Chair: Professor Roberto Sorrentino (Italy)

Vice-Chair: Professor Alwyn Seeds (United Kingdom)

Report on the Open Commission Meetings (Business Meetings)

The Commission held Open Commission Meetings on 16th and 20th August 1999. They were attended by a total of 12 delegates and members.

1. Appointment of Minute Secretary.

The US Official Representative agreed to undertake this task.

2. Adoption of Agenda.

The Agenda was agreed as proposed by the Chair.

3. Chair’s report.

4. Attendance list, Update of Official Commission D Member List.

5. Schedule of Business Meetings.

These were agreed, as above.

6. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair.

Professor Alwyn Seeds was proposed to Council as Commission Chair.

Two candidates for Vice-Chair had been duly nominated. Professor Peter Russer was submitted to Council as first choice, based on the result of the Commission D postal ballot with the inclusion of votes from official representatives present, who had not previously voted or who wished to change their vote.

7. Proposal for an Ad Hoc Nomination Committee for Commission Vice-Chairs.

The present system was considered to operate satisfactorily and the new proposal was not considered necessary for Commission D.

8. Review of Radio Science.

Professor Seeds, editor of the Commission D contribution to the Review of Radio Science, reported that the three reviews he had commissioned had all been received in satisfactory form and that he considered them excellent contributions ranging across the Commission D field of interest.

Both candidates for Vice-Chair confirmed that they would be prepared to act as Commission editor for the Review of Radio Science if elected.

9. Appointment of Commission D Associate Editor for Radio Science Bulletin.

Professor Emile Schweicher kindly agreed to assume this responsibility.

10. Evaluation of Young Scientist Programme.

The programme was considered useful and capable of enhancement by Conveners encouraging young scientists to contribute papers, see 16 below.

11. Terms of Reference.

No changes to the Terms of Reference were considered to be required.

12. Relations with ICO (International Commission on Optics).

Agreed that Commission D would welcome the proposal of a joint session for the next General Assembly from ICO.

13. ISSSE 2001

Received an excellent announcement and first call for papers from the Japanese organising committee. Agreed that this meeting would be the focus for Commission D activity prior to the next General Assembly. Mode B support approved. Steering Committee to include Drs. Akaike, Lucas, Bonek, Professors Itoh, Sorrentino, Seeds and Russer.

14. Proposed nominations for URSI Committees.

No requests had been received.

15. General Assembly Sessions

It was agreed that the Commission D tutorial had been very successful with attendance exceeding 75. Joint sessions were also successful. Commission D Sessions were reasonably attended - 75 max, 30-40 typical, as few as 8 for badly scheduled sessions. Close attention to session time-slots will be needed for next General Assembly. Poster Sessions overcrowded and not well laid out. For future General Assemblies, Commission C and Commission D rooms should be in close geographical proximity. Much better space for posters should be provided as there was considerable overcrowding. More time for the poster sessions needed to be allocated. No sessions on the final Saturday of the Assembly should be scheduled.

It was agreed to maintain a strict refereeing standard for both poster and oral papers.

16. Stimulating paper submissions to Commission D sessions.

It was agreed that Official Representatives should take a leading role in soliciting the submission of papers to Commission D sessions. A first outline of proposed sessions would be developed later in the agenda and Official Representatives needed to identify key workers in the proposed topics within their countries and solicit appropriate contributions.

17. Length of Future General Assemblies.

Short General Assemblies were strongly preferred, with clustering of Commission D sessions over the shortest possible period.

18. Sponsorship of International Conferences.

Agreed the following:

Radio Africa ‘99 - no sponsorship

ISRAMT ‘99 - Mode A

AP-RASC ‘01 - Mode B, Eu.$ 1,000, Professor Seeds to join International Advisory Board.

19. Scientific Programme for 2002.

Topics proposed for the next General Assembly included:

Band gap modification for III/V semiconductors, including quantum well intermixing.

Infra-red sensors, including staring arrays.

Silicon microwave circuits.

Micromachined antenna structures including MEMS.

Multi-chip hybrid integration.

Microwave semiconductor device modelling.

Re-configurable antennas/receivers.

Join Session Commissions C & D: Hardware aspects of wireless communications.

Open contributed session

Joint session AD: Superconducting components.

Nanotechnological processes for advanced optic and electronic systems.

Joint Session C, D, F: Optical intersatellite links.

Agreed that proposers of these sessions be invited to prepare a short abstract outlining the session content by April 30 2,000. All conveners would be encouraged to solicit papers from young scientists.

20. Vote of Thanks

The Vice--Chair, Professor Seeds, proposed a vote of thanks to the outgoing Chair, Professor Sorrentino. This was carried with acclamation.

21. Any Other Business.

There was none.