A team of Bachelor of Engineering (Hons) Electronic and Communications Engineering students from UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES), namely Chea Jing Hui, Koe Jia Chi, Liew Wei Hong, Wong Jun Yong, and Yen Pei Ting won the Merit Award at the MSC Malaysia Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards). The award ceremony was jointly organised by Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) and the National ICT Association of Malaysia (PIKOM) on 19 September 2019 at PIKOM, Selangor. LKC FES lecturer Dr Chua Kein Huat attended the ceremony to receive the award on behalf of the team.

The competition aimed to identify and recognise innovative ICT applications, promote the development and market deployment of ICT products, and contribute to the development of ICT talents in the Asia Pacific region. It has also become a local platform for young and upcoming innovators and technopreneurs to launch their ideas, as well as for them to gain recognition for their innovations, creativity, and ability to transform ideas into solutions and services of remarkable quality.

“It was rather an unexpected participation for the team because this project was actually part of the subject “Integrated Design Project”, also known as the Capstone Project. In completing this project, we had many discussions with our supervisor Dr Chua Kein Huat. He shared various information about the industry and advised us to design a project that will provide a practical solution for the problems faced in the industry,” explained Koe.

Chea added, “We believe it was a good direction to design our project and the outcome was good. We were satisfied with the completed project and Dr Chua recommended us to participate in the competition. Therefore, we are more than happy to be given this award and will continue to do our best at the finals.” The team will be representing Malaysia to the finals at the International APICTA 2019 in Halong Bay, Vietnam from 19 to 23 November 2019.

“The project was certainly helpful in giving us an idea of how the industry works. With the project, we were able to apply much basic knowledge that we have learnt from the programme, including the fundamentals of programming, circuit theory, and digital electronics. We also owe this success to the great teamwork we had with each other because it was not an easy project to complete,” said Yen.

The team also mentioned that the project provided them insights on the industry and an opportunity to learn about the problems faced in the industry. By applying the skills and knowledge learnt in the classroom, they were able to contribute solutions to problems, while also preparing themselves to meet the demands of the industry when they enter the working world.

Apart from the opportunity to apply engineering knowledge and skills learnt, and understanding the trends of the industry, Liew also mentioned that competition as such were a good platform to build networks. “We met new friends and students from other universities and from other countries. We were able to learn about their courses and how their lessons were taught. We also had the chance to exchange ideas and learn about the technologies from their respective countries. It was a good experience,” said Liew.

The award-winning project titled “IoT Motor Monitoring and Control System for Industrial Application” stemmed from the team’s visit to Sabah IOI Edible Oil Sdn Bhd factory, after learning that the factory regularly experienced a motor breakdown. During these breakdowns, the repairs for the motor will take at least two weeks and the long repairing duration has caused late delivery to customers. With the motors having been operating for more than 10 years, the team’s solution was meant to tackle problems such as vibration, overheating and overcurrent. The team has also designed an alert mechanism to alert users when abnormal operation of the motor is detected to prevent further damage. The project is also designed to allow the factory operators to use the mobile application to turn on or shut down the motor remotely. With this system, the normal operation of motor can be ensured while reducing maintenance cost, and increasing productivity of the factory.