“Frequency Freaks” Team from ELECTICS ITS Wins Bronze at GEMASTIK 2024

The moment when the “Frequency Freaks” team won the Bronze Medal at GEMASTIK 2024

The “Frequency Freaks” team from the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Intelligent Electrical and Informatics Technology (ELECTICS) at ITS, won the bronze medal in the Smart City division at the 2024 GEMASTIK competition. The team, consisting of Muhammad Ali Akbar (Telecommunications Engineering) as the leader, Mohammad Rifqi Firmansyah (Telecommunications Engineering), and Deshan Dinyanovan Prabawa (Electrical Engineering), successfully developed the Smartpole innovation, a smart streetlight functioning as a public information service and early disaster warning system.

This innovation began with research conducted by Ali Akbar alongside his professor on the development of AI-based Smartpole technology. Initially, Smartpole was intended to be submitted to a government competition, but due to the complexity of the requirements, they decided to enter it into the GEMASTIK 2024 in the Smart City division. “We discussed with our professor to bring this Smartpole innovation to GEMASTIK, even though at first, we only aimed to rank in the top 10 at ITS,” Ali explained.

The Smartpole developed by the “Frequency Freaks” team serves as a public information service and early warning system, especially for disaster-prone areas like Denpasar, Bali. This innovation is equipped with four sensors: wind, temperature, humidity, and vibration sensors, all integrated with a website called Visionaries. Through this website, features like Bali Today! provide public information, Bali Ads offer advertising services for SMEs, and the Early Warning System provides disaster alerts. Additionally, the Real-Time Monitoring feature allows more accurate environmental data monitoring compared to conventional methods, which rely on data from a single point.

“Our system integration involves the Bali Provincial Government, Denpasar City Government, BMKG, BPBD, and partners like the Regional Tourism Promotion Agency,” said Ali. The innovation received positive feedback from the Department of Tourism, which provided testimonials.

The journey to the final round was not easy. The team faced various challenges, from struggling to work optimally as a team to having to revise their presentation overnight after receiving feedback from their supervising professor. “We had to take turns working in shifts to revise throughout the night,” Ali shared. The team also encountered challenges with the Smartpole mockup, which was only completed two days before their departure to Semarang, as well as IoT system errors that disrupted their final trial.

After achieving success at GEMASTIK 2024, the “Frequency Freaks” team plans to further develop their innovation. They have already obtained Intellectual Property Rights (HKI) for the Smartpole and are ready to explore collaboration opportunities with local governments.

For ELECTICS students looking to follow in their footsteps, Ali shared an inspiring message, “To ITS students, keep innovating, because no matter how small your innovation is, if it benefits the wider community, it will always be valuable.” Rifqi added, “We hope the Smartpole idea can inspire you to keep innovating and developing it to become even better.”