"The Joint Strike Fighter" Thomas A. Morgenfeld JSF Chief Test Pilot Lockheed Martin

Mr. Morgenfeld joined Lockheed in December 1979 as an Experimental Test Pilot in the world famous Skunk Works.  There he was assigned to the F-117 program where he has flown almost 1300 hours in testing that radical aircraft.  In 1989 Mr. Morgenfeld went on to the Advanced Tactical Fighter program where he was primarily responsible for flying the second YF-22A prototype.  After Lockheed won that competition, he was named Chief Test Pilot for the YF-22A follow-on test program.  In 1991 he was named Chief Test Pilot for the Skunk Works and in 1999 was promoted to Director of Flight Operations as well.  He is currently working on the Joint Strike Fighter program where he performed the first flight on the X-35 airplane last October.

Mr. Morgenfeld is a Fellow and past President of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.  A native of Hamburg, New York, he is married to the former Norma K. Shoemaker, also of Hamburg.  They have two sons, LT Steven A. Morgenfeld USN, a Naval Aviator serving on an exchange tour with the Spanish Navy, and Mr. Michael F. Morgenfeld, the Managing Cartographer for Avalon Travel Publishing.
 
   

MetroCon 2001 -  Technologies Track

Abstracts & Biographies

See Program Outline and Schedule

Hot Topics Overview
James T. Smith, Verizon
8:30-9:30am

Abstract: Nanoscale Science has provided us with a flood of new technologies.   We see their emergence in everything from fine-control over the grain structure of materials to the application of genetic engineering in food production.   Automotive fuel cells, carbon-nanotube fibers, and biochips.   New products are emerging so rapidly that some become obsolete almost before they can be brought to market.  The problems of the venture capitalists have become the problems of the corporate boardrooms.   How can we maintain a competitive product position in the face of such rapid obsolescence?   What technologies are important, and which can be safely ignored?

Lessons can be learned from Lucent and others, whose mistakes overshadow the business horizon. Failure to wisely choose from the emerging technologies and then to engineer timely upgrades to products and services, can result in a loss of customer confidence, profits, and ultimately stockholder value.  Mr. Smith observes that many existing business models will be made obsolete—necessitating a total rethinking of their business.  On the other hand, many new opportunities will be enabled.  This presentation examines some of technology breakthroughs which have already undergone Mr. Smith's strategic assessment of maturity and importance.  These investigations included new research and development in Material Science, Systems Science, MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS), Photonics, Energy Conversion, Networking, Systems Design, and Software Engineering.

Biography: James T. Smith has over 20 years experience in the development and fielding of advanced technical systems, and for 10+ years has been a Senior Member of the Technical Staff of Contel, GTE, and Verizon.   He received his BS in Math and Physics from Millsaps College and his MS in Math and Computer Science from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.  He has done graduate work in engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Mississippi, and the University of Utah.

His early work included design and development of classified and unclassified Radar Algorithms at the Georgia Tech Research Institute, and expert systems for the DARPA Pilot's Associate project at the Lockheed-Georgia Company.  He designed and developed a geographical reasoning system (GIS) for the Lisp machine, and a system architecture and implementation approach for an Airborne Cockpit Environment.  He also designed and developed an Artificial Intelligence toolkit which was successfully employed in the implementation of a prototype for a NASA TDRS satellite ground terminal monitoring system.

Later, as a member of GTE's High Value Capabilities Definition & Assessment staff, Mr. Smith was involved in the development of completely new telecom services and concepts.    Projects included  Advanced Intelligent Networks (AIN), developing and testing the GTE Waltham Laboratories/Bellcore Service Control Point (SCP) platforms, Telecom'95 demonstrations, and development of the Connected Family concept.  This was a broadband-connected home and home-office environment, which could  interoperate as part of a new family of converged services.    Mr. Smith has published many internal and external documents.   Of particular interest, the strategic document: "Emerging Technologies and Trends? How Should GTE Respond?"  is a 200+ page assessment of near-term technologies which is available from the author upon request.
 

Ultra Wideband - "Megabits at Microwatts"
Paul Withington, Time Domain Corporation
9:45-10:45am

Abstract: This year, the FCC is expected to approve the commercialization of Ultra Wideband (UWB), an emerging new critical technology that has the potential to foster the development of new products and industries.  UWB could prove to be as pervasive as the Internet.  -- Examples of near-term applications are ultra-high-speed wireless networks, intelligent security zones, and through-wall motion detection.  With its capabilities further enhanced by advances in both software and hardware, UWB concepts will emerge for smart homes, smart cars, and entirely new products and applications that will take advantage of UWB’s unique technical characteristics.  Technology integrators will also be quick to understand and leverage UWB capabilities in communications and sensors for our national defense.

Time Domain Corporation claims the following for its application of this technology.   "... [it] enables high performance, high-resolution radar systems ...[which] can be range gated, have excellent clutter rejection, possess the highest resolution at the lowest possible frequency, attain excellent penetration results, and can function as both imagers and motion sensors. Unlike today's infrared and Doppler radars, PulsON® security sensors cannot be evaded - even a stealthy target would be detected! Radar applications of PulsON technology include: through-wall sensing radar, security systems tracking movement, and collision avoidance sensors for cars and boats."

"Time Domain’s PulsON technology, also known as Time-Modulated Ultra Wideband, is a UWB technology capable of spawning revolutionary products by providing secure detection, location, and communication. PulsON technology provides reliable high speed and high performance wireless networks transmitting megabits of information for many new wireless applications. PulsON technology can support high data rate links at very low power levels. Communications products will benefit from PulsON technology's excellent performance in multipath reflective environments (such as inside buildings and other highly cluttered areas), and high bandwidth, multi-channel performance. PulsON communications applications include: in-building communications systems, indoor broadband cellular phones, private radios, and wireless broadband internet access. "

Biography: This will be a presentation by Mr. Paul Withington, Vice-President and Senior Technologist of Time Domain Corporation. Mr. Withington is the company’s chief technical spokesperson and manages regulatory issues. Previously, Mr. Withington served as a strategist for BellSouth's Worldwide Wireless Strategy Group and as a senior member of The Partridge Group, a Washington, D.C., based management consulting firm specializing in mobile telephone businesses. Mr. Withington joined PulsON Communications in 1992 as its Vice President and technical spokesperson, and joined Time Domain upon its acquisition of PulsON.  He is also on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Integrated Media Systems Center at the University of Southern California. Mr. Withington, a Retired Commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve, graduated from Harvard University with a B.A. in Applied Sciences and received an M.S. in Operations Research from George Washington University.

 [*editor's note- information in quotes had been provided from the Time Domain Corporation website www.timedomain.com, and used by permission.]
 

MicroPhotonics
Theresa Maldonado, Ph.D., P.E., Program Director, National Science Foundation
11:00-12:00pm

Abstract: MIT Technology Review has called it one of the most important technologies for the new millenium.  Exactly what is MicroPhotonics?   Why are government agencies and university departments funding research into this technology, and why is it important to the engineering community?  Why should students consider this an important career possibility?  On a conceptual level, as we begin to reach the limits of semiconductor chips to perform ever faster computation due to the inherent nature of the electrical signaling used, new methods utilizing photons instead of electrons to perform communication, logic, and storage operations are being investigated.   Rapid progress is being made, driven by the defense and medical communities, and telecommunications research into fiber optic interfaces and switching mechanisms that would be optical rather than electronic in nature.  A world of unexplored opportunity lies beyond our fairly recent ability to economically measure and manipulate at the nanoscale, allowing us to create powerful new designs.  And new designs are emerging almost daily that will change the way we think about what is possible.   Smart homes, smart airplanes, smart cars, "smart people".  Ultra Low-power integrated electro/optic MEMS "piconodes", are being researched - using semiconductor lasers for baseline on-chip communication.  Photonics integration and energy scavenging may further extend the possibilities for collaborative device solutions to complex problems.  DVD's, thin screen TVs, optical RAM, desktop computers capable of solving "grand challenge" problems, and many other medical and safety related devices are becoming low-cost, everyday appliances.   What major advances are still on the horizon, and what should our expectations of their effect be?

Biography: Theresa A. Maldonado, a faculty researcher from the University of Texas at Arlington with a specialization in electo-optics, is currently serving a term as Program Director for the National Science Foundation.  She received her BEE with Highest Honors, her MSEE as an AT&T Bell Laboratories Campus Scholar, and her PhD (EE) as both Army Research Office of Science and Technology Fellow and Kodak Fellow from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Her early work at AT&T Bell Laboratories included research in the areas of crystal optics (anisotropic materials and waveguides), fiber optics, thin films, and electromagnetics.   More recent actiivties include analysis of optically anisotropic waveguides and devices, characterization of hybrid modes in biaxial waveguides of general orientation, electromagnetic theory of secon-harmonic generation in inorganic and organic electro-optic biaxial materials and waveguides of arbitrary orientation, and analysis of nonlinear anisotropic guided-mode resonance filters.

An outstanding communicator, Dr. Maldonado has received numerous professional awards - including the Presidential Young Investigator award and the  Halliburton Award for Teaching Excellence.   She has published papers on optical resonance in dielectric diffractive layers,  thin-film multilayer optical filters, optical switching, and guided-mode resonance.
 

Robokoneko- A CAM-Brain Machine
Michael Korkin, Ph.D. President, Genobyte, Inc.
1:30-3:00pm
Presentation Level: Advanced

Abstract: The main aim of the CAM-Brain Project (CBM) is to build/grow/evolve an artificial brain by 2003 with a billion artificial neurons. The CBM-designed by Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research (ATR) Institute International-comprises a real-time million-neuron modular architecture that can evolve thousands of neural networks in minutes.  As an intermediate step, a project with the goal of an artificial brain with 64,000 evolved neural network modules (each module has up to 1,152 neurons) evolved at electronic speeds inside special FPGA based hardware called a CBM (CAM-Brain Machine) was created. This brain would then be used to control the behaviors of a kitten robot that is called "Robokoneko" (robot kitten) in Japanese. The long term aim of the CAM-Brain Project is to build artificial brain-like systems formed by modular neural networks.  Tens of thousands of evolved neural modules with up to 75 million neurons can be assembled into large artificial brain-like architectures. Instead of simply using A-life software simulation on a general purpose computer, a radically different hybrid approach using evolvable hardware was investigated, opening the possibility of creating complex adaptive circuits beyond human capability to design or debug,   The process, guided by a genetic algorithm, operates on a population of circuit chromosomes.  Most importantly, evolvable hardware is adaptive at different levels, making it suitable for many design problems such as adaptation to changing requirements, changing operational environment, adaptation to partial hardware failure, and fabrication defect adaptation.

Biography: Dr. Michael Korkin, an electical engineer, has over 19 years of experience in digital hardware design and software applications development. His continuous interest in biologically inspired computation, large scale neural systems, and genetic algorithms led him to founding of Genobyte, Inc. in January, 1997.   Together with Dr. Hugo de Garis, Michael helped to create ATR's Cam-Brain project.  He is the author or co-author of many publications on evolvable hardware, and his work has been presented at such prestigious conferences as Stanford University's Genetic Programming Conference and the International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics.  His company has been featured in EE Times, Wired, Science, and Fortune.
 

Graphical Data Mining Techniques for Efficient and Balanced Clustering of Very High-Dimensional Data
Dr. Joydeep Ghosh, Director of the Laboratory for Artificial Neural Systems, Univ. of Texas at Austin
3:15-4:45pm
Presentation Level: Advanced

Abstract: This session will have three parts. First, I'll give a brief overview of some noteworthy data mining activities in Austin, both at UT and in local industry. Then I'll present a general and powerful technique for clustering or segmenting very high dimensional data sets (> 10,000 dimensions),  for which all traditional approaches such as k-means fail miserably. This technique is based on constrained, weighted graph-partitioning, and  has yielded remarkable results on real-life market basket analysis and on clustering web pages, and grouping visitors to web sites. It also leads to a simple and effective technique for visualizing the quality of clusters obtained.  Finally, time permitting, we will have an open discussion about the potentials and problems  of web mining.

Biography: Dr. Joydeep Ghosh was educated at IIT Kanpur (B. Tech  '83) and The University of Southern California (MS, Ph.D, '88). Subsequently he joined the the Department of  Electrical  and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas, Austin, where he  is a Full Professor since 1998, and holder of the Archie Straiton Endowed Fellowship.  Dr. Ghosh directs the  Laboratory  for Artificial  Neural  Systems  (LANS),  where his research group is studying the theory and applications of adaptive pattern recognition, data mining including web mining,  and multi-learner systems.  Dr. Ghosh has  published more  than 200 refereed papers and edited 8 books. He has received six best paper awards, including the  1992 Darlington Prize for the  Best Journal Paper from IEEE Circuits and Systems Society, and the Best Applications Paper at ANNIE'97. Dr.  Ghosh served as  the  general  chairman  for the SPIE/SPSE Conference on Image Processing Architectures, Santa Clara, Feb. 1990 as  Conference Co-Chair of Artificial Neural Networks in Engineering  (ANNIE)'93 -ANNIE'96, ANNIE '98-2001, and in the program or organizing committees  of several conferences on neural networks and parallel processing.   More recently, he co-organized workshops on Web Mining (with SIAM Int'l Conf. on Data Mining, 2001) and on Parallel and Distributed Data Mining (with KDD-2000). He was a plenary speaker for ANNIE'97 and letters editor for IEEE Trans.~Neural Networks (1998-2000). He is currently an associate editor of Pattern Recognition, Neural Computing Surveys and Int'l Jl. of Smart Engineering Design.
   

MetroCon 2001 - Software Track

Abstracts & Biographies

See Program Outline and Schedule
 

IP Infrastructure Update
Wassel Lewis, Ericsson
8:30-9:30am

Abstract: The number of IP service options continues to grow as customers demand faster response times, higher reliability, mission-critical and bandwidth-intensive applications, and all at wire-rate speeds.  Notwithstanding, these demands coupled with increasing pressures to keep pace with exponential growth while reducing operational costs, are forcing a critical look at underlying IP infrastructures.  Combine this with the wireless needs and eventual merging of circuit and packet switched networks, one can see the need for a unified network architecture for all services. This talk will include a discussion of several strategies that can be deployed to address elevated IP service options and take a look at the future of IP infrastructures.

Biography: Wassel Lewis, Jr. is a Service Solutions Manager for Ericsson, Inc.  Recently he has been involved with the design and testing of GPRS networks and interoperability issues associated with various core networking environments.  Currently, he is a liaison between Ericsson's sales organization and the Professional Services division.
 

J2EE at a Glance
Kyle Gabhart, Objective Solutions
9:45-10:45am

Abstract: This talk will provide an overview of the Java 2 Enterprise Edition platform (J2EE).  The J2EE platform consists of a variety of APIs that can be utilized to create robust, scalable, platform independent applications.  Java servlets, JSPs, JDBC, RMI, EJB, JNDI, JMS, JTA, and other Java APIs will be defined and their strengths and weaknesses identified.

Biography: Kyle is the Director of the Java/EJB Division of Objective Solutions Inc (www.objectsoln.com), a high-end engineering services company based in Richardson, TX.  He has given numerous presentations to local area Java Users Groups on a variety of Java and J2EE topics.  He has written numerous articles and has contributed chapters to two books, Professional Java and XML and Professional EJB Development, both by Wrox Press.  Kyle also serves as an Associate Member of the Worldwide Institute of Software Architects (www.wwisa.org).  He serves as the Subject Chair for Architectural Patterns and the moderator for a working group on certification within that organization.
 

System Development with Executable UML
Allan Kennedy, Kennedy Carter Ltd
11:00-12:00pm

Abstract: This talk will summarise the recent developments in the OMG that promise to transform the UML into a precise, executable specification language. The particular development is the submission of a proposal for a precise semantics for UML actions. With this extension, UML models can become platform independent specifications capable both of execution to validate their behavior and of translation to a wide variety of target implementations. The OMG has coined the term "Model Driven Architecture" for this capability.

Allan will illustrate the talk with examples of a practical action language for the UML that is already being used in avionics, network management and automotive applications and show how 100% code generation from executable UML models is achieved.

Biography: Allan Kennedy has consulted in software engineering methods in the area of Project Management and Planning, Requirements Management and Traceability, Quality Planning, Object Model Construction and Simulation, Software Design and Architecture Development, and Code Generator Development since the late 70's. He is CEO of Kennedy Carter Ltd, a firm that specialises in tools for executable modelling with the UML.
 

.NET Technical Overview
Brian Moore, Microsoft
1:30-3:00pm

Abstract: This session will introduce the .NET vision and strategy, as well as the technologies that support that vision. We will start by introducing .NET itself, and drill down in the individual technologies that together form the .NET Framework. Technologies covered will include a brief introduction to the .NET Enterprise Servers; the Common Language Runtime, a runtime architecture that ensures components interoperate on a revolutionary new scale; Windows Forms, the evolution of Windows rich-client forms; ASP.NET and Web Forms, the evolution and significant enhancement of the extremely successful ASP; and Web Services, Microsoft's implementation of the SOAP specification.

Demo File.  Click Here to Download Code Samples discussed during the Presentation (ZIP file, 903kb)

Biography: Brian Moore is a Senior Technology Specialist and Microsoft Certified Solution Developer with over a decade of industry experience, both as an in house developer for the Principal Financial Group and as a consultant for Perot Systems Corporation. Having spent nearly eight years with the Dallas-based systems integrator, Brian worked for numerous customers in a variety of roles. His most recent role was as a Windows DNA architect and Visual Basic development specialist. His primary focus had been to help accounts and sales teams define technology solutions and design multi-tier Microsoft-based architectures.  His primary areas of expertise are Visual Basic and COM+, with heavy emphasis placed on the Windows DNA architecture. His secondary areas of concentration include ASP, HTML, DHTML and JavaScript building web-based solutions with Visual InterDev, as well as data access solutions using ADO and SQL Server. Brian also has had exposure to Java, XML and SOAP, as well as project planning and management. Brian's specializes in explaining and relating benefits of Microsoft's developer tools and serves as the Microsoft South Central District .NET field champ and technology evangelist.
 

Licensing and Certification Panel
Panel Leader: Allen Perkins, Kevco
3:15-4:45pm

Abstract: TBD

Panel Biographies:

David Hecksel is a Senior Java Architect at Sun Microsystems. David works with Fortune 1000 companies on application architecture, design, and Java technologies. Prior to Sun, David was the visionary and CTO at Axtive Software in Dallas where he and his team invented, architected, and delivered a leading edge Web Personalization Server. Axtive was subsequently purchased by Remedy (RMDY) software in February 2000. David has presented at JavaOne three times: Architecture and lightweight methodology (2001), Servlets (1999), and Swing (1998).
 
   

MetroCon 2001 - Telecom Track

Abstracts & Biographies

See Program Outline and Schedule

Next-Generation Networks Architecture, Protocols, and Implementation
Woody Wu, Santera Systems
8:30-9:30am

Abstract: This presentation covers the architecture for NGN with the discussion on NGN elements --- MG (Media Gateway), MGC (Media Gateway Controller), and SGW (Signalling Gateway), followed by the major NGN protocols --- Megaco/H.248 and SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

Biography: Mr. Wu has 13-years of experience in the telecommunication industry working for NEC, Ericsson, MCIWorldCom, and Santera Systems. He has worked on Class 4/5, AIN/IN, Wireless, TMN, ATM, and VoIP technologies. During his career, he served various roles including patent engineer, standard engineer, system engineer, designer, tester, quality assurance engineer, technical instructor, and lecturer at University of Texas at Dallas. He is currently with Santera Systems, which he said is “a great start-up company”. He received his M.S. in Telecommunications degree with straight A/A- from Southern Methodist University and holding four (4) patents in SS7, AIN/IN, and Wireless areas.
 

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) for High Speed Mobile Internet
James Shi, Ericsson
9:45-10:45am

Abstract: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a major step for GSM and TDMA operators, enabling them to transition their core network from circuit-switched to packet-switched.  As we approach widespread commercial availability of GPRS in the US, this session will discuss the basics of GPRS, including the protocol stack, core network architecture, network operating modes, terminal classes, throughput capabilities of the technology, and Quality of Service.  The talk will include a discussion about the killer applications likely to be seen in the marketplace, and the relationship between GPRS and other Mobile Internet technologies such as WAP, EDGE, Bluetooth, and W-CDMA.

Biography: James Shi received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1995. His Ph.D. research was on fiber optical networks and network survivability. He is a senior staff engineer at Ericsson, where he works on wireless system design and optimization. His recent project included GPRS optimization with a major wireless operator. The author of over 20 technical papers, he also has 3 US patents pending in wireless internet technology.
 

The “Mobile IP Effect”: from 3G mobile networks to the future wireless Internet
Stefano Faccin, Nokia
11:00-12:00pm
Abstract: In recent years, cellular networks have been evolving very rapidly both in terms of radio interfaces and network infrastructure. With the enourmous success of Internet, IP technologies have been making their way into cellular networks leading to cellular systems such as 3GPP UMTS. In the last couple of years, emerging technologies and concept such as Mobile IP and AAA are creating more opportunity for IP to become the main building block of future cellular networks and not just the final product delivered to the mobile node. In this presentation, the speaker provides a description of what aspects are being influenced by the Mobile IP effect, how they will evolve in the next years, and what will be the impact on cellular networks as we know them nowadays.

Biography: Stefano M. Faccin received his M.S. degree in Computer Science and Telecommunications from the Politectico di Torino in 1995. From 1994 to 1198, Stefano worked in Italy at Telecom Italia Lab, the research center of Telecom Italia, in the Mobile Network groups leading a project on third generation mobile networks and focusing on mobility and security issues.  Stefano works at Nokia Research Center as an Assistant Research Manager and leads a technical team working on the design and prototyping of mobile network architectures for the future Internet. Stefano focuses in particular on wireless and cellular IP network architectures for the future Internet. Stefano's interests include IP based network architectures and topics related to network mobility issues.  Stefano is author of 6 technical papers and has 36 US patents pending in wireless Internet technology.
 

Tutorial: A Comparative Study of UMTS (WCDMA) and CDMA2000 Networks
Neerav Dalal, Senior Consultant, Award Solutions
1:30-3:00pm
Presentation Level: Advanced

Abstract: Third generation wireless systems promise to provide advanced and enhanced services requiring very high data rates compared to 2nd generation wireless systems.  UMTS and cdma2000 are two third generation networks which will deployed through out the world.  These two systems are successors to GSM/GPRS/IS-136 and IS95 system which are currently deployed across the world.   In this presentation, an end-to-end view of both systems is covered. The cdma2000 and WCDMA radio interfaces are compared.  They are compared and analyzed based on a number of factors.  Some of these factors are chip rate, modulation and encoding techniques, power control, handoffs, spreading and channelization codes and others. We will also present network architectures of both systems. The network architectures of two systems are compared for roaming, billing and services aspects. Some of the services envisioned for both networks will be explored. We will cover backward compatibility and evolution from 2nd generation networks. Finally, We will review current spectrum allocation, deployment situation and major industry players.

Biography: Neerav Dalal has over 10 years of industry experience in the area of software, systems engineering and standards representation in the field of wireless and data communication.  In his role as a senior consultant at Award Solutions, he is responsible for IS-95 and CDMA2000 training and course development. In addition, Neerav provides instructor-led classroom training for several of the top telecom companies. His focus is on 2G and 3G CDMA wireless networks, namely, IS-95, CDMA2000 and UMTS. Neerav is also responsible for coordinating eLearning course development at Award Solutions.  In his previous role as Manager of Wireless Standards and Systems Engineering at Samsung, Neerav was responsible for coordinating and representing Samsung to 3rd generation global wireless standards development in both CDMA air and network interface committees of TR45 and 3GPP2. He served as the vice-chair of the working group of CDMA air interface signaling and protocol development. Neerav was also responsible for system engineering and architecture of Samsung’s 2nd and 3rd generation CDMA products and contributed to the software development of the BSS product. He contributed in creating intellectual property by filing for 5 patent applications and received Samsung’s distinguished Most Frequent Patent Filer award.  As a software engineer and lead architect at Nortel Networks, Neerav participated in several software development projects from inception to integration and field deployments. Neerav had been involved in projects ranging from inter-exchange carrier switching software, Service Node and 2nd generation CDMA BSC development and received various awards including Award of Merit and Excellence.  Prior to his roles at Nortel, Neerav had worked in software industry as project lead and software engineer for over 3 years.  Neerav received his masters in computer science from Michigan State University and MBA in Telecommunications from University of Dallas and has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at University of Texas, Dallas and Michigan State University.
 

Panel Discussion: Wireless Carriers - Lessons Learned
Panel Leader: Peter Wang, Nokia
3:15-4:45pm

Abstract: Overview and discussion of issues and problems encountered in the design, construction, optimization and operation of wireless networks, with special attention to broken processes and incorrect assumptions made, their consequences and benefits gained from their correction.

Biographies:

Kevin Mize, Voicestream
Mr Mize has 9 years of experience in the wireless industry.  After beginning his wireless career with Southwestern Bell Mobile Systems (now Cingular Wireless) in Oklahoma City, he joined Western Wireless/Voicestream in July 1996 as RF Engineering Manager for the OKC network buildout.  Following the OKC launch in November 1996, Mr. Mize also supervised the design and optimization of the Tulsa WWC/Voicestream network (launched in June 1997) and integration of the Wichita market joint venture between Voicestream and Omnipoint (launched in November 1997).  He came to the Dallas market in April 2000 and managed the final design and optimization in preparation for its November 2000 launch.  Mr. Mize currently has responsibility for the management of design and performance activities in the greater DFW area, and is coordinating RF Engineering activities for the 2001 new coverage areas of Shreveport, Abilene and Wichita Falls.

Ahmad Armand, Verizon
Ahmad Armand is presently a Senior Member of Technical Staff in the Advanced Technology & Strategy Group at Verizon Wireless. He is currently working on network planning projects related to the 3G and beyond, including wireless data, 3G spectrum, and IP Core networks. He has more than twenty years of experience in the telecommunication field, including various positions in the wireless industry dealing with the design, optimization, operation, and evolution of CDMA networks. Prior to work in the cellular industry, he was an Associate Professor and Chairman at the Electrical Engineering Department of Wilkes University involved in teaching and research in the communication area. Dr. Armand holds a Ph.D. degree from University of Southern California, and B.S. and M.S. degrees from Shiraz University, all in electrical engineering.
   

MetroCon 2001

Registration

MetroCon is hosted by the IEEE Fort Worth Section and organized by the officers of the section.  This year's key organizers are:
 

Chairman John Oberkrom AO Associates j.oberkrom@ieee.org (817) 461-6867 Vice-Chairman Thomas Sears Motorola thomas.sears@ieee.org (817) 245-6488

Enabling Technologies Track Chair Ed Safford Lockheed Martin e.safford@ieee.org (817) 763-7696 Software Track Chair Allen Perkins Kevco aperkins@ieee.org (817) 885-0050

Telecom Track Chair Peter Wang Nokia peter.wang@nokia.com (972) 894-4696 Awards Chair Diane Collier TU Electric d.b.collier@ieee.org (214) 812-8471