Ieee UoM SB newsletter 2013

Words of Inspiration

IEEE STUDENT BRANCH UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA

2013 Issue 1

Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) is undoubtedly the most reputed global body for electronic and electrical engineers all over the world. They under the vision of “Advancing technology for humanity” are undertaking several community service projects and technical programs in order to uplift the mankind via technology amelioration. The student branches appear to be the link that bridges the professionals in the industry and the university undergraduates. It is with great pleasure that I mention that we too are privileged to be a part of this huge global authority. The IEEE student branch of University of Moratuwa, since the date of its establishment has reached a remarkable exuberance during the past few years, currently having a member density of more than 350. The student branch together with its WIE affinity group has pioneered many recognized events during the last year also. IEEE Xtreme 7.0 is the one stands high upon every one of them where the undergraduates of the university proved their excellence once more in this worldwide overnight coding challenge. It backed the 19th ERU symposium organized by the Engineering Research Unit of university of Moratuwa, for it is the breeding ground for the innovative ideas of the engineering masterminds. Inauguration of the IEEE Power and Engineering society student chapter was one peculiar event that took place within the past year. Field visits, IEEE talk sessions were some other mini projects of the student branch. Moreover, we celebrated the IEEE Day on 1st of October and many sub events such as the CodeExpertz 1.0, the first ever island wide coding challenge for school children, Xtravaganza took place in cohesion with that. Personally, it is a pleasure for me to see the status the UoM student branch has currently achieved. Yet, the target is still far. We are half past the way to it and a longer distance to travel. So, I wish the student branch good luck to accomplish the goals successfully during the year ahead. Thank You.

Prof. Sisil Kumarawadu

Student Branch Counselor

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A Word from the Chairman


2013 Issue 1

IEEE is the world’s largest professional association dedicated to advancing technological innovation and excellence for the benefit of humanity. IEEE and its members inspire a global community through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, and professional and educational activities. IEEE University of Moratuwa Student Branch is one of the most active Student Branches in the Region and was established in 2008 with Mr. Kasun Chathuranga as the first president who was the person behind the initiation with the guidance of Prof. Sisil Kumaravadu (B.Sc. Eng (Moratuwa), MEng (Saga), PhD (Saga)), senior lecturer from the Department of Electrical Engineering of UoM. From the beginning many students were enthusiastic about the formation of the student branch since they believed this will open up new avenues of world technology for the technocrats, truly it was! By now the member span has increased up to more than 350 members. Solid foundation laid back then paved the student branch’s path towards the success it has achieved today. Members are the biggest asset possessed by the student branch. So, we try our best to help the members yield a maximum number of benefits in various prospects by actively working in the student branch. The biggest benefit for our members is that the exclusive exposure to the dynamic technological world they obtain when engaging in IEEE student branch activities. The knowledge and the experience they gain from those are undoubtedly beyond the normal study scope of our students, thus, they have the competitive edge from their peers. We do have some impressive goals which we strive towards continuously. With the ultimate goal of “The IEEE University of Moratuwa student branch strives to create an atmosphere of technology for the upcoming engineers of the University of Moratuwa”, we always focus on benchmarking our standards with our fellow student branches. This eventually helps us in being the best in the country. The last year 2012/2013 was incredibly successful year for the Student Branch. There were many successful events organized by the SB, especially some events collaborating with the section and with the participation of other student branches as well. I take this opportunity thank everyone who helped us throughout the year and I wish all the best for the newly appointed Execom and director board for a successful and eventful year forward. Thank You.

Tharindu Ranasinghe

Student Branch Chairman

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Editor’s Note


2013 Issue 1

Volunteering for a world renowned professional body during

one’s undergraduate life is simply not an ordinary thing. What

you do will be paid off multiple times by the value of the

ultimate unique experience you gain through this. This is why

we, at IEEE Student Branch of University of Moratuwa, believe

that our members could be the most sought after set of young

engineering undergraduates who possess both academic

excellence and social smartness which indeed cater to the

industry expectations.

Throughout the year 2013, our student branch was capable of

organizing a wide variety of events which were of immense

importance to all the Engineering undergraduates as well as to

the University of Moratuwa. Our vibrant and versatile set of

volunteers made it possible to achieve success all the time.

Through this newsletter which is published for the first time, we

expect to give out the readers the flashback of the activities

organized by the IEEE Student Branch of University of Moratuwa

during the year 2013. We consider this would provide the

foundation and motivation to accomplish the success of future

events organized by the student branch. Also, we would like to

draw the attention towards the exemplary opportunities one

could obtain by joining our team.

Nadee Seneviratne

AT A GLANCE….

Editor Nadee Seneviratne

Contributing Authors Subodha Charles Harini Hapuarachchi Sachinthana Pathirana Sanduni Premarathne

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Driving Forces behind Success (Pg 4)

IEEEXtreme 7.0 (Pg 6)

19th Engineering Research Unit Symposium (Pg 9)

Annual Field Visit (Pg 10)

CodeExpertz 1.0 (Pg 11)

Xtravaganza 2013 (Pg 12)

IEEE Day 2013 (Pg 13)

IEEE Talk (Pg 14)

GO GREEN - SAVE TOMORROW (Pg 15)

“Your First Day at Work” (Pg 16)

More News on WIE (Pg 19)

Inauguration Ceremony - IEEE PES Student Chapter, UoM (Pg 21)

FLY HIGH WITH IEEE (Pg 22)

Driving Forces behind

Success…


2013 Issue 1

IEEE Student Branch of University of Moratuwa

Tharindu Ranasinghe Chairman

Executive Committee 2013

Subodha Charles Secretary

Hasitha Dinumpura Vice Chairman

Kavindu Kusal Treasurer

Director Board 2013

Vimukthi Deshappriya Activity Director

Samitha Elvitigla Organizing Director

Muditha Sasanka Web Administrator

Nadee Seneviratne Editor

Charith Kumarasinghe Educational Director

Senior Committee Members

Tisura Gamage

Kelum Deshappriya

Pasan Gunawardena

Tharindu Madanayaka

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Driving Forces behind

Success…


2013 Issue 1

IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Student Branch Affinity Group of University

of Moratuwa

Udari De Alwis Chair

Executive Committee 2013

Nuwanthika Rajapaksha

Secretary

Awanthika Senarath Vice Chair

Sriyanthi Ranaweera Treasurer

Vindya Senevirathne Director - Organizing

Senior Committee Members

Pramodya Senanayaka

Harini Hapuarachchi

Sanjeewani Jayasekara

Ashani Muthumala

M.A. Helani

Sanduni Premarathne

Co-Editors

Sachinthana Pathirana

Chamalee Nisansala Wickrama Arachchi

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IEEEXtreme 7.0 By Sachinthana Pathirana

“Winning is not a sometime thing;

it's an all-time thing. You don't win

once in a while, you don't do things

right once in a while, you do them

right all the time. Winning is habit.”

20th October 2013, was the day for the

winners of University of Moratuwa, where

they exhibited their habit once more to the

whole world. The dawn of the day was usual,

but for more than 240 restless hearts,

excitement reigned for it was none other

than the day for the most awaited, most

recognized theatre for the unbeaten coders

of the island, IEEEXtreme 7.0, the global

coding challenge.

For this year’s Xtreme competition, over

5400 coding experts from every nook and

corner of the world engaged their mighty

mind power to solve 23 coding challenges

over a sleepless time span of 24 hours. As

usual, the teams of IEEE Student members,

were supported by an IEEE Student Branch,

advised and proctored by an IEEE member.

Even though there was a decline in the

number of competing teams, that pitfall was

masked by the perceived talents exhibited

by the code experts of University of

Moratuwa. We are with humble pride

announce the official results of this year’s

Xtreme competition, that 6 Mora teams

ranked within the top 100 all over the world.

There is whole lot of groups and individuals

that could never be forgotten in the path

towards making this huge leap a success. The

members of the IEEE Student branch of the

University were the underlying foundation

for bringing this year’s competition alive,

under their full time dedication. The flow of

the competition within the University

premises would not have made a reality if

not for their massive cohesion.

The overnight competition was held inside 6 laboratories belonging to 2 separate

buildings.

The huge flight would never make its wings so strong unless for the immense

helping hand extended by the lecturers and other academic staff members of the

University. The sponsorship of LK domain registry obtained with the aid of Prof.

Gihan Dias who is the CEO/Registrar of the LK Domain registry gave the opportunity

to make this event more productive. The collaborative effort of a huge group of

individuals working to accomplish one mission, paved the way for bringing the title

once again to its home while glazing the golden name of University of Moratuwa.

Highlights of the Day

The start of the battle was remarkably dominated by the team of the triplet who

emerged victorious over all of the recent Xtreme challenges, ‘Meeyo’, but this time

under a new interesting title, ‘Machan’. They turned out to be the quickest team

from Sri Lanka over the first half of the total time span, being placed over 5th all

over the world. Towards the latter part of the game, unfortunately ‘Machan’

seemed to have a little fall off, but just as before in the previous Xtreme

competitions, Mora was able to have full faith on them for they still ranked to be

the top of all the teams representing the country, while being placed 12th among

all opponents throughout the world.

The commitment of the organizing team has to be praised with gratitude, for they

spent 24 continuous sleepless hours to facilitate the coders with almost everything

they required during the entire time span.

Achievements

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”

So this time also Mora chased perfectionism. Ultimately, University of Moratuwa

encountered excellence. Even though the participation for this year’s Xtreme 7.0

was comparatively lower than in Xtreme 6.0, our undergraduates were able to

secure the name of excellence the university retained so far.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER 2013- IEEE STUDENT BRANCH - UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA 6

‘Machan’ you are the best…!!!!

There could be hardly anyone in University

of Moratuwa for whom ‘Meeyo’ is not

known. Yes, they were the team that placed

3rd in the last year’s battle. This time,

‘Meeyo’, Thilina Ambagahawaththa and

Varuna Jayasiri, accompanied by Laksith

Uchitha Sirisena, under the team name

‘Machan’, turned out to be the triplet to

become 12th over the entire world.

Thilina Ambagahawaththa currently works

as a Biomedical Research Engineer in the

University and he’s mastering in Application

Specific Processor Design for Computer

Vision. Varuna Jayasiri is the well experience

coding expert from CeylonSpiro which

placed 2nd in Xtreme 5.0 together with It is with great pleasure we announce that as in the previous

years, during Xtreme 7.0 also University of Moratuwa was

able to exhibit the best performance over any other

institution in the country. The team ‘Machan’ who placed

12th according to the world ranking, secured their position

as the best performing team within the country itself, just in

the same way ‘Meeyo’ manifested during Xtreme 6.0. The

next to come in the performance line of Xtreme 7.0 was the

team ‘1729’ which placed 24th and SharpSharks who placed

25th. Even though a team from Mora was not qualified to

be within the best 10, we had 6 teams within the top 100

and 19 within the top 200.

Shown below is just a glimpse at the colors, the teams from

the University manifested during Xtreme 7.0.

1. Machan (12th) Varuna Jayasiri Thilina Ambagahawaththa Laksith Sirisena

2. 1729 (24th)

Nipuna Samarasekara Lajanugen Logeswaren Tharindu Warnakula

3. SharpSharks (25th)

Krishanthan Sundararajah Buddhima Gamlath

4. Ohjelmoijat 5. CodeSharks 6. SplendidThrice

Lilantha Polpitiya, Chethiya Abesinghe. An exceptional individual

from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Laksith Sirrisena,

joined with Thilina and Varuna in the journey of bringing Mora’s

name to the pinnacle of excellence.

Acknowledgement

IEEE Xtreme 7.0 was the splendid outcome of the enormous efforts

put forth several individuals in a collective sense. It is our utmost

duty and responsibility to extend our heartfelt gratitude towards

each and every one of them, as the IEEE Student Branch of

University of Moratuwa.

We sincerely thank Prof. Ananda Jayawardena - the Vice Chancellor,

Prof. Rahula Attalage – the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Prof. U.G.A.

Puswewala – Dean, Faculty of Engineering and Prof. A. S.

Karunananda – Dean, Faculty of Information Technology for their

inevitable guidance and support throughout the organization of the

competition. The event would have never made a success if not for

their immense support and guidance.

Just as in the previous Xtreme competitions the stupendous hand

given to the IEEE student branch of University of Moratuwa by Prof.

Sisil Kumarawadu – IEEE student branch counsellor and Prof. Rohan

Munasinghe – Student Advisor is highly appreciated by us. Also Prof.

Gihan Dias - CEO/Registrar of the LK Domain registry inspected and

guided us through the obstacles and paved our way towards the

success, as well as providing with the financial sponsorship to the

event from LK Domain Registry.


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The backing support extended by the various departments of the University can never be neglected. Our sincere gratitude goes to

Dr. Chandana Gamage– Head of the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Dr. Ajith Pasquel – Head of the Department

of Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering, Prof. M.P. Dias – Head of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Dr. L.

Ranathunga – Head of Department of Information Technology for providing laboratory and other facilities from their departments.

The commitment of the proctors of the IEEEXtreme 6.0 throughout the day of the competition is greatly valued. Prof. (Mrs.) Dileeka

Dias, Dr. Jayathu G. Samarawickrama, Dr. Nuwan Dayananda, Dr Ranga Rodrigo, Prof. Rohan Munasinghe, Prof. Sisil Kumarawadu,

Dr. Chandima D Pathirana, Dr. Weliwitage Don Asanka Rodrigo, Prof. Gihan Dias, Dr. R. A. R. C. Gopura, Mr. Kasun Chathuranga,

Mr. Lalintha Polpitiya, Mr. Hasala Dharmawardena, Mr. Thilak Chaminda, Mr. L. Widanagamaarachchi supported the event as

proctors observing and guiding the competitors. Any team without a proctor could not compete in the Xtreme competition. So the

role played by the proctors has to be admired with honor. Moreover, even if not specifically mentioned above we highly appreciate

the support earned from all the academic and non – academic staff members who helped us by any mean to give wings to this

dream.

The strong foundation underneath the organization of this competition was none other than the IEEE Student Branch of the

University together with the WIE Affinity Group. One may newer witness such a gentle flow in the day’s work unless if not for their

dedication. Having the well-organized flow of the vent day is the hardest part of the whole competition. We gratefully mention

their hand in bringing this alive.

IEEE Xtreme 7.0 was another step of a long journey. There are many more milestones to pass ahead. The IEEE Student Branch of

University of Moratuwa is a tree sprouting day by day. It’s still young and grows step by step with continuous fertilization. So we

are fingers are crossed for the Xtreme 8.0 and we all are looking forward to see IEEE Xtreme 8.0 popping out even more coding

experts next year.


19th Engineering

Research Unit

Symposium By Nadee Seneviratne

One of the most remarkable events in the

University of Moratuwa calendar, the National

Engineering Conference, 19th ERU Symposium

successfully marked another important chapter

in the university history on the 26th November

2013 at the Civil Engineering Complex,

University of Moratuwa. IEEE Student Branch of

University of Moratuwa being one of the

prominent student organizations in the

university and having gained a solid experience

from organizing previous years’ ERU

Symposiums did an exceptional work in

organizing and coordinating the entire event

this time as well.

Engineering Research Unit (ERU) Symposium is

considered as a platform to disseminate the

knowledge gained through the research carried

out at the Faculty of Engineering of the

University of Moratuwa to the Scientific

Community at large, and to promote research

among Faculty members. This time it was held

under the theme of ‘Engineering Innovation

that Penetrates into People’ which indeed was

a timely important avenue from the

perspective of Sri Lanka’s overall development.

19 research papers from various Engineering

disciplines were published during this official

forum while providing a comprehensive insight

to the researches carried out by ERU of

University of Moratuwa.

Chief Guest of the 18th ERU symposium was

Prof. K.K.Y.W. Perera (Chancellor of University

of Moratuwa and the Emeritus Professor of

Electronic & Telecommunication Engineering).

The head table comprised of Prof. K.K.Y.W.

Perera, Prof. R. A. Attalage (Deputy Vice

Chancellor), Prof. George Mann, Prof. Duminda

Nishantha, Prof. S.M.A. Nanayakkara and Dr.

T.S.S. Jayawardane

Both the Chancellor and Deputy Vice Chancellor congratulated the students

and the academic staff members whose research papers were published on

that day and emphasized on the importance and necessity of research being

done inside the university and the industry – university partnership in funding

the research projects. They also mentioned that when striving towards the

prime vision of the University, being the most globally recognized knowledge

enterprise in Asia, empowering research culture inside the university is a

must.

The three key note speeches also added so much value to the day’s

proceedings. Key note speech by Prof. Veranja Karunaratne (Science Team

Leader, Sri Lanka Institute of Nano Technology) was named “Growing

Research Culture” and secondly Prof. George Mann (Professor, Memorial

University of Newfoundland, Canada) presented his key note speech under

the topic “Autonomous Robotic Localization and Control” and finally it was

Prof. Duminda Nishantha (Director, Digital Technologies Innovation Center,

Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University), the third key note speaker presented his

views on “WoW: Tapping the Webs of Wisdom, Crowd sourcing potential and

emerging business trends”.

OFFICIAL NEWSLETTER 2013- IEEE STUDENT BRANCH - UNIVERSITY OF MORATUWA

The hard core work done behind the scene by the IEEE student branch of

University of Moratuwa should also be mentioned in order to complete the

success story of the 19th ERU Symposium. The executive committee, student

members together with the WIE members performed a splendid task in

organizing this massive event and their hard work paid off in multiple times

with the remarkable success at the end of the day. Their efforts in

coordinating and managing the day’s proceedings, arranging the venue of the

ceremony and the places of technical sessions, and all the work done prior to

the event day should be really appreciated since they helped the ERU

overlooking all the functions of the conference.

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Our multitalented IEEE student members were able to handle each and every task excellently, even though some of those were

crucially important and significant to the day’s success. They proved the trust kept on them by the ERU and helped them to make

this prestigious forum highly appreciated by all the visitors that day including the University of Moratuwa academic staff

members, industry partners, IESL members and many more. It was really inspiring to see the enormous work was carefully

handled by these young undergraduates from the IEEE student branch. This laid the foundation for the next ERU Symposium of

University of Moratuwa and IEEE student branch of University of Moratuwa is eagerly waiting to be the organizing partners of

the of the next year as well.


This year we made our journey to visit a

Water treatment plant in Kandana, Horana

on the 12th of July 2013, with the

participation of about 30 members of the

student branch. This “KALU GANGA” water

supply project was started in 2008 as a

Japanese funded project.

The objective of this project was to meet the

increased demand of water and to secure the

stable water source, even during the dry

season in the Greater Colombo area (i.e. to

around 250,000 people in Colombo south

region) by constructing new water supply

system which utilize the Kalu Ganga River as

a new water source, thereby contributing to

the improvement in public health and

business environment in the target area. In

addition, a supplementary component to the

project, household water connections and

drainage facilities in the selected poor

residential areas were constructed with the

participation of beneficiary residents.

The whole process is controlled by advance

technical SCADA system which is designed by

ABB. the main purpose of the field visit is to

getting knowledge about the control system

which is highly related to fields of electronic

& computer science. And the power control

systems such as high voltage motor control

systems, PLC systems which is related to field

of electrical. It is with greatest gratitude we

recall the immense support given by the

officers to obtain the permission to visit this

place and to clearly explain the procedure of

the water treatment plant. We truly believe

that this is a wonderful opportunity for

everyone who visited the place on that day

to enhance their practical knowledge.

Field visit is simply not about education all

the time. Fun which was another important

element of our journey should be mentioned

as well. We are extremely glad that our

members were able to extract the utmost

benefit from this incredible learning

experience and we are more than happy that

this odyssey made our bond stronger than

ever.

Each year, a field visit is organized by the IEEE Student Branch of University of

Moratuwa, for the betterment of our members and to give them the exposure to

the industry. We select a technological place and conduct a field visit with the

objective of providing our members with additional knowledge which is beyond

their scope of regular studies. It is a privilege for our members since we get the

opportunity to visit so many advanced state-of-art technological places.


Annual Field Visit By Nadee Seneviratne

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CodeExpertz 1.0 By Nadee Seneviratne

CodeExpertz 1.0 was an online school

programming competition held exclusively for

the school children of Sri Lanka. As the prime

technological institution of Sri Lanka, we had

taken the initial step to provide a platform for

the school children to showcase their hidden

talents and improve their skills in the field of

computer programming. This was a new

avenue for the school children to get the

exposure to the real world technology matters

at a very young age which we at IEEE Student

Branch of University of Moratuwa (IEEE SB

UoM), consider as a great privilege. This was

held on the 28th of September 2013 from 9.00

am to 6.00 pm at the University premises with

the participation of more than 40 teams.

The competition was created to

• Motivate school students to be

technologically sound in solving real world

problems, especially using computer

programming

• To provide students an online

competitive environment to investigate their

talents in programming

• Give IEEE Student Members a

challenge to embrace team work - an

important skill to develop for career success

Students, who are currently studying in a

school (O/L & A/L) and students just finished

their advanced level examinations, were

eligible to take part in this competition.

Organizing this type of a novel event required

a lot of commitment, dedication and

considerable attention towards many aspects.

Student branch members were so passionate

about working on a project which involved the

development of the skills of school children,

the future of our country.

Prior to the competition, a series of workshops were conducted to provide the

awareness about programming and the competition. These workshops were held in

selected schools and institutions all over the country as well as at the University of

Moratuwa premises. These were conducted by our high calibre undergraduates

representing the technical committee of this event. All of them are members of the

IEEE Student Branch of University of Moratuwa. We were able to witness the

enthusiasm of the students towards this competition and we were more than happy

to receive encouraging feedback regarding these workshops.

The standard of the knowledge level of the competitors were truly amazing and that

made the competition more excited as the time passed. After an intense

competition, the team ‘RCCoders’ from Royal College, Colombo won the

championship while the team ‘The EE Crew’ from Nalanda College, Colombo and the

team ‘Pulverizes’ from Rahula College, Matara became the 1st and 2nd runners up

respectively. The team which won the first place comprised of following students;

Chamath Palihawadana, Roshnal Lihinikadu and Sanila Vindula Jinendrasinghe. The

award ceremony was held during the IEEE Day 2013.


This cutting-edge

competition was

praised by many

people including the

Principals, teachers

and the school

children as well. They

are eager to

participate in these

kinds of events each

year and we are

hoping to retain the

momentum till this

year’s competition. This unique experience had made most of them realized about

their hidden skills which they can improve in the future.

We were extremely glad to partnership with Dialog IdeaMart and we had Digit.lk

as the online media partner who supported us in hosting our event throughout

the entire procedure of the competition.

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“Although we're a young company founded

in 2011, we've already been recognized

globally & nationally with 7 ICT Awards for

the revolutionary innovations we did. We

innovated the Sinhala Rendering Technology

on Android Mobile platform on 2011 which

changed the whole Mobile Industry in Sri

Lanka. Our Innovation was deployed by two

giants in Sri Lankan Telecom Industry, Dialog

& Etisalat for their subscriber base. We also

innovated the First Sinhala mobile soft-

keyboard for smart phones enabling the

Sinhalese masses to type in Sinhala on their

mobile devices.”

On the second day of Xtravaganza 2013, the

participants were taught how to get started

with Android app development and the

basics were stressed upon.

The third day was the “See Deep” session

which took the audience on a trip to the

future of android. Then Mr. Samith

Wimalana shared the success story of

GlassCube, a mobile app development

company founded by 6 undergraduates of

University of Moratuwa, including himself,

Mr. Tharindu Adhikari, Mr. Ashan Shanaka,

Mr. Anuruddha Premalal, Mr. Sachith

Jayawarna and Miss. Sacheera Fernando.

Xtravaganza 2013 was successfully

concluded be the IEEE Student Branch of

University of Moratuwa with brighter hopes

of organizing many such events of meaning

in the future.

Xtravaganza 2013 was organized for the 2nd consecutive time by the IEEE Student

Branch of University of Moratuwa with the intention of inspiring the young

professionals to conquer technology. It comprised of android programming

workshops and inspiration sessions held on 30th September, 2nd and 3rd October

at the Civil Engineering auditorium of University of Moratuwa which were

intended to motivate the mobile application developers in the university. The

founder CEO of Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd, Mr. Dhanika Perera graced the occasion

as the chief guest. Members of the IEEE student branch of University of Colombo

School of Computing were also present at this occasion.

On the first day of Xtravaganza, Mr. Dhanika Perera shared the success story of

Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd which for sure drove the undergraduates in the audience

to understand their potential in this path where they can think big, start small and

act now to open the doors to a world of opportunities. To quote some of his

words:


Xtravaganza 2013

“Bhasha Lanka (Pvt) Ltd was founded by me in 2011 as a

virtual company with no physical office. The story of

Bhasha begins when I was in the University. I developed

a Sinhala/Tamil supported mobile web browser for my

university 3rd year project, innovating a new technology

to render complex scripts on mobile screens. It was

awarded the mBillionth South Asian award and due to

that the demand was coming from the industry Telcos.

They wanted to launch it as a product for their

subscribers & that’s where I decided to found a startup

to do the deal. Actually, that award was the turning

point.”

By Harini Hapuarachchi

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IEEE Day 2013 By Sachinthana Pathirana

1st of October in every year is not a regular day

in the IEEE calendar. It is because all the IEEE

members in every nook and corner of the

world celebrate the IEEE Day on 1stOctober,

every year.

We, as the IEEE Student Branch of University of

Moratuwa remarkably celebrated the day

going according to the tradition while having

the cohesion of the members of the student

branches in other Universities also. The

Student branch had organized many

supporting events concordant to this.

The celebrations were made splendid by the

distinguished guests of the UoM student

branch including Prof. Sisil Kumarawadu, Prof.

Gihan Dias, Dr. Ranga Rodrigo and of course

from other University student branches. The

ideas put forth by them added much more

value for the whole event. They looked back

into why such a special day was announced

and emphasized the underlying idea of

declaring an IEEE Day.

After an ice breaking session conducted by

Subodha Charles, the day was officially

declared celebrated by cutting the IEEE Day

cake by Professor Kumarawadu. The Q and A

session organized by the student branch not

only made the event more informative but also

it was effective in stimulating the relish of the

day.

Then was the dawn of the climax event of the

day, which was the distribution of appreciation

awards to the top rankers of IEEE Xtreme 6.0

which held on October 2012.Undoubtedly this

appreciation turned out to be a great

motivation for each and every competitor for

Xtreme 7.0.

CodeExpertz is the first ever programming

competition organized aiming the coding

masterminds in Sri Lankan schools. Year 2013

marked to be a golden year for the student

branch of University of Moratuwa that we

launched CodeExpertz 1.0 this October and it

was able to hunt many coding experts within

the school crowd.

Appreciation of the achievers of this competition was another sub event that was

carried out in parallel to the IEEE day celebrations. The student groups who ranked 1st,

2nd and 3rd were awarded with smashing prices that is uplifted their self-confidence

immensely.

The IEEE student branch of University of Moratuwa would not have achieved this much

of success within this short period of time unless for the plenary support and wordless

dedication of each and every member of the student branch. The day became the most

suitable venue to put a premium on their efforts. So the recognition letters were given

away for the members of the branch who emerged to be the supporting pillars

throughout the past year.

Then came the most exquisite moment of the whole event. The IEEE Day this time was

not just a day to celebrate the international IEEE Day but it had the kick start to Xtreme

7.0 which had been scheduled to be held on October 20th.

In cohesion with this wasthe basic introductory session which was carried out by

Professor Gihan Dias, CEO/Registrar of the LK Domain registry. There he took on a

glimpse at the IEEEXtreme history, the importance of this competition, the recognition

one can gain through this competition and so on.

There onwards was like a practice session for this year’s Xtreme competition. The

members of the team SharpSharks, BuddhimaGamlath, Pasindu Rumal Perera and

Kirshanthan Sundararajah, who ranked 32nd in Xtreme 6.0 took over a couple of hours

to take on few algorithm examples that are frequently encountered in Xtreme

competitions. This session incremented the logical power of almost all the participants

at the event, not only of those who were to participate in this year’s Xtreme

competition.

Each of the minute event ultimately made out an efficacious and remarkable IEEE Day

2013 for all the IEEE student branches, especially the UoM branch who hosted it this

time. Finally, the Day concluded leaving out high hopes for spectacular victories for the

University of Moratuwa, during this year’s overnight coding challenge, IEEEXtreme 7.0.


Furthermore he advised the students

regarding the importance of joining societies

like IEEE, networking with people and

keeping updated with the world’s newest

technologies. Also he encouraged the

students to publish their researches to IEEE

conferences.

In the last minutes of the lecture he talked

about the importance of working in Sri Lanka

and the duty of serving the motherland that

gave us free education, mentioning that he

also intends to move back to Sri Lanka in a

few years’ time.

Transforming Your Research Projects

into Industrial Implementations –

Mr. Kosala Jayasundara (Director,

Hitech solutions Pvt. Ltd)

The second “IEEE Talk” session was

conducted by a former research assistant

and a lecturer of the Department of

Electronic and Telecommunication

Engineering who’s currently the director of

Hitech Solutions Pvt Ltd, Mr. Kosala

Jayasundara. The main focus of this session

was how to transform our research projects

into industrial implementations whereas

they are required. Mr. Jayasundara explained

the scenario referring to his own experience

on taking research projects to the industry.

He also talked about the key aspects

regarding project management such as

supplier chain management, meeting project

deadline, reliability concerns and selecting

correct systems.

“IEEE Talk” is a visiting lecture series organized with the intention of giving the

student branch members an insight to their respective fields of specialization and

their relevant industries. Experienced and distinguished personnel from the fields

of electronic, electrical and computer science engineering conducted these

sessions.

Almost all of the undergraduates have no clear picture about the industry and

how to cooperate and collaborate with people from the industry until they step

out for industrial training. Through IEEE Talk it’s expected that such

undergraduates will acquire knowledge and tips on how to market themselves in

the industry. Moreover this lecture series will help them gain knowledge about

the latest technologies, advancements and trends in the fields of their interest.

Up to now the IEEE Student branch of University of Moratuwa has organized two

of the lecture series with the collaboration and funding of IEEE Sri Lanka section.

Stepping into the world of beyond the university – Dr. Prashan

Premaratne (University of Wollongong)

This was the very first IEEE Talk session which was held on 18th of July 2013 at the

University premises. The speaker for the day, Dr. Prashan shared some of his

projects done at the University of Wollongong - a hand recognition system and

an event organized in the University named “In2Uni” for high school students.

Moreover he talked about the challenges a newly graduate will face when moving

into higher education or work, how to overcome them and when to start higher

education. His personal idea was to have 2 – 3 year job experience before moving

into masters/PHD.


IEEE Talk By Sanduni Premarathne

15

GO GREEN - SAVE

TOMORROW By Subodha Charles

“I stand in a cluttered room

surrounded by the debris of

electrical enthusiasm: wire

peelings, snippets of copper,

yellow connectors, insulated pliers.

For me these are the tools of

freedom. I have just installed a

dozen solar panels on my roof, and

they work. A meter shows that

1,285 watts of power are blasting

straight from the sun into my

system, charging my batteries,

cooling my refrigerator, humming

through my computer, liberating

my life”.

Michael Parfit wrote his own experience

with Solar power in the National Geographic

magazine. In 2004, NAT GEO reported that

oil, no longer cheap, may soon decline.

Instability where most oil is found, from the

Persian Gulf to Nigeria to Venezuela, makes

this lifeline fragile. Natural gas can be hard

to transport and is prone to shortages. We

won't run out of coal anytime soon, or the

largely untapped deposits of tar sands and

oil shale. But it's clear that the carbon

dioxide spewed by coal and other fossil fuels

is warming the planet.

Over the years, the situation has become

much worse. Conservation of energy and

shifting to renewable energy sources has

been a major concern in the industry and

also among researchers. In Sri Lanka,

government as well as private energy

solutions providers have taken a serious look

into the available opportunities.

With the same vision in mind, the IEEE Sri Lanka Section with the collaboration of

Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association (SLEMA) and supported by the IEEE

University of Moratuwa Student Branch, organized a workshop on Conservation of

Energy - "GO GREEN - SAVE TOMORROW”.

It was hosted by University of Moratuwa student branch and a number of

participants from University of Peradeniya, UCSC, University of Ruhuna and SLIIT

took part in the event. A set of distinguished personnel including Mr. Harsha

Wickramasinghe – the Deputy Director General of Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy

Authority, Dr. Thilak Siyambalapitiya from SLEMA shared their knowledge with the

participants. The full day workshop was funded by IEEE Sri Lanka section. It gave

the participants an insight about the newest trends in the energy sector and

guidance for those who are willing to join the field.


“Your First Day at

Work” By Sachinthana Pathirana

Having understood the timely importance of

strengthening and optimizing the potentials

and capabilities of women engineers to cope

up with the rapidly developing technological

world, the WIE Affinity Group of the IEEE

Student Branch of University of Moratuwa,

introduced the novel event, “Your first day at

work”, the Business Etiquette and Personal

Development Workshop to their calendar,

starting from this year for the very first time.

Unlike in the days few decades back, today

the contribution of the women engineers to

the cooperate world has taken up a

significant development. But still, in order to

compete tit for tat with gents in a field like

engineering, where traditionally the

gentlemen owe the prominence, they need

to have a sound knowledge on Business

Etiquette and Personal Development before

stepping into the industry. It was with the

above intention the WIE AG introduced this

one day workshop on Business Etiquette and

Personal Development, targeting the

women engineering undergraduates of the

University of Moratuwa. Since it was the first

time in the university to organize such an

event, the value added was immense.

The event took place on 29th June, 2013,

from 8.30 am to 5.30 pm at the Department

of electronics and Telecommunication

Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

The Resource person for this event was Mr.

Niroshan Silva, Director General Manager -

United Group and the Managing Director -

Training Consortium (Pvt) Ltd. He is a well

renowned consultant trainer with over a

decade of experience sees himself as a

‘people person’ within the vast tapestry of

business and society.

He enjoys and thrives upon his involvement with numerous groups of people with

diverse backgrounds and schools of thought. He has developed many training

courses and programs for well over 143 companies both locally and internationally.

The morning session was totally allocated for the workshop by Mr. De Silva and

following were the aspects covered at “Your First Day at Work”.

• Profile one self and understand the areas of development. Tool – Belbin

Profiling

• Understand Temperament and how we make others feel – Tool – TC

• Working with diverse Generations and complications for women at work

• Absolute must for business etiquette –introduction to telephone to lift to

e-mail

• Body Language that makes the difference

• Looking after one self and the way one looks

• Dressing for success to suit the vicinity, yet elegantly. Practical issues &

Solutions

• Managing office politics and Gender biases

• Industry expectations of ‘women Engineers’

• Soft Skills of Communication

Even though the ladies showed a little reluctance in making the workshop an

interactive session at the beginning, with the gradual development of their

confidence and faith towards the trainer, they actively participated in it towards

the middle part of the workshop. This clearly revealed that once they are driven

with the correct guidance, they too have the potential to work in correlation with

the gentlemen, thus proving that the targets of the workshop were achieved to a

great extent.


The latter part of the evening session added

more value to the workshop. It was a panel

discussion where the young ladies met the

two giant women personals, Mrs Gayathri

Chakravarthy – Director Human Resources,

Distilleries Company of Sri Lanka and Mrs.

Shanaaz Preena – Director Human

Resources, MAS Intimates. They shared their

real life experiences they had throughout

their carrier while working in the co-operate

world, being ladies. There is no doubt that it

turned out to be once in a life time chance

for all the women engineering

undergraduates present there.

It was a great pleasure that we were able to

achieve the intended target of the workshop.

We were successful to influence our female

engineering undergraduates to become

"women with personality" to enter the

industry after graduation, to give the female

engineering undergraduates an

understanding about the industry

expectations from a fresh undergraduate, to

build up the confidence in female

undergraduates to compete in the male

dominated engineering field with

confidence, to build up the interpersonal

relationships and team working abilities and

improve the soft skills, and to give an

understanding about the business etiquette

and personal grooming to the female

engineering undergraduates.

The feedbacks given by the participants

revealed their enthusiasm on programs like

these, specially focused on the female

engineers in molding their characters

enabling them to get on with the rapidly

moving industrial world. They feel the

necessity of conducting more related

workshops within the university premises

since they are headed towards industry

during the six month industrial training

course.

The morning session was basically to pull out the real character hidden inside

each one with the aid of Belbin Profiling. First half of the evening session was on

business etiquettes, dressing and body language and so on. When getting

exposed to the industrial culture these minor things turn out to be really

influencive in building your identity before others.


More News on WIE By Nadee Seneviratne

Her Story – Mentoring Session

The first mentoring session of a continuous

mentoring program -‘Her Story’ was held on

28th March 2013. This program was designed

to create a platform where Lady Engineers

from the industry representing different

engineering disciplines and Lady Lecturers

from the Academia visit the University to

exchange their life experiences with the

undergraduates. The resource person of the

first session was Dr. Lidula Nilakshi

Widanagama Arachchige, Senior Lecturer

from the Department of Electrical

Engineering, University of Moratuwa.

This mentoring program was one of the ice-

breaking sessions especially for the first and

second year female undergraduates. Most of

the young students believe if they want to

excel in their academic carrier they should

isolate themselves from extracurricular

activities. In our mentoring session we tried

to break through this misconception. The

speaker herself was a multitalented person

who has excelled not only in academic work.

She was engaged in numerous

extracurricular activities in her university

days. The experiences which she has shared

with the students have widened their

thoughts.

This inspirational and motivational session

was an interactive session where the

students got the opportunity to have

‘friendly talks’ with the resource person In

this session the true experiences of the

resource person were shared with the

students in order to inspire them to reach

their fullest height in there carrier life as well

as personal life. More than 50 female

undergraduates were participated in the

event.

Other Events

IEEE WIE Student Branch Affinity group undertook the organizing of the technical

session conducted by the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, Sri Lanka Section

Chapter on the 24th October 2013. This was held at the University of Moratuwa

premises. Many valuable topics were discussed under the names of “Relative

Localization in Robotics”, “Arial Robotics”, “Mobile Robot Localization and

Mapping” by Prof. G.K.I. Mann (Department of Mechanical Engineering), Prof.

Rohan Munasinghe (Department of Electronic and Telecommunication) and Dr.

Chandima Pathirana (Department of Mechanical Engineering) respectively.


Our members also participated and

supported the IEEE Sri Lanka Section

Student/GOLD/WIE Congress 2013

which was held at the University of

Colombo, School of Computing

premises on the 1st of December

2013.

Apart from those, we are proud to be

the co-sponsors of the following

events;

19th Engineering Research

Unit Symposium

IEEE Day 2013

Xtravaganza

CodeExpertz 1.0


Inauguration

Ceremony - IEEE

PES Student

Chapter, UoM

By Subodha Charles

The last quarter of the nineteenth

century was marked by the tremendous

growth in electrical technology. Ranging

from Edison’s Pearl street station to

telegraph wires, there were numerous

firms and iconic figures engaged in the

electrical industry. This phenomenal

growth of the electrical industry led way

to the inception of the early roots of

IEEE. AIEE (American Institute of

Electrical Engineers, the original

ancestors of today’s IEEE was formed as

a result of this.

Almost five decades have passed since

the inception of IEEE. Today the institute

is the largest professional association in

the world and has expanded into a vast

number of areas. But, yet the electrical

engineers do a pioneering role in the

institute. It remains just as it was a

century ago, the premier spokesman for

the most significant and exciting

technological field of its time, developing

with time and exploring new horizons.

The Power & Energy Society (PES) with

its roots in electrical engineering,

provides the world's largest forum for

sharing the latest in technological

developments in the electric power

industry, for developing standards that

guide the development and construction

of equipment and systems.

With more than 360 related standards and 40+ conferences per year, it has

become the most sought after society chapter in IEEE for electrical engineers

all around the world.

As the mission statement of PES describes, it has really been one of the

pillars in the electrical engineering field, by being the leading provider of

scientific and engineering information on electrical power and energy for

the betterment of society. PES provides the ideal platform for professionals

as well as students in the field to make an impact to the industry.

The formation of PES society chapter in University of Moratuwa student

branch marked the first ever student chapter inside IEEE Sri Lanka section.

Since electrical engineering is one of the major specializations in the

university, it will provide the ultimate playground for all the students for

their professional and volunteer work. With Dr. Lidula Nilakshi holding the

position of PES chapter advisor and Mr. Vimukthi Deshapriya being the

founding chair, during the past three months since its kick off, UoM PES

chapter has taken a number of initiatives to go to the student community in

the university.

One of such attempts were made when the chapter organized a technical

report writing session in focus of the “Save a Watt” – Energy conservation

competition organized by the IEEE Sri Lanka section. Awareness sessions

about benefits of joining PES were conducted to attract more students in to

the community.



FLY HIGH WITH IEEE

(Student Experience at IEEE Region 10 Student/GOLD/WIE Congress)

By Subodha Charles

IEEE Region 10 Student/GOLD/WIE Congress was held on 11-14 July 2013. The event was hosted by IEEE Hyderabad Section. The

four-day congress saw delegates from all the Region 10 countries and it was a memorable experience for all of them.

3 members from University of Moratuwa took part in the congress. Pasan Pethiyagode – Regional Student Representative for

R10, Subodha Charles – Secretary of the student branch and Nuwanthika Rajapaksha – Secretary of WIE affinity group.

The congress brought 4 IEEE Presidents together, Executive committee members and most importantly, set stage for delegates

to network, to exchange experiences and to learn from each other.

During the span of 4 days, they had some pretty interesting sessions lined up. Topics like;

Volunteering and opportunity for impact – Peter Stacker (IEEE President & CEO 2013)

Educational Activities and IEEE HKN – Mike Lightner (IEEE President 2006)

Reasons to be proud to be an IEEE member – Moshe Kam (IEEE President 2011)

IEEE SIGHTS and EPICS initiatives – Moshe Kam

Member engagement and life cycle strategy of IEEE – John Day (Staff Director, MGA)

Leadership of student and GOLD members – Darrel Chong

….and many other important aspects were looked into. It was a huge learning curve for everyone and at the end it gave us lot of

insight about IEEE than we knew before.

Panel discussions and Q n A sessions were also conducted to give the chance to delegates to resolve all the doubts they had.

Apart from the General track, parallel

sessions were held for Student, GOLD

and WIE. All of them focused on

matters specific to their respective

fields. Knowledge was exchanged

between members so that everyone

can get something out of the others.

In the student and WIE tracks which

we took part, several matters were

discussed and solutions were

proposed which will take effect in the

coming years. Some of the identifies

problems were;

Lack of funds

Lack of student activities

Lack of training for student

members

Information flow (relevancy

of received information)


As a whole, the following facts were highlighted throughout the congress.

Train the students with industry relevant training and also leadership training.

Focusing on member retention: Plan to give more benefits for members.

Awards for members within the sections to encourage volunteering.

A newsletter to showcase the activities for each student branch and section.

Get together with IEEE alumni. Link past members with students as mentors.

Satisfaction surveys after events to improve quality of events.

The Gala dinner and the multicultural night were the two most popular events among delegates. Gala dinner and the award

ceremony identified exceptional performances by IEEE members and they were presented with awards of recognition.

The multicultural night showcased the culture and traditions of all the countries. Each separate country had a stole which they

used to reflect their culture and traditions. Several cultural events (Songs, Dances) were also performed.

IEEE is a lot more than just the largest professional body in the world. When among members in such an event, you always have

that warmth of a family. The smile that never leaves your face and the huge thirst to learn. True that we are volunteering, it is

also an ocean of opportunities. What more can you expect? If you are passionate about “Advancing Technology for Humanity”,

then IEEE is THE place to be. The congress reminded us this over and over again. And we wouldn’t dare to miss the chance to

attend the 2015 congress.

Journey Continues…

Thank you for being with us…

News & Politics

Ieee UoM SB newsletter 2013