A team of UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) students, consisting of Lim Wen Qing, Yap Sheng Yao, Khor Jun Bin, Au Jin Cheng, and Tan Kai Siang, was awarded Merit Award at the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards, held from 18 to 23 November 2019, at Halong Bay, Vietnam.

The international awards programme, organised by APICTA, aimed to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide. It also served as a platform that provides networking and product benchmarking opportunities to ICT innovators and entrepreneurs in the region. The programme was also designed to stimulate ICT innovation and creativity, promote economic and trade relations, facilitate technology transfer, as well as business matching opportunities via exposure to venture capitalists and investors.

Their award-winning device, titled “IoT Detachable Waterway Monitoring Device with LoRa and Self-Sustainability” uses natural energy sources from the sun, wind and water. “The device is able to be deployed in major waterways around the globe. It also provides real-time monitoring result to the cloud. This allows the relevant party to be informed of the water pollution occurring before the problem becomes irreversible. If we consider the water pollution issue that occurred in Sungai Kim Kim in March 2019, we know that 6,000 individuals were affected, and 111 schools were closed. Imagine if our device was deployed in that river, we would have been able to identify the problem and inform relevant parties to carry out relevant action immediately to solve the problem,” explained the team.

“Due to the fact that our device is able to provide real-time results, and we have tested it in the real river, our device is proven effective, which could be one of the reasons we won. Our device is also low cost in comparison to the other available products in the current market. With our device being modular, it also means that we can easily upgrade and improve the system. Finally, our device and the solution generated is self-sustaining because it harvests energy from the environment. Therefore, we are very honoured and grateful to win the Merit Award,” said the team.

The team also expressed their gratitude to their advisor Ir Danny Ng Wee Kiat, for all the guidance he has provided. “When we face difficulties, we would approach our advisor and he would give us valuable advice. He helped us with his knowledge and expertise and guided us on our project. Therefore we are deeply grateful to him,” enthused the team. They also thanked UTAR for the platform provided to acquire knowledge and skills, which led to the opportunity to create that device. The team mentioned that working on the device had enabled them to learn much greater knowledge and practical skills.

The team, with their device, also won first place at the Keysight IoT Innovation Challenge Finals in New York.

APICTA – Asia Pacific ICT Alliance, is an alliance of national ICT organisations representing their respective economy to build and enhance a mutually cooperative network to promote ICT, enhance technology innovations, capability and adoption, and encourage the development of indigenous ICT solutions for the global market.

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) have had a significant impact in the way we communicate, work, live and play. It is key to entrepreneurial and economic growth as well as wealth creation in our knowledge-based economies. With the recognition of ICT as a fast-growing, pervasive and ubiquitous activity and industry to support the economy’s growth agenda, APICTA epitomises the mutual collaboration of economies coming together and working to further recognise this important phenomenon.