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Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis for Microwave and Photonic Devices

February 10, 2010 – 2:10 pm
February 19, 2010
12:30 pmto1:30 pm

The IEEE Canadian Atlantic Section Signal Processing and Microwave Society Chapter wishes to invite you to the following seminar event.

Title:        Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis for Microwave and Photonic Devices
Speaker: Dr. Mohamed H. Bakr, Associate Professor, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Time:       12:30pm-1:30pm, Friday, February 19, 2010
Place:       Room A103, Sexton Campus, 1360 Barrington St., Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Abstract:
In this presentation, we review the recent developments in adjoint sensitivity analysis of high frequency structures.  Adjoint techniques aim at efficiently estimating the sensitivities of the desired response with respect to all designable parameter.  Traditional Finite Difference (FD) approaches require at least n extra simulations per gradient estimation for a structure with n designable parameters.  The more accurate Central Finite Differences (CFD) requires 2n extra simulations per gradient estimation.  The adjoint approaches, on the other hand, require only one extra simulation regardless of the number of designable parameters.  In some cases, no extra simulations are required and the original simulation is sufficient to estimate the response and its sensitivity as well.  These self-adjoint approaches are applicable to the case of network parameters.

Adjoint sensitivity approaches have been applied with a number of numerical Electromagnetic (EM) techniques such as the FDTD method, the TLM method, the FEM method, and the Method of Moments (MoM).  It has been applied for efficient design of microwave filters and antennas.  More recently, it has been applied to sensitivity analysis of photonic devices with the Beam Propagation Method (BPM) and the FDTD method.  It has been also applied to microwave imaging where the number of unknowns in the optimization problem is huge.  We give a number of examples illustrating the application of adjoint sensitivity analysis to these different fields.

About the Speaker:
Mohamed H. Bakr received a B.Sc. degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt in 1992 with distinction (honors).  In June 1996, he received a Master’s degree in Engineering Mathematics from Cairo University. In 1997, he was a student intern with Optimization Systems Associates (OSA), inc.  From 1998 to 2000, he worked as a research assistant with the Simulation Optimization Systems (SOS) research laboratory, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.  He earned the Ph.D. degree in September 2000 from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University.  In November 2000, he joined the Computational Electromagnetics Research Laboratory (CERL), University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada as an NSERC Post Doctoral Fellow.  His research areas of interest include optimization methods, computer-aided design and modeling of microwave and photonic circuits, neural network applications, smart analysis of microwave circuits, efficient optimization using time/frequency domain methods, and bioelectromagnetism. He is currently an associate professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, McMaster University.  Dr. Bakr was a recipient of a Premier’s Research Excellence Award (PREA) from the province of Ontario, Canada, in 2003.

Contact: Dr. Zhizhang (David) Chen, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Dalhousie University
       Email: z.chen@dal.ca
       Tel:    (902) 494-6042

By Scott Melvin | Posted in Events, Signal Processing Society-Microwave Theory and Techniques Society Joint Chapter | Comments (0)

IEEE CAS AGM 2009

January 19, 2010 – 6:08 pm
January 22, 2010
5:00 pmto9:30 pm

“Women in Engineering can now do more Engineering then Trail Blazing”

by Elizabeth Blanchette
DND Maritime Atlantic Formation Technical Authority

Friday, January 22, 2010 @ 5:00 pm

Dalhousie University Club
Alumni Crescent (off of South St.)
<http://universityclub.dal.ca/index.html>

RSVP to Phil Zinck <Phil.Zinck@stantec.com> by January 14, 2010

Biography:

Elizabeth Blanchette is a Senior Engineer in DND¹s Maritime Atlantic Formation Technical Authority.  She has 25 years of experience as an engineer and project manager within the private and public sectors, having worked in federal government departments, military manufacturing, engineering consulting and IT services. In addition to her Engineering and Science undergraduate degrees and Masters Certificate in Project Management, she recently completed her Masters in Public Administration (Management). She is a past member of the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Elizabeth resides in Dartmouth with her husband and her two children Matthew and Mark.

Timing:

5:00  Networking / Drinks
5:30  AGM (Business Meeting) for IEEE Members
                 (Networking) for guests
7:00  Dinner / “The Personal” Presentation
7:20             / Invited Speaker Introduction
7:30             / Invited Speaker’s Presentation
8:30  Awards
8:40  Wrap-Up / Final Announcements
8:45  Good-byes / Networking
9:30  Done!

Cost:

$35 for IEEE members or PMI members
$45 for guests
$20 for IEEE student members

Payment:

Cheque or Cash at the door
(Receipts will be provided)

By Scott Melvin | Posted in Canadian Atlantic Section, Events, Women in Engineering Affinity Group | Comments (0)

Coordination of Offer Validity Intervals in Multi-Agent Automated Negotiation

October 2, 2009 – 9:17 pm
October 21, 2009
5:30 pmto7:30 pm

The Inaugural Event of the CAS Computational Intelligence Chapter

by Dr. Scott Buffet
5:30 pm, October 21, 2009

St. Francis Xavier University
Room 403, Old Municipal Building
42 West St, Antigonish, Nova Scotia

— OR —

Cape Breton University
Room T7, Technology Enterprise Center (TEC) Building
1250 Grand Lake Rd, Sydney, Cape Breton

Abstract

Entities that operate within complex computing environments, such as multi-agent systems, face several challenges when it comes to collaborative problem solving. In such systems where there is no central authority to determine optimal global solutions and to allocate tasks to individual agents, it is the responsibility of the participating agents to design potential solutions, communicate those proposed solutions with other required individuals, and ultimately make decisions on how to proceed. Given the possibly many candidate collaborations for solving a given problem, agents must negotiate with a number of potential collaborators in an effort to obtain the best set of contributions that will form a complete solution. Each time a contribution is proposed, the agent will await a response indicating whether the potential collaborator accepts the terms, declines or prefers an alternative. Since these collaborators may themselves be waiting for responses in other negotiations before answering, the sporadic and uncertain nature of response times to the agent’s proposals can cause decision-making to become problematic.

This talk will discuss the general problem of coordination in multi-agent negotiation, and offer solutions for building optimal collaborations, choosing contributions to request from each collaborator, determining optimal future times to elicit responses, and coordinating these responses with critical decision points. An application of this work known as OmniBid, which acts as an online marketplace and uses such a multi-agent system to negotiate purchases of goods and services, will also be introduced.

Bio

Scott Buffett is a Research Officer in the Internet Logic group at the National Research Council, Institute of Information Technology in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and an Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Computer Science at the University of New Brunswick. Scott has been with NRC since 2002, originally joining as a visiting worker while studying at UNB, and subsequently moving to his current position shortly before completing his PhD in 2004. His research interests lie in various areas related to artificial intelligence, including automated negotiation, preference elicitation, intelligent agents and multi-agent systems, with a focus on applying this work to contribute to innovation in the field of electronic commerce.

By MLamoureux | Posted in Canadian Atlantic Section, Events | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Engineering Project Managers: Real-life Stories from Women in the Field

September 29, 2009 – 9:11 pm
October 14, 2009
5:00 pmto8:00 pm


CANCELLED

Regrettably, due to logistical issues, this event had to be canceled. The intent is to reschedule it for 2010. If you previously registered and paid, you have the option of applying your payment to the November PMAC event or receiving a full refund. Please contact PMI for more information.

The Project Management Institute Nova Scotia Chapter and IEEE Canadian Atlantic Section Women in Engineering (WIE) affinity group invite you to this unique event.

  • Are you a female engineer interested in meeting other women in the field?
  • Are you an engineer interested in finding out more information regarding how to break into the project management field?

Guest speakers, Maureen Connolly, Debra McLellan, and Elizabeth Blanchette will share their real-life stories as Project Management Professionals (PMPs) and engineers.

We would strongly encourage attendees to arrive as early as possible to attend the networking time in order to take full advantage of this event. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet, network, and share stories with female engineers and engineering project managers working in industry.

If you are interested in seeing more events like this in the future, please join IEEE WIE to show your support and help us make it happen.

Registration www.pmi.ns.ca

Maureen Connolly is a Senior Consultant/Project Manager with Concertia Technologies Inc. She has 25+ years experience spanning health, education, information technology and natural resources industries. She began her career as a Professional Industrial Engineer (P.Eng.) in the 80’s. She obtained her Masters degree in Business Administration (MBA) in the 90’s. Maureen has a Masters Certificate in Project Management, and Project Management Professional (PMP) Certification. She is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia (APENS), Project Management Institute (PMI), Disaster Recovery Institute (DRI) and the Canadian Association of Management Consultants (CAMC). Maureen resides in Halifax, NS with Don, and her children, Kathleen, Molly, Joe and Deirdre.

Debra McLellan, P. Eng., MSc, PMP, is a Project Manager with Nova Scotia Power Inc. She is currently managing the Mercury Abatement Program consisting of the installation of seven mercury capture systems at three of Nova Scotia Power’s generating stations. Previous construction projects include the installation of low nitrogen oxides (NOx) combustion firing systems on six generating units. Before becoming a full time Project Manager, Debra worked as an Environmental Engineer in the management of monitoring and remediation programs. She is a member of the PMI Utility Industry and Women in PM (WiPM) Specific Interest Groups, and is currently participating in the WiPM e-mentoring program.

Elizabeth Blanchette is a Senior Engineer in DND’s Maritime Atlantic Formation Technical Authority. She has 25 years experience as an engineer and project manager with the private and public sectors having worked in federal government departments, military manufacturing, engineering consulting and IT services. In addition to her Engineering and Science undergraduate degrees and Masters Certificate in Project Management, she recently completed her Masters in Public Administration (Management). She is a past member of the Nova Scotia Advisory Council on the Status of Women. Elizabeth resides in Dartmouth with her husband and her two children Matthew and Mark.

WIE
By MLamoureux | Posted in Canadian Atlantic Section, Events, Women in Engineering Affinity Group | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Renew Your 2010 IEEE Membership Now!

September 25, 2009 – 5:58 pm

You don’t have to wait until December to renew your IEEE membership, you can do so right now! All you have to do is login to My IEEE account and select the renewal option.

While you’re at it, why not add a new society or affinity group membership? The Canadian Atlantic Section added two chapters and two affinity groups this year. So, when you renew, consider joining one or more of the following (if you are not already a member):

Women In Engineering
Anyone can be a member!

The Joint Circuits & Systems and Solid State Circuits Society
The Communications Society
The Computational Intelligence Society
The Computer Society
The Oceanic Engineering Society
The Joint Power & Energy and Industrial Applications Society
The Joint Signal Processing and Microwave Theory and Techniques Society

It’s easy. Once you’re logged into to My IEEE:

(1) Hover over “My Account” until the pop-up menu appears
(2) Choose “Add Membership Options”
(3) Add WIE and / or the societies of your choice

By MLamoureux | Posted in Canadian Atlantic Section | Tagged , , | Comments (0)
 
 
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