These facts were noted by Dr. R. Krishnan, Dean, Academic Affairs, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology, Trivandrum, while inaugurating the International Conference on Communication Technology and System Design (ICCTSD 2011) at the Amrita campus in Coimbatore.

The theme of the conference was Electronics and Communication Technology for the Social Development of Mankind. The conference was organized by the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore during December 7-9, 2011. Highlighting the importance of communication technologies, Dr. Krishnan said, “In remote areas, people don’t have good medical facilities. Therefore, telemedicine communication technologies are being used for diagnosis.”

Dr. Krishnan’s inaugural talk was followed by keynote speeches delivered by eminent experts including Dr. John A. Chandy, University of Connecticut, USA; Dr. Juha Plosila, University of Turku, Finland; Dr. Pasi Liljeberg, University of Turku, Finland and Dr. Risto Wichman, Aalto University, Finland.

Keynote speeches were also delivered by Dr. P. Murali Krishna, Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory, Kochi and Dr. K. Giridhar, IIT Madras.

“Keynote talks on wireless technologies examined the system-level issues in mobile wireless and their mitigation and the future trends and challenges in the area of broadband wireless systems,” stated Dr. Mohandas, Professor and Chairperson, Department of Electronics and Communication.

A session on the environmental impact of embedded hardware during its entire life cycle highlighted the emergence of paper-based circuit printing technologies that can provide a greener alternative to traditional printed circuit boards.

The conference saw the participation of over 200 delegates, including students and faculty members from all over the world.

International delegates represented University of Turku (Finland), Blekinge Institute of Technology (Sweden), Xidian University (China), Khulna University (Bangladesh) and University of Nevada – Las Vegas (USA).

Indian delegates came from IIT Kharagpur, BITS Pilani, C-DAC and Anna University, among other institutions.

Of the 460 papers that were submitted, 155 were presented. These papers elaborated on original research in areas of communication, signal processing, VLSI, electronic circuits and computing technology.

“The conference provided much more than expected in terms of the quality of papers presented,” remarked Professor Giridhar from IIT Madras, who participated.

The conference proceedings will be published by Elsevier and will be available on ScienceDirect.

The conference was sponsored by ISRO, DRDO, BRMS, IETE – Coimbatore Centre, CSI- Coimbatore Chapter.

B.Tech. and M.Tech. students from the department worked hard to ensure its success. “As student volunteers, we received the opportunity to improve our abilities in technical as well as event management aspects,” shared Sharon, student of B.Tech. (ECE).

“The conference also helped us get in touch with recent trends and research in the fields of communication and system design from all over the world,” she added.

“I am sure that the input provided to the young researchers and students who participated in the conference will enhance the quality of their research work,” stated Dr. E. P. Sumesh, Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, who convened the conference.

December 15, 2011
School of Engineering, Coimbatore