Policies and Procedures
TAOS complies with all policies specified by ComSoc for Technical Committees, i.e. IEEE Communications Society Policies and Procedures, Sec. 7.0 - Operating Procedures Template. TAOS Chair reports to ComSoc’s VP-Technical Activities. TAOS Policies and Procedures are detailed in the document "Transmission, Access and Optical Systems (TAOS) Policies and Procedures", which is available on TAOS’ web site.Election of Officers
According to ComSoc policies, officers (chair, vice-chair, and secretary) are elected for two-year terms. Election takes place in TAOS meetings, which are usually held at ICC and GLOBECOM conferences. Candidates, who are ComSoc members, are nominated from among TAOS community activists who participate in TAOS activities and meetings; and are recognized with contribution(s) thereto. Typically, upon completion of his term, the TAOS Chair retires, the vice-chair steps up to the position of the Chair, the secretary steps up to vice-chair and a new secretary is elected. Nominations for new (upcoming) secretary position are made by the present Chair, Vice Chair, and/or the TAOS Steering Committee. The latter, which is composed of the current officers (chair, vice-chair, and secretary) and past chairs who are still active members in TAOS and participate in its meetings and activities, approves the nominations before elections are held in next TAOS meeting. Other ComSoc members with outstanding records in supporting TAOS activities may also contribute to the process. The list of past TAOS Chairs includes:
- Stefano Bregni (Politecnico di Milano, Italy)
- Jaafar Elmirghani (University of Wales Swansea, UK)
- Steve Gorshe (PMC-Sierra Inc, USA)
- Mohsen Guizani, (Western Michigan University, USA)
- Mounir Hamdi (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong)
- Stamatios Kartalopoulos (University of Oklahoma, USA)
- Michael Kincaid (MSK & Associates, USA)
TAOS meetings are usually held twice a year, at major IEEE ICC and GLOBECOM conferences. These meeting are public and open for any member of the community to attend. Minutes of the meetings are available on the TAOS web site.
Subcommittees
TAOS has had more than one subcommittee over the course of its history. Currently, the TC hosts the historical Subcommittee on Telephone Instrument Testing (STIT). The STIT subcommittee, which is chaired by John R. Bareham (MichTel Communications, USA), is only active in terms of maintenance and decision-making of certain testing and instrumentation telephone IEEE standards.