Events in June 2008

IET London, Younger Members Section

2nd June 2008 - "When will we see fibre to the home?" and AGM

Lecture by Dr. Mitchell, UCL

"When will we see fibre to the home?"
Japan has it, as do Korea. In Holland and Italy it is available in most big cities. In Paris it is being installed in sewers. In the US customers are being connected in their thousands, while in the UK the first real customers are being connected this year - but only in a few special locations. This presentation will review the state of the art in Fibre to the Home (FTTH), considering the technologies available and how they are and will be deployed in the UK, Europe as well as Asia and the US. The lecture will be provided by Dr. Mitchell, UCL, who's short bio is given below.

This technical talk is combined with this year's Annual General Meeting (AGM). The AGM is your chance to air your views on what the London Younger Members Committee does and how it can better support its members. It is also a great opportunity for anyone interested in joining the committee to register their interest and meet the present committee members.

Please contact us at chairman@ietlym.org.uk if you would like to know more about joining the committee. The roles within the committee can be found at the following link or on our website.

John E. Mitchell CEng, MIET, received the B.Eng. degree in electronic and electrical engineering and the Ph.D. degree from University College London (UCL), London, U.K., in 1996 and 2000, respectively. In 2000, he was appointed as a Lecturer with the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, UCL, becoming a Senior Lecturer in 2006. He has published over 40 papers in the area of optical communications. His research interests include optical access technologies (in particular, long reach and WDM-PONs) and the transport of millimeter-wave radio signals over optical fiber for communications and noise relating to crosstalk in optical networks.

Dr. Mitchell has presented invited talks and tutorials at a number of conferences, workshops, and meetings, both nationally and internationally, on the subject of radio-over-fiber networks and optical access. He is a member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the IEEE Lasers and Electro Optics Society.

Lecture: "When will we see fibre to the home?" and AGM
Date: 2nd June 2008
Networking and refreshments: 18:00 - 18:30
Lecture: 18:30 - 19:30
Networking: 19:30 - 21:00
Cost: Free
Venue: The IET, Savoy Place, London, WC2R 0BL
Registration: Registration is free and open to non-members but a requirement for logistical and security purposes. You can register online please click here

For more infomation about the younger members go to the Younger Members Homepage

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IET London, Kingston Section

3rd June 2008 - The past, present and future of mobile communications

Lecture by Chris Friel, O2

his talk describes how we have arrived at the sophisticated mobile communication systems we have today, from the earliest days. It gives a high-level overview of the underlying technology and describes some of the many services that are available. It also touches on the social impact of the technology including concerns about health. Finally, it looks forward to what exciting developments are to come.

Chris Friel works for the mobile communications company O2 (which is part of the Telefonica Group) in the standardisation team. He is particularly concerned with the development of new services and represents the companyThe past, present and future of mobile communications at international standards meetings where future developments in mobile communications are discussed and agreed. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the IET.

Please make sure you get to "The Lion" to enjoy an interesting evening and to give the speaker lots of support.

Lecture: The past, present and future of mobile communications
Date & Time: 3rd June 2008, 7:30pm
Cost: Free
Venue: The Lion, 27 Wick Road, Teddington, TW11 9DN
Registration:For us to plan numbers, please register with Philip Brabazon brabazon@iee.org

For more infomation about lectures at Kingston go to the Kingston Homepage

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IET London, Savoy Place Section

10th June 2008 - A systems approach to Railway Projects Assurance

Lecture by Dr Rob Davies

Delivering complex projects is a big enough challenge before the additional complexity of the railway environment and industry is added to the mix. Often different stakeholders have different priorities and within delivery teams the world of the project manager can be quite different to the world of the engineers. We have previously had presentations on applying systems engineering to railway projects. A systems approach can also be applied with advantage to the overall management arrangements for delivering projects, not just to the delivered system.

Dr Robert Davis will cover what is necessary to assure the effective delivery of complex projects and explore the wide range of assurance that can be applied to the delivered system.

Dr Robert Davis is a Chartered Electrical, Mechanical and Signal Engineer who has worked in the automotive and aerospace & defence industries before working for the last 17 years predominantly in railways. He has considerable experience of general management, project management and engineering of signalling developments ranging from leading the S&T development section in BR and later NSE to leading the 7 leading European railways ECSAG group agree the first ERTMS/ETCS Class 1 baseline specifications with the combined suppliers group UNISIG; to running the Atkins Control & Systems consultancy & delivery business.

He has played a leading role introducing a systems and structured approach to the railways including setting up the first systems group within Railtrack, establishing the Yellow Book on engineering safety management and establishing the Systems Engineering arrangements for the 8B UKP WCRM upgrade. He also chaired the early SRPs through the peak period of new T&RS acceptance following privatisation. Robert is interested in how to de-risk complex programmes and established Technical Programme Delivery Ltd 18 months ago to target the successful management of complex projects including assured delivery, certification and acceptance of complex systems. Robert can be contacted by e-mail at rd@tpd.uk.com or by telephone on 07887 808252.

Lecture: A systems approach to Railway Projects Assurance
Date: 10th June 2008
Networking and refreshments: 17:30 - 18:30
Lecture: 18:30 - 20:00
Networking and Wine reception: 20:00 - 21:30
Cost: Free
Venue: The IET, Savoy Place, London, WC2R 0BL
Registration: Registration is free and open to non-members but a requirement for logistical and security purposes. You can register online Register (Opens in a new window)

For more infomation about lectures at Savoy Place go to the Savoy Place Homepage

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IET London, Hammersmith Section

17th June 2008 - Security and the Mobile: "Threats and challenges, a look into the future"

A talk by David Taylor, Senior Security Specialist , Nokia

The relentless pace of technological innovation continues to raise the expectations of network users and applies pressure to the security infrastructure. Both enterprise and carrier alike are witnessing large scale increases in traffic volume, often originating from unexpected quarters - witness the effect of the BBC iPlayer on the carrier infrastructure and you can easily understand how unintended consequences can arise from the most innocuous products.

Computing power, storage capacity, bandwidth, graphical resolution - all these factors have coalesced to provide us with devices of almost unimaginable power and ways of working that wouldn't have been technically viable little more than a generation ago. Our use of these Internet-driven devices relies upon a security infrastructure that protects us from the threats that are out there without hindering access to the rich multimedia electronic world we've come to rely on.

What's next? Will it improve our quality of life or subsume us into an always-on environment and subject us to a blizzard of unwanted electronic communication, as well as being a security nightmare?

David Taylor graduated from Sheffield University with a BEng in Electronic & Electrical Engineering, specialising in RF, microwave and fibre optics.
He worked with Standard Telephones & Cables (the inventors of fibre optic transmission) and then moved to the datacommunications division of the Pirelli Group.
In 1990 he was headhunted into SynOptics Communications, a California startup which subsequently merged with Wellfleet Communications to become Bay Networks which was later acquired by Nortel.
He became a network management specialist with 3Com in 1995 and in 2000 joined Nokia in a technical role where he has held a variety of positions in sales and technology.

Lecture: Security and the Mobile
Date & Time: 17th June 2008, Doors open 7:30pm for tea/coffee talk at 8pm
Cost: Free
Venue: 'Novotel', 1 Shortlands, Hammersmith, London W6 8DR
Registration: For us to plan numbers, please register click on the link: Register (Opens in a new window)

For more infomation about lectures at Hammersmith and direction to the venue go to the Hammersmith Homepage

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IET London, Savoy Place Lunch Event

27th June 2008 - Leading change in Organizations

Lecture by Dr. L Watkins

Lunch & Lecture: Leading change in Organizations
Date & Time: 27th June 2008, 12:30 for lunch, lecture starts at 1:45 pm
Time: Lunch at 12.30pm followed by the lecture at approximately 1.45pm.
Venue: The IET, Savoy Place, London, WC2R 0BL.

Lunch at a cost of £11.50 each, payable to staff at Savoy Place on the day by cash or credit card, to be booked at least a week in advance with Mike Ward, email: m.r.ward@btinternet.com Phone 020 8508 7116
The lecture is free.

Lunches at Savoy Place are held on the last Friday of each month except July and August ( Bank Holidays etc. permitting).

For more information about lunch lectures at Savoy Place go to http://www.ietlunch.org

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