Ateneo engineering student wins in Korea
Jane Arleth dela Cruz, BS EcE 2017 and MS Electronics Engineering student of the Dept of Electronics, Computer and Communications Engineering won 1st prize in the Busan Global Smart City Challenge(BGSCC) held during the Young ICT Leaders' Forum (YILF) in Busan Metropolitan City, South Korea last September 27-28, 2017.
Jane's winning idea is entitled LIGTAS: Mobile Cloud Solutions. It is based on her continuous research, design and development of decision support systems for disaster risk reduction and immediate response using Near Cloud nodes with the Ateneo Innovation Center.
Ligtas: Mobile Cloud Solutions stems from the recognition of necessity of disaster preparedness in all communities. The Philippines is affected by around 20 tropical storms each year. In fact the strongest typhoon in recorded history, typhoon Haiyan wreaked havoc in the Philippines. Geographical location of the country also puts it in a disadvantaged position as it is earthquake prone as well. “Ligtas” is a Filipino word for the verb save and the noun safe. The designed ICT support system demonstrates a resilient system of information collection and transmission in disaster scenarios. Ligtas: Mobile Cloud Solutions proposes the use of Near Cloud. The Near Cloud is a mobile cloud that makes use of rapidly deployable plug computer paired with terabyte external hard drives cached with targeted pre-loaded content. These Near Cloud nodes are used as wireless servers for mobile command and control centers and for evacuation centers. They are configured to aid in decision making processes for the entire disaster timeline, pre-disaster, during disaster and post-disaster. Key capabilities include: cached key content, sub-GHz radio frequency-ready transceiver, map visualization, on-premise messaging forum board, and on-premise file-sharing. Ligtas can provide a versatile platform for various services in the event of a disaster. The whole system may be further tested in a more rigorous simulated evacuation and disaster response scenario.
BGSCC is a global competition platform for young people to present their innovative ideas on harnessing the power of digital technologies in making a city smarter, safer and friendlier to the environment, thereby improving the quality of life of the citizens. Based on the qualification and feasible ideas of more than 350 applicants from around 77 countries, ITU and Busan City provided 20 fellowships including round-trip air ticket, full accommodation, transportation and meals for full participation to the YILF. From the 20 selected applicants coming from 17 different countries, Jane dela Cruz was selected as one of the four winners who have outstanding ideas and was awarded cash-prizes supported by forum sponsors.
The Young ICT Leaders’ Forum is a platform for the Youth from worldwide to gather together in order to learn and to share ideas about ICT development and innovations. YILF is an annual event since 2014 jointly organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Busan Metropolitan City. This year's theme is "Smart Digital Transformation, Global Opportunity. This year it was held in conjunction with the prestigious ITU Telecom World, the leading UN tech event for governments, corporations, and SME's.
