UTAR Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science (LKC FES) student Wong Yi Jie and LKC FES Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering academic Ir Ts Dr Tham Mau Luen made the University proud by winning Second Place in Category 2: Smart Electricity Management at the Industry-University Challenge 2021 Smart City Solutions Using Internet of Things Technology held on 11 December 2021 via ZOOM.

Organised by Intel and CREST, the Industry-University Challenge 2021 was a national innovation challenge that focused on innovating Smart City solutions using Internet of Things technology. The challenge was divided into three categories, namely Smart Logistic 4.0 Management, Smart Electricity Management, and Smart Digital Food Management.

The duo walked away with a Sony WH-1000XM4 headphone each.

When asked to describe their winning project, Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Biomedical Engineering student Wong explained, “Our project title is ‘Surveillance Based Energy Control using Internet of Things’. The project aims to deploy a practical Internet of Things (IoT) solution which wirelessly interconnects all camera sensors and electric appliance switches. We used camera sensors to deploy multi-camera multi-person video analytics which detects human presence. Based on the human presence, the electric appliances will be switched on or off accordingly. A web-based dashboard was also designed to monitor real-time energy consumption and allow remote/automatic control.”

He enthused, “We joined the competition because we would like to take up the challenge to design an Internet of Things solution for real-life applications. Throughout the competition, I was able to learn about new technologies and their applications; this could be implemented in my Final Year Project as well. We were grateful to present our project in the grand finale of the competition, and win the first runner-up in our category, which is Smart Electricity Management. I would like to thank my teammate/advisor, Dr Tham, for providing guidance and advice throughout the development of the project.”

Meanwhile, Dr Tham commented, “This annual national innovation challenge focuses on innovating Smart City solutions using Internet of Things technology. The challenge was open to both the university and Intel teams. The challenge provides insights on how well UTAR students can perform with respect to existing engineers in the national platform.”

He added, “I am proud of my team’s achievement in developing an innovative yet practical solution. It is not easy to collaborate virtually and develop a prototype without physically meeting up. Every shortlisted team had to develop a workable prototype. Only two teams from each category were selected for the final round based on the technology readiness and innovation demonstrated in the prototype. The challenge required good collaboration and communication among the teammates, to turn the idea into a working prototype. I believe the competition served as a good platform for students to show their talent and apply their skills. Besides, students were able to expand their horizons and gain new insights based on the ideas other participants have displayed.”