Programs for Fall 2014

Past Courses

Practical RF PCB Design: Wireless Networks, Products and Telecommunications

Date & Time: Monday & Tuesday, January 12 & 13
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Henry Lau, Lexiwave Technology
Course Summary: One of the most demanding consumer products in the market is the wireless telecommunication product. A well-designed Radio Frequency Printed Circuit Board (RF PCB) contributes significantly to the success of any wireless product as the layout of the PCB greatly affects the performance, stability and reliability of the product. In today’s highly competitive wireless products market with increasingly compressed development time-frame, there is a strong demand for RF professionals who possess the knowledge and experience to design top-performing RF PCBs in less number of iterations. What matters is whether your level of competence is up to the required standard to meet such demand.
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Advanced Embedded Linux Optimization

Date & Time: Mondays, Jan. 5, 12, 19, 26, 2015
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Mike McCullough, RTETC, LLC
Course Summary – This 4-day technical training course provides advanced training in the debugging, testing, profiling and performance optimization of Embedded Linux software. The first part of the course focuses on advanced debugging, testing and profiling in an Embedded Linux context with a focus on using Eclipse, Backend Debuggers, JTAG and In-Circuit Emulators as well as Kernel Logging capabilities and Kernel Hacking. The latter part of the course covers performance measurement and optimization affecting boot, memory, I/O and CPU performance and key performance optimization tools for Embedded Linux software including the perf tool, advanced cache usage and compiler-based optimization.
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Low Power Design Essentials

Date & Time: POSTPONED
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Jerry Frenkil, VP of Engineering, NanoWatt Design, Inc.
Course Description: Power consumption has become a limiting factor in product design. For wireless devices, power consumption limits functionality due to battery life issues. For tethered devices, power consumption limits functionality due to constraints on heat generation and power availability. This short course will survey the wide variety of Low Power Design issues, techniques, and methodologies that have been developed in response to these challenges. It will provide electronics professionals a clear understanding of the design approaches and tradeoffs involved in developing power efficient devices and systems, covering a broad range of approaches from transistors to system architectures.
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POSTPONED

FPGA Design and Programming for Digital Design, Embedded Systems and Digital Signal Processing

Date & Time: Wednesdays, January 14, 21, 28, February 4, 11,18: 6 -8:30PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Cherif Chibane, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
Course Summary – This course provides a detailed overview of FPGAs technologies, design tools and applications. It utilizes a mixture of theory and hands on laboratories to provide students what they need to know in VHDL programming, simulation and implementation of multi-disciplinary applications targeting FPGAs. This course provides plenty of hands-on labs to reinforce the key concepts. While the material, covered in this class targets Xilinx devices, it can be easily used for others devices such as ALTERA and other FPGA devices.
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The Calendar of the Complete List of Courses for the Fall 2014:

Note: the tags only apply to the monthly meetings of Chapters, not courses. Selecting a tag will remove all courses from the calendar that are not assigned to a chapter.

For a complete calendar of ALL events for the IEEE Boston Section, which includes all courses, meetings, conferences, etc. please view the calendar.

Past Courses 2014

Introduction to Embedded Linux Part II

Date & Time: cancelled
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Mike McCullough, RTETC, LLC
Course Summary: This second of two courses provides advanced training in the design, development, debugging, and profiling of Embedded Linux applications. The first part of the course focuses on advanced applications design in an Embedded Linux context with a focus on embedded development and debugging. The latter part of the course covers testing, booting and configuring of Embedded Linux systems as well as tracing and profiling methods for improving overall Embedded Linux performance.
Full Details Here
Cancelled

RF and Microwave Fundamentals

Date & Time: Wednesday & Thursday, October 15 & 16; 9AM – 4:30PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Henry Lau, Lexiwave Technology
Course Summary: This two-day course provides engineering professionals an introduction to the field of RF and Microwave engineering from an industry perspective. Participants will learn fundamental concepts on RF engineering as well as practical design and measurement techniques. Designs on commercial products will also be presented to the participants to gain practical knowledge.
Full Details Here
Closed to New Registrations

Embedded Linux Board Support Packages and Device Drivers

Date & Time: cancelled
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Mike McCullough, RTETC, LLC
Course Summary: This 4-day technical training course provides advanced training in the development of Embedded Linux Board Support Packages (BSPs), Device Drivers and Distributions. The first part of the course focuses on BSP and Software Development Kit (SDK) development in an Embedded Linux context with a focus on application performance measurement and improvement. The latter part of the course covers Embedded Linux Device Driver development including key device driver decisions and deployment considerations for Embedded Linux BSPs.

Full Details Here
Cancelled

Introduction to Scrum and Other Agile Frameworks

Date & Time: Mondays, October 27, November, 3, 10, 17; 6 – 8PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Greg Tutunjian, Principal, Scrum Doc, Inc.
Course Summary: This 8-hour course consists of 4, 2-hour increments. Each increment amplifies the previous one in addition to introducing new material to further the participant’s insight into the effective use of Agile Frameworks. We will cover these Agile Frameworks:
• Scrum
• Extreme Programming (XP)
• Crystal
• Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD)
• Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
Participants are highly encouraged to bring Agility and related challenges and questions from their current work assignment for analysis and discussion each week. Time will be available at the beginning of each increment for these discussions, and the identity of a participant’s employer need not be shared.
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Cancelled

Space Plasma Interactions with Spacecrafts

Date & Time: Oct. 27, 30, Nov. 3, 6, 10; 7 – 9PM (note session schedule of multiple sessions per week)
Location: TBD
Speaker: Dr. Shu T. Lai, MIT
Guest lectures by Dr. Rezy Pradipta (Boston College) and Prof. Min-Chang Lee (Boston University) on source mechanisms and remote sensing of space plasma turbulence.
Text: “Fundamentals of Spacecraft Charging” by Shu T. Lai, Princeton University Press, 2011.
This course assumes that the attendants have little or no background in this area.
Space plasmas interact with space systems. Spacecraft charging affects electronic measurements onboard and may be destructive for a spacecraft. This course begins by explaining what, where, when, and why spacecraft charging happens. Deep dielectric charging occurs in the Van Allen radiation belts and some planetary magnetospheres. High energy electrons and ions can penetrate into dielectric materials and stay inside. The charges build up internal electric fields. When a critical electric field is reached, a discharge hazard occurs. Examples of real spacecraft anomalies will be presented and studied.
Full Details Here
Cancelled

Radar Basics and Recent Amazing Advances

Date & Time: Mondays, Oct. 27, Nov. 3, 10, 17, 24, Dec. 1, 8, 15, Jan. 5, 12 from 6-9pm
(makeup days, if needed Jan 26, feb. 2, 9)
Location: MITRE Corporation, 202 Burlington Rd. , Bedford, MA
Speaker: Dr. Eli Brookner, Raytheon Company (Retired)
This book plus over ten paper reprints are provided FREE with your registration:
1. “Aspects of Modern Radar”, Dr. Eli Brookner (Editor), Artech House, Hardcover, 432 pages, 1988, List price: $159. The 1st chapter gives the best easy to read introduction to radar. It covers all aspects of radar: transmitters, receiver, antennas, signal processing, tracking, clutter derivation of radar equation in easy terms and definition of dB. The 2nd chapter gives detailed descriptions of different radar systems like: Cobra Dane, Pave Paws, BMEWS, Series 320 3D radar, OTH radars and dome antenna. The book has a catalog giving the detailed parameters for over 200 radars from around the world. The remaining chapters cover AEGIS SPY-1, Hybrid and MMIC circuits, ultra low sidelobe antennas (ULSA), mmw, radar cross section and Doppler weather radars. The material in the book is easy to access and as a result the text serves as a handy reference book.
Full Details Here
Closed to New Registrations

Learning Android Frameworks and APIs

Date & Time: Saturday, November 8; 9AM – 5PM
Location: Constant Contact, Reservoir Place, 1601 Trapelo Road, Third Floor, Waltham, MA 02451
Speaker: C. L. Kim, Millennial Media
Course Summary: Android is the world’s most popular mobile OS, widely used in smartphones and tablets, and now in device categories such as wearables and TVs. So, it behooves technical professionals to keep up with this technology by learning how native mobile apps are developed using the Android framework. This introductory course would cover the basics of the Android platform and framework APIs with the help of a demo native app that writes, gets (and then speaks) data to/from a web services server.
Full Details Here
Successfully Ran

Accelerated Introduction to ANSI “C” Programming

Date & Time: Tuesdays, Nov. 11, 18, Dec. 2, 9 6:15 – 9:15PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Jeffrey Goldberg, Qualware Instructional Services
Text: Programming in C (3rd Edition), Author: Stephen G. Kochan; List Price: $49. 99 (included with registration)
Course Description: Learn ‘C’ programming from an experienced and fun educator, through easy-to-follow instructions, demonstrated easy to understand examples, and a great book to read. Attendees will learn the syntax and use of the C programming language, how to design programs and use data structures, operators and functions. This course provides the basic understandings that are necessary for those wishing to go on and self-learn other languages.
Specifically, this course introduces the basic concepts of programming using the ANSI C programming language as implemented in a UNIX or Windows environment. Attendees will learn how to design, write, compile, execute, debug and maintain various types of C programs. Topics include C data types and operators, assignment statements, basic console and file input/output, conditional testing and flow control, subroutines and functions, use of arrays and string manipulation. Advanced concepts including structures, unions, pointers, and if time, bit manipulation and dynamic memory management concepts will be taught.
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Cancelled

Introduction to Programming in Python Version 3

Date & Time: Thursdays, Nov. 13, 20, Dec. 4, 11, 18; 6:15 – 9:15PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Jeffrey Goldberg, Qualware Instructional Services
Text: Programming in Python 3: A Complete Introduction to the Python Language (2nd Edition) retail price: $49. 99 (included with registration)
Course Description: Python is a highly extensible, general-purpose, high-level programming which allows programmers to express concepts in fewer lines of code than would be possible in other languages. The language natively supports both procedural and object-oriented programming paradigms, and has recently become the scripting language of choice for many system administrative tasks. By the use of lectures, demonstrations and optional class and homework programming exercises, this mini course will introduce the Python programming language, one of the hottest object oriented scripting languages available today.
Cancelled
Cancelled

Defining and Writing Business Requirements

Date & Time: Monday & Tuesday, November 17 & 18; 8:30AM – 5:00PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Robin Goldsmith, President, GoPro Management
Course Summary: Discovering and documenting business requirements for projects always has been the weakest link in systems development. Up to 67 percent of maintenance and 40 percent of development is wasted rework and creep attributable to inadequately defined business requirements. Too often projects proceed based on something other than what the business people really need; and traditional methodologies commonly focus mainly on the format for writing requirements. This interactive workshop also emphasizes how to discover content, why to build it and what it must do to produce value for the customer/user. Using a real case, participants practice discovering, understanding, and writing clear and complete business/user requirements that can cut creep, speed project delivery, reduce maintenance, and delight customers
Full Details Here
Cancelled

Introduction to Embedded Android

Date & Time: Tuesdays, Nov. 18, Dec. 2, 9, 16
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Mike McCullough, RTETC, LLC
Course Summary – This course introduces the student to the use of Android in Embedded Systems and the use of Embedded Android Distributions. The first part of the course focuses on acquiring an understanding of basic Android concepts and on how Android is hosted by the Linux Operating System, highlighting areas of concern for Embedded Android systems development such as overall system design, boot performance and customization. The latter part of the course covers the differences between the standard Android Open Source Project and Embedded Android distributions.
Full Details Here
Cancelled

Making You a Leader – Fast Track

Date & Time: Wednesday, November 19; 8:30AM – 5:00PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Robin Goldsmith, President, GoPro Management
Course Summary: We do projects to make change. Yet, change will not occur without leadership, and leaders are rare. Leaders make others want to do what the leader wants done. Leaders cause ordinary people to achieve extraordinary things. Managing is not the same as leading, and titles do not make leaders. Seminars can teach you to manage, but they cannot teach you to be a leader. Rather, making a leader takes special techniques—such as our personal development clinics—that can change deep-seated behaviors learned over a lifetime. However, since clinics usually last about ten weeks, this mini-clinic was devised as a more convenient alternative. This format places responsibility upon the participant to carry out an extended informal follow-on program after completion of the formal seminar workshop session. During the follow-on period, the participant uses time-condensed methods that simulate the lifetime learning which makes a leader. Therefore, commitment to carrying out these exercises is essential for successful transformation.
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Proactive System/Software Quality AssuranceTM (SQA) Overview – Creating an Environment that Promotes Quality Products

Date & Time: Thursday, November 20; 8:30AM – 5:00PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Robin Goldsmith, President, GoPro Management
Course Summary: Proactive SQA™ is a key basis of significant value-enhancing revisions to overcome IEEE SQA Std. 730’s often-resisted “traffic cop” enforcement of procedural compliance. Effective organizations distinguish SQA from tail-end quality control (QC) testing that catches errors right before they go out the door when they are most expensive and risky to fix, if then. Instead Proactive SQA™ performs six functions in ways that help assure the system/software process in fact does the right things well so it truly produces high quality cheaper by catching and preventing errors early. This interactive workshop analyzes why SQA groups so frequently have failed in IS and presents practical approaches for successfully using SQA effectively throughout any life cycle to produce high quality systems. Exercises enhance learning.
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Cancelled

Managing Test Projects

Date & Time: Friday, November 21; 8:30AM – 5:00PM
Location: Crowne Plaza Hotel, 15 Middlesex Canal Park Road, Woburn, MA
Speaker: Robin Goldsmith, President, GoPro Management
Course Summary: Treating testing as a sub-project within an overall development project enhances success by applying proven project management methods, while also addressing testing’s unique aspects, which can make it even more challenging than the already difficult job of managing a typical project. This intensive interactive seminar workshop shows how to manage testing as a project so it provides effective testing on time and in budget. This course also helps test managers learn to better communicate the value of their testing and negotiate for scarce time, resources, and influence. Exercises provide practice applying the techniques and learning how to avoid common pitfalls.
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Cancelled

Introduction to Building Hybrid Android Apps

Date & Time: Saturday, November 22; 9AM – 1PM
Location: Constant Contact, Reservoir Place, 1601 Trapelo Road, Third Floor, Waltham, MA
Speaker: C. L. Kim, Millennial Media
Course Summary: Native, HTML5, or Hybrid: Understanding Your Mobile Application Development Options. This class presents an introduction to building hybrid mobile applications for the Android platform, using HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, together with some popular JavaScript libraries. A simple demo hybrid app is used as an example to illustrate and bring home the concepts discussed. We are not covering popular container/cross-platform tools such as PhoneGap/ApacheCordova that turn mobile apps written in HTML5, CSS and JavaScript into native apps. Nor are we covering HTML5, CSS or JavaScript per se.
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Cancelled