Distinguished Lecturer Virtual Events

Upcoming DL Virtual Events

 No Upcoming Events Planned, please contact j.barbato@ieee.org to schedule

 

If you are a chapter or host that is looking for a speaker for you next event please contact j.barbato@ieee.org 

 

Past DL Virtual Events-  All On Demand versions AVAILABLE ON THE BTS RESOURCE CENTER

Multi Sensorial Media Broadcasting

Presenter: Maurizio Murroni, BTS Distinguished Lecturer 

 

ABU DBS 2022

Commercial and Technical Aspects of Next Generation Video Coding (NGVC) Technologies for Broadcast and Broadband

 

Presenter: Peter Siebert, Broadcast Industry Advisor 

 

Can I Really Protect My Broadcast Station From Ransomeware?

Presenter: Wayne Pecena, Associate Director Information Technology at Texas A&M University

 

The IT infrastructure and especially the IP network are a fundamental building block of the modern broadcast technical plant. In this environment, cybersecurity cannot be ignored to insure a reliable, secure and protected system.

Industry cybersecurity practices principals are commonly based upon federal agency efforts from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and practices from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). The NIST Framework and CISA Guidelines are often seen as a complex and a daunting task to implement within a broadcast facility. While faced with to immediate need to maintain effect cybersecurity prevention practices, ransomware has become the most popular and the most successful cybersecurity threat. Ransomware often targets the broadcast industry with increasing sophistication and severity of the attacks. 

This presentation will focus on ransomware threats and provide an awareness of practical implementable cybersecurity precautions based upon the NIST Framework principals and CISA Guidelines in understandable terminology. Specific topics will include a brief overview of NIST cybersecurity principals and implementation guidelines based upon the CISA defenses of Prevent, Detect and Recover to defend against ransomware through policy, technical and educational methods. 

  

Power-based Non-Orthogonal Multiplexing in Next Generation TV & 5G

Presenter: Dr. Liang Zhang, Senior Research Scientist with the Communications Research Centre Canada

                        

 

RF safety issues: why so controversial? 

Presenter: Dr. C-K Chou, IEEE International Committee on Electromagnetic Safety TC95 Chairman

The dramatic increase in man-made radio frequency (RF) fields in the environment has led to public health concerns in many parts of the world. Specifically, questions have been raised on the safety of exposure to RF energy emitted from radar, television and radio broadcasting systems, microwave ovens, video display terminals, and most recently, mobile telephones and base stations, such as Wi-Fi, and 2 to 5 G. Wearable RF gadgets are prevailing. Wireless power transmission is a newer subject, which can involve high intensity exposures. The IEEE EMF database now has more than 7500 original, peer-reviewed papers useful for public health risk assessment of RF exposure. Even there has been 70 years of research, and WHO indicated that scientific knowledge in this area is now more extensive than for most chemicals and current evidence does not confirm the existence of any health consequences from exposure to low level electromagnetic fields, controversy on RF safety continues. Two international groups, IEEE and ICNIRP have been addressing this issue for decades. While the goal of both groups is to provide limits that protect against established or known adverse health effects, there are groups that advocate more stringent exposure limits based on possible biological effects, at limits that are impossible to implement without serious consequence. Both biological and engineering complexities make the validity of many studies questionable. Samples of RF biological effects studies will be shown. In this presentation, research, standards, regulation and risk communication concerning RF safety will be addressed. 

 

Broadcast Radio Technology in the US – Where We Are and Where We Are Headed

Presenter: David Layer, VP Advanced Engineering, National Association of Broadcasters

It seems appropriate in 2020, the year of the 100th anniversary of radio, to offer a status report on US broadcast radio technology, where it is today and where it is headed.  In this session Mr. Layer will provide an overview of current AM and FM-band broadcast technology, focusing in particular on hybrid (over-the-air plus internet) and digital radio services, and including some of the technical work being done within the National Radio Systems Committee (NRSC, a technical standards-setting body co-sponsored by the National Association of Broadcasters and the Consumer Technology Association).  Following this, the focus will shift to a look ahead, at how over-the-air services are expected to evolve and at the growing influence of streaming audio services on broadcasting.   

David Layer is vice president, advanced engineering in NAB's Technology department.  David has been with NAB since 1995 focusing primarily on the radio technology and standards setting area.  Davd's principal responsibilities include serving as a project manager for technology projects being conducted by PILOT (formerly NAB Labs), and as principal administrator of the NAB Radio Technology Committee, a group of technical executives from NAB member companies that advises NAB on technology development and techinal regulatory matters.  Currently, David is the charman of the RadioDNS Steering Board and is the NAB representative to the RDS Forum.  He is also vice-chair of the Noth American Broadcasters Association (NABA) Radio Committee.  He is a senior member of the IEEE and a member of the Assocaition of Federal Communications Consulting Engineers (AFCCE).

Since 2002, David has chaired or co-chaired the IEEE Broadcast Symposium eight times - in 2002-2004, 2011-13 (with Paul Shulins), 2016 (with Jim Stenberg and Roz Clark), and 2017 (with Bob Weller).  He has served 2 six-year terms on the BTS Adcom, from 2001-2006 and 2011-2016, and is a past Assocaite Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting.  Currently Davis is one of the BTS Distinguished Lecturers and has given lectures focusing on digital and hybrid radio to BTS chapters in Montreal, San Diego, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Bilbao, Beijing, Shanghai and Belgrade.

  

 

Digital Terrestrial Television Broadcast Technologies

Presenter: Amal Punchihewa

Amal Punchihewa is a researcher in audio/video signal processing and disaster communication. He possesses competencies gained over the last 35 years of service in all three sectors of ICT & broadcasting; viz. Academia, Research and Industry in senior broadcasting technology and ICT roles, including research and developments, regional capacity building in media and as head of engineering of national TV-Sri Lanka, having started a career in computer engineering.

Amal graduated with a BSc (Eng) Hons. MEng and PhD in video signal processing. He has published over 130 scholarly articles and is a Senior Member of IEEE(USA), Chartered Professional Engineer-CEng, Fellow of IET(UK) and Fellow of Engineering New Zealand.

Amal was active in the World Broadcasting Unions - Technical Committee (WBU-TC) and is still active in ITU broadcast-related technical activities. He was Vice-Chairman of the WBU-TC and is an advisor to the IET Vision and Imaging Professional Network in the UK. He also worked hard in reaching global harmonisation for broadcast technology when he was the Vice-Chairman of WBU-TC for four years.

He is a STEM ambassador for Engineering New Zealand. Amal brings his global cutting-edge knowledge from his research in broadcast and media with researchers in the Netherlands, Japan, Korea, USA and other parts of the world.  

 

ATSC 3.0 - Spotlight on Story-telling

Presenter: Madeleine Noland, President of ATSC

ATSC President, Madeleine Noland, discusses the new story-telling capabilities of ATSC 3.0, aka Next Gen TV. She will cover the capabilities currently specified, including new video formats, audio advancements and accessibility capabilities, as well as how interactivity can enhance the story-telling toolbox. Security can be a key component of a content producer’s requirements as high value, high quality content is offered via an IP-based broadcast system. Noland will review the security systems and usage for Next Gen TV. Lastly, she will offer thoughts on market deployments in the U.S. and elsewhere, and peer into the crystal ball of future technologies that may become the next great story-telling device.

Broadcasting's Bright Future

Presenter: Paul Shulins, President of Shulins' Solutions

The Broadcast landscape is changing rapidly, and today’s engineers are learning new skills as the technology evolves. There is more emphasis on data delivery today and we are constantly finding better ways to deliver content to our audiences. What does this mean for the young engineers embarking on a career in broadest engineering? During this webinar I will reflect on my career in broadcast engineering, sharing experiences and observations, helping us to recognize trends and react to them wisely. Using practical experience examples like facility consolidation, adopting new technology such as HD Radio and using tools for ratings metrics, I will review some of the innovations I have been a part of, the results of those advances, and how the career has been so rewarding. I will discuss why broadcasting is here to stay, and why I believe we have the most efficient way of distributing content. For anybody interested in Broadcast Engineering this discussion will be a positive experience. A question and answer period will follow the presentation