DLSU professor gets award from IBM

MANILA, Philippines -  A De La Salle University (DLSU) professor yesterday received the much-coveted IBM Faculty Award from the US technology giant IBM Corp. for a project he is spearheading with his students to develop an Aerial Dynamic Assessment Robot for National Advancement (ADARNA) that aims to improve the country’s disaster response capabilities.

Professor Clement Ong, head of the DLSU College of Computer Studies’ Computer Technology Department, also got a $10,000 grant to enable him and his students to pursue the ADARNA project.

IBM Philippines country manager Jaime Velasquez conferred the award on Ong during ceremonies held at the Cravings Restaurant in Fraser Place, Makati City.

The program mainly seeks to develop an aerial surveying system using a durable radio-controlled toy helicopter fitted with a high-resolution photo and video camera that can take photographs and footage of disaster-stricken areas.

The DLSU team led by Ong was among the five recipients of the 2011 IBM Faculty Award from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region taken from a worldwide pool of around 80 awardees.

The ADARNA helicopters are to be equipped with enhanced GPS (global positioning system) for image tagging and navigation, and will be fully or partially computer controlled for stability and flight path. Images taken by the ADARNA helicopter will be sent to computers for processing to extract terrain/area features of interest.

“Science has not yet developed a mechanism or a system to stop these natural disasters from occurring, however, mitigating the ill effects of such is possible,” Ong said.

He said more efficient disaster response could be mapped out and conducted with the help of terrain information on calamity-stricken areas.

The ADARNA system will allow a two- or three-member disaster response team to get near an “area of interest” such as an area struck by an earthquake, deploy the helicopter and capture images.

The images can then be reviewed immediately on computers, automatically oriented and stitched together from a comprehensive visual assessment to allow better disaster response logistics and strategy planning.

Ong and his students conceptualized the project in January 2010 with an initial funding of P120,000 from DLSU.

He said that since they are in the initial stages of developing the ADARNA project, the $10,000 grant will help them in the procurement of RC helicopters and high-resolution video cameras.

The IBM Faculty Award is given to researchers worldwide and awardees are nominated by an IBM employee.