ORLANDO, FL--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Freescale Semiconductor has announced the Americas' winners in the company's first ever green FTF Design Challenge. The winning design is the Digital Sun Distiller developed by Jose Luis Rojas with iluxon S.A. de C. V. from San Luis Potosi, Mexico. The distiller is based on Freescale's MCF51QE128 microcontroller, MC13203 and MC13213 ZigBee transceivers, and the MPXV5004 pressure sensor.
Freescale Technology Forum attendees voted on the winners. The Digital Sun Distiller received the most votes, and Rojas was recognized on stage today during Rich Beyer's closing session. He will receive $10,000 USD and an invitation to compete in the Grand FTF Challenge with other first place global winners to vie for $50,000.
"Sustainability is the next challenge in technology development as it places considerations like power consumption and environmental impact at the forefront of embedded design," said Rich Beyer, Chairman and CEO of Freescale. "We're delighted to see the level of engineering innovation and ingenuity displayed by the top FTF Americas Design Challenge finalists and congratulate Rojas on his success with the Digital Sun Distiller."
In a design paper submitted with the Digital Sun Distiller, Rojas described the environmental benefits of his design:
"As our population grows and water use per person rises, demand for freshwater continue to soars. Yet the supply of freshwater is finite and threatened by pollution. To avoid a crisis, many countries must conserve water, pollute less, and manage supply and demand. Efficient water management requires new knowledge and an actionable solutions, as well as synthesis of current experiences from different parts of the world. With the Digital Sun Distiller a person is able to purify and reuse household water. Multiply this by many households and we reduce water consumption in a substantial way."
"I'd like to thank Freescale for this exciting opportunity and access to the energy-efficient technologies needed to develop my Digital Sun Distiller," said Rojas. "It's rewarding to have our hard work acknowledged at the prestigious Freescale Technology Forum. The first-prize award will enable us to continue to enhance our product and help many countries conserve household water by reusing a percentage of water already used."
Freescale selected the green FTF Design Challenge finalists from a field of more than 65 participants. Each submission was judged on creativity, design efficiency, technical complexity, the number of Freescale devices used, and overall application innovation to improve the environment.
The second-place winner in the green FTF Design Challenge is Mark Donkers from OES, Inc. London, Canada. The Clean Water Diverter is based on Freescale's MC13211 (ZigBee technology) and MPXV5004 pressure sensor. Donkers will receive $5,000 USD.
"The world's fresh water supply is becoming scarcer every day," Donkers said. "Using fresh water for such purposes as flushing waste water is a terrible use of a valuable resource. Significant energy is consumed in the sterilization, transportation and post-treatment of our drinking water. The Clean Water Diverter will allow people to not only reduce their water bill but also reduce their environmental footprint."
The third-place winner is the ZigBee-based wireless sensor network for Greenhouse Automation developed by Alfredo Cabral from CODE Ingenieria in Toluca, Mexico, and teammates Fernando Gasca, Jaime Sanchez, Jose Maria Ruiz de Velasco, and Marco Tulio Gonzales. The team will receive $2,000 USD. Their design is based on Freescale's MC13213.
"Greenhouse management involves continuous monitoring and activation of different units to maintain a suitable environment for plant growth," said Cabral. "Greenhouse control is a rather difficult task to be performed manually and is susceptible to inefficient energy management and suboptimal performance. Therefore, greenhouse automation systems have become a standard for optimal performance in terms of energy consumption, costs reduction and productivity."
Freescale Semiconductor is a global leader in the design and manufacture of embedded semiconductors for the automotive, consumer, industrial, networking and wireless markets. The privately held company is based in Austin, Texas, and has design, research and development, manufacturing or sales operations in more than 30 countries. Freescale is one of the world's largest semiconductor companies with 2007 sales of $5.7 billion (USD).
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About the Freescale Technology Forum
Created to inspire innovation and collaboration, the Freescale Technology Forum (FTF) has become the developer event of the year for the embedded semiconductor industry. The Forum, which debuted in 2005, has drawn nearly 20,000 attendees at FTF events worldwide since its inception.