I focus on software, hardware, and embedded systems for my undergraduate degree at the University of Pretoria.
I am interested and have worked with LTspice for simulations and analysis of the behavior of Linear Systems and Signals, Digital Systems, and Operational Amplifiers and proceeded to build the circuits after simulations are tested to meet requirements. So far in my undergraduate degree, I have programmed with C++, Python, Java, VHDL, PIC assembly language ,Arduino and CircuitPython . My field of study involves a lot of work with other students for practicals , which I enjoy a lot.
Outside of academics, I give back to the community by participating in bringing into effect projects to educate youth in disadvantaged communities like Mamelodi, the one I was born and raised in. I have also worked on two projects with the Hong Kong Polytechnical University. I aim to continue learning to play the piano as soon as possible, something I started learning in high school.
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<aside> 📚 Table of contents
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I and a group of 4 other students worked together with 45 students from Hong Kong Polytechnical University to teach 75 University of Pretoria Pre-University-Academy (UP-PUA) learners basic programming and a bit of object recognition using Scratch3 and Huskylens for a final competition at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi Campus.
https://www.up.ac.za/news/post_3095259-mamelodi-learners-gain-experience-in-coding-from-up-pua-and-hong-kong-polytechnic-university
Another project that I volunteered for is another collaboration between the Pre-University Academy and Hong Kong Polytechnical University. There I worked hand in hand with a group of 5 other students under Dr. Martina Jordaan to facilitate the project that catered to 44 students at the University of Pretoria’s Mamelodi Campus.
I was tasked with conceptualizing the instructional that formed part of the solution that my group proposed for the refugee and access to resources problem faced in Govan, Scotland. The problem statement was that refugees and Asylum seekers alike faced the problem of not having access to reliable transportation and jobs in Govan . In summary, My group proposed finding sites in the area for growing bamboo and creating an instructional application that has videos and guides for putting the bike together and acquiring other technical skills and soft skills that will allow users, more specifically refugees ,to get better jobs and reliably travel to and from their work and other places. Information like addresses for basic services that a typical citizen would find useful can also be found in the app along with jobs that match the user’s skillset. I proposed a context interchange system that would allow users to specify material quantities that were available or that they were looking for in the measurement units that they were familiar with and the system would take care of the conversion so that there is a mutual understanding between everyone involved on both sides of the the supply and demand of said materials, the instructional videos and guides were also proposed to be available in multiple languages . There would be a call center close to Govan to provide assistance to the non-tech-savvy people and those without adequate access to a mobile phone.
Brief description of the context interchange system (COIN)
The COIN approach overcomes the traditional approaches of both the manufacturer/distributer and users having to commit to a specific measurement standard ,they would just need to explicitly declare the values and/or units they use ,thereby defining the source context or receiver context in that case. The conversion will be handled by mediator function , with conversion rules and modifier values that will be defined in the app database, this allows for automatic conversions and for unit relationships to be updated or added in the database if necessary .
Information Too cumbersome for summary
The conversions database will be stored in a local server in the call center for easier maintenance, this database will have two online copies , one serves as a backup and the other can only be accessed by the developers ,changes to the developers’ database can be imposed or superimposed on all other databases depending on a need basis. PostgreSQL allows that functionality . All three servers will require authorization, the local server will be accessed by the trained call center agents . for N units of measurement , an N-by-N table will be used as the database . Each table cell contains the modifier value for converting from one unit of the cell’s column to its equivalent units of the cell’s row ,for example, the cell in the ‘kg’ column and ‘pounds’ row will have 2.20462 because 1 kilogram (column name) is equivalent to 2.20462 pounds (row name).
Literature Review of database
A modifier value in the context of the app is a constant that represents a quantity of a unit of measurement that is equivalent to one unit of another unit of measurement. The modifier values need to be stored in a structure that will show relationships between units of measurement and be easily updated . The learning curve for learning to manage the database on the part of call center agents was considered when selecting the system . MySQL and PostgreSQL , the top two free open-source database management systems were considered as possible candidates for the database management system . PostgreSQL supports the most common programming languages, like python, one of the easiest languages to learn, it also offers more data integrity than MySQL by supporting Multiversion Concurrency Control, can be more fine tuned for perfomance and offers full ACID compliance, a fault tolerance feature. PostgreSQL was the obvious choice for the database.
https://www.up.ac.za/usr/news/post_3126337-up-pre-university-academy-and-hong-kong-polytechnic-university-teach-drone-coding-to-mamelodi-learners
I’ve been a undergraduate computer engineering student since 2021, and in the time I have studied and worked on many aspects of Information Technology Practice, Linear Systems and Signals, Digital Systems, Control Systems, Programming, and Computer Simulations. In my current year of study ,I have worked on Intelligent Systems, Microprocessors ,Analogue electronics, Data Structures and Algorithms and Engineering Management Principles in the first semester and proceeded to work on more embedded systems and Control Systems in the second semester . I continue to learn more about Android and web development outside of course work .
-Python ⬜⬜⬜🔳🔳
-Figma UI design ⬜⬜⬜⬜🔳
-PIC assembly language ⬜⬜⬜🔳🔳
-CircuitPython ⬜⬜⬜🔳🔳
-C++ ⬜⬜⬜🔳🔳
-VHDL ⬜⬜🔳🔳🔳
-Java ⬜⬜⬜⬜🔳
-Arduino ⬜⬜⬜⬜🔳
-Intel FPGAs ⬜⬜🔳🔳🔳
-Microprocessors (PIC18F45K22/PIC18F47Q10, ESP-32) ⬜⬜⬜⬜🔳