The IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society (IEEE SMC) is a professional society of the IEEE.

History

The earliest incarnation of the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society was the IRE Professional Group on Human Factors in Electronics, formed in 1958. The Group would later change its name to IEEE Professional Technical Group on Human Factors in Electronics (1963), IEEE Human Factors in Electronics Group (1964), Man-Machine Systems Group (1968), Systems, Man and Cybernetics Group (1970), and finally Systems, Man and Cybernetics Society (1972).

Field of interest

As stated on its website, the society's main focuss is related to:

• systems engineering
  Systems engineering
  Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
  
   and the development of its technology including "problem definition methods, modeling, and simulation, methods of system experimentation, human factors engineering, data and methods, systems design techniques and test and evaluation methods".
• the integration of "theories of communications
  Communication theory
  Communication theory is a field of information and mathematics that studies the technical process of information and the human process of human communication.- History :- Origins :...
  
  , control
  Control theory
  Control theory is an interdisciplinary branch of engineering and mathematics that deals with the behavior of dynamical systems. The desired output of a system is called the reference...
  
  , cybernetics
  Cybernetics
  Cybernetics is the interdisciplinary study of the structure of regulatory systems. Cybernetics is closely related to information theory, control theory and systems theory, at least in its first-order form...
  
  , stochastics, optimization, and system structure towards the formulation of a general theory of systems", and
• the application of these theorie at "hardware
  Hardware
  Hardware is a general term for equipment such as keys, locks, hinges, latches, handles, wire, chains, plumbing supplies, tools, utensils, cutlery and machine parts. Household hardware is typically sold in hardware stores....
  
   and software levels to the analysis and design of biological, ecological, socio-economic, social service, computer information, and operational man-machine systems".

Publications

The IEEE SMC Society publishes three peer-reviewed journals called "IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics", Part A, Part B, and Part C. Part A is devoted to systems and humans, and Part B to cybernetics.

Conferences

The society sponsors a range of annual conferences around the world that focuses on its Field of Interest.