4th SWEEP Awards to showcase wireless apps vs disasters

By designing applications based on the theme “Going Wireless for Disaster Preparedness,” engineering students from the country’s top colleges and universities got to put their knowledge and skills to practical use again. 

This time, it was to help address the growing need to improve the country’s ability to respond to the threat of disasters and to curtail the damages they bring.

Out of 59 mobile solutions submitted as entries to the 4th SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards, 10 short-listed entries have been selected to advance into the finals to be held on Feb. 1-2 at the Trade Hall of SM Cebu City. 

These include an experimental network of GPS-based tsunami detection devices strategically located along shorelines of high-risk areas, a flood alert text service that includes evacuation tips and donation collection, a frequency scanner that detects victims trapped during earthquakes or landslides, and a wireless tracking system that acts as a safeguard against viral and epidemic outbreaks.

Working models of the top 10 most innovative wireless applications developed by student-teacher teams from SWEEP partner-schools will be showcased during the two-day event.

Also moving up for a chance at the final three slots are a software application service that enables owners to roll up and down tarpaulin material for the billboards, a wireless disaster info management system loaded right at the subscriber identification module, and a geo-specific public warning system using cell broadcasting.

Completing the roster of this year’s finalists are a safety monitoring and remote sensing through grouped early warning announcements and reporting with the use of M-Codes, a disaster aversion application that helps prevent, empower, and locate subscribers of impending disasters, and a prototype system that allows remote monitoring of vibrations in bridges.

Final judging will consist of a presentation by each team and an evaluation of the working models. 

Cash prizes will be awarded to the winning teams and equivalent grants for their schools. First prize is P500,000; second prize, P300,000; and third prize, P150,000.

The much awaited yearly PalaECEpan competition, a side activity that tests the intellectual prowess of the smartest engineering students from SWEEP partner-schools, will hold elimination rounds on Feb. 1, with the finals set the following day.

Other event highlights include a mini job fair, interactive booth exhibits, free Internet surfing, raffle draws, and a concert featuring today’s hottest bands from Cebu.

The annual SWEEP Innovation and Excellence Awards is organized by Smart Communications Inc. as part of the company’s Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (SWEEP), an industry-academe partnership program that helps raise the level of technology and engineering education in the country.

Smart is holding this year’s event in partnership with Ericsson Networks, Nokia Siemens Networks, Y101 Cebu, Sun.Star Daily Cebu, EDGE Review Specialist, Trends.net Inc., Manila Bulletin, Sysnet Integrators, KillerBee 92.3 Cebu, Alcatel-Lucent Philippines, Cebu Pacific Air, and Cisco.

Other sponsors include the Smart Schools Program, Smart Link, Smart Money, myTV, Smart International Services, Smart Buddy, Smart Bro, PLDT Payphone, PLDT myDSL, Netopia and PLDT Vibe. 

Also participating in the job fair are the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Smart, SPi Technologies Inc., ePLDT Ventus Inc., and Wolfpac Mobile Inc.