"Broadcasting" nowadays, means more than transmitting a single powerful signal from a tall tower. Although Internet protocol TV has been getting a lot of press recently, many companies are planning to transmit multimedia content to cell phones using wireless technologies like DVB-H, MediaFLO and TDtv. The IEEE Broadcast Technology Society recognized this new form of broadcasting and in late 2005 decided to launch a new conference focusing on mobile and multimedia broadcasting early in 2006.
The ideal venue turned out to be the April CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association) Wireless Show and IEEE WCNC (Wireless Communications and Networking Conference) in Las Vegas. The IEEE Broadband Media Symposium will join this major wireless industry trade show and established IEEE wireless conference April 6-7 at the Las Vegas Hilton Pavilion.
The two-day technical program will offer 50 papers in three parallel tracks. Some sessions will focus on application and implementation topics, while others will highlight research and development. The Opening Plenary Session will include talks by Kamil Grajski of QUALCOMM and President of the FLO Forum and Yoram Solomon of Texas Instruments, President of the Mobile DTV Alliance. The keynote luncheon on Thursday will feature a presentation on TDtv (methodology for transmitting multimedia content over existing 3G networks) by Roger Quayle, Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of IPWireless. Chuck Dages, executive vice president for Warner Brothers New Media will be the keynote speaker at Friday's luncheon.
Tom Gurley, president of the IEEE Broadcast Technology Society noted that preparation for this symposium started only days before the Society's annual Broadcast Technology Symposium last October. In spite of the late start, there was a lot of interest in the symposium.
"We were pleasantly overwhelmed with the response to the Call for Papers, which went out in early November," Gurley said. "We received nearly a hundred abstracts. In the short time since, our Steering Committee and Technical Program Committee -- with representatives from major companies, universities, and research organizations worldwide -- have put together a top-notch program of more than fifty presentations."
For more information, including online registration, hotel information and a preliminary program, visit The IEEE International Symposium on Broadband Multimedia Systems and Broadcasting 2006 Web site.
