Abstract The use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) applications in conducting monetary transactions is an unsafe and slow means of payment. Research has shown that USSD applications utilize outdated encryption techniques, which make it susceptible to hackers during data transmission; they are unreliable and have long processes before payment is conducted. This study aims to explore how Near Field Communication (NFC) technology can be used to conduct payments. Comparing the two...
Abstract An analysis report compiled by the OSHA lists eighty-eight (88) window cleaning accidents over the past 15 years of which sixty-two (62) resulted in fatalities [1]. Despite these statistics and the potential for injuries and deaths, the industry considers these numbers to be artificially low. Window cleaning is still not effectively regulated, and numerous people undertake this activity in a way that endangers both themselves and the public. This project aims at removing the human co...
Abstract As the world keeps evolving, the demand for electricity increases. The growing energy consumption leads to higher cost that many people, especially in Ghanaian rural areas, cannot afford. Thus, considering this, this paper focuses on designing a Stirling engine to pump water in homes. In order to contribute to the use of renewable energy with a low carbon footprint, concentrated solar energy will be used to power this system once it is implemented. As such this, source of power was c...
Abstract Solar Energy is the fastest growing renewable energy source in the world. The soaring production and the significant technological breakthrough of solar energy in certain countries like China and India has brought about a drastic reduction in the cost of its exploitation. Today, the price of solar PV panels in China has declined by as much as 50%. Despite this immense progress in the solar energy industry, the question of how solar energy has evolved in Ghana and Africa at large, rem...
Abstract This paper describes the design and fabrication of an epileptic seizure detection watch for the timely detection of Generalized Tonic-Clonic (GTC) seizures; using skin conductance (SC) signals. The watch’s circuit was designed in EasyEDA and implemented on a Breadboard to showcase the dispatch of a seizure event alert to a phone via a Bluetooth module; in the event of an ongoing seizure and vice versa. Due to the unavailability of SC signal databases, Electroencephalography (EEG) s...
Abstract In the off-grid communities in Ghana, most people depend on solar energy for electricity [1]. Some also depend on torch lights, candle lights or kerosene lamps to meet their lighting needs [2]. These lamps come with their own pros and cons. The solar lamps for instance, do not last for the entire night when in full usage though they are the cleanest of all. And since they are solar dependent, they become useless when there is no sun shine [3]. Hence, on the event of these solar lamps...
Abstract Gari is a very important staple food made from cassava and is eaten in many parts of Africa. Gari has a granular nature and may contain different sizes of grains ranging from as small as 1 mm to as large as 6 mm. Depending on where and how gari is going to be eaten, specific particle sizes are desirable. The market value of gari is therefore reduced if a given sample to be bought has different grain sizes mixed together. To correct this, gari is often sieved into varying particle siz...
Abstract Traffic management systems at road intersections of most African cities is based on fixed timings where equal length of green light is assigned to each lane at the intersection. This method of traffic management is inefficient because it causes unnecessarily long waiting times for vehicles at the intersections especially during periods when some lanes have few or no vehicles passing through them. In this project, an affordable density based traffic management system is designed and i...
Abstract Electronic devices comprising of non-linear components (diodes, transistors, transformers, etc.) produce some number of harmonics in our power systems creating various voltage distortions [7]. As a result, several technical problems may arise for the device such as overheating and damage to sensitive equipment which would most likely lead to lifetime reduction to the customer’s devices. To reduce the likelihood of these undesired happenings, this project seeks to develop a digital...
Abstract Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) is a branch of Machine Learning that has seen recent widespread adoption for solving computational problems that seem impractical to solve with traditional algorithmic approaches. ANNs have achieved high accuracy on tasks such as facial recognition, object detection and speech recognition. And recently, ANNs have also seen applications in embedded systems, where it has been used to train robots to learn from their environment and cameras to detect fa...
Abstract Working adults and university students find it difficult to complete their laundry in a day because of the unpredictable weather conditions in the tropics of West Africa. There are existing drying machines, but these machines are either not smart or they are hard to install and maintain and they cause easy damage to the clothes. In comparison to the United States where electric drying is mostly used, about 16 billion kW is consumed per year or 5.8% of the whole resident electricity c...
Abstract Travelers without prior information about the bus they are waiting, often waste time at bus stations which affects their day activity plan. GPS receivers are used to address this problem by providing real-time about the location of the bus, however, it is quite expensive and power consuming to use and every bus needs to have a GSM/GPRS module to be able to send the information to the internet. This project suggests a low-cost and less power consuming approach of using LoRa technology...
Аbstrаct Іmprοvіng еnеrgy еffіcіеncy іs bеcοmіng іncrеаsіngly crіtіcаl tο rеducе thе еnеrgy cοnsumptіοn аnd tο sοlvе thе еnvіrοnmеntаl crіsіs. Thе fοllοwіng cаpstοnе rеpοrt dеscrіbеs а mіxеd-іntеgеr lіnеаr prοgrаmmіng οptіmіzаtіοn аlgοrіthm tο mіnіmіzе thе pеаk dеmаnd аt thе mіcrο grіd lеvеl аnd tο rеducе thе cοst functіοn іn а smаrt hοmе еnvіrοnmеnt. Thе οptіmіzаtіοn mеthοds...
Abstract Compound housing is a housing arrangement that stemmed from cultural family living settings. Over the years, it has evolved to denote a group of different households that share a number of utilities including electricity. Electricity bills and payments are a concern in such living units due to the inability to split bills fairly. Previous work done to solve this are either expensive, or do not take into consideration the complexity of electricity connections in such houses. This thes...
Abstract Location-based services have become very popular globally and with the increasing rate in car theft in Ghana, it is necessary that such services be implemented. Vehicle tracking is an application of the Internet of Things (IoT) proposed in aiding in the recovery of stolen vehicles. This thesis presents a detailed description of the development of a lowcost real-time GPS/GSM vehicle tracking system based on an Arduino Uno board. The system uses GPS services in determining the location...