A team from the international Bachelor’s programme in Electrical Engineering has won this year’s First Year Student Challenge organised by the Faculty of Electrical Engineering with their project, the “Semi-Automatic Gate System”. The four students developed a semi-automatic parking barrier and presented their solution as part of Dresden’s Long Night of Science.

The parking barrier developed can be opened for parking using registered NFC tokens. When the vehicle leaves the space, an ultrasonic sensor detects it and opens the barrier automatically. In addition, the ‘barrier open’ and ‘barrier closed’ operating modes can be set manually. For the presentation, the team integrated their project into a richly detailed LEGO landscape, which attracted numerous visitors. “I was impressed by the dedication with which the students Mawanane Hewa Chamindu, Mohammad Abdur Rahman, Michael Mhona and Kevin Akuamoah Boateng presented their project at the Long Night of Science. Although German is not their mother tongue, they presented their development to a wide audience, answered numerous questions and engaged in conversation with visitors. This impressively demonstrates how motivation, team spirit and academic curiosity contribute to a successful degree project,” says Programme Director Professor Julia Engelbrecht.  

Hardware development and programming in the first year of study

The foundations for the winning project were laid as early as the first semester. In the ‘First Year Projectand Study Skills’ module, students on the international Bachelor’s programme acquire fundamental skills in hardware development and programming. Working in small teams, they carry out their first microcontroller project, thereby strengthening their ability to collaborate – an important prerequisite for a successful degree and their future careers.

A similar course is also offered on the German-language Bachelor’s and Diplom programmes in Electrical Engineering/Information Technology. In the ‘First-Semester Project and Study Skills’ module, students pursue the same objectives and gain practical experience in the development of technical systems at an early stage.

Personal project in the First Year Student Challenge

The First Year Student Challenge builds on these courses. It invites all first-year students to further develop their projects from the First Year Project or the First-Semester Project throughout their first year of study and to submit them to an internal faculty competition. The Challenge promotes independent work, creativity and the application of theoretical knowledge to practical situations.

Support from industry partners

The best projects were honoured during the Long Night of Science. The winning team received a hardware package donated by PLS Programmierbare Logik & Systeme GmbH, comprising a high-performance microcontroller and various sensors. “The support of our industry partners is a key component of the First Year Student Challenge. It not only enables us to offer attractive prizes to the participating teams, but also provides our students with valuable contacts to potential employers at an early stage. Our special thanks go to PLS Programmierbare Logik & Systeme GmbH, which has provided significant support for the challenge through its commitment and the donation of the hardware package,” said Professor Kristina Kelber, who supervises the First Year Student Challenge.