DITMAWALUMNI USU – Students of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) have once again achieved recognition at the national level. A student team from the USU Sikonek Robotics Student Activity Unit and the USU IC Design Study Club (ICDESC) won Honorable Mention 1 (fourth place) at the Deeptech Hackathon 2026, held on October 21–23, 2026, at ITB Innovation Park, Summarecon, Bandung, West Java.
The USU team consisted of Muhammad Fariz Ardiansyah as team leader, along with three members: Steven Gerald, Reinhard Ahmad Gunawan Butar Butar, and Hardy Johnaphan. All four students are from the Electrical Engineering Study Program, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Sumatera Utara.
The competition attracted 59 teams from 24 higher education institutions and industry organizations across Indonesia. The USU team advanced to the final round as one of 15 finalists before securing fourth place, competing against teams from several prominent Indonesian universities, including the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS), and Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM).
For the competition, the team developed an artificial intelligence (AI)-based solution and implemented it in digital hardware design, particularly in chip design. The project presented a distinct challenge, as the team had to improve the accuracy of its AI model while ensuring that it could be implemented efficiently in a Register Transfer Level (RTL) design.
The team prepared for the competition in stages after being announced as a finalist. The development process began with processing thermal and RGB image datasets captured by drones, followed by training a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model and converting it to the INT8 format to improve hardware implementation efficiency.
The team then designed an 8×8 systolic array-based accelerator using the Verilog hardware description language. The design was verified through simulation to ensure that its outputs matched those of the software model before being implemented on AMD Kria KR260/KV260 FPGA hardware. Ahead of the competition, the team also conducted direct hardware testing, including measurements of processing speed and power consumption.
In addition to technical preparation, the team developed a business model, presentation materials, and demonstration scenarios, and practiced delivering presentations and answering questions together with the team and their faculty advisors.
The team shared that the Deeptech Hackathon 2026 was a memorable experience, bringing them together with participants from various universities and industry backgrounds. The intense competition provided an opportunity to test their technical capabilities while deepening their understanding of the overall digital chip design process.
“Winning Honorable Mention 1 is a meaningful first step for us in the field of chip design. We have also gained a more comprehensive understanding of the digital chip design workflow, from AI model development to hardware implementation,” the team said.
This achievement was made possible in part by the guidance and support of Prof. Dr. Ir. Fahmi, S.T., M.Sc., IPU; Emerson Pascawira Sinulingga, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D.; and Dr. Ir. Soeharwinto, S.T., M.T., who provided guidance, feedback, and hardware support throughout the research process.
Moving forward, the team plans to improve the model’s accuracy, develop the project toward System-on-Chip (SoC) implementation, and publish its research findings in an indexed journal.
Through this achievement, the team hopes to encourage other students to explore new fields, begin preparing early, and build teams with complementary skills. The accomplishment also serves as motivation for USU students to continue developing technological innovations and contributing to the advancement of research in Indonesia.