Serving Eastern Massachusetts
Communications Society [COM-19]
Computer and Communication Societies and GBC/ACM
7:00 PM, Thursday, 16 February
IEEE 802.22 Standard: Regional and Rural Area Broadband Wireless Access Using Cognitive Radio Technology in Television Whitespaces
Apurva N. Mody, Chair, IEEE 802.22 Standard Working Group
This talk will be about the IEEE 802.22 Standard on Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRANs) which was published in July 2011. IEEE 802.22 systems will provide broadband access to wide regional areas around the world and bring reliable and secure high-speed communications to under-served and un-served rural communities, which are estimated to include nearly half of the worlds population. The IEEE 802.22-2011 is the first IEEE 802 Standard for operation in the Television (TV) Whitespaces, defined as the available or un-occupied TV channels. It is also the first IEEE Standard that focuses on broadband connectivity in rural areas where most vacant TV channels can be found, thus helping to bridge the digital divide. IEEE 802.22 Working Group is the recipient of the IEEE SA Emerging Technology Award. This new standard for Wireless Regional Area Networks (WRANs) takes advantage of the favorable transmission characteristics of the VHF and UHF TV bands to provide broadband wireless access over a large area up to 100 km from the transmitter. Each WRAN could deliver 22 Mbps to 29 Mbps, depending upon the country of deployment, without interfering with reception of existing TV broadcast stations. IEEE 802.22 incorporates advanced cognitive radio capabilities including dynamic spectrum access, incumbent database access, accurate geo-location techniques, spectrum sensing, regulatory domain dependent policies, spectrum etiquette, and -coexistence for optimal use of the available spectrum. The members of the IEEE 802.22 Working Group have established the Whitespace Regional Area Networks Alliance (www.wranalliance.org)
Dr. Apurva N. Mody (apurva.mody@ieee.org)
is the Chair of IEEE 802.22 Working Group (WG) for Wireless Regional
Area Networks (WRANs) (www.ieee802.org/22).
He is the driving force behind the WhiteSpace Regional Area Networks
Alliance (www.wranalliance.org).
The primary aim of the IEEE 802.22 WG is to create commercial wireless
standards that will use TV Whitespaces to enable rural broadband
wireless access. Under his leadership, the IEEE 802.22 WG is the
recipient of the IEEE SA Emerging Technology of the Year Award. Dr. Mody
received his Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of
Technology in December 2004. His research was based on Receiver
Implementation for Multiple Input Multiple Output Orthogonal Frequency
Division Multiplexing Systems. Since June 2005, he has been working at
BAE Systems Technology Solutions. Dr. Mody has played a pivotal role in
growing the BAE Systems expertise and market share on Cognitive Radio
(CR), Dynamic Spectrum Access (DSA) related systems. He has been a key
contributor on many DoD programs and invited speaker at many DoD and
commercial events. Dr. Mody is a Senior Member of the IEEE, President’s
Fellow while at Georgia Tech, Member of Tau Beta Pi and Eta Kappa Nu
Honor Societies.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the new meeting auditorium at the Verizon Technology Center. The address is 60 Sylvan Road, Waltham, MA 02451. The entrance is by the far corner, with the picnic tables out front, and not the tower or the new building. It is most easily reached by the West Street entrance. Verizon prefers that we provide a list of attendees in advance, so if you want to come, you need to register at http://ieee80222.eventbrite.com, but admission is free.
We will be taking Apurva to dinner at the Green Papaya before the talk at about 5:30 pm.
Up-to-date information about this and other talks is available online at http://ewh.ieee.org/r1/boston/computer/. You can sign up to receive updated status information about this talk and informational emails about future talks at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/ieee-cs, our self-administered mailing list.
For more information contact Peter Mager (p.mager at computer.org)
Verizon Technology Center, 60 Sylvan Road, Waltham, MA
[Admission is free, but you must register at http://ieee80222.eventbrite.com]
7:00 PM, Thursday, 2 February
IPTV: Managed Services and Technology Deployment
Michael P. Ruffini, Principle Member of the Technical Staff, Verizon
This discussion will touch on many different IP video delivery topics but will focus on managed IPTV service, covering topics from the drivers for migrating to IP delivery to the challenges with dealing with packet-loss, channel change latency and conditional access/encryption.
Verizon FIOS was built to be a hybrid QAM and IP delivery network, with broadcast content being delivered over QAM and interactive services, including video on demand, being delivered using IP. As QAM exhaustion occurs, Verizon will be looking to implement IPTV as a means to increase channel capacity. This discussion will talk about the IPTV architecture being implemented within Verizon’s FIOS network , which includes using IP multicast to distribute video content, in a manner that is seamless to the customer.
This talk will also discuss some of the new technologies, such as adaptive bit-rate streaming, and where they potentially fit into the overall strategy and architecture for managed video delivery.
Michael P. Ruffini, Principle Member of the Technical Staff, Office
of the CTO, Verizon
Michael P. Ruffini received his Masters degree in Computer Information Systems from Bentley College in 1998 and his undergraduate degree from the University of Massachusetts in 1994. He has been working in the communications field since 1996, holding various positions at BBN Planet, Genuity and Verizon.
In his current position as a Principle Member of the Technical Staff in Verizon's CTO organization, he works in the video architecture and design group. His current projects include: advanced video advertising (cross-platform, multi-screen), video optimization for wireless networks, and video initiatives for FIOS TV (video on demand, IPTV, ad-insertion).
Venue: Note the new Venue at the new Verizon Technology Innovation Center Campus at the Verizon West Street complex. The entrance is by the far corner – with the picnic tables out front – and not the tower or the new building.
The meeting begins at 7 p.m. at the new and refurbished large meeting auditorium at the Verizon Technology Center, 60 Sylvan Rd., Waltham. The meeting is preceded by dinner with the speaker at Bertucci's, Winter St, Waltham, at 5:30 p.m. Directions follow. Directions to Bertucci's restaurant in Waltham: Take Exit 27B on I95/128, heading west on Winter Street. After exiting, stay all the way to the right and take the first right turn into the shopping plaza. Bertucci's is at the far end of the plaza. Please let Paul Zorfass know if you plan to attend the dinner at Bertucci’s. Paul can be contacted at Paul.zorfass@embeddedtrade.com.
Directions to Verizon Labs, 60 Sylvan Rd., Waltham, MA 02451: Take Exit 27B on I95/128, heading west on Winter Street. Stay all the way to the right. Verizon Technology Center is 1/2 mile ahead. At the second traffic light, turn left onto WEST ST. and then take the first right (at the Verizon sign) which leads into the Verizon campus. The building and entrance for the meeting are on your left. Use the Entrance which has the address of 60 Sylvan Road. This leads directly into the building and conference meeting area. Note that the entrance is by the far corner – with the picnic tables out front – and not the tower or the new building.
4:30 PM, Thursday, 5 January SOLD OUT
Looking Up with M.I.T. Haystack Observatory
A Special Presentation and Tour
Dr. Vincent L. Fish, M.I.T. Haystack Observatory, Westford, MA
Located
in the woods about 30 miles northwest of metro Boston, M.I.T. Haystack
Observatory is home to scientists and engineers who use radiowaves to
probe the atmosphere and the cosmos. The Millstone Hill site is the
location of more than half a dozen radio telescopes used for passive and
active observations.
At this meeting, there will be a presentation focusing on the activities conducted at the site and avenues of research being pursued by Haystack scientists. On the radio astronomy side, these include millimeter-wavelength very long baseline interferometry of black holes, centimeter-wavelength geodetic observations, and a meter-wavelength dipole array in Western Australia used for astronomical as well as solar/heliospheric/ionospheric research. On the atmospheric science side, Haystack operates two incoherent scatter radars to observe the ionosphere, and scientists there use global radar data to determine the variable properties of the neutral and ionized components of the upper atmosphere and their relation to space weather events. Activities of M.I.T. Lincoln Laboratory, which shares the Millstone Hill site with Haystack, include spacecraft imaging, orbital degree tracking, and atmospheric propagation studies.
More information about the observatory may be found at www.haystack.mit.edu.
The meeting will begin at 4:30 p.m. with a lecture and question session. After that, we will be given a tour of some of the instrumentation at Haystack, including the37-meter diameter radio telescope in the building.
Dr.
Vincent Fish is a research scientist specializing in interferometric
radio astronomy using super massive black holes as laboratories to
explore general relativity and understand the astrophysics of black hole
accretion and outflow. He also studies the physical environment around
newly-forming and mature stars and supernova remnants. Vincent received
an S.B. degree in physics from M.I.T. and a Ph.D. in astronomy from
Harvard University. After a postdoctoral fellowship at the National
Radio Astronomy Observatory in Socorro, NM, he joined Haystack in 2007.
Tour participants will be invited to attend an optional dinner after the tour with Dr. Fish at a nearby restaurant. Detailed directions to the observatory and details of the optional dinner will be sent to confirmed tour members.
This special tour will be offered first to IEEE Communications Society members, and then to the general IEEE membership. Any slots left will then be offered to the general public. Because of the anticipated high demand, we will not be able to accommodate guests, or members without confirmed reservations.
Please reserve a place on the tour via e-mail to John Nitzke at rf@ieee.org. This tour is SOLD OUT.