged those who knew a little combinatorial mathematics to compute the probability that exactly two of the three letters on a Pennsylvania license plate would be the same. The question is not trivial, such as the probability that all three would be identical. I was disappointed by the lack of a response. Please email your answer to [email protected].

I have also raised questions in previous columns about standards. I am sure that you are all acquainted with the QWERTYIOP keyboard. That arrangement of letters was picked for an early typewriter, to minimize jamming of the type bars. The family typewriter when I was young, we called the “three shift marvel.” It had only three rows of keys, and the letter keys were arranged in the QWERTYIOP order. However, each key had an additional character, which was accessed by pressing the “figure shift.” The numbers were the additional character on the top row. Around the 1930s, a better keyboard arrangement was developed, called the “Dvorak” key board, but it never caught on. The millions of people familiar with the standard arrangement would have to be retrained.

One of the most familiar standards is driving on the right side of the road, but this is not universal. Imagine if Canadians drove on the left side. This would cause many accidents on roads near the border. In Europe they had that situation, where Swedes and Norwegians drove on opposite sides, and shared a long common border. Finally the standard was switched in Sweden. There are many other standards that we take for granted, such as electrical outlets. I read somewhere that over a hundred outlet standards exist on this planet. Adapters are available, but the appliances must also work on the local frequency and voltage, which is not always the case.

We are so used to 60 Hertz, it is hard to realize that it is not universal. I had read in an old army manual, that the standard frequency in Malta was 100 Hertz, and much of the world runs on 50 Hertz. The discrepancy is worst in Japan, where one of the two major islands is 50 Hertz and the other is 60 Hertz. When I was in my early teens, I took a road trip with my father, which included southern Ontario. I noticed that the lights flickered, and found out that the original frequency (25 Hertz), from the first hydro plant at Niagara Falls was still in use. I presume this anomaly has since been fixed.

Again, I ask you to imagine being on the space ship that brings the first human settlement to an alien planet. You are in charge of selecting technical standards for the civilization that will be built as the population of first settlers grows too many millions. The two primary areas that are your responsibility are the power system, as discussed above, and the railroad system. This involves both the mechanical aspect (track gauge) and the electrification. We are so used to the standard railroad gauge (4 feet, 8 1/2 inches) that we rarely think that is wasn't always so. For example, the original Erie Railroad was broad gauge. The few remaining trolley lines in the Delaware Valley are slightly wider than standard railroad gauge. That was a deliberate decision to prevent railroad operation on these tracks. When I was a small child in Brooklyn, I remember tracks coming out of a freight yard, and connecting to the street trolleys.

In addition, the limited amount of railroad electrification in America is a mixed bag. Mostly AC, but different frequencies, and I think a few DC operations. There are third rail and overhead wires. When Amtrak extended electrification north from New Haven to Boston, our friend, Barbara, was a consultant on that project. She picked a higher voltage than the rest of the Bos-Wash main line, so as to minimize the number of substations needed.

So, please let me know how you are going to pick technical standards for the first human civilization on an alien planet.


IEEE NJ Coast Section

2nd

Conference on Mobile Security/Cyber Security and Privacy

November 4, 2015 (Wednesday)

Venue: The Edison Hotel & Conference Center,

3050 Woodbridge Avenue, Edison, NJ 08837 USA

Attendee Registration Before Aug 4 Before Sept 4 Before Oct 4 On or after

Oct 4

IEEE member $35 $45 $55 $65

IEEE student member /

Life Member

$15 $25 $35 $45

IEEE Life Member $20 $30 $40 $50

Non-Member $100 $125 $150 $175

Keynote Speakers

Dr. Ed Amoroso

AT&T Donna Dodson

NIST

Invited Speakers

Prof. Steven Bellovin

Columbia Univ. Eric S Green

Mobile Active

Defense

Mobile security, cyber security, and privacy have become more critical in our

business, government, travel, healthcare, and every-day lives. With society’s

exploding dependence on mobile devices and wireless technologies, effective

security solutions have become increasingly important in everyday life. Whether

you are a security expert or a novice, practical solutions are crucial in your

industry as well as personal life. Join us at this upcoming high-impact one-day

conference to hear more about these important topics from business, academia,

federal government, and research. Take some time with us to catch up on the

latest trends, review the issues, collaborate with colleagues in industry and

research, and take away practical ideas to enhance security of your world.

Who Should Attend: This conference is geared to IEEE members, non-members,

students, and guests who would like to review the state of the art in mobile

security, cyber security, and privacy and become aware of issues and directions

of research, academic, and practical solutions.

What Will You Learn at This Conference: If you have considered learning more

about security, this is an ideal event to attend. Awareness of mobile security,

cyber security, and privacy improves your job, consulting, and life skills. You can

get Professional Development Units PDU (Continuing Education Units (CEU)).

POSTER DISPLAYS: The student posters presentations will be on display all day.

Please register at https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/meeting_view/list_meeting/25959

For More Information please visit the IEEE New Jersey Coast Section website

http://sites.ieee.org/njcoast/


World Maker Faire Bus Trip

Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth. A family-friendly festival of invention,

creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker movement.

Philadelphia will be jammed for the Pope’s visit. Maker Faire is in

New York City. Avoid the crowds and take the IEEE bus. MEETING DETAILS Date: Saturday, September 26, 2015 Time: 7:00 A.M. - 4:00 P.M. Location: New York Hall of Sciences, Queens, New York Cost: Adult (18-61) - $62 Student (with proper I.D.) - $53

Seniors (62+) - $58 Youth (2-17) - $48

Note: Pricing reflects a 15% discount on all tickets. Price includes bus accommodations and admission to the Maker Faire.

Registration/Information: Use V tools or contact the office (below)


This event showcases products like Student projects, Robotics, Homegrown Drones, Arduino projects, Raspberry Pi, Space projects, Food makers , Conductive materials projects, Kit makers, Interactive art projects, 3D Printers and CNC Mills, Textile Arts and Crafts, E-Textiles, Home Energy Monitoring, Rockets and RC Toys, Sustainability & Green Tech, Radios, Vintage Computers and Game Systems, Electronics, Electric Vehicles, Science, Biology and Biotech, and Chemistry projects, Puppets, Kites, and Other Whimsical Creations, Bicycles etc. in the Industrial Products, Gifts & Handicrafts industries.

Questions? Email the Section office at [email protected]. or call the office at 484.270.5136

IEEE Life Member Tour of PATCO Equipment Shop: By Robert Paglee The IEEE Life Members group, on July 18, under the guidance of Merrill Buckley, arranged and sponsored a tour of the PATCO high-speed line's railroad facility in Lindenwold, NJ. A group of 20 attendees was assembled within a large conference room and each member was required to sign a PATCO liability release form before entering the industrial work area. Figure 1 shows members of the group in the conference room after the forms were signed and collected.

The tour featured several newly rebuilt PATCO railcars and many of their complex component

parts. These were housed within two large “Equipment Shops” that seemed to resemble giant “hangers” containing large earth-bound trains being serviced instead of large aircraft.

The original stainless-steel cars were shipped to Alstom Transport in Hornell, NY where their

interiors were gutted and replaced with new designs featuring new seats, brighter colors, more safety features, facilities to accommodate wheelchairs or even bicycles, and greatly improved operating controls.


The Superintendent of the PATCO facility, tour director Robert Traver, provided a thorough, highly professional description of all the equipment visited during the tour and answered innumerable questions. Figure 2 shows him seated at the greatly improved train operating controls within the new, secure operator cubicle.

Shown below are a number of photographs of the group provided by tour

attendees showing the improved railcars and many of their components.


Registration for the International Test Conference 2015 Now Open <a href=”http:www.itctestweek.org”> By Marvin Weilerstein

Ever wonder how we are able to manufacture and ship microprocessor with billions of transistors and verify that they are all good? Ever wonder how we are able to verify that boards and systems assembled from disparate components work? Ever wonder how we are able to improve manufacturing yields of ICs to allow us to manufacture bigger and more complex chips at ever lower costs?

The field of electronic test provides the answer to all these questions and more. You are invited to the International Test Conference (ITC0, the world’s premier conference dedicated to the electronic test of devices, boards and systems-covering the complete cycle from design verification and validation, test (DFT, ATPG, and BIST), diagnosis, failure analysis and back to process, yield, reliability and design improvement. At ITC, test and design professionals confront the challenges the industry faces, and learn how these challenges are being addressed by the combined efforts of academia, design tool and equipment suppliers, designers, and test engineers.

This year the 46th ITC will be held in the Disneyland Hotel, Anaheim, from October 6 – 8. Two days of tutorials <a href=”http:www.itctestweek.org/papers/test-week-tutorials”> precede the conference on October 4 and 5, and three workshops follow the conference. href=”http://itctestweek.org/papers/workshops”>

In addition the exhibit floor presents the latest test products. a href=”http://itctestweek.org/exhibitors

Visit us at < href=”http:www.itctestweek.org”>, to review our Advance Program and register today to hear the latest advances in the field of test.

The Philadelphia Section is the sponsor of the International Test Conference


What's in it for you? That depends on what you put into it, because you and fellow participants determine the discussion and learning topics. For instance, if you are interested in finding out the basics of building preneurial skills, you can post that as a topic and see how many others share your interest. At the very least, you'll get to explore what other great preneurs have done and how they think; find out what's on the minds of your colleagues and what piques their curiosity most about preneurship; and hear a keynote address from a rock star of the preneur world.

Save the Date!

Innovation Leadership Forum Presents an Unconference: "How to Become a Great

Preneur"

Saturday, November 14, 2015, Philadelphia University Campus, 9:00 A.M. to

2:00 P.M.

Sponsored by IEEE Philadelphia Section

What's an unconference?An unconference combines the level of synergy and

excitement present in a good coffee break with the

substantive activity and results characteristic of a good

meeting. It's an event where incredible things happen as

participants choose the topics and facilitate their own

discussions. Ours is focused on becoming a great preneur.

Here is a link to a video about this unique event format:

Unconference 101

What's a preneur?Preneur is from the French and means "taker" or "one who

takes." It's become synonymous with taking advantage of or

creating an opportunity. Its forms are seemingly endless. A

person who takes the risk of starting a business or businesses

is called an entrepreneur. An entrepreneurial individual within a

large organization is an intrapreneur. Someone within the

environmental sector might be an ecopreneur. A good manager

can hope to be a manapreneur. You get the idea.

Whatever type of preneur you are or aspire to be, this is the event for you.


Stephen Spinelli, PhD, Keynote Speaker: Stephen is President of Philadelphia University and will kick off the conference. He is an entrepreneur with an early and continuing specialty in franchising that began with being a member of the founding team of Jiffy Lube. Stephen Spinelli on LinkedIn Natalie Nixon, PhD, Unconference Leader: Natalie is Associate Professor and Director - Strategic Design MBA at Philadelphia University. She is an experienced unconference leader and a hybrid thinker, comfortably synthesizing creative and analytical thought processes from design and business to arrive at innovative opportunities. Natalie Nixon on LinkedIn Join us for this event at Philadelphia University's beautiful campus on Saturday, November 14th from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.

Conference Awards of Note IHTC 2015 IEEE International Humanitarian Technology Conference was held in Ottawa, Canada May 31 – June 4. Mahmoud Kabalan, Philadelphia SITE Co-Chair, and Villanova graduate student won 3rd prize award. The photo has a lot of glare. Congratulations to MK from the Section. EMBS IEEE Engineering in Medicine & biology Society had an awards ceremony August 26 in Milan, Italy. Danielle S. Bassett, Ph.D., Skirkanich Assistant Professor of Innovation, Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania won the Early Career Achievement Award. The wording: ““For her pioneering and fundamental contributions to neural and systems engineering, including formalizing graph-based representations of neuroimaging data, characterizing human brain network architecture in health and disease, and discovering a network-based predictor of individual differences in human learning.” Editor was unable to download her picture from the EMBS web

site.


Meeting of the Philadelphia Joint Chapter

IEEE Power & Energy and Industry Applications Societies

Topic: Testing of High-Voltage and Medium-Voltage Cables

Speaker: Aron Sexton, Business Development Manager, Kinectrics Date and Time: Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Lunch @ 11:45 a.m.; Presentation: 12:10 – 1:30 p.m. Cost: No Charge for Presentation

$13 for lunch ($10 for Full-Time Students) Location: Burns Engineering, Inc.

1835 Market St., Suite 300, Philadelphia, PA 19103 Public Transportation: SEPTA (Rail to 30th Street or Suburban Station and/or Trolley to 19th &

Market Street) Reservations: Please register here: https://meetings.vtools.ieee.org/m/35594 or by visiting www.ieeephiladelphia.org and finding this meeting notice. If you have problems or cannot register online, e-mail or call Stas Muzylowski at [email protected] or 215-979-7700, ext. 7790, by 5:00 p.m., Monday, September 14th, 2015. Abstract: Medium and high voltage underground cables are the backbone to any electric grid. Many of these cables are reaching the end of their rated life and are beginning to fail. As a major asset category for any organization, the health of the cable system is of utmost importance. Determining the health of the cable system requires proper testing methods and technologies. This presentation will focus on test methods and technologies for cables. Methods and technologies such as AC Hipot, DC Hipot, Partial Discharge, Tan Delta, Very Low Frequency (VLF), and Damped AC will be compared and contrasted. The testing timeline will be examined to include examples and recommendations for every

milestone in the life of the cable system, from initial manufacturing to end of life. The Speaker: Aron Sexton has over twenty years of experience in the electrical industry. He has held design, project management, training, and business development positions with many industry leading organizations including PECO Energy, MJ Electric, and KEMA. He is currently the Business Development Manager for Kinectrics, a company that offers specialized testing and consulting services for the utility industry. Over the past nine years his experience has been focused heavily on the testing of medium and high voltage underground cables. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Delaware and an MBA from West Chester University. He is an IEEE PES member and regularly

participates in the Insulated Conductor Committee meetings and working groups. *************** A Certificate of Attendance will be available upon request ************

Chapter Chair: Jonathan Schimpf, Burns Engineering - [email protected] (215-979-7700, ext. 7709)


Vice Chair: Rich Delp, Schiller and Hersh Associates - [email protected] (215-886-8947) Secretary: Stas Muzylowski, Burns Engineering - [email protected] (215-979-7700, ext. 7790) Treasurer: Justin Mazur, Schneider Electric- [email protected] (215-646-7694) Join Our Group on LinkedIn! http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3033618&trk=hb_side_g Check out our website: https://sites.google.com/site/ieeepesiasphiladelphiachapter/ IEEE Philadelphia Section website: www.ieeephiladelphia.org

IEEE NIGHT

Philadelphia Section Meeting Joint with: Magnetics (MAG), Reliability (R)

Date: Tuesday, September 15, 2015 Time: Dinner is at 6 pm. Program starts at 7 pm, and 8 pm. Location: Sheraton University City, 36th and Chestnut, Philadelphia Cost of dinner is $25.00 (students $15.00); meeting only is free (Real cost of dinner is higher, which is mostly subsidized by section) Reservations are needed, call 484.270.5136 or email the section office. [email protected] or use vtools in the web site Indoor parking is at location and paid by section. Bring ticket to be stamped. Note: In the event of bad weather please call the Sheraton after 1pm the day of the meeting at (215) 387-8000. Ask the front desk if the meeting has been canceled.

Engineering Philadelphia: The Sellers Family and the Industrial Metropolis Domenic Vitello. University of Pennsylvania This talk, and the book on which it is based, recounts how the engineers of the Sellers family innovated new technologies, built influential companies, and shaped the industrialization of Philadelphia and other cities across the U.S. and the world. Starting in the age of European imperialism, as Pennsylvania millers and mechanics built an industrial colony, the talk follows the Sellers and their colleagues across the nineteenth and early twentieth century, through the eras of coal and railroads, steel and electricity, all the way to the deindustrialization of Philadelphia. At right, the cover of his book

Domenic Vitiello is associate professor of city planning and urban studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where his teaching and research focus in part on the history of industrial cities and infrastructure.

xLAB@UPenn: Experience Design & Technology

Lab for Content-coupled Internet of Things It is estimated that the amount of devices that connect to the Internet will rise from about 13 billion today to 50 billion by 2020. The significant increase in connected devices that’s due to happen at the hands of the Internet of Things will, in turn, lead to an exponential increase in the amount of data generated from these devices. However, that in itself won't usher in another industrial revolution or transform day-to-day digital living. Listening to that data, making sense of it, and effectively


acting on that information will be essential. To enjoy the benefits of IoT, we have established the xLAB at Penn which is a collaboration between Design and Technology in making objects and services to understand human context, predict the needs based on the preferences and deliver intuitive experiences effectively.

Rahul Mangharam will showcase the xLAB’s efforts in the future of entertainment, toys and wellness with a focus on content-coupled IoT. He will demonstrate new modes of interaction with broadcast TV content for personalized experiences which understand the user’s context. Following this, Orkan Telhan will focus on novel applications of printed electronics for the design of immersive activity environments. The talk will focus on the design of an activity surface that guides users through various physical activities such as yoga, exercise routines, or fitness training using visual feedback. He will discuss design of the visual design, electronics and computational design of the surface as well the content authoring environment where the surface can be authored for other applications in education and entertainment. Rahul Mangharam is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Electrical & Systems Engineering and Dept. of Computer & Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania. He directs mLAB: Real-Time and Embedded Systems Lab and xLAB: Experience Design and Technology Lab at Penn. His interests are in real-time scheduling algorithms for networked embedded systems with applications in medical devices, energy efficient buildings, automotive systems and industrial wireless control networks.

Rahul received the 2014 IEEE Benjamin Franklin Key Award from the IEEE Philadelphia Section, 2013 NSF CAREER Award, 2012 Intel Early Faculty Career Award and was selected by the National Academy of Engineering for the 2012 US Frontiers of Engineering. He was the Stephen J. Angelo Term Chair Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania from 2008-2013.

Orkan Telhan is an interdisciplinary artist, designer and researcher whose investigations focus on the design of interrogative objects, interfaces, and media. Telhan is Assistant Professor of Fine Arts - Emerging Design Practices at University of Pennsylvania, School of Design. He holds a PhD in Design and Computation from MIT's Department of Architecture. He was part of the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Laboratory and the Mobile Experience Lab at the MIT Design Laboratory.


Chair’s Message

By Philip Gonski

As the summer draws on, I hope everyone had an enjoyable time, and is ready for a full and active IEEE season.

On the local level, we kept ourselves busy developing a 2015 fall program, as well as bringing in new leaders into our organization. I'm pleased to have Alan Mathason of Next Fab organizing our ED/CPMT chapter and Sean McGovern and Geoff Horton assisting with organizing our Young Professionals Group. This summer, we held two young engineers socials which both had good attendance.

We also awarded our annual $15,000 of scholarships to three well deserving students who are also honored in the Almanack.*

On behalf of the IEEE Philadelphia, I hope to see you at our next meeting. **

*See Page 2 ** Sept. 15. Details page 21.


Thursday October 1, 2015 – 6.00 – 7.30pm

Urban Engineers’ Training Room (7th Floor, 530 Walnut St., Philadelphia)

The Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia’s Committee on Younger Members invites YOU to a panel

discussion on becoming licensed in the field of engineering. Join in on a panel of three licensed

professional engineers and one engineer-in-training on why it is important to get licensed and

how getting licensed applies to you as a practicing engineer, engineer-in-training or an

engineering student. Also, come to learn some tips, strategies and best practices on

successfully preparing for both the FE and PE exam.

COMPLIMENTARY pizza & beverages will be served Space is limited to the first 40 registrants. RSVP online by Monday September 28, 2015

Urban Engineers (7th Floor), located behind Independence Hall at 530 Walnut St. is easily

accessible via public transportation

Immediately following the panel discussion, join us for a casual Happy Hour Networking

Session at Coco’s (112 S. 8th St, between Chestnut & Sansom St.)

Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia’s website: wwww.engrclub.org

PATH TO LICENSURE PANEL DISCUSSION

Reasons to Get Licensed

1. Prestige 2. Career Development 3. Authority 4. Flexibility

5. Money

Register for this FREE

event online by scanning

this QR code with your

smartphone today:

RSVP by Monday Sept 28, 2015 Register online:

https://goo.gl/GvMbEb

Questions? Contact Giselle Schlegel at [email protected] Laura-Ann Chin at [email protected]


IEEE PHILADELPHIA CHAPTER OF CONTROL SYSTEMS SOCIETY PRESENTS

CONTROL OF MULTI-ROBOT SYSTEMS: FROM FORMATIONS TO HUMAN-SWARM INTERACTIONS DR. MAGNUS EGERSTEDT

DISTINGUISHED LECTURER, IEEE CONTROL SYSTEM SOCIETY

DIRECTOR OF THE GEORGIA ROBOTICS AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS LAB GEORGIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

• September 17TH, 2015: 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM; Tolentine Hall,

Villanova University. (In collaboration with Cen. For Nonlinear

Dynamics & Control)

• September 18TH, 2015: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM; Wu and Chen Auditorium - Levine Hall, University of Pennsylvania. (In collaboration with GRASP Lab.)

Abstract: The last few years have seen significant progress in our understanding of how one should structure multi-robot systems. New control, coordination, and communication strategies have emerged and in this talk, we summarize some of these developments. In particular, we will discuss how to go from local rules to global behaviors in a systematic manner in order to achieve distributed geometric objectives, such as achieving and maintaining formations, area coverage, and swarming behaviors. We will also investigate how users can interact with networks of mobile robots in order to inject new information and objectives. The efficacy of these interactions depends directly on the interaction dynamics and the structure of the underlying information-exchange network. We will relate these network-level characteristics to controllability and manipulability notions in order to produce effective human-swarm interaction strategies. Biography: Magnus Egerstedt is a Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology He received the M.S. degree in Engineering Physics and the Ph.D. degree in Applied Mathematics from the Royal Institute of Technology in 1996 and 2000 respectively, and he received a B.A. degree in Philosophy from Stockholm University in 1996. Dr. Egerstedt's research interests include hybrid and networked control, with applications in motion planning, control, and coordination of mobile robots. Magnus Egerstedt is a Fellow of the IEEE, serves as Editor for Electronic Publications for the IEEE Control Systems Society, and is the director of the Georgia Robotics and Intelligent Systems Lab. He received the ECE/GT Outstanding Junior Faculty Member Award in 2005, and the CAREER award from the U.S. National Science Foundation in 2003.

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