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Item Integrating socio-economic zones into water resource analysis under land use change and climate variability in the Okavango basin(2025) Kavhu, B; Mashimbye, ZE; Luvuno, Linda B; San, UThe impacts of land use/land cover (LULC) change and climate variability on surface water availability is critical for informing transboundary water management. However, most hydrological models overlook the socio-economic (SE) heterogeneity of basins, potentially leading to oversimplified or inaccurate conclusions. This study aims to analyze the value of integrating socio-economic zones into hydrological analysis when disentangling the effects of LULC change and climate variability on surface water yield in the Okavango Basin. Using the InVEST water yield model, we simulated surface water availability for the years 2004, 2013, and 2020, achieving strong agreement with observed discharge data (R2 = 0.88, p < 0.05). Results show a basin-wide decline in mean surface water depth from 459 mm in 2004 to 299 mm in 2020, a 35 % reduction, consistent with regional drying trends and increasing anthropogenic pressures. Climate variability emerged as the dominant driver of change, explaining 81.7 % and 78.5 % of water yield variation during 2004–2013 and 2013–2020, respectively. However, in highly modified zones such as SE 2, 7, and 13, LULC change accounted for over 50 % of the variation, underscoring the spatial heterogeneity of hydrological drivers. By incorporating socio-economic zoning, this study offers a more nuanced and policy-relevant understanding of surface water dynamics and supports the design of targeted, zone-specific water management strategies in transboundary contexts.Item Climate change-induced weather extremes and responses in South African National Parks: Insights from employees(2025) Maoela, Malebajoa A; Nhamo, G; Mutanda, GW; Dube, KClimate change poses significant challenges for South African national parks, affecting infrastructure, ecosystem services, and biodiversity. A study across 19 parks, including Kruger and Kgalagadi, examined these impacts using data collected from September 2020 to December 2021. Surveys with 244 park employees from conservation, tourism, and community development departments assessed perceptions of extreme weather events and their effects. The analysis highlighted extreme temperatures and drought as the most critical threats, with respondents’ years of service influencing their perceptions. These events disrupted infrastructure and tourist experiences, underscoring the need for adaptive strategies. The findings revealed varying opinions on park management’s preparedness, emphasising the importance of tailored resilience-building measures. Addressing climate change challenges requires enhancing technical capacities, early warning systems, and incorporating diverse perspectives into decision-making. Tailored strategies and increased financial support are essential to protect these vital conservation areas and ensure long-term sustainability.Item The impacts of woody encroachment on nature's contributions to people in North America and Africa: A systematic review(2025) Skhosana, Felix V; Stevens, N; Maoela, Malebajoa A; Archibald, S; Midgley, GFWoody encroachment is affecting nature's contributions to people (NCP) in grassy ecosystems around the world, but these impacts have not yet been well summarised. Moreover, the impacts of encroachment are likely to vary depending on the historical ecosystem dynamics, climatic conditions, encroacher species, and the temporal, spatial, cultural and socio-economic contexts, including the de pendence of communities on natural resources. To address these issues, we systematically reviewed the literature on the impacts of woody encroachment in Africa and North America, according to the three broad groups of the NCP framework: material, non-material and regulating NCP. The material NCP most adversely affected by woody encroachment was the re duction in herbaceous forage availability, leading to reductions in the number and products of livestock on both continents. The benefits of material NCP were largely experienced in Africa and constituted the provision of wood materials for fuel, building and forage. Negative impacts on non-material NCP, such as recrea tion, tourism and social amenities, were also reported for Africa. For regulating NCP, negative effects were reported on soil health, habitat availability and the regulation of hydrological NCP (in terms of water loss) in both continents. The regulating benefits were mainly carbon stocks in both continents, with North America reporting more than three times more positive cases than Africa. The benefits of woody encroachment, such as carbon stocks, must be under stood in the context of the highlighted diverse impacts on other NCP. Depending on the context (e.g. ecological, spatial, cultural or socioeconomic), the need for certain NCP such as livestock production, tourism revenue and water provision supports efforts to reverse woody encroachment.Item Simulation of the African ITCZ during austral summer seasons and ENSO phases: Application of an RCM derived from stretched grid ESM(2025) Ramotubei, Teke S; Landman, WA; Mateyisi, Mohau J; Nangombe, SS; Beraki, AFIntroduction: Climate predictability across timescales in a changing climate presents a unique opportunity and challenges for state-of-the-art climate models. The use of regional climate models (RCMs) forced with interactively coupled Earth System Models (ESMs) for the sub-seasonal, seasonal, and decadal predictions is an actively growing research area. Methods: The study explores a stretched-grid RCM constrained with an ESM which integrates a climate change signature. Spectral relaxation paradigm is applied to limit the climate drift within the range of the multi-model sea-surface temperature (SST) and sea-ice concentration (SIC) variability. The model retroactive ensemble simulations for November initialization are evaluated on the seasonal migration of the ITCZ during El-Niño and La-Niña phases, exploring both the spatial and zonal positions. The model is also evaluated on the ITCZ process’ characteristics that include the Hadley cell (HC), stream function and the subtropical jet stream (STJ) using quantitative methods. Results: The RCM and the driving ESM demonstrate skillful performance in identifying the seasonal trajectory of both the spatial and zonal migration of the ITCZ during El-Niño and La-Niña. Moreover, the RCM also demonstrates a good skill in determining both the descending edge of the HC and the STJ with the highest mean percentage error of 16.3 and 7.5% for the HC and STJ latitudes, respectively. Conclusions: The November initialization of the RCM skillfully simulates the seasonal migration of the ITCZ (and related characteristics) aligned to the observations and reanalysis datasets. Notwithstanding, the RCM manifests a tendency of more dynamic error growth relative to its driving ESM as the lead time increases. Furthermore, the RCM is also out of phase with a southerly shift of the stream function compared to the 500 hPa reanalysis stream function. The modeling framework offers process oriented and teleconnection studies. It also provides great potential for climate applications with suitable bias corrections techniques, albeit the source and mechanism of its dynamic error growth deserve further investigation.Item Fine-tuning a sentence transformer for DNA(2025) Mokoatle, Mpho; Marivate, V; Mapiye, D; Bornman, R; Hayes, VMSentence-transformers is a library that provides easy methods for generating embeddings for sentences, paragraphs, and images. Sentiment analysis, retrieval, and clustering are among the applications made possible by the embedding of texts in a vector space where similar texts are located close to one another. This study fine-tunes a sentence transformer model designed for natural language on DNA text and subsequently evaluates it across eight benchmark tasks. The objective is to assess the efficacy of this transformer in comparison to domain-specific DNA transformers, like DNABERT and the Nucleotide transformer. The findings indicated that the refined proposed model generated DNA embeddings that exceeded DNABERT in multiple tasks. However, the proposed model was not superior to the nucleotide transformer in terms of raw classification accuracy. The nucleotide transformer excelled in most tasks; but, this superiority incurred significant computing expenses, rendering it impractical for resource-constrained environments such as low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The nucleotide transformer also performed worse on retrieval tasks and embedding extraction time. Consequently, the proposed model presents a viable option that balances performance and accuracy.Item Chromatographic separation and analysis of amidated vs. non-amidated novel heterologous produced exenatide using UPLC-QTOF-MS(2025) Steenkamp, Lucia H; Steenkamp, PExenatide is used for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Exenatide is normally produced using solid or liquid phase chemical synthesis which requires protecting side chain groups. The C-terminal is then amidated while the protecting groups are still in place. The novel production of exenatide, using a microorganism with the correct coding sequence, does not require protecting groups. The exenatide is then amidated using a PAM enzyme system. An UPLC-QTOF-MS method was developed to separate and analyze the non-amidated exenatide molecule from the final active amidated exenatide. The non-amidated exenatide was produced using an expression construct comprising a carrier protein open reading frame (ORF) Yarrowia lipolytica lipase or truncated Bacillus halodurans flagellin cloned in frame with the coding sequence for exenatide. The non-amidated and amidated exenatide differ by 1 Dalton in mass and typically co-elute during analysis. The method developed was able to separate the two compounds and could be used to measure the amidated exenatide produced during the bioconversion. The aim of the study was to investigate the feasibility of producing exenatide and monitoring the amidation during the bioconversion for possible scale-up and commercialization. The results showed complete amidation of the glycine-extended heterologous exenatide. The reproducibility of the analytical method was evaluated and found that the retention times and peaks areas of the detected exenatide were stable, making this analytical method suitable for reaction monitoring.Item Development of a high-cell-density production process for a biotherapeutic yeast, saccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii, for use as a human probiotic(2025) Moonsamy, Ghaneshree; Singh, Sarisha; Roets-Dlamini, Yrielle; Baikgaki, Koketso K; Ramchuran, Santosh OSaccharomyces cerevisiae var. boulardii is a probiotic yeast widely recognized for its ability to enhance gut health and modulate a host’s microbiome. However, there are limited data on its large-scale cultivation in stirred tank bioreactors and subsequent downstream processing into a functional probiotic product. Different recipe formulations were evaluated and the recipe with the highest biomass yield and lowest process time was selected. Once the optimised batch was validated in the replicate batches, the statistical analysis indicated a high level of reproducibility, with low variability across key performance indicators such as biomass concentration (unit), CFU production (CFU.mL−1), and substrate utilization efficiency (g.g−1). The mean growth age in the bioreactor was 25.33 ± 1.16 h, with a CV of 4.56%, indicating minimal deviation between batches. Similarly, the final viable concentration exhibited a mean of 1.46 × 108 CFU.mL−1 with a CV of 11.68%, remaining within an acceptable range for biological processes, while the final biomass concentration had the lowest variability (CV of 3.94%) and a 95% CI of 12.134–13.266 g.L−1, highlighting the accuracy and consistency of the process. Productivity indicators, including cell productivity (growth time—biomass) and YPP (biomass), maintained low CV values (3.933% and 3.389%, respectively), reinforcing process efficiency and stability. The overlapping 95% confidence intervals across batches further confirmed that no statistically significant deviations existed, ensuring minimal batch-to-batch variability, and validating the scalability and robustness of the fermentation process. These findings provide strong evidence for the feasibility of large-scale probiotic yeast production that meets industrial production standards. The final freeze-dried product retained an 81% viability post-exposure to simulated gastrointestinal conditions, meeting WHO probiotic viability standards. These findings establish a scalable, optimized process for probiotic yeast production, with potential applications in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and functional food development, as confirmed by the techno-economic evaluations performed using SuperPro Designer®.Item Bio-Coal Briquetting as a potential sustainable valorization strategy for fine coal: A South African perspective in a global context(2025) Ramdas, Veshara; Njokweni, Sesethu G; Letsoalo, Machira P; Motaung, Solomon R; Ramchuran, Santosh OThe generation of fine coal particles during mining and processing presents significant environmental and logistical challenges, particularly in coal-dependent, developing countries like South Africa (SA). This review critically evaluates the technical viability of fine coal briquetting as a sustainable waste-to-energy solution within a SA context, while drawing from global best practices and comparative benchmarks. It examines abundant feedstocks that can be used for valorization strategies, including fine coal and agricultural biomass residues. Furthermore, binder types, manufacturing parameters, and quality optimization strategies that influence briquette performance are assessed. The co-densification of fine coal with biomass offers a means to enhance combustion efficiency, reduce dust emissions, and convert low-value waste into a high-calorific, manageable fuel. Attention is also given to briquette testing standards (i.e., South African Bureau of Standards, ASTM International, and International Organization of Standardization) and end-use applications across domestic, industrial, and off-grid settings. Moreover, the review explores socio-economic implications, including rural job creation, energy poverty alleviation, and the potential role of briquetting in SA’s ‘Just Energy Transition’ (JET). This paper uniquely integrates technical analysis with policy relevance, rural energy needs, and practical challenges specific to South Africa, while offering a structured framework for bio-coal briquetting adoption in developing countries. While technical and economic barriers remain, such as binder costs and feedstock variability, the integration of briquetting into circular economy frameworks represents a promising path toward cleaner, decentralized energy and coal waste valorization.Item Complementary effects of probiotics and stimbiotics inclusion on growth performance, protein utility, serum metabolites and behavioural observations in broiler chickens exposed to cyclic heat stress(2025) Mokonyama, RM; Marume, U; Moonsamy, GhaneshreeThe study investigated the complementary effects of probiotics and stimbiotics inclusion on growth performance, serum metabolites and behavioural responses in broiler chickens exposed to cyclic heat stress. Six hundred Cobb500 day-old-chicks were allocated to five dietary treatments: Standard broiler diet, with no inclusion of AGPs (NegControl); Standard broiler diet, with inclusion of AGPs (PosControl); Standard broiler diet + 0.01 % probiotics (Prob); Standard broiler diet + 0.01 % stimbiotics (Stim) and Standard broiler diet + 0.01 % probiotics and 0.01 % stimbiotics) (ProbStim). Each dietary treatment was replicated 8 times, with a pen holding 15 birds as the experimental unit. The experimental trial was conducted over three feeding phases: starter phase (day 1- 14), grower phase (day 15- 28) and finisher phase (day 29- 42). The birds were subjected to heat stress in the grower phase and finisher phase for 3 h (11:00- 14:00 h). Diet had no effect on ADFI in the starter, grower and finisher phase. Similarly, diet had no effect on ADG and FCR in both grower and finisher phase. The cumulative weight gain was consistently low in broiler chickens fed the Stim diet throughout the feeding phases, while those fed Prob diet had higher weights in week 2 and to 6. Dietary treatments did not affect protein consumed, protein efficiency ratio, specific growth rate and growth efficiency across all the feeding phases. Total cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations were significantly affected by diet (P < 0.05) with broiler chickens fed PosControl in non- stressed environment having the highest total cholesterol (3.90± 0.18) and triglyceride level (1.77± 0.12). With regards to behavioral response to heat stress induced discomfort, broilers fed PosControl (2.33±0.26) and Prob (2.33±0.26) exhibited increased pecking feed activity and increased tendencies of seeking cooler areas. Overall, the birds did not show signs of severe stress. In conclusion, Probiotics and Stimbiotics could be used in combination to replace of AGPs without negatively affecting productivity in broilers.Item Vaal’s microplastic burden: Uncovering the fate of microplastics in Emfuleni Municipality’s Wastewater Treatment Systems, Gauteng, South Africa(2025) Maleka, Tebogo; Greenfield, R; Muniyasamy, Sudhakar; Modley, L-AMunicipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Gauteng, South Africa, are inadequately designed or optimized to effectively remove microplastics (MPs), resulting in approximately 80% of wastewater being discharged into aquatic ecosystems with insufficient treatment. This study evaluates the prevalence and abundance of MPs in municipal WWTPs and their subsequent introduction into receiving water bodies. Comprehensive sampling was conducted across three municipal WWTPs in the Emfuleni region of Gauteng province from October 2022 to July 2023. Initial MP identification and quantification were performed using light microscopy, while scanning electron microscope energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) was employed to identify non-plastic particles and perform elemental analysis. The findings reveal significant seasonal variability in MP concentrations. The highest influent and effluent concentrations were recorded during October (spring), with influent values of 142 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 1), 124 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 2), and 132 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 3), and effluent concentrations of 120 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 1), 63 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 2), and 89 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 3). Conversely, the lowest MP concentrations were observed during April (autumn), with influent concentrations of 114 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 1), 141 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 2), and 78 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 3), and effluent concentrations of 99 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 1), 53 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 2), and 86 MPs/ℓ (WWTP 3). Fibers and filaments constituted the dominant MP morphology, primarily derived from polyester, nylon, and acrylic synthetic textiles. Dark-colored MPs, especially black, blue, and red particles, were predominant in the wastewater samples. This study underscores the critical role of WWTPs as conduits for MP contaminants into the environment and highlights the urgent need to develop and implement improved MP removal technologies in wastewater treatment systems. MP production is estimated to account for approximately 15–20% of total global plastic production, corresponding to an annual generation of approximately 52.5–80 million metric tons of MP. By addressing MP pollution, this research directly contributes to sustainability by promoting the protection of freshwater ecosystems, reducing anthropogenic pressures on aquatic biodiversity, and supporting the principles of sustainable development. The findings align with global and regional goals to enhance water quality management and promote sustainable urbanization practices in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).Item Towards robust gesture-based control for mobile robots: Implementing and validating a limited recognition system on Voyager(2025) Botha, Natasha; Van Eden, Beatrice; Maweni, ThabisaGesture recognition plays a crucial role in human-robot interaction, allowing mobile robots to interpret and respond to non-verbal commands. This study presents the implementation of a limited gesture recognition system for the Voyager mobile ground robotic platform using a limited set of hand gestures. The system is validated in both simulation (Gazebo) and real-world environments and compared using metric such as recognition accuracy, latency, and user variability. This research highlights the challenges and potential solutions for deploying a limited gesture-based control in real-world robotic applications.Item Evaluation of a lightweight visual–inertial state estimator for GPS-denied environments(2025) Ramwell, A; Pretorius, A; Botha, NatashaUnmanned aerial vehicles are a stimulating and practically promising solution for automating tasks in inaccessible environments. An appealing minimal sensor suite for localisation (the first challenge in automation) is the combination of monocular camera and inertial measurement unit. Although visual localisation is a well-developed field, fiducial marker-less methods remain computationally expensive. In this study, a simple, lightweight visual–inertial state estimator is evaluated in physical experiments, achieving a mean positional and angular error of within 15 cm and 5°, respectively, in non-ideal conditions (periodic image loss and slow update rates). This study’s contribution is thus the development, description, and benchmarking of a stripped-down, practical localisation solution that is simple to understand and interface with. After some refinement, the system is expected to serve as a skills development tool and foundation for higher-level navigators.Item Practical implementation of Depth Anything V2 as a LiDAR alternative in robotics navigation(2025) Louw, Jakobus M; Verster, Jacobus J; Dickens, John SUnmanned aerial vehicles are a stimulating and practically promising solution for automating tasks in inaccessible environments. An appealing minimal sensor suite for localisation (the first challenge in automation) is the combination of monocular camera and inertial measurement unit. Although visual localisation is a well-developed field, fiducial marker-less methods remain computationally expensive. In this study, a simple, lightweight visual–inertial state estimator is evaluated in physical experiments, achieving a mean positional and angular error of within 15 cm and 5°, respectively, in non-ideal conditions (periodic image loss and slow update rates). This study’s contribution is thus the development, description, and benchmarking of a stripped-down, practical localisation solution that is simple to understand and interface with. After some refinement, the system is expected to serve as a skills development tool and foundation for higher-level navigators.Item Reinforcement learning for object recognition and room classification in an indoor environment(2025) Van Eden, Beatrice; Botha, NatashaThis paper presents an integrated system for autonomous navigation and object prioritisation using a mobile robot in an indoor environment. The system combines deep learning for room classification (VGG16) and object detection (YOLOv8) with Proximal Policy Optimisation (PPO) reinforcement learning to enable the robot to efficiently locate a target object (yellow duck) while avoiding distractions (tennis ball, lemon, banana). The robot operates in a Gazebo simulation with ROS2 Humble, leveraging Python for implementation. The VGG16 model was trained on bag-file-derived images to classify rooms (kitchen/dining area), while YOLOv8 was fine-tuned on annotated datasets in RoboFlow. PPO was employed to overcome challenges faced with Q-learning, optimising the robot’s path-planning and decision-making. Experimental results demonstrate the system’s ability to prioritise the target object with high accuracy, showcasing its potential for applications in service robotics and smart environments.Item Investigating the structural stability and electronic properties of carbon doped silicon anode for lithium-ion batteries(2025) Singo, S; Phoshoko, Katlego W; Mogashoa, T; Ngoepe, P; Ledwaba, RSilicon is an attractive anode material for lithium-ion batteries due to it having a high theoretical capacity of 4200 mAh/g, however, it experiences severe volume changes during the lithiation and delithiation processes. Doping with carbon can help to mitigate these severe volume changes and increase the electrochemical performance, since carbon forms strong covalent bonds with silicon which are difficult to break as such it acts as a mechanical buffer to accommodate volume expansion hence maintain structural integrity. Furthermore, it forms continuous pathways for electron transport. In this study, the cluster expansion technique was successfully used to generate a silicon carbide (SiC2) structure, which has a hexagonal symmetry and is thermodynamically stable. The density of states and band structure of SiC2 illustrated metallic behaviour, thus promoting conductivity.Item From passive to participatory: Healthcare workshop design for continued community engagement(2025) Weinstein, T; Lourens, Roger L; Igwe, CR; Adesina, C; Ajala, M; Hunja, F; Agamah, F; Julius, R; Maremi, Keneilwe JParticipatory workshops offer a powerful mechanism for grassroots institutional engagement, enabling skill-building, knowledge exchange, and long-term community growth. This paper presents lessons from previous workshops run by SisonkeBiotik, an African AI-for-healthcare community, across recent conferences such as the Deep Learning Indaba and IndabaX. Through activities like the Design Dash, Ideathon, and Unconference, the workshops promote active participation and collaboration. Feedback collected from attendees shows high engagement, demand for deeper interaction, and continued involvement post-event. We outline a flexible workshop framework that supports interdisciplinary learning and community building, with recommendations for broader application across sectors. Our findings support the shift from passive to participatory models as a strategy for strengthening grassroots capacity in healthcare.Item Effect of post‑heat treatment on mechanical, microstructure, and thermal properties of Nitinol (NiTiNb) manufactured using laser direct metal deposition (LDMD) process(2025) Skhosane, Besabakhe S; Maledi, Nthabiseng; Pityana, Sisa L; Lekoadi, Paul; Tlotleng, MonnammeThis study investigated the effect of annealing on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal properties of Ti51.25Ni41.25Nb7.5 ternary nitinol alloy manufactured using the laser direct metal deposition (LDMD) technique. The mechanically pre-alloyed powder consisting of the composition of Ti52.5Ni42.5Nb7.5 was used as a feedstock to manufacture cubic samples on a Ti6Al4V base plate. The manufactured samples were subjected to post-heat treatment at temperatures of 700 °C and 900 °C. The produced samples were then characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM), Vickers hardness, nano-indentation, Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). SEM micrographs of both annealed samples showed dissolution of the eutectic phase that was present in the as-built sample into the matrix as β-Nb phase, which resulted in the annealed samples having increased hysteresis. The Ni3Ti peaks’ prominence increased with annealing temperature, leading to an increase in hardness.Item Achieving heterogeneous network microstructure in laser additively manufactured hybrid TiBw/TiC/Ti6Al4V(2025) Masina, Bathusile N; tshela TH; Lekoadi, Paul MLaser-directed energy deposition and in-situ alloying processes were used to manufacture hybrid in-situ TiBw/TiC/Ti6Al4V composites while varying the powder flow rate of both TiB2 and TiC. The optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) reveal that both in-situ TiB-whiskers and TiC particles precipitated at prior β boundaries. This led to the formation of a heterogeneous network and novel network microstructures. It was found that the heterogeneous network microstructure consisted of fine-grain zones with a network structure and coarse-grain zones with spherical structures. The effect of adding TiB2 and TiC on microstructure features and hardness was systemically investigated. It was found that the was no significant increase in the microhardness as the powder flow rate increased of both reinforcements.Item Bistatic RCS measurements of large targets in a compact range(2025) Potgieter, Monique; Odendaal, JW; Blaauw, Ciara; Joubert, JThis communication illustrates the ability to perform bista tic radar cross-section (RCS) measurements at a fixed bistatic angle in a compact range. Literature regarding bistatic RCS measurements in compact ranges is limited. The traditional setup of a compact range was adapted to perform bistatic RCS measurements. These bistatic measurements were conducted on canonical and complex realistic scale airframe models. The targets were illuminated with a plane wave created by an offset parabolic dish reflector. The bistatic scattering of the targets was measured by placing a receive antenna at a fixed bistatic angle and finite distance in the compact range. This communication also investigates the effect of the finite separation between the targets and the receiver on the bistatic scattering measurements of large complex targets. The accuracy of the bistatic RCS measurements is compared to full-wave simulations conducted with FEKO using the multilevel fast multipole method solver. Quantitative comparisons are drawn between the simulations and measurements using the feature selective validation method.Item Characterizing the spatial non-uniformity and temporal stability of QWIP and T2SL cooled infrared detector focal plane arrays(2025) Van der Westhuisen, Waldo; Chirindo, Mathews; Jideani, Josiah CFixed pattern and temporal noise in infrared Focal Plane Arrays are inherent in the technology and must be corrected to achieve optimal performance in optical gas imaging. These noise sources are intrinsic to the manufacturing process of these devices and the read-out electronics. This paper presents the characteristics of these noise sources for Type 2 Superlattice and Quantum Well Infrared Photodetectors. Experimental results visualise the raw uncorrected non-uniformity of the respective focal plane arrays along with their gain and offset correction tables. The Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (Sulphur Hexafluoride) shows better uniformity in the uncorrected frames than the Type 2 Superlattice (Volatile Organic Compound), but both detectors show similar performance after correction. The corrected frames are evaluated and a quantity, the absolute median residual per frame, is presented to quantify the residual non-uniformity after correction. Results show that the standard 2-point NUC is effective at correcting the non-uniformity with low levels of remaining noise.