IEEE R8 SPC 2012 – I phase

IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest 2012 was announced beginning June 2011. The deadline to submit Student Branches best papers to R8 contest was December 15, 2011. 

Within the SPC 2012 campaign the following activities were realized, mainly by emails:

• Beginning June 2011 a SPC 2012 email call with essential SPC data and rules was sent to all R8 SB chairs.
• The same email was also sent to all SB counsellors.
• Different versions of the SPC call were sent to SB chairs and counsellors three more times.
• All Region 8 IEEE student members got two times emails with information about various Students’ activities, including SPC.
• A short article about SPC was published on the front page in Region 8 News September issue.
• Section chairs, Section students’ representatives and student activities officers obtained two times the basic information about SPC, asking them to support and co-organize SPC activities. It was especially emphasized to connect when possible local SPC contests with IEEE R8 Sections and Chapters conferences.
• Several other single activities were realized in order to make SPC 2012 more successful.

Before the deadline 30 student papers were submitted. 29 student papers were accepted and graded, one paper was rejected according to SPC rules. Contestants were from 21 Sections and 26 different Student Branches:

• University of Pretoria, South Africa;
• Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland;
  * University of Ljubljana, Slovenia;
• Queen Mary University of London, UKRI;
• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany;
  * Technical University of Munich, Germany;
  * Osijek University of J.J.Stossmayer, Croatia;
• National Technical University of Ukraine, Kyiv Polytechnic, Ukraine;
• Cairo University, Egypt;
• University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa;
• University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain;
  * University of Nis (Jt. ED-015/SSC-037), Serbia and Montenegro;
• Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Lithuania;
• University of Malta, Malta;
• Technological Educational Institute of Messolonghy, Greece;
• KU Leuven, Benelux;
• Aalborg University, Denmark;
• Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran;
• Techniche University, Graz, Austria;
• High School of Communications Of Tunis, Tunisia;
• University of Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro;
• KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden;
• Ecole Nationale d’Ingenieurs de Sfax (ENIS), Tunisia;
• American University of Nigeria, Nigeria:
• University of Greenwich, UKRI;
• Catholique Univ of Louvain (Jt. CAS-004/, Benelux.

The I phase of the IEEE Region 8 Student Paper Contest – selection of the best five papers for Oral Finals – finished end of January 2012. During the I phase the International Jury:

  – Prof. George Paunovic, Serbia – Chair, g.paunovic@ieee.org

• Prof. Ali El-Mousa, Jordan,

   

• Prof. Andrzej Pacut, Poland,

   

• Prof. Carlos Lopez-Barrio, Spain,

   

• Prof. Ilhem Slama-Belkhodja, Tunisia

anonymously graded all accepted papers. The contributions were graded as follows:
– Written paper evaluation:

• 45 points maximum for the technical and engineering content,
• 25 points maximum for the paper content presentation.

The Jury of the IEEE Region 8 SPC 2012 has anonymously selected the following five papers (in alphabetical order of the first author’s first name) for the SPC Oral Finals:

Augustin Cosse: “Diffeomorphic Surface-Based Registration for MR-US Fusion in Prostate Brachytherapy”, Catholique Univ of Louvain (Jt. CAS-004/, Louvain, Benelux

Chen Zhu: “High Accuracy Multi-link Synchronization in LTE: Applications in Localization”, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

Marc Weydert: “Model-based Ego-Motion and Vehicle Parameter Estimation using Visual Odometry”, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany

Máximo Morales Céspedes, Ana Santos Rodríguez: “Statistical Characterization of Zero-Forcing Coordinated Base Station Transmission for Femtocell Environments”, University Carlos III of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Mike Rinderknecht: “Device for a Novel Hand and Wrist Rehabilitation Strategy for Stroke Patients Based on Illusory Movements Induced by Tendon Vibration”, Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland

IEEE R8 Student Paper Contest 2012 – II phase

Second phase of the SPC 2012 – Oral Finals were successfully realized in Medina Yasmine Hammamet, Tunisia, on Tuesday March 27, 2012, during the MELECON 2012 IEEE Conference, Session B3L-A (www.melecon2012.org). SPC finalists obtained up to 30 points maximum, depending on the quality of the paper presentations and given answers.

Sessions were reasonably well attended. The papers Power Point introductions were well prepared and presented (all within permitted 20 minutes). There were quite a number of questions, both from Jury members and from audience. The finalists’ answers were very good. IEEE Region 8 Director Marko Delimar attended the SPC session.

When session finished, Jury had a private discussion and awarded three prizes, from the IEEE Life Member Fund, to:

I prize:  Diploma and 800 USD (cash award amount):

Mike Rinderknecht: “Device for a Novel Hand and Wrist Rehabilitation Strategy for Stroke Patients Based on Illusory Movements Induced by Tendon Vibration”, Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne (EPFL) SB, Switzerland Section.

The EPFL Student Branch, from which the I prize winner of the SPC 2012 came from, will receive the Region 8 “Dick Poortvliet Award”, an amount of USD 250;

II prize: Diploma and 500 USD (cash award amount):

Chen Zhu: “High Accuracy Multi-link Synchronization in LTE: Applications in Localization”, Technical University of Munich SB, Germany Section.

III prize: Diploma and 200 USD (cash award amount):

Augustin Cosse: “Diffeomorphic Surface-Based Registration for MR-US Fusion in Prostate Brachytherapy”, Catholique Univ of Louvain Jt. CAS-004 SB, Benelux Section.
The official recognition of the winners, finalists and SPC Jury was organized during the MELECON 2012 Dinner Banquet, March 27, 2012. IEEE Region 8 Director Marko Delimar and SPC 2012 Coordinator George Paunovic introduced all the SPC finalists, members of the Jury and pronounced three winners. All finalists also obtained certificates that their papers were selected within the five best SPC 2012 papers.

Figure 1   Finalists, Jury and Region 8 Director