Reviving democracy at the IEEE

It is argued that since 1963, when the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) and the Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) merged to form the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), autocracy within the organization has increased. Autocratic and bureaucratic characteristics became more pronounced after 1972 when the IEEE-USA Professional Activities Program (PAP) was established. The ways in which single-candidate ballots, approval voting, the IEEE Assembly, and communication control contribute to a situation in which volunteers who perform professionally, but contrary to the establishment's wishes, are ignored, censored, fired, or ostracized are discussed. The consequences of what transpired in the IEEE since 1963 and recommendations of actions to overturn the deeply rooted selected entrenched hierarchy are outlined     

Golden accomplishments in biomedical engineering

The 50th anniversary of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) is an appropriate time to look back at the origins and growth of both the field of biomedical engineering and the EMBS. The present account gives most attention to the aspects of biomedical engineering to which IEEE members (and, earlier, American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) members and Institute of Radio Engineers (IRE) members) contributed, which is to say that this account emphasizes the electrical, electronic, and computing aspects of biomedical engineering. Topics covered include: history of the technologies; the roots of biomedical engineering; prehistory and history of the profession; biomedical applications of the computer; health care; ultrasound technology; new means of medical imaging; endoscopy, lasers, and fear of electromagnetic fields; study of human metabolism; the Human Genome Project, robotics, and internationalization; and forecasting progress in biomedical engineering.     

IEEE is 125 years old! [From the Editor's Desk]

The year 2009 is the 125th anniversary of the founding of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE), the parent organization of the IEEE. In recognition of our 125th anniversary, the IEEE Board of Directors has authorized that a special anniversary master brand be used on IEEE publications this year. Shown below, this is its first appearance in this magazine.     

Destination safety [Electrical Safety]

The IEEE celebrates its 125th anniversary in 2009, from beginning as the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) over a century ago in Philadelphia. The transatlantic cable, ac or dc power, and data punch cards were existing inventions then. Did the engineers gathering in Philadelphia in 1884 realize the direction their discipline would take?     

Charles F. Scott: a pioneer in electrical power engineering

Charles F. Scott was President of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers (AIEE) from 1902-3. Already well known to the power engineering community for his invention of the Scott transformer connection and his investigation of high voltage transmission, he undertook a number of significant initiatives during his tenure as AIEE president. These were intended to enhance the status of electrical engineers and to increase the outreach of the AIEE. His career pattern was somewhat unusual in that he devoted the second half of his professional career to electrical engineering education. A brief history of Scott's electrical power engineering career is given.     

History among the Engineers

The IEEE's Center for the History of Electrical Engineering is the latest manifestation of a sensitivity about and interest in history that the electrical engineers have shown for much of the last century. Particularly since the late 1940's, the IEEE's predecessors, the Institute of Radio Engineers and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers, have recognized a professional responsibility toward their heritage. Finding the best means for carrying out this responsibility has been a long process, however, culminating in the establishment of the Center in 1980. Since the Center's establishment owed much to a genuine concern about the preservation of the documentary record of electrical engineering's achievements, the identification and preservation of significant archival collections has been a major priority from the beginning. This effort has been joined by a similar concern for the artifacts of the electrical engineering heritage. The Center's programs have also included a variety of publications, exhibits, and other efforts to heighten awareness of the history of electrical engineering, and particularly of the profession itself, among members of the IEEE, the scholarly and technical communities, and the general public.     

中国与美国输电线路原状土基础设计方法对比

《输电结构基础设计和试验指南》（IEEE Std 691-2001）是由美国电气和电子工程协会输配电委员会主编,其成果经过了大量的试验验证,是美国输电线路基础设计的主要依据,在世界许多国家被广泛地采用和借鉴,了解其标准对我国的电力建设以及涉外工程有着重要意义。掏挖基础和挖孔桩基础是在输电线路中应用最为广泛的原状土基础型式,本文对中国和美国该基础型式的设计方法进行介绍和对比,结果可为输电工程技术人员提供参考。     

Reminiscences of the Early Days of the IEEE Education Society

This paper summarizes the author's recollections of the development of the IEEE Education Society as it evolved from the similar educational activities within the two merging organizations of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Institute of Radio Engineers, together with the cooperating activities of the Electrical Engineering Division of the American Society for Engineering Education. The time span of the reminiscences, as documented here, extend from the mid-1950's to the mid-1970's.     

电力线宽带通信国际标准技术分析与比较

目前,国际上存在2种支持电力线宽带通信标准体系:IEEE 1901和ITU-T G.hn,二者分别定义了不同电力线通信的物理层和介质访问控制层的技术规范.为了更深入的了解电力线国际标准性能上的优劣势,文章对两大标准体系的物理层和介质访问控制层技术进行整体概述,采用自上而下的方法分析两大标准体系的技术特点.并对IEEE 1901和ITU -TG.hn进行了对比,最终分析了两大标准达到互联互通的发展趋势和产品共存性问题.     

The International Electrical Exhibition of 1884: A Landmark for the Electrical Engineer

The International Electrical Exhibition of 1884, sponsored by the Franklin Institute, was held in Philadelphia fromn September 2 to October 11, 1884. It recorded the past in a historical exhibit and bibliogaphical collection, displayed the present in exhibits of machinery and equipment for the production and use of electricity, and presaged the future in the first public display of a vacuum tube. In competitive tests, Edison's lamps burned for 1000 h but scrificed efficiency. The dynamos of Edison and Weston were tested and found to be equal in efficiency. Concurrent with the Exhibition, a quasi-governmental conference was held, attended by native and foreign scientists and engineer. At this National Conference of Electricans, the tension that existed between the pure scientist and the "practical electrician" becane evident. The science-technology relationship is suggested as one of the reasons for the founding of the American Institute of Electical Engineers (AIEE) in April 1884. The Exhibition is a convenient dividing line between a preelectrical wodd and one in which electric light and power became a fact of life in every aspect of our social and industril environment. It signaled the decline of the individual inventor as promoter of electricity and the begnning of dominance of the professional engineer within a corporate stucture, and showed the state of the electrical art at the time of the AIEE's first technical meetings. The need for a national society of electrdc engineers to receive "foreign electical savants, engineers and manufacturers" attending the Exhibition prompted N. S.     

Standards in IEEE 802 unleash the wireless Internet

Within the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), the IEEE 802 LAN MAN Standards Committee is developing air interface standards for wireless local area network (LAN), wireless metropolitan area network (MAN), and wireless personal area network (PAN) technology. These standards are enabling the development of an infrastructure for the wireless Internet     

电网极低频电磁场预防的国际经验及启示

电网企业中存在的极低频电磁场对职业人员的潜在健康影响具有不确定性。针对极低频电磁场的职业接触限值,世界卫生组织推荐以国际非电离辐射防护委员会导则及美国电气电子工程师协会标准为依据。在梳理国际权威机构及西方国家关于极低频电磁场职业接触限值研究的基础上,参考国际权威机构的建议,针对我国电磁场管理现状,提出电网极低频电磁场预防策略与建议。     

Biological effects of power frequency electric and magnetic fields

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has made an analysis of six recent major scientific committee reports dealing with the biological effects of exposure to electric and magnetic fields associated with electric power distribution and utilization. The conclusions drawn from these committee reports are presented in this summary     

Professionalism and the Corporate Engineer: Charles P. Steinmetz and the American Institute of Electrical Engineers

As the Chief Consulting Engineer for the General Electric Company, a prominent socialist, and leader of the AIEE, Charles Proteus Steinmetz (1865-1923) compromised between business demands and professional ideals when the Institute considered such issues as standardization, ethics, and the social responsibility of the engineer. Underlying these compromises was his theory of corporate socialism, which influenced how he believed the AIEE should participate in the professionalization of electrical engineering. Since he thought the AIEE's main purpose was to improve the corporation's technical or production function, the Institute's major role was the advancement of engineering knowledge. In order to perform this role effectively, he thought the AIEE should maintain high membership standards, which meant engineering rather than business control of the Institute. When other AIEE activities, such as standardization, ethics, and social responsibility, came into conflict with corporate interests, he thought the Institute should cooperate with business interests while retaining its autonomy. He, therefore, believed the AIEE should play a passive but impartial role in codifying the "best practice" of industrial techniques and morals, and that it should limit itself to technical functions and not address social issues.     

电能质量标准的新进展

介绍了国际电工技术委员会（IEC）和美国电气电子工程师协会（IEEE）电能质量标准概况,综述了近年来我国在电能质量标准方面的制定、修改情况,提出了完善我国电能质量标准体系的若干建议。     

基于Petri网的配电网重构

提出一种基于Petri网的配电网重构算法。并引入了最佳优先搜索的思想方法。以电气和电子工程师协会（IEEE）的3馈线16节点系统为算例，应用所提出的算法进行了网络重构，比较了重构前后配电网系统的网损。结果表明该算法准确、可行、实用。     

India Challenge [President's Message]

The IEEE is the world's largest professional technical association with about 50% U.S. and 50% non-U.S. membership. From a demographic point of view, membership in the IEEE Microwave Theory and Techniques Society (MTT-S) is equally divided, split between the United States and the rest of the world. We are a very diverse community on a global scale with members from more than 46 different countries, representing many different cultures and ethnic backgrounds. We organize and/or support many meetings and symposia with several large events, the International Microwave Symposium held in the United States, the European MW Conference held in Region 8, and the Asia Pacific Conference in Region 10. Our Society represents microwave engineers and scientists in all regions and helps organize and support a variety of local and regional activities. It's appropriate for us to reach out to engineers and scientists involved with microwave theory and techniques regardless of their location and encourage them to participate as members of the international microwave community. It's important to make sure all members and nonmembers appreciate what being a member of MTT-S and the IEEE is all about and how being a member is important professionally and personally.     

Our roots [History]

In the spring of 1884, N. Keith, a chemist, who is recorded as the instigator of the initial efforts to form the American Institute of Electrical Engineering (AIEE), took the first step toward organizing a technical society to receive scholarly papers from foreign scientists. On 15 April of that year, a preliminary meeting was held in New York City, and an organizing committee was appointed. The committee included representatives of the telephone and telegraph companies as well as the fledgling electric light companies [1].     

Biological and health effects of electric and magnetic fields fromvideo display terminals

This article addresses health issues related to the electric and magnetic fields of VDTs. It was developed by the Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE), and represents the considered judgment of an international group with expertise in the subject area. It updates an earlier statement on this topic that was issued in August 1990. The topics discussed include: characteristics and typical strengths of VDT electric and magnetic fields; comparisons with occupational and public exposure guidelines; biophysical factors of static, ELF and VLF fields; health studies in human populations; VDTs and pregnancy; VDTs and electrosensitivity; information from biological experimentation; other reviews of VDT effects; and recommendations for users of CRT-based devices     

并行稀疏系统直接求解库SuperLU_MT在状态估计中的应用

利用基于超节点LU分块分解算法、列消去树和多核多线程并行计算原理的并行稀疏系统直接求解库Super LU_MT实现电力系统状态估计,主要在求解迭代方程、不良数据检测辨识环节调用Super LU_MT实现加速。通过对电气与电子工程师协会(IEEE)测试系统以及实际电网算例验证,表明通用的并行稀疏系统直接求解库适用于电力系统状态估计,能够获得较显著的并行计算效果,在多核计算机上缩短了状态估计的计算时间。