A STUDENT team from the Ateneo de Davao University placed second last Saturday in a nationwide contest of mobile solutions to help communities deal with disasters.

The Ateneo de Davao team of Charese Olmoguez, Ann Marie Rosells Balinas, and Flora May dela Cruz had as mentor, engineer Marloue Pidor. They placed second in the 5th Smart Wireless Engineering Education Program (Smart Sweep) Innovation and Excellence Award held Saturday at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

The team submitted a system for search and rescue management in the Davao Gulf using global positioning system (GPS) and geographic information system (GIS) data.

The Ateneo de Davao team won P300,000 for themselves and another P300,000 in grants for their school.

The Smart Sweep is an annual contest among engineering schools that have partnered with Smart. The projects must provide mobile solutions to help communities deal with disasters.

Mon Isberto, head of Smart's public affairs group, said the contest focuses on that theme because the company feels that more can be done to help communities deal with disasters.

While none of the projects submitted in the five staging of the contest have been commercialized, the prize money has helped winning schools upgrade or purchase teaching equipment.

Maria Magdalena Gatdula, an adviser of the Bulacan State University (BSU), said her school was able to purchase LCD projectors, PC sets, laptops and licensed software using the P500,000 in grants that they won in the 3rd Smart Sweep.

The win two years ago, Gatdula said, inspired BSU students that the school typically gets 30 project proposals from students whenever Smart Sweep opens. The proposals are then culled because each school is limited to 10 entries.

(source:http://www.sunstar.com.ph/davao/ateneo-team-bags-2nd-smart-sweep)

The team used a combination of zigbee,sms and GIS/GPS to come up with a mobile search and rescue system that will help Davao City's coast guard to locate ships that are in dire situations.