Anna University wins first-ever TI analog design contest for Indian universities

BANGALORE, INDIA: Anna University Chennai won the first-ever Texas Instruments (TI) Analog Design Contest for Indian Universities for the year 2009. The team comprising M Aravind Krishnan, N Hariprasad and S Ganapathy Subramaniam lifted the coveted Tom Engibous Shield, instituted by TI India in the name of TI’s former Chairman & CEO, Tom Engibous.

The Anna University team also won a prize of $10,000 for its entry, “Design of a low cost video bronchoscope.” Their solution used the Texas Instruments OPA360 video amplifier, TVP5146 video decoder, and the TMS320DM355 video processor. This solution can be used for non-invasive diagnosis of pulmonary tumors or other surgical procedures such as endoscopy.(L-R) Dr. C.P. Ravikumar, Technical Director (University Relations), Texas Instruments India, M. Aravind Krishnan, N. Hariprasad, and S. Ganapathy Subramaniam from Anna University, Chennai.

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras won the First Runners-up Trophy for their entry, “Obstacle Detection in Flooded Roads.” This team, comprising G Anoosh, S Raghunandan and S Sundar Aditya also won a prize of $7,500. Their solution used the TI voltage regulators TPS71550 and TPS71537, and MSP430 microcontroller. The students demonstrated a device that can be useful for anyone in the rainy season and for the visually impaired in all seasons to warn them about abrupt changes in terrain.

The Second Runners-up trophy was bagged by Ankit Agarwal, Anubhav Gupta and Shailesh Kumar Dubey of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi for their entry, “MSP430-based Electronic Load Control for Micro Hydro Power Plants.” This team used several TI analog ICs, including ICL7106, ICL 7109, MPC508, and the MSP430 microcontroller. The team received a prize of $5,000. Their project was a low-cost solution for a load controller that can be deployed in pico hydropower plants. This application can be useful in rural India.

Dr. Biswadip (Bobby) Mitra, President & Managing Director, Texas Instruments India presided over the awards ceremony.

“We organized the Analog Design Contest to encourage system-level design and innovative product design among Indian undergraduate engineering students,” said Dr. C.P. Ravikumar, Technical Director, University Relations, Texas Instruments India. “While working on their projects, the teams were required to make use of at least three analog chips from TI or at least two TI analog chips and a TI processor,” he added.

TI initially shortlisted 10 colleges and worked with 30 teams (three teams per college). Finally, eight teams were selected to vie for the three top prizes. The other five teams that qualified but finished behind the top three were Bengal Engineering College, Shibpur, West Bengal; CMR Institute of Technology, Bangalore; Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur; National Institute of Technology, Trichy, Tamil Nadu; and Jadhavpur University, West Bengal. These teams received prizes of $1,500 each.

The 2009 Contest was also organized as part of the 25th anniversary of Texas Instruments India that is being celebrated across the company this year. Encouraged by the good response, TI has decided to increase the scope of the projects in 2010 and work with 20 colleges in 2010.