The IEEE Council on RFID is pleased to announce that we will once again be running our Educational Mega-Challenge as a part of the 14th Annual International Conference on RFID. This year’s topic, It’s RAINing IoT, will concentrate on the integration of RAIN (UHF) RFID into an Internet of Things (IoT) solution. Undergraduate and graduate student teams are invited to submit solutions that use IoT to address technical, social, or economic problems or issues. The projects must have RAIN RFID as a component of the solution, but the RAIN RFID component does not have to be the centerpiece. Proposals can be a part of ongoing research, a completely new concept or a variant of another proposal or solution.

Submissions are due by 22:00 UTC on February 7, 2020, and should be in the form of a response to an RFP. See the webpage (2020.ieee-rfid.org/crfidmega/) for details on judging and submissions. The three finalist teams will be invited to present in person at the Conference in the RFID Journal Live Awards Theater where one member will give a 3 minute, single slide presentation of their solution.

Teams must have at least one IEEE student member and one IEEE senior member (as an advisor/mentor). Teams are encouraged to be multi-disciplinary and can be comprised of students from up to two institutions (community colleges, 4-year colleges/universities). Thanks to our generous sponsors, the three finalist teams will receive funding to help defray the costs of travel to the conference (exact amount will be dependent upon the final level of sponsorship that is obtained), but the winning team will receive approximately 1/2 of the funding and the runner-ups will receive approximately one-quarter each).

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Mega-Challenge chair, Dr. Kevin Berisso at megachallenge@ieee-rfid.org or kberisso@memphis.edu.