NPTL provides Video Lectures from all seven IITs and IISc

NPTEL is an acronym for National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning which is an initiative by all seven Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) for creating course contents in engineering and science. The main objective of NPTEL program is to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country by developing curriculum based video and web courses. This is being carried out by seven IITs and IISc Bangalore as a collaborative project. In the first phase of the project, supplementary content for 129 web courses in engineering/science and humanities have been developed. Each course contains materials that can be covered in depth in 40 or more lecture hours. In addition, 110 courses have been developed in video format, with each course comprising of approximately 40 or more one-hour lectures. In the next phase other premier institutions are also likely to participate in content creation.
Five major engineering disciplines have been covered in this project so far (NPTEL Phase I) at the undergraduate (B.E./B.Tech) level.

• Civil Engineering
• Computer Science and Engineering
• Electrical Engineering
• Electronics and Communication Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering

In addition, a number of core curriculum courses common to all engineering programmes such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, management, electronics, language etc. have also been included. Students and teachers of Information Technology and Computer Applications will also find a number of courses from the above that are useful for their studies or for supplementing their lectures.

The video lectures can be directly accessed at http://youtube.com/iit

List of Video Courses
Advanced Strength of Materials - (40 Lectures)
Artificial Intelligence - (28 Lectures)
Basic Electrical Technology - (39 Lectures)
Basic Electronics and Lab - (40 Lectures)
BioChemistry I - (28 Lectures)
Circuit Theory - (51 Lectures)
Civil Engineering - Building materials and Construction - (41 Lectures)
Computational Methods in Design and Manufacturing - (33 Lectures)
Computer Graphics - (35 Lectures)
Computer Graphics - (43 Lectures)
Computer Networks - (40 Lectures)
Computer Organization - (33 Lectures)
Concept of Management and Evolution of Management thought - (36 Lectures)
Digital Circuits and Systems - (40 Lectures)
Digital Integrated Circuits - (40 Lectures)
Digital Signal Processing - (43 Lectures)
Discrete Structures - (40 Lectures)
Dynamics of Machines - (44 Lectures)
Electromagnetic Fields - (42 Lectures)
Embedded Systems - (37 Lectures)
Engineering Chemistry I - (10 Lectures)
Engineering Geology - (40 Lectures)
Engineering Mechanics - (31 Lectures)
Engineering Physics II - (9 Lectures)
Environmental Air Pollution - (39 Lectures)
Finite Element Method - (38 Lectures)
Fluid Mechanics - (40 Lectures)
High Speed Devices and Circuits - (41 Lectures)
Industrial Automation and Control - (40 Lectures)
Industrial Drives - Power Electronics - (37 Lectures)
Intelligent Systems and Control - (32 Lectures)
Internet Technology - (40 Lectures)
Introduction to Problem Solving and Programming - (24 Lectures)
Introduction to Transportation Engineering - (41 Lectures)
Kinematics of Machines - (39 Lectures)
Mathematics I - (32 Lectures)
Mechanical Measurements and Metrology - (50 Lectures)
MEMS and Microsystems - (32 Lectures)
Networks and Systems - (50 Lectures)
Networks Signals and Systems - (36 Lectures)
Numerical Analysis and Computer Programming - (38 Lectures)
Performance of Marine Vehicles at Sea - (40 Lectures)
Power Electronics - (43 Lectures)
Power System Generation, Transmission and Distribution (Encapsulated from earlier Video) - (35 Lectures)
Power Systems Analysis - (40 Lectures)
Power Systems Operation and Control - (35 Lectures)
Pre-stressed Concrete Structures - (40 Lectures)
Probability and Random Processes - (40 Lectures)
Project and Production Management - (41 Lectures)
Refrigeration and Air Conditioning - (46 Lectures)
Robotics - (40 Lectures)
Solid State Devices - (42 Lectures)
Strength of Materials - (40 Lectures)
Structural Analysis II - (40 Lectures)
Surveying - (40 Lectures)
System Analysis and Design - (40 Lectures)
Transmission Lines and EM Waves - (42 Lectures)
VLSI Circuits - (55 Lectures)
Water and Waste Water Engineering - (40 Lectures)
Water Resources Engineering - (28 Lectures)
Wireless Communication - (39 Lectures)

Light-Powered Micro-Machines Could Advance Telecommunications

A new theory developed at MIT could lead to "smart" optical microchips that adapt to different wavelengths of light, potentially advancing telecommunications, spectroscopy and remote sensing. Drawn by the promise of superior system performance, researchers have been exploring the concept of microchips that manipulate light instead of electricity. In their new theory, the MIT team has shown how such chips could feature tiny machines with moving parts powered and controlled by the very light they manipulate, giving rise to fundamentally new functionality.

"There are thousands of complex functions we could make happen by tinkering with this idea," said Peter Rakich, an MIT postdoctoral associate who invented the theoretical concept along with postdoc Milos Popovic. The work was described in the cover story of the November issue of Nature Photonics. For example, such chips could one day be used to remotely adjust the amount of bandwidth available in an optical network, or to automatically process signals flowing through fiber-optic networks, without using any electrical power, Rakich said.
Coauthors on the paper were Marin Soljacic, assistant professor of physics; and Erich Ippen, the Elihu Thomson Professor of Electrical Engineering and professor of physics.

Earlier this year an MIT team composed of many of the same researchers showed that photonic circuitry could be integrated on a silicon chip by polarizing all of the light to the same orientation. The current work shows how tiny mobile machines can be built on such chips, taking advantage of the substantial pressures exerted by photons as they strike the walls of a cavity. In the macroscopic world, light waves do not exert significant forces, but in the unique world of the microscopic, coupled with ultrapure laser light, photons bouncing off the walls of a cavity can build up a measurable force called radiation pressure. This is similar to the pressure exerted by gas molecules trapped in an aerosol can.

To take advantage of this radiation pressure, the researchers propose machines built from ring-shaped cavities only millionths of a meter in size located on the chip surface. When pressure on the cavity walls is high enough, the cavity is forced to move. This movement forms a critical part of an optical micromachine, which adjusts its configuration to respond to light in a predesigned way. A unique application of this concept involves processing data that travels in fiber-optic networks. Today resonators employed in fiber-optic networks have to be synchronized with the incident light to ring at its frequency, in the same way an opera singer has to tune the pitch of her voice to make a wine glass ring.

Remarkably, a "smart" resonator based on the MIT concept could chase the frequency (color) of the laser light incident upon it. As the frequency of the laser beam changes, the frequency of the resonator will always follow it, no matter where it goes. In other words, this new, unique resonator is like a wine glass that self-adjusts to the pitch of the singer's voice and follows it along throughout a song, Rakich said. He noted that physical systems that adapt to driving light and behave like these nanomachines do not exist elsewhere in nature.

Nanotech Gives Thermoelectricity A New Glow

Gang Chen's research with nano-scale materials gave him a head start in the field of nanotechnology when it was still brand new. Today, nano-materials, in which dimensions are measured in billionths of a meter, are the foundation for a fast-growing approach to energy saving. That approach involves thermo-electricity, which is based on a long-ago finding that some metals and, especially, semiconductors (the best known of which is the silicon used in computer chips) can generate a voltage when heated. The system also works in reverse: One common use of thermoelectricity relies on juice from the battery to rapidly cool the seats in some luxury car models.

To those familiar with thermoelectricity in the mid to late '90s, Chen, a professor of mechanical engineering, had an interest that might have seemed odd. The technology was a niche player in the energy arena. But he'd worked in closely related areas: In his Berkeley studies, he notes, "I showed that heat does not travel well in nanostructures." At about the same time, the first intellectual seeds for a vastly expanded role for thermoelectricity were being planted. Some ideas from that era, in fact, have combined with society's energy worries to propel thermoelectricity into the limelight.

How promising is it? Chen says thermo-electricity has "game changing" potential. One likely application: harvesting waste heat in cars, including hybrids, by converting it into electricity. "Cars are about 20 percent efficient," notes Chen, "and turning some of the energy wasted into electricity could increase that figure by as much as one-third."

But that's just for starters. The U.S. government has predicted thermoelectric generators could replace conventional engines in some cars before mid-century. Chen is striving to further such advances.

Mini-power plant

Thermoelectric devices are energy converters. When they're producing electricity, this puts them in the same broad category as power plants and solar-generating systems. When outputting heat or its opposite, meanwhile, they're like heat pumps and air conditioners, respectively. In design terms, thermoelectric devices have key pluses. For one, they're solid state: no liquid fuels, no moving parts. They're also easily scalable up or down. This last feature explains many of thermoelectricity's current uses. "If you need a small-scale device," says Chen, "you don't really have any other choices." That's why many deep-space probes use radioactivity-driven thermoelectric generators.

There have been efforts to make the technology more mainstream. "In the '40s and '50s," says Chen, "there was a lot of interest in solid-state refrigeration. The goal was to create full-sized thermoelectric refrigerators." But while thermoelectric mini-fridges are increasingly common, the dreams of those early enthusiasts came to naught. Why? It was mainly an efficiency issue. A key reason this dam began to give way in the early '90s is that MIT physicist Mildred Dresselhaus and a colleague had an idea: Instead of simply testing a long list of different materials, why not change the materials themselves by structuring them internally such that performance improves?

The pair specifically proposed creating nanoscale substructures in the materials. What made the concept intriguing is that the ideal thermoelectric device is one that is great at conducting current and an abject failure at conducting heat.
That's a rare combination. "Nature," says Chen, "doesn't provide many examples of materials that are great electrical conductors and also good thermal insulators." But technical staff member Ted Harman at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory--building in part on Chen's earlier, unrelated work--showed that by using nanostructures, you can create materials that outdo nature: Some of Harman's materials, thanks to their unique heat-impeding qualities, are twice as efficient as their conventional cousins.

It's an astonishing advance--roughly equivalent, if on a drastically smaller scale, of turning a one-megawatt power plant into a two-megawatt one. Of course, it's tough to turn advances in tiny experimental devices into commercial winners: Don't expect whole-house thermoelectric air-conditioning systems to start turning up at your local HVAC dealers anytime soon.

On the other hand, Chen says innovations like an exhaust-mounted energy-mining device for vehicles needn't wait until you hit Lincoln Lab realms of efficiency. "If you can reach a 10-to-15 percent conversion efficiency," he says, "that would be attractive for many applications." In fact, results he's had at that level are already drawing interest from companies.

This not only gives Chen hope that thermoelectricity's time may have truly come, it also resonates with the goals he's set for himself as a researcher. "I like to explore things that are fundamentally new and different," he says, "and then see how I can use those findings to make an impact on the real world."

IEEE Signal Processing E-Newsletter

Since April 2007, the IEEE Signal Processing Magazine has introduced a new form of publication - the Inside Signal Processing E-Newsletter. This monthly electronic newsletter will complement the bi-monthly Magazine to serve the
members in the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS). Through email notification and expanded coverage on its website, the E-Newsletter will provide members with timely updates on:

• society and technical committee news,
• conference and publication opportunities, new books, and Ph.D. theses
• signal processing related research opportunities, and
• activities in industry consortiums, local chapters, and government programs.

The Inside Signal Processing E-Newsletter is a gateway to reach out to signal processing professionals around the world. Please bookmark for current and archived issues of the Inside Signal Processing E-Newsletter. Submission Instructions - Contribution for the November '07 Issue Due October 20, 2007. Visit the web submission site to provide your input. Make sure that you include your name, affiliation, and email and phone contact information. Please contact the Associate Editors of the corresponding sections as listed below if you have questions.

Contact Information of the E-Newsletter Team
Min Wu, SPM Area Editor for E-Newsletter, University of Maryland, College Park, USA (minwu AT umd.edu)
Huaiyu Dai, Associate Editor, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA (huaiyu_dai AT ncsu.edu)

Conference and publication news
Alessandro Piva, Associate Editor, University of Florence, Italy (piva AT lci.det.unifi.it)
News and activities in local chapters and research groups (including new Ph.D. theses)
Mihaela van der Schaar, Associate Editor, University of California, Los Angeles, USA (mihaela AT ee.ucla.edu)
News and activities of SPS Technical Committees, industry consortiums and international standards
Nitin Chandrachoodan, Digital Production Editor, Indian Institute of Technology – Madras (nitin AT ee.iitm.ac.in)

Online submission and production system
Shih-Fu Chang, SPM Editor-in-Chief, Columbia University, New York, USA (sfchang AT ee.columbia.edu)

* Please replace "AT" in the email addresses with @.

New at Central Library

The following are the new additions in the Central Library. These books will be available for loan from September 26, 2007.

1. Introduction to MATLAB & Simulink by Dr. Imthias Ahmed T.P., Phasor Books. 2007.

Contents : Matrix Operations, Mathematical Expressions, Drawing Graphs:Plot, Matlab, File Operations, Simulink, Power Flow Analysis.

2. Microprocessors and Interfacing by N.Nishanth, Phasor Books. 2007.

Contents : Microprocessor, Intel 8085, Assembly language programming techniques, Data transfer schemes, Programmable peripheral interface-Intel 8255, Intel 8086 micropocessor, Microcontroller 8051.

3. Industrial Electronics by N.Nishanth, Phasor Books. 2006.

Contents : Photoelectric devices, Rectifiers, Thyristors, Resistance Welding, Digital Electronics, Number Systems, Logic Gates, Flip Flops, Intel 8085 Microprocessor, Microprocessor programming, Intel 8086 micropocessor, Microcontrollers.

4. Introduction to Solid State Devices by Dr. B.Premlet, Phasor Books. 2004.

Contents : Wave Mechanics, Band Structure, Carrier Concentrations, p-n Junction Diode, Transistors, Field Effect Transistors, MOS Transistors.

5. Antennas and Wave Propagation by Dr. B.Premlet, Phasor Books. 2006.

Contents : Maxwell's Equations, Antennas, Retarded Potentials, Alternative Current Element, Dipole Antennas, Antenna parameters, Antenna Arrays, Long Wire Antennas, Radiowave Propagation.

Indian Engineering Degrees now Accredited in the US

In a significant development, Indian engineering degrees will now be accredited in the United States and will be internationally recognised.

This follows India's induction into the prestigious Washington Accord, an international agreement between registering bodies of member countries accrediting academic engineering programmes, at the university level, leading to the practice of engineering at the full professional level.

Arguing the case successfully on behalf of India at the 8th biennial meeting of the International Engineering Meetings 2007 in Washington, DC last month was a delegation led by Prof Damodar Acharya, chairman of the Delhi-based All India Council for Technical Education, who, on July 1, assumed the directorship of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; Ravi Mathur, joint secretary (technical), ministry of human resource development; and Prof Prasad Krishna, member secretary, National Board of Accreditation.

They were joined by Kamal Kant Dwivedi, counselor at the Indian Embassy and the government of India's point man for science and technology in Washington. Comprehensive reviews of the Washington Accord are performed at intervals of not more than six years and in terms of the agreement, each registering body accepts the accrediting processes of the other member countries. The founding signatories of the Accord in 1989 were: Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology, USA; Canadian Council of Professional Engineers; Engineering Council, EC, UK; Institution of Engineers of Ireland; Institution of Engineers, Australia; and Institution of Professional Engineers, New Zealand.

Currently, the Washington Accord member countries are: The US, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, South Africa, Hong Kong, Japan, with Germany, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan being provisional members. This year India's National Board of Accreditation of the All India Council for Technical Education was elected a provisional member, along with Russia and Sri Lanka. The Accord recognises substantial equivalence of programmes accredited by those organisations and recommends that the graduates of accredited programmes in any of the signatory countries be recognised by the other countries as having met the academic requirements for entry into the practice of engineering.

The NBA is the only authorised body in India entrusted with the task of undertaking accreditation of technical education programmes and all programmes on technical education, including those offered by university departments are accredited by the NBA. The NBA, as criteria for such accreditation, evaluates the quality of these programmes offered by educational institutions from diploma to the post-graduate levels in technical education including engineering.

India's entry to the Washington Accord would necessarily facilitate mobility of engineering graduates and professionals at international levels and the graduates from NBA-accredited programmes would be automatically accepted for education and employment purposes in member countries. A provisional member is given two years to bring its academic programmes, curricula and syllabus, examination and evaluation system to the international level and revise its accreditation system to make it fully outcome based, with credit system for flexibility and continuous evaluation for improved learning being the basis of such programmes.

Books for Preparation of Competitive Examinations

We have introduced a very good collection of books for preparation of competitive examinations including U.P.S.C (IAS), CAT, GATE, MAT, JMET, MBA, RRB, JTO, etc in the Central Library. We have enriched our collection with books on English Communication including TOEFL, Spoken English, Grammar, Public Speaking, Presentations, and enhanced the collection with books on winning at interviews, group discussions, personality development and motivational books. All the users of the Library are requested to make use of the collections.