Travel to the 2013 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium Win $1500, $750, $250

Join the 4th IEEE AP‐S Antenna Design Challenge! Build an antenna system with reconfigurable antenna elements that can adapt to different propagation conditions (e.g. line‐of‐sight versus non‐line‐of‐sight). The top three teams will receive up to $2,500 (US dollars) in travel funds to attend the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Symposium in Orlando, FL, USA, July 7‐13, 2013 to demonstrate their working systems. From these top teams, first, second, and third place winners will be announced at the 2013 IEEE AP‐S Awards Banquet and will receive cash awards of $1500, $750, and $250, respectively.

Important deadlines are November 30, 2012 and April 26, 2013. See below for details.

Goals and Specifications:

1. Design an antenna system with reconfigurable antenna elements that can adapt to different propagation conditions in order to achieve the best link performance. The performance can be shown in terms of received power or higher level system metric such as symbol error rate.
2. The antenna system should be used to teach how antennas work. Such a system might be used in college undergraduate or graduate courses, and in pre‐college (‘High School’) physics courses.
3. The system must be safe and durable, easily reproducible by others, inexpensive, and portable so that it can be demonstrated at the Symposium.
4. The system must operate at 2.4 GHz, have its own source (i.e. no commercial signal generator can be used), and fit on a table top (roughly 24”x 40”) or two closely spaced tables. Readily available software (e.g., student versions of C, Matlab, Visual Basic, LabView) or free software packages may be used. All software must be included in the budget.
5. The total cost for reproduction of the system must be less than $1,500. The use of a laptop computer is allowed and does not have to be included in the $1,500 limit.

Eligibility:

The team should consist of 2 to 5 persons, with a majority of undergraduate students. Each team should be advised by a professional mentor who is a member of the AP Society. No student or mentor should be involved in more than one team.

The Application and Review Process:

1. All applicants must submit a preliminary design by November 16, 2012. It must include:
   
   • A proposal limited to two pages and in 12‐pt Times New Roman font that includes
     i. A detailed description of the system to be built.
     ii. The steps that will be taken to ensure the accuracy of the system.
     iii. A bill of materials (up to $1,500).
   • A letter from a professional mentor such as a professor or engineer in industry indicating agreement to supervise the project. The mentor must be an IEEE AP‐S member and must verify that all members of the team are graduate and/or undergraduate students at a university, college, or technical school. The proposal and letter must be integrated into a single pdf file named TeamName.pdf. The proposal should precede the letter.
2. The Design Contest Committee will assess each preliminary design based on creativity, likelihood of achieving the design goals, educational value, and quality of written materials. Six semi‐finalist teams will be selected by November 30, 2012 and will receive $1,500 each to build and test their designs.
3. Each of the six semi‐finalist teams must submit its final design by April 26, 2013. It must be accompanied by a video demonstration of its working system, and a final report in pdf format using the template available at the AP‐S web‐site. Submission instructions for the video demonstration will be provided later. The report must be limited to 10 pages and include:
   
   • A detailed description of the system (including schematic and other diagrams).
   • A list of parts and materials required, including where to obtain them and costs.
   • Photos of the final system (including a scale to show how large it is).
   • Assembly and operating instructions for the system.
   • A set of measurements obtained using the system with an example test antenna.
   • Biographies (100 words or less each) and photos of all design team members.
   • All software necessary to build and/or operate the system in a separate file(s).
4. The Design Contest Committee will assess each semi‐finalist’s design based on creativity, 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 AP‐S Symposium. The stipend is intended to cover equipment shipping costs and all of the expenses for one team representative; however, it may be divided among multiple team members.
5. The finalists will be expected to demonstrate their working systems during the Symposium and attend the Awards Ceremony at the banquet. Power supplies will be made available at the Symposium. Each team is responsible for bringing all other necessary equipment for a successful demonstration.
6. The Design Contest Committee will judge the final demonstrations and select the first, second, and third prize winners to receive $1,500, $750 and $250, respectively. The prize winners will be announced at the AP Awards Banquet.
7. After the Symposium, the finalists will be required to revise the final report for publication in the IEEE AP Magazine under the Education Column.

How to Submit Materials:

Send all materials to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line “2013 IEEE AP‐S Design Contest Submission.” Questions may be sent to the same address. All submitted materials must be in pdf format according to the guidelines above.