SPEECH OF ENG. THILAK DE SILVA, CHAIRMAN ECSL AT CMETSL ON 04th APRIL 2023.
First of all, I am very glad to be here as the chief guest of this very important event. As engineers, we have a great responsibility to develop our country. You are from the tri-forces as well as engineers. So engineering is a very prestigious and very important profession in Sri Lanka as well as whole world.
So, you all are members of that family. So, we have a big responsibility in our shoulders at this economic crisis situation. How to get treat from this situation in our country. Engineering Council has big responsibility look after all engineering practitioners in Sri Lanka. First, let me explain you what is the difference between the IESL and the Engineering Council, Sri Lanka.
IESL is a professional body. It is from the engineers as they are members. The rules, regulations, laws of the IESL are applicable only for the members there. And they can have their own. Engineering Council in Sri Lanka is a regulatory body. It's a government entity, and its laws are laws to the whole country. So, the Engineering Council was formed to maintain the standards and conduct. This is not looking after only the engineers, all engineering practitioners, that is starting from the chartered engineer to engineering technicians.
There are six categories. Actually, three categories from the institution of Engineering Sri Lanka that is Chartered Engineer, Associate Engineer, an Affiliate Engineer, and two categories from the Incorporated Engineers Sri Lanka that is incorporated Engineer and Engineering Diplomats. 6th category is the Engineering Technicians. So they are coming from the Tertiary and Vocational Education Commission.
Now, what is the standardization? Is it a problem to the existing people? We know this engineering field is evolving very fast. There are global standards, education point of view, four year engineering degrees; the global standard is the Washington Accord, Fully practice as an engineer or an engineering practitioner you have to register in the Engineering Council. To register in the Engineering Council as a chartered engineer, you should be a chartered engineer for IESL, to Associate Engineer; you should be Associate Member of IESL, an Affiliate Engineer, Affiliate Member of IESL. So, by coming through the IESL these things, the standards can be maintained.
Then what happened to the existing people, though they don't have these qualifications? There will be no harm to them, and we will see how they also can be absorbed to these categories. So, Engineering Council laws form to not to disturb the profession, regulate the profession, enhance the standards of the profession. Another thing is the neglecting area of the engineering practitioners is the engineering technicians. They don't have any professional body. Now, what the Engineering Council has decided is to form the technicians Guilds, which is similar to the professional bodies. The first technicians guild, that is the electrician Guild, will be formed by next Friday, this coming Friday, similarly, we are going to form the other technicians for guilds also, even the carpenters, the welders masons. So like that enhance their standards and also give due recognition in the society. In that way their standards will be enhanced. Another responsibility in the Engineering Council is to maintain the conduct. Now we have gazetted our disciplinary code and disciplinary process, and recently we gazetted what are the misconducts. So therefore any misconduct happened. We can take the actions against that engineering practitioner and even the six month jail can be decided to them. But that is not to harm. It is to have the dignity and to maintain the ethics of the profession.
Let me just little discuss about your topic today. It is networking. It is a very good topic. As a telecommunication engineer, I know the importance of networking because the connectivity is a fundamental right of the people now. Without connectivity we cannot live. So when you are doing the networking, connectivity is required there. What are the technologies we have for the connectivity?
Now, all these connectivity will be required from the wireless connectivity, because wired connectivity is very difficult to network. Even you have a wired connectivity, the closed by connectivity should be wireless. So you have the WiFi connectivity, you can have WiFi technologies and you have the Bluetooth technology and you have the ZigBee technology. So in addition to that we have the mobile technology, 4G and 5G. So 5G will change a lot in the world and it have a very less latency and very high bandwidth similar to the fiber optic. From all these things you can have connectivity. So your purpose, most of the things you need the wireless sensor networks. By using the ZigBee technology or 5G technology, you can connect the wireless sensor network. You can have the wireless sensors as sensors you can have the IOT sensors, Internet of things. So all these things can be connected, you can collect the information, you can analyze these things even by using the AI, artificial intelligence. So this is the way the world is flowing now.
But there is a threat for all these things, that is the security. So you have to do the utmost importance to the security because, just like we all are naked now, because our all information is in the cyberspace and when you have the more and more control through the cyberspace, and more and more security threat also there, because we know everything is flowing as the IP packets. So IP packets, we have the TCP header and IP header. Now, both headers have so many flows, so many vulnerabilities there. So all the attacks are doing through the, mainly the TCP header fields and the IP header fields, and some attacks can be given in the Layer 2 also. So all these things are matters when you are working as the engineers and we are making the networks.
So I'm not going to give a lecture to you. These are some eye opening to you and I am very happy to see this kind of events, dissemination of information and we have to be in touch with the latest technology in the world, and how we have to involve. This kind of discussions will be very useful to you. So I wish all success for the event today. Thank you.
