NI names 2008 graphical system design award winners

Dr James Truchard, President, CEO and Co-founder of National Instruments, commented: "These awards uniquely capture the exciting possibilities when you connect advanced product technologies and the domain mastery of our users to contribute to science and engineering at the highest levels. These achievements are a glimpse of how graphical system design is playing an increasingly critical role in meeting modern engineering challenges."

A panel of technical experts, industry specialists, technical trade publication editors and National Instruments executives selected the award winners from the submissions of 110 authors from 13 countries. The panel determined the winning papers based on several criteria including the technical difficulty involved in developing a solution to the engineering problem and the benefits achieved from using the application.

The Overall Customer Application of the Year Award was presented to a team of researchers from Kitasato University in Japan for its research using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging technique for advanced cancer research. The team developed a prototype medical instrument that uses a high-speed acquisition system with 256 simultaneously sampled channels, making it the fastest OCT system in the world. The high-resolution device, which is an alternative to ionising radiation techniques, will ultimately be used to safely detect cancer in patients faster than current methods.

Rescue robot

The Editor's Choice Award, which was voted on by a panel of editors from more than 20 technical trade publications, was presented by EE Times Editor Nicolas Mokhoff to Nanyang Polytechnic Institute of Singapore, Schmid Engineering and Analog Devices. The winners collaboratively used graphical system design and high-power embedded processors to develop a six-legged, highly functional robotic spider for use in rescue missions.

The Green Engineering Application of the Year winner, Loccioni Group of Italy, was recognised by Truchard for creating a test system that measures the flow rates of diesel engine nozzles. Additionally, the Humanitarian Application of the Year Award was presented by NI Business and Technology Fellow and Co-Founder Jeff Kodosky to Sanarus Medical for the development of a less invasive breast tumour treatment device that dramatically reduces the emotional and physical discomfort for patients undergoing tumour treatment.

To learn more about the Graphical System Design Achievement Awards and view a comprehensive list of this year's winners, visit www.ni.com/niweek/best.htm or use the form on this page.