Seven teams of students from the capstone senior design project course displayed their work in the lobby of the Science & Engineering Building for the sixth consecutive year.

Right: The first place team of Sriyan Wisnarama (left), Shahroukh Sotodeh and Gowry Sinnathamby, with an unmanned remote controlled plane with their stabilization system

Prizes of $500, $300 and $200 were given to the first, second and third ranked team project, donated by . The project involves the design of complex engineering solutions to a real world problem.

Left: Second place winners, from left, Niken Goswami, Stephen Low, Chris Carmichael and Yan Ying Fang. Insert: Stephen Low showing the e-Glove to the judges.

The whole point of it is to come up with a marriage between the idea and the practical outcome, said one of the judges, Michael Sasarman (MBA ’05), director, strategic partnering and sourcing at Ericsson Inc.

“This is very good. It’s better than previous years,” said capstone project course instructor Professor George Zhu, director of the Space Engineering Undergraduate Program and the Space Engineering Design Laboratory. “There is more wireless technology on display this time.”

The project involves specifying the requirements of a suitable solution, selecting and designing a solution, implementing the design, and then testing, evaluating and documenting the chosen solution.

Right: From left, students Thaslim Ghani, Sowmiya Rajagopalan and Tamara Tanurdzic, with their smartphone remote controlled vehicle, which placed third in the competition

The group of students who took first place for their project had a remote controlled plane on display with an installed stabilization system. The Design and Implementation of a Stabilization System for a Remote Controlled Fixed-Wing Model (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) project would help prevent the plane from crashing out of control.

“Whatever orientation the plane has when the stabilization button is hit, it will return to level fight,” said student Gowry Sinnathamby. He was joined by his teammates Sriyan Wisnarama and Shahroukh Sotodeh.

In second place was the Sync Engineering Entertainment Glove with students Stephen Low, Yan Ying Fang, Niken Goswami and Chris Carmichael. The intent behind the e-Glove was to design a remotely controlled single system that is able to universally control functions across a range of electronic devices. That means there would be one device instead of several. The e-Glove would use universal infrared technology with finger gestures, rather than buttons, to control and switch between items such as televisions, stereo systems and clock radios.

Above: From left, Professor George Zhu and Sunil Chavda, director of corporate development for Com Dev International, pose with first-place winners Shahroukh Sotodeh, Sriyan Wisnarama and Gowry Sinnathamby, along with Professor Richard Hornsey, associate dean of science & engineering.

The project that won third – Smartphone Control of an Unmanned Robotic Vehicle – was designed by students Thaslim Ghani, Sowmiya Rajagopalan and Tamara Tanurdzic. The team took remote control technology to a smartphone. Phone rotation would control direction and speed depending on the angle or tilt of the phone, said Ghani. Through a GPS system, the vehicle could also be tracked. The students had mounted a laptop to the top of a small vehicle so the user can see either on their smartphone, or from another laptop, exactly what the camera on the mounted laptop is seeing.

Right: From left, Dan Reynolds, Calvin Midwinter, Patrick Irvin and Bay Ming Jian with the mock-up of their satellite

The practical advantages of this technology, says Ghani, is it can go where a human can’t, such as inside the damaged nuclear plant in Japan or perhaps Mars.

Some of the other projects included a mock-up of a microsatellite (QuickSat) body that is designed by the (CSA) and is licensed to 91��ɫ for educational purposes. 91��ɫ is the first university in Canada to use it in the training of microsatellite technology where students not only design the satellite on paper, but also build a functional prototype. Students Dan Reynolds, Calvin Midwinter, Bay Ming Jian and Patrick Irvin worked on the design and fabrication of a solar panel assembly and its release mechanism under CSA's CAD model and technical specifications.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The key mandate for these meetings is to enable researchers from 91��ɫ and from across India to establish joint bilateral research and developmental projects. 91��ɫ, the third largest university in Canada, is the country's leading interdisciplinary research and teaching institution with an academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide.

Leader of the delegation is , dean of the Faculty of Science & Engineering, and professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Earth & Space Sciences & Engineering. Among others, Kozinski's brainchild is an anti-terrorism project evocatively called eWAR (Early Warning & Advance Response) system that seeks to detect, quantify and initiate an effective response to chemical and biological agents released in public buildings.

In a special interview to Business Line during his visit to this newspaper office in Mumbai despite a hectic schedule, Kozinski shared for the benefit of readers the mission's objectives, research priorities, funding and related matters:

Kozinski: India is one of our three focal points. We want to engage in projects with practical social applications. Specifically, we are looking at, among other areas, space science which would cover micro and nano satellites to carry communications tools. Our focus would also be atmospheric monitoring to study global warming and climate change.

Also, we are keen to develop partnerships in the field of biotechnology for healthcare; analyse propagation of infectious diseases – their origin, spread, control and eradication through bio-sensors.

We firmly believe in creating value and sharing it with the society. Where societal benefits are involved, I am somewhat wary of creating barriers like intellectual property rights and so on. We want the society at large to benefit from our research.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The annual prize, one of the top accolades for the advancement of space technology in Canada, was awarded Tuesday to the CanX-2 microsatellite team, headed by the University of Toronto. 91��ɫ’s instrument, a microspectrometer dubbed Argus, is currently riding aboard the microsatellite, which launched in April 2008. Argus can accurately detect sources of industrial pollution on Earth, to a resolution of one kilometre.

"We’re very excited to be part of the team receiving this award," said Argus principal investigator Brendan Quine, a professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering. "Argus was a Canadian first and we’re delighted we could make it happen at 91��ɫ."

Right: Brendan Quine with the Alouette Award

The device, which is small enough to fit in the palm of an adult’s hand, transmits data via infrared radiation emitted to space. It enables scientists to determine local levels of carbon dioxide and other climate change gases by recording infrared spectra, which contain information about atmospheric composition.

Developed in partnership with Thoth Technology Inc., it is the first space instrument to be built and tested in 91��ɫ’s space engineering laboratory, part of the University’s Centre for Research in Earth & Space Science (CRESS). Argus’ current mandate includes monitoring levels of ash from recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

CASI introduced the Alouette Award in 1995 to recognize an outstanding contribution to the advancement of Canadian space technology, science or engineering. It may be awarded to an individual, a group, an organization or group of organizations, as appropriate to the nature of the contribution. Preference is given to contributions that lead to new benefits for mankind.

The team's win was also covered in the North 91��ɫ Mirror May 12:

91��ɫ researchers who designed and built a miniature space-borne pollution monitor are part of a team of Canadians who were honoured with a 2010 Alouette Award from the Canadian Aeronautics & Space Institute (CASI).

The annual prize, one of the top accolades for the advancement of space technology in Canada, was awarded May 4 to the CanX-2 microsatellite team, headed by the University of Toronto.

91��ɫ’s instrument, a microspectrometer dubbed Argus, is currently riding aboard the microsatellite, which launched in April 2008. Argus can accurately detect sources of industrial pollution on Earth, to a resolution of one kilometre.

“We’re very excited to be a part of the team receiving this award,” Brendan Quine, Argus Principal investigator and professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Earth & Space Science & Engineering, said in a release. “Argus is a Canadian first and we’re delighted we could make it happen at 91��ɫ.”

For more information, visit the Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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