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Item Conceptual Model for Taxation and Regulatory Governance among South African Crypto Asset Holders(2024-12) Ramazhamba, Pardon T; Venter, HS, Pardon TThe rapid adoption of digital assets has revolutionised the global financial landscape, bringing new opportunities and challenges. In South Africa, digital asset adoption has surged, driven by economic factors and a tech-savvy population. However, this growth has outpaced regulatory development, particularly around tax compliance. This paper proposes a conceptual model aimed at addressing the non-compliance issues among crypto asset holders. The model incorporates advanced mechanisms for visualising crypto address interactions and generating crypto tax Non-Fungible Tokens as a verification tool. By mapping and monitoring crypto transactions, the model provides regulatory bodies with enhanced tools to track, verify and enforce tax obligations transparently and efficiently.Item Earth Observation support for water quality monitoring in estuaries 2025(2025-03) Smith, Marié AFocus on development of EO products and services that support applications relating to water quality, harmful algal bloom detection, and coastal ecosystem monitoring.Item A brief performance comparison of bare-metal and kubernetes deployments for 5G Core Control plane network functions using Open5GS(2024-10) Mukute, T; Santos de Brito, M; Lysko, Albert A; Mwangama, J; Magedanz, TThis paper investigates the performance difference of critical 5G User Equipment (UE) procedures when deployed on a Kubernetes platform versus a traditional bare-metal deployment. We leverage Open5GS, an open-source implementation of the 5G Core (5GC), to evaluate the impact of containerisation on key performance metrics. The research answers (i) how the performance of critical 5G UE procedures differs when 5GC is deployed on a Kubernetes environment compared to a traditional bare-metal deployment and (ii) provides the measurable cost introduced by Kubernetes in terms of key 5G performance metrics. We evaluated throughput and latency. The paper analyses the observed performance differences against theoretical expectations arising from the Kubernetes architecture overhead and insights from related work. Our study reveals a 7% performance degradation in throughput for UE procedures running on Kubernetes compared to bare-metal when handling more than 300 initiated UE devices.Item Change impact evaluation dashboard for the adoption of modern mining technologies(2024-10) Botha, W; Muller, R; De Kock, M; De Kock, M; Pelders, Jodi L; Ramparsad, SChange management is imperative for the adoption of new technologies, and the impact of changes needs to be understood and measured. This paper is based on a project funded by the Successful Application of Technologies Centered Around People (SATCAP) programme. The aim of this project was to verify a Change Management Blueprint for gold, zinc and platinum group metals (PGms) and interlink it to Change Impact Evaluation (IE) dashboard.Item Ontology-driven cybersecurity learning factory: A use case for securing electrical company networks(2024-07) Dawood, Zubeida C; Marengwa, Matshidiso SAs cyber threats continue to evolve in complexity and frequency, there is an urgent need for effective cybersecurity education and training methodologies. Traditional approaches often fall short in providing learners with personalized and immersive experiences that closely mimic real-world scenarios. In response to this challenge, we propose the development of a Cybersecurity Learning Factory (CLF), leveraging ontology integration to tailor learning experiences for students. By harnessing the power of ontologies, the learning factory can dynamically adapt to the individual skill levels and learning styles of each student, ensuring optimal knowledge acquisition and retention. The use case presented in this paper centers around the cybersecurity challenges faced by an electrical company. By focusing on a practical use case within the electrical industry, this initiative aims to equip students with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively protect critical infrastructure against cyber threats.Item Achieving successful community engagement in the evolving power system landscape: A case for micro- and mini-grids(2024-08) Rakaibe, Tshwanelo K; Pandarum, A; Tlokolo, Nthabeleng B; Marema, AbramOff-grid mini and microgrid systems are increasingly recognized as a viable solution that can be implemented for extending energy access to the 760 million people around the globe who are currently not served by traditional grid infrastructure. In South Africa’s rural and remote areas, the electricity utility company, Eskom, is leveraging microgrid technology and has three active sites. Eskom is also currently conducting feasibility studies for 40 sites, with plans to develop approximately 100 installations across the country. These projects hold great potential for extending reliable power to underprivileged communities. It also has the potential to increase efforts for a just energy transition. This paper underscores a critical aspect of micro- and mini-grid implementation that transcends technical and generic environmental considerations i.e. the pivotal role of community engagement and inclusion. While these systems are fundamentally technological solutions, their success hinges on their integration and understanding within the communities they are hosted in and supply. Furthermore, South Africa has very unique socioeconomic challenges that need to be considered when developing such projects in the country. Recognizing this, this paper explores the multifaceted nature of successful community engagement for micro- and mini-grid projects in the South African context. Successful and meaningful community engagement and inclusion is becoming progressively important as the globe grapples with the concept of the just energy transition. Drawing from both global best practices and the unique context of South Africa, this paper emphasizes the importance of involving local communities from the project's inception through to its operation and maintenance phases. Additionally, an understanding of what really is considered just will also be provided in this paper. It highlights the tangible benefits that such engagement can yield, including increased project acceptance, sustainability, and socio-economic development. Lastly, the paper presents a toolbox of effective community engagement strategies for micro- and mini-grid projects in South Africa which may be able to be used in other developing countries that have similar socio-economic challenges and experiences.Item A summary of green hydrogen as an upcoming energy storage technology(2024-10) Karamanski, Stefan; Grobler, Jan H; Hlalele, Thabo GThe increasing renewable energy production trend poses concerns about energy dispatchability. The intermittency of renewable energy requires compensating reliable and suitable energy storage technologies. An upcoming energy storage technology is green hydrogen. Green hydrogen has received both extremes of praise and criticism from the energy industry. This study aims to dispel misconceptions about green hydrogen. Green hydrogen and its applications are thoroughly yet concisely described, together with its suitability in power systems. The advantages and disadvantages of green hydrogen are discussed. It was found that green hydrogen has significant benefits of longterm energy storage and strong suitability in heavy industries. Despite green hydrogen decreasing in cost, it is still comparatively expensive and suffers from significant logistical constraints. Green hydrogen remains an important factor in the renewable energy transition and forms an integral component of the energy storage of the future. This study is useful for policy makers, system operators, renewable energy developers and financial institutions that would like an improved understanding of green hydrogen and its integration.Item Investigating top-down cracking of pavement in recycled waste plastic asphalt(2024-10) Abejide, Samuel O; Adedeji, J; Mostafa, MHThis study investigates a new approach for the use of an alternative sustainable wearing course material on flexible pavement roads (recycled asphalt plastic pavement). Highway infrastructure plays a major key role in the domestic transportation of people, goods and services within the community and from a national perspective. Thus, highway infrastructure provides provincial and local accessibility, which promotes the growth and development of the economy. For this reason, there is a need to develop a sustainable approach to increase the efficiency of transportation infrastructure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate top-down fatigue cracking failure mode of asphaltic wearing courses for use in in pavement overlays, at high traffic intersection points and on parking sections using dual tire loads in finite element analysis. The process of developing alternative mixing materials is initiated by the need to provide a stable mixture for use on field sections different from cold mix or conventional hot mix (HMA) materials, which is subjected to stripping delamination mode with increasing moisture content. In this study, it was observed that the bonds formed between the molten plastic material has the potential to bind the bitumen and the aggregates together as a homogenous material in such a way that, when hardened at reduced temperatures, the mix is able to form a stronger bonded material that is semipervious and allows drainage of moisture or water across the surface of the asphalt plastic layer. This study adopts an alternative approach to the design of an ultrathin film asphalt concrete porous pavement layer for use in pavement surface wearing course and high-density traffic roads considering the effects of increasing temperature and moisture absorption on the asphalt plastic pavement mix .Item Development of LSTM-Based short-term wind power forecasting model(2024-11) Marz, ChristopherReliable short-term wind power forecasting is necessary given the increase in use of it for electricity generation. Given the emergence of artificial neural networks frameworks coupled with high-quality metrological data, these frameworks seem to be the go-to standard for accurate model predictions. One such framework is the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) framework due to its ability to be trained using sequential data and not be suspensible the vanishing and exploding gradient problems that come along with neural networks. The aim of this paper is to develop a model that can output an hour ahead wind power forecast using the previous 24-hour’s wind speed values. This was done using a multi-layered stacked-LTSM model, hourly wind speed data and a fitted polynomial function that determines wind power from wind speed. Forecasting performance of the model indicate high correlation between actual and predicted wind power values using coefficient of determination metric. This means that the model was able to capture the variance in the training data and infer it to the testing data. Furthermore, using normalised performance metrics, the errors of the model indicated 50% less variability compared to the standard deviation of test data. By lowering the temporal resolution of the predicted and actual wind power to a daily and monthly resolution by means of determining the average wind power produced, a comparison between each shows that the model is able to predict values around the expected values.Item A strategic path for digital transformation in cyber warfare for African militaries(2024-03) Mphahlela, James M; Mtsweni, Jabu SDigital disruption has changed the battlefield and increased its complexity for the war fighter. The modern battlefield continues to increase this complexity, due to the evolution of components that constitute military capability. The technologies, processes and the users are such components. The modern battlefield relies on advanced technologies tapping on high connectivity, are more lethal, precise, and autonomous. Due to this evolution, areas once thought to be safe from conventional attacks are increasingly becoming vulnerable. This evolution of technology and shorter development curves have also increased the prominence of the cyberspace, as a domain of war. However, many militaries, especially in Africa are still operating legacy systems and struggling with modernizing their systems to take advantage of the digital evolution. This paper, therefore, uses a systematic literature review and benchmarking focusing on selected super cyber power nations’ indices to propose a strategic path for African militaries to drive digital transformation in their operational environments. The roadmap is proposed to stimulate the establishment and enhancement of African militaries’ cyber warfighting capabilities in the digital age. The objectives of this digital transformation path include establishing a digital backbone, where all the sensors, effectors and the deciders are plugged to share information and intelligence.Item Optimizing SVM hyperparameters for breast cancer data classification using Hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization(2024-05) Sulaiman, AT; Bello-Salau, H; Onumanyi, Adeiza J; Salawudeen, ATThe classification efficacy of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) heavily relies on hyperparameter selection, and optimizing parameters such as kernel type and regularization is particularly challenging due to the non-convex nature of the SVM objective function. In response to this challenge, we introduce a novel approach, the trailPSO technique, which combines Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) with Smell Agent Optimization (SAO) to achieve a balance between exploration and exploitation. The trailPSO algorithm is applied to optimize SVM hyperparameters, resulting in the trail PSOSVM model. We assess the performance of trailPSOSVM by employing it to classify breast cancer datasets, revealing superior outcomes compared to conventional methods. Notably, the proposed approach attains 100% accuracy with zero errors, showcasing its ability to identify optimal hyperparameter settings for enhanced classification accuracy and robustness. This study is part of an ongoing efforts towards extending the trailPSO algorithm for sentiment analysis and addressing imbalanced datasets in the realm of natural language processing.Item Optimising the energy mix for eco-industrial parks in developing countries: A least-cost analysis using PYPSA(2024-11) Grobler, Jan-Hendrik; Karamanski, Stefan; Zandamela, FrankAs a result of persistent loadshedding since 2008, numerous industries have increased their efforts to adopt alternative energy technologies to lessen their reliance on the national grid. Industrial spaces are no exception, particularly with the emergence of eco-industrial parks - a group of manufacturing and service businesses situated on a shared property. Questions arise regarding how much an industrial park can decrease its reliance on the national grid and how much emissions can be reduced by utilizing an optimal combination of available energy technologies. These questions are addressed through a least-cost optimisation case study of a medium-sized eco-industrial park. A customised capacity expansion planning tool built on the opensource platform Python for Power System Analysis (PyPSA) is employed in the study. Renewable energy is sourced from rooftop solar PV and an offsite wind installation. Energy storage is provided by commercially available LiFePO4 containerised lithium-ion batteries. The model assumes a multiyear simulation horizon, with learning rate assumptions for the renewables based on the NREL Annual Technology Baseline report. Several scenarios are modelled, and the outcomes are compared to a "business as usual" case, where reliance is solely on the national grid and no embedded renewable energy is employed. The study shows that the employment of currently available renewable energy solutions offers industrial spaces a significant cost saving and a reduced carbon footprint while simultaneously reducing their dependence on the grid.Item Conservation and restoration of Blue Carbon Ecosystems for a resilient future(2024-10) Adams, J; Raw, J; Van Niekerk, LaraThis study investigated where Blue Carbon can be maximised through conservation of natural ecosystems and restoration of degraded areas.Item Wind resource assessment: Open-source methods and analysis in South Africa(2024-10) Karamanski, Stefan; Grobler, Jan-Hendrik; Erfort, GThe energy mix in South Africa has a rapidly increasing renewable energy penetration, but it is still being dominated by fossil fuels at approximately an 80% share. It is evident that development of renewable energy plants have prolonged durations, especially in the case of wind energy. One of the major preliminary requirements in this development is a wind resource assessment to evaluate the suitability of a potential site. This can be very expensive and difficult. The Wind Atlas of South Africa (WASA) supplies publicly available time-series wind data for South Africa. This research aims to describe a Python-based method of creating accurate desktop wind resource assessments in South Africa using the WASA data as an input. Subsequent energy modelling software requires a time-series of capacity factors from the resource assessment, which is useful in further integrated analyses, such as in energy master plans. The model’s performance is evaluated on capacity factor outputs from Continuum, an open-source wind resource assessment software package. It was found that the Python-based model performs reasonably well, producing a 32.69% capacity factor compared to Continuum’s 35.5% result, obtained from a site in Mpumalanga, South Africa. By creating this model based on publicly available data and open-source coding practices, the wind development process is simplified. The suitability of wind energy as a preferable energy resource as well as the suitability of a potential site is supported by this research. Stakeholders such as wind farm developers, municipalities, planners and energy operators can find value in this research.Item How do we protect South Africa’s most threatened realm – estuaries as a conservation challenge(2024-10) Van Niekerk, Lara; Adams, Janine; Lamberth, StephenEstuaries are “super” ecosystems. They comprise less than 2% of South Africa’s territory, but these highly productive ecosystems contribute R4.2 billion per annum to the SA economy.Item Combining bio-based cementation with cement stabilisation for road construction(2024-07) Smit, Michelle A; Rust, FCThe growing concerns over climate change and the move towards sustainable, costeffective road development have resulted in the development of bio-based construction methods. Microbial induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) binds material through the formation of calcite bridges between soil grains. Current MICP treatment techniques, however, are not compatible with road construction processes. Due to this the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has started investigating bio-stabiliser treatment techniques for road construction. The objective of this paper is to present Unconfinded compressive strength (UCS) results for a G8 material stabilised using in-situ bacteria present in the soil. After 10 days of cementation solution treatments a UCS dry result of 1.16MPa was achieved. No wet UCS results were, however, produced as all the samples disintegrated. The decision was made to supplement MICP with 0.7% cement. Not only did UCS wet results show a 100% increase compared with MICP only treated samples, but the UCS dry results were comparable to adding 2.5% cement to the G8 material. Partial replacement of cement with MICP during stabilisation could lead to an overall reduction in the amount of cement used in road construction without compromising strength, which will have a positive environmental and economic impact.Item Towards greener networks: Evaluating power consumption in popular open RAN environments(2024) Ebrahim, Rozeena; Vilakazi, Mlamuli C; Burger, Chris R; Lysko, Albert AEnergy efficiency, power consumption, and their cost and environmental impacts have become critical considerations in telecommunications, including fifth-generation (5G) and beyond mobile networks. This work investigates power consumption within open Radio Access Network (RAN) implementations for 4G and 5G mobile networks, such as OpenAirInterface (OAI) and Software Radio Systems RAN (srsRAN). Using two measurement tools, a hardware measurement setup and the software tool Turbostat, we evaluate and compare the power consumption across various RAN environments on our inhouse mobile network testbeds. We also compare the power consumption profiles for each RAN environment under different modes/tasks. From this comparison of considered versions, we found that the srsRAN platform consumes less power than the OAI RAN for both 4G and 5G setups potentially resulting in lower operational costs in open RAN deployments.Item Solving the privacy and security challenge using ZKP: Its positive impact on the economy(2024-12) Ntshangase, Cynthia S; Baruni, Kedimotse P; Myaka, Zanele S; Mahlasela, Oyena NThe 4th and 5th industrial revolutions are improving the functioning of the working environment for different industries. However, it also introduces security and privacy challenges that lead to cybercrime which negatively impacts the economy. This article presents a comprehensive analysis of the usage of Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) to protect data in the major technologies for the 4th and 5th industrial revolutions. These technologies include cloud computing, big data, Internet of Things, blockchain, 5G, artificial intelligence, and supply chain. Security and privacy challenges and solutions in these technologies were investigated. ZKP, a cryptographic method that enables verification of a party without revealing confidential details, is one of the promising solutions to fight the problem of data security and privacy. In this study, it was determined that Blockchain is the leading technology in terms of using the ZKP to improve security and enhance privacy. The paper provides the future direction to secure these technologies using cryptographic methods such as ZKP.Item Tales from three construction sites: A qualitative investigation into work zone safety(2024-07) Mokgatle, K; Nemauluma, L; Miyambu, M; Van Gruting, WA; Juba, A; Masombuka, B; Lowe, J; Sampson, J; Menon, A; Ben-Edigbe, J; De Beer, E; Venter, KarienRoads form the backbone of the South African economy, and the provision of adequate road infrastructure is key to facilitate socio-economic change. Many of South Africa’s roads are facing increasing growth in traffic volumes, congestion, and the infrastructure is aging. Construction works are needed to add capacity as well as to maintain existing infrastructure. The construction work has an impact on the safety of the travelling public as well as on workers on site, who are exposed to traffic constantly. Typically, roadwork zones are welldefined areas, but they are dynamic, and roadworks contracts necessitate constant change, which impacts on the segments under construction, making safe operation an ongoing effort. This paper explores work zone safety by making use of qualitative observations from three existing work zones on the national road network. The sites were largely rural, and safety concerns related to traffic accommodation were identified. The use of signage to safely redirect traffic, safety considerations in terms of personnel and equipment on site as well as public driving behaviour are key elements in ensuring safe work zone areas. In line with the Safe System Approach, the process of designing and building safer roads and roadsides needs to be managed to minimise risk to both road workers and the travelling public.Item Integrating commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technologies to enhance military capabilities(2024-07) Thaba, James M; Mtsweni, JabuThe landscape of warfare is constantly evolving, demanding innovative approaches to maintain a technological edge. Integrating Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technologies offers a promising avenue for militaries to enhance capabilities while optimizing resources. Although this integration offers opportunities, there is no standardised approach available to militaries to ensure successful integration. This paper explores Capability Engineering (CE) as an approach suitable to successfully integrate COTS technologies in military operations. The paper explores literature for CE and related applications, including the literature related to the integration of COTS in military systems. The paper then presents the rationale for CE framework for the implementation of COTS integration in military capabilities. The contribution of this research is the proposal of the Capability Engineering (CE) framework for integrating COTS products at various levels of Military Capabilities (MC). The paper also presents some examples of COTS products integration in military capabilities.