The IEEE stands for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. It is pronounced as “I triple e”. This is the biggest professional association. It works for the advancement of electronics and technology. It has two important predecessors. One is the American Institute of Electrical Engineers or AIEE. The other one is the Institute of Radio Engineers or IRE.
Since the beginning of its journey IEEE is working for the advancement of the electro-technological theories and their applications. It has also advanced the theories on other allied sciences which have been the catalysts in terms of technological advancement and took care of the needs of the members of this organization.
The advancement of technology in the 19th century records a tremendous growth. There are several important innovations that are done in the field of technology:
The improvement of telegraph wire network throughout the United States
The introduction of the underwater cable and the joining of America and Europe though it
Rapid growth of communication via telephone
Use of the incandescent lights in New York
The introduction of arc lights in various cities around the world
Increase in the number of manufacturers of electrical equipments
This tremendous growth in technology has inspired the organization to give birth to the AIEE. AIEE is playing an important role since the beginning of its journey in the field of electro-technology. This organization took an interest in the power systems and light and wire communications.
After the success of the AIEE, the Wireless Institute or WI and the Society of Wireless and Telegraph Engineers or the SWTE merged and formed a society. It became an international organization of the prominent engineers and scientists around the world. The name of this predeceasing organization of IEEE is the Institute of Radio Engineers or IRA. It is meant for the advancement of the wireless communications.
As the electronics and computers around the world require standards, the IEEE has set some rules to address this need. When the computers were first brought to the market, there were no hard and fast rules about manufacturing them. The manufacturers could make them as they wish. But later, when it became widely used, the government wanted to set some rules for the manufacturers. IEEE is the organization that set rules for the manufacturing of the computers and made the manufacturers adhere to those rules.
The standards are as follows:
The standard that IEEE set for the Ethernet is named as “IEEE 802.3 Ethernet”. This is the most important standard that IEEE has created since the beginning of its journey. Ethernet is considered to be the basis of the Internet. The traffic is allowed to flow through the underlying highway. The IEEE has set a standard that the Ethernet should be built in such a way upon which various complicated applications can be built without any difficulty.
The standard that IEEE has created for firewire is named as “IEEE 1394 Firewire”. Different computer systems like Apple or Windows follow this firewire interface standardized by IEEE. It has now become the universal interface between the peripheral devices and the operating systems.
The standard that IEEE has set for wireless is named as “IEEE 802.11 Wireless LAN”. It has become an omnipresent standard for all kinds of PCs, hand-held devices and routers.
