Communication Theory Technical Committee Meeting
ICC 2000
June 20, 2000
Hyatt Regency, New Orleans, LA
1. The meeting was called to order at 5:33 PM.
2. Meeting attendees introduced themselves.
3. There was an announcement that our member and past chairman Joseph
LoCicero received the 1999 IEEE Communications Society Publications
Exemplary Service Award during the Awards Luncheon at ICC 2000. The
award was granted "For Outstanding Service to the IEEE Transactions
on Communications as Editor-in-Chief and Publications Editor."
4. Conference Reports
ICC 2000 (New Orleans, Louisiana, 6/18-6/22) (S. Gelfand)
The report by our representative Saul Gelfand was read. The
organization of ICC 2000 went through some difficulties. First,
the originally assigned representative for the regular conference
reported right before session finalization at GLOBECOM'99 that he
will not be able to fulfill his duties due to health problems. Saul
Gelfand, our chair for the Communication Theory Symposium filled in,
obtained reviews, and formed sessions for the regular conference as
well. Ender Ayanoglu specifically thanked him for filling in
at the last minute. Also, there were technical problems with the
electronic review process for the conference as a whole.
Despite all this, our committee did not face further problems. The
Communication Theory Symposium included 9 sessions (the largest
number among all Symposia) and 1 tutorial:
- MNC01 Equalization and Sequence Estimation (7 papers)
- MNC02 Fading Channels (5 papers)
- MNC03 Space-Time Coding and Processing (5 papers)
- MNC04 Synchronization (7 papers)
- MNC05 Turbo Codes and Iterative Decoding (8 papers)
- MNC06 Detection and Estimation (7 papers)
- MNC07 Multiuser Detection and Interference Suppression
(7 papers)
- MNC08 Coding and Coded Modulation (8 papers)
- MNC09 CDMA (7 papers)
Tutorial:
Turbo Codes, Sergio Benedetto
The committee-sponsored sessions in the regular conference were:
- S21 OFDM and Multicarrier Systems (6 papers)
- S26 Multiple Access Techniques (6 papers)
- S31 Adaptive Channel Estimation and Equalization (7 papers)
All the sessions were well-attended, especially MNC03.
General comments regarding ICC 2000:
- There were fewer conference registrations (about 900) than
normal, probably due to the close scheduling of ICC 2000 and
ISIT conference in Italy. Some members requested that this
should be avoided in the future.
- The conference proceedings were the same for both the regular
conference and symposia. There was a question on this practice
(in the past Communication Theory Mini-Conferences had separate
volumes). Many members felt the existing practice was to our
benefit, because it makes the papers more accessible.
GLOBECOM 2000 (San Francisco, California, 11/27-12/1) (M. Win
and A. Goldsmith for CT Symposium, and G. Chrisikos for regular
conference) Moe Win provided a summary report. There will be
9 sessions for the Communication Theory Symposium, and 2 committee-
sponsored sessions in the regular conference:
Communication Theory Symposium
- OFDM (2 sessions)
- CDMA (2 sessions)
- Turbo and Iterative Decoding
- Coding
- Fading and Diversity (2 sessions)
- Multiple Antennas
Regular Conference
- Modulation and Coding
- Space-Time Coding and Processing
Four of the sessions will have 8 papers, pending afternoon
time slots being approved.
There were 264 total communication theory related submissions,
70 of which were accepted, and 18 of which were "border line"
papers saved.
ICC 2001 (Helsinki, Finland, 6/11-6/15) (S. Benedetto and K. B.
Letaif for CT Symposium, and R. Prasad for regular conference)
Ramjee Prasad reported that the conference will accept 436
papers to form a total of 62 sessions. There should be at least
6 sessions for the Communication Theory Symposium and 4
committee-sponsored sessions in the regular conference. There
will be 24 tutorials along with system applications sessions
and workshops. The deadline for paper and tutorial submission
is September 1, 2000.
Sergio Benedetto added that there will be 9 symposia, one of
which will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia (with live
broadcast in English). The review process will take place during
September and October to provide first-round decisions by
the beginning of November. The final decisions will be made at
GLOBECOM 2000. The Symposium technical program chairs are
seeking about 12 to 14 volunteers to help review papers and
organize sessions (see recent broadcast message from Sergio
Benedetto and Khaled Ben Letaief). Volunteers should send email
including a short CV and areas of expertise to
benedetto@polito.it, with copy to eekhaled@ee.ust.hk.
GLOBECOM 2001 (San Antonio, Texax, 11/25-11/29) (A. Salkintzis
and Ayman Naguib) Ender Ayanoglu, who attended the first preparation
meeting for GLOBECOM 2001, stated that he requested of this
committee a Communication Theory Symposium be organized during
this conference. A final decision was not made. Apostolis
Salkintzis gave the remaining report. The theme of GLOBECOM 2001
will be evolution of technologies, with emphasis on business
applications. Topics of interest include all-IP networks and
convergence of telephony and IP.
Hikmet Sari, who attended the GICC meeting, cautioned that
the Technical Program Chair for GLOBECOM 2000 has little knowledge
about GLOBECOM and ICC. Many members feel that our committee
should voice our opinion regarding this issue and pass it to other
committee chairs.
ICC 2002 (New York City, New York) Mark Karol will be the
Technical Program Chair.
MILCOM (G. Saulnier) Information received from our standing
MILCOM rep, Gary Saulnier, was read. Our committee will sponsor
10 sessions at MILCOM 2000 (Los Angeles, CA, 10/22-10/25):
- Space-Time Coding
- OFDM and Multicarrier Systems
- Advanced Modulation Techniques
- Spread Spectrum Techniques I and II
- Synchronization Techniques
- Equalization and Anti-Jam Techniques
- Tactical CDMA Communications
- Mobile and Wireless Communications
- Turbo Codes
Any other volunteer as MILCOM rep is welcome.
5. Workshop Reports
Workshop 2000 (Grenelefe Resort, Florida, 5/7-5/10)
(D. Schilling, R. Pickholtz, and K. Dominiak) Ender reiterated
that the technical program was excellent. We received many
positive and constructive feedback comments (see recent
5/28 meeting minutes). Some members would like to see more
interactions between the speakers and attendees, and more
junior people attending the workshop.
Workshop 2001 (La Casa Del Zorro Desert Resort, California,
4/29-5/2) (S. Miller and C. Georghiades) Scott Miller reported
that the site had been selected and a contract was being
signed by the IEEE (update from Scott on 7/25 - the contract
has been signed!). There will be a web page set up with all the
information about the site available. This site accommodates up
to 95 participants (overflow available); so please sign up early.
6. Announcements
- Hikmet Sari announced that ICC 2004 will be in Paris, France.
He also announced the 2nd International Symposium on Turbo
Codes & Related Topics to be held in Brest, France, on September
4-7, 2000. Our committee officially sponsors this Symposium.
- Summary of the TAC (Technical Activities Council) meeting:
* The Personal Communications and Radio Committees requested to
change their committee names, both to "Wireless Communications."
The ComSoc is in the process of coming up with a solution.
- Peter McLane asked the members to support the election of Larry
Milstein to President-Elect of ComSoc.
7. The minutes of the GLOBECOM'99 meeting of the Committee were approved.
8. The meeting adjourned at 6:44 PM.