Instituto Superior Técnico opened its doors to several projects developed by secondary school students as part of the ‘FAQtos Award’, coordinated by DEEC Professor Luís Correia. The final ceremony took place on the 8th of July under the theme “Discovering Radio Frequencies”. This year’s edition brought together 75 teams and involved a total of 310 students, 40 supervising teachers and 34 different schools.

According to Luís Correia, coordinator of the project, professor at DEEC, and researcher at the Instituto de Engenharia de Sistemas e Computadores, Investigação e Desenvolvimento (INESC-ID), “this contest has served as a motivation for students to engage in extracurricular activities, also involving their local communities”. In addition to highlighting the quality of the projects submitted every year, he stressed the role of Técnico in supporting such initiatives.

The winning project – “Nefertiti” – was developed by a team from the Francisco Franco Secondary School, in Madeira, and consists of collar-shaped devices (which can be worn as a clothing accessory) that measure vital signs and stress level so that the user can proceed with relaxation routines. The device works together with an app, installed on the mobile phone, which includes several features such as monitoring, control, tracking and alert.

Second place went to the AgroTECH team from the Salvaterra de Magos Vocational School, in Santarém, for the “Clever Waves, ZERO Waste” project, which consists of a technology that analyses soil moisture and maps the area around it, in order to optimise irrigation.

The Serafim Leite Basic and Secondary School, in Aveiro, won third place. The “Meteor” is a device capable of receiving and decoding meteorological images from satellites, with consequent short-term weather forecasting.

The list of projects presented at this year’s edition also includes a remote-controlled submarine, a dog harness that monitors vital signs and a “smart female parrot” that facilitates communication between the coach and a canoeist, among other ideas and prototypes.

The three best-placed teams in the competition were awarded prizes of 500, 1000 and 1500 euros.

The ‘FAQtos’ project makes publicly available relevant information on electromagnetic radiation in mobile communications, namely concepts related to electromagnetic waves and exposure levels, among other aspects.