Region 8 Celebrates its First IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Istanbul, Turkey

Introduction
Hundreds of engineers and scientists in the discipline of Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) attended the 2003 IEEE International Symposium on EMC, Istanbul, which took place on May 11 to May 16, 2003, in the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, Turkey.


This is the very first time that this very important and prestigious Symposium was held in Region 8 of the IEEE, encompassing Europe, Africa and the Middle East, marking, more than anything else, the globalization the EMC Society of the IEEE.


The Symposium was organized by the Israel IEEE EMC Chapter, technically co-sponsored by the IEEE EMC Society, and co-sponsored by the Israel IEEE Section, IEE and URSI, Commission E as well as other international organizations.


The slogan of the Symposium was: "Radiating Compatibility from the East" or "Ex-Oriente Radians" in Latin, alluding to the historical Byzantine period, where Istanbul (or Constantinople, in its historical name) was the center of the ancient world. Today, as in ancient times, Istanbul is simultaneously an important and thriving tourist attraction, as well as a modern business and industry metropolis. For the week of May 11, 2003, Istanbul was also the international center of the global EMC Community.


During this week, spanning from Sunday to Friday, an exciting top-notch technical program with something for everyone attending the Symposium took place, including technical sessions, workshops and tutorials, innovative special "meet the expert" sessions and "Birds of a Feather" forums, EMC Demonstrations and Computer Simulations, as well as a short EMC Course - and this is not all!


There was an international attendance of more than 330 participants from 41 countries representing all continents (with the exception of Antarctica).

The Hilton Istanbul Hotel Symposium Venue.


The Symposium took place in the convention center of the Hilton Istanbul Hotel, a spacious, elegant and comfortable hotel, featuring 13 acres of beautiful gardens and exclusive sporting facilities.


The Hilton Istanbul offered an impressive surrounding, ideally situated, overlooking the spectacular view of the Bosphorus, magically attractive amid the glittering lights of the City.

The bridges across the Bosphorus between two continents.


After all, what makes a city beautiful?


It is the uniqueness and splendor, but also its character that is laid deep in its roots, the tradition and the cultural heritage!


Istanbul - Turkey's largest city, is a thriving vibrant metropolis! It is very unique in the sense that it is built on two continents, bridging across Europe and Asia, connecting East and West with two suspension bridges over the Bosphorus Straits.


As an exciting and cosmopolitan city, blending east and west, Istanbul offers something for everyone. Outdoor cafes, ethnic restaurants and cultural centers compete for your attention with historic sites and open oriental markets - a haven for dedicated shoppers.


Technical Program and Activities
As a prologue, an EMCS Standards Open House was held on Sunday, May 11, 2003, with the guidance and leadership of Don Heirman, VP for Standards. Read more on the "Standards Open House" in the article "Standards on the Bosporus!" in this issue of the Newsletter, Standards Activities.

The Opening Session Panel (from left): Professor Arie Braunstein, Israel IEEE Section Chair, Elya B. Joffe, Symposium General Chairman, Don Heirman, EMCS VP for Standards and Past President, and Andy Drozd, EMCS VP for Member Services.


Elya B. Joffe, the Symposium General Chairman, chaired the opening ceremony on the morning of Monday, May 12. In his welcome address, Elya gave a brief overview of the Symposium, and particularly - the evolution of this event. Please see the article "The Road from Tel Aviv (1992) to Istanbul (2003)" in this issue of the Newsletter, The Road from Tel Aviv to Istanbul.


Elya then introduced the Guest of Honor - His Excellency, Mr. Ali Müfit Gürtuna - the Lord Mayor of Istanbul, a metropolis of 14 million citizens, who spared some of his very valuable time to present a welcome address of behalf of the host city.

Lord Mayor of Istanbul, Mr. Ali Müfit Gürtuna, receives a Certificate of Gratitude from Elya Joffe, Symposium Chairman, during the Opening Session.


Greetings were then offered by Don Heirman, VP for Standards of the IEEE EMC Society, and Past President of the IEEE EMC Society, on behalf of Dr. Todd Hubing, President of the IEEE EMC Society as well as by Professor Arie Braunstein, Chairman of the Israel IEEE Section.


The technical portion of the opening session included two presentations. First, there was an interesting presentation by Professor Marcello D'Amore, Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility, who spoke on "IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility: An Overview."


The second presentation was a highlight of the opening ceremony. This was the keynote address given by Dr. Nigel Carter, from QinetiQ, UK, who spoke on "Past, Present and Future Challenges of Aircraft EMC." This presentation was an introduction to a series of activities planned in the Symposium, commemorating 100 years of manned powered aviation, from 1903 to 2003. (Please see more about this special event on page 57.)


An Awards Ceremony concluded the Opening Session, where Certificates of "Appreciation, Recognition and Acknowledgement" were presented. Other awards were presented at the Wednesday Awards Banquet. Read more on the awards presented during the Symposium in this issue of the Newsletter, page 63.


Considerable efforts were exerted in the formulation of the scientific/technical program of the Symposium. The Editorial Board (EB), under the skilled and devoted leadership of Dr. Anatoly Tsaliovich, composed of 52 international experts and professionals in the field of EMC, performed a peer review of the 579 technical papers received from almost 50 countries in order to ensure a high quality technical program.


Under the skilled leadership and dedication of Dr. Alex Axelrod, the Technical Program Committee did a great job in selecting the best papers and grouping them as best as possible into the appropriate sessions, and lined up a top-notch Technical Program; more than 380 papers were included in the Symposium technical program and presented in 34 regular sessions and 10 open forums (poster) sessions. No doubt - a record! Those sessions covered a broad range of areas in the field of electromagnetic compatibility; particularly noteworthy are six sessions on Measurement and Standards, five sessions on Human Exposure and EMF and five sessions on Numerical Modeling.
However, besides the more traditional EMC topics, this symposium also featured some very special topics, not regularly covered at the IEEE EMC Symposia, including sessions on Wave Propagation, Radar Cross Section, Power Quality, and EMC in Power Equipment and Systems (and this is only a very partial list).


A session noteworthy of special attention was that organized by Mr. Peter Kerry, CISPR President, entitled: "EMC Standardization - Quo Vadis." This session, with speakers representing a variety of countries and continents, discussed the present and future of International EMC Standardization. Presentations covered EMC Standardization activities in Russia, Turkey, Israel and the relationship between academia and EMC Standardization.

Elya Joffe presenting an experiment on the "Path of Least Inductance."


The regular sessions were supplemented by a wide variety of 16 outstanding workshops and tutorials, covering a broad spectrum of topics such as "Lightning Phenomena and Lightning Protection Systems", presented by Professor Arie Braunstein from Israel, giving special insight into the concepts (and misconceptions) of external lightning protection, "Partial Element Equivalent Circuit (PEEC) Approach" by Professor G. Antonini, Italy, "The Latest Updates in EMC Emission Measurement Standardization" by Don Heirman, USA and many, many other excellent presentations.


Furthermore, special "Birds of a Feather" discussion forums took place, focused on examining innovative, controversial, or otherwise mind-provoking issues of interest to the EMC Community. These included "Personal Electronic Devices (PED) on Aircraft - Are they Really a Source of Concern," "The Precautionary Principle with regard to EMF," and "Grounding from Chips to Systems." These forums comprised a platform for discussion between experts and the audience, each of whom held very different opinions on these issues, often leading to a lively, even "heated" discussion. No agreement was probably reached on these very controversial topics, but those present definitely benefited from the different opinions presented in the discussions.


Russ Carstensen led a "Preparation for NARTE Exam" workshop from NARTE and an exam also took place during the Symposium, thus creating several new NCEs (NARTE Certified EMC Engineers).


For both the veterans desiring to "brush up" their EMC knowledge, and for the novices who wanted to learn more on the discipline of EMC, a "Selected Topics on EMC" course took place in four half-day sessions during the Symposium. The course, organized by Dr. Heyno Garbe from Germany, Chairman of the Symposium Education and Student Activities Committee, covered the following topics:

  • "Fundamentals of EMC through Interpreting the EMI Control Specifications for the EMC Designer" by Mr. Oren Hartal, Israel
  • "Complex EM Problems and Numerical Simulation Approaches" by Dr. Levent Sevgi, Turkey
  • "EMC Measurement Technology" by Dr. Heyno Garbe, Germany
  • "Fundamental Concepts of Signal Integrity and EMC Related to Printed Circuit Boards" by Mr. Mark Montrose, USA
  • "Principle of Path of Least Inductance in Circuit, Cable and Grounding Design" by Mr. Elya B. Joffe, Israel

Participants who took part in at least three sessions of the four also received beautiful "Certificates of Completion."

The technical program was supplemented by experiments and computer simulation demonstrations, which attracted much attention among the attendees of the Symposium. This provided the opportunity to observe, with their own eyes, the "facts of (EMC) life."
The Symposium Committee would like to thank the companies Rohde & Schwarz and R.D.T. (Israel) for providing the necessary test equipment in support of the experiments.


All of the above took place in six (yes - 6!) parallel sessions! As one of the participants said: "The technical program posed a special difficulty and a major dilemma - where to go first, and what to subsequently give up…?"


A technical exhibition took place alongside the Symposium, thus forming the link between the ivory tower of science and the reality of EMC technology.

 

Over 20 exhibitors from Europe, Asia and North America were on site to provide hands-on demonstrations and explanations of their products and services.


Radio Amateurs Activities
We were especially thankful to Mr. Aziz Sasa, TA1E, President of TRAC, the Turkish Radio Amateurs Society, who assisted us in erecting and operating a radio amateur's station during the Symposium.


For the duration of the Symposium, the station received a special "EMC call sign" - TA1EMC. Two dedicated attendees of the Symposium, Dr. Rod Perala and Dr. Diethard Hansen, operated the station for many hours. We are told that special QSLs were made by TRAC.

The Turkish Standards Institution exhibit was ably staffed by (from left) Arzu Cihan, Ayfer Aydin, Haluk Dag, M. Feyyaz Unver, Metin Dumanli, Ahmet Turan Hocaoglu, and Bulent Sentrk.
Dr. Diethard Hansen: "TA1EMC, Over."
The Awards Banquet at the Cistern of 1001 Columns.

 


Social Program

The social program was comprised of three special events offered to all registered participants: a Welcome Reception and an Awards Banquet, and an optional Farewell Reception. The Banquet took place in one of the most beautiful venues in Istanbul: the historical Binbirdirek Cistern, or better known as, "The Cistern of 1001 Columns."

Symposium attendees visiting the well-known "Blue Mosque" during the Symposium tour. Federica Sensi and her husband Vesna Roje are shown in the foreground.


At this Banquet, the major awards of the Symposium were presented. The evening was conducted by a professional "Master of Ceremonies" Michael Greenspan, whose wife, Gilat Ankory, accompanying him to the event, is a well known actress in Israel and a celebrity of her own merit. Several attendees did not miss the "photo opportunity" with Gilat.

Tami-Lee (left) and Anat Joffe (right) did not miss the photo opportunity with Gilat Ankory at the banquet.


On the afternoon of Tuesday, May 13, a City tour was provided to all attendees. That was a unique opportunity to visit the highlights of Istanbul, without the attendees feeling that they may have missed something worthwhile in the technical program. EVERYONE attended one of three available tours. How many times have you attended a Symposium and on the plane back home thought: "But I never got to see the city and its surroundings…" No excuses in Istanbul!!!

Lunch Time!


By the way, lunch was also provided to all attendees of the Symposium. It was also a great chance for the attendees to get together, socialize and eat… WOW! What a meal!

BoD Members in the IEEE EMCS Membership Booth in the Exhibit area. From left: Back row: Andy Drozd and Elya Joffe. Front row: Don Heirman, Professor Shuichi Nitta, Mark Montrose, Professor Jose Perini, and John Norgard.


Awards

During the Awards Banquet, the Best Symposium Paper award was presented to E.S. Siah, T. Ozdemir, J.L. Volakis, P.Y. Papalambros and R.W. Wiese, from the USA, for their paper (selected out of 16 papers nominated for the award) "Optimization for RF Coupling and Interference Reduction of Devices in Complex Systems."


The winners of the Best Student Paper Award were also announced at the banquet. Maolin Wu and Xiang Cui from China received the award for their paper (selected out of 18 papers nominated for the award), "Wide Frequency Model for Transfer Function of Potential Transformer in Substation."


Other major awards were also presented at the Banquet as can be seen elsewhere in this Newsletter.


BoD Members Present

The IEEE EMCS Board of Directors was represented at the Symposium by a distinguished delegation, lead by Don Heirman, VP for Standards and Past President of the EMCS, with Andy Drozd, VP for Member Services and John Norgard, VP for Technical Services. Last, but not least, many of you may recognize Dr. Shuichi Nitta, Mark Montrose and Professor Jose Perini, also members of the BoD. Of course, with the Symposium Chairman, Elya Joffe, VP for Conferences and Symposia, this completed a delegation of four VPs and three BoD members. Also, Board member Nigel Carter was present for the Keynote Address.


Donald R. Bush
1942 - 2001

In Memoriam of a Dear Friend: Donald R. Bush, 1942 - 2001
We dearly missed Don Bush at the Symposium, who was a past member of the EMCS BoD and a Distinguished Lecturer of the EMCS and most of all, a gentleman in the true sense of the word. Don so much wanted to attend the Sympsoium, but was taken over by a severe illness and passed away in 2001.


Don will be remembered among EMC professionals worldwide for his warm personality and professionalism. I will always remember his peace of mind, his serenity and his quiet talk. We all miss him badly.


One of Don's quotes that considerably influenced my way of thinking in EMC was: "Anyone can construct a mathematical model and generate data. But if the predictions of your mathematical model do not match experimental data, either your model is worthless or your measurements are not done properly" (Professor Clayton Paul, in the EMCS Newsletter, Winter 2002).

 

The Symposium Record was dedicated to the memory of Don Bush.

 

Photos…
Photos taken at the Symposium were uploaded to the Symposium web site. To review the thumbnails and download a copy for your personal enjoyment, please visit our web site at: http://www.ortra.com/emc2003/.


Many thanks to those individuals who took the photos and sent them in, particularly Dick Ford, who was in Istanbul as his last assignment as EMCS Photographer. Thank you very much Dick!

Some of the Members of the Organizing Committee and Secretariat (ORTRA) who made this all happen; (left to right, from top to bottom) Elya Joffe, Oded Einat, Alex Axelrod, Isaac Izraeli, Shmuel Auster, Eli Recht, Heyno Garbe, Anat Joffe, Danie Tidderl, Vidi Bar-Natan, Merav Azar, and Sagit Isay.


Summary
Istanbul, the host city of the Symposium, is unique in the sense that it is built on two continents, Europe and Asia, bridging over East and West with two suspension bridges over the Bosphorus. Those bridges symbolize the bridge these International Symposia make across the EMC professional world and EMC professionals worldwide, bringing them together, experts and students alike, regardless of their country of origin.

Rohde & Schwarz was one of the major exhibitors at the Istanbul Symposium. Their exhibit was the perfect place to celebrate its success. Cheers!


May this Symposium, in the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, also form the bridge between people, making EMC the bridge of cooperation and exchange of technical information between people and professional societies and enhancing the quality of life for all people throughout the world through the constructive application of technology.


At the conclusion of this article, I would like to express my deep gratitude to all members of the Organizing Committee and the Symposium Secretariat for their efforts spent in making this Symposium materialize, and for the success we believe it was, particularly under the special circumstances in which it took place.


Special thanks are due to Professor Dr. Selim Seker from Istanbul Turkey, whose dedicated, unconditional support of the Symposium from the very day of the decision to relocate the Symposium to Istanbul to the very last day were essential for coordination in Turkey, and making the local arrangements so much easier. Thank you, Selim! It was a pleasure to work with you on this Symposium!


The 2003 IEEE International Symposium on EMC in Istanbul will long be remembered for the high quality technical program, the beautiful venue, the hospitality and the wonderful social program. EMC

 


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