Open Arms

On the first day of 2005, I was living inside the Haditha hydroelectric dam on the Euphrates River in Iraq, four and a half months into a deployment as the engineer officer for 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines, in northern Anbar province. The night before, I had rustily fingerpicked my way through a bluegrass song on the guitar in the New Year?s Eve talent show. I went to bed looking forward to an easy day, a welcome change. I?d been on a long patrol over Christmas?sleeping little, getting shot at. In the morning, I made some of the Starbucks coffee my wife had been sending in her care packages, wrote an e-mail to a friend back home, and headed out to a planning meeting with another officer     

Lend an ear--Or was that bend an ear? [President's Message]

Being president of your Society is challenging, exciting, and rewarding. Well, except maybe for all the meetings I now attend. And then there are my duties to IEEE. There are the occasional emergencies; those aren?t much fun either. But I get to meet many of you and try out some of my theories and exercise some long-held opinions, and everyone is pretty understanding, even when I occasionally make mistakes.     

Introduction to the new Editor-in-Chief

It is my great privilege to take the reigns of IEEE Communications Magazine. Allow me to introduce myself by first commenting on my own relationship to the magazine, which has been my favorite publication throughout my career. I became a Communications Society member 27 years ago when I joined GTE Lenkurt out of graduate school. Since then I have worked in research, product development, and standards for telecommunications systems and devices. Over the years, I have also subscribed to a number of other IEEE journals and magazines, as well as magazines outside the IEEE. Communications Magazine is the one publication that I have valued enough to read consistently.     

We can, but should we? [From the Editor's Bench]

Iam approaching my mid-forties. As a young child, I used to speak to my dad and to my uncle Stevie about computers. As a twelve year old, I went to work with my dad and learned to program a computer. (I used a TRS-80 Model I, Level II at Queensborough Community College.) I went to college and studied engineering and learned more about science and technology. I have been teaching engineering full-time since the late nineties, and I enjoy it at least as much now as I did twenty years ago. I enjoy engineering -- both the theory and the practice -- but I often wonder about the wisdom of many of the behaviors that are facilitated by the products that we create.     

Bridges I have crossed

The Wheatstone bridge was still in use when I received my Ph.D. in physics in the early 1960s. I researched the thermal conductivity of superconducting thin films at Rutgers University in New Jersey using standard 1/10 W Allen-Bradley carbon resistors as thermometers and measured their resistance with a Wheatstone bridge built from top-of-the line components. Since then, I have moved from experimental physics to the study of apparatus used in physics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During this time, the construction of high-precision electrical measurement equipment was raised to an art in the United States by companies such as Leeds & Northrup (L&N) of Philadelphia and General Radio Co. of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In this paper I will discuss some favorite pieces of apparatus in my own collection based on bridge circuits.     

Forty years ago: Maxwell's theory invades engineering--And grows with it

A story of my personal involvement in a rapid evolution of high-frequency electrical communication that began forty years ago and led to the merger of Kelvin's transmission-line theory, which had been the cornerstone of the telephone engineer's thinking, and more inclusive Maxwell's field theory is described. The early sections of this paper describe the state of electrical theories in those days, the environment in which I found myself, my prveious interests and education, and the problems I was presented with; these are the four factors which determined the direction of my subsequent work. In the course of this work I found that, contrary to the then prevailing belief, Kelvin's transmission-line equations were consistent with Maxwell's field theory and the restrictive assumptions usually made in derivations of these equations are sufficient but not necessary. The major part of this paper presents a sketch of the gradual development of comprehensive wave-propagation equations which are applicable to a wide variety of guiding structures. These equations form also the basis of a comprehensive antenna theory. The concluding section describes briefly my mathematical theory of linear arrays which led to the discovery of superdirective arrays.     

Optical Detectors and Receivers

In this paper, I will review the subjects of optical detectors and optical receivers. I will do this from both a historical perspective and looking ahead toward useful progress that may occur in the future. I will focus, at times, on the lessons learned while performing my own research and development activities, and on how and why the technology has changed. I will share a few anecdotes, which will shed some light on the innovation process-at least as I experienced it.     

Thirty Years in Electromagnetic Compatibility: Projects and Colleagues

This paper is a review of my 30 years of experience in electromagnetic compatibility and the projects and colleagues with whom I have had the pleasure of working. The field has evolved considerably over that time (and this evolution is continuing), and my work has evolved from deterministic to statistical methods. The reverberation chamber measurements performed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology have been particularly useful in making this transition.     

浅谈建设项目的规划报审工作

在设计人员的密切配合下,经过9个月的辛勤劳动,机关附属用房翻建项目的规划申报审批工作得以完成,终于领到了<建设工程规划许可证>.其间涉及很多部门,而各个部门对设计报建的要求各不相同,这些要求作者认为对设计人员具有很大的参考价值,如果我们的设计人员在设计阶段多考虑这方面的情况,对业主的设计报建工作则有极大的帮助.     

Science Communication: What Every Scientist Can Do and a Physicist's Experience

本文从一名物理学家的视角出发,讲述了作者将物理教学实践和科学传播活动相结合的经历。作者认为,二者的良好结合不仅对自身的物理学研究有所帮助,还使他摸索到了以物理学方法研究历史的新手段,并对了解科学史有所启迪。结合自身的实践,作者向活跃在实践领域的科学家们提出以下建议:(1)将科普书的阅读融合于教学实践中;(2)在学科研讨会中加入科普内容,或举行专门的科普研讨会;(3)举办全校规模的科普系列讲座;(4)科学家可在中学、社区,以及其他场所宣传科普;(5)促进科普作为新兴学科的出现;(6)将科学与人文学科相结合。     

科学传播：科学家可做之事及一个物理学家的经验之谈

本文从一名物理学家的视角出发,讲述了作者将物理教学实践和科学传播活动相结合的经历。作者认为,二者的良好结合不仅对自身的物理学研究有所帮助,还使他摸索到了以物理学方法研究历史的新手段,并对了解科学史有所启迪。结合自身的实践,作者向活跃在实践领域的科学家们提出以下建议:(1)将科普书的阅读融合于教学实践中;(2)在学科研讨会中加入科普内容,或举行专门的科普研讨会;(3)举办全校规模的科普系列讲座;(4)科学家可在中学、社区,以及其他场所宣传科普;(5)促进科普作为新兴学科的出现;(6)将科学与人文学科相结合。     

电气性能测试夹具稳定性分析

电性测试夹具的稳定一直困扰测试和出货,为此我们花费很多的时间和精力去改善,本文在这里和大家讨论关于夹具测试的稳定性。     

Editorial, Jan. 1983 (Transactions)

As the outgoing Editor of this TRANSACTIONS I look back at three interesting years. I ask myself what has been accomplished for the MTT-S membership and the authors. Since there is very little feedback from the readers I like to think that, at least based on the number of papers rejected, only about 25 percent of the authors who have submitted papers to me are dissatisfied with my performance. Over these three years a total of 588 papers plus 10 special issues have been published.     

在中兴软交换上开通V5接口方案

目前,在中兴软交换设备上进行局数据制作的相关资料比较匮乏,鉴于此,跟据笔者创建V5接口的经验,总结出本篇案例。经实践证明该方案切实可行,并且能够保证接口的安全性。     

You Must Remember This

Editor's Note: This column introduces the two most prominent approaches to lifelogging,namely MyLifeBits and EyeTap. These approaches deal with the problem of establishing media-based memory structures that address the cognition of audio--visual data with respect to comprehension and, in some aspects, interpretation. Here I discuss my struggle with the experiential value of the collected data and its durability in those approaches. --Frank Nack     

ComSoc's golden triangle: globalization, young leaders, industry

This is the first of 24 columns I will write over the next two years. Pondering what to write, I realized that I've truly taken full responsibility as President of the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc), the number one society in communications, unparalleled by any other in our profession in terms of quality and novelty of technical programs, products, and services. It is my great honor and privilege to serve as the President of ComSoc, benefiting from the great efforts and achievements of my predecessor presidents, volunteer leaders, staff, and members over the past 60 years. I deeply appreciate their dedicated service, with special thanks to my immediate predecessor, Doug Zuckerman, for his great leadership of ComSoc and exemplary mentoring.     

Limitations of the Cubical Block Model of Man in Calculating SAR Distributions (Comments)

The above paper raised some serious questions regarding the accuracy of three-dimensional block model solutions obtained using a pulse-function basis. While I am in qualitative agreement with about half of the numerical results presented in the paper, I most strongly disagree with most of the interpretations which the authors have made using those results. It is my belief that it is possible to obtain high accuracy with block model solutions if sufficient care is used in their implementation. I have chosen to use a pulse-function basis with block models of man since this appears to allow the model to have much greater detail than is possible with more elaborate bases.     

Tiny Implants Combat Chronic Pain

Back in 2006, Adam Hammond, a U.S. Army skydiver, experienced every jumper?s worst nightmare when his parachute failed to deploy. ?I was basically in free fall,? Hammond says of his accident. ?When I hit the ground, my helmet shattered and my shoes flew off my feet.? Hammond was completely immobilized by chronic pain for two years. Earlier this year he received an implanted device that electrically stimulates his spinal cord. Now, instead of feeling a stabbing pain in his tailbone, he experiences just a tingling sensation. ?My life has done a complete 180,? he says.     

Klystron Noise (Correspondence)

In my paper "Crystal Checker for Balanced Mixers" I gave data on the excess noise of typical klystrons. Since that paper was prepared, further data has been obtained that permits an expansion of Fig. 6.