Under the program, Alberta companies and academic organizations will commercially develop or advance innovative, made-in-Canada advanced technologies. The goal is to help organizations become more productive and globally competitive by working in collaborative teams to develop advanced technological solutions that meet industry needs.
Innovequity Inc. of Edmonton, Alta., will receive  $600,000 for a project that will automate up to 70 percent of the work required to construct a building. With the support of Winalta Homes Inc. of Acheson, Alta., and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology, Innovequity has created a faster, less expensive and more precise alternative to manual labour. The Geometric Construction System is a robotic intelligent system that produces floor, ceiling and wall panels, completely with heating, plumbing, electrical, insulation and a vinyl finish, using common building materials such as wood, steel or pre-formed concrete. Whereas it might take 15 manual labourers four to six hours to build a fully serviced floor system, the automated system can complete the same task in 30 minutes.
The Multi-site Adaptive Virtualized Information System (MAVIS) from Data Gardens Inc. of Edmonton. Alta., in partnership with the University of Alberta and Stantec Inc., is receiving $600,000 from the Precarn program. The idea behind MAVIS, a proposed software platform for scheduling and managing traffic flow between multiple information systems over the Internet, is to allow computer resources to manifest themselves dynamically where and when they're needed.
With a $600,000 infusion from the Precarn program, groundbreaking research led by Titan Logix Corp. of Edmonton is aiming to improve current de-icing practices through enhancements to the company's Guided Wave Radar (GWR) technology, already proven effective as a "load buddy" to monitor liquid levels in crude oil tankers and aviation refuelers. Using radar pulses to measure levels, the technology is more reliable and less costly than traditional turbine flow meters. Titan is adding intelligence to the technology to enable the measurement of the concentration of glycol from the top to the bottom of a tank, providing a more accurate result than existing sensors that rely on spot measurements. The company is also addressing asset management with wireless technology to allow the dispatcher to co-ordinate the de-icing process between the truck and tower more effectively.
Ukalta Engineering Corp. of Edmonton, Alta., is helping manufacturers of wireless devices to build better products by enabling valuable testing to occur earlier in the product design phase. The most expensive phase of development is late stage testing, which typically occurs outdoors, requires a final prototype to be built, and can cost up to 100 times the cost of early stage algorithmic design testing. With Ulkata's Wireless Channel Simulator - a dedicated hardware device that simulates different environments - those tests can be performed on chipsets indoors before a final prototype is built, saving both time and money. The academic partner working with Ukalta to develop the Wireless Channel Simulator, which is receiving about  $300,000 through the Precarn program, is the University of Alberta.
Projects for genetic testing and medical imaging were also approved.
Precarn is supported by the Alberta Ministry of Advanced Education, and Technology and Western Economic Diversification Canada.
www.precarn.ca