Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520492
78 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2024 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE IPC Design Competition: The Thrill of Victory Michelle Te: Kris, tell me about the design competition that's taking place today. What are the contestants doing right now? Kris Moyer: Today is the final heat of the IPC Design Competition. We have a total of five competitors here: two finalists from IPC India's design competition, as well as the three finalists from IPC USA's preliminaries, which began in January. This year, we gave them a fully finished schematic design, which in this case is like one of those dancing light boxes that dances to the music of your voice. It has a micro- phone amplifier, a microphone input stage, an amplifier stage, and a bunch of LEDs and clock driver stages. I have a similar string of LED lights around my place that can change by Michelle Te • I-Connect007 The final heat of the 2024 IPC Design Com- petition took place on Tuesday, April 9, dur- ing IPC APEX EXPO. IPC's Kris Moyer and Patrick Crawford served as judges and onsite supervisors for the event, which featured five competitors—four online and one live at IPC APEX EXPO. The grand prize winner was Dinesh G., followed by Paul Brionez in sec- ond place (he placed third last year), Ajeesh Francis in third, and runners-up Joseph Chiu and Harish G. (last year's winner). I met with Kris and Patrick during the final heat of the design competition and asked them to walk me through what was happen- ing, what they look for as judges, and how the event has evolved since its inception in 2022.