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NEWS

http:// WWW. Vt SOC I et y. 0 f g/♦Vol. 47, No. 1 issn 1068 5731
February 2000

"EATURES

4

VTC2000-Spring-_jReport on VTC'99 Fall-

Future Automotive Electronics

Contents
2 VTS Directory
3 Foreword
10 Chapter News & Meetings
11 Electronics Harnesses Alternative Energy

for Automobiles

12 Automotive Electronics
13 Professional Activities
14 Transportation Systems

Japanese Maglev Test Train 'On Shed' See VTC 2000-Springarticle. Photo courtesy of RTRI, Japan.

16 VTC2000-Fall Call for Papers
17 News
14 CONVERGENCE Fellowship
18 VTS Awards
19 Mobile Radio
20 IMT-2000 - Just hold on a minute!
20 8'h October 1999 VTS Board Meeting Report
23 18th May 1999 VTS Board Meeting Minutes
26 CONVERGENCE 2000
27 Call for Papers
28 Calendar of Events

Connecting The Mobile World

Vehicular Technology
Society Executive
Committee
President, A. Kent Johnson
Brigham Young University
1225 East Cambridge Court
Provo, UT 84602
Tel:+1 801 378 3726
Fax: +1 801 378 7575
Email: a.k.johnson@ieee.org
Executive Vice President,
J. R. Cruz

The University of Oklahoma
School of Electrical and Computer
Engineering
202 West Boyd, Room 219
Norman, OK 73019 0631
Tel:+1 405 325 4280
Fax: +1 405 325 3836
Email: cruz@mailhost.ecn.ou.edu
Vice President Mobile Radio,
Eric J. Schimmel

6216 Hollins Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
Tel: +1 301 530 7987
Email: e.schimmel@ieee.org
Vice President Land Transportation,
Harvey M. Glickenstien

PB Transit & Rail Systems, Inc
3334 Adams Court
Bensalem, PA 19020
Tel: +1 201 648 8700
Fax: +1 201 648 0888
Email: h.glickenstien@ieee.org
Vice President Motor Vehicles,
Robert A. Mazzola

R.A. Mazzola Associates.
6101 Pelican Bay Blvd. #1602
Naples, FL 34108
Tel: +1 941 566 9291
Email: rmazzola@prodigy.net
Secretary, Essam Sourour
Ericsson, Inc.
7001 Development Drive
Post Office Box 13969
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Tel:+1 919 472 7067
Fax: +1 919 472 6555
Email: sourour@rtp.ericsson.seTreasurer, Charles Backof
Motorola
8000 W. Sunrise Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33322
Tel:+1 954 723 6152
Fax:+1 954 723 6957
Email: EPOR16@email.mot.com

VTS Board of Governors
Charles Backof ('01) VTS Treasurer
Dennis Hodson ('01)

Standards Committee Chairman
233 N. Columbus St.
Arlington, VA 22203
Tel: +1 703 243 3743
Fax:+1 703 522 4342
Email: bodsond@worldnet.att.com

2

J. R. Cruz ('02) Executive Vice

President, IEEE Transactions on
Vehicular Technology Editor

Robert Fenton ('01)

Ohio State Univ.
2177 Oakmount Rd..
Columbus, OH 43221
Tel: +1 614 292 4310
Fax: +1 614 292 7956
Email: fenton@ee.eng.
ohio-state.edu

Robert L. French ('00) IEEE ITS

Council Representative
R&D. French Associates
6137 Tuliptree Lane
Nashville, TN 37221
Tel: +1 615 673 6211
Fax:+1 615 673 0311
Email: r.french@ieee.org

John T. Gilsenan ('02)

13736 Lockdale Rd.
Silver Spring, MD 20906 2117
Tel: 202 647 2592
Fax: 202 647 7407
Email: GILSENANJT@state.gov

A. Kent Johnson ('01)

VTS President

Anil T. Kripalani ('02)

12766 Jordan Ridge Court
San Diego, CA 92130 2748
Tel: +1 858 658 4241
Email: t_kemers@qualcomm.com

Melvin A. Lewis ('00) National

Conference Coordinator, Conference
Board Member
Lockheed Martin
Ridge Hill MIS 29
Yonkers, NY 10710
Tel:+1 914 964 3820
Fax:+1 914 964 2891
Email: m.lewis@ieee.org

Robert A. Mazzola ('00) VTS

Vice President, Convergence
Conference Committee Representa­
tive, SAE Liaison, Long Range
Planning Committee Chair

George F. McClure ('00) Past Presi­dent, Conference Committees Chair­person, Public Relations I Publicity
Committee Chairperson
1730 Shiloh Lane
Winter Park, FL 32789
Tel: +1 407 647 5092
Fax:+1 407 644 4076
Email: g.mcclure@ieee.org

Samuel R. McConoughey ('01)

Past President
Mobile Communications
Consulting
13017 Chestnut Oak Drive
Gaithersburg, MD 20878 3556
Tel: +1 301 926 2837
Fax: +1 301 926 2506
Email: mccon@compuserve.com

Tom Rubinstein ('02) VTS

Webmaster, Conference site
selection, New member liaison
Motorola
9980 Carroll Canyon Road
P. 0. Box 85036
San Diego, CA 92186 9130
Tel: +1 858 530 8432
Fax: +1 858 530 8313
Email: cegrOl@email.mot.com
Raymond C. Trott ('00) Awards
Committees Chairperson, Paperof the Year Awards, Avant gardeAwardsTrott Communications Group, Inc.
1425 Greenway Drive,# 350
Irving, TX 75038
Tel: +1 972 580 1911
Fax:+1 972 580 0641
Email: ray.trott@trottgroup.com
James A.Worsham, Jr. ('02)
Conference Board Member
BellSouth, Room 42U85,
675 West Peachtree Street NE,
Atlanta, GA, 30375
Tel: +1 404 330 0381
Fax: +1 404 330 0386
Email: jim_worsham@snt.bellsouth.com

VTS News Staff
EditorJames M. Irvine

Mobile Communications
Group, EEEStrathclyde University
George Street
Glasgow G1 lXW Scotland
Tel:+44 141 548 4072
Fax: +44 141 552 4968
Email: j.m.irvine@ieee.org
Senior Editors

Automotive Electronics
William J. Fleming

TRW Vehicle Safety Systems, Inc.
4505 West 26 Mile Road
Washington, MI 48094
Tel:+1 810 781 7394
Fa�+l810 781 7274
Email: william.fleming@trw.com
Transportation Systems
Harvey M. Glickenstein

Professional Activities
Frank E. Lord

35 Hartford Ave.
San Carlos, CA 94070
Tel: +1 650 594 0512
Fax: +1 650 321 9692
E-mail: f.e.lord@ieee.org
Chapter News & Meetings
Gaspar Messina

9800 Marguetta Drive
Bethesda, MD 20817
Tel: +1 202 418 1348
Fax: 1 202 418 1412
E-mail: GMESSINA@fcc.com
Washington News
Eric J. Schimmel

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News❖ February 2000

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...
FOREWORD

James Irvine, Editor
Happy New Year! If you are reading this it means that
the IEEE Y2K compliance procedures, along with those of
the various Post Offices worldwide, have all worked and theVTS News has been dispatched successfully. Writing this in
Scotland on the second of January, I am happy to report thatthe traffic lights did not fail, the utilities remained working,and I can even still connect to my ISP. Such has been themagnitude of the non-event when compared to the prophe­sies of doom that the media is now questioning all the money
spent to ensure that the Hogmanay parties went undis­
turbed. We Scots know how to celebrate New Year!
Now that the clock has ticked over, it is possible to start
looking at the silver linings to the Y2K cloud. The Y2K 'bug'
has provoked a wide range of different attitudes, from thehead-in-the-sand approach of hoping it will all go away to theoverreaction of stocking up on food, heating oil and edible
candles. I suspect that over the coming years Y2K will change
in people's minds to one of those apocryphal stories told toyoung engineers (and computer scientists) to warn them of
the dangers of complacency, and in particular of assumingthat designs will be safely obsolete long before a critical date.
If we design things to be as reliable as possible - and as engi­
neers, that should be our aim - then it is incumbent on all of
us to consider the unexpected and plan for it. As Steve

Copy for 2000 issues of VTS Newsshould reach Dr. James Irvine by:Issue

May 2000
August 2000
November 2000
February 2001

Due Date

March 6, 2000
June 5, 2000
September 4, 2000
December 5, 2000

at Mobile Communications Group,
EEE, Strathclyde University, George
Street, Glasgow G1 lXW Scotland, E
mail: j.m.irvine@ieee.org.
©2000 IEEE. Permission to copy
without fee all or part of any material
without a copyright notice is granted
provided that the copies are not madeor distributed for direct commercial ad­
vantage, and the title of the publicationand its date appear on each copy. To
copy material with a copyright noticerequires specific permission. Please di­rect all inquiries to IEEE Copyright

Oualline, author of Practical C++ Programming, asks 'What
would your program do ... if a cat walked across the keyboard,
several times?' Y2K was arguably the least unpredictableproblem to occur over the past 1000 years, but the 'bug' still
occurred because engineers were designing for tomorrow, but
not the day after tomorrow.
While those working in the transportation side will bewell used to systems which last for 20, 30 or even 50 years,
the mobile radio engineers may be feeling safer in theknowledge that there systems have a much shorter life­
span. The public seems to know this- last year, 13,000 mo­biles were left in the London Underground and neverpicked up. VTC'99-Fall was full of discussion of 4th gener­
ation systems before the design of 3rd generation systems
is even finished. However, when was the last time you
started a design with a blank sheet of paper? Systems be­come more complex, intellectual property is reused, andthe importance of designing for the unexpected becomes in­creasingly relevant.
There is another silver lining. As long as there is no suchthing as bad publicity, the general population is now wellaware that electronics is now ubiquitous to the point that al­most everything, including transport, depends on it. Of
course, that makes it more important to get things right. ..

Manager, 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway,
NJ 08855.
IEEE Vehicular Technology SocietyNews is published February, May, Au­
gust and November by the VehicularTechnology Society of the Institute ofElectrical & Electronics Engineers,
Inc. Headquarters of IEEE is at 3
Park Avenue, 17th Floor New York,NY 10016 5997. Printed in USA.
Periodicals postage paid at New York,NY and at additional mailing offices.
Postmaster: Send address changes toIEEE Vehicular Technology Society
News, IEEE, 445 H oes Lane,
Piscataway, N J 08855.
Important Telephone Numbers

IEEE USA Hotline Recording:
212 785 2180
Subscriptions:
Transactions on Vehicular Technology
and/or Vehicular Technology Society NewsIEEE members: 732 562 5546

February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society NewsNon members: +1 732 562 5427
Fax for both: +1 732 981 9667
IEEE Customer Service:+1 800 678 IEEE (USA and Canada)+1 732 981 1393 (outside USA and
Canada)FAX: +1 732 981 0027

VTS publication rates
Transactions on Vehicular Technol­ogy subscription price is $20 per year
for IEEE members. For non members,
the price is $175 per year.
Vehicular Technology Society News
subscription price of $15 is included inmembership in VTS. For non members,
the annual price for the four issues ofFebruary, May, August and September
is $30.
For inquiries and orders, see tele­phone numbers above.

3

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VTC2000-5PRING
On the 15th of May, VTC2000-Spring will open at the Ho­
tel Pacific in Tokyo. This will be the first occasion that VTC
has been held in Asia, but it could not come at a more appro­
priate time, with the advances being made in 3rd generation
mobile communication systems. The theme of the confer­ence is 'Shaping History Through Mobile Technologies', andJapan has been a key player in the global standardisation of
3G. The country also promises to be one of the first to imple­
ment the new technologies, with deployments starting thisyear for service from 2001. VTC2000-Spring is the first ma­
jor mobile conference since the ITU decision on 3G stand­ardisation, and it promises to be a useful opportunity to findout the way the industry is moving.
The conference has seven technical subject areas. Theyare
+ Antenna and Propagation This area includes papers
on Smart Antennas, Space-time Processing, Radio
Channel Modeling and Prediction Tools.
+ Wireless Access The papers in this area cover Multi­
ple Access Technology, Spread Spectrum Technology,
OFDM Technology, Access Protocols, and Channel As­
signment.
+Transmission Technology This area includes vari­
ous aspects of Transmitter and Receiver Design, in­cluding Modulation & Demodulation, Source & Chan­nel Coding, Interference Rejection, Equalization and
Synchronization, and Multiuser Detection, as well as
Software Radio.
+ Multimedia, Network, and Systems Mobile Multi­
media Technology, Mobile Data Computing or Naviga­
tion Networks, and Wireless ATM.
+ Wireless Personal Communications Systems
IMT-2000, Broadband Mobile Communications Sys­
tems, Cellular Technology, and Location Techniques.
+ Mobile Satellite Mobile Satellite Communications,
LEO/MEO/GEO Networks, and Satellite Navigation.
+Transportation Intelligent Transportation and Ve­
hicular Systems, as well as Vehicular Electronics.
Notwithstanding a large local contribution - 64 of the pa­
pers at VTC'99-Fall had Japanese authors or co-authors the conference attracted 800 proposals from across theworld. The 550 papers being presented have been chosen by
the Technical Programme Committee on the basis of the
programme subject areas to ensure a varied selection ofhigh quality presentations. The seventy-six strong Techni­
cal Programme Committee is chaired by Professor Susumu
Yoshida from Kyoto University. Mitsutoshi Hatori, from the
National Centre for Science Information Systems in Japan,
is General Chair of VTC2000-Spring.
In addition to the technical programme, the conference
will be preceded by 15 tutorials. Also, 8 panels are planned.
Tutorials and panels cover various technical subjects such as
4

Wideband planned on Wideband
CDMA, High-Speed WirelessLAN, Packet Mobile Communi­
cations/TCP/IP over Mobile Ra­
dios, Smart Antennas, SoftwareRadio, Multi-User Detection,
High-Speed Digital Transmis­
sion Technology, Mobile Multi­
media and ITS.
Two technical tours have beenorganised. The first is to a 3n1 Gen­eration Mobile IMT-2000 Test
System in the Yokosuka area justsouth of Tokyo. The Yokosuka Re­
search Park opened in 1996 as acentre for research and develop­
ment in mobile radio technology. Prototype IMT-2000
The Japanese W-CDMA 3rd gen­ handset. One
eration system was combined conference tour will bewith the similar European UTRA to a 3rd Generation
FDD system for standardisation Mobile IMT-2000 Test
as ITU-DS and is likely to be one Systemof the first true 3n1 generation sys­
tems deployed.
Other types of vehicular technology are included in thetechnical programme and the second tour will be to theMaglev test line to see the 550km/h "Superconducting Mag­
netically Levitated Vehicle". Again this is an area of tech­
nology where Japan leads the world, offering the prospect of
future practical land transportation at 500 km/h. For those
who are interested in an example of previous high speed
train technology, the conference centre is only 11 minutes
by train from Tokyo station, where high-speed Shinkansen
trains can be seen in operation. These are still the fastest
trains in the world, having faster schedule speeds from sta­tion to station than France's TGV. The Tokaido Shinkansenfrom Tokyo to Osaka opened more than 35 years ago on 1 Oc­
tober 1964, and even today only eight countries currently
have high speed trains which exceed that original line's de­sign speed of 210km/h.
The conference will be held in Le Meridien Pacific, Tokyo.
The hotel boasts a total of 6 restaurants on its 30 floors, of­fering French and Chinese cuisine in addition to Japanese.
The hotel is well served by transportation links, being only aminute's walk from Shinagawa railway station with ser­vices to central Tokyo, Narita and Haneda airports.
While Japan is some 1,500 miles long, it is only on average
130 miles wide. Its area is roughly one 25th of that of the UnitedStates of America, but in this space live over 125 million peo­ple, only a little less than half the population of the UnitedStates. The 12 million living in Toyko make it one of the larg­
est metropolises in the world, but only 50 miles to the west is
the Kanto mountain range and the Chichibu-Tama National
IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News❖ February 2000

Maglev train on a test run.
Park, and south of that is Mount Fuji, which rises over 3750m.
May is a very good month to visit Tokyo, with little rain and atemperatme averaging a comfortable 18° C. The attractive­
ness of the season is often expressed by quoting a famous Jap­
anese poem by Sodo Yamaguchi:
Our eyes see green leaves,
From mountains sing little cuckoos.
Eat first bonito!

One aspect of touring Japan which can trap the unwary
is the fact that although there are many signs in English,
at least on the main transport corridors, the Japanese
kanji or hiragana scripts are used universally. This canmake finding your way about somewhat complex, unless

you have taken the precaution of re­cording the kanji form of your destina­
tion to compare to station signs or forticket machines.
VTC has established itself as the se­ries of conferences on cellular radio
technology, not only in terms of its tech­nical programme, but in the number ofattendees which it attracts. The split
into two conferences per year has re­
sulted in a pair of conferences, each ofwhich is almost as large as the final an­
nual VTC in Ottawa in 1998. With its lo­
cation in Japan this spring, it offers an
ideal opportunity to come up to speed on
the latest technical developments while
spending time in an exciting country at
the leading edge ofR&D work in mobile.
A discounted early registration isavailable until the 31st of March. For
further details of the conference and fora registration form, please visit the
VTC2000-Spring web site on http: I I
www.convention.co.jp I vtc2000s I or
contact the Conference Secretary:a
The kanji forJapan. The upper
symbol is a stylised
sun, while thelower symbol is atree with ahorizontal bar
which represents'root' and means'origin'.

Tadashi Matsumoto
Wireless Laboratories,
NTT DoCoMo, Japan,
Tel: +81-468-40-3552
Fax: +81-468-40-3790
E-mail: matumoto@mars.yrp.nttdocomo.co.jp

Report on VTC'99-Fall
The 50th Vehicular Technology Conference, and the first
Fall conference of the biannual series, was held in Amster­
dam last September. A total of 942 delegates from over 37
countries registered to attend. One of the largest represen­tations was from Japan, with 125 delegates, followed by the
USA with 87. The Netherlands, the UK, South Korea andGermany all also had significant representations. Notwith­standing the fact that this was the second VTC conference ofthe year, a very large number of submissions were received(895 papers, and 30 tutorial proposals). From these, a totalof 632 were accepted either for oral presentation in 75 ordi­
nary sessions (404 papers) or for one of the five poster ses­
sions. Allocation of papers between oral or poster sessions
was done on the basis of subject and not relative quality.
The theme for the conference, in terms of the plenary ses­
sions and the technical papers, was a move from 3'd genera­tion technology to 3'd generation services, 4th generation
systems, and IP.
The size of the conference was reflected in the size of theproceedings. The five volumes came to more than 3000
pages and weighed in at 19 pounds (8.5kg), giving rise to ru­
mours of trips to the local canals to avoid excess baggage!
The conference was opened by Professor Ramjee Prasadfrom Aalborg University, who was Chair of the Conference.
Professor Prasad noted that wireless was the second largest

February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

growth industry next tobanking. He also remarked
on the difficulty in persuad­
ing industry to support theconference, since they did
not understand how the Ve­
hicular Technology Confer­ence related to mobile. He
recommended that the VTS
consider changing 'Technol­ogy' to 'Telecommunica­
tions', retaining the acronym
but increasing the relevanceto mobile.
The first plenary presen­tation was given by Robert
Verrue, Director-General,I
ofDG XIII at the European
Commission. In a talk enti­ Ramjee Prasad Opens VTC'99tled 'Wireless Infrastruc­ Fall
ture for the Global Communications Village', he explained what was being done atthe European Union level to come up with an integrated so­lution for wireless networks for voice and other services. In
Finland, in November 1998, wireless overtook fixed access,5

An attentive audience listen to the opening session
and during the summer of 1999, Italy also crossed over.
While there is a linear growth in fixed traffic, the growth inwireless is exponential. He noted that while web growth in
the USA and Japan was approximately linear, in Europe
the growth was exponential. The combination offers very
good opportunities. While the proliferation of analoguesystems restricted growth, a single, common, open stan­
dard promoted growth. Robert Verrue cited the fact thatwhile it took nine years for analogue to grow to 6 million
subscribers, the common GSM standard allowed growth to
30 million subscribers in half that time. He argued thatthat good technology translating into successful services
requires a co-ordinated approach, and an open standard
was essential. Finally, he introduced the new European
IST programme (Information, Science and Technology)
where the user is the focus.
The second opening talk was given by Tero Ojanpera,
Vice President of Researche Nokia Telecom, on 3G Multi­
media Networks. He predicted that as narrowband goes
wireless, wideband will follow, and fixed will go to broad­band. While it was very difficult to predict applications, it
wasn't necessary to do this, but rather to provide good tech­
nology and let the applications emerge. Tero Ojanpera fore­
saw unified end-to-end applications with different accesstechnologies glued together with IP. GPRS offered the first
wireless IP network - this could evolve to form a 3G core
network.
The final opening talk was 'Wireless Internet', given by
Hakan Eriksson, Vice President and General Manager of
Ericsson Research. He talked on the convergence of media,
telecoms and computing to form an information society. 2nd
generation systems used new machines for the same busi­
ness; 3rd generation systems will give new machines for
new systems. He said that Wireless Internet was not about
making the Internet wireless, but about making a WirelessInternet. When comparing traditional and wireless ap­
proaches, voice service costs are roughly equivalent be­
tween wireless and fixed, whereas email is cheaper by wire­
less. However, movies are very much more expensive by
wireless than wireline. The line of equivalent cost between
wireless and fixed will move towards wireless, but even so,high bit rate services are going to be out of reach of wireless.
This must be taken into account of when planning the Wire­less Internet
Keynote presentations on the second day were combinedwith the opening of WPMC'99. The first talk, 'Challengesof Wireless Communications - IMT-2000 and Beyond' wasdeliverable by Fumiyuki Adachi from NTT DoCoMo, who
is also Vice Chair of the Technical Programme Committee
for VTC2000-Spring. He gave an overview of the positionin Japan, where at the end of 1998 there were 45 million
6

subscribers growing at a rate of 70,000 per month, giving
35% penetration. He noted that the time taken to reach
penetration of 10% of households, at just 5 years, waslower for the Internet than for other major technologies.
The telephone had taken 76 years to reach this position,
the fax 19 years, mobile phones 15 years, and the PC 13
years. The Internet is changing society more quickly thanprevious technologies, and it was driving communications
towards multi-media. Some Internet type services can beprovided over second generation systems. An example in­cludes the NTT DoCoMo i-mode service over PDC. This
had achieved very rapid growth, with one million users byAugust 1999 from a start in February of that year. Email,web access and on-line services are provided at 9.6kbit/s.
400 independent information providers were on-stream at
the start; this had now risen to 1400. However, Fumiyuki
Adachi said that full connectivity to Internet services
would require 3G systems, and the physics of high bit rates
would provide a challenge. Power is proportional to bit ratetimes frequency to the power 2.6. This means that provid­ing 64kbit/s at 5GHz requires 87 times the power for pro­viding 8kbit/s at 2GHz, or will require a 3.7 times reduc­tion in cell sizes.
Walter Konhauser, Senior Vice President, Siemens AG
discussed Network Evolutions Towards 3G. He foresaw astrong parallelism between mobile phone and Internet sub­scribers. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) andBluetooth will provide Internet connection for wireless us­
ers. However, GSM technology will not stop; GSM will be
the main revenue generator beyond 2005. The evolution
path GSM ➔ GPRS➔ EDGE will allow this to happen. The
UMTS market will take time.
Shuzo Kato, Executive Vice President, Mitsubishi
Wireless Comm. Inc., gave the American perspective in
his talk 'Personal Communications Systems Towards 21stCentury'. He predicted a number of paradigm shifts: tech­
nology oriented to services oriented system design (cus­tomers do not care about capacity); portability of handset;
and voice phones to Internet video phones. From an
American perspective, 2G systems are not paid off andpenetration is only 25%. Operators have paid a lot ofmoney for spectrum. There is also low wireless data com­munication penetration (< 6%). Another issue is that
there is no new spectrum for 3G, which means that spec­
trum will have to be shared between 2G and 3G. This in­troduces design factors not present in Europe or Japan
which affects system evolution.

USA

1G

2G

3G

AMPS

TDMA

EDGE

4G

GSM
Europe
Japan

CDMA

CDMA

NMT

GSM

EDGE

TACS

GPRS

WCDMA

NTT

PDC

WCDMA

JTACS

PHS

One
systemCDMA

System Evolution in USA, Europe & Japan. Shuzo Kato
One of the best attended of the five panel sessions was on'What future for IMT-2000?', chaired by Werner Mohr ofSiemens AG, with panel members Alcira Hiroike from NTT
DoCoMo, Howard Xia from Vodafone-Airtouch, Mats
Nilsson from Ericsson and Serge Willenegger from
Qualcomm Inc. Dr Mohr introduced the session discussingIEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

�
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�
--''-=--"" 'Hakan Eriksson discusses the increasing use of mobile phones
the growth in mobile alongside the growth in the Internet.
In Europe it was expected to have 90 million mobile multi­
media users (from 260 million total users) generating 60%of the traffic. This would require additional spectrum, andthe existing spectrum is not available everywhere (in par­ticular, North America). Therefore, the UMTS Forum islooking at extension bands.
Akira Hiroike said his three key words for the 21st cen­tury communications were personal, multimedia and uni­versal. Testing of prototypes is underway in Japan aim­
ing for commercial deployment from Spring 2001 .
Howard Xia said that the end goal was to have any infor­
mation on any device at any time. He noted that
Vodafone-Airtouch operates GSM, D-AMPS, PDC andcdmaOne networks, and they want harmonised CDMAfor 3G. This would give operators the benefit of economies
of scale. Up to this point the discussion had centred on thethree CDMA flavours (what are now termed IMT-DS,
IMT-MC, and IMT-TC - see 'ITU Agreed Radio Interface
Standards for 3G' in the Mobile Radio column on page 19).
Mats Nilsson introduced a fourth IMT-2000 option ,EDGE IMT-SC. He said that this offered the first oppor­
tunity to introduce packet-based services. Over the longterm, there will be a full IP based mobile network. VoIP
(Voice over IP) over GPRS/EDGE will offer an upgrade
path for US TDMA migration.
Serge Willenegger brought the discussion back to CDMAsolutions as he gave an overview of IS-95 progression
CDMA-MC.
A question was asked regarding the four different fla­
vours discussed for IMT-2000 : will all four flavours lead
to 4G, or are some of them dead ends? There was some dis­
agreement in the panel about this with the view being putthat the future was CDMA and therefore non-CDMA so­lutions would not progress. Howard Xia said that EDGE
was a good technology for packet data, but not for voice,and so would not be good for new spectrum until voice isintegrated. Mats Nilsson said that there was a very
bright future for EDGE, as it was very cost effective. He
expected all GSM systems to move to EDGE since thecosts would be very low. Akira Hiroike noted that EDGE
was not appropriate for Japan since it did not have an in­stalled base of GSM.
The audience also noted that while there were three basic
flavours for 2G, with co-operation there were now four fla­
vours being discussed for 3G. Howard Xia noted that fromthe 13 submissions to ITU, there were now four (actually
five have now been chosen). He also said that for 2G sys­tems, the services were simpler, and that there had neverbeen something like the OHG (Operators Harmonisation
Group) before.

February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society NewsThe keynote presentations on the last day of the confer­ence began with Yosi Furuhama, from Mobile Radio Centre,
Inc. , Tokyo, Japan. He discussed 'Prophecy in the 20th Cen­tury', by Houchi Shinbus, which was published in a Japa­
nese newspaper at the beginning of the century (2 & 3 Janu­ary 1901). This made predictions in 8 areas (Transportation,
Information and Communication, Energy, Environment,
Electrical Applications, Health and Hygiene, Climate Re­form and Disaster Prediction, and Culture and Education .
The predictions in some of the latter areas were poor (none of
the latter two categories predictions were correct), but
Transportation achieved a 'hit rate' of 93% and Information
and Communication had 4 out of 6 right. The high successrate is probably due to the fact that these areas were alreadyfairly well advanced at the turn of the century. The Informa­tion and Communication predictions were for telegraph andtelephone (11'), picture transmission (11'), long distance voice
transmission (11'), picture telephone (11'), electronic com­
merce and tube transmission (11'/>t), and communication
with animals (>').
The forecast contrasts with a 30 year forecast made in
1996, which had 14 surveyed areas and 1072 items in to­tal. Yosi Furuhama looked forward to what could be ex­pected in 2010, expecting 25-156Mbit/s indoor (against
2Mbit/s for IMT-2000), 2-25Mbit/s for pedestrians(against 384kbit/s), 2Mbit/s for vehicles (against
144kbit/s) and 2Mbit/s for satellite (against 9 .6kbit/s to­day). Conditions for future advance included the survivalof mankind, the resolution of essential problems (energy
resources, food, population, and the global environment),social aspects (establishment of life ethics) and the assur­
ance of safety anci protection of privacy. He concluded bysaying that most of what is technically possible today will
be implemented in the next century . Wireless technology
will become an essential aspect of the fabric of society.
Since this will be the case, we must study the social andcultural issues as well as the technical aspects.
Mintaig Kim stood in for Seon Jong Chung, President ofElectronics and Telecommunications Research Institute(ETRI) of Korea. He gave an overview of the history and evo­lution of mobile in Korea from AMPS in 1984 to the firstcommercial CDMA system in 1996. As of September 1999,
there were 21 million wireless subscribers (45% penetra­tion) exceeding the 20 million wireline subscribers. Theiraim is to get IMT-2000 in operation in 2002 when they are
joint hosts of the football World Cup.
Finally, Jorge Pereira, from the European Commission,
gave his personal views beyond 3G. He started by asking
the rhetorical question 'What is 4G?', the answer to which
no-one really knows; it will be left to the market. However,
he warned against playing the generation game, as Ray-

Werner Mohr from Siemens AG listens to the Opening Ceremony
7

Clockwise from the top : VTC2000-Spring stand; A quiet moment at the Exhibition; Your editor prepares a poster; Poster P3. l 8
explained; The Monday afternoon poster session; Jan Uddenfeldt (on left) presents the Stewart Meyer award to Sven-Olof Ohrvik;
VTS President Kent Johnson at the Awards Lunch, VTC'99-Fall Chair Ramjee Prasad opens the Awards Luncheon, Tuesday
morning poster session; Proceedings waiting to be collected - each set is almost 6 inches thick; (centre) The opening reception;(background) The RAI Conference centre, venue for VTC'99-Fall.
mond Steele put it, and undermining 3G. What 4G is not is
simply higher data rates, in fact it should be user driven
rather than technology driven. Returning to Hakan
Eriksson's talk on the first day, while 2G was new equip­
ment but same service, and 3G was new equipment andnew service, 4G would be all equipment and all services.
The user will be the focus, and will not be 'owned' by any
operator. 4G will encompass all kinds of systems,
inter-operate with 3G and 2G systems and be fully IPb a s e d . An o p e n a r c h i t e c t u r e w i l l a l lo w fu l lre-configurability s o that the most efficient o r effective
system can be used at all levels. In order to make such sys­
tems work, efficient resource management structures ca­
pable of coping with varying traffic, channel conditions
and quality of service will be required, and new ap­
proaches to decentralised network functionality.
Overall, the conference was well received and a credit
to the organisers who gave themselves the additional task

8of organising WPMC'99 to run immediately after VTC.
The size of the conference was one of its drawbacks, notjust from the weight of the proceedings, but from the factthat it took several minutes to walk from one end of thevenue to the other. This reduced the effectiveness of thepolicy of ensuring that sessions ran strictly to time, so if apaper was not presented, there was a break in the session,
allowing delegates to move between sessions to see the pa­
pers of their choice. Unfortunately, there were a numberof missing papers due to authors registering but not at­
tending. This was particularly evident in the poster ses­
sions, and such behaviour by paper authors is disrespect­
ful to organisers and delegates alike. However, theconference, with its well-rounded plenary programme
and panel sessions allowed a good balance between thetechnical developments and commercial visions, and of­fered an excellent opportunity to judge the current stateof affairs with regard to mobile research.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

v,�

IEEE

$if 1 16']
FUTURE AUTOMOTIVE E LECTRONICS
Bill Fleming, Senior Editor

In a series of articles to appear throughout the year, we
will be looking at the developments which can be expected in
the various areas ofVTS technology in the early years of the
new millennium. In this first article in the series, Senior Edi­
tor Bill Fleming looks towards the future ofAutomotive Elec­tronics. Readers' views on the ideas expressed are cordiallyinvited.
Advances in electronics offer a large number of possibili­ties in automotive applications. As more complex systems
become more affordable, the following are expected to becommonplace beyond year 2000.

start the engine with the push of a button (because your key
code will have been remotely and wirelessly read). In addi­tion, settings of entertainment electronics, HVAC, mirror,
seat, etc., will automatically be personalized by your iden­tity card to match your preferences. The car will also recog­
nize your voice commands and make adjustments ofHVAC,
mirrors, seat, radio, etc., automatically without you having
to look away from the road. Transponder tags, attached to
the vehicle, will make possible electronic drive-by paymentof tolls, parking fees, and pay-as-you-drive use oflimited-ac­
cess urban expressway lanes. These can be dynamic, so thebusier the traffic, the higher the toll.

1. On-board, fix-it-on-road, diagnostic systems

4. Automotive chassis systems

Future diagnostic systems will go beyond simply captur­
ing intermittent trouble codes. When used together withcell-phone data-links, diagnostic systems will allow
real-time vehicle-trouble fixes, via on-the-road transmittalof software patches to the vehicle system computers. "Whenone sees, for example, the engine trouble light go on; they sim­ply grab their car phone, call service, and connect the car's
data phone line to the ECU. Service then remotely reads anddiagnoses the data, sends a software patch Ifix back on thefly, and the software patch is automatically installed, fixing
the problem without the car ever stopping."
2. Smart "install and forget" sensors

Smart micromachined pressure, acceleration and gyro
sensors will provide instrument-grade performance,high-level output signals, multiplex connectivity, self-diag­nostic calibration checks, and electrically adjustable mea­
surement range - all at very low cost. MEMS
(MicroElectroMechanical Systems) sensors andmicroactuators will become so readily available, inexpensive,and reliable that they will be thought of as "zero-fail electron­ics" which will become "install and forget" commodities.
MEMS devices and electronics will simply be embedded instructural parts of the vehicle. This will yield lighter weight,
lower cost, simpler assembly, and self-diagnosing features.

3. Passive personalization and the convenience

Personalization and the convenience of electronic keylessentry systems will proliferate. Beyond today's theft-deter­
rent security systems that immobilize engines (and whichhave dramatically reduced theft rates of vehicles equippedwith these systems), future systems will do much more.
First, car keys will be replaced by a passive (no battery re­quired) transponder smaller than a credit card, which you
simply carry in your pocket or wallet.
Upon identifying your code ( using a rolling code for added
security), car doors will automatically unlock, and you canFebruary 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

Chassis systems will increasingly rely on electric power.
Traditional mechanical components; such as hydraulicsteering, brakes, and passive suspension will be replaced byall-electromechanical "actuate-by-wire" mechanisms. Elec­tromechanical chassis systems offer: (a) modular packaging
and assembly advantages, (b) stored-energy, on-demand,
operation which reduces engine transient-mode emissions
and improves fuel economy, (c) elimination of hydraulicfluid leaks and fluid-disposal environmental issues, (d)better interface with in-vehicle multiplexed electrical net­
works, (e) facilitation of diagnostic functions, and (f) easierintegration with other systems.
Examples of all-electromechanical "actuate-by-wire"
mechanisms include: electric power steering, steer­
ing-by-wire, vehicle yaw-rate stability enhancement, SUV
roll-stability enhancement, active suspension, brak­ing-by-wire, and driving/throttle-by-wire.

5. Intelligent Highways

In regard to highways, rather than building automatedhighways, attention will initially focus on M (Intelligent Ve­
hicle Initiative) programs that emphasize collision-avoidancesystems, such as rear-end collision radar warning, or auto­
matic collision notification, etc. In the next 10 years, vehicle
crash-avoidance radar systems will become reality. Effort will
first focus on mitigating rear-end collisions because more than
one-quarter of all injuries in motor vehicle crashes occur insuch collisions. It is estimated that an extra half-second of
warning will cut rear-end collisions by fifty percent.
Other applications will include: road departure warning,lane change and merge collision warning, intersection colli­sion warning, driver drowsiness monitor, and night-vision
augmentation. Ultimately, in the distant future (more than
20 years from now), automated highways and the total inte­
gration of vehicles with other vehicles and roadway infra­
structure will be implemented. This will make possible
large-scale, real-time, vehicle route-guidance, high-speed
9vehicle platooning, etc. The primary driving force for thiscontinues to be the unavailability of land for new roads,
leaving only the option of making existing roads safer andmore efficient by implementation of intelligent transporta­tion systems.
6. Automotive Powerplants

For the next 20 years or so, automotive engines are ex­pected to evolve as follows. For the near term, within thenext 5 years, engines will utilize electronic direct inj ec­
tion (both gasoline and diesel) and electromechanicalv,�

valve timing, mated with continuously variable transmis­
sions. This approach is expected to yield 20-to-30 percent
improvements in f uel economy and emissions reductions.
Five to ten years from now, hybrid powertrains, which
combine electric-drive motors and small IC/diesel en­gines, will appear. In the longer term - 10 to 20 years fromnow - f uel-cell/electric vehicles are predicted. However,purely electric vehicles are considered to be economicallyunlikely because: "they are a prisoner of their batteries
due to excessive cost, weight, re-charging time/nuisance,and limited battery life".

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...

CHAPTER N EWS & M EETI NGS
Gaspar Messina, Senior Editor

Philadelphia, PA

The Land Transportation Division has held a varied se­ries of monthly meetings over the past year.
On February 10, 1999, Mr. Andy Jones from Amtrak,
gave a talk entitled 'AMTRAK's Electric Traction Systemon the North East Corridor'. Another Amtrak speaker, Mr.
John Popoff, gave a presentation on the Electrification of
AMTRAK's High Speed Rail Line Between New Haven andBoston on May 5, 1999.
ACSES on AMTRAK was the title of the March 10, 1999
presentation by Mr. Bob Glass, ofRSD, and in April, Mr. Bob
Glines of ALSTOM Signaling Inc., gave a talk on Integrating
PTS & ITS to Improve Grade Crossing Performance.
PATCO's Bill Klein gave a tour of PATCO High Speed
Line Control Center on June 2, 1999, and after the summer
break, Richmond Frequency Converter Project on AM­
TRAK was presented on September 8, 1999 by Mr. Wolfgan
Recker of Siemens. In October, Mr. Peter Allibone, of
SYSTRA Consulting spoke on the New York East Side Ac­
cess Project

OttawaAt a series of meetings held jointly with ElectronDevices,
Microwave Theory & Techniques and Antennas & Propaga­tion Societies in November 1998, a Training Video Course on
RF Devices and IC's for Wireless Applications was pre­sented. The speakers were Mr. Robert Broderson of U. C.
Berkeley, Mr. PaulDavis and Mr. Y. K. Chen ofLucent Tech­
nologies, Dr. Masahiro Muraguchi of NTT, and Mr. Eric
Strid, of Cascade Microtech, Inc. Attendance totaled 45.
More recently, a talk was given last November by Kim
Lochhead, from the Geodetic SurveyDivision of Geomatics

10

Canada, which is part of Natural Resources Canada on the
Global Positioning System in Canada & D-GPS in real timefor various applications. Kim listed manyDGPS services of­fered in Canada - and some worldwide, too. One particular
usage is with the Canadian MSAT system providing the
D-GPS information; this service is being expanded and will
be offered Canada-wide soon. There was much discussion on
the topic and the evening was considered very worthwhile.
The Ottawa Chapter VTS runs 2-4 meetings per year,
and similar D-GPS lectures are planned for the f uture.

SE Michigan

Professor Khalil Najafi gave a talk last September on
MEMS For Automotive Electronics. MEMS - Micro Elec­tro M echanical Systems - are miniature,
multifunctional, systems consisting o f sensors, Actua­
tors, and Electronics which allow the formation of physi­
cal as well as electronic devices and use many of the stan­
dard silicon IC fabrication techniques. The talk covered
mainstream micromaching technologies, how to inte­
grate sensors and actuators with electronics, automotive
applications d e vices ( accelerometers, gyroscopes,
anti-skid braking control, etc) and a review of current de­velopments.
As well as being Professor of Electrical Engineering at
the University of Michigan, Professor N ajaf:i is also Di­
rector of their Solid-State Electronic Laboratory. He has
an extensive and varied association with the IEEE in­cluding Associate Editor of Smart Sensors for the Jour­nal of Micromechanics, and has been a member of thetechnical program committee for MEMS conference
1995-2000.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

v,�

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V g

E LECTRONICS HARNESSES E NERGY ALTERNATIVES FOR AUTOMOBILES
George F. McClure
Editor, Technology Policy Council
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the De­partment of Energy (D OE) is dedicated to reducing relianceon fossil fuels for transportation and to the development of
automobiles having at least twice the fuel efficiency of pres­ent ones and with the potential to use a variety of alterna­
tive fuel sources, such as ethanol, methanol, natural gas,liquefied petroleum gas, hydrogen, or electricity in addition
to petroleum-based fuel.
A joint venture to develop and produce hybrid electric ve­
hicles is about to bear fruit. The Partnership for a New Gen­eration ofVehicles (PNGV) involves DOE and the Big Threeautomakers, Daimler Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors,
working in tandem to develop a vehicle with triple the fuelefficiency of today's midsize cars but equal or better safety,
performance, emissions, and price. The goals, announced in
1993, included better emission performance and a faster cy­
cle time for automobile development. Concept vehicle pro­pulsion systems capable of providing up to 80 miles per gal­lon were to be ready by 1998, production prototypes by 2000,
and market-ready Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) by 2003
were scheduled.
The automobile manufacturing industry accounts for one
out of seven jobs in the U.S., and 4.5% of the gross national
product. The new generation of vehicles will therefore contrib­
ute to U.S. competitiveness. Better fuel economy could reduce
the rate of carbon dioxide emissions and cut petroleum im­
ports, now running at a rate ofmore than 50% of consumption.
Improved batteries for electric vehicles, with greater stor­
age capacity, are the goal of the U.S. Advanced Battery Con­
sortium, consisting of the Big Three automakers teamingwith DOE to share technology in selected research areas.
Other agencies, such as NASA and EPA,DOD andDOT are
also participating.
The Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) is a focused near-term
subset of the PNGV program, expected to yield double today's
fuel economy using existing technologies. The HEV uses asmall power source in tandem with energy storage to provide
high efficiency while meeting the variable power demands ofover-the-road operation. The power source may be fuel cells,
gas turbines, diesels, or lean-burn gasoline engines. The en­ergy storage system may use flywheels, batteries, orultracapacitors. Advantages include regenerative braking
capability, returning energy to the storage medium rather
than dissipating it; use of a smaller, lighter engine designed
for the average load, not the peak load; greatly increased fuelefficiency with a corresponding reduction in emissions; andpotential for use of alternative fuels.
The most economical HEV is a series configuration,
where a low-emission constant-speed heat engine drives a

February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

generator to charge the energy storage unit that supplies
electric drive motors. A parallel configuration permits
higher maximum power because the heat engine is coupled
to the wheels through a transmission so it can assist theelectric motors in driving the wheels.
The DOE HEV Propulsion Program teams the UnitedStates government with industry for society's long-term
benefit.DOE is funding about 50% of the development costs
for the GM, Ford, and Daimler Chrysler independent HEV
programs. All three have cost-shared propulsion system de­velopment programs, valued at $ 148 million for GM, $138
million for Ford, and $84.8 million for Daimler Chrysler.
Ford and GM began five-year programs in 1993; Chrysler
began a four-year program in 1996.
HEVs are expected to overcome the chief objections toelectric vehicles - limited range without recharging (100 to
125 miles), slow acceleration, and a lengthy recharge time (6to 30 hours). California has a 2003 goal often percent of thevehicles sold having zero emissions. The California Air Re­
sources Board is considering near-zero emission vehicle
standards that HEVs can meet, recognizing that evenpurely electric vehicles are accompanied by emissions fromthe power plants that provide their charging electricity.
Twenty pounds of carbon dioxide are produced for every gal­lon of gasoline burned.
The DOE Fuel Cell Program is developing highly-effi­
cient low- or zero-emission automotive fuel cell propulsion
systems with an objective of having validated, competitive
units available by 2004, capable of operating on methanol,
ethanol, natural gas, and gasoline.
American ingenuity has found expression in various
HEVs. During HEV challenge competitions in 1993, 1994,
and 1995 students converted standard vehicles into HEVs
(Ford Escort station wagons, Saturn SL2s, and Chrysler
Neons). A spinning energy-storage flywheel driven by asmall gas turbine engine was the power train in a HEV firsttested in 1997, and described in Scientific American.
Ingenuity appears elsewhere, too. The Toyota Prius
appeared in 1994, a parallel configuration HEV withcomputerized power splitter to allocate engine power tothe wheels and to the generator, matching demand.
Honda is introducing its "VV" HEV 2-seat coupe late thisfall. With a five-speed manual transmission it should
cost less than $20,000, achieving a 70 mpg EPA fuel econ­
omy rating. Powered by a 1.0 liter, 3 cylinder engine, thecar weighs less than 2,000 pounds, has a range of some
700 miles, and top speed over 100 mph, according to
Honda. Honda expects to produce 5,000 to 6,000 VVs forthe 2000 model year.

11

(J 1 16.,
AUTOMOTIVE E LECTRON ICS
Bill Fleming, Senior Editor

100-Year Scenarios

Robert Lutz, former Chrysler automotive chief executive
office�·, now .chairman of battery maker Exide Corp., wrote a
futunst article [1]. He offered the following three possible
scenarios of what might happen during the 21st century.
1. Global Environmentalists Prevail The automo­
tive industry is forced into radical change, and a host of newtechnologies will be forced into use by government mandate­namely: genuinely-usable electric cars, fuel-cell hybrids 'and dinghy-like minivehicles/scooters that uncouple fro�
remotely parked "mother ships" for transportation intocar-free downtown areas.
2. We Warm To a Warmer Planet It may turn outthat it is scientifically proven that motor vehicles have an
infinitesimally small effect on global warming. Hybrids,
fuel cell, and pure electric vehicles will continue to be devel­
oped because of their benefits (low emissions and utilizationof alternate energy sources), as well as automated highways
and �i1;1i-u�:ban dinghi�s. However, IC engines will enjoy arehabihtat10n and renaissance via new-found availability ofvery-low-cost synthetically produced fuels. Personal vehiclecho�c�, and associated staggering diversity, will result in a
thnvmg automotive industry.
3. Cybertravel Makes Autos Obsolete In Scenario
Three, the price of personal transportation will rise at thesame time that the information highway becomes vastly
more capable. Videoconferencing will be replaced by board­rooms full of 3-D holographs of participants who are in dif­ferent cities. With the perfection of the "cyber suit" - a thinsecond skin of receptors and transmitters in intimate con­tact with our own neural system - we'll be able, via
Inte�·n�t-types o�com�unications, to visit others not only inrealistic three-dimens10nal visualization, but we'll also beable to reach out and feel, touch, and smell, as if we were ac­tually there.
Constant Net Links for Cars Along with Lutz's Sce­nario Thre � , cyber advances may simply expand the utilityof automobiles. For example, another prediction was madeby futurist George Gilder, founder of Forbes ASAP [2]. Due
to giant electronics advances, communications bandwidths
will soon be so wideband, and so inexpensive that vehicles
will be connected permanently to the Internet and all automobiles will be constantly on the Net.
Motorists will be able to access data networks themselves
through a computer, which will probably take on some formof a multi-function phone. This imminent wide-bandwidth
bonanza will mean that things like real-time centralized
monitoring . of driving performance, or on-the-road engine
control mamtenance and upgrades will become routine.
(Editor's Note. A permanent Net connection might also maheit possible for a "big brother" government to remotely shut

12

down road-rage vehicles, or to remotely control whose vehi­
cles are allowed to operate and whose are not).
Growing Consumer Interest in Onboard Navigation

The Consumers Electronics Association conducted a tele­phone survey of 1000 randomly selected car owners [3]. The
survey showed that:
1. Emergency distress signals were the most popularsmart car feature, with 64-percent of respondents ex­pressing some level of interest in the service.
2. Ability to find the shortest route was second mostpopular (57 percent).
3. On-demand vehicle traffic information - jumping up
from sixth place in 1995 - was now third (55 per­cent).
4. Step-by-step navigation directions were fourth (50percent).
5. Ability to monitor vehicle mechanical condition andservicing needs was fifth (40 percent).
Advanced Uses for Navigation Information. It has often been proposed to use navigation-equipped ve­
hicles as traffic probes to feed traffic flow information backto central control points to better direct traffic flow. BMW
goe � another step, and. proposes that navigation-equipped
vehicles serve as mappmg probes to feedback updated road
map information to permit continuous updating of maps (tobetter keep up with rapid changes in roads - new roads,
closed roads, road detours, etc.) [ 4].
And, given accurate enough map information, head­l �mp control and ci:uise control adjustments can predic­
tively and automatically be made. If the navigation sys­
�em sho�s that a :7ehicle is entering a curve, and the map
mformat10n predicts that the curve lasts a certain dura­tion; then the headlamp beam pattern can be adaptively
steei:ed to cover the direction in which the roadway isturnmg. In the same way, adaptive cruise control can de­?elerate a vehicle entering a curve, hold a reduced speed
111 the curve, and then accelerate the vehicle as it goes outof the curve. In this way, both headlamp and adaptive (ra­dar) cruise control will take advantage of navigation sys­
tem data to predictively, and automatically, steer theheadl �mps and adjust cruise-control speed, as the vehicle
negotiates roadway curves [ 4].
References

1. Robert Lutz, "Why the Next 100 Years Might Drive
Some Crazy", Special Issue, A Day Inside the Global
Automotive Industry, Automotive News, pp. 20-21;
fall, 1999.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

2. T. Moran, "Futurist Sees Constant Links to Net for
Cars", Automotive News, p. 30N; Sept. 27, 1999.
3. "CEA Survey Finds Growing Interest in Vehicle Nav­igation Products", Consumers Electronics Association
News Release, Arlington, VA, 3 pages, Nov. 17, 1999.

4. P. Venhovens et al., "The Application of Advanced
Vehicle Navigation in BMW Driver Assistance Sys­tems", SAE Paper 1999-01-0490, March 1, 1999

...

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PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIESFrank Lord, Senior Editor
I participated in the IEEE-USA Professional Develop­
ment Conference in Dallas over the Labor Day weekend. Up
to this time the event was called the PACE (Professional Ac­
tivities Committee for Engineers) Conference and was more
for the purpose of addressing matters that affect engineers'
careers; but that are outside the realm oftheir technical spe­cialities. Portable pensions and tax treatment of the cost ofcontinuing education are examples.
The PACE Conference tended to focus on the activities of
the 35 or so committees that report to the IEEE-USA Boardof Directors. It also involved training of members new to thisarena. Now the focus has changed to a broader treatment of
the areas of concern while suggesting that engineers might
have to be alert to such factors and may have to take individ­
ual action on their own behalf on occasion. It is thought that
this modified approach will be more appealing to the general
membership and thus be of more value to more members.
Some sessions I have attended pointed out that organiza­
tions which might be considered adversaries generally havemore money than we do because they are government andbusiness organizations. Generally, each of these organiza­
tions are involved with one matter that affects engineers
while IEEE-USA is trying to cover all appropriate matters.
What we do have is a large number of educated memberswith educated family and friends. Politicians have to havevotes in addition to campaign money to stay in office. Thus alarge number of voters can beat moneyed opponents. We
would need more participants than are typically inclined toact, but are doing better. Also, we have a larger communica­
tions staff than in the past. A member of that staff, Chris
Currie, presented a talk entitled How to write a Letter to the
Editor, an outline of which follows. Readers can easily ad­just this to apply to other recipients.
For example, in a letter to a legislator, the suggested 7th
grade level for newspaper material could be raised some­what. Also, the length of a letter could be extended to as
much as a page, but never any more. If you think you abso­
lutely have to include more material that some staffer might
read, do it through use of referenced appendices.
The advice given here is specifically intended for theUSA, so members in Regions 8, 9 and 10 will have to be
mindful of any differences in culture, law, government, in­dustry practices and media styles. However, most of the adFebruary 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

vice will be relevant, and sections and other entities in theseregions can employ the general philosophy and approach tocreate appropriate guidance for their own circumstances.

How to Write a Letter to the Editor
By Chris Currie,IEEE- USA External Communications Supervisor
Preparation:♦ If responding to an offensive article, assess whether
your letter would settle the issue or mostly serve to givethe opposing view more attention.
♦ Decide if the best response is a letter to the editor, an
op-ed, or a note to the reporter responsible for the origi­
nal article.
♦ Check the publication's masthead or Website for lettersrequirements and submission instructions.
♦ Research the issue to gather appropriate facts and ar­
guments to support your position.

Composition:♦ Limit yourself to 150-350 words and 2-6 paragraphs,
depending on the publication.
♦ Make one point, using no more than three supporting
arguments.
♦ Write to the level of your audience (7th grade - about 12
year old - level is appropriate for most newpapers).
♦ Use short sentences and paragraphs to maintain read­ability.
♦ If responding to a previously published article, cite thedate and title in the first paragraph.
♦ Standard structure is to introduce the topic and youropinion in the first paragraph, give your supporting ar­
guments in the second (and possibly third and fourth)paragraphs, and summarize or deliver a punchy conclu­
sion in the final paragraph.
♦ Include a local angle, if possible, when writing for a re­gional magazine or newspaper.
♦ Highlight any special expertise or involvement you
have with the issue you're writing about.
♦ Strive for an objective tone; be strong without being
strident and convey sureness without shrillness. Don't
rant - no more than one exclamation point per letter!
13

♦ Focus on issues, not persons; ad hominems and poten­
tially libelous statements will ensure your letter aquick delivery to the circular file.
♦ If opposing the editorial position of the publication,
avoid harsh blanket attacks on the organization andadopt a tone of firm, but polite and constructive correc­tion.
♦ Avoid jargon and all those engineering acronyms, un­less writing for a trade publication.
♦Verify the accuracy of all data, facts, and quotations
cited in your letter.
♦ Review your letter to delete redundancies and unneces­sary details, tighten up sentences and transitions toimprove smooth flow and strong impact, and checkspelling and grammar.

♦ Sign your name and include your address and daytime
phone number; ask for anonymity at the risk of not hav­
ing your letter published.
Transmission and follow-up:♦ Faxing your letter is usually best, unless the publica­tion has a strong e-mail culture; mail is always okay un­
less your letter is time-urgent.
♦ Call the letters editor a few days after you send it andask if your letter will be published; offer to edit or re­write, if appropriate.
♦ Send a copy of your letter to an advocacy organization ­like IEEE-USA - that espouses your position, to help
them track media coverage of the issue and possibly
give your letter further publicity.

a

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMSHarvey G/icl<enstein, Senior Editor
The Rail Transit Vehicle Interface Standards Com­mittee met at New Jersey Transit's offices in Newark
New Jersey on November 9-10, 1999. The meeting started
with a report by Mark Gooley of New Jersey Transit on theirplans for upgrading their commuter rail fleet. All of the cars
they will be procuring or overhauling, starting with the low
bid from Alstom for 200 new commuter cars approved at theNovember 10 board meeting, will use the new IEEE 1473 com­munications standard developed by the committee. By theyear 2010, all of the New Jersey Transit commuter equipment,with the exception of the Comet IV cars that recently went into
service, will be using this standard.
Present commuter equipment uses 54 physical wires tocommunicate information between the cars and the locomo­tives. The 99 Comet IV cars also have a 19-pin connector anduse the LonWorks protocol for multiplexing such things as theon board automatic audio and visual station announcement
displays and public address systems. In order to assme back­ward compatibility, all of the cars procured or overhauled will
have the 54-pin connectors in addition to two new redundant19-pin connectors. Cars procured or overhauled after 2010 will
no longer need the 54-pin connectors.
In addition to reports on the work going on by othergroups that impact the work of the Rail Transit Vehicle In­
terface Standards Committee, the working group chairs re­ported on their work.
The CBTC Standard was balloted successfully and wasscheduled to be approved by the Standards Board for issue inJanuary. Working Group 2 will meet in early 2000 to deter14

mine where t o go next. Potential standards forinteroperability and driverless operation will be reviewed.
The first ballot for Safety Standards for Software Sys­
tems produced by Working Group 4 was balloted. Resolu­
tion of negative votes and reballoting was expected before
the end of 1999 with presentation to the Standards Board
for issue of the final standard also expected in January.
All of the negative votes on the Auxiliary Power Systems
proposed standard that was prepared by Working Group 6
have been resolved and it is expected to be approved as astandard in January.
These two standards would bring to seven the number ofstandards produced by this committee and published by theIEEE since 1996.
The environmental standard produced by Working
Group 8 underwent a line-by-line review by the full commit­
tee, with the comments returned to the Working Group for
more work.
Working Group 10 is in the final stages of completing
their draft standard for physical sizes of nickel cadmium
batteries used on rolling stock. Rather than standardizingon the sizes of individual cells, the working group will pro­vide standard tray sizes for two to six cells. These sizes will
be for capacities from 80 ampere-hours to 300 ampere-hours
in increments of 20 ampere-hours. The draft will be pre­sented to the full committee for line-by-line review at thenext committee meeting in March.
Working Group 12 has had three meetings on software
documentation, with a fourth meeting scheduled for JanuaryIEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

2000. They expect to have a draft ready for line-by-line re­view by the full committee by the end of the year 2000.
Two new working groups were proposed. One would workon a draft standard for electrical sizing of nickel cadmium
batteries for use on rolling stock. This standard would com­plement the existing IEEE standard for sizing nickel cad­
mium batteries for stationary use. The working groupwould address batteries for all services on the vehicles withthe exception of cranking service.
The second working group would address interfaces be­
tween the wayside terminator and the roadway subsystem
portion of the National ITS Architecture. This architecture
shows the crossing warning devices, flashing light signals
and gates, to be in the roadway subsystem, while control ofthese devices is shown as coming both from the railroad con­trol box in the wayside terminator and from the intelligent
highway traffic controller in the roadway subsystem. The
need for standards in this area was identified at the July
1999 workshop on ITS Standards for the Highway-Rail In­
terface. The new working group would coordinate its workwith the Rail Subcommittee of the Advanced Public Trans­
portation Committee of ITS America.

A conference on High Speed Ground Transporta­tion will be held in Philadelphia in May. This confer­ence will address both business and technical aspects ofhigh-speed rail and magnetic levitation systems. In addi­
tion to the technical sessions there will be an exposition atwhich companies will display their high-speed rail technol­ogy. For information contact the High Speed Ground Trans­
portation Association in Washington, DC at (202) 789-8107.

Salt Lake City opened its TRAX light rail line be­
tween Sandy and Delta Center in downtown Salt
Lake City on December 4, 1999. The UTA is projecting

14,000 daily riders on the 15-mile north-south line, which
has opened about three months ahead of schedule.
In addition to the north-south line, the Utah Transit Au­
thority (UTA) is constructing a west-east line. The
west-east line will operate from the University of Utah, thesite of the Olympic Village for the 2002 Winter Olympic
Games, west to the Delta Center, the downtown Salt Lake
City terminus of the north-south line. The west-east line
will also serve the Olympics media center and the area
where some of the events will take place. An extension west
to the airport was originally planned, but postponed due tolack of funding.

MTA New York City Transit (NYCT) has chosen theleader team for their Communications Based Train
Control (CBTC) Project on the C anarsie Line.

Siemens Matra, along with Union Switch & Signal, hasbeen chosen as the lead supplier. The contract is worth $138
million. The other two teams in the competition, Alcatel andAlstom, have been asked to stay in the project as follower
suppliers, demonstrating interoperability with the leader's
technology. As the largest rail transit system in North
America, NYCT's system is expected to become the stan­
dard for CBTC on transit systems in the U.S. and Canada.

Singapore's Land Transportation Authority
opened its fully automated light rail line in Novem­
ber 1999. The system is 4.9 miles long and has 14 stations.

Adtranz North America, a wholly owned subsidiary ofDaimlerChrysler Rail Systems, describes one of the uniquefeatures of the vehicles-active misting windows. The win­
dows automatically turn opaque when they run adjacent toapartment buildings to protect the privacy of residents.
The $205 million light rail system will serve as a feeder
linking the existing mass rapid transit system with a bus in­terchange, local recreational facilities, commercial com­
plexes, and schools.
February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

Bombardier has received an order for 21 100% low
floor streetcars from the city of Linz, Austria. The or­der includes an option for an additional 18 vehicles.
Most low floor light rail vehicles being put in service in the
United States, such as on the Newark City Subway and the
Hudson Bergen light rail line in New Jersey, are only 70% low
floor. Conventional trucks at each end of the vehicle incorpo­
rate the motors and require a high floor at the ends. The vehi­
cles being supplied to Linz will use split axles that allow the
low floor to extend for the entire length of the vehicle.

Westinghouse Air Brake Company (WABCO), theair brake company founded by the gi·eat inventor
and engineer George Westinghouse, and Motive
Power Industries, the former locomotive manufac­
turing arm of Morrison Knudsen, have merged. The

new company is to be known as Wabtec Corporation. Its
headquarters is in Wabco's hometown of Wilmerding, eastof Pittsburgh, PA.

The Hudson Bergen Light Rail Line will open its
first section this spring. The portion to open will be from

Bayonne to Exchange Place in Jersey City, where there is aninterchange with the Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH)
trains to Hoboken, World Trade Center in Manhattan, andNewark, New Jersey. The balance of the Initial Operating
Segment (IOS) to Hoboken was delayed due to real estate
problems, but construction is now underway. At press time
New Jersey Transit (NJT) was negotiating with theTwenty-First Century Rail Corporation, the consortium that
won the design build operate maintain contract for the IOS,
to add the SOS portion that would extend the line from
Hoboken to Weehawken, New Jersey to their contract.

The Newark City Subway will be replacing their
Presidents Conference Committee (PCC) streetcars
in May. These are the last such cars operating in the UnitedStates except for such vintage streetcar operations as the
San Francisco Muni "F" line. Last year Pittsburgh had re­tired their last PCC cars and temporarily replaced themwith a bus shuttle until the rehabilitation of their system iscompleted and their newer light rail vehicles could serve theentire system.
The new light rail cars that will be used on the Newark City
Subway are identical to the ones that Kinlci Sharyo supplied
for the Hudson Bergen Light Rail Line. They will be main­tained at a new facility being built at Grove Street, beyond thepresent terminus of the line at Franl<lin Avenue. These cars
are double articulated units. In order to facilitate loading, allfour doors on each side will be used for both loading and alight­
ing from the vehicles. This required NJT to convert the sub­way from a pay enter type system to a proof of pmchase typesystem. Last year NJT also closed the subway for several
weeks while they renewed the trolley wire replacing it with aheavier wire to accommodate the additional power require­ments of the new cars and new wire supports to allow the useof pantographs instead of the trolley poles that were in use on
the PCC cars were installed during the shutdown. All of the
PCC cars were converted to pantograph for power collection at
the same time.
Enough cars were ordered under the Hudson Bergen
Light Rail procurement to reequip the Newark City Subway
and also to handle the First Operable Segment (FOS) of the
Newark Elizabeth Rail Link (NERL). The FOS will allow
Newark City Subway cars to serve Newark's Broad Street
commuter rail station as well as Penn Station on Amtrak's
Northeast Corridor. Broad Street Station serves commuterson the former Morris & Essex (M&E) lines from Dover,Morristown, and Montclair. Once the Montclair Connection
is completed, the electrification will be extended from15

Montclair to Great Notch and trains on that portion of theformer M& E will be able to operate over the MidtownDirectconnection into Penn Station, New York.
When the new cars go into service they will only operate
between Franklin Avenue and the Penn Station Loop. By
the end of the year, NJT plans to extend some of the ser­vice to the new terminus at Grove Street, with some cars
continuing to turn at Franklin Avenue. When the FOS of
the Newark Elizabeth Rail Link goes into service, theNewark City Subway cars will operate from Franklin Av­
enue or Grove Street to Penn Station, go around the loop
at Penn Station, and then proceed at street level out to
Broad Street station. Along the way they will serve New­
ark's Performing Arts Center and their new ballpark
along the Passaic River.
Design of the FOS is now underway. The next portion of
NERL, which will extend the line to Elizabeth via Newark
Airport, is not yet funded.

Ottawa, Ontario is proposing a 5-mile light rail line.

This line would be integrated with their existing bus-only
rapid transit system. Presently OC Transpo operates grade
separated busways in the capital region of Canada.
The light rail line would use three-car trains of Talent se­ries equipment from Bombardier. It would serve five sta­tions including Carleton University. The line would be oper­
ated on existing Canadian Pacific Railway tracks between
Greenboro in South Keys and Bayview on LeBreton Flats.
An environmental assessment is being prepared for ap­
proval this spring, with revenue service planned for sum­mer 2001.

Amtrak and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
have entered into a $140 million high-speed rail fund­ing agreement. The agreement calls for 90-minute90-mile-an-hour service between Philadelphia and the state
capital at Harrisburg. Although the agreement calls for
all-electric train service, it is not clear how it dovetails with
the Commonwealth's purchase of new diesel multiple unit
trains for this corridor.
Pennsylvania has been funding the Keystone Service,
which is being folded into Amtrak's new Acela Regional Ser­vice this spring. Since 1995, ridership has grown from under
400,000 per year to about one million.

The new agreement calls for a new station to serve Har­
risburg International Airport, station improvements at ex­
isting stations, safety improvements at the three rail/high­way grade crossings on the line, and upgrades to track,
signals, overhead electric power systems, and bridges. The
cost of these improvements will be shared between Amtrak
and the Commonwealth.

Voters in San Francisco passed two major proposi­tions concerning public transportation in November.

The first one calls for extension of the Caltrain commuter
service from its present inconvenient terminus at Fourthand Townsend to a more convenient location at First andMission Streets. It also calls for conversion of the commuter
service between San Francisco and Gilroy from diesel toelectric operation.
The second proposition reorganizes the operation of the
San Francisco streetcar network. A new Municipal Trans­
portation Agency will take over operation of the San Fran­cisco Municipal Railway (MUNI). The agency will haveseven board members appointed by the mayor and con­firmed by the Board of Supervisors. Although the Board ofSupervisors will have veto power over the budget of the newagency, its budget will be separated out from the city's gen­eral fund.

Denver overwhelmingly approved expansion of its
light rail system in November. Two lines, totaling
19 miles in length will be built to serve the southeast corri­
dor. The extension will be financed by bonds, with no in­crease of taxes.

Seattle's Sound Transit has approved the route for
their new 21-mile light rail line. The line will run fromthe University District, to Boeing, Tukwila, and SeaTac.
Along the way, the line will serve downtown stopping at theWestlake Station of the downtown transit tunnel presently
used by electric trolley buses.

A new rail tunnel under the Alps between France
and Italy is being studied. The tunnel, which would be on

the line between Lyons and Turin, would be 33-1/2 miles
long. The fire in the Mont Blanc highway tunnel, in which
4 1 people were killed, was the impetus in reviving thisstudy, which had been shelved several years ago.

VTC2000-Fall Call for Papers
A reminder that the deadline for submissions
for VTC2000-Fall, which will be held in Boston
from 24-28 September 2000, is the 15th of Febru­
ary. A full Call for Papers was published in thelast VTS News. Submissions are invited in theareas of Antennas and Propagation, WirelessAccess, Transmission Technology, Multimedia,

16

Network and Systems, Wireless Personal Com­m u n i c at i o n s Syste m s , M o b i l e S a t e l l i t e
Communications, Transportation and Applica­
tions. Papers should be submitted electroni­
cally to http: / / www. utc2000.org, where fur­ther details can be obtained.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News❖ February 2000

IEEE

1113/i NEWSVTS Board Elections

The recent ballot for members of the VTS Board of Gover­nors has resulted in three new Board members. These areJohn T. Gilsenan, Deputy Director, Office of Multilateral
Affairs International Communications and Information
Policy at the US Department of State, Anil T. Kripalani, Se­nior Vice President, Standards Planning and International
Administration at Qualcomm Inc., and James A. Worsham,Jr., from BellSouth Science and Technology.
Three existing Board members, William C Y Lee,Jyun-Cheng Chen and Eric Schimmel retired from theBoard and did not seek re-election. Eric Schimmel remains
in the appointed position of Vice President Mobile Radio.
The two remaining Board members who we seeking re-elec­tion were both successful. They are J. R. Cruz, who is Editorof the Transactions on Vehicular Technology, and Tom
Rubinstein, who is VTS Webmaster and is also responsible
for New Member Liaison and Conference Site Selection. All
the Board members elected this year will serve until the endof 2002.

VTS Society Speaker Program

The VTS runs a Society Speaker Program open to any
IEEE entity in need of a society speaker. The scheme isco-ordinated by Gaspar Messina (whose address is given on
Page 2). To request a speaker, either contact him or the
speaker directly. A subsidy for speaker travel/ accommoda-

...

a G

tion expenses is available from Society. This requires ad­vance approval. The following speakers are available.
Linda Sue Boehmer Microprocessors in Rail

Clairton PA 15025
Tel: (412) 653-1082
Fax: (412) 653-4602
J. R. Cruz

University of Oklahoma
Norman OK 73019
Tel: (405) 325-4280
Fax: (405) 325-3836
Al Gross

Chandler AZ 85248
Tel: (602) 814-6387
Fax: (602) 814-6987

Transit Controls
Computer Training
Multi-Media Training

Adaptive antenna arrays forCDMA systems
Wireless communications
and the Global Village
Radio communications historianand pioneer. Inventor of military
radio in WW-II, and developer of
personal wireless communication
devices.

VTS News Questionnaire

Many thanks to all the members who have completed theVTS News Questionnaire which was included in the last is­sue. The closing date for return is the 15th of March 2000,
and results will be included in the next issue. If you haven't
completed it yet, you can fill it out on the web and save thecost of a stamp. Follow the link from the VTS News sectionof the VTS web site http: / / www.vtsociety.org.

CONVERGENCE Fellowship
The IEEE Vehicular Technology Society (VTS) has an­nounced that the biannual competition for the CONVER­
GENCE Fellowship in Transportation Electronics is inprogress. This fellowship, which has a stipend of $12,000, isprovided by IEEE VTS and the CONVERGENCE Transpor­
tation Electronics Association.
The fellowship is for one year of full-time graduate stud­
ies in electrical or electronics engineering at an engineeringschool of recognized standing, located in the United States
or Canada. Recipients are selected by a committee on thebasis of the candidate's potential to contribute to the profes­
sion of electrical and/or electronics engineering, and withpreference for studies involving transportation electronics.
To be eligible, the student must have received a bache­lor's degree in electrical engineering from a university orcollege of recognized standing. Preference will be given to
applicants about to begin their first year of graduate studies
in electrical engineering.
Recipients of this fellowship may not hold or receive otherfellowships for the same academic year. The fellowship may
be supplemented with grants to cover tuition, fees, andother expenses, and assistantships, which are directly re­lated to the graduate studies. Thus, recipients must pursue
February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

full-time graduate studies in electrical and/or electronics
engineering, and evidence of satisfactory academic perfor­
mance is required.
Although not a prerequisite, it would be helpful if testscores were provided by the Educational Testing Service forany applicant who has taken the Graduate Record Exami­
nations. Scores should be addressed to me, at the address
listed above. A certified transcript of academic performanceis required.
Further information and application forms may be ob­tained at the IEEE Vehicular Technology website atwww. utsociety.org. You should click on "CONVERGENCE
Fellowship in Transportation Electronics."
The completed application and letters of recommenda­
tion should reach Prof. Robert E. Fenton, whose address isgiven below, by March 15, 2000. The fellowship award will
be made as soon thereafter as possible.
Prof. R. E. Fenton
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
The Ohio State University
2015 Neil Ave.
Columbus, OH 43210-1272
U.S.A.
17

"'�
IEEE

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VTS AWARDS
Ray Trott, A wards Chairman
On Tuesday, May 18, 1999, the Annual Awards Luncheon
was held at VTC 99 in Houston, TX.
The VTS recognizes those who contribute to & support
VTS in an exceptionally worthy manner. There are several
awards and fellowships thatVTS considers in expressing its
appreciation to members of the Society. Although all ofthese awards are considered, not all are awarded annually.
These awards also have differing prizes: plaques, certifi­
cates and/or money.
At the luncheon, the following awards were presented:

1998 Neal Shepherd Memorial Best Propagation
Paper Award This is to recognize the best paper relating to
Propagation published in the Transactions on VehicularTechnology.

The award was presented to Matthias Patzold, Ulrich
Killat, Frank Laue, & Yingchun Li, "On the Statistical Prop­

erties ofDeterministic Simulation Models for Mobile Fading
Channels", February, 1998 VTS Transactions. The prize
was a certificate and $125 for each of the authors.

VTS 1998 Best Automotive Electronics Paper
Award This is to recognize the best paper relating to Auto­motive Electronics published in the Transactions on Vehicu­
lar Technology.
The award was presented to V. Anand Sankaran, Daryl
Sitar, M. Abul Masrur, "Can an AC (Alternating Current)Electrical System Replace the Present DC System in the Au­
tomobile ?", August, 1998VTS Transactions. The prize was acertificate and $166.66 for each of the authors.

1998 Jack Neubauer Memorial Best System Paper
Award This is to recognize the best paper relating to Sys­
tems Engineering published in the Transactions on Vehicu­
lar Technology.
The award was presented to Erik Dahlman, Per Berning,Jens Knutsson, Fredrilc Ovesji:i, Magnus Persson, &Christiaan Roobol, "WCDMA - The Radio Inte,face for Fu­
ture Multimedia Communications", November, 1998 VTS
Transactions. The prize was a certificate and $83.33 foreach of the authors.

1998 VTS Best Land Transportation Paper Award

This is to recognize the best paper relating to Land Transpor­
tation published in the Transactions on Vehicular Technology.
The award was presented to Takeo Ishikawa, "Development
ofa Road Traffic Simulator", August, 1998VTS Transactions.
The prize was a certificate and $500 for the author.

Outstanding Service Awards These awards are given
to members to recognize outstanding service to the Society.
Prizes for these awards were plaques.

18

Members of the VTC98 Committee - For outstanding per­formance in the planning and execution of the 49th VTC,
19-22 May 1998, Ottawa, Canada.
Linda Sue Boehmer - For outstanding long-term service
and leadership to the Society.
Samuel A. Leslie - For outstanding long-term service andleadership to the Society.

Chapter of the Year Award This award is presented torecognize the outstanding Chapter of the Vehicular Tech­
nology Society. To be eligible, a Chapter must submit toIEEE Headquarters the meeting attendance report form,
L-31. The award is a plaque.
The 1998 winner was for the second year in a row, the To­
kyo VTS Chapter.
The Daniel A. Noble Fellowship Award This award isgiven to a student pursuing graduate-level study in Vehicu­
lar Technology with a preference to the field of Vehicular
Communications. Along with a certificate, the awardee re­ceives $7,500 which is funded partially by Motorola, Inc.
and partially by VTS.
The 1999 Winner was Mr. Thomas P. Krauss who is pursu­
ing a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering at Purdue University.
The following award was presented at the Fall VTC 99 in
Amsterdam.

Stuart Meyer Memorial Award This is an award torecognize those members of the Vehicular Technology Soci­ety who have both served their Society and also have con­tributed to the development of radio technology and sciencein an outstanding and exemplary manner. The prize is aplaque and a stipend of $2,500.
This award was presented to Sven-Olaf Ohrvik, Sweden,head of the consulting company, RAKONSULT.
Mr. Ohrvik was one of the leaders in the development ofcellular radio in Europe. He was the head of Research at
Ericsson Radio from 1963 to 1985, where he pioneered data
communications over land mobile radio. He started re­search of digital cellular radio in the late 70's, more than adecade before the first digital cellular radio system (GSM)
was implemented in 1991. He was a Professor at Lund Uni­
versity from 1986 to 1993.
He has servedVTS very well. He was the Chairman of theSwedish Chapter from 1985 to 1987, the Director of Region 8
in the late 80's and was heavily involved in organizing
Eurocon '88 and VTC 94 in Stockholm.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

IEEE

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MOBILE RADIOITU Agreed Radio Interface Standards for 3G

The ITU has formally agreed five different radio interface
standards for IMT-2000 harmonisation. At a meeting in Hel­sinki from 25 October to 5 November 1999, the ITU approved
IMT-DS (Direct Spread), IMT-MC (Multi-Carrier), IMT-TC(Time Carrier), IMT-SC (Single Carrier) and IMT-FT (Fre­quency Time). IMT-DS is the new name for the Euro-Japanese
W-CDMA UTRA FDD wideband CDMA air interface.
IMT-MC is the American cdma2000 multi-carrier CDMA pro­posal. The two TDMA proposals are IMT-FT, which is the Eu­
ropean DECT system, and IMT-SC, which is the UWC-136
EDGE proposal, which provides an upgrade path fromDAMPS and GSM on a 200kHz carrier. IMT-TC combines the
TD-SCDMA and UTRA TDD proposals. This CDMA hybrid isdesigned for unpaired spectrum, whereas IMT-FT can be usedof either paired or unpaired spectrum. The other standards
are designed for use on paired spectrum.
In a related development, the ITU also agreed on 10 De­
cember 1999 six sets of specifications for network aspects of
IMT-2000. The race is on to get the network specifications inplace by the end of 2000 to allow services to start in 2001. To
achieve this goal, the initial standard development workneeded to evolve from second generation to third generation
networks for each of the two major core networks will be car­ried out by the Third Generation Partnership Projects 3GPP for evolved MAP (GSM) and 3GPP2 for evolved
ANSI-41. The ITU will focus its work on the required inter­faces between the two systems to provide seamless opera­tion for users. Also envisaged are core networks based on IP.
Project 25 approves TETRA Standard for Private
Mobile Radio in the US

Project 25 has approved the TETRA standard, supportedby the European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI) and the TETRA Memorandum of Understanding(MoU), as a phase 2 option for future applications in the
Public Safety Domain in the United States.
TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) is the ETSI stan­
dard for a new generation of digital land mobile radio com­munications designed to meet the demands of Professional
Mobile Radio (PMR) and Public Access Mobile Radio(PAMR) users. It is a TDMA (Time Division Multiple Ac­cess) technology with four user channels on one 25kHz radio
carrier.
Project 25 is a voluntary standards effort that is sup­ported by the Federal Law Enforcement Wireless Users
Group (FLEWUG), the National Communications System(NCS), the Department of Defense's National Security

February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

Agency (NSA), APCO (Association of Public Safety Commu­
nications Officials), the National Association of State
Telecommunications Directors (NASTD) and numerous
other city, county, state and federal agencies. Phase 1 equip­
ment is currently available using FDMA on 12.5kHz carri­ers using C4FM. A Phase 2 approach using FDMA with
rt/4-DQPSK modulation on 6.25kHz carriers was proposed
originally, but TETRA already provides a system with
6.25kHz per speech user. Acceptance of these technology
proposals meets the Project 25 Steering Committee's re­quirement for complete compliance with its Phase 1 Com­
mon-Air Interface (CAI) and Vocoder standards.
Project 25 Director, Craig Jorgensen, said "Brian Oliver,
ETSI's Project TETRA Chairman, and I began our discus­
sion on how to improve interoperability between the world's
two most accepted public safety, two-way radio standards in
1996. Today's acceptance of a TETRA proposal is just the tipof the iceberg of what we and our partners and peers in theEuropean Union expect in the future."
2nd TETRA World Congress Takes Place inAmsterdam

More than 550 delegates attended the 2nd TETRA World
Congress held in Amsterdam from 15-18 November 1999.
The keynote address was given by Karl Heinz Rosenbrock,
ETSI Director General. He expressed his satisfaction in see­ing another ETSI standard - this time for Professional Mo­
bile Radio Networks (PMR) and Public Access Radio(PAMR) - becoming a commercial success.
In his closing remarks, Phil Godfrey, TETRA MoU Chair­
man said ''With contracts of over 1.5 Billion Euros being
placed for TETRA communication solutions around the world,the market is clearly demonstrating its acceptance of TETRA
as a world-wide standard. This global interest in TETRA is re­flected in the mix of delegates from all continents, represent­
ing Users, Manufacturers and Regulators".
Amongst other speakers, Hans Borgonjen of the Dutch
Home Office ITO gave an update, both on the C2000, the na­
tionwide TETRA project for Public Safety Communicationsin the Netherlands, and the steps taken by the Police Co-op­
eration Working Group in relation to TETRA and thepan-European system for the police. Mark Riley of Dolphin
Telecommunications Ltd. gave an update on the successful
start in rolling out their pan-European PAMR TETRA sys­
tems in the UK under the name ExpressNet.
An Outstanding Contribution to TETRA award was pre­sented by Professor Ole Lauridsen, Honorary President of
the TETRA MoU, to Ranko Pinter from Simoco.

19

IMT-2000 - Just hold on a minute!
John Bush
University of Strathclyde
Recently the ITU has agreed to work towards five stan­dards of third generation mobile communications - theIMT-2000 'family'. These standards are to be the vehicle fora vision of 'seamless global roaming' and data rates in theregion of2Mb/s. This is all very noble, but just how feasible
is this ideal? Who has considered the social, political or eco­nomical factors?
The one fact that distinguishes the mobile communica­
tions field from fixed networks is that there is a limited re­source - radio spectrum - available for use. From this per­spective, third generation mobile is a great idea: greater
capacity for the network operators to cram in more sub­scribers. This is certainly proving to be the case in Japan.
The driving force here has been the large population density
has really put a squeeze on the capacity of existing 2nd gener­
ation networks. Japan needs 3'd generation systems to facili­tate demand for voice, let alone data. In the USA and Eu­rope, while new spectrum allocations and better use ofexisting spectrum is always a good thing, the current moti­
vation is the promise of email and the Internet through mo­bile stations.
The Internet through mobile stations. This needs somecareful thought. Bill Gates apparently sees this dream ex­tending to personal handheld devices, projection headsets
and all manner of uses. All very novel, but all of this will costmoney to the consumer.
The current UK mobile market is very vibrant and does
have some cheap deals to the consumer. Promises that amobile will be cheaper to run than a fixed line are rife. How­ever, much of this is to build market share; whether prices
will stay this way without regulatory intervention is an­other question. After brand names and market shares havebeen established the operators will be looking for a profit.
The high prices per customer being paid in recent mobile op­
erator takeovers bear this out. Data calls require more re­sources than voice calls; in a capacity constrained system
there is little incentive for operators to sell data calls for lessthan the cost of voice calls they could otherwise support onthat resource.
To put this in perspective: will consumers use the 'mobile
Internet,' or use a fixed line connection in the comfort oftheir own home to peruse the world wide web at their lei­sure at a fraction of the price?
Common sense suggests that 'Surfing the Net' will not bedone while the subscriber is walking. This limits the alleged

use of such large data rates to people standing about or in
vehicles. As Alan Sugar, boss of Amstrad, asked (Electron­
ics Weekly, November 1999), 'How many people want to use
email in the middle of a field?' When subscribers are moving
in their cars or on a train they will not be getting 2Mb/s data
rates - something around 144kb/s will be closer to the fig­
ure. All that glitters in the ITU proposals is not gold.
While this puts the data rate of3'd generation systems un­
der scrutiny, the other main objective for IMT-2000 is global
roaming. To seriously consider this prospect is to take ac­count of competitive regulation, spectrum allocation, com­
petition from previous 2 nd generation operators, new infra­
structure costs, production and roll-out of new terminals(that the consumer has to obtain in preference to their cur­rent phone) ... the list of variables is very long and willchange between countries.
Conclusion eight from ERC report 60 - on global circula­tion of terminals - stated that "single global conformity ...
appears unrealistic at this time". 3'd generation systems
will arrive, but they will come from evolution. Global roam­ing will not be the great selling point to the consumer there must be a tiny proportion of mobile users who actuallyroam all over the globe! Most consumers will want cheap
voice (maybe data as well). It will be down to bodies such as
the ITU to encourage harmonisation within their IMT-2000
family.
The problem with this is that the ITU has limited say
when spectrum is auctioned off to companies, and while
there is a reasonable correspondence of 3'd generation allo­
cations outside North America, the multiplicity of systems
would suggest at very least a dual mode phone will beneeded. Is it such a j ump to have a phone that can under­
stand a number of3' generation techniques? This would re­duce the need for harmonisation and allow cheaper infra­
structures that are compatible with previous networks.
From a technical standpoint, 3'd generation systems arecoming and will work - although exactly what systems andwhere are questions that cannot be definitively answered.
This is not to decry the need for 3'd generation systems. It issimply to put some focus into the rose-coloured press re­leases and pledges by the champions of UMTS et al.
Comments on the issues raised in this article would be
most welcome. They should be addressed to the Editor at theaddress on Page 2.

8th October 1 999 VTS Board of Governors Meeting Report
Previous practice has been to include the Board of Gover­nors' meeting minutes in the VTS News. However, since theminutes need to be officially approved at the following meet­ing, there is a long lead time before publication. Also, theminutes can sometimes be very cryptic without their at­tached papers, which cannot be included in the VTS Newsdue to their size. Therefore it was decided to replace the min­utes with a Meeting Report from the October meeting. The re20

port should not be taken a being a full record of the meeting ­for this you will have to consult the minutes which will con­tinue to be available on the web site after they have been ap­
proved. However, the report will include the main points dis­cussed and the decisions taken.
A meeting of the VTS Board of Governors' took place in
Boston on the 8th of October. Present at the meeting were
IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

Kent Johnson, VTS President, who was in the Chair, alongwith Board of Governor members Dennis Bodson, J. R.
Cruz, Bob Fenton, Bob French, Mel Lewis, Bob Mazzola,
Tom Rubinstein, Eric Schimmel, Essam Sourour and Ray
Trott. James Irvine (Editor of VTS News) and Stu Lipoff(Chair of VTC2000-Fall) were also present.
After approval of the agenda and the minutes of the last
meeting, Kent Johnson, President, made his report. He be­
gan by covering initiatives from IEEE headquarters thathave been topics of considerable interest at recent TAB
meetings. A new financial model has been proposed by head­quarters and modified as a result of suggestions from TAB.
A trial run is scheduled for the 2000 budgets. Branding has
also been discussed within TAB. It is still very controversialwith most members of TAB having strong feelings that thecurrent IEEE symbol (the kite) should be maintained as is.
Kent Johnson also noted the presentation of the Stewart
Meyer award to Sven-Olof Ohrvik at VTC'99-Fall in Am­
sterdam. The presentation was made by Jan Uddenfeldt
who did an excellent job. Also reported was the work that
had been done to close out several conferences at headquar­
ters. Jim Worsham has been very helpful in that process andthe President expressed his appreciation for Jim's work.
Nominations for the IEEE millennium medals were dis­cussed, and it was agreed that a small committee would gen­erate a list of candidates to submit to headquarters.
Mel Lewis gave his report as VTS Conference Coordina­tor. The books of VTC'98 have been closed with a surplus.
VTC'99 - Spring had a good turnout and technicalprogramme. The conference made a surplus but it is not yet
clear what the amount is, and final accounts are awaited.
VTC'99-Fall attracted about 950 registrations to a well or­
ganised conference held jointly with WPMC. The social
programme was more involved than usual for VTC, but it
was explained that this is normal for a European confer­ence, and anything less would be noticed in this context.
Turning to future confe r e n c e s , planning for
VTC2000-Spring is well underway. 810 papers were sub­mitted, with a very similar breakdown of originating coun­try to VTC'99-Fall. The conference had been planned on theassumption that attendance would split between the confer­ences, whereas in fact the combined attendance between
both conferences had risen to the order of 2000. Additional
hotel accommodation is being investigated. 440 papers canbe accepted, and questions were raised as to whether thiswould lead to the rejection of high quality papers. While it
was suggested that an increased rejection rate may not be a
problem, the prevailing view amongst those of the Board
who had just completed reviews for the conference was thatthe standard of submission was high, and that quality was
not being diluted. The Organising Committee will be asked
if there is any scope to increase the number of papers pre­sented, but given the time to the conference, this may not be
possible.
VTC'0l-Spring is being organised in Israel. The Israel
chapter chair, Reuven Meidan, is also general chair of theconference. They are currently negotiating proposals fromtwo conference companies. The venue will be the David In­
tercontinental Hotel, on the beach between Tel Aviv andJaffa, which is the largest hotel meeting space in Israel.
The organising committee for VTC'0l-Fall has signed acontract with the Sheraton in Atlantic City. The main or­
ganising positions have been filled.
The proposal for VTC'02-Spring for San Diego has been
dropped. Another option, Guadalajara, is being pursued but
a detailed proposal has not been submitted so this may haveto be dropped as well.
A budget for VTC'02-Fall (Vancouver) is still awaited fol­lowing the proposal agreed at the May Board meeting. HowFebruary 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

ever, an outline budget for VTC'03-Spring (Korea) has been
received for the chair, Prof Jae Hong Lee. Two hotels havebeen identified as possible venues, and quotations will besought.
Looking longer term, Los Angles is being thought of for
Fall 2003, with Oceania for Spring 2004.
Stu Lipoff, General Chair of VTC2000-Fall, gave a com­prehensive presentation on plans for the conference, before
a tour of the conference facilities in the hotel. Seven parallel
tracks are proposed. The conference programme will accom­
modate a roughly similar number of papers to the Toyko
conference, which re-opened the discussion on paper selec­tion. J. R. Cruz argued that papers should be selected on
merit, and the number in the conference adjusted to suit,rather than the other way round. There is some scope for in­creasing the number of papers by dividing the meetingrooms to provide further tracks, although there is a practi­
cal limit to this. Extending the conference was considered
but it was felt that many people would then leave before theend. The problem of people submitting papers and register­ing, but then not attending to present them was raised. This
removes space in the programme for other papers which
could have been presented. Some conferences record thisand blacklist presenters, while others have 'stand-by' pre­sentations to fill gaps, but it was felt the latter would createa two-tier system, while the problem was not significant
enough at present to consider the first option.
The proceedings will mainly be on CDROM. It was firstsuggested that no printed proceedings be produced, but 450
printed copies must be produced for the book broker
programme. Some additional copies can be printed for sale.
To supplement the CDROM for use at the conference, Stu
Lipoff proposed a digest with abstracts, an idea which was
widely welcomed. These abstracts will be given with the pa­
per as part of the submission process, which will be com­pletely electronic.
The meeting turned to the weighty issue of conference
lunches. The award luncheon will be sit-down, but to keep
the registration fee down the other lunches could beunbundled or for speed and cost-effectiveness, packed
lunches could be provided.
The next agenda item was the VTS News. A new editor,
Dr James Irvine, has been appointed, and proofs of the firstissue since this appointment were distributed. James Irvine
gave a short presentation on plans for future issues, andproposals for increased coverage of the Society's activities.
It was agreed that a page count of about 24 pages per issue
should be aimed for.
On some housekeeping matters, it was agreed that min­utes should be circulated quickly to allow for them to be
more widely published. However, as part of this discussion,
it was agreed that it would be better to present a meeting re­port in the VTS News rather than a set of minutes since thiscan be produced immediately after the meeting without
waiting for approval at the following meeting.
The last main item on the agenda was reports from indi­vidual Board members. Harvey Glickenstein, VP Land
Ti·ansportation was not present at the meeting but circu­
lated a written report on his work on Land Transportation.
At the recent ITS workshop in Washington (reported in the
VTS News in November 1999) a need was identified for astandards group to develop standards for the rail-highway
grade crossing situation.

Dennis Hodson, Standards Committee Chairman,

reported on standards work within the VTS. He had at­tended two IEEE-SA Standards Board meetings since thelast Board Meeting. In the VT area, two standards on Com­
munication Based Train Control, and one on Rail Transit
Vehicles, were approved at these meetings. Dennis Bodson
21noted that some VT standards had been mistakenly logged
in the catalogue as ITS standards - this has now been cor­rected. It has also been suggested that VT standards bemade available in a single package. The IEEE has agreed tothis, but also wishes the same to be done for ITS standards.
These will be made available either as separate VT or ITS
bundles, or as a combined VT/ITS package.
The IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organiza­tion (IEEE-ISTO) has requested that the VTS takes note of
the publication of IEEE-ISTO 5001, 1999, and recognizes it
as a significant contribution to the automotive industry. In
addition, IEEE-ISTO, has requested that the VTS, if asked,
would be willing to act as the sponsor for this standard
through the IEEE-SA standards process. This was ap­
proved by the Board of Governors.
J. R. Cruz, Executive Vice President and Editor ofTransactions on Vehicular Technology, reported thatIEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology had now
joined Opera. Currently, issues back to 1996 are archived,
but this would be extended back to 1988 by the end of theyear. Staff of the Transactions are being re-organised to im­prove response time on paper submissions.
J. R. Cruz had also investigated the possibility of making
all issues of the Transactions back to their beginning in
1952 available as a set of CDs. There are two issues: the firstbeing the cost and the second being the fact that a complete
set of transactions would be required to make the electronicmaster, and that this copy would be destroyed in the pro­cess. Depending on the number of CDs ordered, costs would
be in the region of 50 to 100 thousand dollars. There wassome doubt expressed as to the worth of such a set to mem­bers, since vehicular technology articles had a shorter shelf
life than those of, for example, information theory, whose so­ciety had produced such an archive. Important early VT pa­
pers have been reprinted and so are available. It was agreed
to try to assess member interest through an article in VTSNews before taking any decision. An article on the inclusionof the Transactions in Opera was also agreed.
Bob Fenton, reported on the convergence scholarship.
The application forms for this will be placed on the VTS website.
Bob French, ITS Coordinator, reported on the forma­tion of the ITS Council, which the VTS was instrumental increating. Its first meeting had been held in Boston in June.
It publishes an electronic newsletter, and the editor also
writes a column in Electronics Systems magazine on ITS.
Bob French was invited to write an overview for the first is­sue and will update this for an article in VTS News.

Mel Lewis, having reported on his conference responsi­
bilities earlier in the meeting, discussed the VTS-sponsoreddistance learning course. Progress on the course has paused
awaiting conversion of the first draft of the course, which
has received favourable reports from reviewers, to HTML.
The groundwork undertaken by the VTS was therefore notbeing used by the Society, although other IEEE societies
were making use of it and were likely to have their courses
in place more quickly. Mel Lewis will discuss the conversionof the course to HTML with the course author.

Bob Mazzola, Vice President Motor Vehicles andConvergence Conference Committee Representa­
tive, is preparing an article for VTS News on convergence.

He suggested that it was time for another member survey,
since the last one had been done many years ago but hadformed an important role in strategic planning. The May is­sue of VTS News could provide a vehicle. This will be de­cided at the upcoming December meeting. The theme of thatmeeting will be the future identity of the VTS.
Tom Rubinstein, Webmaster and New Member Li­
aison, reported that he had sent follow up emails to the1035 new members who received the welcome letter. He'dreceived 35 responses varying from 'thanks' to detailed sug­gestions for the Society.
Tom Rubinstein also reported that the web site had a new
domain name, www.vtociety.org, although subdirectories
cannot be directly accessed using this address although theredirection vendor had promised that they would. He pro­
posed implementing a previous decision to make VTS News
available online. Discussion ensued about making such ac­
cess public, as limiting access to VTS members would be dif­ficult to arrange. It was agreed to publish the table of con­tents and abstracts on-line with open access.
Finally, he reported that he had received a request for achat room onVTS matters. An issue here is security. He willraise the matter at an upcoming IEEE Webmaster's meet­ing and report back.
Eric Schimmel, Vice President Mobile Radio, re­ported that there were seven candidates for the five Board
places. Three existing Board members, Jyun-Cheng Chen,
William C. Y. Lee and Eric Schimmel himself, were notstanding for re-election. Tom Rubinstein and J. R. Cruz
were standing for re-election, along with John Gilsenan(US State Department), Anil Kripalani (Qualcomm),
James Worsham (Bell South), Sabah Towaij (Industry
Canada) and Asrar Sheikh (Hong Kong Polytechnic). Bal­lots would be posted to members on the 25th of October for
return by the 6th of December. The results would be avail-

From left to right: Raymond Trott, J . R. Cruz, Robert Fenton, Dennis Bodson, Robert French, Eric Schimmel, Kent
Johnson, Essam Sourour, Tom Rubenstein, Robert Mazzola, and Stuart Lipoff
22IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News❖ February 2000

able by the 10th ofDecember. Eric Schimmel also reported
on recent work by ITU on VTS related activities, and on thework of the IEEE Committee on Communications and In­formation Policy, which has focussed on creating a work­
shop on "US Telecommunications Infrastructure Over the
NextDecade". Within ITU, work is beginning on contribu­
tions to the next Working Party 8A meeting at the end of
February next year. EC is the Convenor of the US delega­tion t WP8A. New areas of interest are topics such as Wire­less Local Loop and Local Area Networks. Internet overWireless. Adaptive Antennas and Software Defined Ra­
dios, and Fourth Generation Wireless.

Ray Trott, Awards Committee Chairman, reported
that nominations were being sought for awards for 2000. He
will circulate the Board. Award recipients can chose to receive
their awards at either the Tokyo or Boston conferences.
A report was also received from David Michelson, VT-S
Propagation Committee chair. He has submitted a report on
the VT-S Propagation Committee to the VTS News. A pro­posal to lend the Society's technical sponsorship to propaga­tion tutorials at upcoming VT conferences was approved.
Since there will be an election for the Board of Governors,
another meeting is required in 1999. This will be held in At­
lanta on the 13th ofDecember 1999.

Minutes of the 1 8th May 1 999 VTS Board ofGovernors Meeting
B y Essam Sourour, Secretary
1- Call to OrderThe IEEE VTS Board of Governors (BOG) met on Tues­
day, 5/18/1999 in Houston, Texas, during the VTC 99
Spring conference. President Kent Johnson called the meet­ing to order at 8:30 AM.

Twelve elected board members were present at the meet­ing, which constitutes quorum. In addition to theabove-mentioned names, other people attended for shorttimes to make presentations on their respective matters, asmentioned below.

2- Roll Call
The following BOG members attended the meeting:

3- Distribution of Documents
Documents and reports were distributed before the meet­ing and as the meeting progressed.

Name
1-Dennis Bodson*

IEEENTS function
Vice President mobile radio,
chairman of the standards
committee
VTS past president, Vice
2-Eric Schimmel*
President for communications,
CCIP and ITU representative
VTS secretary
3-Essam Sourour
Conference Committee Chair,
4-George McClure*
Public Relations
PCS Committee chair
5-J.C. Chen*VTS Korea Chapter Chair
6-Jae H. Lee
VTS President
7-Kent Johnson*
VTS Past President, Standards
8-Linda Sue Boehmer
Committee Vice Chair
VTS Tokyo Chapter Chair
9-Masayoshi Aoki
National Conference
10-Melvin Lewis*
Coordinator, North Jersey
chapter chairperson
VTC-2000 Spring
11-Mitsutoshi Hatori
General ChairAwards committee chairman
12-Raymond Trott*
Convergence fellowship,
13-Robert Fenton*
Convergence conference
committee
ITS coordinator and IEEE VTS
14-Robert French*council representative
15-Robert L. Gottschalk VTS ITS Committee Chair
VP-motor vehicles, convergence
16-Robert Mazzola*conference representative
VTS Tokyo chapter secretary
17-Tad Matsumoto
VTS Webmaster18-Tom Rubinstein*
VTS Transnational Committee
19-W. C. Lee*
Chair
* Elected BOG member.
February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

4- Adoption of Meeting Agenda
President K. Johnson presented the meeting agenda (at­tachment Pages 1-2). The agenda was approved unani­
mously.
5- Approval of Minutes of 27 Feb 1999 Meeting
The minutes of the BOG meeting of27 Feb 1999 were ap­
proved with some editorial corrections. G. McClure moved
to approve the minutes.D. Bodson seconded the motion andthe motion was approved.
6- Treasurer's Report
C. Backof submitted a written report (attachment page56).
7- President's Report
K. Johnson reported that the IEEE USA requested a VTS
representative to be a contact person. He must be a new grad­uate, with less than 10 years after graduation. G. McCluresuggested one of the VTC 99, Spring, awards recipients.
K. Johnson reported about the new IEEE financial
model. The initial IEEE financial model proposal was re­jected in TAB . TAB formed a committee to come up witha new proposal to IEEE. Consequently, the IEEE
brought up new modifications that were mostly ap­
proved by TAB. A test case on the year 2000 budget will
be run. The impact on VTS society will be clear in theJune TAB meeting.
8- Status: Stuart Meyer Award Nomination
The award will be presented in VTC 99, Fall, Amsterdam.
9- Report on Visit to Tokyo: Mel Lewis
See attachments, page 48.
23

10- Report From Dr. Hatori On Plans For Tokyo
VTC 2000, Spring

Prof. Mitsutoshi Hatori made a presentation about the
preparation for VTC 2000 Spring, in Tokyo (attachments
pages 4-26). He presented the different committees andtheir activities. A contract is signed with Hotel Pacific on
January 7, 1999. The room rate is $150-$210. The confer­ence itself will be in Japan Convention Center. The regis­
tration fee is 60,000 to 69,000 yen. The 2nd call for papers issent out and a website is setup. The budget does not show asurplus but Dr. Matsumoto noted that they expect surplus
when they collect donations for the conference.
K. Johnson commended the Tokyo VTC Committee for
their wonderful job.

11- Proposal for Victoria Conference: Vijay
Bhargava

Prof. Vijay Bhargava, from the University of Victoria,
British Columbia, Canada, made a presentation proposing
to host the Fall VTC 2002 (attachments pages 36-42). Prof.
Bhargava demonstrated the extensive experience in IEEE
conference organization. He talked about the city and thepotential for a good conference there.
M. Lewis requested an official proposal with a draft bud­get for the BOG to vote on. Prof. Bhargava promised to pro­vide it.
On answering questions from the BOG, Prof. Bhargava
noted that they would not use an outside company for con­ference registration. He also noted that he was aware of theIEEE VTS surplus distribution policy. They do not have a
VTS chapter at this time.
G. McClure moved to accept the proposal, Robert Mazzola
seconded, and the proposal was approved unanimously.

12- Conferences and Meetings

R. Trott noted that the VTC Fall conferences are getting
closer in date to the PCS trade shows. He expressed concern
about the possible schedule conflicts.
W.C. Lee expressed his concern about the name of the VTC
conference. He noted that the name does not imply wirelesscommunication, which makes it difficult to attract support
from wireless communication industry. After some discus­
sions among the BOG members about the VTC name, M.
Lewis suggested adding an extra slogan to it. K. Johnson sug­gested that BOG members send suggestions to M. Lewis.
M. Lewis presented a written report (attachment pages
47-50). In addition, T. Rubinstein submitted a Conference
Site Selection Report (attachments page 54-55).

VTC 98 (Ottawa)

M. Lewis reported that VTC 98 surplus is US $243k. The
final audited report is completed.

VTC '99 Spring (Houston):

Conference chairman, Kumar Krishen, reported that morethan 820 papers were submitted for the conference and 540
papers were accepted. There are 11 tutorial sessions, whichwere very popular. There are about 200 students out of750 at­
tendees. Student registration was only $50.
He pointed out that the name of the society and the con­ference (Vehicular Technology) caused some confusion at
the beginning. The organizing committee thought that theconference is only about transportation and not communi­
cations. However, the misunderstanding was fixed later.
He also pointed out that the Houston IEEE section was
not sufficiently cooperating with him. The Galveston Bay
section showed better cooperation. Eventually he got an ad­vance of $10k from the Houston section and $5k from theGalveston bay section. He also received $10k and 4 dedi24

cated employees as a support from Southwestern Bell.
NASA space center bought 25 registrations but only 2 at­tended the conference due to the confusion about the nameof the conference (i.e., being Vehicular Technology rather
than wireless communications). He expects the conference
will make a surplus, but he was not sure how much.
He recommends that all future VTC conference an­nouncements and program distribution must be electronic
to reduce cost.
He noted that, because of the Internet, the need for con­ferences is less than before. Therefore, he recommends thatnew ways for conference advertising must be considered toconvince people about the importance of conferences andpersonal contacts.
J.C. Chen noted that the conference proceedings arrived
late. Kumar noted that this was a problem from the IEEE
conference services. He also noted that he had other prob­
lems with the IEEE conference services.
At the end, President K. Johnson expressed the apprecia­tion of the BOG for all the work that K. Krishen and the
VTC'99, Spring, organization committee have done.

VTC '99 Fall (Amsterdam)

Prof. R. Prasad made a presentation about the prepara­tion for the VTC 99, Fall, in Amsterdam. He reported that
the Advance program was already mailed out. He notedthat the seed money provided by VTS was not received yet.
T. Rubinstein will contact IEEE and resolve the problem.
They received 895 papers and accepted 423 papers for oralpresentation and 228 for poster presentations. There are 15
tutorial sessions. He also reported that the WPMC 99 con­ference will be held in conjunction with VTC 99, Fall. He
clarified that the budgets of the two conferences are com­pletely separated. He received considerable support fromthe industry. An award luncheon will be held on Tuesday
9/2 1. In addition to the VTS awards there are some other lo­
cal awards. On answering concerns from BOG members
about student and IEEE life-member registration fees, henoted that reduced registration fees would be available forthem. An author registration will be required for any paper
to be published in the conference proceedings.

VTC '00 Spring (Tokyo)

See agenda item number 10.

VTC '00 Fall (Boston):

M. Lewis reported that work has started. They have atechnical program chair and they started staffing different
committees.

VTC 01 Spring (Israel):

M. Lewis reported that they are moving forward in theirplans. They will sign a hotel contract soon. They are re­questing VTS to offer them a "no liability" if they incur
losses. This was accepted by the BOG. The surplus distribu­
tion will be 25% (Local chapter) to 75% (VTS).

VTC 01 Fall (North Jersey)

M. Lewis reported that they are currently selecting a ho­tel. They are looking for Atlantic City as a possible location.
They will use IEEE conference services for registration.
They received the VTS seed money.

VTC 02 Spring (San Diego):

M. Lewis reported that SanDiego is not a conference loca­
tion for VTC 02 any more, due to lack of interest from local
section.
IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News ❖ February 2000

VTC 02 Fall (Victoria proposal):
See item number 11 in the agenda.
VTC 03 Spring (Korea)
No news since last BOG meeting.
Past Due Financial Reports:
VNIS 94:
IEEE headquarter is still waiting for the audited report.
J. Worsham is helping resolving this problem. K. Johnson
noted that the BOG should request a report from J.
Worsham. M. Lewis will invite him to next BOG meeting. R.
French noted that he sent the necessary information andforms to perform the audit to the conference chairman, Prof.
Takaba.
13- Publications Committee Reports(a) VT Ti·ansactions:
J.R. Cruz (was not present) submitted a report (attach­ments page 65). He recommended increasing the page bud­get for the VT Transactions to 2500 pages for the year 2000.
G. McClure moved to approve 2500 pages as a page-budget
for the year 2000. D. Bodson seconded the motion and the
motion was approved.
(b) VTS Newsletter
The BOG members expressed their dissatisfaction of thecurrent situation of the newsletter. The newsletter is not is­sued on time. K. Johnson solicited recommendations from
BOG members. G. McClure and D. Bodson volunteered tocontact and help G. Stone and J. Furie to get the May issue
out. They will also try to find a permanent solution for the
problem. They will also check if there is need to hire a parttime person to do it. D. Bodson requested the board to au­
thorize K. Johnson to take decisions before the next BOG
meeting if needed.
14- Electronic Communications
Webmaster report
T. Rubinstein submitted a webmaster report (attach­ments page 53). He reported that the IEEE has changed the
VTS domain name. He noted that this might happen again
in the future, which causes confusion to VTS members. He
recommended that the VTS should obtain its own domainname. The cost is about $120 in the first year, $30 the sec­
ond year and $65 per year after that. The VTS BOG ap­
proved T. Rubinstein's proposal and authorized him to ob­tain a domain name and up to 4 sub-domain names.
15- Other Committee Reports
Education Committee:
M. Lewis reported that Stevens Institute of Technology
completed phase 1 of the Web Based Vehicular Technology
Distance Learning, for which they were paid $10k (attach­ments, pages 49-50). They were expecting an additional$10k from the IEEE EAD for the second phase. However,the IEEE EAD made a change in their plans and did notwant to continue with Stevens Institute. They want thecourse to be an IEEE course, not a Stevens Institute course.
In addition, they do not want to stick to one university. Pat
Morreale, from Stevens Institute, submitted a proposal to
EAD (attachment pages 51-52) with an 8 hours course, to bea course offered by her, not Stevens Institute. Peter
Wiesner from IEEE EAD was not satisfied with the course
description and questioned Pat Morreale dedication to pre­pare it appropriately.
February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News

L. Boehmer noted that $10k should be enough to produce
a prototype not just a course layout. M. Lewis requested the
BOG members to review the work already done and provide
him with feedback (www.ati.stevens-tech.edu/~skalra/
IEEE/sitIEEE.htm. The BOG discussed the past agreementwith Stevens Institute and the future possibilities. The
BOG members expressed their dissatisfaction with theIEEE EAD change of decisions and breaking the agreement
regarding this course. G. McClure proposed that the BOG
members look at the website and decide whether to con­tinue supporting the course as a VTS project. After consid­
erable discussions, the sense of the board was to review thematerial on Pat Morreale's website and provide comments
to M. Lewis.
Rail Ti·ansit Interface:
A report is submitted by Tom McGean (attachment pages
43-44). L. Boehmer reported that four Railroad standards
will be completed by the end of the summer. Work on thesestandards is progressing very well.
Awards Committee:
R. Trott presented a report listing the awards to be pre­sented in VTC 99, Spring (same day of the BOG meeting)(attachments page 3).
ITS Committee:
R. Gottschalk presented a report on the ITS Committee
activities (attachments pages 27-35). He noted that, since
he is the chairman of IEEE SCC32 and the VTS ITS Com­mittees, he could combine the effort. With the approval of
the ITS council, he also chairs the ITS Council standards
committee. They have a teleconference every month andone annual meeting. He was given the directions from IEEE
to bring all ITS standards undei: IEEE SCC32 sponsorship.
The IEEE took the position that any project that is federally
funded should stay under SCC32, not IEEE. Therefore,
SCC32 will provide all standards development for the ITS
Council. He had problems convincing many people with thisposition, and he requested support from the VTS BOG.
He reported that they have a very informative website
and he requested a link from the VTS WebPages to the ITS
WebPages. He also asked if the VTS could provide publica­tion space in its newsletter. In addition, he requested if the
SCC32 to meet during theVTC conference and may be hav­
ing a panel discussion. His requests were all welcomed by
all BOG members. He also requested help to find volunteers
for worldng group chairs. He requested a Liaison from theVTS BOG since there is a lot of wireless communication
work within the ITS Council. He reported that the ITS
Council has no funds and has problem with expenses.
M. Lewis offered to help in finding volunteers to workwith R. Gottschalk. D. Bodson offered to be in contact with
R. Gottschalk to provide. E. Schimmel noted that the BOG
should establish a working group to work in the ITS and
SCC32 standards activities.
ITS Council (www.ieee.org/its):
R. French reported that there were no meeting in the ITS
council since lastVTS BOG meeting. The next meeting is inJune 1999. The ITS council issued 2 newsletters, which areavailable in the website. He noted that the VTS representa­
tives in the ITS council need the sense of the board about theissue of distributing the ITS meeting minutes, since they
are not open at this time. R. French thought that the meet­ings minutes of the council should be open. After some dis­cussions, the sense of the board was that the minutes
should be open.
25

Propagation Committee:
K. Johnson reported that, in a follow up for lastVTS BOG

meeting, he received a letter from D. Michelson (attachment
pages 45-46) proposing to re-activate the VTS propagationcommittee and offered to be the chair of the committee. K.
Johnson requested comments from the BOG. The BOG
agreed with the proposal. G. McClure moved to accept it
without financial any obligations at this time. T. Rubinstein
seconded the motion and the motion was accepted. K. John­son will contact D. Michelson and inform him about the
BOG decision.

Strategic Planning:

G. McClure referred to the VTS strategic plan and re­viewed some of the items that need to be worked on. Some of
the items that he identified are improving VTS newsletter,increasing the VTC frequency to twice a year, increasing
VTS chapters support, supporting the distinguished speak­ers program and publishing a list of action items after each
BOG meeting.

Membership Committee:

T. Rubinstein prepared a letter to be sent to every new
member to the VTS (attachment pages 57-58). The letterwelcomes the new member and tells him/her about the soci­ety. T. Rubinstein also noted that he will follow up this letterby an email after 6 months.

Standards Committee:

D. Bodson submitted a report (attachments pages 63-64).
He noted that in his reports he will try to talk about the vari-

ous standards of interest to VTS members. He will also up­
date the Standards section of the VTS website and put theappropriate links. In addition, he will put standards related
information the in a special section in the VTS newsletter.

Chapter Committee:

G. Messina submitted a written report (attachments
pages 59-62).

Nomination Committee:

E. Schimmel noted that he is preparing the roster for up­
coming BOG election and he requested nominations. M.
Lewis recommended J. Worsham.

16- Other Business:
None.

17- Next Meeting:

Next meeting is on October 2, 1999, in the Seaport Hotel,
Boston.

18- Adjournment

G. McClure moved to adjourn and R. Mazzola seconded.
The motion was passed and the meeting was adjourned at
4:30 PM
Respectively Submitted
Essam Sourour, Secretary

CONVERGENCE 2000
International Congress on Transportation Electronics
Convergence 2000 will be held October 16-18,
2000 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Dearborn,
Michigan. For over twenty-five years the Conver­gence Transportation Electronics A s sociation(CTEA) has sponsored this premier automotive
electronics conference. The IEEE Vehicular Tech­
nology Society continues to be a technical co-spon­
sor for this conference along with several other in­d u s t r y organiza t io n s . T h i s c o n f e r e n c e h a s
consistently brought together the leading technolo­
gists, engineers and executives from around theworld.
The theme for Convergence 2000 is "Automotive
Electronics : Delivering Technology's Promise".
Conference Chairman J. T. Battenberg III, Chair­man, CEO and President of Delphi Automotive
Systems, promises a thought-provoking global fo­
rum with over 100 technical exhibits and 12 ses-

26

sions containing 70 technical papers. Over 5000 at­
tendees are expected. Always one of the conference
highlights is the industry reception and banquet
and the featured speaker will be William Ford, Jr.,
Chairman of the Board, Ford Motor Company.
For further Convergence 2000 details includ­ing technical session descriptions and registra­tion i n formation, visit the website at www.
convergence2000.org or contact Ms. Denny Freitag
at Delphi Automotive in the USA at 248-813-3085.
Hotel reservations ml:'y be made by contacting theHyatt Regency - Dearborn at 800-233-1234 or
3 13-593-1234.
The Convergence Transportation Electronics
Fellowship Award will also be presented at Conver­gence 2000 by the IEEE Vehicular Technology Soci­ety. For further details please see the article on
page 17.

IEEE Vehicular Technology Society News❖ February 2000

Call for Papers
IV 2000
IEEE Intelligent Vehicles Symposium

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Dearborn, MI, USA
October 1 -3, 2000

The IEEE Intelligent Transportation System Coun­cil (ITSC) is sponsoring a professional-level conferenceon basic research and present and future application
for Intelligent Vehicles. Papers dealing with vehi­
cle-centered intelligent systems are solicited.
This symposium is characterized by a single session
format so that all the attendees remain in a single room
for multilateral communications in an informal atmo­
sphere. As another tradition, the meetings have enthusi­
astic participation from industry, as well as research cen­ters and universities.
Program Topics: Driver Assistance Systems, Sys­
tem Architectures, Sensors, Navigation/Guidance Sys­
tems, Imaging and Vision Enhancement Vehicle Con­t r o l , I n formation S y s t e m s , H u m a n - m a c h i n e
Interfaces, Active Safety, Traffic Monitoring and Con­
trol Communications and Networks, CAN.
Paper Submission: Prospective authors are in­vited to submit a paper in electronic (Postscript) form
by FTP at: ftp: / /ftp.ce.unipr.itliu2000 by March 1,
2000 for peer review. Submitted papers must be nolonger that six pages in IEEE two-column format, in­cluding figures and references.· Papers exceeding thislength limit may be rejected without review. The firstpage should include (1) the title of the paper, (2) thenames of the authors, (3) the technical categories, and( 4) the name, mailing address, telephone and fax num­ber, and e-mail address of the contact author.
Paper submission should be followed by an e-mail to
Alessandra Fascioli at fascal@ce.unipr.it specifying (1)authors' complete affiliation; (2) contact author's
postal address, phone and fax numbers, and e-mail ad­
dress; (3) title and topic of the paper and up to 5
keywords, and (4) name and length of the file uploaded
to ftp.ce.unipr.it.
Papers will be reviewed for technical content, origi­
nality, completeness and clarity.

Deadlines:

Papers due for peer review
Notification of acceptance
Camera-ready copy forproceedings due

March 1, 2000
May 1, 2000
July 1, 2000

Please refer frequently to the following websites forthe most up-to-date information or contact the General
Chair (Jim Rillings, jrilling@notes.gmr.com), the Pro­
gram Chair (Alberto Broggi, broggi@ce.unipr.it), or see
the IV-2000 Home Page at http: I I www.ce.unipr.it I

iu2000February 2000 ❖ IEEE Vehicular Technology Society NewsITSC-2000
3rd Annual IEEE Conference onIntelligent Transportation Systems

The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Dearborn, MI, USA
October 4-5, 2000

The IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems
Council (ITSC) is sponsoring a professional-level con­ference on basic research and on the applications ofleading-edge advances in communications, computers,
control and related electronics-based technologies toIntelligent Transportation Systems (ITS).
Program Topics: Sensors (infrastructure & vehi­
cle-based), Communications (side area & vehicle-to­roadside), Simulation ( continuous, discrete,real-time), Man-machine Interfaces (displays, artifi­
cial speech), Control (adaptive, fuzzy, cooperative
neuro), Decision Systems (expert systems, intelli­gent agents), Systems (engineering, architecture,evaluation), Information Systems (databases, data
fusion, security), Computers (hardware, software),Reliability & Quality Assurance, Navigation and'
Guidance System, Signal Processing, Technology
Forecasting & Transfer, Imaging and Image Analy­
sis, Vehicle Control, Standards, Traffic theory in
ITS, Routing and Route Guidance, Transit applica­
tions and Air traffic control.
Paper Submission: Five copies of complete manu­
scripts must be submitted no later than March 1, 2000
at the following address:
Prof. Petros A. Ioannou, PC Chair, ITSC-2000 Cen­
ter for Advanced Transportation Technologies, Uni­
versity of Southern California 3740 McClintock Ave­nue, Suite 200B Los Angeles, CA 90089-2562, USA
Tel: +1-213-740-4473, Fax: +1-213-740-4449, E-mail:ioannou@rcf.use. edu
Submitted papers must be no longer than six pages
in IEEE two-column format (US letter size), including
figures and references. Papers exceeding this length
limit may be rejected without review. The cover sheet
should include (1) the title of the paper, (2) the namesof the authors, (3) the technical categories, and (4) the
name, mailing address, telephone and fax number,and e-mail address of the contact author. Details on
the electronic paper submission can be found on

http: I I www.ewh. ieee.org I tc I its I cfp-itsc-2000.html

Notification of Acceptance is scheduled for May 1,
2000.

A single reduced rate-registration option will be avail­able for attendance at both IV2000 and ITSC200 Con­
ferences, as well as individual registrations. The same
paper may not be submitted to both IV and ITSC con­ferences.

27

Conferences of Interest
The following table shows VT-06 sponsored and co-sponsored conferences as well as related conferences not sponsored by the Society.
While every attempt was made to ensure accuracy, you should contact the respective conference committee to confirm date and location.

DATE

CONFERENCELOCATION

WEB PAGE

2-3 March 2000

Dallas, TX

20-25 March 2000

IMT 2000 3G Wireless Technology
Conference
16th ACES Symposium

26-31 March 2000

INFOCOM 2000

Tel-Aviv, Israel

27-29 March 2000

3G2000London, United Kingdom

4-5 April 2000

London, United Kingdom

4-6 April 2000

10th Int'l Road Transport Info. andControl Conference
Joint Rail Conference JRC '00

http://witmail.hypermart.net/
3G2000.htm
http://aces.ee.olemiss.edu/
cfp2000.htm
http://www.cse.ucsc.edu/~rom/
infocom2000/
http://conferences.iee.org/
3G2000/
Email rtic2000@iee.org.uk

9-14 April 2000

AP2000

10-14 April 2000
17-19 April 2000

NOMS '00

7-12 May 2000

17th World Telecommunications
Congress and ISS2000
VTC2000-Spring

CSNDSP 2000

Monterey, CA

http://www.ieee.org/organizations/society/vts/conf/
jrccfp2000.html
http://www.estec.esa.nl/
Davos, Switzerland
CONFANNOUN/AP2000
http://www.noms.org/2000
Honolulu, HI
Bournemouth, United Kingdom http://dec.bournemouth.ac.uk/
CSNDSP2000/index.htm
Birmingham, United Kingdom http://www.wtc2000 .org

Newark NJ

Munich, Germany
Blacksburg, VA
New Orleans LA

http://www.iccOO.org

10-12 July 2000

AFCEA/IEEE EuroComm 2000
2000 Virginia Tech Symp. on Wireless
Personal Comms
Int'! Conference on Communications
ICC '00
Wireless '00

http://www.convention.co.jp/
vtc2000s
http://www.eurocomm.org
http://www.mprg.ee.vt.edu

Calgary AB

10-13 July 2000

HF Radio 2000

London, United Kingdom

16-21 July 2000

AP-S International Symposium /Radio Science Meeting
ISAP

Salt Lake City UTRAWCON '00
PIMRC '00
VTC2000-Fall
3rd IEEE Conf. on Intelligent
Trans. Sys. ITSC-2000
IV 2000 IEEE Intelligent Vehicles
Symposium
Convergence 2000
APWC2000

Denver CO
London, United Kingdom
Boston, MA
Dearborn, MI

Dearborn, MI
Waltham MA

http://www.cal.trlabs.ca/
wireless
http://www.iee.org.uk/conf/
HFRadio/
http://www.caeme.elen.
utah.edu/aps2000
http://www.crl.go.jp/pub/
ISAP2000/
http://rawcon.org
http://www.pimrc2000.com
http://www.vtc2000.org
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/tc/its/
itsc2000/cfp-itsc-2000.html
http://WWW.CE.UniPR.IT/
iv2000/
http://www.convergence2000.org
http://www.eece.unm.edu/
apwc2000
http://www.tc.ait.ac. th
http://delson.org/si/gcOO/

15-18 May 2000
17-19 May 2000
14-16 June 2000
18-22 June 2000

22-25 August 2000
10-13 September 2000
18-21 September 2000
24-28 September 2000
1-3 October 2000
4-5 October 2000
16-18 October 2000
6-8 November 2000

Tokyo Japan

Fukuoka, Japan

Dearborn, MI

12-15 November 1999
27 November 1 December 2000
17-20 December 2000

WPMC-2000
Globecom 2000

Bangkok, Thailand
San Francisco, CA

ICPWC '00

Hyderbad, India

Spring 2001
Fall 2001
Spring 2002
September 2002
Spring 2003

VTC '01/Spring
VTC '01/Fall
VTC '02/Spring
VTC '02/Fall
VTC '03/Spring

Tel-Aviv, Israel
Atlantic City, NJ
Region 9
Victoria, BC
Seoul, Korea

http://www.citr.ece.uvic.ca/
icpwc2000
http://www.vtc2001fall.com

This list is based upon the conference calendar at our web site, which is updated more frequently than this list can be. To access it go to thefollowing URL: http://www.vtsociety.org/, then click on "Conference List" in the left frame.

Corrections and additions to this list are most welcome. We are particularly interested in adding listings for Automotive
and Transportation conferences. Please send corrections and additions to Tom Rubinstein at t.rubinstein@ieee.org.