MARCH 2001

by George F. McClure

What’s in a name? All of the committees within IEEE-USA’s Technology Policy Activities are devoted to various aspects of government policy issues, with the sector indicated by the rest of the name—we have a committee dedicated to Research & Development; one for Energy; another for Medical Technology; a committee dedicated to Communications & Information; and finally, one for Aerospace Policy.

Unfortunately, none of those names specifically include transportation issues important to engineers and the public. Under the direction of IEEE-USA President Ned Sauthoff and IEEE-USA Vice President of Technology Policy Activities Bob Thomas, the Aerospace Policy Committee (APC) has been encouraged to step into the breach.

APC Interest Areas to Include Transportation

Chair Saj Durrani recently restated the committee’s goals, areas of interest and scope. "Our goal is to examine policy issues in our areas of interest, and to develop position papers and recommendations for the U.S. Administration and Congress," he said. He defined the interest areas as:

• Aviation
• Satellite applications (communications, remote sensing, solar power, etc.)
• Launch vehicles

Durrani said the committee would expand its scope to include:

• Terrestrial transportation
• Air transportation
• Marine transportation

"The extent to which we succeed in expanding our scope will depend on the availability of members with expertise in transportation," Durrani continued. "We have invited several such members to join the Committee, and hope that some of them will.   We also welcome hearing from any IEEE member who is interested in this topic and wishes to work with us."

The change is timely. Land and marine transportation improvements in the United States will benefit from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), which was funded heavily in the last Congress.

APC Technical Focus

The APC focuses its efforts on one or two technical topics at a time. Currently, these topics are the U.S. civil space program and remote sensing. We need and welcome volunteers to work in these areas—and in the newly added area of intelligent transportation systems.

Right now, Committee members are in the process of reviewing—with hopes of approving—three position statements:

• International Space Station (ISS)—to reaffirm the desirability of encouraging the private sector to provide the goods and services needed by the ISS over a transitional interval as our space industry moves from being government-owned and supported to being driven by a free enterprise economy

• Air-Traffic Control—for prompt action required to update the air-traffic control system with existing technology to match today’s traffic loads and the even greater loads expected in the near future

• Aviation Safety Research—to encourage the federal government in its two responsible roles:

• aviation safety in U.S.-controlled airspace
  
  
• conducting and sponsoring R&D on non-appropriable technologies in many aviation disciplines

For further information about the APC or to get involved, contact IEEE-USA Technology Policy Activities Legislative Representative Bill Williams at (bill.williams@ieee.org) or visit IEEE-USA’s website at http://www.ieeeusa.org/COMMITTEES/APC/. This page includes an application for becoming an APC Internet Corresponding Member.

George F. McClure is IEEE-USA's Technology Policy Editor and co-chair of the IEEE-USA Workforce Committee.  He can be reached at g.mcclure@ieee.org.