During the course of the 2006 publishing year, we will be adding several new features that will provide a slightly different point of view than the information that we have previously published in the past. This new content falls into two basic areas:
1) reader letters feature entitled “Your Comments”;
2) a monthly column called “Point of View.”
Below are some descriptive details on each new proposed feature.
1. Your Comments: This letters feature will give all readers a means to express their points of view with regards to what has been published in our journal and what should be published in the future, or a note on anything else that they wish to share with fellow readers. The decision on what is published will of course reside with the editors.
2. The Point of View monthly feature will focus on various technical topics of interest. This paper will be developed using three approaches or themes. There will be papers authored by the Editor-in-Chief or his designee on the Editorial Board. In addition, we will sometimes publish papers written by other groups or societies that our readers might not normally be in a position to read. And, on some occasions, we will present opinions that are garnered from beyond the normal boundaries of electrical and computer engineering and computer science, when the editors have decided that the opinion or information in a particular field is worthy of presentation to our readers for the purposes of professional enrichment. (This would include papers written by experts in any technical, scientific, medical, or business field.) We sincerely hope that our readers will like these changes, and we look forward to your feedback. We also hope you will enjoy the content we are planning to publish during 2006.
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The world continues to “go digital.” We kicked off our publishing year in January with a special issue on Global Digital Television: Technology and Emerging Services. Digital television (DTV) broadcasting permits a level of flexibility unattainable with analog broadcasting and moves the television experience closer to the interactive world of computers. DTV has an inherent flexibility to expand system functions. This special issue reviews the three major technologies: the Advanced Television Systems Committee
(ATSC) digital television standard, the DVB technology system, and the integrated services digital broadcasting (ISDB) system. An introduction provides an overview of the technological aspects of each of these three systems; papers delineate the implementation, operation, and technology of each approach.
Three of our issues in 2006 focus on the implications of computers and their applications in security and medicine:
Cryptography and Security Issues: Electronic systems and infrastructures which support electronic transactions are susceptible to abuse, misuse, and failure in many ways. Ideally, a secure system is one which always enables authorized users to access system services, and never allows unauthorized users to do so. This special issue provides a fine selection of papers, authored by eminent researchers and practitioners from academia and from industry, which describe the state of the art and discuss the future trends of security technologies.
Biometrics: Sensors, Algorithms and Systems: The broad field of biometrics includes the design of sensors, algorithms, and system integration and performance characterization. This special issue addresses in a comprehensive manner all aspects of biometrics. Specifically, the issue focuses on design methodologies, multimodal biometrics, and performance characterization as well as discussions on social acceptability and the tradeoffs between losing some privacy in exchange for enhanced security.
The Physiome: In Silico Living Human: Computational modeling and information technology in biology and medicine is beginning to have a major role in the interdisciplinary attempt to elucidate functions of living systems. Physics, chemistry, applied mathematics and engineering science are all needed to design relevant in silico biological and physiological models. The “targets” to be modeled range from molecules, genes, proteins, cells, substructures, organs, and systems up to complete organisms, including human beings.
This special issue provides a survey of the state of the art and the major perspectives on integrative physiology applied to realize a more global picture of living systems and, ultimately, to achieve a better understanding of the functions of the patient.
Two issues explore important topics in semiconductors:
Systems on a Chip: Integration and Packaging: “System on a chip” (SoC) is a general phrase applied to a wide variety of issues associated with the fabrication of large systems in advanced deep submicrometer (DSM) technologies. (Admittedly, the understanding of the meaning of SoC does vary somewhat.) This special issue discusses and surveys the following issues: evolution; design problems and tools; taxonomy; problems; roadmap; advanced and emerging technologies; disparate technologies; microsystem integration; applications both current and future; and market projections. Coverage expands on the thrust that market forces are accelerating the demand for SoCs and simultaneously shrinking the time required to design, produce, and ramp up (in volume) these complex parts.
On-Chip Thermal Engineering: Heating effects and thermal management are among the key factors limiting the performance of future integrated circuit chips. As feature sizes decrease and clock frequencies increase, overall power dissipation and heat generation density both increase. This limits the ultimate performance of the chip and raises issues related to electromigration and oxide breakdown, which are both exponentially dependent on temperature. This special issue deals with topics ranging from device and circuit models, power, and temperature-aware VLSI design, to various packaging and material limitations and different liquid, microchannel, or solid-state cooling solutions. It demonstrates the significance and importance of on-chip thermal engineering.
Two special issues focus on two areas of growing importance in the field of robotics:
Medical Robotics: This special issue takes a “holistic” approach with regards to treatments available for patients, and thus we adopt the broader view that the term “medical robotics” implies. This issue is composed of papers not only on robotics technologies for surgical planning and execution, but also on rehabilitation robotics and assistive robotics, where human-robot interaction is used to retrain and restore neuromotor function and to assist the elderly and disabled in activities of daily living, respectively.
Multirobot Systems: A system with multiple robots can achieve more robust and effective behavior. Consequently, teams of homogeneous and heterogeneous robots have a great potential for application in a variety of complex fields that require the intelligent merging of diverse capabilities. The design, implementation, and evaluation of robotic teams pose several scientific and technical challenges. This special issue covers different characteristics, including cooperation, large-scaled systems, learning, architectures, biological-inspired systems, adversarial domains, and reconfigurability.
We have two very different special issues that cover very different subjects in the optics and display areas:
Next-Generation Optical Nets: Everyone knows it: optical communications has taken a major hit in the past half-dozen years. At the end of the 1990s, capital expenditures went so high that overinvestment resulted in a severe downturn, transforming fast growth into a real disaster. Technology, however, continues to move forward. What are the new potential innovations for future optical networks? This special issue focuses on some of the technologies that have survived the past troubled times, and our theme with this issue is to illustrate possible evolutionary paths of optical networks in the future.
Three-Dimensional (3-D) Technologies for Imaging and Display: This issue describes recent developments, as well as the prospects and challenges facing 3-D imaging, visualization, and display systems. Topics include binocular, multiview, integral imaging, and computational holography.Applications include reproduction techniques for 3-D imaging and display, processing and recognition systems, medical applications, and homeland security systems.
And finally, we have two very important special issues covering the hydrogen economy and networked control systems:
The Hydrogen Economy: The special issue takes a look at “The Hydrogen Economy: Its Impact on the Future of Electricity” and describes what a hydrogen-based economy would look like, what the technologies would be, and what impact it would have on our society. Topics covered include hydrogen production, its delivery infrastructure, power generation technologies, system interface issues, case studies from North America, Europe, and Japan, and how hydrogen fuel will impact the future delivery of electric energy
Technology of Networked Control Systems: This special issue covers the state of the art regarding current and soon-to-appear applications. It reports a wide range of current basic research dealing with ad hoc networks of spatially distributed systems, system-dependent data rate requirements in digital feedback channels, real-time fusion and registration of data from distributed heterogeneous sensors, and the current state of the theory of cooperative control which governs the design and operation of device networks.
Regular Papers:The ultimate goal is to publish a wide selection of informative tutorial and survey papers in regular papers issues, which will provide insight into other technologies, both inside as well as outside of readers’ specialties. Each regular paper will continue to be highlighted by an introductory prolog to provide added informational value to our readers.
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