E-Newsletter

V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 2 J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 0

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Editorials Note

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Editorials Note:
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Arnold J. Toynbee, a British historian, gave the concept of creative minority. He argues that it is creative minority in any society which creates change for good in order to correct change for bad. Toynbee argues that the creative minority can only exist in societies where dissent and free thought are encouraged, and where they are not, civilizational decline and decay results. Change is inevitable! We can never stop it as some one has put this in brilliant quote that "Getting old is compulsory, growing is optional" . We can only try to attempt that the change occurs for the better and not for the worst. The change for the good can only be achieved if a creative minority exists amongst us who offers solutions! In my opinion, our society for very long has been deprived of this creative minority, because we dont allow dissent and free thought. In fact most of us have adopted defeatist attitude in life. Even the thought that I should stand up and change this malpractice going on right in front of my eyes and since ages, scares us to death. We start worrying about what would happen to me? and let the damage be done to our society. We all know what problems we have but we have forgotten that there are solutions as well. There were times when people didnt even imagine that they can ever fly and step on the moon. Little they know that in this very world the solution to the problem of stepping foot on the moon also exists and is just waiting to be discovered. So there is no doubt in my mind at least that the problems that we face daily can be amicably resolved only if we put our minds and dig out the solutions!

Intro to the Team UMTS

Why Pakistan is lagging in race of 3G?

OMG...Im in final year! Sixth sense technology ITCN-Asia How to prepare for recruitment process of PTCL? ICMPC

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The idea to initiate this newsletter was my humble attempt to try to create a creative minority in the little society of ours that we help make shape at Mehran UET , Pakistan . By providing a platform in the form of this newsletter to allow voices of dissent and free thinking. We mainly focus the problem of our students and hope that well soon God willing be able to create a creative minority which will start offering solution to their problems. As an example, I like to quote the idea of Electronic component shop at MUET which was presented by one of the member of our team of creative minority as a solution to the problem of students who had to go all the way to Karachi in order to buy small ICs and other equipment for their hardware based projects. Taking this opportunity I would like to congratulate and personally express my gratitude to all our team members namely, Aakash, Asma, Bushra, Irfan, Jawad, Kapal, Maya, Mohsin, Moiz, Narinder, Naveed, Noman, Raheel, Saad, Salman, Taabish, Umair, Zunera, and others who gave their sincere and valuable support to this newsletter. And it is certainly because of them this newsletter has succeeded. Especial acknowledgement to Saad, who bravely took the painstaking job of compiling and composing all the issues of this newsletter. I would also like to thank the chairman ES, Dr. Bhawani, for always encouraging and promoting such activities at Mehran UET. We also thank Chairman TL Dr. Aftab and Chairman CS, Dr. Unar for honoring us to be the patrons of this newsletter.

"Getting old is compulsory, growing is optional"

Volunteers required
Any body who has some literary taste and is interested in becoming part of our team of FEECEMUET e-Newsletter, please drop an email to me @ fahim_umrani@yahoo.com. You can also contribute: 1- Activities/News of the MUET (with focus on ES, TL, BM, CS, SW and EL Deptt:) 2- Project Proposals (for junior and senior level undergraduates) 3- Achievements of Students (Curricular or Extracurricular) 4- Recommended websites, books, places 5- Student Issues and problems. 6- Descent Entertaining/Funny but creative stuff 7- Etc,

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VOLUME

An Intro to the Team Feece

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VOLUME 1, ISSUE 12 PAGE 5

Issue of this e-newsletter. This Anniversary edition is dedicated to the hard work of Sir Fahim Umrani and all other team members.

THE ANNIVERSARY EDITION

ongratulations to the Team of FEECE-MUET for releasing 12th

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Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS)

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Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is the European standard for 3G mobile communication systems which provide an enhanced range of multimedia services. It has evolved from its basic format through developments such as HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) and HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) to provide very high bandwidth capabilities to support the next generation of telecommunication services. UMTS supports up to 1920 kbit/s data transfer rates (and not 2 Mbit/s as frequently seen), although at the moment users in the real networks can expect performance up to 384 kbit/s - in Japan upgrades to 3 Mbit/s are in preparation. However, this is still much greater than the 14.4 kbit/s of a single GSM error-corrected circuit switched data channel or multiple 14.4 kbit/s channels in HSCSD, and - in competition to other network technologies such as CDMA-2000, PHS or wLAN - offers access to the World Wide Web and other data services on mobile devices. UMTS combines the W-CDMA air interface, GSMs Mobile Application Part (MAP) core, and the GSM family of speech codecs. Note that many wireless technologies use W-CDMA as their air interface, including FOMA and J-Phone. Like other real-world W-CDMA implementations, UMTS uses a pair of 5 MHz channels, one in the 1900 MHz range for uplink and one in the 2100 MHz range for downlink. In contrast, the competing CDMA2000 system uses one or more arbitrary 1.25 MHz channels for each direction of communication. UMTS and other W-CDMA systems are widely criticized for their large spectrum usage, which has delayed deployment in countries that have not allocated new frequencies specifically for UMTS (such as the United States). The specific frequency bands originally defined by the UMTS standard are 18852025 MHz for uplink and 2110-2200 MHz for downlink. For existing GSM operators, it is a simple but costly migration path to UMTS: much of the infrastructure is shared with GSM, but the cost of obtaining new spectrum licenses and overlaying UMTS at existing towers can be prohibitively expensive. A major difference of UMTS compared to GSM is the air interface forming Generic Radio Access Network (GRAN). It can be connected to various backbone networks like the Internet, ISDN, and GSM or to a UMTS network. GRAN includes the three lowest layers of OSI model. The network layer (OSI 3) protocols form the Radio Resource Management protocol (RRM). They manage the bearer channels between the mobile terminals and the fixed network including the handovers.

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Why Pakistan is lagging in the Race of 3G

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The most awaited technology in all of Pakistan is 3G. This article will cover the key issues behind Why Pakistan is lagging in the Race of 3G and what are the facts behind all this. The article will discuss the situation of 3G in Pakistan and interviews of Rizwan Tiwana, CTO Wateen, Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Regional CTO, Zong and Telenor CEO Tore Johnsen. But starting with what 3G basically is. 3G is the Third Generation of telecom standards and technology for mobile networking, superseding 2.5G. It is based on the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) family of standards under the IMT-2000. 3G networks enable network operators to offer users a wider range of more advanced services while achieving greater network capacity through improved spectral efficiency. Services include wide-area wireless voice telephony, video calls, and broadband wireless data, all in a mobile environment. Additional features also include HSPA (High Speed Packet Acccess) data transmission capabilities able to deliver speeds up to 14.4 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink." Or rather you can simply summarize it as 3G is about advanced services based on Data. Now coming to the key issue Why we are still not able to make use of such an Enhanced technology in Pakistan. So in order to understand all this I took Pakistan Telecommunication Authorities perspective on this. The question which PTA asks is Does it make business sense to introduce 3G service in Pakistan? PTA asked major technology stakeholders (equipment makers, mobile companies) to share their view points on 3G licensing and roll-out. The argument presented is that conditions are not suitable for 3G in Pakistan and the data revenue potential does not justify investments needed for 3G. They recommend to either defer spectrum allotment or give partial spectrum at nominal cost. We will look at few points from a presentation by one of the major mobile company, in which they clearly state the reasons behind not introducing 3G in Pakistan at this moment.

3G Situation in Pakistan
1. Pakistan is a low priced voice dominated market. Industry is building voice capacity rather than enhanced capability 2. Pakistan Mobile Data Subscriptions Disappointing 3. Nominal GPRS subscriptions in the industry 4. ARPU uplift from these subscriptions is negligible 5. Multi-mode (GSM/UMTS) handsets are still costly 6. GSM market exploded due to economies of scale in the hand sets 7. GSM hand set is available as low as $25 8. Small percentage of 3G capable hand sets in the market 9. 3G non-voice mobile revenues are expected to be negligible 10. Localized content stimulates usage Low literacy in Pakistan 11. No content available in local/regional languages

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Spectrum Cost: 1. Spectrum forms part of investment for an operator to roll out a 3G network 2. Five operators can be expected to invest over a billion dollars on initial launch 3. More cell sites would required to support higher data rates Local content development is an uphill task

Does it make business sense to introduce 3G service in Pakistan?

Now according to the equipment makers and mobile companies, there are two solutions to all this. Defer the allotment of spectrum for another 1-2 years (which means still wait and forget about 3G at the moment). Award 5MHz of 3G spectrum to all MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) at nominal cost, similar to WiMax spectrum fee (means give us the license cheaply). And for which they give several reasons like: Incentive to build and grow 3G services Justify high Capex on roll outs Technology proliferation Affordable 3G services for masses Allocation of additional 3G spectrum at a subsequent date Operators keen to expand on 3G portfolio can bid Market foundation is laid Business case for further investments Strengthen operator capability to offer better QoS and advanced services.

In an interview given to a local website by Rizwan Tiwana, CTO, Wateen, according to him "Is Pakistan ready for 3G deployment? Does user have the requirement to use 3G? Are operators technically ready or do they have technical support to start 3G? Is there any business viability for the 3G operation in Pakistan? He added that 3G is generally used for Distance learning, Video communication, Rich content on the go, Location based services, Online banking, Online procurement, Distance meeting, Internet access, Gaming, Surveillance etc. From its features we can simply translate into "Mobile Broadband" connectivity. We will need to see do we have enough users who are interested in this list to make it viable for the operator to do the investment?

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Advocating further, Mr. Tiwana said, "Relation between the education level in any given country and the percentage of internet usage is very important. Internet usage is better where education level is higher. In Pakistan, first of all, the literacy rate is very low and the current technologies are not even fully utilized as yet. How can we make plans for another higher end technology?" Though we have the examples like people are using blackberry and iPhone using 2.7G but the point to see is what the percentage is? There are approximately 3% users availing the blackberry services out of a customer base of over 90 million. On the technology side, few of the five operators are able to upgrade their network but rest of them can just not because they are not simply technologically advanced. So for them, their will be a complete new investment activity provided the license are available and there is a business feasibility. According to Dr. Tanveer ul Haq, Regional CTO, Zong, in an interview taken from him he suggests. If we bring 3G as a broadband alone there are barriers as the addressable market is very small, prices of PCs and 3G enabled phones are high, internet knowledge of masses is not there, package prices will be high and above all the local content is not available. If 3G is implemented for the multimedia then it can target a bigger market of cell phone users where penetration level is already near 56% and for multimedia services there is not prior knowledge of internet required and here literacy become a non-issue. We have seen operators provided VAS(Value added services) is already very popular in 2G and there are 5 million GPRS users in Pakistan. According to a survey done by Nokia Siemens, the most popular applications on mobile phone are Music, Sports, Games, News, Education, Email and Job/Career related services. We can see the most of the services are multimedia related where as the usage of email is much lesser. "On the brighter side if 3G has to be successful in Pakistan the killer applications will be multimedia related services. Creativity in the content is required. Other very important ingredient is cheap license; different packages need to be created in a manner that it could create a difference between current 2G services as the current ones are very cheap" added Dr. Tanveer. In the last I have included the interview taken from Telenor CEO Tore Johnsen because reports are that Telenor Pakistan has signed an agreement with a third party vendor for development of its 3G network, anticipating a 3G license being awarded to them in near future.

OMG . . . I am in final Year!

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Tore Johnsen talks about the total investment Telenor has made, agreements with Nokia-Siemens & Multinet and his views on WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and 3G. Excerpts: We understand the governments ambition of introducing 3G in the market, but growth and investment in the basic mobile infrastructure should not be sacrificed, as there are too many people still without basic access to mobile telephony We demand that the government should consider 3G not as a licensing opportunity, but rather as allocation of additional spectrum linked with roll out obligations and not hefty upfront fee. PTA and FAB (Frequency Allocation Board) should also make additional UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) spectrum available in order to have equitable spectrum allocation. From the above interviews and discussions we can come up to few conclusions. a) Operators are dubious, if a license bid by competitor may put the competitor on advantage specially Mobilink which have already made many time more money than it invested and may be ready to pay high license fees. b) If this biding is open to all and not only to current operators then they are also afraid of new market forces which may harden the competition. c) They are more than happy to take the license for free and then invest in equipment. In fact they do not want to pay license fees at all.

Pakistan is not yet ready for such a service

Now in the end I will conclude that the future of 3G in Pakistan is seriously uncertain as the present MNOs dont look much interested to put in huge investments and to pay a large amount of license fee, because according to them Pakistan is not yet ready for such a service for which they gave several reasons already discussed earlier.

Acronyms ARPU Average Revenue per User IMT-2000 International Mobile Telecommunications 2000 CAPEX Capital Expenditures (Expenditures creating future benefits)

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OMG..Im in Final Year!

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eeling of being a final year student is a milkshake of happiness, sorrow, stubbornness

and amazement. All these feelings take different shape throughout the year. Happiness in the sense of being a grown up who'd pass out soon and earn his own. Sorrow because he'd not remain a chota bacha and would graduate soon from university, will miss the gatherings, the time spent with friends, sleeping in class, being a backbencher, exchanging parchi's while in class, escaping in between classes to go the canteen and have chaat and a lot of such activities. A simple darpouk student has now transformed into a stubborn and confident personality . The ones who used to hate giving chanda for the good-for-nothing activities have now turned into the 'chanda collectors', the ones who used to hate bullies are now enjoying the flavours of ragging. It amazes me how life changes us in such a short span of time. Soon we'll depart from this institute and make our ways to practical life. Wanna know some real life tales of a final year student? Here they are!

OMG. Im in final year! . . .

Stories of final year students on reaching in final Year!

Bushra's Story:
" Whew! Am an utmost senior or Incredible! The unis first day just passed by; lines like these would certainly hit your eardrum if you happen to come across 07-batch students these days. Dont take the final year as some haunted thing. Its nothing but a laddu with the excitement and sorrow as its two halves. I believe the root cause of the joy is to enjoy the dignity of seniority and the sad part might be is heading to adulthood or formally to practical graduate life. Clock of life keeps running, irrespective of howsoever it treats but is fair in leaving the mark of beautiful memories. Ouuuh..! our $100 million memories, our cherished possession cant possibly be penned down in finite words. Yet to make an attempt, I still remember the very first day, typically the day of ragging. Some are trying their best to give an ignorable profile, a few faces nervous and seldom like me hell confident unless I got to learn this confidence itself entices seniors to rag you up. Our first year walks almost everyday to EL lecture halls or ELDC about 2-3 Km distant in the sultry and sunny weathers, which get double sometimes urged us to curse university admin. But thanks to those worse days that added relief to 4th semester, start of staying at the ICT for the whole classes.

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Final Year is nothing but a laddu with the excitement and sorrow as its two halves

Escaping to AL-manzar as it gets rainy, the little award-giving like event in our class, waiting a little longer to board the buses at the zero point when the comrades get wild and the relishing kachiis by teachers which prove to be good put -us-ups during boring lectures are the evergreen memories in many of our minds, i am sure about. What we may call our teachers, the kind sarkars who made us better-off humans, polished our souls or ofcourse enhanced our learning towards the Telecom market. If i dare to struggle with adjectives in their honor, I would probably go like; Sir zubair kalhoros math-filled & sir rizwan balochs pause less lecture, mam saminas rare smile, sir urs jhatials indecipherable urdu words, sir ayaz shaikhs happy-go-lucky mood, mam saima hafeezs ironic style, sir bhagwandass speedy-go lectures, sir kamran kazis way of getting pissed from our class, sir amir soomros consistent questioning the position holders, sir riazs soomros motivational tales, mam shanza shaikhs efficient teaching, sir zafi shahs angrezi are important flashbacks behind my mind. One might say lucky you to own these beautiful memories. It may be half the story told if I dont turn on the page revealing the exam season of 5th semester, where the almost batch was highly stressed up by the signals and systems paper. It is my batch, which managed to utilize their right of making an unanimous decision, a debate of getting them nowhere. Well, I cant disclose ALL behind the show, can i?!?!! Irrespective of howsoever bitterness lies in my past three years, I find them cherishing for the lifetime. Most of us are thinking that sooner this is it! The end of our learning journey. Now we can actually make money and go to shop without begging for 3000 Rs from amma or baba saeen. And soon we will make our name in the list who give Eidis to younger ones! Yes soon InshALLAH its going to happen. But we are forgetting here something. Learning and self improvement never ceases. It is a continuous process. We at least should build ourselves in a way that we actually like our selves! It is said the person who youre with most in life is yourself and if you dont like yourself youre always with somebody you dont like." So may be this is the closing of our bachelors program, but we yet have to earn the degree of self improvement! As SRK says picture abhi baki ha mere Dost !!. Rather I conclude, the real game has just begun..

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Saad Writes:

can never forget 8th January 2007, that was my 1st day in university

and in fact one of the most memorable days of my life. Before coming to university I didnt know about ragging, I had just seen that in movies. I entered in university with very positive and big dreams but as I entered into the university point, I had to face what I used to watch in movies and that continued till the end of first week. I didnt know where my department was. I some how managed to reach ICT but was not able to find my class as the building was under construction. When I found the class, it was too late, orientation was over, empty class along with empty seats and empty lunch boxes were teasing us. That was my first day. Time passed in a glance and today when we say we are in final year, those three years are reflected in our minds. How can we forget those days? That birthday party in second semester, and the day next to it, when chairman came to our class, made us listen to a few great words and then our class was imposed a penalty of 2000 Rs. This isn't all! The Chairman again came to our class when we were in 5th semester. This time our class was caught ragging 09 batch and the penalty was also a bit larger, each student had to pay 500 RS. There aren't just these two events; in fact our 3 years are full of such events. We can never forget those trips to Al-Manzar, those tours to Karachi, those award shows, and those dinners with fellows. We can also never forget those respectful moments when teachers gifted us with humiliating greetings. University life teaches one how to live in a society. These 3 years taught us every thing. University life gave us hundreds of new friends. We studied, enjoyed, faced many troubles, did assignments etc all together. So how can we forget those friends? I can say university life taught me life. After the graduation when I will sit alone under the shade of tree and remember my past, a smile will come to my face while recalling every moment which I passed in university. I am sure when I will proudly tell these stories to my children; they will also enjoy my experiences. In the end Thanks to all my friends who made my university life beautiful and memorable.

Thanks to all of our friends who made our university life so beautiful

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Zunera Writes:
"Filled up with many questions in mind, I was searching for a pattey wala to ask where actually the ICT building is. After finding out, I managed to search my class and was 15 minutes late for it already. After the class, as the attendance was being taken, I found out that Im actually sitting in the wrong section. That was the very first day of my university. I came in the university with a perspective of being the best, but that was not the actual case. I found a number of intelligent students. I have had a number of crazy memories happening in first year. The most embarrassing is when I was having my first class of BEE and in the very first class Sir Ali Asghar Memon asked me to get out because I didnt answer his question. Another thing that still makes me laugh is the presentations we had in our English class. I remember our English teacher asked us to give presentation relating to Valentines Day. I still laugh my heart out when I think about all the presentations the students gave. Some would describe how deep the love between Elsa Qazi and Allama I I Qazi was and some would tell the stories of Heer Ranjha and Sohni Mahiwaal. In second year, the teachers started trusting us and used to leave us alone with the laboratory stuff, the kits and the electronics devices. I must say that they were very much wrong. I realized this fact when we happened to burn up half of the kit in digital electronics lab by providing the kit with 12 volts instead of 5. I still remember, how bad Ada Muhammad Ali (the lab technician) screamed after we asked him to come up and see whats wrong with the kit. Third year started with the never ending curse of studying on a multimedia. Multimedia is what we call heart and soul of Telecommunication Department. In this year, we also began to develop our temperament to bear with zeros in the test results. It was Signals and Systems first class test result, that all the batches used to go to the notice board and see it. We called the result a binary one because there was only one student who managed to take 1 mark, rest were all zero. I even overheard that someone in 06 TL had made an announcement to check out 07 TL section IIs class result on the notice board. We also happened to develop the patience to sit in the practical class

It took us a lot of time to accept the fact that in a practical class were supposed to actually sit for 2 long hours. Till 2nd year, we were of the habit to wind up the practical task in maximum 1 hour and go wandering in the other half. In 3rd year I also happened to realize that its not so bad when youre being humiliated by the teacher. It actually makes the whole class laugh at you.

Days passed in a blink of an eye. I pinch myself to ask whether Im dreaming or its reality that Im in final year now. Whatever mistakes Ive done, Ive learned from them. From this prosperous institute Ive groomed myself and Ive learned to accept challenges."

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Umair Says:
"With the start of 2k10 a new academic year starts and so starts our countdown of 365 days in university. 4th Jans morning I woke up with one eye closed and other watching my notice pasted on wall saying "Get ready to step in your final year" and here I was lost in my own thinking, stunned trying to believe "Oh my my. Am I really in final year? Wont there be any other year after this one? The feeling of being the most senior batch!!! Saw myself in mirror and had a laugh out. Its like yaar abhi to mein chota hoon, never want to grow up. Its really astonishing and hard to believe how these days have passed, giving me such a wonderful time and memories. It seems to me yesterday that I stepped in my first year, scared, ragged 14 times by my own friends giving my intro by repeating danda leke after every sentence and this is how my university days started. Our first year was made unforgettable by journeys that we use to make from our department for Sir Ali Asghars B.E.E lectures & coming back to see electronic lab incharge Saein Mushtaq concentrating on scrabbling his skin rather than teaching us & yes! how to forget the word Namakool of Sir Urs Jhathial and the birthday party, the mess we did with class and after all the playing, paying the price of Rs 2000 of penalty but again it was fun. My 2nd year started with project making stuff, from dipherential and phorier series of Sir Yasin to will be to be microprocessor lectures of Sir Kamran, from the lectures of nara-e-korai jeay korai to laughing sequentials of Mam Yasmeen and angry operational amplifiers of Sir Bhagwandas. 3rd year started from my forum activities with the motivational lectures of Sir Riaz to torturing signal systems. Sir Ursani trying to make us understand to translate the word telecommunication word in sindhi i.e. Door Rabtiyat, digitizing it and processing it and ultimately we ended with probability that we understood non. Every year, every semester and everyday inside or outside university, every single moment has many memorable events enclosed within which cannot be told in few words. Those dinning out with mates, the tours, dancing trips, unforgettable events of Al-Manzar, and the laugh outs on the mates if anybody been greeted with beautiful insulting words from the teacher. Every single moment adds its own taste. But closing my eyes and thinking how my university days have been, the most precious memory that flashes is the time I passed with my dad & the time spent with the precious friends this university has given me. University life has helped me in discovering the inner me. But my story hangs back to same point that do we really have spent unnoticeable 3 whole years? Hard to believe isnt it ? jein ko wado teer hanyo aa sechi mein . Apart everything this university has really taught us life, gave chance to enjoy & cherish every moment. In the end every moment is diamond for me which I have treasured. All these crazy memories will certainly make my heart laugh out continuously whenever I recall them.

University life has helped me in discovering the inner me

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Sixth Sense Technology

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The exponentially growing technological development of the modern times has resulted in some of the revolutionary inventions that have changed the way we look at things & perform our routine jobs, making our way of living easier and much faster. Every morning we wake up, we come across some astonishing new invention, as a result of the research being carried out the world over. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) stands next to being the Mecca of scientific research & many outstanding innovations of this era are the Brain-Childs of the MIT scientists. One such revolutionizing research from a group of students, working under the supervision of PATTIE MAES (Professor & Associate Academic Head) in MIT Media Lab, is the SIXTH SENSE DEVICE. The main idea of this device is conceived by PRANAV MISTRY, belonging to a small town of Palanpur, located in Gujrat, India, who is currently pursuing his PhD at MIT Media Lab. His vision of seeing the Technology from Design Perspective reflects in all of his research work. Most of his work is centered on the Interfacing between the Physical World & the Digital World. Some of his early inventions include: Human Gestural Interface, Sticky Notes TM, 3D-PenTM and the Reality-Based Google Map. The inspiration behind all of these was simple; to have the interaction with digital information with the actions that we normally take in the physical world. We, the humans, use our five natural senses to gather the information from the environment & the events that are happening around us, in order to respond, act or make decisions. This information is more reliable & precise, if its digital. But unfortunately, none of the five natural senses can respond to the digital information and we have to use the gadgets (such as: smart phones & handheld PCs etc) to evaluate this information. These devices need to be programmed to perform those sophisticated computations & algorithms to extract useful information, making the process look far away from natural. Thus, their should be an additional sense, which can have seamless access to the cloud of Meta-information, yet being so natural; i.e. it should respond to our normal gestures, movements & expressions. This thought gave the rise to the concept of Sixth Sense Devices that allow you to go as far as your creativity can take you to and it frees the digital information from its confine by integrating it with this tangible world. With this device, you have a gadget that acts as if it were your Sixth Sense and using which you can paint this world by your imagination.

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The Sixth Sense prototype packages a battery-powered pocket projector, a mirror, a high resolution camera & a fast computational machine such as (a mobile phone) into a pendent-like wearable device. The projector takes the pixels out of the confine, so that any surface around us (walls, palm & other physical objects) can be used as interface to project the digital information. While, the camera acts as a Digital Eye to track the users hand movements, gestures & physical objects using computer-based vision techniques. The programming algorithm processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the location of the colored markers (placed at the tip of users fingers) using simple-computer vision techniques. These marker-caps can be replaced by painting the nails with fancy colors & are used to interact with the information that is projected (analogous to painting over the surface).

(The Sixth Sense Prototype)

(Painting a wall with markers)

The possibilities for the use of such a device in different situations are simply unnumbered. Let us see, how it can serve in easing up the routine tasks that we do. Imagine yourself to be visiting an exotic tourist location where you continuously feel the need to taking the photographs. It seems very hectic to take your digital camera out of your bag and keep on pressing the capture button again & again. With the sixth sense device, you can simply take a photo by just the framing gesture of your hands. Then, if these photos were taken from a common digital camera, you would have to hang up over your laptop for editing them. But with the sixth sense device, you can browse & resize these photos by simply the pinching operation of your hands & send them directly over the internet, using any surface around you as an interface. Or you may even use your palm as an interface to dial any number via this Magic-machine. Or what if your Mom sends you to super market some fine Sunday morning & asks you to do shopping of some common house-hold goods? If it were a guy like me, who had never done some shopping like this before, he would find himself to be in jeopardy. But things get much easier with this device that understands what objects are you holding in front of it, using the image recognition technology, and can let you know if this product is the right purchase to make (dependant upon your personal criteria). One similar application of this device may be in a book store, where you can pick up any book from the shelf, hold it in front of the device to get Amazon.com ratings for the book (from your favorite critics) projected on top of its cover. The device does this by recognizing the cover of the book & comparing it with millions of books available online. Gone are those days when we used to read the newspapers; you can get the video annotations of the events that you are viewing in the paper or you can also check the live weather update for you local area.

(As a gestural camera)

(Browsing through pictures)

(Book ratings)

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(Using the palm for dialing a phone number)

(Newspaper showing live

video news)

(Drawing a circle on wrist shows time)

For those who argue the limitation of this device only to cater the needs of a common man in doing his/her routine jobs & think that it wouldnt benefit the people in helping them solve those tedious accounting or computational tasks in their offices, Pranav proves them wrong with the concept of a Paper PC using the Sixth Sense Device. The concept behind this Paper PC is that a simple microphone (similar to that attached in a web cam) is clipped into a piece of paper (that acts as the interface). When the user touches this piece of paper, through the color markers (while placing it in front of the Sixth Sense Device), the sound from this microphone is letting the user know where is he touching the paper & the camera keeps on tracking the movement of the fingers. With this Paper PC you can enjoy watching movies on the move, play interactive video games & can even take your office with yourself, wherever you go. You can take a part of text from any book or your desktop, place it onto this paper, edit it & then get it printed. Thus, the work flow gets much faster & intuitive.

(Watching Movies)

(Playing Video Games)

(GOOGLE on the Paper PC)

(Editing any document)

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With such a wide domain of available possibilities for the use of Sixth Sense Device, it can be pre-empted that these devices are going to be the basic need of every one of us within coming few years. At this point in time, the device prototype costs around 350$, but with the increase in mass production in coming future would limit its cost to that of a normal cell phone. Pranav Mistry sees this technology as a basic need of the cellular operators & he plans to mobilize this technology for the welfare of people with missing basic sense; in which case it would act as the 5th (missing) sense. Further, The open-source softwares of these sixth sense devices are to be provided to the common men so as to be used as per their needs--Says the Genius of Pranav Mistry. Currently, we dont have these devices available here in our country. But if you are interested in experiencing something similar of the sort, you may download the Nokia Point & Find software available free at the OVI Store for your high resolution Nokia phone. This is a reality-based web browser that uses the camera of your cell phone to recognize something that is present in front of it & finds the online information related to any place or major building that is being pointed at by the camera. Or you may also point the camera in front of a movie poster on a street to get the cast information, movie reviews & to avail even the booking facility in the nearby cinema. Additionally, you may extract valuable information by reading the bar-codes on different products. Apart from that, you can find the information about your current location or nearby places (such as: coffee shops, parks etc). This feature is to be used with Nokia cell-phones that have a built-in GPS receiver. I always used to wonder if it ever could be true . . . when I used to watch Tom Cruise in the Minority Report! But guys, its here and all thanks to this revolutionary technology, known as Sixth Sense that will change the way we look at things & perform our tasks. (I would like to thank Sir, Fahim Aziz for introducing this technology to me few months back)

Thanks to this revolutionary technology, known as Sixth Sense that will Change the way we look at things & perform our Tasks

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AsiaITCN Asia-The biggest IT & Telecom Extravaganza of Pakistan

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The economy of any country depends on its capability to compete in the international market. Though we get to hear many disheartening news regarding the economic crisis that our country has been facing lately, but since the past few years, it has geared up quite well to adopt the constantly evolving technological trends around the world in the fields of IT & Telecom and to equip itself with the latest developments to be ranked as one of the major competitors in the industry today. With perhaps, every global IT company in the world having its presence in Pakistan & with revenues growing by 30-40% every year, the IT industry is probably the most exciting & dynamic sector in the country today. The IT industry of Pakistan is characterized by these statistical indicators; around 1215 local & 60 foreign IT companies producing net revenue of 2.8 Billion US$, with over 110000 IT professionals & 110 universities/institutes offering IT courses. Another field that has witnessed the same exponential rise such as IT is Telecom. The telecom infrastructure in the country being 100% digital, with fiber optics being used as the backbone for providing basic services (such as: call centers, ISPs, software houses, voice & video etc), an ever-growing tele-density with a 156% increase in the number of cellular subscribers every year and with wired & wireless Broadband services being provided to the commercial as well as domestic users, the Telecom sector proves to be a piling stones of the economy of this country. Another landmark in this field of telecom was achieved when Pakistan received the Government Leadership Award by the GSM Association (GSMA- a worldwide organization representing a membership of more than 680 cellular operators around the world) in 2006 for its tremendous achievements in the field of mobile communication. To showcase the latest technological trends in the fields of IT & Telecom and to provide them an exposure in the global market, ITCN Asia exhibition is organized by the ecommerce (EC) Gateway of Pakistan every year, whichs supported by Ministry of IT & Telecom, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Ministry of Industries-Sindh, City District Government of Karachi, Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) & Medium Enterprise Development Authority & Jamals Yellow Pages of Pakistan. Since its inception in 2001, it has emerged as the biggest IT & Telecom extravaganza of Pakistan. Over the years ITCN Asia has grown from a country event to a regional event. Just a few years ago there were very few companies with quality certifications. Today, there are over 100 ISO certified companies registered with ITCN Asia.

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Thanks to this exhibition, some of the most renowned brands of the world get to exhibit their top products & services which allow the user community to get exposure to a wide range of technology and solutions under one roof. On top of everything, it provides an opportunity for business-to-business alliances, leveraging their mutual strengths. ITCN Asia Exhibitions & Conferences have been playing a pivotal role in land marking the image of Pakistan on the world IT Map, bringing in huge foreign and local investments in the Country. ITCN Asia is much more than a yearly exhibition; its also a platform to promote the mobilization of the IT & Telecom in the country. In addition to Quality certifications and standardization processes, the industry requires Human Resource, Space and Bandwidth. ITCN Asia understands this quite well, thus has an approved Public Sector Development project under which training programs, tailored to the specific needs of the Industry, are implemented by the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB). Software Technology Parks (STPs) are being set up in all the major cities. On the bandwidth front there are currently 3 separate submarine cables for International connectivity, providing much needed resilience to the data networks. The 10th ITCN Asia conference will be held this year from 3rd-5th August, 2010 in Expo-Center Karachi. The exhibit area shall span over 9000 square meters. The expected number of trade visitors is over 45,000 and the number of participating countries is 30; major of them being Canada, China, France, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Netherlands, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, UAE, UK & USA.

ITCN Asia 2010 Exhibition is where you will see newer & latest technologies and solutions in action. It is the leading electronic business event for the enterprise decision makers in this region & forms the hub of IT Industry of the world. ITCN Asia 2010 is a one-stop shop where you can "test drive" all the products on your hit list. The Exhibition would serve as a comprehensive showcase of the latest in technology, equipment and machinery as well as allied services, simultaneously providing investors with a definite outlook of the regional IT & Telecom Industry and an opportunity to meet their prospective counterparts and business partners. The major product displays are going to be in the fields of IT SOLUTIONS, NETWORK & SECURITY, OFFICE AUTOMATION & SUPPLIES, COMMUNICATIONS and CONSUMER ELECTRONICS. Apart from the participation of a common man, the exhibition is targeted to attract High Level Government Officials, Policy & Decision Makers, Foreign & Local Investors, Trade Delegations from various Countries, Foreign Missions/Consul Generals, Top Executives and professionals from local Industry, Dealers, Distributors and Accessories Vendors, Members of Federations & Trade Associations, Top Level Manufacturers & Product Exporters and Financial Sector Specialists. Special accommodation & complimentary privileges are provided for the international trade/corporate visitors, apart from a specialized Visa Policy. With such a wide variety of available prospects, the ITCN Asia 2010 promises to be bigger & better than all of the previous events and will prove the thoughts of those wrong, who think that our country is left behind in the world IT & Telecom market.

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How to prepare for recruitment process of PTCL?

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1. Recruitment Process: The recruitment process of PTCL is very simple and single-step process. Whenever there are any vacancies in PTCL for any positions, they are announced on its official website, i.e. www.ptcl.com.pk. PTCL do not use to conduct any written test, but what happen is that the short-listed candidates are called directly for interviews (Please Remember! No formal letters or e-mails are used, but the short-listed candidates are informed through phone calls only). Interview is the first and last step of hiring process. 2. Interview: In general the interview skills are necessary and common for every job, so I wont discuss them in detail, rather I would like to discuss the technical part. Here is a summary of my personal experience and an internal survey from my newly hired colleagues: Interview questions very much depend on the level of candidate, i.e. if someone is experienced hell be asked questions relating to his previous job nature and technology, fresh candidates are asked very basic things from different Telecommunication technologies and if someone have done any internship in Telecom related areas then hell face the questions accordingly. The nature of questions also very much depend on the contents of your CV, i.e. it is very necessary that whatever you have mentioned in your CV, you should be very well aware of that. Most of the times (but not always) you are also asked about your favorite subjects from the Telecom field (For Example: Networking, Transmission, Wireless Communication, OF Comm. etc) and then interview questions come from that particular subject only along with some general questions. Since the scope of PTCL is not limited to Telecom Engineering, the students from other engineering disciplines, e.g. ES, CS, SW, EL (both Comm. and Power) are also hired and in that case the interview is divided in to two major parts, i.e. Technical and Management Skills. The candidate is asked about some Management related questions along with some from his field. 3. Some Recommendations: Your CV should be very well organized and it should not contain any irrelevant stuff (any internship or skill that you cant explain). Rather it is better to mention your interest, i.e. in which particular field/subject you have expertise (It should be the one on which you have command enough to answer some basic questions, e.g. Optical Fiber, SDH, Data Comm. or any one of your own interest, but related to Telecom Technology). Be confident and straight forward at the time of interview and dont beat about the bush. Use that language in which you feel comfortable and can speak fluently, though English is standard language but if you think you are not that much in English, it doesnt matter because Information is more important than channel/language. (Please Remember! Fluency and accuracy are the keys to develop confidence and confidence is the key to success). Last but not the least, an Internship in either PTCL or NTC is a very plus point and one of the key to your selection, so try your best to do at least one internship in either of them, but it doesnt mean at all that you wont be selected if you dont have the one. Wish you all the best and very best of luck for your brighter future.

Inter Class Mini Project Competition (ICMPC)

The certificate distribution ceremony of Inter class mini project competition (ICMPC) in association with IEEE MUET chapter was held at M. D. Hall MUET, Jamshoro. Acting chairman Electrical department Prof. Agha Zafarullah pathan, incharge ICMPC Engr. Mansoor A. Soomro and teachers of electrical department were present to grace the occasion. The certificates were divided to top ten groups of the competition. Among these groups top three groups were awarded Certificate of Achievement. The projects were; Magnetic contactor based Direct On-Line DOL starter Washing machine motor controller Street light timer circuit Addressing to the occasion, Incharge ICMPC briefed the participants about the significance of the competition. He said that as the world is advancing as a high pace therefore it is inevitable to become familiar with the theoretical as well as practical aspects of learning. This event was organized to provide the students competitive environment where they can express and demonstrate their ideas and skills. This event was organized for the first time in electrical department under the supervision of Engr. Mansoor A. Soomro . This competition will play key role in creating competitiveness among the students of third year electrical engineering. He further said, to create the motivation and interest among the students, I decided to initiate the certificate of achievement for top three group positions. It remained a successful plan because every group got serious interest in learning during the span of the competition. The panel of judges incuding Engr. Noor Nabi Shaikh, Engr. Irfan Halepoto and Engr. Haresh Kumar were requested to evaluate the performance of the group participating in the competition. Moreover he said this competition is the beginning and with the support of university and interest of students there will be series of these competitions in the near future. Acting Chairman dept. of electrical engineering Prof. Zafarullah pathan appreciated the efforts taken by the Incharge ICMPC and students of third year electrical engineering. He said; our department is fully committed in providing

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News on Campus

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DR. Dayo at Singapore

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