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OCEANIC NGINEERING OCIETYE SNewsletter

VOLUME XXXIV NUMBER 4

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EDITOR: FREDERICK H. MALTZ FALL/WINTER 1999 (USPS 420-910) ISSN 0746-7834

2 IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Newsletter, Fall/Winter 1999

IEEE OCEANIC ENGINEERING SOCIETY

IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Newsletteris published quarterly by the Oceanic Engineering Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. Head-quarters: 3 Park Avenue, 17th Floor, NY 10017-2394. $1.00 per member per year (included in Society fee) for each member of the Oceanic Engineering Society. Printed inU.S.A. Periodicals postage paid at New York, NY and at additional mailing offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to IEEE OCEANIC ENGINEERING SOCIETYNEWSLETTER, IEEE, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ 08854

PresidentGLEN N. WILLIAMSEngineering Program OfficeTexas A&M UniversityCollege Station, TX77843-3112+1 409 845 [email protected]

Vice PresidentTechnical ActivitiesJOSEPH R. VADUSGlobal Ocean Inc.8500 Timber HillPotomac, Maryland 20854+1 301 299 5477+1 301 983 4825 (FAX)[email protected]

Newsletter EditorFREDERICK H. MALTZ1760 Larkellen LaneLos Altos, CA 94024+1 650 967 5092+1 650 969 9390 (FAX)[email protected]

Vice President,Professional ActivitiesNORMAN D. MILLER, P.E.2644 NW Esplanade DriveSeattle, WA 98117-2527+1 206 784 7154+1 206 784 0478 (FAX)[email protected]

Journal of OceanicEngineering EditorJAMES F. LYNCHOceans Physics and

Engineering203 Bigelow BuildingWoods Hole Oceanographic

InstitutionWoods Hole, MA 02543+1 508 457 2000 [email protected]

Vice President,International ActivitiesVACANT

SecretaryDawna RosenkranzTexas A&M UniversityCollege of Engineering,Room 301, WERCCollege Station, Texas

77843-3126+1 409 845 9588+1 409 845 8986 (FAX)

TreasurerTHOMAS F. WIENER2403 Lisbon LaneAlexandria, VA 22306-2516+1 703 516 7363+1 703 516 7360 (FAX)[email protected]

Web MasterERIC NELSONComputing and InformationServices Center

Texas A&M UniversityCollege Station, Texas 77843+1 409 862 [email protected]

ARTHUR B. BAGGEROERArctic/Antarctic OceanicEngineering. Information and Processingof Acoustic and ElectromagneticPhenomena

D. RICHARD BLIDBERGJOHN J. LEONARDAUV’s, ROV’s, Autonomous Systems,Unmanned Vehicles, Intelligent Systems,and High Level Control

WILLIAM H. CAREY, Editor EmeritusAcoustic Propagation and Scattering,Signal Processing

CHRISTIAN DE MOUSTIERBathymetry. Surveys, Mapping. RemoteSensing, and Sonar Image Processing

GEOFF EDELSONArray Processing: High Resolution,Matched Field, Model Based Measure-ment Arrays, Sonar Processing

JOHN E. EHRENBERGAcoustic Simulation and Sensors.

DAVID M. FARMERInstrumentation, Acoustical Oceanogra-phy. Air-Sea Interaction. Turbulence.

RENE GARELLORegional Editor France and Europe

MALCOLM L. HERONRegional Editor South America, Australiaand AfricaRemote Sensing; Radar; Waves; Currents;Air-Sea Interaction

DAVID P. KNOBLESSeismo Acoustics, Seafloor Geophysics,Seismology, Propagation, Scattering, Sig-nal Processing, Interface Waves

HISAAKI MAEDARegional Editor for Japan and AsiaMarine Hydrodynamics, Dynamics ofFloating Structures, Underwater VehiclesOcean Energy Utilization

ARYE NEHORAIArray Processing; Statistical Analysis;Detection; Estimation

JOHN D. PENROSERegional Editor Western Australia

JOHN POTTERRegional Editor Southeast AsiaOcean Acoustics, Marine MammalAcoustics

DANIEL RAMSDALEBook Reviews

ROBERT C. SPINDELPETER DAHLAcoustic Communication, Navigation andTelemetry; Acoustic Tomography;Acoustic Remote Sensing; UnderwaterOptics

RICHARD STERNEngineering Acoustics: Equipment andDevices, Instrumentation, Materials, Mea-surement Techniques

OES Journal Associate EditorsARTHUR B. BAGGEROERDept. Ocean Eng.–Rm. 5-204Mass. Inst. Technol.Cambridge, MA 02139+1 617 253 [email protected]

D. RICHARD BLIDBERGAutonomous UnderseaSystems Institute86 Old Concord TurnpikeLee, NH 03924+1 603 868 3221Fax: +1 603 868 [email protected]

PETER H. DAHLApplied Physics Lab,Univ. of Washington1013 N.E. 40th StreetSeattle, WA 98105+1 206 543 [email protected]

WILLIAM M. CAREYThe Kerry Group LLC79 Whippoorwill Rd.,Old Lyme, CT 06371+1 860 434 [email protected]

CHRISTIAN DE MOUSTIERMarine Physical Lab,Scripps Inst, of OceanographyLa Jolla, CA 92093+1 619 534 [email protected]

GEOFF EDELSONSandersAdvanced Systems DirectorateMAN6-2000P. 0. Box 868Nashua, NH 03061-0868+1 603 645 5735Fax: +1 603 645 [email protected]

JOHN E. EHRENBERGBoeing Defense and Space GroupP. 0. Box 3999MS 84-41Seattle, WA 98124-2499+1 206 773 [email protected]

DAVID M. FARMERInsitute of Ocean SciencesP. 0, Box 6000, 9860 West Saanich Rd.Sidney, BC V81 4B2 Canada+1 250 363 6591Fax: +1 250 363 [email protected]

RENE GARELLOTelecom BretagneDpt. ITI BP 83229285 Brest Cedex France33 2 98 00 13 71Fax: 33 2 98 00 10 [email protected]

MALCOLM L. HERONPhysics Dept.Jams Cook Univ.Townsville, Queensland 4811Australia61 77 81 4127

DAVID P. KNOBLESEVGApplied Research Labs.Univ. of Texas at AustinP.O. Box 8029Austin, TX 78713-8029+1 512 835 [email protected]

JOHN J. LEONARDOcean Engineering DepartmentRoom 5-422Mass. Inst. Technol.77 Massachusetts Ave.Cambridge, MA 02139+1 617 253 5305Fax: +1 617 253 [email protected]

HISAAKI MAEDAInstitute of Industrial ScienceUniversity of Tokyo7-22-1, Roppongi, MinatokuTokyo 106,Japan81 3 3402 6231 X2255Fax: 81 3 3402 [email protected],jp

ARYE NEHORAIDept. Elect. Eng. and Computer Sci.Univ. of Illinois at Chicago851 S. Morgan St.,Rm. 1120 SEOChicago, IL 60607-7053+1 312 996 2778Fax: +1 312 413 [email protected]

JOHN D. PENROSECentre for Marine Science andTechnologyCurtin Univ, Kent SL Bentley,Western Australia 6102Australia 61 9351 [email protected]

JOHN POTTERHead, Acoustic Research LaboratoryTMSI and Elect. Eng. Dept.National Univ. of Singapore10 Kent Ridge CrescentSingapore 117596Fax: 65 874 2129Fax: 65 874 [email protected]

DANIEL RAMSDALENaval Research Lab,Acoustics Branch, Code 7170Stennis Space Center, MS 39529-5004+1 601 688 [email protected]

ROBERT C. SPINDELApplied Physics Lab.Univ. of Washington1013 N.E. 40th St.Seattle, WA 98105+1 206 543 [email protected]

RICHARD STERNApplied Research Lab.Penn State Univ.P. 0. Box 30State College, PA 16804+1 814 865 [email protected]

Last Printed Issue for the MillenniumFUTURE NEWSLETTEREDITIONS WILL BEELECTRONIC

This will be the last printed issue ofthe Newsletter. Beginning with the nextissue, Spring 2000, the OES Newsletterwill appear only on the Internet. Anemail notice, containing a table of con-tents, will be sent out announcing theavailability of each new issue. If youwant to receive these email notices, andhave not already sent in your currentemail address, you can send it to EricNelson [email protected].

In the “Subject” of your email,please place the following:

EMAIL:email_address

For example, if your email [email protected], the subject fieldwould be: EMAIL:[email protected]

Newsletters have been available forviewing on the Word Wide Web sincethe Spring of ‘98. There are links tothese issues through the website athttp://auv.tamu.edu/oes/. This is theOES homepage and contains updatesand other information.

Best wishes for the New Year..

IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Newsletter, Fall/Winter 1999 3

Frederick Maltz

Table of Contents

Report from the Vice President, Technical ActivitiesJoseph R. Vadus · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 4UT 2000 - Tokyo, Japan · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 5IEEE Fellow Awards · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 6Distinguished Technical Achievement Award · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 7Distinguished Service Award · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 8Oceans '99 - MTS/IEEE - Seatlle, Washington · · · · · · · · · · · · · 9Student Poster Program,by Norman Miller · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 15The Winning Student Poster Paperby David Boulinguez · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 16The 1999 IEEE-USA Professional Development Conferenceby Norman D. Miller · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 21PDC Conference 1999by Mike Ingram · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 22Who's Who in the OES · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 23SimCentral.comby John Ilgen · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 23Upcoming Conferences · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 25Oceans 2000 - Call for Papers · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 26Human Powered Submarine Racesby Edward C. Cargile· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 30Norman D. Miller, IEEE-USA Divisional ProfessionalLeadership Award· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 31AUV 2000 Call for Papers · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 32News Items · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · 34

Report from the Vice President,Technical Activities

Conference ReportOceans 2000, Providence, RI - An-

nouncement and Call For Papers hasbeen mailed. Check our Web site:www.OCEANS2000.com Abstractsare due 16 February 2000. TechnicalProgram Chair Claude Brancart can bereached via E-mail: [email protected] J.Spargo and Associates areproviding conference support that is ex-pected to continue for the next threeyears.They report 85 booths committed.

Underwater Technology 2000, To-kyo–Based on UT 98 s great success,the response is very good. Over 100 ab-stracts already in hand.Once again, weare at the DOD operated New SannoHotel for the program, luncheons andsocials. We offer good value for a To-kyo symposium. Check our Web Site at:http://underwater.iis.utokyo.ac.JP/ut00/ for registration, hotel rates andprogram.

I met with Japan Chapter members toreview current plans and long termgoals. UT 00 is on track. UT confer-ences are held on even numbered years,and there are expressions of interestfrom Singapore and Taiwan for UT2002.The chapter is part of the IEEE Ja-pan Council of Chapters and will be re-ferred to as the Japan Chapter of OES.The Japan Chapter plans to prepare aproposal for combining UT04 withOceans 04 for possible venue in Tokyoor Yokohama.

Oceans 2001-Waikiki Beach. CraigMacDonald and Liz Corbin, State ofHawaii, Div. Business , Economic De-velopment and Tourism, are leading theplanning effort.

Thereare fiveOESveteransofOceans91 on the Conference Committee.

Once again. the Waikiki Hilton Ha-waiian Village provides the hotel, ex-hibit and technical session space, andresort amenities. Aloha you all.

Oceans 2002-Biloxi, MS. Facilitiesare ready: Conference Hotel is the BeauRivage, a $650 million, five- star resorthotel; Convention Center and nearbyHoliday Inn. The airline gateways are:Atlanta to Gulfport (20 min. cab toBiloxi); and New Orleans and rent acar( 50 min. to Biloxi).

Oceans 2003-San Diego CA. BobWernli assures an early start, with a pre-liminary proposal prepared. The Confer-ence Committee will boast a number of

Oceans veterans.The proposalis expected to be reviewed at thenext ExCom meeting, perhapsat OTC Houston.

Oceans 2004-Norway activ-ity. Chairman designee ArnoldHansen, former Managing Di-rector of Marintek/SINTEF,their premiere ocean agency andChapter Chair Prof. of Engi-neering Cybernetics ThorFossen, Norwegian Universityof Science and Technology arebusy preparing their proposalexpected for review at the next

ExCom. meeting. Bob Wernli and I planto help the process and focus on a pre-ferred venue for their proposal.

Meanwhile, there are some new ex-pressions of interest for Oceans 04 thatmust be supported by a proposal for se-rious contention. Glen Williams is fol-lowing up with recent German interests.

Oceans 2005 and beyond: We relooking for proposals and ideas. Offersof support and constructive commentsare welcomed.

However, there are many short andlong term policy decisions to consider.OES Pres. Glen Williams and MTS Pres.Norm Estabrook are tracking on their ra-dar screen. OES ExCom have been ex-changing suggestions for strategies.

As always, more to come,

Joseph R. VadusVice President , Technical Activities

IEEE Oceanic Engineering SocietyE-mail: [email protected]


Joseph R. VadusVice President,

Technical Activities

Oceans '99 Exhibitors Reception. Right to Left:Hedo Ahn, Korea; Don Walsh; Takeo Kondo,Japan; Toshitsugu Sakou, Japan; Joe Vadus;Rikako Nakanishi, Japan; Dave Graham.

Prof. Tamaki Ura, University of Tokyoand Chairman of the Japan Chapter ofOES speaking at an AUV session,Oceans '99.

Left to Right: Prof. Hisaaki Maeda,University of Tokyo; Joe Vadus and PatTakahashi, University of Hawaii checkingout the Megafloat Platform in Tokyo Bayfor a visit during UT 2000 next May, Mt.Fuji in background.


IEEE Fellow Award

Oceanic Engineering Society

James V. CandyDr. Candy is the Director of the Center for

Advanced Signal & Image Sciences at theLawrence Livermore National Laboratory.He earned his B.S.E.E. at the University ofCincinnati and M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees inElectrical Engineering at the University ofFlorida in Gainsville.

He is currently the IEEE Chair of theAdCom on “Sonar Signal Processsing” and

also the Chair of the Acoustical Society ofAmerica (ASA) Interdisciplinary TechnicalGroup on “Signal Processing in Acoustics”.Dr. Candy is also a Fellow of the ASA. He haspublished over 150 journal articles and tech-nical reports as well as written two texts insignal processing, “Signal Processing: theModel-Based Approach, “(McGraw-

James V. Candy

IEEE Fellow Award

Oceanic Engineering Society

Ferial El-HawaryFERIAL EL-HAWARY received the M.

Sc. from the University of Alberta, Canadain Electrical Engineering and the Ph.D.from Memorial University of Newfound-land in Oceans Engineering. She has pub-l ished widely, and made numerouspresentations in Underwater Applicationsof Advanced Signal Processing and Estima-tion Techniques.

She is the cofounder and President ofBH Engineering Systems Limited of Hali-fax, and the “Modeling and Signal Analy-sis Research Laboratory” in the Faculty ofEngineering at the Technical University ofNova Scotia (TUNS), now is DalTech. AtBHES, Ferial’s activities involve technology transfer fromthe academic sphere to industry through consulting and theoffering of Advanced Professional Development Coursesfor industry.

Dr. El-Hawary has supervised a number of graduate stu-dents at TUNS on “Application of Digital System Concepts toUnderwater Dynamic Motion Estimation and Marine SeismicMethods”, also on “The Environmental Impact of ElectricPower Generation”. Her research work has been supported bythe Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council ofCanada (NSERC) Grants.

Dr. El-Hawary’s involvement world widein OCEANS Activities both technically andadministratively as a member of the IEEE Oce-anic Engineering Society Board of Directorsserving as Vice- President International, andPast Chairman of the Membership Develop-ment Committee. Ferial has been instrumentalin promoting the Society at the National and In-ternational level, and in particular in organizingOCEANS’ Conferences held in Canada andoutside of North America (Europe). Ferial isthe first woman, and Canadian engineer to benominated in 1996 for the Presidency of the In-stitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE)/ Oceanic Engineering Society.

She was also guest editor of a special sequence of issues ofthe IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering dedicated to Ad-vanced Applications of Control and Signal Processing in theOceans Environment. Presently, she is the Editor of “TheOCEANS Engineering Handbook” to be published in the year2000 by the IEEE and CRC/Press.

Dr. El-Hawary is a Fellow of the Marine Technology Soci-ety (MTS). She is a long standing Fellow of the EngineeringInstitute of Canada (EIC). Presently, She became a Fellow ofIEEE. Ferial has also received “The Distinguished ServiceAward” of the IEEE/Oceanic Engineering Society.

Ferial El-Hawary


OceanicEngineering

SocietyDistinguished

TechnicalAchievement Award

1975 Robert Frosch

1976 Werner Kroebel

1977 Howard A. Wilcox

1978 Richard K. Moore

1979 David W. Hyde

1980 Neil Brown

1981 No Award

1982 Ira Dyer

1983 Alan Berman

1984 John B. Hersey

1985 William N. Nierenberg

1986 Robert J. Urick

1987 James R. McFarlane

1988 Chester M. McKinney

1989 Victor C. Anderson

1990 Robert C. Spindel

1991 Henry Cox

1992 Arthur B. Baggeroer

1993 William J. Plant

1994 Edmund J. Sullivan

1995 Mack O’Brien

1996 Frederick H. Fise

1997 Newell Booth

1998 Burton G. Hurdle

1999 William M. Carey

Distinguished TechnicalAchievement Award

Oceanic Engineering SocietyOCEANS’99

William M. Carey

The IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Distinguished Technical AchievementAward is presented to Dr. William M. Carey for his outstanding contributions toShallow Water Acoustics and Array Processing.

Dr. Carey (M’85, SM’92, F’96), received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineer-ing in 1965, a M.S. degree in physics in 1968, and a Ph.D. in nuclear science in 1974from the Catholic University of America, Washington, DC.

Dr. Carey was the Editor of the Journal of Oceanic Engineering for six years,during which the Journal became well known for its quality and relevance. He con-tinues to work as an Associate Editor. He was with the Defense Advanced ResearchProjects Agency and, under the I.P.A., taught Acoustics at the M.I.T. Departmentof Ocean Engineering. Dr. Carey has been a Research Physicist and Engineer atseveral Naval Laboratories and The University of Chicago’s Argonne NationalLaboratory. Throughout his career, he has been a consultant to industry and govern-ment in the areas of nondestructive testing, nuclear science, environmental mea-surements, applied ocean acoustics and air acoustics. Presently, Dr. Carey is aProfessor of Mechanical Engineering at Boston University, a Physicist with the Na-val Undersea Warfare Center and an Adjunct Professor at R.P.I. Dr. Carey con-ducted several shallow water, SW, experiments; the results of which havesignificantly contributed to improved understanding of sound propagation, the pre-dictability of propagation and the limits of spatial coherent processing. His HudsonCanyon Experiment results have been utilized by a large number of sound transmis-sion and matched processing investigators; consequently, the experiment is consid-ered a benchmark. In addition, Dr. Carey has worked with a diverse group ofscientists and engineers from major Oceanic Institutions to research teams thathave significantly contributed to the understanding of shallow water acoustics andarrays. His research has resulted in an improved understanding of underwateracoustics, especially of scattering, reverberation, transmission, and the coherencyof the shallow water wave guide.

8 IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Newsletter, Fall 1999

OceanicEngineering

SocietyDistinguishedService Award

1975 Arthur S. Westneat

1976 Frank Snodgrass

1977 Calvin T. Swift

1978 Edward W. Early

1979 Richard M. Emberson

1980 Donald M. Bolle

1981 Loyd Z. Maudlin

1982 Arthur S. Westneat

1983 Elmer P. Wheaton

1984 John C. Redmond

1985 Joseph R. Vadus

1986 Stanley G. Chamberlain

1987 Stanley L. Ehrlich

1988 Harold A. Sabbagh

1989 Eric Herz

1990 Anthony I. Eller

1991 Frederick H. Fisher

1992 Gordon Raisbetk

1993 Edward W. Early

1994 Daniel Alspach

1995 David Weissman

1996 Glen Williams

1997 Ferial El-Hawary

1998 Norman D. Miller

1999 Pierre Sabathé

Distinguished Service Award

Oceanic Engineering SocietyOCEANS’99

Pierre Sabathé

The IEEE Oceanic Engineering Society Distinguished Service Award is pre-sented to Mr. Sabathé for his dedicated service in support of the Society.

Pierre Sabathé (M’92) is Ingenieur de l’Armement graduate from EcolePolytechnique, Paris in 1951 (Promotion 1948) and Post Graduate from Ecole Na-tional Superieure du Genic Maritime, Paris in 1953, now Ecole NationaleSuperieure des Techniques Advancees (ENSTA).

Pierre was elected to the OES AdCom in 1995 and was re-elected in 1998. In1996, he was elected by the AdCom to be Vice-President International, and againwas re-elected in 1998. During his term in office, he undertook the responsibility ofGeneral Chair for OCEANS 94 6ATES, held in Brest, France and GeneralCo-Chair for OCEANS 98, held in Nice, France. OCEANS 94 OSATES was thefirst time OES conducted a conference outside of North America. Because of Pi-erre’s dedication and involvement and for the guidance he presented to the confer-ence committee, both these OCEANS conferences were very successful. OESneeded a person with Pierre’s qualities and capabilities to span distance, culture,and language.

Pierre has devoted his whole life on or in the oceans. From 1953-1960 he was theDeputy Director for the Sonar Laboratory, French Navy, DCAN Toulon. 1961 to1966 he was Head of Sonar Section, French Navy, STCAN, Paris. During the pe-riod 1967-1976, Pierre was Executive Vice President in the French company,L’Electronique Appliquee in Paris. In 1977, Pierre started his Thomson-CSF in-volvement through many challenging positions and many name changes forThomson. Specifically, he was Director ASW Systems of Underwater ActivitiesDivision of Thomson-CSF from 1977 to 1984. In 1985, he became the Vice Presi-dent of Strategy, Marketing and Long Term Development for Thomson SintraASM until he retired in 1992. Thomson Sintra ASM is now a major part ofThomson Marconi Sonar, the European leader in ASW. In retirement, Pierre con-tinued his involvement by teaching sonar at two leading engineering graduateschools, and has been very involved with IEEE/OES. Pierre has received the presti-gious Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur medal.


Oceans ’99 - MTS/IEEE Seattle WashingtonPlenary Session

L to R – Norman B. Estabrook, Pres. Marine Technology Society, Glen N. Williams,Pres., IEEE OES Society, Ted Brockett, Conference Co-Chairman, Robert Spindel,Conference Chairman

Glen N. WIlliams, President, IEEEOceanic Engineering Society Rear Admiral Paul G. Gaffney, II,

USN Chief of Naval ResearchSpeaker Dr. John DelaneyProfessor of Oceanography atthe University of Washington

Speaker Emory Kristoff SpecialProjects Photographer for NationalGeographic

Speaker Dr. Robert W. Correll,National Oceanic and AtmosphericAdministration


IEEE Annual Awards Luncheon

Pierre Sabathé’s Speech for the Awards LuncheonRead by Rene Garello

Pierre is really sorry notto be here today, but I thinkhe is fully enjoying his retire-ment and waiting for a newgranddaughter soon to come.

It is a great honor for me toreceive the DistinguishedService Award. I am verygrateful to the Oceanic Engi-neering Society for this dis-tinction and I am proud to bethe first European so distin-guished by the Society.

I was actively involved inorganizing the two firstOCEANS conferences everoutside North America:OCEANS’94 OSATES in Brest and OCEANS’98 in Nice.

This is an understatement as Pierre was the generalchairman of both conferences.

All the member of their organizing committees havebeen very pleased to settle these successful conferences inFrance. They deserve congratulations as they hit their tar-get: blending a large participation of 30% from NorthAmerica with a majority of Europeans.

We had for both confer-ences a total of 780 papers(1100 abstracts from 35countries) with about 200papers from North Amer-ica; a total of 1700 atten-dees at the conferences anda total of 230 exhibitors(30 of them showing atboth conferences).

These figures show thestrong potential for activeparticipation in OES inEurope.

My wish today for OESis that the next OCEANS

or IEEEIOES sponsoredconferences in Europe maintainthis trend and overshoot the mark.The next OCEANSabroad is already scheduled for 2004 and the French chap-ter will help organizing a large workshop in Electronic En-gineering for Oceanography in Brest in 2001.

As a conclusion, I would like to acknowledge Dr. GlenWilliams who made possible these OCEANS conferencesin France and supported my actions during 7 years.

Thank you Glen.

Rene Garello accepting the Distinguished Service Award forPierre Sabathé

Feriel El-Hawary accepting the IEEE Fellow Award


Dr. Roger Dwyer is awarded a Certificate of Appreciation by Dr.Stan Chamberlain, Coordinator of OES Technology Commit-tees, in recognition and appreciation of his valued services andcontributions as Chair of the OES Underwater Acoustics Tech-nology Committee. Other former chairs of OES TechnologyCommittees who were similarly recognized at different timeduring the Conference or shorly thereafter are Dr. RobertFarwell as chair of the Underwater Acoustics Technology Com-mittee, Dr. Orest Diachok as chair of the Oceanographic Instru-mentation Technology Committee and Paula Lau as chair ofthe Severe Environments Instrumentation Technology Com-mittee. Each of these had served as chair of their respectivecommittees for many years.

Glen N. Williams President, IEEE/OES James V. Candy accepting the IEEE Fellow Award

William M. Carey accepting the Distinguished TechnicalAchievement Award

IEEE Annual Awards Luncheon

Oceans ’99 - MTS/IEEE Seattle Washington


Meeting of the OES Administrative Committee

Mary Williams, Ed Early, Ferial El Hawary, Vandeen Early,

and Norman Miller at the Gordon Biersch

Jim Barbera and Jim Collins

The Girls

OES Administrative Committee Meeting


Dinner at the Odyssey Maritime Discovery Centerat Pier66 Waterfront

Guests had full access to interactive galleriesincluding Sharing the Sound, Harvesting the Sea,and Ocean Trade. Kayak through Elliot Bay, ma-neuver a cargo ship through narrow passages orwatch a unique visual display of the latest hydro-graphic surveying methods.


Exhibits

A Comprehensive Gathering WithDisplays and Reception


OCEANS ‘99 MTS/IEEE Student Poster ProgramOnce again the Student Poster Program was a very success-

ful and integral part of the annual OCEANS Conference. Wereceived 34 abstracts for posters for the session. We invited 12students to come and present their posters.

Adding to the interest of the poster presentations were ac-tual hardware pieces. The group from Santa Clara University,led by Chad Bulich, brought their underwater sensor vehiclefor display. Similarly Timothy Prestero was able to bring theREMUS AUV for display at the Woods Hole OceanographicInstitution booth in the Exhbits area. All of the poster presenta-tions were very well done and judging of the posters was verytight. Thanks to a grant from the Office of Naval Research, wewere able to award five prizes. The first place award went toDavid Boulinguez. Second place awards were given toFabienne Poree and Brian Strully. Third place awards weregiven to Glodina Connan, Darryl Newborough, andChristophe Sintes.

The location of the Posters in the main corridor made themvery accessible to the and all of the students had the opportu-nity to interact with Conference Attendees. All of the studentswere impressed with the OCEANS Conference as this was thefirst opportunity many of them had to attend such an event.

In addition to the invited Student Posters, three local highschools arranged field trips for their students to attend theConference. One group from Sedro Woolley, Washington,had students that had participated in the National Oceans Sci-ence Bowl in the spring. The Marine Technology students

from Highline, Federal Way and Tukwila schools attended theopening Plenary Session which served as a good introductionto what they would be studying during the school year. Thestudents were much impressed with the hardware they saw inthe exhibits area and saw opportunities for careers in the Ma-rine Science and Engineering fields."

Norman D. Miller, P.E.O99 Student Activities Coordinator

The students selected, their school, and Poster Titlewere as follows:

David Boulinguez, ENSIETA, Brest, France -“A New Way of Identifying Buried Objects"

Chad A. Bulich, Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA -“Santa Clara Remote Extreme Environmental Mechanisms(SCREEM) Laboratory: Past, Present and Future"

J.D. Carter, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX -“Design of the Dynamic Positioning Upgrade for theDrillship Ocean Clipper”

Glodina Connan, ENST Bretagne, Brest, France -“W-Band Radar Measurement of Laboratory Waves”

R.C. Loke, University of Algarve, Fara, Portugal -“Fast Interpolation, Segmentation and Visualization of 3DSonar Seabottom Data”

Xiaogun Ma, New Jersey Institute of Technology,Newark, NJ -“Matched Arrival Processing for Efficient Inversion inUnderwater Acoustics

Darryl Newborough, Loughborough University,Loughborough, UK -“Diver Navigation System and Tracking”

Fabienne Poree, ENST de Bretagne, Brest, France -“Multipath Time Delay Detection and Estimation forOcean Acoustic Tomography”

Timothy Prestero, MIT, Cambridge, MA“Verification of a Vertical-Plane Simulation Model forthe REMUS AUV”

Christophe Sintes, GESMA, Brest, France -“Interferometric Noise for Sidescan Sonar”

Cristiano Soares, University of Algarve,Faro, Portugal -“Matched Field Processing: Environmental Focusingand Source Tracking with Application to North ElbaData Set”

Brian Strully, University of Washington, Seattle, WA -“Acoustical Remote Sensing with Spatially LocatedTransducers in the Surf Zone”

Rene Garello, Norman Miller and the Student Poster ProgramParticipants

Student Posters


A New Way of Identifying Buried ObjectsDavid Boulinguez, Andre Quinquis

EIA Dpt, Ensieta, 29806 Brest Cedex 09, FranceTel: +33 2 98 34 87 82 Fax: +33 2 98 34 87 50

Email: [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract- Underwater object identification is of great inter-est for a few years to acousticians (detection of boulders), ma-rines (detection of buried mines), or archaeologists (detectionof wreckage). Image and Signal processing succeed in identi-fying objects lying on the sea bottom, however identificationof an object buried in sediment remains complex.

The purpose of this work is to propose a complete identifi-cation of objects embedded in the sediment using an adaptedtechnology. We use a parametric source, which properties arebased on the water nonlinear propagation characteristics; ithas many advantages as an acoustic source (high relativebandwidth, narrow beam) which are useful for object detec-tion and classification. This paper presents a procedure whichcomputes discriminant parameters from images to classifythese objects.

I. INTRODUCTIONThe purpose of this research is to study new kinds of pro-

cessing for detection and classification of underwater objects(simply immersed, or buried) in normal incidence.

For a long time, pingers have been used for the detection ofburied targets like pipelines; however this does not performgood results for localization and classification.

Our method uses a parametric array (presented in the firstpart) in the self demodulation regime and in normal incidence,in order to obtain sub-bottom profilers. Thanks to this system,we can store three-dimensional data (x,y,z) of a sub-bottomzone and perform a precise detection [1].

We present then the most important development of this re-search concerning a classification using several methods.

II. DATA ACQUISITION

A. Parametric ArrayThe parametric array has many advantages as an acoustic

source: high relative bandwidth, narrow beam with nosidelobes using a small transducer surface. All these featuresimply high relative spatial and temporal resolutions which arevery useful in application such as object detection and classifi-cation [2].

Briefly, a carrier frequency is generated and mixed in adouble balance mixer with a raised cosine bell envelope cre-ated from a function generator. The modulation is sent to apower amplifier and then to a transducer. Due to the waternonlinear propagation characteristics, a low frequencyself-demodulated pulse is generated, which corresponds to thesecond derivative of the square envelope of the created signal[3]. In the following example the signal is a Ricker pulse

which temporal and spectral features are described in Fig.l.The generated pulse center frequency is around 50 kHz and itsbeamwidtb is about 3 degrees. During the experiment, the so-nar is moved, step by step in both horizontal directions (x,y),near over the water/sediment interface. Signal frequencies arelow enough to penetrate the sediment and the object withoutimportant attenuation. Thanks to the narrow beamwidth, asmall surface of the object is insonified: we can therefore real-ize multi-line vertical scans over the object as shown in Fig. 2and obtain a 3D information of the target.

B. Target DescriptionFollowing processing are based on simulated data and on

real data collapsed during trials made in a pool. Fig.2 shows across section of a water-filled cylinder target buried in sandysediment. One can clearly notice the water/sediment interface,and the two interfaces of the object. Three kinds of immersedobjects have been used: cylinders, spheres and truncated cones(these shapes are currently used for mines). However, in orderto test classification algorithms, we need to have a large database, so a simulated target data base has been created. The sim-ulated targets have been generated in three dimensions and, inorder to have many different objects in the same class, we havesimulated objects with different dimensions, and the shape de-tails are different for each target.

III. CLASSIFICATION PROCESSINGThe main purpose is to separate natural objects (boulders,

....) with manufactured objects (mines, pipe-lines, ....) and then

Figure 1. a: Ricker - b: Fourier Transform of the analyticricker


to separate different kinds of manufactured objects thanks totheir shape, their material, ...

A. DenoisingAs we can see, real data can be severely noised and it neces-

sary to introduce a denoising processing: we propose here touse a method based on a wavelet packet decomposition.

Several works have been realized for few years based onwavelet packets (WP) to denoise I-D or 2-D signals. WP anal-ysis has been developed by Coifman and Wickerhauser as ageneralization of the multiresolution analysis [4]. The princi-ple of the WP decomposition is shown in Fig.3, wherex is thetemporal signal. Each row is computed from the row above, byfiltering it with a low-pass filter (h) for approximation coeffi-

cients and a high-pass filter (g) for detail coefficients, anddecimating it by 2. Consequently, the coefficients in eachtable location (subband), generate after filtering, two coef-ficients subsets in the adjacent table locations below.Hence, this matrix presents the wave packet coefficients ofthe functionx. The row number indexes the scale of thewavelet packet listed therein and the column number in-dexes both frequency and position parameters. We usethen the best basis search algorithm proposed in [4] whichminimizes the entropy cost-function. This function is de-fined for a sequencex = {xj} in (1).

H(x) − =∑ p p px

xj j j

j

j

log wheren

2

2(1)

Thus, a minimum entropy configuration is obtained,which is characteristic for the regularity degree of the sig-nal structure. In order to denoise the signal, it is necessaryto represent it with fewer coefficients, as a linear combina-tion of elements of wave packet library. The idea is to dis-

card components with insignificant amplitude (thatcorrespond to the noise contribution) according to some crite-rion, and we will try to arrange that the resulting approxima-tion differs minimally from the original. We sort thecoefficients of any optimal representation in decreasing orderof absolute value and then keep only as many of the largest aswe can afford, discarding the rest.

B. First Classification Step1) Higher Order Spectra AnalysisThe first idea to separate objects into two classes (natural/

manufactured) is to determine the presence of a hull at the sur-face of the object: indeed it can only be detected on man-madeobjects. On received signals, this hull is characterized by tworeflections of the acoustic wave (sediment/shell and shell/wa-ter interfaces for a water filled object). In spite of the good res-olution of the beam, the wavelength is necessarily higher thandimensions of the shell of the objects and one is faced to a tem-poral resolution problem. Moreover classical methods(matched filter, wavelet packets .... ) do not succeed in separat-ing both echoes due to the presence of the shell. A first pro-cessing [51 based on Higher Spectra Analysis is proposed hereto improve the temporal resolution of signals.

One of the Higher-Order Spectra usual application is thetime delay estimation between two sensors. The idea is to usethe same processing by considering an observation signal anda reference signal (the emitted ricker).

A complete description of Higher-Order Analysis is givenby [6].

The signal bispectrum is defined as the bi-dimensionalFourier transform of the third-order cumulant sequence. Themain problem of this analysis concerns the estimation of spec-tra: indeed a way of estimating polyspectra is to use higher-or-der periodogram. Equation (2) gives the definition of thebiperiodogram:

Px(ω1,ω2) = +11 2 1 2NT

X X Xe

( ) ( ) ( )ω ω ω ω (2)

Figure 2. Experimental result: water filled cylinder

Figure 3. The principle of Wavelet Packets Analysis


wherex(k),k= 0, 1...,N– 1 is a real-valued stationary time se-ries with zero-mean,X(ωλ) is the Fourier transform ofx(k),ωλ

= 2 ∏N

λ for λ = 0, 1, ...,N – 1, and Te is the sampling period.In order to reduce the estimation variance, we can smooth

the higher-order periodogram over neighboring frequencies,or average periodogram estimates over disjoint time blocks, orcombine the aforementioned two approaches (Welchmethod). This estimation method is similar to the one used forthe second order (estimation of the power spectrum), but theestimation qualities are different.

As explained in [7], the averaged biperiodogram variancedecreases faster than the averaged periodogram vari-ance when the number of segments used for the aver-age increases. Following results will compare theirperformances.

In our problem, the signal received by the trans-ducer (defined in (3)) can be written as a sum ofshifted copies of the emitted signal S(k) (ricker) anda noise source W(k), supposed to be Gaussian andnot correlated with the emitted signal.

y k s k D w kii

n

( ) ( ) ( )= − +=∑

1

(3)

Since w and s are not correlated, theircross-bispectrum is equal to zero; we can thereforewrite the crossbispectrum between y and s as de-scribed in (4):

Psys(ω1,ω2) = Ps(ω1,ω2)• e j D

i

ni−

=∑ ω 2

1

(4 )

We can then compute the ratioR =P

Psys

s

( , )

( , )

ω ωω ω

1 2

1 2and then define the functionh(t) [6] by

h(t) = d e d Dji

i

n

ω ω δ τω τ1 2

1

2∫ ∑∫ = −=

R ( )

This function should display strong peaks at thelocation of true delays. In practice, we estimateDi

as indext which maximizes |h(t)|. In the same way,at the second order, we can compute the ratio of thecross-power spectrum between S and Y to thepower spectrum of S.

2) ResultsFirst results have been obtained on simulated

data without noise (two rickers shifted by two sam-ples), In this case the matched filter does not allowto separate echoes (Fig.4.b). Record length is 128samples which corresponds to a signal duration of256µs; Fig.4 compares the results of Bispectrumand Power Spectrum methods which performancesare equal; this result proves that these methods canseparate both echoes. Then gaussian noise is addedto signals. One noticed if noise and signal are corre-lated, performances of this method are severely de-graded. So the introduction of denoising processingbeforehand is really necessary.

Fig.5 presents the results of both methods fortwo signal to noise ratio; in Fig. 5.a and Fig. 5.b, S /N = 1dB, and thanks to the denoising, it is now easy

to separate the two rickers for both methods. Fig. 5.c and Fig.5.d present results forS/N= –6dB: theBispectrum method isstill efficient; however, with the Power Spectrum method, itbecomes difficult to extract the two echoes. It just proves thatthe Bispectrum estimator quality is better than the PowerSpectrum.

Finally we have tested the method on several real data col-lected on a water-filled aluminum cylinder that had been im-mersed into water: the thickness of the shell is about 8 mm; thesampling frequency is 500 kHz and the dilatational wave

Figure 4. (a) Observed Signal - Echoes Separation using: (b) MatchedFilter - (c) Bispectrum method - (d) Power Spectrum method

Figure 5. Echoes separation after denoising: Power Spectrum method[(a) S / N =ldB (c) S N=-6dB] Bispectrum method [(b) S / N=IdB (d) SN=-6dB]


speed is about 6300 m/s. The last figure (Fig. 6) shows the re-sult of the higher order analysis after denoising: two peaks,separated by one sample (e.g. 2,µs), can be detected whichmeans that a good approximation of the shell thickness isabout 6 mm. The second peak is reversed because the reflec-tion coeffiojent between the material and water is negative. Itis a real improvement in comparison with matched filter usu-ally applied for that kind of problem.

C. An Improved Classification1) Feature ExtractionNow, inside the classManufactured Object, we would

like to recognize several kinds of targets according to theirshape.

Since we have 2D view of the objects in cross sectionalimages, we decided to develop a pattern recognition. Thepurpose is to extract some parameters from these imagesthat could discriminate the different kinds of objects. Wepropose to compute Fourier descriptors [8] that has beenalready used so as to describe the silhouette of an object: itconsists in a decomposition of an edge into a Fourier se-ries. Its main advantage is the possibility to make thesedescriptors rotation, translation and homothetic invariant.A same kind of object is nearly described by the samedescriptors whatever its size, its orientation or its positionin the image are.

A closed edge can be considered as a list of uniformlyspaced pixels with complex coordinates or as a discretecomplex signalUm. The Fourier coefficients of this signalare given by (5) where N is the number of samples of thissignal. These terms are called Fourier descriptors.

CN

U en m

jnm

N

m

N

=−

=

−

∑1 2

0

1 π (5)

With the inverse transformation written in(6), the edge can be built again from Fourierdescriptors.

UN

C em n

jnm

N

n

N

==

−

∑1 2

0

1 π (6)

With an edge following algorithm and amaxima extraction applied on cross sectionalimages, we succeed in visualizing a binaryshape describing the object (Fig. 7). Then wecompute Fourier descriptors and we can no-tice that only few descriptors are enough torecognize an object. Indeed Fourierdescriptors associated with high frequenciescorrespond to edge details. These details arenot useful to recognize the shape : as we cansee on figure 8, only the first 20 descriptorsare enough for a correct recognition. Each tar-get will be represented by a feature vectorcomposed by these descriptors.

2) ResultsSince we do not know the class distribution, we have cho-

sen a non-parametric method to classify targets. We need tocreate two data sets: the simulated data base is divided into twoparts in order to realize the classifier learning and to test the al-gorithm. The training base is composed by 72 feature vectorsin each class (cylinder, sphere and truncated cone) and the testbase is composed by 90 feature vectors in each class.

The error rate due to misclassification is around 3% for theclasscylinder2% for the classtruncated cone, 3% for the classsphere.

To validate the procedure in a real environment, we havemade a second series of tests by using the real data set com-posed by 40 feature vectors in each class. Correct classifica-tion rates appear in the table 1; the misclassification rate is

Figure 6. Estimation of a shell thickness

Figure 7. Processed image and original image


always less than 8%. We proved the relevance of Fourierdescriptors as discriminating parameters. However the limitsappear when the shape of the object becomes complex: indeedonly one cross sectional image can not represent the whole tar-get shape.

3) Towards a complete classification...We are now working on the computation of discriminant

parameters from the whole 3D information; these parameterswill be rotation, translation and homothetic invariant too andthey will describe the whole 3D target shape. With this moregeneral approach, we are expecting to reach good classifica-tion rate.

IV.CONCLUSIONIn conclusion, this work succeeded in improving the tem-

poral resolution of acoustic signals thanks to the introductionof the Higher-Order Spectra Analysis. The principal applica-

tion is an original geometrical way of classifying aburied, or immersed object. To improve this clas-sification, we propose to compute discriminant pa-rameters calledFourier Descriptorsfrom target2D view: this method is really efficient and allowsto obtain some good classification rates. Howeverto achieve a complete recognition, we are nowcomputing some 3D discriminant parameters.

Many underwater applications can be associ-ated: for instance the search for pipe-line or buriedcables, the recognition of mines and their neutral-ization. The differentiation between manufacturedobjects and natural objects (like boulders) makesecological applications possible too: for instance,cleaning the sea floor.

REFERENCES[1] J. Y GUIGNE, “Technical introduction to ben-thic drums and company description,” tech. rep.,GUIGNE International LTD’S, Apr. 1995.

[2] 0. BERGEM and N. G. PACE, “Installationand calibration of a parametric array for shallowwater backscatter measurements,”IEEE, 1996.

[3] P. CERVENKA, Contribution théorique etexpérimentale ~ 1’étude de 1’émission et de laréception paramétriques. PhD thesis, Universit6Pierre et Marie CURIE (Paris VI), 1988.

[4] R. R. COIFMAN and M. V. WICKERHAUSER, “En-tropy-based algorithms for best basis selection,”IEEE Trans-actions on Information Theory, vol. 38, pp. 713-718, Mar.1992.

[5] D. BOULINGUEZ, A. QUINQUIS, and M.BRUSSIEUX, “Classification of buried objects using a para-metric sonar,” inOCEANS’98MTS/IEEE, pp. 1264-1268,Sept. 1998.

[6] C. L. NIKIAS and A. P. PETROPULU,Higher-OrderSpectra Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, nj: prenticehall ed., 1993.

[7] C. SERVIERE, J. L. LACOUME, and C. JUTFEN,Del’ordre 2... aux ordres supérieurs en traitement du signal.INPG, June 1996.

[8] C. T. ZAHN and R. Z. ROSKIES, “Fourier descriptors forplane closed curves,”IEEE Trans. on Computers, vol. C-2 1,no. 3, pp. 269-281, 1972.

David Boulinguez is born in France in1973. He received the French Graduate De-gree in Engineering from ENSIETA, Brest,France and the French M. S. from the BrestUniversity in 1996 where is now pursuing aPh. D. degree.

His interests are in signal, image pro-cessing, and underwater acoustics.

Figure 8. Reconstruction of a truncated cone with the first 2, 10, 20, 64,128 coefficients, and original (f)

Table 1Classification results using real data base

The 1999 IEEE-USA ProfessionalDevelopment Conference

The 1999 IEEE-USA ProfessionalDevelopment Conference was held inDallas, Texas at the Hyatt Regency Re-union Hotel from Friday, September 3,1999 through Monday, September 6,1999. This was a very fine facility withadequate meeting rooms and auditoriafor large meetings. There were 333 reg-istered for the conference this year with58 GOLD (Graduates of the Last De-cade) included. The conference fol-lowed the format developed last yearwith six parallel track sessions. TheTracks were as follows: Track 1 - Skills,Track 2 - Careers, Track 3 - Manage-ment Skills, Track 4 - PACE , Track 5 -GOLD Skills, and Track 6 - GOLD Ca-reers. Tracks 1 through 3 were aimed atthe mid-age engineer while Tracks 5and 6 were for the younger and newerengineers. Track 4 emphasized skillsused in developing participation in So-cieties and communities and workingwith students. On Friday there wereseveral tutorial sessions that were notincluded in the Conference Registra-tion. There were also training sessionfor people new to PACE.

The Conference began with a recep-tion in the Grand Hall of Union Stationwhich is adjacent to the hotel. It was aninformal mixing and buffet with a west-ern motif. Following the reception wehad Region and Division/Society meet-ings. I was pleased that Division IX hadthree of the six societies represented atthe Conference and one GOLD partici-pant. The representative from Aero-space and Electonics Systems hadplanned to attend, but was unable to atthe last minute. The Societies repre-sented were Geoscience and RemoteSensing, Oceanic Engineering and Ve-hicular Technology. There were a lot ofyoung and new faces at the meeting andthey were all interested in know whatthey should be doing and the types ofprograms that work in the Societies.Each Division Director reported on theactivities of the Societies in the divi-sion. There was a good interchange ofinformation.

The opening plenary session offi-cially started the conference on Satur-day morning. The keynote speaker wasMike Lockerd, formerly of Texas In-struments that spoke on the “Changingpace of technology and its impact on ca-reers”. He began by recounting the de-velopment of the transistor and therapid changes that had taken place since1950. I personally found his reviewvery interesting as I was working at TIwhen all of their transistor developmentwas taking place. After his address Ispoke to him and filled in a few detailsof things that had happened before hearrived on the scene. He related the de-velopment of technology with thechanges required in the work force withemphasis on the fact that engineers didnot have to become obsolete, but had tomaintain their skills. He reommendedthat they spend as much on educationeach year as they put in their IRA. Healso emphasized the need for communi-cations skills, learning skills, leadershipskills, adn financial skills. Many ofthese are not taught to engineers inschool. He also emphasized the need tobalance your life between working andliving. He concluded by saying thatthere was no future in any particular job,only a future in the person doing the job.His address set a very good tone for thebalance of the conference.

Since I was beyond the GOLD ageand mid-career age, I attended many ofthe PACE Track sessions. All of thesewere quite stimulating and gave ideas forprograms and activities that could beuseful to the Societies. One of the ses-sion I ofund aprticularly stimulating wasled by Chris Currie and Chris Brantly ofthe IEEE-USA office in Washington.The title was Effective Letter Writing forGrass-Roots Advocacy. This pointed outthe work that IEEE-USA does in Wash-ington DC and with Congress. ChrisCurrie pointed out that IEEE-USA hadone full time staff member to lobby con-gress while other organizations and busi-nesses have many lobbiest and millionsof dollars. Yet IEEE is very effective be-

cause of grass-roots letter writing tomembers congressmen. Chris advocatedwriting to the Congressional Chairmen,Speaker of the House, and to your ownCongressman on legislation of interest toyou. The Congressmen listen when it co-mes from a constituent. Another interest-ing session was led by Joe Lillie and NedSauthoff on working with and motivat-ing volunteers. This session was well at-tended and a lot of helpful suggestioncame from it. Later I attended a sessionon Improving the Image of Engineersthrough Membership in the Chamber ofCommerce. This was led by two womenfrom the Dallas area that have been veryeffective in the local area on working topromote engineering and engineeringsocieties in the local area.

I also attended sessions on presenta-tion skills and persuasion techniques.While I have had many courses on thesesubjects and have taught how to makepresentations, I found them interestingand picked up new ideas and tech-niques. Sunday afternoon the DivisionPACE team presented a panel discus-sion on Professional Development in aTechnical Environment: Best Practices.This was well attended and solicitedmany questions of what to do and howto do it in a Technical Conference envi-ronment. The PACE team had case his-tories to tell and this made it a veryworthwhile session. Following the


Norman D. MillerVice President,

Professional Activities

Awards and Banquet on Sunday nightwe had another meeting of the Regionand Division Coordinators. We havebeen trying to tie the Societies moreclosely with the Regions in promotingprofessional activities. Unfortunatelythere was more heat than light gener-ated in the discussions, but again the ex-change of ideas was worthwhile.

Once again IEEE-USA did and out-standing job with the Awards Cere-mony. I was pleased to the the recipient

of the Divisional Leadership Award thisyear. This came as a surprise and I washonored by the presentation. Thewrap-up session of the Conference washeld on Monday morning with the usual“Issues Forum”. There were surpris-ingly few issues raised to present toIEEE-USA. There were suggestions forimproving the conference that wereduly noted by the organizing commit-tee. The consensus seemed to be that the1999 Conference was very successful

and all who participated in it benefitedfrom it. The Conference Committeepublished the papers in a fine book vol-ume. Copies were obtained to send toeach Society PACE Coordinator notpresent at the meeting and to the Divi-sion Director.

Norman D. Miller, P.E.Div IX PACE Coordinator

PDC Conference 1999Dallas, TX - September 3-6

Managing a successful engineeringcareer is wholly the individual’s re-sponsibility, especially in the currentjob market where new graduates cannotcompletely depend on their companiesfor teaching career growth. Rapidchanges in technology have changedthe expectations of employers so thatnearly instantaneous productivity, atthe expense of professional develop-ment skills, is expected. As a result,companies are more willing to send em-ployees to MATLAB, Windows NT, orGPS courses than invest the time andmoney in leadership or communicationskills development courses.

The IEEE-USA Professional Devel-opment Conference (PDC) 1999 held inDallas, TX, recognized the importanceof these skills and emphasized the “bal-ance” of technical and intangible skills.

The conference logo was, “The Bal-anced Engineer: Entering the New Mil-lennium.” Balanced engineers weredescribed as engineers who have skillsbeyond their calculus, physics, circuits,communications, and computer scienceclasses. They possess the abilities to man-age their careers, write proposals, mentorothers, and demonstrate strong leadershipskills.

The lecturers at the conference werecarefully selected, exemplary models ofbalanced engineers. Through their lec-tures and sharing of experiences, con-ference attendees received moreinformation in one weekend than if

they’d read “Today’s Engineer” or“Fast Company” magazines for severalmonths. In order to achieve successfulcareer balance, the presenters addressedanyone of the following four areas:“Career Development,” “Skills Devel-opment,” “Management Knowledge,”and “Graduate of the Last Decade(GOLD) Skills and Careers.”

In “Career Development,” the par-ticipants were provided with guidelinesfor self-sufficiency in managing theirfutures. The second, “Skills Develop-ment,” offered participants ways tobuild upon existing technical skill sets.The skills addressed were many: effec-tive communication, time management,team participation, active listening,business etiquette, negotiations, dele-gation, project management, ethics, andleadership skills.

The third area entitled, “The Man-agement Knowledge,” was primarilyfor participants who were in some levelof management. They received infor-mation on how to coordinate and man-age complex technical projects withmultiple team participants of all agesand skill levels.

The final area, “GOLD Skills andCareers,” was targeted toward those en-gineers who were at the beginningstages of their careers. The focus was onpolishing the professional componentsof their careers during the early stages,before bad habits could be developed.Strategies were also provided in order

to help them demonstrate these attrib-utes to employers and co-workers.

In addition to the tremendous work-shops, the networking opportunitiesavailable at the socials, meals and re-gional meetings were an added benefit.

As we “Enter the New Millennium”engineers must be in control of their ca-reers and focused on being technicallyand professionally prepared for newchallenges and responsibilities. Nextyear’s PDC conference, held during La-bor Day in Phoenix, AZ, will provideeven more opportunities for engineersto equip themselves with the skills nec-essary to be highly successful in the“New Millennium.”

Michael Ingram


Mike Ingram


Who's Who in the OESDr. Charles Randell is Director of Re-

mote Sensing at C-CORE, an applied sci-ence and engineering research corporationin St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada. Heis also one of our newer members of theOES Administrative Committee, havingbeen elected to that Committee this year.

Dr. Randell began his technical career asan electronics technologist. In that capacityhe worked at a satellite receiving station, asa radio positioning operator on seismic sur-vey vessels, and for a telephone company.He then joined C-CORE in 1984, and in1986 took an educational leave to pursue anelectrical engineering degree at LakeheadUniversity in Ontario, Canada. He receiveda B.Eng. in 1988 and returned to C-COREas part of a small team responsible for de-signingandbuildingacommercialHF radarstation.Thissurfacewaveradar isstill inoperationandcande-tect targets such as ships and low flying aircraft, and measuresurfacecurrents,overacontinuous rangeexceeding400km.

With the surface-wave-radar operational, Dr. Randell tookanother educational leave in 1990 and this time went to theUniversity of Victoria in British Columbia to pursue graduatestudies with Dr. Jim Collins, a well know member of the OESand its Administrative Committee. Dr. Randell received anM.A.Sc. in 1992 for his work in underwater acoustics with ap-plication to marine robotics. He returned to C-CORE in Janu-ary 1995, and completed his Ph.D., still with Dr. Collins but inthe area of underwater vision, in 1997.

Dr. Randell is currently involved in developing technol-ogies for satellite remote sensing (both on land and marine),industrial machine vision related to automation, underwa-ter sensors, and novel marine radar development. As Direc-tor of Remote Sensing he is responsible for directing anddeveloping the business of applied research and develop-

ment, and transfer of technology for com-mercial exploitation. In this role he worksclosely with both academia and industry.Dr. Randell is also a Technical Directorof the Harsh Environments Initiative, aEuropean Space Agency funded programunder which projects are developed toexploit space technologies in the oceanindustrial (particularly oil and gas) andmining sectors. He credits the ability tobe involved in such a diversity of activi-ties to having an incredibly dedicated andcapable team with which to work. Dr.Randell also has a cross-appointment tothe Faculty of Engineering and AppliedScience, Memorial University of New-foundland so, while his C-CORE activi-ties focuses on development, transfer andcommercialization of technology,

through supervision of graduate research he is able to re-main involved in more fundamental research activities.

Dr. Randell feels it inevitable that he have a propen-sity for ocean engineering. “I live on an island and someof most tranquil and terrifying times of my life have beenat sea” he says. “From the serenity of an (unusually) calmnight in the Davis Straits with icebergs silhouetted byNorthern Lights, to sinking and watching my cabin mateand other colleagues perish. I think the latter may be whyI became interested in remote sensing and autonomousvehicles as a means to explore and exploit ocean re-sources. The sea is at the same time enormously powerfulbut fragile, and unforgiving but beautiful.” Although Dr.Randell is engaged primarily in national and interna-tional collaborations, closer to home Newfoundland hasa very active ocean engineering community and he isquite interested in increasing the IEEE, and particularlythe OES presence in that region.

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Provides direct and immediate access to M&S resourcesthrough industry supported Web browsers and technology

Provides quick turnaround of customized questions aboutyour specific M&S concerns

Enables the addition of virtual team members who can be putinto play quickly

Provides hand picked consultant expert in your technical do-main of interest who will assist you in the selection of the model,simulation, and/or tool to meet your project requirements. Theconsultant can also guide you in the application of the model aswell as interpretation of results.

Gives the benefit of adding specialized expertise often neededat specific junctures within a project, and without the additionalburden of overhead

Use of industry standard and supported Web browser as theapplication interface means no on-site support problems and noextensive application training requirements

Provides a simple on-line contractual relationship (creditcards and GSA schedule) and allows for a low complexity “use”model

Provides state-of-the-art information on visualization, anima-tion, graphics, architecture(s) to link M&S over distributed net-works and much more

Allows model, simulation, and tool vendors to advertise to aglobal audience providing members a “One Stop Shop”

Establishes project back-up support on key technical issuesProvides your M&S team with ready access to information

from any locationThere are two levels of membership in the SimCentral.com

network. The Associate Level is the basic level, free access to thepublic Web site. This level allows the member access to the pub-lic forum; Web links to other M&S sites, a calendar of industryevents listing M&S events, seminars, and conferences; a detaileddictionary of M&S terms that includes a glossary, acronym defi-nitions, M&S related books, and reference materials; andup-to-date industry hot news.

The Premier membership level is a subscription level to a pri-vate Web site, with unlimited access, from any Internet location..A Premier member has full and unlimited search capabilities toextensive databases on multiple of M&S problem areas includingtechnical papers, reports, presentations, and slides. A library ofapplications, utilities, and useful transformation tools to aid inM&S project technology or project management is also availableto the Premier member. A private area of Special Interest Groups,trade, and professional organizations that is private ID and pass-word accessed.

SimCentral.com has recently implemented a completely se-cure, password-controlled Special Interest Group (SIG) feature.These SIGs are private forums that allow a particular group or or-ganization to share messages, documents, and discussions withother members of the group. In addition, the relationship the Spe-cial Interest Groups share with SimCentral.com allow eachGroup to utilize SimCentral.com’s vast array of services and re-sources.

Current SimCentral SIGs support the following features:Mailing List: The SIG Director maintains a mailing list of

members that have expressed interest in receiving email mes-sages relating to this particular SIG. This service is extremelyvaluable as a means to communicate to a broad yet selected audi-


ence. Mailing lists can be “unmoderated,” which allows any userto post messages to the list, or “moderated,” whereby the Directoror other designated member scans each submitted message be-fore posting.

Discussion Forum: The news group is a threaded discussionthat is open to each SIG member, allowing them to post questionsand ideas. Typical news group uses include bulletin postings ofnews or events and as a question and answer forum.

Event Calendar: Each SIG can post their scheduled events,which can be archived and are searchable.

Hot News: A section on each SIG home page is devoted tonews items, which can be used for industry news or to announcepress releases or awards.

Web Links: Maintain a page of links of interest to your specialinterest group.

Data Vault: Store documents, presentations, and other files forviewing or downloading by Special Interest Group members.

SimCentral is closely involved with educational and trainingfacilities covering both the commercial and government areas inour University Partnership Program. The following programs are

available to accredited institutions: Intern Programs;SimCentral.com Consultant Network; co-development of mod-els, data sets, simulations, translators, and utilities; data vault; on-line education; joint Web links. SimCentral.com also offers freePremier Membership to full-time students.

On May 30, 1999, SimCentral.com was featured on nationaltelevision, CNBC’s World Business Review. The host, CasparWeinberger (former Secretary of Defense and now chairman ofForbes)andDr.VintonCerf (co-inventorof the InternetandPres-identof the InternetSociety) interviewedJohnD. Illgen.More in-formation can be obtained at the World Business Review’s homepage, www.wbrtv.com.

John D. Illgen,President and Chief Executive Officer(805) 692-2333 Ext. 201 (phone)(805) 692-2334 (fax)[email protected]@illgen.com

UPCOMING CONFERENCES

Underwater Intervention 2000January 24-26Houston, TX

Information: Howie Doyle3910 FM 1960 West, Suite 230,Houston, TX 77068e-mail: [email protected]: http://www.diveweb.com/ui

2000 Ocean Sciences MeetingJanuary 24-28, 2000San Antonio, Texas

Information: Harvey LeifertAGU ASLO,2000 Florida Ave., NWWashington, DC 20009+1 202 462 6900+1 202 328 0566 (fax)website: http://www.agu.org/meetings/os00spss.html

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV)SymposiumApril 24-27, 2000Newport, Rhode Island

Information: Monica L. SilvaConference Coordinator+1 401 849-8900 x303+1 401 848 0638 (fax)email: [email protected]

OTC2000 - Offshore Technology ConferenceMay 1-4, 2000Houston, Texas

Underwater Technology 2000 UT ’00May 23-26, 2000The New Sanno Hotel Tokyo, Japan

AUV 2000 - Advanced Technology for AUVDevelopment & DeploymentJune 28-29, 2000ARLPenn StateP.O. Box 30State College, Pa.

5TH European Conference on UnderwaterAcoustics ESCPEJuly 10-13, 2000Lyon, France

OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEEConference & ExhibitionSeptember 11-14, 2000Providence, Rhode Island

CALL FOR PAPERSOCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEEConference and ExhibitionSeptember 11-14 • Providence, Rhode Island–The Ocean Statewww.OCEANS2000.com

Discover new customers, markets and products and exchangeideas at the industry’s premier US conference and exhibition.

Proposed technical sessions at the OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE will focus on the following technical topic areas:

1. Theme Related TopicsDefining New HorizonsEnvironmental ChallengesFuture Science and TechnologyGlobal Ocean Observations and

ChangesVirtual Ocean Data Systems

2. Advanced Marine TechnologyAdvanced Measurements SystemsAutonomous Unmanned Vehicles

(AUVs)Manned SubmersiblesOcean EnergyOceanographic InstrumentationOptics and ImagingReal Time Measurement SystemsRemotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs)Ships/Technology

3. Communications andNavigationAcoustic CommunicationsFiber Optics CommunicationsIntelligent DynamicsMission ControlPositioning/NavigationUnderwater RoboticsUnderwater Telemetry/ModemsElectronic Chart Display and

Information Systems (ECDIS)

4. Ocean Monitoring SystemsAir/Sea InteractionAutonomous Benthic SensingClimatologyCoastal Ocean NowcastingPolar and Severe EnvironmentsReal Time MeasurementsRemote SensingWater Current MeasurementsWater Level MonitoringWaves & Sea Level

5. Marine Policy, Education, &BusinessCoastal Zone ManagementMarine Law & PolicyMarine RecreationMarine Safety/SecurityMarine Science EducationMerchant MarineOcean Economic PotentialOcean PolicyPlanned Ocean ProgramsMergers and AcquisitionsUse of the InternetMarine Technology MarketingAnalyzing Emerging Marine

Technologies

6. Marine ResourcesMarine GeologyMarine Living ResourcesMarine Mineral ResourcesOceanographic shipsOcean PollutionPhysical Oceanology/Meteorology

7. Underwater AcousticsAcoustic DetectionBoundary InteractionClassificationLocalization & TrackingMatched FieldsPolar OperationsSonar Signal ProcessingTransducers & Arrays

8. Signal & InformationProcessingData Access/Retrieval/DisplayDatabase CompressionGeographic Information SystemsModeling/Simulation & DatabasesNon-Acoustic ImagingOceanic Neural NetworksSuper ComputersData Visualization

9. Ocean & Coastal EngineeringBuoy/Moorings TechnologyDivingElectro/Optical Cables & ConnectorsMarine MaterialsOffshore StructuresRopes & Tension MembersSeafloor Properties/Engineering

10. Exhibitor Showcase(This is a new session devoted tonew products)Today’s TechnologyNew Products

CALL FOR PAPERS

OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEEWhere Marine Science and Technology Meet

CALL FOR PAPERS

OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEEWhere Marine Science and Technology Meet

Prospective authors are solicited for papers dealing with new technology concepts, developments,and applications which describe advances in science and engineering in the ocean environment.

The technical program will include a Student Poster Competition and Tutorialsessions for which prospective authors will be solicited. A large state of the artExhibition in the field of marine technology will be held in the Rhode IslandConvention Center in Providence. Exhibitors will be given passes to attend thetechnical sessions.

Information for AuthorsInformation for AuthorsAbstracts should be submitted via the OCEANS 2000web site (www.OCEANS2000.com). If you do not have access tothe internet, please contact Kirsten Young at (800) 564-4220 forassistance.

To ensure that authors are in attendance at the Conference to presenttheir papers, a non-refundable $100 deposit will be required forsubmitted abstracts. The non-refundable $100 deposit will NOT BECHARGED to your credit card account until your submission has beenaccepted. The deposit will be applied towards the early registration feeupon receipt of the notification of acceptance and prior to inclusion oftheir paper in the Advance Program. The remainder of the earlyregistration fee must be submitted with the camera-ready manuscript inorder for the paper to be included in the final program and proceedings.

In the abstract, authors should describe the problem that is addressed,indicate its importance, and describes how the work contributes in thefield. The OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE Technical Program Committee willevaluate papers only on the information supplied in the abstract. TheCommittee will select papers for presentation and organize the AdvanceProgram following receipt of abstracts. You will receive notification byemail regarding abstract acceptance or regrets.

Prospective authors must submit a 300 to 500 word abstract consistentwith the technical topic areas listed on the previous page. There shouldbe no equations or figures in the abstract. The official language of theOCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE will be English.

BEFORE accessing the web site, pleasehave the following information available.This information is required to complete yoursubmission:

❑ Paper Title

❑ Authors, co-Authors and affiliation

❑ Preferred topic area (you will be asked to indicate asecond choice)

❑ Paper previously published (if yes, indicate place anddate)

❑ Corresponding author

❑ Last Name

❑ First Name

❑ Company

❑ Mailing address

❑ Telephone

❑ Fax

❑ E-mail

❑ Credit card information (for deposit)

Shortcut for including abstract: In your windowsapplication, highlight the text to be transferred. Select“Copy” from the “Edit Menu”. Minimize or exit from thecurrent windows application. Then on the web form, clickin the abstract submission box with your mouse andselect “Paste” from your web browser’s “Edit Menu”. Thetext should now be included in the submission.

Technical Program ChairmanClaude P. Brancartc/o J. Spargo & AssociatesE-mail: [email protected]

IMPORTANT DATESAbstract Deadline: .......... 16 February 2000

Notification of Acceptance: ..... 3 April 2000

Camera-Ready Paper: ............14 July 2000

SUBMIT ABSTRACTS TO:J. Spargo & Associates4400 Fair Lakes CourtFairfax, VA 22033 USAFax: (703) 818-9177E-mail: [email protected] site: www.OCEANS2000.com

Call for TutorialsAs part of the OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE focus on advanced technology, the Conference Committeesolicits proposals for half- or full-day tutorials in technology areas related to those highlighted inthe Call for Papers. Interested individuals must submit a 500-word abstract on tutorial utility, focus,and intended audience. Also include a 200-word biography of the instructor, an outline of thematerial to be presented, and any supporting material useful for evaluation of tutorial merit andcontent. Instructors will be compensated in accordance with tutorial registration. Tutorial proposalsmust be received by 16 February 2000 to be considered for acceptance. Submit tutorialproposals or requests for further information on related issues to (e-mail is preferred):

For further information contact:Tutorial ChairmanFrederick H. Maltz1760 Larkellen LaneLos Altos, CA 94024Fax: (650) 969-9390E-mail: [email protected]

Call for Student PostersOCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE will sponsor a Student Poster Session. Full-time undergraduates andgraduate students in engineering and science at accredited universities are invited to submit a 500to 800 word abstract describing their work in the technical topic areas of the Conference. Theabstract should include their method of solution, results/conclusions, and a discussion of their work.Their faculty advisor should endorse the abstract. The abstract should be submitted to the addressprovided. E-mail is the preferred method without attachments. Faxes or hard copy are acceptable.The deadline for the abstracts is 30 April 2000.

Students selected to present their poster will be invited to attend OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE andpresent their posters as guests of the conference.

OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEEc/o J. Spargo & Associates, Inc.4400 Fair Lakes CourtFairfax, VA 22033

Call for ExhibitorsSHOW PLACE FOR NEW TECHNOLOGY AND EXCHANGING IDEASOCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE promises to be a landmark event to kick off the next century of NewTechnology in Marine Science. The OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE Technology Paper and Exhibitorssub-committees have collaborated to ensure the attraction of a record number of highly qualifiedindividuals to the exhibition. Contact us via e-mail, fax or telephone to receive an Exhibitor’s Packagecontaining show information, an application, floorplan and current exhibitors list. Reserve primespace early.

EXHIBITOR PRODUCT SHOWCASE—NEW FOR 2000OCEANS 2000 MTS/IEEE will debut an Exhibitor Product Showcase for exhibitors to make shortpresentations in a technical session format. A limited number of spaces will be available for thesepresentations, with priority given to new developments and hot technologies.

For further information contactConference and ExpositionManagement by:J. Spargo & Associates4400 Fair Lakes CourtFairfax, VA 22033 USATel: (800) 564-4220 or (703) 631-6200Fax: (703) 818-9177E-mail: [email protected] site: www.OCEANS2000.com

Conference Exhibits Chairman:Bob LobeckerTrinity International ConsultantE-mail: [email protected] site: www.OCEANS2000.com

Bulk RateUS Postage

PAIDRiverdale, MDPermit #5165

For further information contact:Student Poster Program ChairmanW. E. “Ted” Colburn, Jr., PEc/o J. Spargo & Associates4400 Fair Lakes CourtFairfax, VA 22033Fax: 703-818-9177E-mail: [email protected]

HUMAN-POWERED SUBMARINE RACESBy Edward C. Cargile

What type of project can be developed for college technicalstudents to work on that applies all the knowledge they havegained, that is a practical demonstration of their skills, offersthe opportunity to gain project management and team work,— and is fun.

The answer is the Human-Powered Submarine Races. Oneor two operators are inside a specially designed submarine thatis filled with water. The operators breathe air from a scuba sys-tem as they power the submarine, usually lying down. This iscalled a ìwet submersible.

This pioneering event allows students from several spe-cialty areas to work together in designing, building and racinga small submarine that is human powered. Engineering stu-dents from several areas work as a team, including mechani-cal, electrical, computer sciences, ocean engineering and otherrelated areas. Problem solving became the name of the game.

Working together they also practiced project management,logistics, safety engineering, project reporting, fund raisingand leadership. Men and women technical students were in-volved in all aspects of the fun project. Interfacing with therace sponsors and support companies in designing and manu-facturing the submarines was an excellent way to meet pro-spective future employers.

Members of each team also gained valuable experience inareas of engineering, manufacturing, project management,safety, presentations and other aspects of technical careersthey would not encounter in their regular college classes.

The students came from three universities: LíEcolePolytechnique Superieure (Quebec, Canada), University ofCalifornia San Diego (UCSD) and San Diego State University(SDSU).

The Human-Powered Submarine Races were held at theOffshore Model Basin in Escondido. This 300-foot water fa-cility simulates ocean wave action for testing perfectly scaledmodels of ships, offshore oil rigs, oceanographic equipmentand other structures in the sea. The Basin is 50 feet wide and 13feet deep. A giant hydraulic machine can be computer con-

trolled to simulate all types of ocean wave conditions. It wassilent during the Submarine Races.

SPONSORSSponsors of the races included The American Society of

Mechanical Engineers, IEEE ñ Oceanic Engineering Society,Orincon Corporation, Hewlett Packard, San Diego Gas &Electric, The Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering atthe University of California San Diego, HNC Software, HTE,Deepsea Power and Light, Remote Ocean Systems and theOffshore Model Basin.

DESIGNSThere were a few basic guidelines that each team had to fol-

low. All of these parameters were practical examples of whateach team would encounter in the business world.

The submarines had to be designed, built and operated bythe students alone. Each team had an Advisor, but they onlyprovided guidance.

All the funds to design, build and race the submarines hadto be raised by the students.

Each team had to make a verbal presentation to a large audi-ence (including judges) to explain their concepts, manufactur-ing techniques, training, operations, costs and otherconsiderations.

Safety was an important part of the submarine design. Theoperator had to breathe air from a scuba system, use humanpower for propulsion, and allow the operator to easily andsafely exit the submarine in case of an emergency.

Each team must start with an overall design concept, then cre-ate each individual system. The resistance of moving through thewater was an important consideration. To reduce the overall pro-file of the submarine, the pilot/operator usually is in a lying posi-tion. Since the operator is neutral in the water, this is not anuncomfortable position. However, it is a very tight fit inside thesubmarine. This is no place for a claustrophobic person. Theshape of the submarine is very streamlined.

Controlling the buoyancy of the craft is critical, so it re-mains neutral in the water. Stabilization is important, so thevehicle does not go in the wrong direction or corkscrew. Thepropulsion system is vital to gain the maximum efficiency

from the operator. Then the submarine must beeasy to steer. All of the operators were face down,so they could watch the lights on the basin bottomto maintain a straight line. But they also had to havea forward-looking viewport to see what is ahead ofthem.

A small, but critical detail is to provide the oper-ator with air to breathe. An adaptation to provenscuba diving systems was used.

The variety of designs reflected the ingenuity ofthe design teams. The veteran Omer III Team fromCanada had the advantage of many years of priorstudents being involved in this competition. This isthe way it is in the real technical world. They usedpropeller propulsion that was powered by the oper-


The Team from UCSD with their Unusual Design

ator using a bicycle drive system, with special gears. TheOmer III was a one-person submarine, who powered andsteered the submersible. The leader of the Omer III team wasPierre Bendes.

Experience can be very useful. But creativity and ingenuitycan sometimes make up for long experience. The Team fromUCSD had an unusual propulsion design based on the conceptof side movement of a fish, with a big tail. Such a concept isbased on one of the fastest fish in the sea, the tuna. The U.S.Navy is interested in their concept and following their prog-ress with great interest. The UCSD team named their subma-rine Proteus, a sea god in Greek mythology. The Proteus hasseveral progressive features, including a computer system tocontrol the ballast system. Neil Gupta was team leader of theUCSD team.

The SDSU team was a first time entry in the races. Theirsubmarine carried two operators, one to pilot and steer and theother for propulsion. A screw propeller is used, attachedthrough special gears to a bicycle drive system. Their subma-rine was still unnamed. The SDSU team was lead by RodGerritsen.

The level of engineering design, creativity and workman-ship on each submarine was impressive. Many professionaldesign techniques were employed. Several rather innovativecreations were incorporated into the designs. Computer soft-ware was developed to simulate and test the submersible com-ponents, systems and vehicle shape. CAD/CAM computerdesign systems were used to develop both the drawings andcomputer-machined parts. Protection coatings were used forsubmarine parts to prevent the corrosive action of the water.And human factors was strongly incorporated in allowing theoperators to provide maximum propulsion, feel comfortableand safe at all times.

The workmanship in construction for all the submarinescould compare to professional boat builders. Materials in-cluded molded fiberglass, machined stainless steel, contouredcockpit windshields, and very interesting propulsion drive

systems. Sophisticated electronics sealed against water regu-lated the fish-action propulsion of the SDSU submarine.

RACESOn July 24 and 25 teams from the three universities brought

the results of their creativity to challenge each other in time tri-als using sophisticated electronics to measure their speeds un-derwater.

There were several levels of safety. Each team was givensafety regulations and guidelines in designing and operatingtheir submarines. After all the teams came together, one eve-ning at UCSD was specifically for safety practices and proce-dures. Before each race, each entire team was given a safetybriefing by the Safety Officer. Safety divers were stationed inthe water at locations along the race course.

All of the teams worked long hours at their respective uni-versities. The Omer III team drove in a truck 60 hours fromQuebec to San Diego. Then all of the teams worked almost allnight long getting their underwater vehicles ready for theraces.

Each team had one hour on both Saturday and Sunday in thewater racing their submarines. Understandably, they encoun-tered problems with the submersibles that were fixed on thespot. Again, a normal function of equipment development andtesting programs.

The Omer III was the time winner, reaching an impressivespeed of 6.77 knots. This is close to the world record in theone-person, propeller-driven submarine category. The OmerIII team also won the Design/Presentation Award.

Most importantly, all of the students that participatedgained an added level of insight to their university studies,practical experience working as a team on a technical prob-lem, and experience working with the sponsoring organiza-tions and companies.

This was a true win/win situation. The next time someonesays something about going to the submarine races, just reply“Sure, I know all about them.” Then watch the stares.


Norman D. Miller Recipient of 1999 IEEE-USA Professional Leadership AwardSeptember 12, 1999

Dear Dr. Williams:It is our pleasure to advise you that the Board of Direc-

tors of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers,United States of America, has selected Mr. Norman D.Miller as a 1999 recipient of the IEEE-USA Divisional Pro-fessional Leadership Award for IEEE Division IX Thisaward recognizes members for their outstanding leadershipefforts in advancing the professional aims of the IEEE inthe United States.

Mr. Miller was selected because of his leadership andcontributions as Division IX PACE Coordinator and PACEChair of the Oceanic En-ineering Society. He received hisaward plaque at the IEEE-USA Awards Ceremony held at

the 1999 IEEE-USA Professional Development Conferencein Dallas, Texas, on September 5.

We are sure you will want to join LIS in congratulatingMr. Miller for this honor.

Sincerely,Paul J. KostekPresident, IEEE-USA

Arthur P. SternChair, IEEE-USA Awards andRecognition Committee

AUV2000 INFORMATION FOR AUTHORS

IMPORTANT DATES

Abstract Deadline .................... 1 March 2000

Notification of Acceptance ..... 31 March 2000

Camera-Ready Paper ................. 31 May 2000

Abstracts should be submitted via the AUV2000 web site<www.arl.psu.edu/AUV2000>. If you do not have access to the internet,please contact Teresa Homan at (814) 863-0610 for assistance.

Prospective authors should submit a 200 to 300 word abstract consistentwith the technical topic areas listed. There should be no equations or figuresin the abstract. All submissions should be in English.

Conference topics:Sensor Systems and ProcessingCommunications and TelemetryEnergy Sources and PropulsionReal-time Data Logging and CompressionHardware Reliability and TrendsHydrodynamics and ControlMission Planning and ControlVehicle SystemsOperational Systems Experience

In the abstract, authors should describe the problem that is addressed,indicate its importance, and describe how the work contributes to thefield. The AUV2000 technical program committee will evaluate papersonly on the information supplied in the abstract. The committee willselect papers for presentation and organize the advance programfollowing receipt of abstracts. You will receive notification by e-mailregarding abstract acceptance or regrets.

REGISTRATION FEES$200 IEEE / OES Members$250 Non-members$120 StudentsFees include social functions, break refreshments, lunch and copy ofsymposium proceedings (student fees do not include social functions).

TECHNICAL ORGANIZATION COMMITTEEJohn Dzielski, ARL Penn State, Program ChairmanEdgar An, Florida Atlantic UniversityTony Aponick, Foster-Miller, Inc.Don Brutzman, Naval Post Graduate SchoolWilliam Moyer, ARL Penn StateChris Von Alt, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Paper title

Author(s) and affiliation

Preferred topic area (you will be asked to indicate a second choice)

Paper previously published (if yes, indicate place and date)

Corresponding author

Last name

First name

Company

Mailing address

Telephone

Fax

E-mail

In your original document, highlight the abstract text. Select “COPY” fromthe “EDIT” menu. On the web form, click in the abstract submission box andselect “PASTE” from the “EDIT” menu. Complete the remainder of the webform and submit.

MORE INFORMATIONTeresa Homan, AUV2000ARL Penn StateP.O. Box 30State College, PA 16804-0030(814) 863-0610E-mail: [email protected]

WEB SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTSBEFORE accessing the web site, please have the following informationavailable. This information is required to complete your submission:

R


IEEE Unveils New Video-on-Demand Service With Free AccessUntil February 2000

PISCATAWAY, NJ, 1 December 1999 The IEEE haslaunched a new educational service that brings technicalcourses to the users’ desktops. IEEE Video-On-Demand,avai lable from the IEEE Web site athttp:/ / ieee.mediaplatform.com, streams entire video tutorials directly toviewers when they want them. The IEEE is offering a free trialperiod for any course from 1 December 1999 through 31 Janu-ary 2000.

Segments of each video are available for preview beforesubscribing to the service. After registration, viewers will beable to watch the complete tutorials, with full motion videoand audio, PowerPoint slides, presentation notes and an inter-active table of contents that allows users to go directly to infor-mation or presentations of interest.

IEEE education video tutorials take an in-depth look at crit-ical technologies in the electrical engineering fields. Availablethrough the IEEE Video-On-Demand service will be tutorialson computer engineering, communications, reliability, power,signal processing, and more. Among the titles are:

• Real-Time Systems: An Engineer s Guided Tour - Strat-egies and Planning for a Wireless Technology System - De-veloping Software For Safety Critical Systems - P.E.Review: Transmission and Distribution & Machinery andApplications

• Power Electronics and Motor Drives - Video Signal Pro-cessors

IEEE Video-on-Demand uses SoftCom technology in con-junction with RealNetworks G2 Player, so that anyone with acomputer and high-speed modem can access the growing list

of IEEE video tutorials. SoftCom’s Java-based, patent-pend-ing technology makes Internet video an immersive, interactiveviewing experience.

Their streaming video technology allows for video to be de-livered from one point to another without a download period.Browsers with faster network connections will receive betterquality video.

To experience this leading-edge technology during the freeaccess period, log on tohttp://ieee.mediaplatform.com. Tospeak with a representative from IEEE about Video-On-De-mand, contact Alan Trembly, Business Development Man-ager, [email protected] 732.562.5488.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.(IEEE) is the world’s largest technical professional society,serving the interests of more than 340,000 members in the in-formation and electrotechnology communities in approxi-mately 150 countries. Through its members, the IEEE is aleading authority on areas ranging from aerospace, computersand telecommunications to biomedicine, electric power andconsumer electronics.

SoftCom, Inc. (www.softcom.com) was founded in 1994 bya team of veterans from Bell Labs and other Internet and soft-ware enterprises with foundations in software development,networking, telecommunications and digital video.

Early on, SoftCom established a reputation for e-commerceand digital video solutions. Today, SoftCom includes an out-standing team of innovators in the technology, entertainmentand design industries and is building upon its origins by offer-ing content providers a compelling way to take full advantageof the Internet as a distribution outlet and e-commerce/market-ing tool for their existing video.

IEEE-USAWASHINGTON,December 15, 1999

IEEE-USA BACKS ANNOUNCEMENT OF ‘GREAT ENGINEERINGACHIEVEMENTS’

IEEE-USA volunteers and staff are working with the IEEEHistory Center and the National Academy of Engineers(NAE) to unveil the 20th century’s great engineering achieve-ments during National Engineers Week on Tuesday, Feb. 22,2000, at the National Press Club in Washington. The top 20achievements will be announced based on the recommenda-tions of a distinguished NAE panel culling through more than100 nominations from 60-plus engineering groups, includingthe IEEE.

At its October meeting, the IEEE History Committee com-piled the following 11 nominations, based on members’ sub-missions and sent to the NAE last month.

These include, ranked from the top:

• large-scale electric power systems• global telephone systems• computers and software• personal and broadcast telecommunications systems (in-

cluding tv, radio, cellular and microwave)


• electron devices (including vacuum tubes, transistors, inte-grated circuits, and optical and laser devices)

• computer networks (including the Internet and the WorldWide Web)

• medical electronic systems for diagnosis, imaging and ther-apy

• electric household appliances• the modern air-traffic control system (including telemetric,

radar, avionic and global positioning systems)• feedback control systems (including robotics)• signal processing (including image processing)

In August, IEEE members were solicited for their nomina-tions through an INSTITUTE column by Michael N.Geselowitz, director of the History Center.

According to Dr. Geselowitz, many members responded asindividuals; and some recommendations were provided by thetechnical societies, through polling their membership orAdComs.

Following the announcement during National EngineersWeek next February, the top 20 achievements will appear onthe IEEE Home Page, in IEEE-USA THIS WEEK, and in THEINSTITUTE.

ELECTED ADMINISTRATIVE COMMITTEEJAMES BARBERA(see Chapter Chair)

HISAAKI MAEDAInstitute of Industrial Science,University of Tokyo7-22-1 Roppongi, Minatoku,Tokyo 106, Japan+81-3-3402-6231 ext. 2255+81-3-3402-5349 (Fax)

PAULA LAU15222 162nd Avenue SERenton, WA 98058+1 206 235 3413 (Phone);+1 206 847 9284 (Fax)

JOSEPH CZIKA, JR.,(see Jr. Past President)

DANIEL L. ALSPACHORINCON Corp.9363 Towne Center DriveSan Diego, CA 92121+1 619 455 5530; +1 619 452 4258 (Fax)[email protected]

GLEN N. WILLIAMS(see Senior Past President)

JAMES S. COLLINSDept. of Elec. & Comp. EngineeringUniversity of VictoriaP.O. Box 3055Victoria, B.C. CANADA V8W 3P6+1 250 595 6928;+1 250 595 6908 (FAX)[email protected]

ROGER DWYER43 South Cobblers Ct.Niantic, CT 06357+1 860 440 [email protected]

JAMES GLYNNKlein Associates11 Klein DriveSalem, NH 03079+1 603 893 6131

FREDERICK H. MALTZ(see Newsletter Editor)

CHRISTIAN DE MOUSTIERMasrine Physical Lab.Scripps Instit. of Ocean.La Jolla, CA 92093+1 619 534 6322

THOMAS F. WIENERARPA/STO3701 North Fairfax DriveArlington, VA 22203+1 703 516 7405;+1 703 522 6108 (FAX)[email protected]

DAVID E. WEISSMANHofstra UniversityDept. of EngineeringHempstead, N.Y. 11550+1 516 560 5546

ROBERT C. SPINDEL(see Associate Editors)

STANLEY G. CHAMBERLAINRaytheon Electronic SystemsMS T3TN46, 50 Apple Hill Dr.Tewksbury, MA 01876+1 508 858 5012;+1 508 585 1955 (FAX)[email protected]

ALBERT J. WILLIAMS 3RD(SANDY)Applied Ocean Physics andEngineering,

MS#12Woods Hole Oceanographic InstitutionWoods Hole, MA 02543+1 508 289 [email protected]

PAUL A ROSENSTRACHThe Charles Stark Draper Laboratory555 Technology SquareCambridge, MA 02139+1 617 258 1610 (phone)+1 617 258 3007 (fax)[email protected]

CHARLES RANDELLC-COREMemorial University ofNewfoundland

St. John’s, NewfoundlandCanada A1B 3X5+1 709 737 [email protected]

SHERI L REESEnginuity Development Network116 NW 130th StreetSeattle WA 98177+1 206 440 [email protected]

ED GOUGHUniversity of WashingtonApplied Physics Labortory11614 Southeast 61st PlaceBellevue, WA 98006+1 425 227 [email protected]

RENE GARELLOTelecom BretagneDpt. ITI BP 83229285 Brest Cedex France33 2 98 00 13 7133 2 98 00 10 98 (Fax)[email protected]

IEEE OCEANIC ENGINEERING SOCIETY TECHNOLOGY COMMITTEE CHAIRSModeling, Simulation & Visualization, ED GOUGH

Marine Communication Navigation & Positioning, JOHN D. ILLGEN

Oceanographic Instrumentation, MR. KENNETH FERER

Current Measurements, DR. ALBERT (SANDY) J. WILLIAMS 3RD

Underwater Acoustics, DR. DAN J. RAMSDALE

Unmanned Underwater Vehicles, CLAUDE P. BRANCART

Air/Space Remote Ocean Sensing, DR. DAVID E. WEISSMAN

Sonar Signal & Image Processing, DR. JAMES CANDY

Non-Acoustic Image Processing, DR. FRANK M. CAIMI

Information Processing, V. WILLIAM (BILL) PORTO

Environmental Technology, JAMES T. BARBERA, SR.

Technology Committees Coordinator, DR. STANLEY G. CHAMBERLAIN

CHAPTER CHAIRMENCanadian AtlanticFERIAL EL-HAWARY61 Bay View RoadHalifax Nova ScotiaCanada B3M 1N8(902) 443-2400(902) 445-5110 (FAX)

FranceRENE M. GARELLOTelecom BretagneDept. Image Et Traitemt de l’InfromationTechnopole Brest Cedex29285 Brest CedexFrance(33) 98 00 13 71(33) 98 00 10 98 (FAX)[email protected]

Houston/Galveston BayAL WILLIAMSFSSL Inc.525 Julie DriveSugar Land, TX 77478(713) 240-1122 ext 214(713) 240-0951 (FAX)

HawaiiBOBBIN TALBALNO94-792 Nolupe StreetWaithu, HI 96797(808) 608-3200(808) 668-3780 (FAX)

NorwayDR. THOR I. FOSSENProfessor of Guidance and ControlDept. of Engineering CyberneticsUniversity of Trondheim, N-8034Trondheim, Norway47-7359436147-73594399 FAX

San DiegoBRETT CASTILEOrincon Corporation9363 Towne Center DriveSan Diego, CA 92121(619) 455-5530 X212(619) 453-9297 (FAX)

SeattleSHERI L. REESEnginuity Development Networks, Inc.116 NW 130thSeattle, WA 98177(206) 440-1455(206) 440-1438 (FAX)[email protected]

TokyoDR. TERUO FUJIIChemical Engineering LaboratoryRIKEN (Institute of Physical andChemical Research)2-1 Hirosawa Wako-shi, Saitama,351-01, Japn81-48-462-111181-48-462-4658 (FAX)

VictoriaJames S. Collins(See Elected Administrative Committee)

Washington D.C./No. VirginiaJAMES BARBERA13513 Crispin WayRockville, MD 20853(301) 460-4347(301) 871-3907 (FAX)

EX-OFFICIOJr. Past PresidentCLAUDE P. BRANCARTDraper Laboratory555 Technology SquareMS 55Cambridge, MA 02139(617) [email protected](617) 258-2942 (FAX)

Sr. Past PresidentJOSEPH CZIKA, JR.T.A.S.C., Inc.12100 Sunset Hills RoadReston, VA 22090-3221(703) 834-5000 ext 7122(703) 318-7900 (FAX)[email protected]

Membership DevelopmentJAMES S. COLLINS

NominationsCLAUDE P. BRANCART

ChaptersJAMES GLYNN

Journal EditorJAMES F. LYNCH

Awards and FellowsDAVID WEISSMAN

Publications Review BoardGLEN N. WILLIAMS

Newsletter EditorFREDERICK H. MALTZ

Neural Networks Council

JAMES M. GLYNN

PaceNORMAN D. MILLER

TAB Engineering Research and De-velopment Policy CommitteeJOSEPH R. VADUS

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