Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
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Information Technology
At May Conference,
The 'P' in PC Stands for 'Pervasive'
The
era of pervasive computing is approaching as researchers find more
ways to combine computers, sensors, communications devices and the
Internet.
NIST will sponsor the second annual Pervasive
Computing 2001 conference on May 1-2, 2001, to focus on the challenges
industry faces in developing practical and cost-effective applications
for these new technologies. Conference participants will examine technologies
ranging from mobile voice recognition to smart office spaces. Additionally,
some sessions will focus on particular emerging applications, such
as wireless ticketing and mobile commerce.
Leaders in applications and technology from industry, academia and
government will make presentations about their goals, approaches,
products and projects, as well as discuss how they plan to deploy
future pervasive computing systems.
The featured conference speakers include executives and researchers
from Accenture, Carlson Hotels, Ford Motor Co., Intel Corp., Hewlett-Packard,
International Business Machines Corp., Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft
Corp., Rutgers University, the U.S. Naval Academy, NIST’s Information
Technology Laboratory and many others.
Pervasive Computing 2001 will be held at NIST’s campus in Gaithersburg,
Md. More information is available at www.nist.gov/pc2001.
From this site, you can access the online registration form or go
directly to https://sales.nist.gov/conf/secure/CONF343/conf_register.htm.
Media
Contact:
Philip
Bulman, (301) 975-5661
Manufacturing
Pennsylvania
MEP Helps FSI Products 'Think Big'
When
Jeff Nichols tells his 25 employees to “think big,” they
take him literally. Nichols’ company, FSI Products of Allentown,
Pa., manufactures a wide range of custom products primarily for the
entertainment business. FSI has created massive stage sets and props
for Ozzy Osborne concerts, gargoyles for a haunted amusement park
ride, a 2-meter (six-foot) mosquito for a restaurant, and 3-meter
(10-foot) jars of spices for a trade show display. “The weirder,
the better,” says Nichols. “Our tag line, ‘Imagine
No Limits,’ is really where we are taking the company.”
Nichols credits the Manufacturers Resource Center, an affiliate of
the nationwide NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership, with helping
his company grow at a rate of about 25 percent a year and increase
sales per employee over 100 percent. “They have been a member
of our team since we started,” says Nichols. Located in Bethlehem,
Pa., MRC helped FSI coordinate plant layout; improve production flow,
human resource development and training, and information technology;
and manage growth.
In a recent survey, 2,942 NIST MEP client companies around the country
reported that, as a result of NIST MEP services, they increased or
retained $1.4 billion in sales; realized $364 million in cost savings;
invested $576 million in modernization; created 5,796 jobs and retained
12,357 jobs.
A nationwide network of centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico,
the NIST MEP provides expertise and services tailored to a small manufacturer’s
most critical needs including lean manufacturing, e-business and worker
training. For more information on MRC’s services, contact Susan
Kennedy, (610) 758-5599, susank@mrcpa.org.
Small manufacturers elsewhere can reach their local NIST MEP office
by calling (800) MEP-4MFG (637-4634). Information also is available
at www.mep.nist.gov.
Media
Contact:
Jan
Kosko, (301) 975-2767
Weights
and Measures
Murdock Slated
To Be Next NCWM Chair
Ronald
D. Murdock, program manager of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture
Measurement Section, will be installed as chairman of the National
Conference on Weights and Measures at its 86th annual meeting in Washington,
D.C., on July 22-26, 2001. Murdock serves on the NCWM Inc. Board of
Directors and the National Type Evaluation Technical Committee. He
also is chairman of the Handbook 44 Working Group and a past chairman
of the NCWM Specifications and Tolerances Committee. The NCWM—made
up of more than 1,500 state, county, and city weights and measures
officials and representatives of industry, federal agencies and consumer
groups—sets standards and develops uniform procedures to verify
weight, volume, length or count, ensuring that consumers receive the
quantity they pay for and that businesses sell the quantity that they
advertise.
In 1998, weights
and measures regulations impacted more than $4.5 trillion (or 52 percent)
of the total U.S. Gross Domestic Product. NCWM, in partnership with
NIST’s
Office of Weights and Measures, aims at combining the regulatory
expertise of government representatives with the “in-the-field”
technical know-how of business members to create market-ready enforcement
policies, testing and equipment evaluation, and training. NCWM also
examines the design, features, operating characteristics and performance
of new measuring devices. According to the NCWM, even small errors
in the performance of a measurement device can be significant. For
example, an error of slightly more than one teaspoon per five gallons
at the gas pump would be equal to an annual charge of $125 million.
For information
on NCWM and the 86th Annual Meeting, contact the organization at 15245
Shady Grove Rd., Suite 130, Rockville, Md. 20850; (240) 632-9454;
fax: (301) 990-9771; ncwm@mgmtsol.com.
Media
Contact:
John
Blair, (301) 975-4261
Honors
NIST Fellow Elected
to National Academy of Engineering
The
National Academy of Engineering announced the election of NIST materials
researcher Brian R. Lawn along with 73 other new members in February.
Lawn, a NIST Fellow with the agency’s Materials
Science and Engineering Laboratory, was recognized “for elucidating
the basic principles of brittle fracture that are essential to our
understanding of the fracture of complex engineering materials.”
A 20-year veteran
of NIST, Lawn was named a NIST Fellow in 1987. His research interests
include understanding the fundamental nature of brittle fracture in
terms of the cohesive bond, indentation fractures, toughening of brittle
materials, development of methods for measuring fracture toughness,
material fatigue, complex layer structures and biomechanical ceramics.
Lawn has published more than 230 scientific papers and is the author
of the book Fracture of Brittle Solids, first published in
1975 and now in its second edition.
Election to the
National Academy of Engineering is among the highest professional
distinctions accorded an engineer.
Media
Contact:
Pamela
Houghtaling, (301) 975-5745
Optoelectronics
Paper Describes
NIST Support for Optical Fiber Industry
In
response to rapid changes in fiber optic technology, NIST is developing
techniques and standards to support the measurement of optical components
and subsystems used in wavelength division multiplexed (known as WDM)
optical fiber communication systems. A new paper describes the development
of wavelength calibration transfer standards and the accurate measurement
of spectral response, dispersion, and polarization dependence
of optical fiber and components.
In the area of
wavelength calibration, NIST has developed Standard
Reference Material transfer standards based on rotational-vibrational
transitions in acetylene and hydrogen cyanide molecules. The SRMs
were designed for calibrating wavelength-measuring instruments such
as optical spectrum analyzers and wavelength meters. New work is focused
on molecules of carbon monoxide as an SRM for the new WDM-L band.
NIST’s spectral
measurement system uses the calibrated wavelength meter and a tunable
diode laser source to measure the transmittance and reflectance of
WDM components. Wavelength filters are needed to remove amplified
spontaneous emission produced by the diode laser. NIST recently conducted
a round robin measurement intercomparison to assess current measurement
capabilities for wavelength filters. The agency is working with the
Telecommunications Industry Association to develop standard test procedures
and evaluate measurement capabilities.
Concerning chromatic
dispersion, NIST has developed two systems to measure relative group
delay which broadens pulses and limits the system data rate. One system
is based on low-coherence interferometry; the other is a more conventional
rf-modulated phase-delay method. After compensating for chromatic
dispersion, the next significant mechanism for pulse-broadening is
polarization-mode dispersion. NIST supports PMD metrology through
two SRMs—SRM 2518, Polarization-Mode Dispersion (Mode-Coupled)
and SRM 2538, Polarization-Mode Dispersion (Non-Mode-Coupled).
The paper describing
this work, no. 02-01, is available free of charge by contacting Sarabeth
Harris, NIST, MC104, Boulder, Colo. 80305-3328; (303) 497-3237.
