Standards Focus

Standard Gives Boost to Promising New Field of Psychotherapy

As a form of psychotherapeutic treatment, "neurofeedback is drug-free, it's much more natural, yet it has an efficacy comparable to drugs with none of the side effects," says Tom Collura, founder of BrainMaster Technologies. "But the field is so new-98% of the profession doesn't know it exists-that it's hard to gain acceptance for it. In that sense, we're a hundred years behind our competition."

That's why Collura's and other companies in the nascent field came together two years ago to work out an entity-based standard, IEEE 2010™-2012, Recommended Practice for Neurofeedback Systems, which has now been approved. Collura sees the value in having a standard for a non-pharmaceutical treatment as being "much the same as with a drug-you're ensuring uniformity from different manufacturers, in our case in the kind of information that operators see from the system, and in terms of testing documentation."

The standard sets minimum requirements ensuring that systems provide effective and meaningful feedback, so that system operators-who include psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers and counselors-can understand and interpret results effectively for their patients' benefit.

For Collura, developing a standard through IEEE was "an important step toward getting neurofeedback accepted and respected. So that manufacturers can point to a standard and say, we're in compliance with that-our device works the way it should. That's very important to a new field like neurofeedback, having that level of established credibility."

Learn more about IEEE 2010™-2012

Welcome to My Cloud: Making Interoperability Work for the Intercloud

"There are a lot of choices in how you construct a cloud," says David Bernstein of IEEE. Some of it depends on what you intend to do with it-a high-performance computing cloud will be different in speed and robustness from a general hosting cloud, or an inexpensive backup and storage cloud. For now, that means clouds are constructed for their own particular purposes, with little thought of how they'll interact. But for Bernstein, they're following a well-worn path that inevitably leads to greater interoperability. "It's a lot like the internet itself," he says. "We started with all these providers who were closed worlds, like Compuserve and AOL, and over time they learned to open up and interact with each other through things like email, and that's what made the internet."

Except it didn't just happen; email was able to forge connections between providers because standards were created which made those connections workable. And that's what Bernstein sees beginning to happen in cloud computing- the creation of what they're calling the Intercloud, much of it through the standards process at IEEE.

While many aspects of cloud computing such as security governance and compliance were already covered by existing trade associations, members of IEEE began looking for gaps where IEEE's long history with standards could be beneficial. Groups have begun working under the IEEE P2300 series designation on Intercloud Interoperability, and the first two standards are now under way:

• IEEE P2301™, Guide for Cloud Portability and Interoperability Profiles (CPIP), will establish a collection of profiles to put standards in categories "so people can make sense of them," Bernstein says.
• IEEE P2302™, Standard for Intercloud Interoperability and Federation (SIIF), takes this a step further by defining topology, functions, and governance for cloud-to-cloud interoperability and federation.

The analogy to how the internet learned to establish common ground and interoperability is not merely a figure of speech. The working group has taken inspiration from how the internet progressed and seeks to make history repeat itself where it can. As Bernstein puts it, "when you look at interoperability, the public internet structure, governance-it works. It's been an incredible success that's changed our lives." The goal is to make it possible for it to happen again, with cloud computing.

Learn what two IEEE senior members who are experts in the field have to say about these issues and more.
Watch the IEEE.tv segment on Cloud Computing featuring an interview with IEEE-SA director of corporate programs Mary Lynne Nielsen.
Learn about the IEEE Computer and the IEEE Communications societies' work in the area.

Bringing India to the Table: IEEE-SA Outreach in Bangalore

One of the fastest-growing countries in the world for interest in engineering and technology is India, and Indian companies are increasingly important players in the global standards process. Some of these companies had a chance to sit down with representatives from the IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group (CAG) this March in Bangalore and New Delhi, presenting their needs and expectations to CAG members and learning about IEEE programs. The businesses of these companies are diverse, ranging from IT to electric utilities, reflecting IEEE's broad scope of technical interest and appeal in India. This visit continued a consistent outreach program in India that the CAG began for IEEE-SA in 2010.

In addition, the CAG ran a workshop on electric design automation standards, hosted by Broadcom India, in Bangalore. Attended by over 50 engineers, this informative session was very well received. The CAG also ran informal seminars at companies and universities while in Bangalore. The visits and programs explored areas of opportunity and interest in India that will be expanded by IEEE-SA in the future.

CAG chair Dennis Brophy says the outreach efforts uniformly exceeded expectations, with strong, informed discussions at each session, and positive response from potential corporate members. IEEE-SA looks forward to India's growing participation in the global standardization processes of IEEE.

Unifying the World of SIEPON for Home Fiber-Optic Technology

"SIEPON, Service Interoperability in Ethernet Passive Optical Networks, is about bringing fiber-optic technology to the home," says Glen Kramer of Broadcom. "The existing standards only covered low-level physical functions- they weren't enough to define complete systems. The result of that was that many operators- NTT, China Telecom, Korea Telecom, and so on- developed their own specs, resulting in, effectively, separate standards."

This was problematic enough when this involved major national providers in different countries, but as competing secondary carriers appeared, they too had to decide which standard to follow-or whether to create their own. This was also a challenge for manufacturers, who had to plan for compatibility with an ever-growing list of operators. In 2009, the SIEPON entity-based IEEE standards project was launched to bring this rapidly-diverging world back together under IEEE P1904.1™.

Looking at what had been deployed, the IEEE P1904.1™ working group found that "all existing standards could be accommodated under three packages," says Kramer, which could be flexible enough to accommodate new features using a unified, well-understood language. In the process of creating IEEE P1904.1™-Conformance01, Draft Standard for Conformance Test Procedures for Service Interoperability in Ethernet Passive Optical Networks, SIEPON pioneered a way of working to produce standards and conformance tests in parallel. "The usual way is to develop the standard, and then an entirely separate group develops the conformance tests. This way, the standard was developed at the same time as the IEEE Industry Standards and Technology Organization (IEEE-ISTO) was working on a certification program, and they could influence the standard as it was being developed. It was a very efficient way to work," Kramer says.

Of course, a key part of this was having buy-in from industry so they'd adopt the new standard and not continue creating diverging specs. 29 different companies have been involved in the entity standards-development process, and the result has met with near-universal acceptance. "It was key to the project that it became an international standard from a respected organization. It removes the incentive to deploy something new; carriers know that they have three choices and don't have to waste their resources developing their own. IEEE was a unifying force in the industry."

See more about IEEE P1904.1™-Conformance01

Learn about the last SEIPON seminar

Defining Camera Phone Quality- So You Don't Have To Just Know It When You See It

What defines picture quality in a device such as a camera phone? Is it raw numbers of pixels and processing power? Or is it more intangible issues of color saturation, lifelike representation of flesh tones, clarity or depth of field? The answer is yes to all of these... in different ways under different picture-taking circumstances. But even if ultimately beauty (or realism) is in the eye of the beholder, there's a need for quantifiable, objective standards that can define camera quality for consumers- not just in phones but in a whole array of communication devices presently on or coming to the market.

I3A (the International Imaging Industry Association) began a project to develop such standards called CPIQ, the Camera Phone Image Quality initiative, in 2007. Now IEEE has taken over CPIQ and all of its assets to complete that work with the development of IEEE P1858™, Standard for Camera Phone Image Quality. This standard will define the fundamental attributes of image quality, and it will create a standardized suite of objective and subjective test methods for measuring camera phone image quality attributes, along with specifying tools and test methods to facilitate standards-based communication and comparison among carriers, handset manufacturers, and component vendors.

"It's not just about the megapixels," says George John, interim chair of the IEEE P1858 working group and principal program manager with Microsoft. "Camera phones are the device of choice with consumers, but they need a more accurate and reliable way to ensure that the camera phones they purchase deliver the image quality they desire. IEEE provides the ideal environment-tremendous worldwide and technological scope, proven abilities for building consensus and a globally respected standards-development process-for building on I3A's groundbreaking work."

See more about IEEE P1858™

Driving the Growth of Ethernet Passive Optical Networks in Our Daily Lives

Look at an aspect of our lives that wireless technology doesn't touch yet- and it's a safe bet that it will in some way within the next few years. IEEE-SA is developing new standards to help guide the ongoing growth of wireless technology-and, more importantly, functionality for the people and organizations who use it.

Among the latest proposed standards on which work has begun is one designed to help foster the growth of Ethernet Passive Optical Networks in a cost-effective way. IEEE P802.3bk™, "Draft Standard for Information technology--Telecommunications and information exchange between systems--Local and metropolitan area networks--Specific requirements Part 3: Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications Amendment: Physical Layer Specifications and Management Parameters for Extended Ethernet Passive Optical Networks," is being developed to extend the optical loss budgets supported by Ethernet Passive Optical Networks (EPONs). In this way, the individually-based standard would be designed to support broadband service providers in utilizing EPONs for higher-density and longer-reach applications, while optimizing costs of ownership.

See more about IEEE P802.3bk™

CALL FOR CANDIDATES

Help Drive the Future of Innovation as a Candidate for the IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group

Want to play a greater role in shaping the IEEE-SA Corporate Program? The IEEE-SA is currently seeking candidates and running elections for service on the 2013-2014 IEEE-SA Corporate Advisory Group (CAG).

Elections for two member-at-large positions on the CAG will be held starting in August. IEEE-SA corporate member representative should be on the lookout for their email ballots for these positions.

There are also appointed positions available. Positions start in January 2013 and serve through the end of 2014.

These are non-funded positions. Members are expected to fund their own travel. If you would like to be considered for the 2013-2014 IEEE-SA CAG, please provide a brief, one-page bio with complete contact information to Mary Lynne Nielsen.

See more information about the CAG