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2006 SILICON CHIP $1000 P R I Z E0 POOL! Excellence in Education Technology Awards AND THE WINNERS ARE . . . In the 2006 Silicon Chip Excellence in Education Technology Awards a prize pool of $10,000 was offered. The judging panel decided that the prize pool would be split up equally between the two divisions, secondary schools/colleges and university/TAFE colleges. Schools/Colleges Division In this division, electronics laboratory and test equipment with a value not less than $3000, and a plaque, would be awarded to the school sponsoring the winning individual entrant in the final year assignment category. The two individual divisions offered $1000 cash prizes plus plaques to the winners. The judges further thought that the initial wording of one of the schools division prizes – “Best school project involving electronics technology” – could have a different meaning to students/ teachers, as school projects are more often than not an individual’s own projects within the curriculum. For this reason, all entries received were judged according to the first category: Best final year assignment of an individual student involving electronics technology. As it happened, both the individual winners came from the one school – Mater Maria College in Sydney, obviously reflecting the enthusiasm and dedication of those involved in the electronics curriculum of the school, especially their electronics teacher, Dave Kennedy. It is therefore not surprising that the judges also awarded the major schools prize to Mater Maria College. There were in fact numerous entries from students at this school. However, most were “more of the same” – perhaps typical of boys of this age group, almost all had built high power stereo amplifiers; some adding speakers, parametric equalisers and so on. However, there were two entries which the judges considered showed that a lot more thought had gone in, with significantly more research and project development than what amounts to building a project from a kit. It was these two entries which were chosen as the two school’s division winners, receiving $1000 cash prize and a plaque: (a) Lauren Capel, who first of all found, then restored a 1950s Mullard MBS1112 Valve Radio, with the help of members of the Historical Radio Society of Australia. Unfortunately the radio had suffered further damage in the post so that had to be repaired as well. She then brought that radio into the 21st century by adding a mains power supply and an MP3 player feeding an AM micro transmitter so she could listen to her MP3s on the radio. (b) Matt McDonald, who built a state-of-the-art home security system, with RFID arming and disarming and an SMS controller which sends a text message to his mobile phone when the alarm is activated. The SMS controller also had a pre-programmed set of instructions which enabled Matt to remotely control various alarm functions. Matt imported the alarm panel kit from Britain to meet his requirements. University/TAFE College Division This division also offered three categories – (a) Best project from a student as part completion of a degree, diploma or certificate in electronics or a related field (eg, mechatronics) (b) Best research project from a post-graduate student working in an area of applied electronics (c) An award to the university faculty or school sponsoring the best research project. Entries were received in division (a) but no post-graduate research projects were received and no university-sponsored projects. The judging panel therefore decided to award two $2500 cash prizes in division (a). The two winners of this division (in no particular order!) were: Luke Robinson, of Monash University (Vic), with his micro-hydro-electric power generation system, Single Phase Self-Excited Induction Generator with Voltage and Frequency Regulation. This controller regulates the output voltage by switching capacitors connected to the generator and regulates frequency by phase controlling a load to vary the “slip” of the machine. It maintains regulation at 49.9Hz, +/-0.3Hz and 219V, +/-1V, for loads up to 500W. Carlos Galli, of Sydney Institute of Technology, with his single cylinder engine management system. This project grew from a requirement in the syllabus of the Advanced Diploma of Electrical Engineering and introduced microcontroller management to a “somewhat ancient” 75cc 4-stroke lawnmower engine. Many components for the engine had to be fabricated as replacements. Thank you to all the students (and their lecturers/teachers) who entered. We hope to feature some of the winning entries next year in SILICON CHIP and also to bring the SILICON CHIP Excellence in Education Technology Awards back in 2007. siliconchip.com.au December 2006  17