3rd Annual Wireless Design Contest
Congratulations to Winners of this Years
Wireless Design Contest!
This year our Wireless Design Contest featured the MatchPort b/g embedded wireless networking module. There were many very clever and innovative entries, and our engineering and editorial judges had a great time selecting the top candidates. Once again, we would like to extend a special thanks to our editorial judges at Penton Media - Lee Teschler, Machine Design; Mark David and Bill Wong, Electronic Design - for their help in selecting the winners!
The awards were handed out at a ceremony on the show floor of the Embedded Systems Conference in San Jose on April 16, 2008. The awards ceremony will be available for viewing online at EngineeringTV immediately following the conference. Please stop by to check it out.
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First Place $6,000 + Most Likely to Succeed $2,000 VersaLights - Dynamic Wireless Decorative Lights John Peterson, Saccade Holiday lights aren't just for Christmas! Today retailers decorate with specialized lighting for a variety of holidays including Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Independence Day, Halloween, etc. Changing lights for each season involves a considerable amount of labor. VersaLights solves this problem! By using multi-colored LEDs and the MatchPort b/g, the color of each light is programmed wirelessly via the Internet. No network wiring is necessary -just broadcast the desired pattern to change it as often as you like! |
| Second Place $4,000
The Wireless Miner - David Elias Flores Escalante, TeleTracking SAC Using the MatchPort b/g, this unit works in mines to re-direct trucks in real-time to the zones/jobs where they are most needed - all from a location 4 to 5 km from the mining edge. Truck parameters are transmitted over WLAN and displayed at the base station where they can be automatically or manually monitored. This helps to automate mineral extraction, reducing errors, risk, and time, while increasing mining profitability. |
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Third Place $2,000 + Best Student Entry: $3,000 WiFi Security Robot - Jared Bayne, University of Missouri at Kansas City Many companies do not have the resources to provide 24-hour surveillance. This device acts as a wireless security guard, roaming and monitoring the property without being tethered to a computer. When a human is detected, it alerts the user via the Internet of the intrusion so that proper action can be taken. Dozens of properties can be monitored by a single human operator from thousands of miles away... saving cost and increasing security! The robot has human motion sensors, four sonar units, GPS and a video camera. The MatchPort b/g provides the wireless communications between the computer and the microcontroller. |
Runner-Ups
Archimedes - The WLAN-controlled Airship!
Lars Paasche, TU-Berlin
MatchPort b/g is used to control the airship in real-time using sensor data sent wireless to the base station (PC/laptop).
TV Nanny - Monitor While You're Away!
TV Nanny monitors and regulates the amount of time children watch TV or play video games. Parental controls and usage statistics are accessed wirelessly via the Internet. When time limits are exceeded, the TV Nanny sounds an audio alert and removes power from the TV and/or video game device.
MatchPort connects to a 32bit ARM7 CPU via serial connection for downloading PIN codes, time limits and uploading TV use statistics.
