International Open Source Embedded Software Competition

The Open Source Software Foundry (OSSF) cordially invites individuals and teams of individuals to participate in the 2006 International Open Source Embedded Software Competition (IOSESC). IOSESC 2006 is the first in a series of competitions organized to promote the development of innovative and exemplary open source embedded software. By participating, contestants will learn more about the latest trends in embedded systems and applications, while enjoying a stimulating and productive experience in open source software design and development. The co-sponsors of IOSESC 2006 are OSSF, Taiwan National Science Council and MontaVista Software.

The series is thematic: The submissions to each competition focus on a theme. Examples of future themes are smart phones, smart appliances for the elderly, IPTV, and VoIP.

Theme of the Competition The theme of IOSESC 2006 is automotive personal computer (Auto PC): Entries are software products that run on computers and on-board units for cars, buses, motorcycles and bicycles. Features of interest include but not limited to

‧ Geographical information system and traveler advisories,
‧ Global position and navigation,
‧ Wireless access and vehicle-to-vehicle communication,
‧ Fuel economy and trip planning,
‧ Kinematics, diagnostics and maintenance,
‧ Security and privacy,
‧ Vehicle, rider and pedestrian safety
‧ Emergency alert and notification, and
‧ On-board entertainment.

Competition Process The competition has two rounds. You enter the preliminary round by submitting a proposal of no more than 5000 words in English describing your embedded software product in the theme of the competition and your development and quality assurance plans. There will be ten to fifteen winners in the preliminary round.

Winners of the preliminary round will develop their proposed software products as fully as possible and submit the products to compete in the final round. They will also be invited to revise their proposals into papers for publication in a special issue on Auto PC software of Journal of Information Science and Engineering (JISE).

Judging Criteria Submissions will be judged based on their weighted scores along the following dimensions:
‧ Utility and usability 10 %
‧ Architecture, design, and implementation 20%
‧ Creativity and originality 20%
‧ Effectiveness in leveraging existing open source components 20%
‧ Thoroughness in quality assurance 20%
‧ Quality of documentation 10%

Please note that the criteria encourage you to use open source components as a basis and build on top of that innovations of your own and well thought out quality assurance plans and practices are equally important as good architecture and design.

Prizes Cash prizes total to 1.1 million NTD (New Taiwan Dollars). They will be awarded to winners as follows:
‧ Gold Prize: 600,000 NTD (approximately 18,000 USD)
‧ Silver Prize: 250,000 NTD (approximately 7,500 USD)
‧ Bronze Prize: 125,000 NTD (approximately 3,750 USD)
‧ Best paper award, best graduate student paper award, and best undergraduate student paper award 33,000 NTD (approximately 1000 USD) each

The Gold, Silver and Bronze Prizes will be awarded to the competing teams with the best three products among the embedded software products submitted in the final round. Winners of the best paper awards will be chosen based on the quality of papers submitted to the special issue on Auto PC software of Journal of Information Science and Engineering. In addition, each competing team in the final round will receive up to 15,000 NTD supplement for their hardware expenses. Up to five teams in the final round selected on the basis of their proposals will be provided with MontaVista Linux and development environment.

Important Dates
‧ Due date of a 5000 - word proposal in English January 10, 2006
‧ Announcement of preliminary winners February 15, 2006
‧ Due date of final software and documentation June 10, 2006
‧ Due date of journal papers June 10, 2006
‧ Announcement of winners July 10, 2006

Further Details You can find further details and clarifications about the competition and how to enter from Invitations from Sponsors, Competition Rules, Submissions, Committee, and Resources for Contestants at http://iosesc.openfoundry.org.