2013

IEEE APS Student Design Challenge: Reconfigurable Antennas

Traveltothe2013IEEEAntennasandPropagationSymposium Win$1500,$750,$250
Join the 4th IEEE APS Antenna Design Challenge! Build an antenna system with reconfigurable antenna elements that can adapt to different propagation conditions (e.g. lineofsight versus nonlineofsight). Thetopthreeteamswillreceiveupto$2,500(USdollars)intravelfundstoattendtheIEEEAntennasand PropagationSymposiuminOrlando,FL,USA,July713,2013todemonstratetheirworkingsystems.From thesetopteams,first,second,andthirdplacewinnerswillbeannouncedatthe2013IEEEAPSAwards Banquetandwillreceivecashawardsof$1500,$750,and$250,respectively. ImportantdeadlinesareNovember30,2012andApril26,2013.Seebelowfordetails.

GoalsandSpecifications:
1. Design an antenna system with reconfigurable antenna elements that can adapt to different propagationconditionsinordertoachievethebestlinkperformance.Theperformancecanbeshown intermsofreceivedpowerorhigherlevelsystemmetricsuchassymbolerrorrate. 2. The antenna system should be used to teach how antennas work. Such a system might be used in collegeundergraduateorgraduatecourses,andinprecollege(HighSchool)physicscourses. 3. Thesystemmustbesafeanddurable,easilyreproduciblebyothers,inexpensive,andportablesothat itcanbedemonstratedattheSymposium. 4. Thesystemmustoperateat2.4GHz,haveitsownsource(i.e.nocommercialsignalgeneratorcanbe used),andfitonatabletop(roughly24x40)ortwocloselyspacedtables.Readilyavailablesoftware (e.g.,studentversionsofC,Matlab,VisualBasic,LabView)orfreesoftwarepackagesmaybeused.All softwaremustbeincludedinthebudget. 5. Thetotalcostforreproductionofthesystemmustbelessthan$1,500.Theuseofalaptopcomputeris allowedanddoesnothavetobeincludedinthe$1,500limit.

Eligibility:
Theteamshouldconsistof2to5persons,withamajorityofundergraduatestudents.Eachteamshould beadvisedbyaprofessionalmentorwhoisamemberoftheAPSociety.Nostudentormentorshouldbe involvedinmorethanoneteam.

TheApplicationandReviewProcess:
1.AllapplicantsmustsubmitapreliminarydesignbyNovember16,2012.Itmustinclude: a.Aproposallimitedtotwopagesandin12ptTimesNewRomanfontthatincludes i.Adetaileddescriptionofthesystemtobebuilt.

ii.Thestepsthatwillbetakentoensuretheaccuracyofthesystem. iii.Abillofmaterials(upto$1,500). b.Aletterfromaprofessionalmentorsuchasaprofessororengineerinindustryindicatingagreement tosupervisetheproject.ThementormustbeanIEEEAPSmemberandmustverifythatallmembers oftheteamaregraduateand/orundergraduatestudentsatauniversity,college,ortechnicalschool. TheproposalandlettermustbeintegratedintoasinglepdffilenamedTeamName.pdf.Theproposal shouldprecedetheletter. 2. The Design Contest Committee will assess each preliminary design based on creativity, likelihood of achievingthedesigngoals,educationalvalue,andqualityofwrittenmaterials.Sixsemifinalistteams willbeselectedbyNovember30,2012andwillreceive$1,500eachtobuildandtesttheirdesigns. 3. Each of the six semifinalist teams must submit its final design by April 26, 2013. It must be accompaniedbyavideodemonstrationofitsworkingsystem,andafinalreportinpdfformatusingthe template available at the APS website. Submission instructions for the video demonstration will be providedlater.Thereportmustbelimitedto10pagesandinclude: a.Adetaileddescriptionofthesystem(includingschematicandotherdiagrams). b.Alistofpartsandmaterialsrequired,includingwheretoobtainthemandcosts. c.Photosofthefinalsystem(includingascaletoshowhowlargeitis). d.Assemblyandoperatinginstructionsforthesystem. e.Asetofmeasurementsobtainedusingthesystemwithanexampletestantenna. f.Biographies(100wordsorlesseach)andphotosofalldesignteammembers. g.Allsoftwarenecessarytobuildand/oroperatethesysteminaseparatefile(s). 4.TheDesignContestCommitteewillassesseachsemifinalistsdesignbasedoncreativity,completeness of the description, functionality of the system as determined by the video, educational value, and quality of written materials. Three finalist teams will be selected by May 10, 2013 and will receive stipends of up to $2,500 per team to travel to and attend the IEEE APS Symposium. The stipend is intended to cover equipment shipping costs and all of the expenses for one team representative; however,itmaybedividedamongmultipleteammembers. 5.ThefinalistswillbeexpectedtodemonstratetheirworkingsystemsduringtheSymposiumandattend theAwardsCeremonyatthebanquet.PowersupplieswillbemadeavailableattheSymposium.Each teamisresponsibleforbringingallothernecessaryequipmentforasuccessfuldemonstration. 6.TheDesignContestCommitteewilljudgethefinaldemonstrationsandselectthefirst,second,andthird prizewinnerstoreceive$1,500,$750and$250,respectively.Theprizewinnerswillbeannouncedat theAPAwardsBanquet. 7.AftertheSymposium,thefinalistswillberequiredtorevisethefinalreportforpublicationintheIEEE APMagazineundertheEducationColumn.

HowtoSubmitMaterials:
Send all materials to designcontest@ieeeaps.org with the subject line 2013 IEEE APS Design Contest Submission.Questionsmaybesenttothesameaddress.Allsubmittedmaterialsmustbeinpdfformat accordingtotheguidelinesabove.