Thursday, May 27, 2021

New tech passes the test

Researchers (left to right) Naimeh Ghafarian, Ehsan Haj Mirza Alian and Wael M. Abdel-Wahab during testing of new intelligent antennas.

By Brian Caldwell. This article was originally featured on Waterloo News.

An intelligent antenna developed by researchers at Waterloo Engineering has been successfully tested, a major milestone in a multi-year, multi-million-dollar project.

The phased array antenna system for next-generation communications can be electronically steered to maintain links to overhead satellites for Internet connectivity.

“This modular, intelligent technology platform provides a cost-effective solution for a wide range of applications — from fixed to mobility satellite broadband services, and for the rapidly emerging millimeter-wave 5G cellular services,” said Safieddin (Ali) Safavi-Naeini, director of the Centre for Intelligent Antenna and Radio Systems (CIARS) at Waterloo.

Receiver (top) and transmitter antennas developed by Waterloo Engineering researchers are shown during recent testing.

The breakthrough was announced last week by C-COM Satellite Systems, a leading provider of mobile satellite antenna systems that is jointly funding the research with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

Operating on the Ka-band, the low-cost technology was used in tests to stream video, surf the Internet, perform speed tests and conduct an uninterrupted video conference over Webex.

C-COM, which is based in Ottawa, was co-founded by Leslie Klein, a Waterloo Engineering alumnus who serves as president and CEO.

Safavi-Naeini has been working on intelligent antenna systems for satellite-based Internet connectivity for almost two and a half decades, motivated by their potential to deliver broadband service via satellite to moving vehicles and bridge the digital divide by extending the reach of broadband Internet to vast areas of the world that lack access.

Results showed 'high performance'

“Measured over-the-air results have demonstrated the high performance of the compact, scalable antenna modules and validated our modular technology architecture for larger panels,” he said.

Successful initial tests over the Telesat Anik F3 satellite are a significant development for C-COM and CIARS. Researchers will now continue testing over several different satellites to confirm interoperability of the new antenna and radio system.

“Today, we are much closer to achieving our objective of delivering an affordable, electronically steerable antenna system capable of operating over the latest constellations of LEO, MEO and GEO satellites, which will play a significant role in delivering broadband solutions to consumer and enterprise markets worldwide,” Klein said in a media release.

Planning for commercialization of the new technology has begun, along with prototyping of a 4,000-element antenna using the same building blocks as the 1,000-element antenna that was successfully tested.

Professor collaborates with public library on new collection

By Wendy Philpott. This article was originally featured on the Faculty of Arts website.

In the summer 2019 Professor Daniela O’Neill and graduate students from her developmental psychology course hosted a series of family board game events at Kitchener Public Library (KPL). Their goal was to introduce families to the many board games available to young children as a fun way to foster language, thinking and social skills.

The events were a great success, and families were asking the library for a permanent collection of the games. That sparked a wonderful collaboration between O’Neill and KPL resulting in the library’s new Board Game Collection.

Now, with more than enough time to fill with learning and play at home, kids and parents can access more than 100 board games through KPL’s multiple branches. In fact, within a week of the formal launch of the collection, many of the games have 10 or more reserves on them – parents and children are virtually lining up to play. “It’s been great to see this fantastic reception and see some of the parents posting on social media with pictures of children playing the games,” O’Neill says.

Donating both her expertise and funds to curate and purchase games for the collection, O’Neill’s motivation to contribute is also personal: she has dedicated the collection to the memory of her mother Maria O’Neill, who was an ESL teacher in Toronto and a lifelong reader and supporter of libraries, and a keen player of board and card games.

Professor Daniela O'Neill with her mother Maria O'Neill.

Play with important developmental benefits

As a developmental psychologist, O’Neill knows the importance of play for fostering language and other vital developmental steps. She has published studies that demonstrate the value of giving children simple toys and wordless picture books, for instance, both of which promote language development through playful conversation. “Conversation and oral language are so important in the early years as a foundation for many other types of learning, such as literacy.”

The KPL collection includes both co-operative and competitive games with a range of engaging themes (titles include, Cupcake Spinner, Hoot Owl Hoot!, and Dinosaur Escape). While intended mainly for children from age two to eight years old, O’Neill says many of the games are also fun and engaging for older children, especially if they are newcomers to Canada who may still be developing their English language skills. When she was selecting games to include, O’Neill also wanted to also ensure that the game themes complemented the library’s book collection, so that children’s game play could be enhanced with picture books and stories.

Siobhan Sutherland, PhD candidate in clinical psychology, with her partner and child at KPL in 2019.

“Board games promote skills in many domains, and this goes beyond learning numbers and includes language, problem-solving, and social and emotional development."

O'Neill emphasizes that there are many high quality, fun and engaging games available to today. “And you don’t need lots of time to play — all of the games in the collection can be played in less than 20 minutes, have simple rules so that siblings can play together, and some have beautiful pieces that children could use to engage in pretend-play on their own, such as food items that could become part of a grocery store game.”

Rich learning opportunities to be studied

O’Neill is the founder and director of UWaterloo’s Children’s Communication Lab based in the Department of Psychology, which has a focus on community outreach and applied applications of its research, such as O’Neill’s widely used Language Use Inventory, a standardized assessment of early language development. While she was developing the KPL Board Game Collection, and when COVID-19 forced the closure of KPL, O’Neill and graduate student Paige Holmes pivoted to undertake a large review of existing research on board games and children’s learning, producing an article that is now under review with a journal. They found evidence showing how board games foster a range of formal and informal (in school or at home) types of learning in young children supporting cognition, communication, social and socio-emotional understanding, yet O’Neill adds that “the rich learning opportunities via board games remains surprisingly understudied in children.”

Echoing the findings, KPL’s CEO Mary Chevreau said of the new collection, “Beyond being fun, these games also reinforce literacy concepts like letter recognition, reading comprehension and storytelling mechanics. We are so grateful for Daniela’s partnership and generous donation which made this collection possible."

O’Neill looks forward further collaboration with KPL “to expand the collection over time and, when we are all able to gather at the library again, to help host, together with my students, more events for families and children around board games.”

Changes to Teams data retention policies coming June 8

A message from Information Systems & Technology (IST).

On Tuesday, June 8, 2021, two changes to Teams data retention policies will be made. The first, a one-year retention policy will be implemented for Microsoft Teams Chats (i.e., private and group chat messages). Second, posts to a Teams Channel will be retained for the life of the Team (was previously three years). Other Teams data (e.g., files) will not be impacted and will continue to exist for the life of the Team. The implementation of these retention policies aligns with recommendations from University Records Management and adhere to Policy 46 - Information Management requirements.

Impact of the one-year retention policy for Teams Chats

Private and group chat messages in Microsoft Teams will be deleted one year after the message is sent or received and will not be recoverable e.g., on June 8 2021, chat messages sent or received before June 8, 2020, would be deleted. An automatically generated message stating "We've deleted older messages due to your organization's retention policy" will appear at the top of chat windows as older chats are deleted. Note, links to files shared in private or group chats will also be removed from the conversation at the one-year mark; however, files will still be accessible.  

Learn more about Teams

Visit the IST Knowledge Base to learn more about Teams, including Teams FAQs and Teams training resources.

Women in Engineering event asks you to Picture a Scientist

Women In Engineering (WiE) is inviting you to join them for a virtual screening of Picture A Scientist - a documentary raising visibility around gender bias and racism in science.

Picture A Scientist chronicles the groundswell of researchers who are writing a new chapter for women scientists. Biologist Nancy Hopkins, chemist Raychelle Burks, and geologist Jane Willenbring lead viewers on a journey deep into their own experiences in the sciences, ranging from brutal harassment to years of subtle slights. Along the way, from cramped laboratories to spectacular field stations, we encounter scientific luminaries - including social scientists, neuroscientists, and psychologists - who provide new perspectives on how to make science itself more diverse, equitable, and open to all.

Please complete the registration form and an e-mail with details and a link to the virtual screening will be sent to you.

The virtual viewing link will be available from Thursday, May 27 at 3:00 p.m. to Sunday, May 30 at 3 p.m. The film can be watched at your convenience.

Thursday's notes

The 1 June 2021 Board of Governors meeting will be held via Microsoft Teams videoconference, according to a note from the Secretariat. "Guests are welcome to join the open session of the meeting similar to a normal "in-person" Board meeting. If you would like to attend the meeting as a guest observer, please contact Emily Schroeder to request to join the meeting. All requests must be received by Monday 31 May 2021 at 12:00 p.m. The agenda is posted on the Board of Governors webpage."