INSTITUTE OF ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

IEEE focuses on publications, projects related to developing standards, certification programmes, and contributions to international discussions.

IEEE’s Global Initiative on Ethics of Autonomous and Intelligent Systems covers, among other topics, the security implications of AI systems and the application of existing law and norms. ‘Ethically aligned design’ is a report of the initiative that offers a set of high-level ethical principles, key issues, and practical recommendations. In addition, IEEE’s Position Statement on AI emphasises, among other things, that governmental AI regulations need to comply with human rights law.

IEEE Working Groups in the P7000 series of standards aim to develop standards in the area of AI that apply to the intersection between technological and ethical considerations. For example, IEEE Project 7010 focuses on recommending practices for assessing the impact of autonomous and intelligent systems on human well-being. In addition, the Ethics Certification Program for Autonomous and Intelligent Systems (ECPAIS) ‘has the goal to create specifications for certification and marking processes that advance transparency, accountability, and reduction in algorithmic bias in autonomous and intelligent systems’.

IEEE’s work on standardisation in this area is likely to impact governmental frameworks on standards and how governments use AI technologies, including in the military and defence sector.

5G

IEEE mainly focuses on developing standards for 5G. Areas of focus include: mobile broadband network evolution, technology interoperability, enabling IoT and Smart Cities (including public safety), and connected vehicles. New standards focus on next generation wireless standards for unlicensed spectrum, while building on a host of existing standards on wireless networks.

AUGMENTED/VIRTUAL REALITY

IEEE works on standards for augmented/virtual/mixed reality through the Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality Working Group. A number of IEEE standards are relevant to this field, addressing questions such as distributed interactive simulation, learning technology, personal identity, environment safety, and perceptual quality assessment. A 2014 IEEE White Paper on augmented reality argues that a ‘lack of modular, open, interoperable, and highly scalable technologies is holding back the development and adoption of Augmented Reality in many domains, including but not limited to risk averse industries’.

BLOCKCHAIN

The IEEE Blockchain Initiative was formed in 2018. It aims to develop standards for / with what it describes as a highly fragmented technical community and to offer a ‘stabilizing think space of seasoned professionals’. To this end it engages in dialogues, participates or organises key conferences, develops publications, and, more generally, contributes to international dialogue.

Its education initiative offers e-learning modules, virtual events, and webinars. A number of specific standards are under development on cryptocurrencies, anti-money laundering, anti-corruption applications, blockchain-based IoT data management, distributed information systems in organisations, supply chain finance, and digital asset management. The Standard for Blockchain Applications in Governments focuses on scalability, security, and privacy challenges in implementation and operation.

QUANTUM COMPUTING

IEEE’s Quantum Initiative, launched in 2019, aims to ‘address the current landscape of quantum technologies, identify challenges and opportunities, leverage and collaborate with existing initiatives, engage the quantum community at large, and sustain the Quantum Initiative in the long-term’. It does so by engaging in dialogues, participating in or organising key conferences, developing publications, and, more generally, contributing to international dialogue.

The initiative’s education section provides a number of resources for the next generation of researchers. Three standards for quantum computing (P1913, P7130, and P7131) are now active. Through the ‘industry connection’, IEEE seeks to further the discussion on standards in this area.

ROBOTICS

IEEE’s Robotics & Automation Society (RAS) was founded to support the development and the exchange of scientific and technological knowledge in robotics and automation. It does so by engaging in dialogues, participating in or organising key conferences, developing publications, and, more generally, contributing to international dialogue.

RAS publishes four journals IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and IEEE Robotics & Automation Letters. A vast amount of education and outreach material is available through the RAS website. The society also seeks to promote cooperation with governments, industry, academia, and end-users in order to promote interdisciplinary and cross-cutting research.

Industry partners and members from developing and underrepresented countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are particularly encouraged.

INTERNET OF THINGS

IEEE’s Internet of Things (IoT) Initiative aims to be a platform for professionals to learn, share knowledge, and collaborate. It understands IoT to be ‘a convergence of technologies, markets, applications, and the Internet’. In order to fulfil its mission, the initiative engages in dialogues, participates in or organises key conferences, develops publications, and, more generally, contributes to international dialogue.

The IEEE Internet of Things Magazine aims to reflect on the breadth and depth of current practice and applications. The initiative’s education section offers a number of short courses and recorded webinars to explain some of the basics as well as more advanced aspects of the technology. IEEE has various standards that are applicable to IoT or are developed specifically with IoT in mind. In particular,  the draft standard IEEE P2413 ‘defines an architectural framework for the Internet of Things (IoT), including descriptions of various IoT domains, definitions of IoT domain abstractions, and identification of commonalities between different IoT domains’.