Category: Technology
Deputy Minister Buti Manamela on launch of Nature Africa
Message of support by South Africa’s Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation, Buti Manamela on the launch event for Nature Africa
It is a great pleasure and privilege for me to deliver a message of support to you on the occasion of this historic event. For more than 150 years, Nature has been one of the most authoritative voices of global science. The launch of a dedicated platform supported by Nature to communicate news and results from African science to an international audience is, thus, most welcome and in fact long overdue.
The South African Government, through our Department of Science and Innovation, would like to congratulate Nature on this initiative. In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, science has been at the forefront of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, from both a public health and economic recovery perspective. To progress African science requires better communication and enhanced global partnerships, and Nature Africa can play an important role to foster such efforts.
Ladies and gentlemen, over the decades Nature has gained global recognition for the steadfast pursuit of its mission to serve scientists by publishing after rigorous review results of scientific advancement and then disseminating these results to enable science to serve society. This should also be the mission of Nature Africa. I would like to share with you three suggestions of ways through which Nature Africa could contribute to enhancing the role African science plays globally.
Firstly, Nature Africa should assist to raise increased international awareness of the crucial, often essential roles, African scientists are playing to respond to global challenges such as Covid-19, global change and food security. These contributions are often not appreciated or celebrated as they should be. Our world will for example not be able to confront pressing global concerns with regard to poverty, inequality and unemployment without the contributions of African social scientists.
We will not achieve the objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals set by global leaders without the contributions of African scientists.
Nature Africa should help to raise this awareness that support for African science is an investment in a better world for all. There is no lack of material for good news stories to be communicated but what we do need is more communication platforms with global reach, and Nature Africa will help to fill this gap.
As a second action, I would like to recommend that Nature Africa should critically interrogate the existing practices of, and serve as a platform for debate, to find the best modalities for Africa’s participation in global science partnerships. From a South African perspective, it is crucial that values such as co-ownership and shared responsibility underpin international cooperation. African scientists should be regarded as full and equal partners in global collaboration, and sadly this is at times, not the case.
International funding as important as it is also has the dangerous potential to divert focus away from Africa’s own research priorities. The best response to avoid these pitfalls is for African Governments and bodies such as the African Union to assume our own responsibilities to fund and support African research. We count on Nature Africa to keep a vigilant eye on the design and implementation of international cooperation instruments, and the honoring of commitments by all concerned, to ensure the full potential of African science to advance equitable and sustainable global development is unleashed.
My third and last call to Nature Africa is to inspire, especially the next generation. I am delighted to see the participation of many of Africa’s best emerging young researchers in today’s event.
African scientists continue to make us proud on the global stage and their stories must be told to encourage the next generation who will follow in their steps, and awake and sustain general public interest in science.
South Africa is proud to host with Australia the world’s largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometer Array radio telescope, the SKA. Our MeerKAT telescope, a precursor to the SKA, designed and built by African engineers, is already delivering groundbreaking scientific discoveries. African scientists are, thus, leading the charge to fight pandemic disease and fight hunger, but are also playing their part as leaders in frontier science.
This is the vision for the Africa we want – a better Africa in a better, more just world enabled by science. We look forward to good cooperation with Nature Africa as we continue to pursue this mission, reinforcing global solidarity and partnership. We also look forward to welcome all of you to South Africa for the World Science Forum in 2022, which will be convened under the theme of Science for Social Justice, as well as our annual Science Forum South Africa in 2021. The objective of our Science Forum is to ignite conversations about science, exactly as Nature Africa will be doing. I thank you.
Courtesy: www.gov.za
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Continue reading View moreSustainable shoes and upcycled bags: Reebok partners with local lifestyle brand, Sealand Gear to reimagine a zero-waste future.
As part of the partnership, Sealand Gear has produced a limited amount of special edition, upcycled tote bags to be given as a gift with the first 300 purchases.
Sustainability does not only come from a product; it comes from the packaging as well. Waste reduction, recycling, upcycling and sustainably sourced material is becoming more of a priority for the lifestyle and fashion sectors. Consumers are actively looking to support brands that take responsibility over their sustainability, adopting ways to reduce their product and packaging waste, and to offer products with a lighter environmental footprint. More brands are starting to realise their responsibility to influence consumers to adopt more environmentally conscious buying habits.
While Reebok has focused its effort on creating their [REE]cycled footwear collection, 90% of Sealand Gear’s product range is sourced from upcycled material. This partnership offers a fully integrated sustainable model from materials sourcing, products, and packaging.
“Sustainability is a part of our story. As a global brand, we have an opportunity to contribute towards a cleaner future and inspire our consumers to start making purchasing decisions more consciously, thinking about their impact on the environment,” says Brian Jackson, brand manager of Reebok South Africa. “The partnership with Sealand is all about local collaboration and partnering with a brand that is in our view, a leader in lifestyle and fashion sustainability.”
“Our intention with Reebok was to align with a well-established global brand, that is taking the necessary steps to improve their environmental responsibility,” says Jasper Eales, founder, and creative director at Sealand Gear.
“The unique tote bag that has been created with Reebok is truly special. It is constructed with a combination of repurposed materials from old yacht sails, previously used advertising banners and outdoor canvas. The strength and durability of these materials give the bags a lifetime warranty; they are designed to be repaired, not replaced or discarded,” says Eales.
Recycling, upcycling, and repurposing gives material a new life. This circular production model prevents waste material from entering the environment or being disposed of in landfill. As a consumer, buying a product that is made from upcycled or recycled material will support a shift to sustainable retail and fashion, where less waste is produced, and less raw virgin material is extracted for new products.
The [REE]Cycled shoe range are available online at reebok.co.za and Reebok Concept Stores: Sandton; Canal Walk; Menlyn and Gateway. The Sealand x Reebok upcycled tote bags will be complimentary with online and in-store purchases while stocks last (only 300 units available).
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Continue reading View moreUnpacking IoT and 5G for smart cities
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is such a critical component of our lives and work that it’s no longer something we can leave to the tech experts. “We need to be informed about new technologies and developments so that we are part of the debate,” says Jansie Niehaus, Executive Director of the National Science and Technology Forum (NSTF).
IoT refers to “a system of interrelated, internet-connected objects that are able to collect and transfer data over a wireless network without human intervention”. There are many IoT scenarios that show clear benefits. Imagine parking spots (with sensors) that pass on data about availability to an application in the cloud (internet). Drivers can access the information to quickly find a parking space. Consider sensors in a greenhouse measuring temperature, humidity, pests, water etc. The embedded devices could monitor and manage conditions. For example, the temperature lowers and the system receives this information from the sensor, and then increases the temperature to the appropriate degrees centigrade without human interaction.
In an inventory environment, items with attached sensors would allow a system to track exactly where something is and if items are running out (and need to be topped up). The sensors would alert the system if an item is taken without permission. Data is gathered and analysed, providing real-time information to make decisions or to set off an automated response (as part of the networked system). So, an internet-connected borehole pump can be monitored to check that pump parts are working and to measure water level, for example. The sensors are set up so they only become active when there is a problem and then send through data to the network, which then creates alerts about the problem. A technician can then be sent out.
The types of sensors depend on need and environment. They include sensors that measure temperature, motion, moisture, air quality, and light. The data gathered from IoT environments can reduce operating costs, improve efficiencies, streamline operations, provide usage patterns and so on.
IoT networks use radio waves – these are also used for cellular telephony, radar, navigation, wireless networks, and to broadcast tv and radio. Radio spectrum can be divided into licensed and unlicensed bands. Licensed bands can only be used by the company that licenced and paid for it. Unlicensed bands are not exclusive but are regulated.
Items need to have readily available power sources – usually batteries – to be part of the IoT network ie to send and receive information. The aim of most IoT environments is to create a low power scenario so that the power source doesn’t need constant replacement.
“You need multiple years of service before changing a battery to justify ROI [Return on Investment],”Sean Laval, Executive: Solutions and Innovations, Sqwidnet
Data amount linked to power and cost
“IoT devices need to send a few bytes of data when an event happens which means they don’t use a lot of data. Only a small percentage of IoT devices require high data per month,” says Laval. Examples of the latter include cameras and data-intensive tracking applications for fleet management. He notes that “more than three quarters of IoT devices need less than 1Mb of
data per day”. With high data rates come high energy use and cost.
IoT networks according to energy use
• At the top is 3G, 4G and 5G. These need a lot of power due to high data requirements. This is for high quality of service (QoS) such as for self-driving cars and cameras. These networks have national coverage.
• LTE-M is for slightly lower power consumption. It also offers national coverage for fairly high-powered devices and is good for fleet tracking and cameras.
• In the middle is NB-IoT which gives city coverage for battery-powered devices. A use case example is energy metering. NB-IoT is fairly expensive to deploy as its licenced spectrum. (NB-IoT falls under the 5G standard.)
• LoRaWAN is a proprietary technology. It’s for community or private networks for small messages. An example is a private network in a rural agricultural setting. These networks are not national in South Africa. It’s a good option for a network that supports years of battery life where you still want full control of the network.
• Sigfox is also a proprietary technology, designed for a really low-end IoT network which could involve billions of devices. It can create a global network of small messages. This is for the type of IoT environment which relates to monitoring and relaying really simple data: Did a door open? Did somebody walk into a room? Did the temperature go over a certain level? Did the asset move into a certain geofence (a virtual boundary of real-world area)?
5G technology standards
The first-generation wireless network (1G) was developed in the 1980s. It supplied basic voice services using analog devices. From mid 80s through to the 90s, came the next generations of wireless networks – 2G and 3G. There was improved coverage and capacity. With 2G, the world saw the first digital standards.
Standards are verified by the ITU, a body that oversees networks globally. The standards ensure infrastructure compatibility with all the technologies involved ‘talking’ to the same network core. (The International Telecommunication Union – ITU – is a specialised agency of the United Nations that is responsible for ICT matters.)
The 3G wireless networks brought voice and other data activities: multimedia communications, texts and the internet. This standard needed to account for the great increase in people becoming connected, as well as new data activities. The 3G wireless networks also brought about the flexibility of working from anywhere.
With each new generation of wireless network, speed has increased dramatically. Consider that 3G was 2000 kbps to 4G at 100,000 kbps. The 4G networks are designed primarily for sending data using internet protocols (IP). The term ‘LTE’ is the standard associated with 4G. (The full name is ‘Long Term Evolution’.) This wireless network gave us true mobile broadband and marked the time of the smart phone.
The fifth-generation wireless network (5G) is already here, with even faster speeds (1-2 Gbps). It is ready to support smart cities, industrial automation, IoT, and more. But don’t get too comfortable because 6G is being developed. This generation includes new ways of optimising networks (for more bandwidth, coverage, and to connect everywhere) and green networks (for reducing energy use and using green sources of energy).
5G standards for different use cases
5G is a group of technology standards that support different use cases (or scenarios). Examples of standards that fall under this are: Enhanced mobile broadband (allowing 4G radio systems to be used with a 5G core network) and Massive Machine Type Communications (MTC) using low power so that smart sensor networks can communicate.
Work is also being done on technologies and standards for affordable broadband to cater to rural and underserved areas. (NB-IoT is one of the 5G technologies). The 5G use case scenarios need to support industry but there also needs to be social value. This includes medical care, transportation, the energy sector, and intelligent transport sectors.
“It requires that we work together ie we need public-private partnerships. This includes regulators, industry, the CSIR and government. We can then develop the social value working together for safer cities and public services, to improve the quality of people’s lives, and to build industry’s ecosystem and thus develop SA’s economy,” says Dr Fisseha Mekuria, Chief Researcher: Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Networked Systems and applications, Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions; and Head: CSIR Smart Spectrum team.
He further notes that ethics are key in the move to a networked digital society. An example is digital inclusion rather than only rich areas acquiring more bandwidth with rural areas being left behind.
Developing innovative applications or 5G
Mekuria says it’s important to have a 5G testbed for developing innovative applications and that testbeds accelerate use case scenarios. Launched in Kenya in 2007, M-Pesa is a world-renowned mobile phone-based money transfer service and payments and micro-financing service. It’s an example of an application that started through experimentation in a testbed. (The
mobile operator had provided a testbed for developers to experiment with 3G technologies.)
The CSIR, with international collaborators, is building a 5G technology testbed. Although still under development, Mekuria says it’s being used to test some use cases, such as self-driving vehicles. The aim is to encourage innovators (such as university students) to come and develop 5G use cases, apps and services.
About LPWA networks
NB-IoT, Sigfox and LoRaWAN make up the majority of low power wide area (LPWA) networks today. Laval says that technologies that fall under LPWA address the same requirements: low cost, low power, long-range, reliability, and security. LPWA networks haven’t been available until recently. Essentially, you get national coverage similar to cellular network but at a low power consumption. It opens up a lot of applications that weren’t feasible before, such as water metering over a large geographical area.
Laval says that LPWA networks have come about because costs have come down, from core components to improved battery technology. Furthermore, there is now access to cloud infrastructure where different services are delivered over the internet.
Spectrum sharing
The CSIR would like to see spectrum sharing and Mekuria is the leader of the team that developed the Smart Spectrum Toolbox. It was a 2020 NSTF-South32 winner for Innovation by a Corporate Organisation. It’s an innovative spectrum sharing and management system with a suite of technology products known as the CSIR Geo-Location Spectrum Database (GLSD). It provides a cloud interface service, designed to provide spectrum availability information to new entrant network operators.
It detects unused radio frequency spectrum areas in the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) bands. These identified spectrum white spaces are made available for broadband internet services, thus improving affordable digital connectivity. This process helps to accelerate the deployment of wireless ICT services, as well as providing impetus for the creation of SMMEs that deploy
network infrastructure and provide affordable broadband internet. The business model involves digital SMMEs, based in rural areas. These businesses would provide broadband internet services to rural and underserved communities using the CSIR Smart Spectrum Toolbox. Mekuria sees it as part of the solution to bridging the urban and rural divide with affordable and sustainable rural connectivity.
Wireless network coverage in rural areas?
The CSIR are currently working on capacitating digital SMMEs (small, medium and micro enterprises) to provide broadband. TV spectrum is being used as a cheaper option but Mekuria says that 5G can be brought in later as the economy grows. While Sigfox has 93% coverage of the SA population, it means the coverage occurs where people live ie mainly urban areas. However, Sigfox can facilitate coverage in rural areas, says Laval. An initiative with the University of Johannesburg (UJ) involved Gwakwani village, Limpopo, where an IoT network has been deployed using solar power. This allows the UJ academics to monitor – from a distance – the borehole, safety and security at the creche, and equipment performance at the bakery.
Laval says that now UJ can pick up anomalies early enough. An example is when a pipe was blocked in the borehole, which would have caused the pump to seize. However, they caught it in time through visibility with IoT. Prof Jan Meyer, the academic lead of this project, has called it ‘Village 4.0’. The aim is to duplicate the concept in other villages around South Africa and Africa, says Laval. It can significantly enhance lives with a relatively low investment.
Laval says that Sigfox does cover some rural areas but this is based on demand and looked at on a case-by-case basis. As Sigfox is a commercial enterprise, the business case needs to work. He says that demand in rural areas is primarily driven by farming ie efficiency in agriculture and tracking livestock.
The Smart City
Mekuria believes that one of the most important 5G use cases is where we efficiently use natural and technological resources for the benefits of society to create a Smart City. Through IoT networks (as well as other networks), smart sensors can be embedded everywhere to collect data to create and optimise Smart Cities.
By optimising the use of resources (through data feedback and analysis), we can reduce costs. Furthermore, predicting demand allows for effective planning, and customising offerings enhances efficient delivery. Examples include smart power grids, traffic management, smart parking, utilities management etc.
Technology can also be used for harm, such as illegal surveillance and other privacy issues. Mekuria says that 5G is now being commercially rolled out in SA and globally. While it’s a global standard, technical regulations, business models, policy, and ethics of use are still in their infancy. He sees 5G and IoT and the associated technologies and skillsets as part of realising the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) vision.
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View more4IR and its positive impact on waste sector
Covid-19 has spearheaded the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) during 2020. This transformation has become essential to not only help businesses be at the forefront of global trends but is being used to help them expand and retain clients within all sectors and at the end of the day to support with economic transformation.
“This is evident as South Africa’s newly formed Presidential Commission on the 4IR hopes to increase the influence of digital on the economy by working on infrastructure and resources, research, technology and innovation, capital and industrialisation to name a few,” says Ablé van der Merwe, National Logistics Manager at waste management company Averda.
“We realised that there is no better time to implement change and prioritise digital transformation to ensure growth and safety within the waste sector and that we keep moving forward,” he says.
Being the first in the industry, Averda South Africa has been rolling out their new Delivery Management System (DMS), which entails equipping each of their vehicles with onboard mobile technology, and each crew member with their own digital log-in. This means that Averda knows the exact location and the real-time progress in service of all vehicles and of all staff on the ground.
This kind of digitisation within the waste management industry has been around for two years with Averda having deployed ‘TruTrak’ which specialised in medical waste services.
Averda’s healthcare clients have benefited from end-to-end visibility in the collection, transportation, and disposal of potentially infectious medical waste with every container of medical waste traceable from collection through to final safe disposal.
“From our years of experience, we are aware that not only medical waste can be hazardous, and now want to give all our clients the same level of assurance that their waste is being transported and handled correctly. The adoption of these digital technologies and systems will change the way we serve and interact with our clients,” says Van der Merwe.
“Making sure clients have peace of mind is essential within our industry knowing that their waste could be a negative contributor to the environment if not handled correctly from start to finish. This is vital in making sure we help to curb climate change and keep our communities safe. So, this new system will be able to log each collection, check against the collection schedule and will raise any issue, for example with blocked access to roads or entries can be identified immediately.”
These newly digitised landscapes will bring the general waste management sector closer to the required level of oversight and vigilance.
These systems improve staff safety and business accountability by providing faster and more accurate reporting. South Africa is well known for illegal dumping and smaller cheaper but unreliable waste collectors taking shortcuts, with many not knowing if their waste has been handled and disposed of correctly. It’s important for all waste generators to keep and monitor these reports so that they stay within government regulations.
Also, many businesses and manufacturers are still unaware of the kind of waste they may be producing and the harm this could be causing to the communities and environment.
Through constant and accurate reporting waste management companies and government are able to implement the best waste management practices for all.
Dynamic oversight and control of these real-time systems will be managed from two ‘mission control’ rooms, one for Western Cape based in Cape Town and the other for Gauteng, KZN, and inland regions, based in Johannesburg. In addition to providing real-time oversight and support to Averda crews, the data collected by these technologies will allow for smarter, more efficient routes to be developed.
They will also permit intelligent route optimisation which has the potential of minimising our fuel consumption and maximising our efficiencies.
In other countries where Averda has deployed these technologies, we have found they led to an average 15% reduction in fuel use and means less time on the road.
“Waste is not just the responsibility of the waste management sector but of waste generators and making sure they implement a responsible end-to-end waste management regime and partnerships with waste management companies that have everyone’s best interest at heart,” concludes van der Merwe.
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