Freescale applauds “green” Design Challenge winners of FTF China
Intelligent Control System of Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) by WANG Bing wins $10,000 cash prize.
Beijing, China -- November 17, 2008 -- Freescale Semiconductor has announced the China winners in the company’s first ever green FTF Design Challenge. The winning design is the Intelligent Control System of Automatic Guided Vehicles (AGV) by WANG Bing from Shanghai Jiaotong University. The intelligent control system AGV is based on Freescale’s MC9S12XDP512 microcontroller to collect and process the video signal to make automated driving possible. It enables the ZigBee® wireless connectivity through the MC9S08GT60 and MC13193 devices. The primary S12X chip acts as the smart control and management between the multi-vehicles at the same time.
Intelligent Control System of AGV received the most votes, and Wang was recognized at FTF China on November 5 – 6 during Rich Beyer’s opening general session. He received $10,000 USD and an invitation to compete in the Grand FTF Challenge with other first place global winners to vie for $50,000.
“Sustainability is the next challenge in technology development as it places considerations like power consumption and environmental impact at the forefront of embedded design,” said Rich Beyer, Chairman and CEO of Freescale. “We’re delighted to see the level of engineering innovation and ingenuity displayed by the top FTF China Design Challenge finalists and congratulate Wang on his success with the Intelligent Control System of AGV.
Wang described the design concept in his paper, “Multiple Intelligent AGV system can ensure the cars can run safely and fully utilize and optimize the roads and highways. This can greatly improve the efficiency of the logistics of land transport and the public transit system. The design of the whole intelligent control system is to provide safe infrastructure, high efficiency, energy saving green logistic systems.”
“I’d like to thank Freescale for this exciting opportunity and access to the energy-efficient technologies such as the S12X and ZigBee technologies needed to develop my Intelligent Control System of AGV,” said Wang. “It’s rewarding to have our hard work acknowledged at the prestigious Freescale Technology Forum. The first-prize award will enable us to continue to enhance our product with a view to further develop the intelligent car system and help make more automated, safer and efficient cars.”
Freescale selected the green FTF Design Challenge finalists from a field of hundred participants. Each submission was judged on creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, the number of Freescale devices used, and overall application innovation to improve the environment.
The second-place winner in the green China FTF Design Challenge is SHAO Zi-yang from Bejing Mining Communication Information &Technology Co. Ltd. Energy Saving Road Lamp is based on Freescale’s MC1321x (ZigBee® technology) to collect the sensor signal and control the road lamp power on and off. This can greatly reduce the electricity consumption. Shao will receive $5,000 USD.
“The energy efficiency of traditional road lamp is rather low. Based on a 2 kilometers road, considering the power consumption and quantity of the road lamps, the lamps work for 12 hours per night, this road will consume 480 units of electricity, 175,200 units per year. For those less busy sub-roads with less traffic, if the necessary lighting time is 30% of the total light up time, this will waste 175,200 units x 0.7 which is about 120,000 units. This is a huge wastage.” Shao expressed, “If we take certain energy saving measures, such as turn off the road lamps when there is no traffic or no pedestrians, this will save huge energy.”
The third-place winner is the Smart Cart for Environment Protection developed by WANG Jian from Southeast University. Wang Jian will receive $2,000 USD. His design is based on Freescale’s 16-bit MC9S12XEP100 and use the digital CMOS sensor OV6620.
“With the higher requirement on public cleanliness and hygiene, there is a need to clean up the garbage in the public areas.” said Wang. ”My design is targeted to develop small smart cart that can automatically patrol and clean up the garbage in the public areas which can replace the manpower, reduce the cleansers’ work load and keep the area clean.”