Fall No 14 automne 1992 The Canadian Space Agency 30thAnniversary of Alonette I IEEE, Region 7 and CSECE Cabot Strait Fibre Optic Cable Digits and Canadian Broadcasting The Spectrum Engineering Show E&C Engineering - a Report Canada Posies POSI Canada .+ Postage paid PO" palY Bulk En nombre Ih,rd Iroisieme class classe F1468 IEEE MONTAtAL. P.O. The Institute of Electrical.and Electronics Engineers Inc. I IEEE Canadian Review IEEE Canada General Information The IEEE Canadian Review is published three times per year -Spring, Fall Officers and Winter. The IEEE CanadianReview's principal objectiveis to project an image of the Canadian electrical, electronics, communications and v. J. Bhargava, Chainnan and Director * A. R. Eastham, Past Director * computer engineering professions and their associated academic and busi- ness communities to : R. T. H. Alden, Vice Chainnan * T. Wildi, Secretary * (i) Canadian members of IEEE; Micha Avni, Treasurer * (ii) Canadian members of the profession and community who are non- Council Chairmen members of IEEE; W. Kennedy, Western Canada * (Hi) the associated academic (Le. universities, colleges, secondary schools), J. Cortes, Central Canada * govemment and business communities in Canada. R. McDowell, Eastern Canada * In this context, the IEEE Canadian Review serves as a forum to express views Operating Committee Chairmen on issues of broad interest to its targeted audience. These issues, while not necessarily technologically-oriented, are chosen on the basis of their antici- c. Spike, Student Activities * pated impact on engineers, their profession, the academic, business and G. J. Grylls, Conference Activities industrial community, or society in general. G. Stone, Awards and Recognition D. Kemp, Membership Development To ensure that the IEEE Canadian Review has the desired breadth and depth, L.G. 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Reprint Permissions: 7061 YongeStreet Abstracting is pennitted with credittothe source.Librariesarepennitted Thornhill, Ontario to photocopy for private use of patrons. Instructors are pennitted to Canada photocopy isolated articles for non-commercial classroom use without L3T 2A6 fee. For other copying, reprint or republication, write to Manager of CanadianMember Services at IEEE Canada.Printed inCanada.Postage Telephone: (416) 881-1930 paid at Montreal, Canada. Postmaster: Send address changes to IEEE Fax: (416) 881-2057 Canadian Review, 7061 Yonge St., Thornhill, Ont. L3T 2A6 Canada. Email: [email protected]. 2 IEEE Canadian Review - Fall / automne 1992 I IEEE Canadian Review Managing Editor Redacteur en chef Theodore Wildi Quebec, (Que.) Chairman, IEEE Advisory Board President du comite-conseil Cover picture Tony R. Eastham Kingston, Ontario Our cover picture shows an artist's view of RADARSAT tracking over Canada, courtesy of Chairman, Editorial Board Canadian Space Agency. (Illustration: Paul Fjeld) President du comite editorial Thec.n.dion.,..,._ W Annivtnaty of AJouette I Wallace S. Read IEEE, Region 7 and CSECE Cabot Strail Fibre Optic Cable Montreal, Quebec Tableau couverture Digits and Canadi8n .Btoadcasti;ng The SpednIm Engineering Show Eke Fngin«ring . Report Production Manager Le tableau de la page couverture donne une per- Directeur de la production ception artistique de RADARSAT survolant Ie Jorge M. Campos Canada, gracieusete de I' Agence spatiale Montreal, Quebec canadienne. (Illustration: Paul Fjeld) Finance Manager Directrice des finances Pamela E. Woodrow Toronto, Ontario CONTENTS / SOMMAIRE Proofreaders Correcteurs d'epreuves Eric Holdrinet Perspective / Perspectives Tony Hontzeas Montreal, Quebec Region 7 - A Report on the First Eight Months by Vijay Bhargava 4 Associate Editors: Adjoints it la redaction: IEEE, Region 7. and CSECE Jonathan H. Abrams, Hamilton, Ontario by Tony R. Eastham andB. John Plant 5 (416) 524-1789 Malcom Cameron, Vancouver, B.C. (604) 736-3381 International Mfairs/ Affaires internationales The CanadianSpaceAgency Daniel Crosthwaite, Hamilton, Ontario (416) 675-5950, ext. 5104 by Roland Dore 6 Gerard Dunphy, St. John's, Newfoundland (709) 737-1323 30thAnniversary of Alouette I by John Palimaka 11 Paul Freedman, Montreal, Quebec (514) 340-5700 Philip Ling, Downsview, Ontario Communications/ Communication (416) 633-2600 DigitsDefmethe Future of CanadianBroadcasting Ian Marshall, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan by Michel C. Durocher 13 (306) 374-0658 Russel McDowell, Kanata, Ontario Cabot Strait Submarine Fibre Optic Cable System (613) 591-7235, ext. 247 by Nels Mitchell 18 Louise Peacock, Islington, Ontario (416) 233-3989 Education/ Education Jean-Paul Pelchat, St. Lambert, Quebec (514) 671-8399 Report on Electricaland ComputerEngineering by Alan Aitken and Hans Kunov 15 Donald W. Smellie, Deep River, Ontario (613) 584-4241 The Spectrum Engineering Show Paul A. Smeulders, London, Ontario (519) 679-2111, ext. 6436 by Ian Marshal 20 IEEE Canadian Review -Fall / automne 1992 3 I Perspective/ Perspectives Region 7 -A Report on the First Eight Months tis hard to believe that one third of my two-year tenn is already finished. Our regional committee will meet next month, the first and only time this year. However, since this is the last issue of by Dr. Vijay K. Bhargava 1992, I would like to share my activities during the last eight Director, IEEE Canada Omonths with you. Activities at the Institute level The three Board meetings attended thus far have been in Vancouver (February 10-16), Boston (May 7-14) and Sparks (July 29- August 4). Although the IEEE Board meets for only two days, there are numerous other meetings. The ones with which I am involved are RegionalActivities Board, EducationalActivities Board, Transnational Committee and the IEEE Audit Committee. These meetings have been fascinating. A third of million members, one IEEE and 140 countries. A large number of volunteers and staff make it work in the most amazing way. During May 16-17, I attended the Region 8 (Europe, Middle East andAfrica) Meeting to learn how they serve their members. This was a fascinating experience. A report written by me is available from your Section chair. report to you on the 1993 budget (now approaching $300,000) in the next Activities within Canada. issue of the IEEE Canadian Review. I arranged two conference calls of your full Executive Committee and Student Activities: We now have some 3321 student members in 62 schools. Operating Committee chairs, to set goals and to get going. The total number of student branches stands at 51, and 35 percent of these can be reached by electronic mail. Training workshops have been scheduled. At the three Council meetings (CCC Peterborough, April 4-5; ECC - Trois - A Region 7 student paper competition was held in conjunction with the 1992 Rivieres,Aprilll-12 and WCC - Calgary, April 25-26), I made presentations Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering. on several IEEE organizations (BOD, RAB, Field Services, etc.) Conference Activities: The 1992 Newfoundland Conference on Electrical At the Executive Committee Meeting (Toronto - June 13), we received and Computer Engineering