Presently, Indonesian traditional fishermen have depended on natural phenomenon they see to go fishing. This results in the uncertain amount of fish that can be harvested and also in the time and and fuel spent as fishermen do not know the exact time and location to harvest fish.
This has inspired three students of the Diploma 3 Programme of Electrical Engineering of UGM Year 2006 to produce a tool that can detect the potential harvesting zone. The three students are Tri Santoso, Fahmizal, and Nia Maharani R. The tool has led them to win second award of the Electrical Engineering Award at ITB from 13-17 December 2009.
Tri Santoso explained that the tool to determine the potential zone with 433 MHz transmitter uses mode image process method as the basis for potential area estimation. “Parameters of whether there are fish or not are based on chlorophyl spread value. A high spread value shows that there are plenty of fish there. The types of fish can also be known through sea surface temperature,†he explained to the media, Wednesday (30/12) at the Fortakgama Room, UGM.
Furthermore, Tri Santoso described that the data gained is later processed using special software to determine the location. The data is sent to fishing boats that have GPS on 433 Mhz frequency. Nia added that the system has the capacity to determine immediately the changing location of where fish go.
Traffic Light Sensor Based on Traffic Load
Still in the same competition, three D3 students of Electrical Engineering, UGM, Endri Irwansyah, Sigit Ari W., and Chandra Arikho B., were third champion. They created a tool named “Telemetry of Traffic Light Control on 433 MHz Based on Neural Artificial Network.â€
Endri said that it was all started with the wish to reduce traffic at junctions as the existing traffic lights adopt manual system. This has caused problems as there are discrepancies between the actual time required and the period when red and green lights are on. “This tool regulates traffic lights based on a sensor of the load of traffic. This can minimise traffic jam, especially at junctions, and it can make efficient and effective timing by minimum timer system,†he explained.
This tool, however, also has shortcomings as the sensor that is planted underneath asphalt concrete is vulnerable to heavy vehicles. Iswanto, their lecturer, suggested them to shield the tool so that heavy vehicles would not come into contact with the electronic circuit. “Reliable transmitting and receiving unit should be installed to prevent data losses. If necessary, power supply in the traffic light system may be added with solar cells to automatically charge the battery,†he concluded.