The Istanbul EMC Symposium - An Australian Academic's Impression

By Franz Schlagenhaufer
Western Australian Telecommunications Research Institute (WATRI)
franz-s@watri.org.au

After several years in EMC research a certain routine is established, and part of that routine is the annual trip to the IEEE EMC Symposia in the US. But this year there was a change to this routine: the 2003 IEEE International Symposium on EMC was held in Istanbul, Turkey.

Istanbul proved to be a city well worth a visit - by both day and night!


Istanbul is much closer to Perth, Western Australia, and it promised to be an exciting place to visit. So, as far as the tourist aspect was concerned, the decision for Istanbul was an easy one for me. But in the months before the event, the situation in the Middle East was not encouraging, and once the Boston symposium was promoted as a competing event, the question came up: would it be worth going to Istanbul?


The EMC community in Australia is not large, and for Perth, well, there are not too many EMC experts within 3000 km. Attending an international conference is therefore quite important to keep in contact with colleagues around the globe. E-mail is a great thing for exchanging information and ideas, but can not replace face-to-face meetings, at least from time to time.


Was it worth going to Istanbul?

  • The quality of the presentations, workshops and tutorials met all my expectations. There were relatively few contributions from the US, but they will probably be found in the proceedings of the Boston Symposium. Participants from Europe, East and West, and Asia did come, and the attendants were a truly international mixture.
  • The exhibition was smaller than at the symposia in the past years. But since I was not on a shopping spree this was of little relevance for me.
  • The number of participants was smaller than in the previous years, which is a benefit if one wants to meet people and speak to them without constant interruptions.
  • Istanbul proved to be a city well worth a visit. With my European background I am used to the fact that the history of cities stretches over centuries. After seeing Istanbul, that may be thinking too much in the short term - history actually stretches over millennia.
So, to summarize this in one word, yes, it was worth going to Istanbul. EMC

Located where the two continents of Asia and Europe meet, the Maiden's Tower is built on an island at the mouth of the Bosphorus. The history of this small tower dates back 2,500 years and has witnessed the history of Istanbul.



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