submitted by Cocoru Vlad, Chair of IEEE CPMT Student Branch
Chapter of University Politehnica of Bucharest, Romania – vlad.cocoru@cetti.ro
At the beginning of April, between 9th and 12th, Galati, Romania, was home of the XVIIIth edition of an increasingly popular students’ contest: Interconnection Techniques in Electronics (TIE – www.tie.ro). The main organizer of the event was “Dunarea de Jos” University, Faculty of Electric and Electronics Engineering leaded by Prof. Dorel Aiordachioaie. The core of this event is to test the participants’ ability to find a professional solution to a real electronics interconnection problem. The Romanian Student Branch Chapter is involved together with the IEEE-CPMT Hu&Ro Joint Chapter (Chair rofessor Dan Pitica) in organizing this event and takes full credit for training the participants. This competition gathers the most skilled and trained undergraduate students from the majority university ampuses across Romania.
The main difference for this edition, compared to the past ones, is that we have invited our Hungarian colleagues from the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Department for Electronic Technology (Head of the Department Professor Harsany Gabor). The students were accompanied by Professor Illyefalvi-Vitez Zsolt and Ms. Batorfi Reka. This was also the first edition to be held in English. Professor Nihal Sinnadurai, IEEE Fellow, IEEE Distinguished Lecturer has presented to the participants the place of IEEE in the professional world and how important is for the young students to join a.s.a.p. this community. The sole participation to this contest as a student implies that you have the required skills of a CAD designer. This competition is recognized by employers as a real certification of participants’ knowledge level.
The subjects are created by a team of professionals who deal with CAD topics and winners from past editions of the TIE contest.
Fig. – Brainstorming session for creating the proposed subject for this edition
The topic purposed this time refers to the command of an integrated video camera and signal transmission though USB port. The design in Schematics and in Layout is highlighted: The correct implementation of decoupling capacitors, the separation of analog and digital ground layers are important issues, but special attention is paid to the problems that could appear in the actual practical PCB design phase: the signals and high speed routes integrity for multiple layers in printed circuit boards. The real issue is not the difficulty of the problem (at this level, all participants are likely to be able to fully answer the given problem), but to do that in a very short time (only 3 hours, when the required time to fully solve the problem would be above 5). Therefore, no one is able to achieve the maximum available score, and the winners are expected to resolve as many problems as possible in the given time. The first three ranked students receive a 10 month scholarship. Additionally, the winner of the TIE contest, Bogdan Raducanu, was awarded by CPMT Society with a full year IEEE CPMT Membership.
Figure – awarding the winners. From right to left: Prof. Paul Svasta (SBC Advisor), Bogdan Raducanu (TIE 2009 winner, 3rd year student at Electronics, Telecommunication and Information Technology, Bucharest), Adrian Petrariu (TIE 2009 first runnerup, “Stefan cel Mare” University of Suceava), Alexandru Coman (TIE 2009 second runner-up, “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati).
All the participants expressed their interest for the TIE event and many of them, including our Hungarian friends, claimed their intention to attend the next year edition, which will take place in Cluj Napoca. At the end, there was a very pleasant social event (boat trip on the Danube) and a closing ceremony in the last afternoon of staying in Galati. With this occasion, many contacts have been made which are likely to turn up into future collaborations and even friendships. Professor Paul Svasta, the SBC Advisor, pointed out the importance of IEEE-CPMT Politehnica University of Bucharest
Student Branch Chapter to promote round of our country the aim of IEEE-CPMT Society.
We wish to all the participants all the best until the next year!
