Communication Theory Technical Committee Meeting
GLOBECOM '99
December 8, 1999
Hotel Intercontinental, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:08 PM.
2. Conference Reports
GLOBECOM'99 (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 12/5-12/9) (E. Biglieri
for CT Symposium, and K. Chugg and and E. Esteves for General
Conference) Our committee sponsored 12.5 sessions (out of 71
total sessions) and 2 tutorials. These include:
General Conference (3.5 sessions):
-Channel Modeling and Analysis, Y. Bar-Ness, K. Chugg (4 papers)
-Receiver Processing, L. Rasmussen, Y. Bar-Ness (8 papers)
-Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks, A. K. Salkintzis, T. Mathiopoulos,
J. Silvester (8 papers)
-Signal Design for Modern Communication Systems, Nam Phamdo,
E. Esteves (8 papers)
Communication Theory Symposium (9 sessions and 2 tutorials):
Sessions:
- Equalization, H. Sari (5 papers)
- Multiple-Antenna Systems, L. Cimini (5 papers)
- Turbo Codes and Iterative Decoding I, M. Costa (7 papers)
- Multi-User Communications, Y. Bar-Ness (8 papers)
- Source and Channel Coding, G. Caire (7 papers)
- CDMA, V. Cardoso (7 papers)
- Modulation and Demodulation, U. Mengali (7 papers)
- Fading Channels, M. Win (6 papers)
- Turbo Codes and Iterative Decoding II, G. Taricco (8 papers)
Tutorials:
- Space-Time Coding and Signal Processing for High Data Rate
Wireless Communications, R. Calderbank, A. Naguib
- Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing for Wireless
Communications, L. J. Cimini, Y. Li
Hikmet Sari added that the Communication Theory Symposium
sessions were well attended and the papers were of high
quality, due to a large number of submissions (the acceptance
rate was around 40%).
ICC 2000 (New Orleans, Louisiana, 6/18-6/22) (S. Gelfand)
Saul Gelfand provided a summary report. Due to significant
problems with the electronic distribution of papers and the
review process, there had been no final decisions made on
the papers and they were still not separated between the
symposium and regular conference. Available statistics:
- 700 total conference submissions, roughly 300 papers of which
to be accepted.
- About 158 total communication theory related submissions (more
than GLOBECOM'99), roughly 80 papers of which to be accepted.
- 54 total sessions to be formed, 9 sessions for Communication
Theory Symposium, and 3 committee-sponsored sessions in the
General Conference.
Tentative sessions include:
- Equalization, synchronization, multiuser detectiona and
interference suppression
- Space-time coding and modulation
- Turbo and related codes
- Iterative decoding
- OFDM, CDMA, hybrid systems
- Channel capacity
- Network related issues
The sessions are expected to be finalized by January 1, 2000.
Tutorial proposals include:
- Turbo Codes, S. Benedetto
- Synchronization, S. Bregni
- Analytical Tools for Wireless Communications Design,
C. Tellambura
- Interference Suppression and Analysis for Wireless
Communications, S. Kartalopoulous
There is still room for more tutorial/workshop proposals.
Ender Ayanoglu added that the Communication Theory Symposium
was assigned the largest number of sessions (i.e., 9+3 sessions).
Other high numbers include: Personal Communications--6 sessions;
Radio Communications--5 sessions.
GLOBECOM 2000 (San Francisco, California, 11/27-12/1) (M. Win
and G. Chrisikos for CT Symposium, and A. Goldsmith for General
Conference) Moe Win reported that the Communication Theory
Symposium was approved.
Both electronic and hard-copy submissions will be accepted
(hard copies will be scanned in pdf for electronic distribution
in the review process). Electronic review Web site is being
carefully prepared by Dale Harris. Two or three reviews will
be obtained for each paper by May 4, 2000. Tentative sessions
will be formed at ICC 2000 in New Orleans. There is an interest
to increase industry participation in Globecom 2000.
Ender added that for Globecom 2000, all symposia were required
to be sponsored by at least two technical committees. We approached
the following technical committees and have all of them as
co-sponsors of the Communication Theory Symposium during Globecom
2000: Personal Communications, Radio Communications, Signal
Processing and Communications Electronics, and Signal Processing
for Storage.
ICC 2001 (Helsinki, Finland, 6/11-6/15) (S. Benedetto and K. B.
Letaif) Khaled Ben Letaif reported that there will be 9
symposia (including Communication Theory) running in parallel
in terms of the review process. Proposals for names of the
symposia are welcome. The conference is expected to be
education-oriented, including as high as 48 tutorials, 20
application sessions, and extra room for solicited and invited
papers.
GLOBECOM 2001 (San Antonio, Texas, 11/25-11/29): Ayman Naguib
volunteered to be the General Conference representative. The
committee is seeking other volunteers; please send email to
lek@homewireless.com.
MILCOM (G. Saulnier) Information received from our MILCOM rep
Gary Saulnier: Our committee sponsored 8 sessions at MILCOM '99
(Atlantic City, NJ, 10/31-11/3). A similar number of sessions
is expected for MILCOM'00 to be held in Los Angeles, CA on
October 22-25, 2000. Anyone interested in organizing and/or
chairing a session should contact Gary at saulng@rpi.edu.
In addition, since TRW will be heavily involved in organizing
MILCOM'00, any related comments should be sent to Ron Smith
ron.p.smith@trw.com.
3. Workshop Reports
Workshop 2000 (Grenelefe Resort, Florida, 5/7-5/10)
(D. Schilling, R. Pickholtz, and K. Dominiak) Paul Kakaes
reported that all the sessions had been finalized.
Workshop 2001 will be the 30th Workshop. The committee is
seeking special events, e.g., reflections on the past, etc,
to be held by members. We received the following proposal to
organize Workshop 2001 from Texas A&M University.
-General Chair: S. Miller
-Technical Program: C. Georghiades
-Treasurer: X. Wang
-Local Arrangements: K. Narayanan
-Administrative Assistant: S. Simpson
A list of 5 potential sites in California were given, including
Morro Bay, Pismo Beach (2 sites), Borrego Springs (desert
resort), and San Diego Carmel Highlanda. If anyone has
suggestions for sites and/or would like to go check into these
or other potential sites, please contact Scott Miller at
smiller@ee.tamu.edu. A more exhaustive list of potential sites
will be sent out to all members some time after the new year.
The goal is to have the decision made by Workshop 2000.
4. Announcements
- As of January 1, 2000, Norm Beaulieu is becoming the new
Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Communications.
The current EIC, Des Taylor, is taking on a new position as
EIC of IEEE Communications Letters.
- Summary of the TAC (Technical Activities Council) meeting:
* The Technical Information Reference Committee (TIC) has been
recently formed (in January 1999) to set up a ComSoc Web
portal. TIC is seeking input from individual technical committees
to specify hot areas and add proper Web links to the site.
Any suggestions for Communication-Theory-related links should
be sent to Ender Ayanoglu, ender@ieee.org.
* Several Committees, e.g., Enterprise Networking, Network
Operation and Management, and Information Infrastructure,
revisited their charters.
- Hikmet Sari announced the 2nd International Symposium on Turbo
Codes & Related Topics to be held in Brest, France, on September
4-7, 2000. The paper submission deadline is March 1, 2000. The
members voted unanimously to sponsor the Symposium. Further
information is available through the Web page of the Symposium,
linked via the Committee's Web page: http://www.comsoc.org/~comt
5. The minutes of the ICC'99 meeting of the Committee were approved.
6. The meeting adjourned at 6:55 PM.