The indigenously produced VN8-01microchip has been successfully integrated into a marine remotesupervision and safety control system, scientists announced onSeptember 22.

The IC Design Research & Education Centre (ICDREC) under theNational University - HCM City (NU-HCM) said at a press conference thatit had cooperated with the Marine Safety Company II (MSC II) to testthe system for remotely supervising and controlling Buoy No.1 and alighthouse in southern coastal Vung Tau City .

The VN8-01 microcontroller is used in the remote system for navigationas the CPU to process collected GSM-GPS data on various aspects relatedto the actual status of the buoy and /or the lighthouse, according toICDREC scientists.

These included the rotating period/frequency and operating condition ofthe lighthouse’s lamps; the buoy’s bearing/coordinates; batteryvoltage; operating current; charging of solar cells; warning of strongcollisions and of the buoy drifting far away from its original position.

All the data was sent by the VN8-01 chip using mobile phone waves inthe form of SMS messages to the land control centre at the MSC II’soffice in Vung Tau.

The ICDREC has also used the VN8-01 chip in a number of otherapplications such as washing machine control boards, electricscoreboards and TV remote controls.

The VN8-01 is an advanced version of the ICDREC’s first chip, theSIGMAK3 which was made known in
January, 2008. It is designed to meetindustrial standards, havin𒁃g comꦓparative performance and processingspeeds with other similar chips widely available in the domestic market.

ICDREC director Ngo Duc Hoang told the press that following thesuccessful test of the VN8-01 and the SIGMAK3, the centre wouldintroduce next year the commercial chip SG8-01.

The 8-bit chip SG8 – 01 was designed under a programme subsidised by the HCM City Department of Science and Technology./.