Smart reprogrammable Intelligent Battery Charger v2 wins Sarawak Open Source Competition 2007 Gold Award

MIRI, Monday, 16 July 2007 – The Reprogrammable Intelligent Battery Charger v2 (riBAC 2) is back to win the Gold Award this year for the Sarawak Open Source Competition.

The masterminds behind the project, Mr David Wong Liang Tai, Mr Chan Chen Shyang and Mr John Lau Kah Soon are current students of Curtin University of Technology Sarawak (Curtin Sarawak) who also won the 1st runner up prize for last year’s Sarawak Open Source Competition for their submission of the riBAC1 prototype.

The success of riBAC 1 prompts further development of the existing open source smart reprogrammable battery charger prototype hence improved version of riBAC 2. Its intelligence manifestation of sustainable technology whereas its reprogrammable nature or reusability is very vital in open sourcing.

Open source is a development method for software that harness the power of distributed peer review and transparency of process. The promise of open source is better quality, higher reliability, more flexibility, lower cost and an end to predatory vendor lock-in.

Open source permits users to use, change and improve the software, and to redistribute it in modified or unmodified form. It is often developed in a public, collaborative manner.

One of the objectives of organising the Open Source Competition by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn Bhd is to promote public awareness about Open Source Initiative (OSI) in Sarawak and to encourage more participation and contribution of the Open Source among students from Institutions of Higher Learning in Sarawak.

This is the second time for Mr David Wong, Mr Chan Chen Shyang and Mr John Lau to win an award for the Sarawak Open Source Competition 2007. In 2006, the Golden boys won the 1st Runner Up Award for the submission of the riBAC 1 project.

“RIBAC development is an initiative that aids in sustainable development of the future. Embedded system today is the core essence that unites the technological era of software and hardware, where electronics and software are harnessed to achieve the best out of both worlds,” explained David Wong Liang Tai.

“The areas related to my studies, Electronic & Communications Engineering such as Signal Processing, Adaptive Filtering, Artificial Neural Networks and Robotics are the areas, which I plan to specialise in order to realise my dream in improving quality of life and solve many life problems,” said John Lau Kah Soon when asked what are the future of his areas of study for his career and how he can contribute to the community.

“This competition has brought me and my team mates closer and I know it will help me a lot in my future career because it is not easy to design a working system from scratch and from recycled materials which we did and succeeded!” exclaimed Chan Chen Shyang.

The Golden boys were not the only ones from Curtin Sarawak to win an award for this year’s competition. Another student, David Low Jia Wei was awarded the Consolation prize for his proposal on “e-Community with Integrated Google Maps” project.

“The whole concept can be divided into three divisions which are Real-time Traffic update, Online Directory and Public Transportation and Order Tracking System for the local Miri community,” explained David Low Jia Wei.

“I was inspired by the Google Maps Mash-up done by people around the world and when I first came across it, I was fascinated by the functionality of Google Maps API and decided to begin my research on it,” he added further.

“The actual implementation of the proposal will actually need quite a large sum of funding and the majority of funds will have to be spent on purchasing road sensors and GPS unit. Not forgetting the cost of installation and maintaining the system,” he said. “It will be great if we could implement this proposal in reality. Just imagine receiving traffic updates through Google Map using the mobile phone/PDA or being able to find the telephone directory for the local pizza delivery service number and being able to track the delivery order through the “Order Tracking System”,” he suggested.

“The University is very proud to have so many of our students getting exposed in so many competitions and receiving awards for all their hard work,” said Dr. Joan Gribble, Dean of Curtin Sarawak.

“I hope that this will encourage the rest of the students to continue participating in any competitions for their area of study because it will not just give them an experience to create something of their own in reality but it builds teamwork amongst themselves,” she added further.

Above: The winners receiving the mock cheque from the Chief Minister.

Above: All smiles for John, David and Chan during the winners of the Open Source competition 2007