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This Month’s Articles
Chair's Column: Stand Back, I'm a Profesional. Engineering is a profession with an amazing range of specialties, and even within electrical engineering, there is such a great breadth of scope that no person can know all of it. Taking into account the varied sources of education and experience, it is almost impossible to judge a person’s competence by looking at one’s resume. [more]
IEEE-Chicago Section Awards Dinner: Please Save the Date. The Chicago Section will be holding its annual Awards dinner on Thursday, April 19, 2012 to recognize three Chicago area members recently elevated to the grade of Fellow. This is a great opportunity to meet the best of Chicago’s Electrical Engineering profession and to enjoy an evening of celebrating their achievements. [more]
ARM Processors Explained. Louis Giokas, an IEEE member active in the Fox Valley Subsection and the Computer Society hosted a discussion on ARM Processor Architecture in early December. ARM designs and licenses fast, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals and system-on-chip designs. [more]
Substation Exits Examined. The IEEE–Chicago Section Power and Energy Society recently hosted Bob Biddle, National Sales Manager/Field Engineer of Hendrix Cable. Bob is responsible for sales management of the Aerial Cable and Systems division. In his role, Bob oversees the sales force and provides education and field engineering duties for the US, including training, field installation assistance, technical design and input. Bob was on hand to discuss options for substation installation. [more]
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Chair's Column: Stand Back, I'm a Professional
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2012 IEEE-CS Board Chair Bob Burke
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Engineering is a profession with an amazing range of specialties, and even within electrical engineering, there is such a great breadth of scope that no person can know all of it. Taking into account the varied sources of education and experience, it is almost impossible to judge a person’s competence by looking at one’s resume.
At the turn of the 20th century, a series of engineering disasters occurred. In response, the existing professional organizations developed formal ethical codes for engineers. This included the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), which later became IEEE. You can see the IEEE code of ethics HERE. The code was a good first step, but does nothing to prove a person is able to perform his job. Recent events, such as the BP oil spill, have only increased attention on the qualifications of engineers.
So how does one judge a person as competent? As the old saying goes, it’s not what you say that matters, but rather what you can prove. One indicator people have used as proof of competence, a four year degree from an accredited university, is still the baseline for the engineering profession. This is not to say it is required to be competent, but it may take years of experience to make up for the lack of a degree in terms of credibility.
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Ethics, education and accreditation all play a role in an engineers competency.
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More was needed. The early adoption of “codes” evolved into another measurement of professional certification: the Professional Engineering license. More than anything else, this is seen as an indication of competence in the US. Each state administers them separately, but the PE typically requires an accredited degree, at least four years of experience, two 8-hour exams, and in some cases the testimony of other registered engineers. NCEES (www.ncees.org) administers the tests across the nation, giving some basic standards for technical knowledge. Illinois requirements can be seen HERE.
The PE historically has been a requirement for the professions that contact the public, such as construction or public works, but has recently been required in industrial settings, utilities, and consumer products. Some states such as Texas and Florida even recognize software engineers. As my career has progressed, the PE went from optional to required in the consulting engineering field. Even formerly exempt “industrial” locations, ones to which the general public does not have access, now require a PE to sign off on designs.
Keep in mind that when PE signs off on the technical aspects of a design, he is taking personal responsibility for the work, both ethically and legally. Criminal prosecutions can result from lapses in judgment. This lends a lot of weight to what a PE says.
The “PE” on your business card is a symbol of competency, professionalism, experience, and character. Getting one is difficult and demonstrates a motivation to succeed to employers. None of this says that a person without a PE is incompetent: most engineers are good at their job and can go their entire career without needing a state license. However, the trend is that more of our profession will require a recognized certification in the future.
Obtaining a PE is good for your career, good for the community, and well worth the effort.
—Bob Burke, IEEE Chicago Chair
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IEEE-Chicago Section Awards Dinner: Please Save the Date
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Celebrate the achievement of your peers. Save the date April 21, 2012
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The Chicago Section will be holding its annual Awards dinner on Thursday, April 19, 2012 to recognize three Chicago area members recently elevated to the grade of Fellow. This is a great opportunity to meet the best of Chicago’s Electrical Engineering profession and to enjoy an evening of celebrating their achievements. Mark your calendar and watch for details in the coming month.
The IEEE–Chicago Section is proud to announce the elevation of three current members to the rank of IEEE Fellow. Signifying an extraordinary record of accomplishments, the grade of Fellow is an unusual distinction. The accomplishments of the awardees, “shall have contributed importantly to the advancement or application of engineering, science and technology, bringing realization of significant value to society.” Nominees are subject to review by a panel of their peers, thus insuring that only the most significant achievements merit elevation to the rank of Fellow.
This year, the Chicago Section is pleased to announce the elevation of the following Fellows:
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Dr. Wanda Reder – Vice President of Power Systems Services at S&C Electric Company
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Dr. Xian-He Sun – Chair and Professor, Department of Computer Science at Illinois Institute of Technology.
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Dr. Ouri E. Wolfson – Richard and Loan Hill Professor of Computer Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Keep an eye out for future editions of e-Scanfax where we will detail each Fellow and their accomplishments.
The Chicago Section Awards dinner is also the time to recognize outstanding achievements of Chicago Section officers, members, volunteers and others. The following awards are seeking nominations:
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Outstanding Section Member Award – Members who through their professional and technical abilities have made outstanding and noteworthy contributions to the Section.
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Distinguished Service Award – Members who have demonstrated a rare level of dedication and achievement through long time service to the Section.
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Friends of the IEEE – Chicago Section – Businesses that have provided noteworthy contributions to the Section.
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Distinguished Mentoring Award – Members who through distinguished mentoring have made outstanding and noteworthy accomplishments to advising IEEE student branch activities at his/her affiliated university.
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Service Award – Officers who have executed their responsibilities to the committee they represent.
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Certificate of Appreciation – Members who have provided noteworthy contributions of time, etc.
To view the full IEEE–Chicago Section Awards Criteria click HERE. In order to nominate an associate, fill out the following form and send as an attachment to bmugalian@sandc.com by March 21, 2012. To complete the nomination form click HERE.
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ARM Processors Explained
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Louis Giokas (center; silver hair) demonstrates some ARM implementations.
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Louis Giokas, an IEEE member active in the Fox Valley Subsection and the Computer Society hosted a discussion on ARM Processor Architecture in early December. ARM designs and licenses fast, low-cost, power-efficient RISC processors, peripherals and system-on-chip designs. Organized by the IEEE– Chicago Section’s Fox Valley Subsection and held at IIT’s Rice Campus, Louis demonstrated application types from multiple vendors and described ARM Processor implementations in widespread use. Louis holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Villanova University and is pursuing a master’s degree in Computer Science at IIT. He has extensive experience in both the aerospace and software industries.
Louis started by sharing some history about ARM who developed a 32-bit reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA). The very first ARM-based Acorn Archimedes personal computers ran an interim operating system called Arthur which evolved into the RISC OS used on later ARM-based systems.
The ARM architecture is the most widely used ISA as judged in production volume. Originally, the acronym ARM stood for Acorn RISC Machine until it was later changed to Advanced RISC Machine. Without manufacturing any chips, ARM has licensed intellectual property successfully. ”In 2005, 98% of the more than one billion mobile phones used at least one ARM processor.”
ARM provides parts to more than just computer makers, with Processors, System IP, Multimedia, Physical IP and various tools all using ARM components, they are literally everywhere. Applications utilizing ARM processors include cell phones, laptops, tablets, digital music players, calculators and more.
ARM processors are required by the ARM Architecture Reference Manual to support three main profiles:
- Application profile: Cortex-A series
- Real-time profile: Cortex-R series
- Microcontroller profile: Cortex-M series
Louis shared the path ARM has laid out for their future with ARM version 8 Architecture in the pipeline. ARM is also working with HP and AMD to produce servers in 32-bit and 64-bit applications respectively. A group in Spain is currently working on a supercomputer that combines not only ARM, but also NVIDIA Cuda architectures. Louis also indicated that Windows 8 will support ARM processors, a preliminary version of which was displayed at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show.
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Substation Exits Examined
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Bob Biddle demonstrates substation exit options
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The IEEE–Chicago Section Power and Energy Society recently hosted Bob Biddle, National Sales Manager/Field Engineer of Hendrix Cable. Bob is responsible for sales management of the Aerial Cable and Systems division. In his role, Bob oversees the sales force and provides education and field engineering duties for the US, including training, field installation assistance, technical design and input. Bob was on hand to discuss options for substation installation.
Bob presented some very good information on assessing the advantages and disadvantages of the three most common types of substation exits:
- Bare wire overhead - With bare wire, costs are low and parts are common to construction. While bare wire provides better ampacity than underground, total costs can be higher due to more poles and frequent outages caused by animal interference.
- Underground - Underground substation exits are reliable with low visual impact to the surrounding area however; lower ampacity and difficulty in adding circuits add to higher repair costs.
- Spacer cable - Spacer cables are reliable and less expensive than their counterparts, using less real estate, fewer poles and less right of way. With similar ampacity to bare wire installations, unique construction requirements necessitate a higher materials cost and stronger poles.
Applications of spacer cables are nearly unlimited, and are used at distribution level voltages. Spacer cables consist of a combination of conductors used for tensile strength and conductors used for current transport. Spacer cables can also be easily applied in retrofitting existing substations. With lower operating and material costs, spacer cable substation exits reduce voltage drop due to close spacing of phase conductors.
In summary, Bob pointed out that when right of way requirements and/or congestion issues arise spacer cables can aid in reducing conflicts. Also, for multiple circuit applications, spacer cable is the lower cost alternative than either underground or bare wire construction options. These lower costs are the result of multiple variables and include:
- Shorter poles required
- Less framing material needed
- Lower installation labor costs
- Reduced tree trimming
When looking at which substation solution is right for you, there are many considerations. Look closely at all of your options and choose the best for your unique situation.
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