September 2009 – Section Meeting Details

The Tesla Roadster: a plug-in electric sports car – demonstration and description

DATE: Thursday, September  24, 2009
PLACE : Raffel’s – 10160 Reading Road (see below for directions)
TIME : 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. –  Social Time
            6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. –  Dinner
            7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. –  Presentation

COST FOR DINNER: $10.00 per person – Regardless of Membership or Membership Grade!

NOTE:  DINNERS ARE ALWAYS OPTIONAL – YOU MAY ATTEND THE PROGRAM ONLY. 

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September 2009 – Membership News

NEW MEMBERS
The following individuals are IEEE members who are new to our Section:

Mark G. Atchison
Gordon C. Baker
Omar Baldridge
R. H. Black
Thomas Blauvelt
Timothy Bueno
Mark A. Burcham
Jeremy Burgess
Richard Nathan Burns
Stephen Caddell
Garry Chapman
Chelsea Chase
Ryan Child
Jacqueline Coates
Israel T. Cortes
Austin P. Crispens
Justin Andrew Daniels
Ian T. Daniher
Kaustubh K. Deshmukh
Heath Edenfield
James Estepp
David Ferguson
Romana Fernandes
Michael P. Fink
Samuel R. Frushour
Ryan Gerken
Adam Gerlach
Amer Ghanem
Phillip Golden
Ryan Grimes
Erik Hajek
Allan K. Hall
Justin Hamm
Michael Harness
Nathaniel Hausrath
Bing He
Misti Hill
Brent Humphrey
Pritesh N. Johari
Andrew Johnson
Jigar Kalaria
Paul J. Kern
Michael Keyes
Thomas Klevinsky
Marvin Allen Knorr
Christian Koch
Paul M. Krieg
Alex R. Kuhl
Roy M. Kulick
Victor Lin
Patrick Lipka
Kuheli Louha
Thomas M. Lucas
Yuliya Malakhova
Jordan Malof
Paul Meredith
Jeff L. Miller
Dirk W. Mooibroek
John Norton
Kevin Pasko
Dale R. Peterson
Benjamin Pierce
Kurt Prenger
Raj R. Reddy
Richard Riccetti
Michael N. Rissover
Michael J. Rust
Chad Aaron Ruttencutter
George Michael Shiekh
Vonise Shoemaker
Evan Blyth Sneath
Sibichen J. Thekveli
Tommy V. Trimeloni
Darren Varga
Ramesh Reddy Vemula
Tim L. Vernier
Paul Vincent
Edward E. Walcott
Nathan A. Walker
Hong Wang
Eric Michael Webb
Richard D. Winters
Huaping Wu  

We wish to welcome these new members to the Cincinnati Section!!!

September 2009 – History

Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past
Submitted by Bob Morrison, Editor

Copyright 1996 IEEE. Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, “Scanning the Past” which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 84, No. 2, February 1996.

The Birth of the Term “Microwaves”

The term microwaves was used for the first time in an international journal in the October 1932 issue of the PROCEEDINGS OF THE INSTITUTE OF RADIO ENGINEERS (IRE) in an article by Nello Carrara: “The detection of microwaves” (the original manuscript was received by the Institute on April 2, 1932). .

This term has been, since then, commonly used to indicate those electromagnetic waves with wavelength ranging from 1 mm to 1 m. These limits have been arbitrarily defined: in practice they constitute an attempt to define the microwave frequency range as the one located between the frequencies of electromagnetic waves employed for radio and television broadcasting and those of infrared rays.

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September 2009 – IEEE News

Unemployment Rate for Electrical Engineers Soars to New Record,
Engineering Jobless Rate Up for Second Consecutive Quarter

WASHINGTON (7 July 2009) — The unemployment rate for U.S. electrical and electronics engineers (EEs) hit a new record in the second quarter, while the rate for all engineers increased for a second straight quarter, according to data released last week by the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).”Technology drives our economy, which means engineering unemployment is a bellwether for recovery and job creation,” IEEE-USA President Gordon Day said. “These new data suggest we’ve got a long way to go as the United States attempts to regain its economic footing.”

The news for EEs was particularly bad as the jobless rate more than doubled from 4.1 percent in the first quarter to a record-high 8.6 percent in the second. The previous quarterly record was 7 percent, in the first quarter of 2003.

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IEEE Awarded ECE/CS Awards

 

  • Best of Electrical and Computer Engineering Award: Smart Heart 

Smart Heart

Chris Direnzi (EE), Mike Ratterman (EE), Josh Rarick (EE), Jon Skeans (EE), Dr. Fred Beyette  (advisor). Smart Heart is a project that has been designed to design, track, and follow specific workouts for users. From a hardware standpoint, we integrated an accelerometer, a GPS locator, and a user interface with a PIC microcontroller. The Smart Heart device has a computer software interface, where the user can enter specific workout goals. Our software designs a workout specific to the user and downloads the workout plan to our portable Smart Heart system. The system suggests  activities based on the user’s goals, such as running/walking, push-ups and sit-ups. The onboard GPS tracks the distance and speed of the user’s runs. During push-ups and sit-ups, the accelerometer counts the number of repetitions the user completes. After a work-out, the user downloads the data to the computer program for a workout summary and compares it to previous workouts. While a production quality product like this project would need to be small (possibly watch sized), our goal is functionality, not physical size. We will identify how the product could be made smaller, but we will not actually fabricate the portable sized device. We want to research ways to make our GPS function in low signal environments (indoors), but perfecting a low signal GPS system is beyond the scope of our project.  

  • People’s Choice Award (Best of Tech Expo) : Bragi – Online Music Recommendation  Bragi: Online Music Recommendation

 Sam Banzhaf (CE), Adam McClain (CS), Gary Sigrist (CE), Jeff Webster (CS), Dr. Fred Annexstein (advisor). In the last five years, music distribution has seen a shift from physical media such as CDs to digital forms such as MP3s. For major artists iTunes is the dominant seller of MP3s. Artists without a record label have a difficult time promoting their music, and the prevalent method for doing this digitally is via MySpace Music. Given the difficult nature of promoting and distributing music by independent and local music artists, it would be beneficial for both the artists and the listeners to have an easy way to increase exposure in the music industry.While independent artists can have their music sold on iTunes, it provides no active promoting of their music. Furthermore, samples of songs are limited to the first 30 seconds, which often does not give a robust preview of the song. For artists who use MySpace as a means to promote their music, the quality is poor, searching is cumbersome, service is unreliable, and sales again yield little or no profit. This calls for an online service that allows independent artists to easily promote their music, as well asallow potential fans to easily find new music.The overall goal of our Bragi Online Music Recommendation software is to provide musical artists with an easy way to promote their music, and for potential fans to be able to easily find artists according to their musical tastes via an intuitive and adaptive recommendation engine.  

  • Best of Computer Science Award: Super Xblox 360  Super Xblox 360

Matt Harbaugh (CS), Greg Hill (CS), Kurt Prenger (CS) , Dr. Chia-Yung Han (advisor). Microsoft’s video game system, Xbox 360, has an online marketplace, Xbox Live Marketplace, where users can purchase and download smaller, less expensive games (compared to retail games purchased at a store) to play on their systems. They have recently released the XNA Game Studio for developers to create and distribute their games. Prospective developers can use this studio along with Microsoft’s Visual C# Studio to create games to distribute on the Xbox Live Marketplace. There is an online community that reviews and approves games for distribution. If a game is approved, it will be released on the Xbox Live Marketplace.Our design idea takes the game play of Tetris but places a new twist on it: along with being able to rotate the individual blocks, the player will be able to rotate the entire playing field. Two-player battle mode will also be incorporated with special blocks that give bonuses to players as well as other opportunities to disrupt an opponent’s playing area.In the current video game market, there are very few video games that expand upon a previous idea to make something unique and popular. Creating a game similar to Tetris with the additions mentioned above would fill this gap in the market. It will also require a lot of mathematical, graphical and programming knowledge.

Cisco Engineer Position

Dinsmore & Shohl is actively recruiting for a solid Cisco Engineer.  Candidate must be very strong on route/switching, VPNs, Wireless technologies, MPLS, EIGRP, OSPF, BGP, QoS.  Ideal candidate will also have additional exposure to WAAS, VoIP, IDS, ACS.  Standard Cisco Certifications a plus.   Dinsmore & Shohl offers a very challenging technical environment where increasing technical skills and creativity are always encouraged.
 
The position will be located in downtown Cincinnati.  Minimal travel to regional offices.

Please contact Juanen L. Wong if interested. Contact information is below.

Dinsmore & Shohl LLP
Juanene L. Wong
Chief Information Officer
255 East Fifth Street
Suite 1900
Cincinnati, OH 45202
Phone: (513) 977-8147
juanene.wong@dinslaw.com, www.dinslaw.com

IEEE Awarded ECET Senior Projects

The following is information on the presenters and on the IEEE Awarded ECET Student Project to be  presented at the IEEE Cincinnati Section Meeting on May 21st:

Brandon Whitehead

Brandon Whitehead – Peace of Mind Seizure Alarm

Brandon Whitehead is an Electrical Engineering Technology senior student at the College of Applied Science.  His project, Peace of Mind Seizure Alarm, has received three awards at Tech Expo 2009 including the IEEE First Prize, Best of Tech Expo 2009 (the best project at the College of Applied Science) and Best EET Project. 

(NOTE: Brandon Whitehead had a prior committment and will not be present at the May 21st Section Meeting).

 Peace of Mind Seizure Alarm
There are over 500,000 children under the age of 14 who have seizures in the United States today. With no way of knowing if those children are having seizures or need medical attention when they sleep, the answer is to create an alarm system to let the parents or guardians know when a seizure is occurring. The “Peace of Mind Seizure Alarm” fulfills this roll. The alarm consists of two modules. The sensor module is placed by the bed with a probe extending between the mattress and the box spring. The probe measures the impulses created in the bed during a seizure. Once a seizure has been identified, a timer starts and measures the duration of the seizure. In addition, a wireless Radio-Frequency (RF) signal is sent out. The alarm module receives the RF signal. Once the signal has been received, an alarm will be activated, alerting everyone around it. Once the parent or guardian is alerted, they can determine if any medical attention is needed.

 Mark Naegel and Conard Carroll

Mark Naegel and Conard Carroll – DJ Sampling and Filter Unit

Mark Naegel is a Computer Engineering Technology senior student, and Conard Carroll is an Electrical Engineering Technology senior student. Both are from the College of Applied Science at UC.  Their team project, DJ Sampling and Filter Unit, has won the IEEE 2nd Prize and BEST CET Project.

 DJ Sampling and Filter Unit
Many musicians are able to use cost-effective products to produce extraordinary works.  The DJ Sampling and Filter Unit allows musicians to mix additional tracks into their performances.  The analog filters provide warm analog sound beloved by the DJ industry.  Prerecorded tracks can be placed on an SD card.  A grid of 16 buttons will allow the user to trigger playback or recording of samples.  The analog portion of this unit provides high-quality filter effects which remove specific frequencies, creating a unique effect.  Offering this type of control over the mix gives new creative possibilities to the DJ and offers a more engaging live performance.

 Adam Gregory, Chris Brown and Paul Brown

Adam Gregory, Chris Brown and Paul Brown – MeasureNet Data Acquisition Network

Adam Gregory is a CET senior student from the College of Applied Science. Chris Brown and Paul Brown are two Computer Science senior students from the College of Engineering.  Their team project, MeasureNet Data Acquisition Network, has won the IEEE 3rd Prize.

 MeasureNet Data Acquisition Network
MeasureNet’s award-winning MeasureNet network-powered data acquisition system offers a superior solution for managing chemistry teaching labs. The system’s unique design eliminates stand-alone PCs from bench tops and dramatically increases data acquisition efficiency. This redesign will enable students to experimentally obtain, graph, print, and save laboratory data both locally and on the web. With a user-friendly touch screen interface and easy-to-use MeasureNet probes, students will be measuring temperature, pH, voltage, and drop counts in no time. The new design also enables fast development of new probes and connection protocols using the industry standard Universal Serial Bus communication. With the new system, MeasureNet will continue to be a leader in the chemistry education industry.

May 2009 – Section Meeting Info

MAY MEETING
STUDENT PROJECTS

DATE: Thursday, May 21, 2009
PLACE : Raffel’s – 10160 Reading Road (see below for directions)
TIME : 5:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. –  Social Time
           6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. –  Dinner
           7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. –  Presentation
COST FOR DINNER: $10.00 per person – REGARDLESS OF MEMBERSHIP OR MEMBERSHIP GRADE!

NOTE:  DINNERS ARE ALWAYS OPTIONAL – YOU MAY ATTEND THE PROGRAM ONLY. 

ABOUT THE MEETING:  Two college’s senior students at UC will give presentations at the meeting. The two colleges are College of Engineering and College of Applied Science.  Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science (ECE & CS)  programs are in the College of Engineering.  Electrical and Computer Engineering TECHNOLOGY  (ECET) programs are in the College of Applied Science.

In addition, in each spring quarter, seniors from UC College of Applied Science bring their senior design projects to the public at Duke Energy Center and demonstrate their creative design, project management skills and eye-catching ingenuity.  This annual senior design project exhibition is called “Tech Expo”. This year, Tech Expo 2009, is on May 7th, 2009, from 9:00AM to 4:00PM at the Duke Energy Center. The exhibition is free to visit. For detailed information about Tech Expo 2009, please check it out at http://www.uc.edu/cas/expo/.   In addition, on May 7, UC CAS will host a regional Energy Conference at the Duke Energy Convention Center, for information about this conference, please check it out at http://www.uc.edu/cas/expo/energy.aspx.

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May 2009 – Membership News

NEW MEMBERS
The following individuals are IEEE members who are new to our Section:

Jeff D. Baird
Alexander James Boytim
David C. Brown
Terry Craycraft
Eric Diederichs
John Ryan Hasselbeck
David W. Hitchcock
Geoffrey Clay Hodges
Kevin C. Jimenez
R. William Kneifel
Jozef J. Lemak
Aaron Maley
Kenneth Monroe
Nicholas William Moseley
Einstein Truong Nguyen
Yusuke Oishi
Jayson Quinones
Paul Rylatt
Yusuf Abdul Haadee Salaam
Thomas L. Thayer
David Valko
Herschel J. Weintraub
Cheng Zhu

We wish to welcome these new members to the Cincinnati Section!!!

May 2009 – History

Scanning the Past: A History of Electrical Engineering from the Past
Submitted by Bob Morrison, Editor

Copyright 1996 IEEE. Reprinted with permission from the IEEE publication, “Scanning the Past” which covers a reprint of an article appearing in the Proceedings of the IEEE Vol. 84, No. 1, January 1996.

Edith Clarke and Power System Stability

Fifty-five years ago this month, Edith Clarke and Seldon B. Crary presented a joint paper on stability problems in power engineering at a meeting of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) in Philadelphia. At the time, both Clarke and Crary were employed as engineers by the General Electric Company (GE) and their paper received a prize as the best AIEE paper published that year. Clarke had overcome many difficulties on her way to becoming a highly respected member of the electrical engineering profession. She specialized in the analysis of electrical power systems and devoted her career to the simplification and mechanization of problem solving in that field.

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