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Item An Investigation into secure, remote, firmware updating mechanisms for peer-to-peer transactive microgrids(2025-07) Smith, Andrew C; Ledwaba, Lehlogonolo PRenewable energy-based microgrid deployments are being identified as potential solutions for faster electrification in developing countries. IoT-enabled microgrids solve the physical infrastructure limitations of connecting communities that are geographically distant from main grid energy supply networks and reduce the added demand placed on the already grid. However, with the deployment of long-term, long-lived IoT technologies, a need for appropriate maintenance and updating strategies is introduced to ensure that the network’s security, integrity, and availability is maintained. Hardware would need to access up-to-date features and patches deployed within newer f irmware iterations without significant interaction and effort from the end user. This work aims to identify, evaluate, and recommend appropriate strategies and solutions for remote IoT firmware updating to be used within transactive microgrid deployments. The solutions considered should be able to maintain the security and integrity of the firmware file during distribution and be able to tolerate the unpredictability of transmission utilizing various communications networks and differing levels of network coverage. The investigation compares and analyses various firmware updating methodologies for lightweight operation, capability of minimising the monetary cost of firmware updating to the end user, and coverage of firmware updating attack vectors As part of future work, the identified firmware mechanisms shall be implemented within a demonstrable microgrid network simulation to assess the performance and latency impacts introduced on microgrid transactions and IoT network processes.Item Towards a comprehensive cybersecurity information sharing framework(2025) Manari, Unarine J; Ngobeni, Sipho J; Letshwenyo, Mpho; Baruni, Kedimotse P; Ndhlovu, Nomalisa; Senamela, PertuniaIn today's digital age, cybersecurity has become a critical concern for nations around the world. With South Africa facing a significant cybersecurity challenge, ranking as the most targeted country on the African continent. The number and sophistication of cyber-attacks such as ransomware attacks, data breaches, phishing and pharming attacks have been steadily rising in recent years with the public sector and financial institutions being highly prone to these attacks. As cyber threats grow in sophistication and frequency, the need for robust defences and proactive measures is of high importance. Information sharing helps organizations and governments to analyse and understand existing cyber-attack trends and use the intelligence gathered to prevent future cyber-attacks, this helps to improve their overall security posture. It is evident from several scholars that organizations that share cybersecurity information have a high probability of reducing cyberattacks within their environments. Most scholars agrees that, generally, information sharing, and collaboration may greatly reduce cybersecurity risk while ensuring resilience. But confusion and controversy remain around the following particulars such as: Who should share information? What should be shared? When should it be shared? What is the quality and utility of what is shared? How should it be shared? Why is it being shared? What can be done with the information? This paper therefore seeks to analyse the existing Cybersecurity information sharing frameworks, highlight the gaps and propose a comprehensive framework. Firstly, the paper formulates metrics that are used to evaluate the various identified frameworks, then compare and contract them. We then formulate a comprehensive information sharing framework building from the identified gaps. The proposed framework will then be adopted and used by various stakeholders, such as cybersecurity organizations, government bodies, and security experts who intend to share cybersecurity information.Item Proceedings of the Foundational Digital Capabilities Research (FDCR) Conference 2025 (FDCR 2025): Towards a sustainable digital economy(2025-08) Calteaux, Karen V; Kobo, Hlabishi IThe FDCR Platform, a flagship initiative of the Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (DSTI), managed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), facilitates research, development and innovation in digital transformation through collaborative initiatives and open-access frameworks. These efforts aim to establish a robust information and communication technology industry for (South) Africa. The FDCR Platform currently encapsulates over 55 projects across five domains, namely Modelling and Simulation; Artificial Intelligence and Robotics; Mixed Reality and Digital Twins; Cloud-to-edge computing, Advanced-IoT and Networking; and Cybersecurity and Blockchain. The Online Proceedings of the Foundational Digital Capabilities Research (FDCR) Conference (FDCR 2025) contain 17 full-text papers presented during the event held at Durban, South Africa, 17-18 July 2025.Item Does Gartner’s Hype Cycle Theory match practice?(2025) Badenhorst, Danielle P; Mashabane, ST; Morele, JX; Mutizwa, T; Vundla, PQM; Grobbelaar, SThe Gartner Hype Cycle has become a widely used industry tool to assess the maturity and potential adoption of emerging technologies. As this model has a prominent influence on investor decision making, an in-depth systematic review of it is necessary. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review and analyse Gartner’s Hype Cycle. In doing so, the objective is to describe how the model is analysed in various sources of literature and then assess the continued relevance of the model as a question is raised: Does Gartner’s Hype Cycle theory match practice? By conducting a systematic review of multiple articles, a differing view of the Hype Cycle in academic literature was observed in comparison to industry sentiment. The results of this review indicate that there are multiple inconsistencies with the current Hype Cycle implementation. Various factors limit the overall applicability of the model; methodological flaws, information gathering flaws, and oversimplification of complex phenomena make up some of these limitations. Notwithstanding these flaws, some benefits of the model are also discussed. Finally, some future recommendations are illustrated, highlighting the need for an empirically attested mathematical representation of the model. Finally, some future recommendations are illustrated, highlighting the need for an empirically attested mathematical representation of the model.Item Evaluating the impact and challenges of public disaster alert systems in KwaZulu-Nata(2025-05) Mulaudzi, Phindulo O; Mokoto, Bayanda T; Mothwa, Louis; Mukange, Tsumbedzo; Koen, Hildegarde S; Ndamase, ZimasaThis study evaluates the effectiveness of disaster communication systems in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, to identify challenges and gaps in current dissemination channels. Through a qualitative analysis of 20 secondary sources (government reports, academic articles, and media publications from 2013-2024), this research then proposes actionable strategies to enhance disaster preparedness and response. By focusing on the unique socio-cultural and geographical context of KwaZulu-Natal, this study addresses a gap in localised disaster management research. Key findings reveal that existing disaster communication channels are not fully effective, particularly in reaching vulnerable communities. Identified challenges include inadequate infrastructure, lack of coordination between government agencies, language barriers, and the media's focus on event-driven rather than preparedness-driven communication. The study emphasises the need for targeted communication strategies to address specific needs, such as implementing community-based warning systems. Recommendations include enhancing coordination among stakeholders, investing in infrastructure improvements, and tailoring messages to local contexts.Item The ESG impacts lens dashboard: an integration of socio-economic transformation, automation and change impact dashboards(2025-06) Mahadeo, VJ; Sihlali, G; Gruber, S; Swettenham, T; Botha, WP; Pelders, Jodi L; Ramparsad, SMines need to understand the impacts of modernisation on people. Research has been commissioned by the Successful Application of Technologies Centred Around People (SATCAP) programme of the Mandela Mining Precinct to understand the effects of mining modernisation on people in the minerals sector, in support of the Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) agenda. An ESG Impacts Lens Dashboard was developed to assist mines to understand the impacts of socio-economic transformation interventions, automation, and the efficacy of change management processes in the adoption of new technologies. The ESG Impacts Lens Dashboard comprises of three underlying impact evaluation (IE) dashboards (the Socio-Economic Transformation IE Dashboard, the Automation IE Dashboard, and the Change IE Dashboard), with 19 individual sub-dashboards, and over 81 specific indicators. The dashboard was developed using a design thinking and co-creative approach and integrates into a Power BI platform. The dashboard, user-guideline, and supporting videos are available on the Mandela Mining Precinct’s website. Dissemination to industry has been through various seminars, conferences and presentations at industry forums.Item Blockchain in manufacturing: A systematic literature review and, synthesizing framework(2025-04) Nzima, G; Pretorius, J-H; Erasmus, Louwrence DThe research offers a systematic literature review of the adoption of blockchain technology in manufacturing. The systematic literature review (SLR) presented by this paper follows a method of creating clear research questions that probe the relevant studies available to extract and assess the synthesizing of the relevant data to answer the research questions. The review investigates articles that have enquired on the application of blockchain into the different industries and moreover whether their finds can apply in the use of blockchain into the manufacturing industry. The findings of this SLR show that blockchain has been implemented in different manufacturing sections owing to its characteristics in handling, sharing, and processing data and records. A framework that addresses significant areas of future research on the topic is presented. Finally, the literature review lays the foundation for further studies on investigates the application of blockchain technology in manufacturing.Item Resource Saving Potential of Seawater Air-Conditioning Systems – A Case Study in the Port of Cape Town, South Africa(2024-04) Joubert, JR; Owen, MTF; Hassan, E; Haasbroek, Sarel MIn light of escalating global demand for air-conditioning, there is an increasing need for sustainable and energy-efficient building climate control systems. This includes building infrastructure in ports across the globe, which offers a unique opportunity to utilise the readily available seawater it is near, to precondition its air supply. Seawater air-conditioning (SWAC) offers potential energy savings due to either the complete elimination of refrigeration cycles (in the case of direct SWAC) or increased refrigeration cycle COP (with hybrid SWAC). Since many building air-conditioning systems make use of water-intensive evaporative cooling towers as the heat sink, SWAC also offers considerable fresh water saving potential. A case study is presented in this paper in which the resource saving potential of a hybrid SWAC system is assessed for a commercial building in the Port of Cape Town, South Africa. The analysis employs a simplified thermodynamic model of a vapor compression refrigeration cycle with both seawater and evaporative cooling to assess the energy and fresh water saving potential of SWAC in the specific location. This preliminary analysis reveals an annual energy and fresh water saving of 333 600 kWh (60% reduction) and 5.7 ML respectively with SWAC for the specific case. More comprehensive analysis of hybrid SWAC for the South African context is strongly recommended and if proven to be viable, implementation of this technology at scale will support the government and private sector in reaching its net zero emission (NZE) targets, while saving costs and valuable resources.Item The development of Ilima: An African platform for smallholder supply chain integration(2025-05) Meyer, Isabella A; Ford, Merryl; Swanepoel, Anieke; Schoeman, ChanelEmerging farmers in resource-constrained environments often face significant challenges that hinder their commercial success, including issues related to productivity, market access, consumer trust, and other well-documented factors. The Ilima platform takes a supply chain perspective on emerging farmer performance, and supports supply chain functioning from farm to fork. Its blockchain backbone facilitates traceability, certification and other functions that require trust in information integrity, while the platform generates information that can be used by the stakeholder ecosystem to support supply chain development. The development of Ilima follows a design science approach, with iterations of which the outcomes affect the evolution of the platform. This development process is summarised in this paper, and learning and recommendations for the development of 4IR solutions in developing contexts are shared.Item Interaction Design’s Role in Safeguarding Against Digital Deception(2024-11) Noluntu, M; Sheethal, T; Nobubele, Shozi N; Noluxolo, GCyberattacks have emerged as problems caused not only by technological issues but also by human factors that are often overlooked when designing interactive systems. Social engineering is an extremely effective type of cybercrime, where the attackers use human psychology to achieve their target which are in the form of data, account details, or IT devices for example. Phishing is one of the first methods that social engineers use to target victims and it accounts for the highest percentage of data breaches at 25% compared to the other types. Phishing is a deception technique that attackers use to steal sensitive information such as usernames, passwords, and online banking details from their victims. Despite phishing attacks being known for more than two decades, and the ongoing research for developing effective techniques against these attacks, the increasing trend of attacks confirms the lack of robust solutions and techniques against these attacks. There is a need for comprehensive research in the area of anti-phishing to improve the overall cybersecurity landscape. Hence this study aims to design and propose a User Experience (UX) Framework to safeguard against digital deception, that focuses on cybersecurity training applications. The study conducted an in-depth literature review on phishing and major phishing attacks. Next, the study explored interactive design by linking phishing with user experience design. Lastly, the improved S-UX framework is proposed for cybersecurity training applications in safeguarding users against digital deception. The proposed framework offers six high-level constructs which include security, experience, interactiveness, accessibility, robustness, and transparency.Item Comparative Analysis of 5G SDR-based opensource software platforms: OpenAirInterface and srsRAN(2025-02) Motaung, Morebodi; Mthethwa, Nosipho B; Nokane, Boikobo; Masonta, Moshe TThe comparative analysis of open-source platforms, OpenAirInterface (OAI) and srsRAN, is critical in advancing the development and testing of end-to-end (E2E) 5G Standalone (SA) mobile network testbeds. This paper presents a detailed comparison between these two platforms, focusing on several key aspects essential for evaluating their applicability in 5G research and development. The features and functionalities of both OAI and srsRAN are compared, emphasising their support for 5G SA architecture. Furthermore, performance metrics such as throughput and latency are analysed to assess network efficiency. The quality of software documentation, the ability to integrate with virtualised environments, ease of installation, usability, and the support for different frequency bands are also explored. By evaluating these aspects, this paper highlights the role of OAI and srsRAN as vital tools in accelerating the deployment of 5G networks. Their flexibility and customisation options make them particularly important for academic and industrial research, as they enable rapid prototyping and experimentation without the constraints of proprietary solutions. The insights provided here aim to guide researchers and developers in choosing the most suitable platform for their 5G SA testbeds.Item Sustainable adoption of technology: A people-centric approach within the South African mining industry(2025-06) Muller, R; Ntsoelengoe, Johanna S; De Kock, N; Botha, W; Pelders, Jodi L; Ramparsad, SUnderstanding and clarifying the critical success factors (CSFs) that either support or inhibit the sustainable adoption of technological solutions, is required to improve the maturity of change leadership in the South African mining industry’s (SAMI) modernisation journey. Technology is seen as an enabler for solving the everyday problems of multiple stakeholders within the mining value chain. Previous work has been conducted in the Successful Application of Technologies Centred Around People (SATCAP) programme of the Mandela Mining Precinct and at the Gordon Institute of Business Science towards demystifying these CSFs, which leads to the successful design, selection and diffusion of technologies within the context of modernisation. The technologies deployed in the SAMI’s operations must be purposeful and ready to serve the industry’s multiple stakeholders’ needs and realities. The diffusion process should be people-centric, facilitating upskilling and reskilling, as skills transformation is required for the sustainable adoption of technological solutions. Mature change leadership is needed and practised intentionally and systemically; this approach will ensure that the diffused technologies achieve their purpose, namely value creation. Considering the CSFs within a people-centric change approach will accelerate the SAMI’s modernisation journey, and leverage technology as an enabler of change. The sustainable adoption and diffusion of purposeful technologies as the means will accelerate the SAMI’s various stakeholders into a modernised world of work.Item Design and implementation of BlockAPI - a blockchain-as-a-service platform(2025-05) Kanjere, Julian; Ford, MerrylOrganisations wishing to leverage blockchain technology’s (BCTs) in their value chain processes are often deterred by the high costs to build and maintain blockchain-based solutions and infrastructure, and a lack of both organisational technical know-how and buy in from management. To remedy this, we develop BlockAPI, a lightweight Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform, primarily for use in multi-stakeholder environments that required trusted data. BlockAPI BaaS exposes access-controlled application programming interface (API) endpoints for organisations to send data to and verify data on a blockchain network. The BlockAPI BaaS platform is used by applications in logistics, manufacturing, farming and financial services, and enables these use cases to easily and cost-effectively integrate blockchain technology as a trust registry in their SC processes and existing business systems, thereby lowering the cost and technical know-how barriers to BCT adoption in the process. Future work includes adding support for minting non-fungible tokens and conducting a robust performance evaluation.Item Assessing changes in the hydrological regime of lacustrine wetlands in the Maputaland Coastal Plain, South Africa (2024)(2024-08) Ndlovu, N; Van Deventer, Heidi; Hansen, C; Landman, WAssessing changes in the hydrological regime of lacustrine wetlands in the Maputaland Coastal Plain, South Africa.Item Sentinel 2 user-relevant water quality monitoring in small southern African water bodies (SWAM_ZA_GB)(2025-06) Smith, Maire E; Jiang, D; Spyrakos, E; Pillay, HSentinel 2 user-relevant water quality monitoring in small southern African water bodies (SWAM_ZA_GB).Item Estimating Green and Teal carbon stocks across the Gauteng Province of South Africa using a multi-source remote sensing approach(2024-09) Naidoo, L; Main, R; Van Deventer, HeidiEstimating Green and Teal carbon stocks across the Gauteng Province of South Africa using a multi-source remote sensing approach.Item Monitoring changes in the extent of lacustrine wetlands of Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa(2024-08) Van Deventer, HeidiMonitoring changes in the extent of lacustrine wetlands of Eswatini, Lesotho and South Africa.Item Primary production in upwelling systems(2025-06) Groom, S; Jönsson, B , B; Kulk, G; Sathyendranath, S; Tilstone, T; Jackson, T; Land, P; Hockley, K; Whittle, Christo P; Smith, Marie EThis presentation focuses on primary production in upwelling systems.Item Balancing innovation and data residency- A case study of a financial institution in Southern Africa(2025-05) Mjoli, P; Eloff, JHP; Dlamini, Thandokuhle MThis paper proposes a Shared Responsibility Model to address South Africa’s data localization requirements in the financial sector, illustrated through a case study of DigiBankSA. With the POPIA and the National Cloud and Data Policy mandating data residency, this model divides security and compliance roles between cloud providers (AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft Azure) and financial institutions to ensure adherence while unlocking cloud capabilities. DigiBankSA benefits from storing sensitive customer data within South African borders while utilizing global cloud services for advanced analytics, scalability, and cost efficiency. Additionally, the model aligns with the African Union’s Malabo Convention, promoting secure cross-border data flows across African nations, fostering regional cooperation, and enhancing DigiBankSA’s data protection strategies. This shared model provides a balanced approach to data localization and cloud utility, positioning DigiBankSA for growth while maintaining regulatory compliance. Future work will refine implementation guidelines and explore secure, regulated, cross-border data flow strategies.Item DLT-Based approach for secure and cyber resilient resource-constrained IoT devices: A survey on recent advances(2025-04) Mthethwa, Sthembile N; Dlamini, Thandokuhle M; Jembere, EDistributed Ledger Technologies (DLTs) are advancing various fields such as the financial sector, supply chain management, Internet of Things (IoTs), etc. Through its characteristics, DLTs have the potential to solve some of the challenges encountered by IoT devices as the number of connected devices continues to grow tremendously. These characteristics includes but not limited to decentralisation, traceability, security, transparency, immutability, non-repudiation, etc. There has been an increase in the body of knowledge in relation to the convergence of DLTs and IoTs. This paper examines how DLTs can enhance the security of resource-constrained IoT devices, which have limitations that prevent the implementation of traditional security measures like encryption due to size and computational power. This paper consolidates existing research by comparing techniques, technologies used, and results achieved over the years. Finally, the research identifies knowledge gaps for future exploration.