aron kondoro

The adoption and use of various eLearning systems to enhance the quality of education in secondary schools in Tanzania is becoming common. However, there is little evidence to suggest that students are actually use them. Existing studies tend to focused on investigating students’ attitude towards using these systems through surveys. Nonetheless, data from surveys is normally subject to the possibility of distortion, low reliability, and rarely indicate the causal effects. This study adopted WEKA and Keel as data mining tools to analyze students’ usage patterns and trends using 6,8827 individual records from log file of Halostudy system implemented in secondary schools in Tanzania. The study found that the system usage is moderate and, in the decline. There is also variability in the usage of multimedia elements with biology having the highest number while mathematics had the lowest. Students from Dar es Salaam, Mwanza, and Arusha in that order had the highest system usage with the l...

Access to clean and reliable electric power is still a challenge for many local communities in developing countries. Smart micro-grids are one of the new practical solutions that can take advantage of locally available resources to satisfy the energy demands of these communities. They are local low-voltage autonomous power system that consist of renewable power sources, storage systems, and a set of local loads. One of the main challenges in realizing these micro-grids is a robust, ubiquitous and reliable information and communication infrastructure for the control, coordination and monitoring of the power generation and distribution process. The emergence of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies provide a key set of tools to solve this challenge. They facilitate the integration of computational and communication capabilities within power system components. However, integrating these technologies in micro-grids is still a challenge due to stringent security, reliability, and performance requirements of power systems. In this thesis, we develop a security enhanced communication system for IoT based micro-grids that provides comprehensive security services of confidentiality, availability, integrity, and privacy that can be implemented in a resource constrained environment while satisfying the reliability and performance requirements of micro-grid functions. We utilize fog-based communication architectures to reduce latency of data exchanges and improve the efficiency of the communication process. We use security extensions of standard IoT communication protocols to implement a lightweight and performance-aware security system. First, we analyze how the integration of IoT in power systems introduces security vulnerabilities in the power generation and distribution process. We develop a simulation model that is used to evaluate the impact of security attacks on different parts of a power system. Using the model, we demonstrate several attack scenarios that can lead to theft of power, loss of privacy, and power outage. This information is used to determine the security requirements for the new system. Then, we build a lab-scale hardware based micro-grid communication system prototype and demonstrate the performance limitations of existing IoT communication security standards. We show that existing standards do not scale and fail to meet the timing requirements for microgrid protection and control operations. We propose new communication specifications and modifications needed to pass the standard power system requirements. Finally, using the security requirements and communication specifications, we develop a secure IoT based communication system that provides encryption, integrity, privacy, and authentication features with minimal impact to performance. We implement and evaluate the design on the lab-scale hardware prototype. We show how the system can support micro-grid protection, control and monitoring using secure communication channels without exceeding the required performance limitations.Tillgång till ren och pålitlig elkraft är fortfarande en utmaning för många lokala samhällen i utvecklingsländerna. Smarta mikronät är en av de nya praktiskalösningarna som kan dra nytta av lokalt tillgängliga resurser för att tillgodoseenergikraven i dessa samhällen. De är lokala lågspännings autonoma kraftsystemsom består av förnybara kraftkällor, lagringssystem och en uppsättning lokalalaster. En av de viktigaste utmaningarna för att förverkliga dessa mikronät är enrobust, allestädes närvarande och tillförlitlig informations- och kommunikationsinfrastruktur för kontroll, samordning och övervakning av kraftproduktions- ochdistributionsprocessen. Framväxten av Internet of Things (IoT) -teknologier ger enviktig uppsättning verktyg för att lösa denna utmaning. De underlättar integrationen av beräknings- och kommunikationsfunktioner i kraftsystemkomponenter. Attintegrera dessa teknologier i mikronät är dock fortfarande en utmaning på grundav stränga säkerhets-, tillförlitlighet- och prestandakrav för kraftsystem.I den här avhandlingen utvecklar vi ett säkerhetsförbättrat kommunikationssystem för IoT-baserade mikronät som tillhandahåller omfattande säkerhetstjänster avkonfidentialitet, tillgänglighet, integritet och integritet som kan implementeras ien resursbegränsad miljö samtidigt som tillförlitligheten och prestandakraven förmikro- rutnätfunktioner. Vi använder dimbaserade kommunikationsarkitekturer föratt minska latens för datautbyte och förbättra effektiviteten i kommunikationsprocessen. Vi använder säkerhetsförlängningar av standard IoT-kommunikationsprotokollför att implementera ett lätt och prestationsmedvetet säkerhetssystem.Först analyserar vi hur integrationen av IoT i kraftsystem introducerar säkerhetsproblem i kraftproduktions- och distributionsprocessen. Vi utvecklar ensimuleringsmodell som används för att utvärdera effekterna av säkerhetsattacker på olika delar av ett kraftsystem. Med hjälp av modellen…

Sub-Saharan Africa is described as the second fastest<br> growing in mobile phone penetration in the world more than in the<br> United States or the European Union. Mobile phones have been used<br> to provide a lot of opportunities to improve people's lives in the<br> region such as in banking, marketing, entertainment, and paying for<br> various bills such as water, TV, and electricity. However, the<br> potential of mobile phones to enhance teaching and learning has not<br> been explored. This study presents an experience of developing and<br> delivering SMS based quiz questions used to assess mastery of<br> subject content knowledge of science and mathematics secondary<br> school teachers in Tanzania. The SMS quizzes were used as a follow<br> up support mechanism to 500 teachers who participated in a project<br> to upgrade subject content knowledge of teachers in science and<br> mathematics subjects ...

Smart micro-grids are one of the new potential solutions that have been proposed to solve the challenge of access to reliable electric power, especially for off-grid rural communities, in developing countries. In order to realize these micro-grids, one of the main challenges is a robust and reliable communication infrastructure, to enable different components in the power system to communicate with each other, and allow for smart control and management algorithms to efficiently manage the power distribution process, securely and autonomously. Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can be used to solve this challenge. However, these technologies are still immature and have numerous security vulnerabilities. Thus, the main focus of this research is to develop a security system for a smart microgrid that can be implemented in an IoT based ICT infrastructure, that will support a smart 48V DC solar-driven micro-grid for an off-grid community.

The integration of Information and Communication Technologies in the power grid has given rise to new applications such as Advanced Metering Infrastructure. However, these technologies have also exposed the grid to new forms of security attacks. It is challenging to analyse and find solutions for these attacks due to the complexity of the grid system. There is a need of simple mechanisms to model and study the security implications of new power applications. This paper introduces a simulation model to evaluate the impact of security attacks on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure of a microgrid. The model is evaluated by demonstrating three security attack scenarios which lead to theft of power theft, privacy loss, and power outage.

The smart grid is a new revolution in the energy sector in which information and communication system is integrated within the conventional electric power generation and distribution system. A key component of this system is the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), which enables two-way communication between consumer and utility company via a smart meter. In the smart home energy management system (SHEMS), the smart meter is commissioned to monitor, control, trade, and log the energy consumption. Due to the diversification of the appliances in SHEMS, manufactured by different vendors with uncommon standards and deregulation of the communication protocol, then applications and devices in SHEMS become difficult to interoperate. With IoT invention, the smart meter should be able to address the heterogeneity issues. This paper propose an IoT smart meter architecture that addresses the heterogeneity problem in SHEMS by making use of middleware platform which solves interoperability problem in any IoT scenarios. A prototype system using Raspberry Pi and Kaa IoT middleware is reported.

Smart micro-grids are low voltage autonomous power systems that integrate information and communication technologies with electrical energy systems. In order to realize this, it is important to find the optimal configuration of components that will result in the most efficient and sustainable DC micro-grid. To facilitate this analysis, a number of modeling and simulation tools for power systems have been proposed. However, in practice, these tools differ widely in the features they provide and the implementation approach. In this paper, we compare the strength and weakness of four popular simulation tools for power systems: Anylogic, Repast, GridLAB-D and RAPSim. We propose a simplified model of a Photovoltaic (PV) panel for smart micro-grid which is implemented in all tools. We determine the strength and weaknesses of each tool based on ease of implementation, accuracy of the final model, and the ability to view results. We also recommend further improvements for existing tools.

Smart-grid is a complex system that incorporates distributed control, communication, optimization, and management functions in addition to the legacy functions such as generation, storage, and control. The design and test of new smart-grid algorithms require an efficient simulator. Agent-based simulation platforms are the most popular tools that work well in the control and monitoring functionalities of the power electric network such as the microgrid. Most existing simulation tools necessitate either simulated or static data. In this paper, we propose a hardware-in-loop simulator for de-microgrid. The simulator reads the power generated by the PV panels and the battery SoC using Raspberry PI. A physical agent that runs on Raspberry PI sends the real-time data to a de-microgrid simulator that runs on a PC. As a proof of concept, we implemented a load-shedding algorithm using the proposed system.

Use case to design, implement, demonstrate, test and validate an autonomous solar-powered LVDC nanogrid prototype, serving an off-grid community of 10-100 households that can also be integrated in a higher voltage AC/DC grid if needed, as part of of a bigger strategy to ensure access to reliable and affordable electrical power supply to all communities. (especially rural). Presentation done on Summer Hackfest at Catania,Italy on 6/7/2016

The government of Tanzania has been embracing information systems specifically websites to enlarge access to government services, lower administrative costs, and to increase public participation in decision making. As a result, almost every ministry, department, and agency (MDA) has developed a unique website. However, most of existing websites were developed without sufficiently considering users’ needs which indicates that they do have some usability and accessibility problems. This study used the SortSite tool to evaluate accessibility and usability of government websites taking a sample of 22 websites. The report from the SortSite tool was then checked against the W3 WCAG accessibility standards and Section 508 guidelines, and usability issues based on the US Federal (Usability.gov) guidelines. The results show that most of websites have many accessibility and usability problems that hinder citizens from using them. This study provides recommendations on how to improve usability...

The research projects in ICT need to embrace new dimensions. Traditionally, research group work in an isolated manner and is conducted in a purely academic way. This type of research is outdated and needs to be more innovative, engaging and address societal challenges from the local perspective. Quadruple-helix model is a concept that ties together government, academia, industry, and society to promote innovation in education. Challenge drive education is a graduate course that aims to solve societal problems in the quadruple-helix model. This paper summarizes the key idea of challenge driven education to design an intelligent dc microgrid for rural areas of Tanzania.

Parking management system is vital in modern cities as it reduces traf?c-related air pollution, increases the pro?tability for companies who are managing parking spaces, etc. In this paper, we propose an IoT based parking management solution. The system is composed of a magnetoresistive sensor for car detection and a gateway for delivering the occupancy status of the parking slots to the end-user. A secure prototype system using Arduino and Zigbee module has been built as a proof of concept. The results show that our system is very reliable and can be used to classify car models.

The availability of secure, efficient, and reliable communication systems is critical for the successful deployment and operations of new power systems such as microgrids. These systems provide a platform for implementing intelligent and autonomous algorithms that improve the power control process. However, building a secure communication system for microgrid purposes that is also efficient and reliable remains a challenge. Conventional security mechanisms introduce extra processing steps that affect performance by increasing the latency of microgrid communication beyond acceptable limits. They also do not scale well and can impact the reliability of power operations as the size of a microgrid grows. This paper proposes a low latency secure communication architecture for control operations in an islanded IoT-based microgrid that solves these problems. The architecture provides a secure platform that optimises the standard CoAP/DTLS implementation to reduce communication latency. It ...

Smart grid is a new revolution in the energy sector in which the aging utility grid will be replaced with a grid that supports two-way communication between customers and the utility company. There are two popular smart-grid reference architectures. NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology) has drafted a reference architecture in which seven domains and actors have been identified. The second reference architecture is elaborated by ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute), which is an extension of the NIST model where a new domain named distributed energy resources has been added. This chapter aims at identifying the use of IoT and IoT-enabled technologies in the design of a secure smart grid using the ETSI reference model. Based on the discussion and analysis in the chapter, the authors offer two collaborative and development frameworks. One framework draws parallels' between IoT and smart grids and the second one between smart grids and edge computin...

The application of Internet-of-Things (IoT) technology in microgrid has converted them into intelligent and efficient systems and facilitated new applications such as smart metering. However, the introduction of these technologies have opened up new opportunities for security attacks that can destabilize the control operation of the power system. In this paper we consider a solar powered IoT-enabled DC microgrid and propose a new design that enhances the security of the communication using TLS 1.3 integrated version of MQTT (Secure-MQTT). We evaluate the design using a hardware based prototype. Results show the design provides communication encryption, integrity, and authentication with minimal impact to performance.

This article describes a framework for load shedding techniques using dynamic pricing and multi-agent system. The islanded microgrid uses solar panels and battery energy management system as a source of energy to serve remote communities who have no access to the grid with a randomized type of power in terms of individual load. The generated framework includes modeling of solar panels, battery storage and loads to optimize the energy usage and reduce the electricity bills. In this work, the loads are classified as critical and non-critical. The agents are designed in a decentralized manner, which includes solar agent, storage agent and load agent. The load shedding experiment of the framework is mapped with the manual operation done at Kisiju village, Pwani, Tanzania. Experiment results show that the use of pricing factor as a demand response makes the microgrid sustainable as it manages to control and monitor its supply and demand, hence, the load being capable of shedding its own ...

The smart grid is a new paradigm that aims to modernize the legacy power grid. It is based on the integration of ICT technologies, embedded system, sensors, renewable energy and advanced algorithms for management and optimization. The smart grid is a system of systems in which communication technology plays a vital role. Safe operations of the smart grid need a careful design of the communication protocols, cryptographic schemes, and computing technology. In this article, the authors describe current communication technologies, recently proposed algorithms, protocols, and architectures for securing smart grid communication network. They analyzed in a unifying approach the three principles pillars of smart-gird: Sensors, communication technologies, and security. Finally, the authors elaborate open issues in the smart-grid communication network