Conceptual Framework of Community Based Location Specific Services for Improved Service Delivery

Community Based Location Service (CBLS) is the provision of information about services based on the geographical location of subscriber’s mobile phone towards the development of the community they are in. With the increase in mobile phones penetration, citizens can participate actively in providing relevant information to assist in the provision of services and infrastructure in the country through their mobile devices. This paper proposes a framework that will improve services and provide better infrastructure to developing countries. It hinges on four major technologies: location-based information, crowdsourcing, mobile communication devices and volunteerism. This framework takes into consideration the importance of motivating the crowd to participate in the crowdsourcing platform. Therefore the paper further investigates the willingness of the crowd to participate in the proposed CBLS crowdsourcing drive. The survey carried out indicates that 89% of the respondents want such location-based community services while 84% are willing to participate in CBLS once deployed. Services of great importance to the respondents are electricity and education while the major motivational factor for them is their ability to solve the problems and challenges in their community and also a sense of responsibility. Three prototypes mobile applications on the proposed CBLS platform are also presented

Towards the deployment and adoption of Location-based services for optimal mobile communication operations in Africa

Africa is the world’s second largest and second most populous continent with about one billion people. Mobile phones are a major source of communication and means of taking information and technology to rural and remote areas of the continent. With low-cost and readily available mobile phones, underprivileged, low-income earners and rural dwellers can also participate in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) revolution. Services are introduced by mobile operators and vendors to enhance and optimize this mobile evolution. One of such service is location-based services (LBS); LBS make available personalized services based on the geographical location of the subscriber’s phone. LBS will be of great technological advantage in Africa optimizing operators’ networks and bringing location information and services closer to the people. This paper offers some suggestions on effective deployment and adoption of LBS in Africa based on case studies from developed and developing countries

Analyses of location-based services in Africa and investigating methods of improving its accuracy

The subject area of this thesis analyses the provision of location-based services (LBS) in Africa and seeks methods of improving their positional accuracy. The motivation behind this work is based on the fact that mobile technology is the only modern form of information and communication technology available to most people in Africa. Therefore all services that can be offered on the mobile network should be harnessed and LBS are one of these services. This research work is novel and is the first critical analysis carried out on LBS in Africa; therefore it had to be carried out in phases. A study was first carried out to analyse the provision of LBS in Africa. It was discovered that Africa definitely lags much of the World in the provision of LBS to its mobile subscribers; only a few LBS are available and these are not adapted to the needs of the African people. A field data empirical investigation was carried out in South Africa to evaluate the performance of LBS provided. Data collected indicated that the LBS provided is not dependable due to the inaccuracy introduced by two major factors - the positioning method and the data content provided. Analyzing methods to improve the positional accuracy proved quite challenging because Africa being one of the poorest continents has most mobile subscribers using basic mobile phones. Consequently, LBS often cannot be provided in Africa based on the capability of the mobile phones but rather on the capability of the mobile operator’s infrastructure. However, provision of LBS using the network-based positioning technologies poses the challenge of dynamically varying error sources which affects its accuracy. The effect of some error sources on network-based positioning technologies were analysed and a model developed to investigate the feasibility of making the RSS-based geometric positioning technologies error aware. Major consideration is given to the geometry of the BSs whose measurements are used for position estimation. Results indicated that it is feasible to improve location information in Africa not just by improving the positioning algorithms but also by using improved prediction algorithms, incorporating up-to-date geographical information and hybrid technologies. It was also confirmed that although errors are introduced due to location estimation methods, it is impossible to model the error and make it applicable for all algorithms and all location estimations. This is because the errors are dynamically varying and unpredictable for every measurement

Survey on Wi-Fi and Cellular Communication Technology for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in a Developing Economy

Traditional energy meters have suffered from a lack of automated analysis and inaccuracy in reading energy consumption, which has brought about smart metering systems. Developing economies such as in Africa. still experience a setback in electricity monitoring and load distribution because of existing traditional meter systems in use. Communication technologies play an important role to improve the monitoring of energy consumption and ensure a road map toward a smart grid. This paper reviews communication technologies used for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) emphasizing Wi-Fi and Cellular technologies. Metrics used to evaluate their performance include cost, energy efficiency, coverage, deployment, latency, payload, and scalability. The review presents a benchmark for research on AMI communication technologies in developing economies. When adopted, the expected AMI benefits are reduced energy theft, cost efficiency, real-time analysis, security, and safety of energy supply in developing economies

Smart Grid Systems in Nigeria: Prospects, Issues, Challenges and Way Forward

The ability of the power system to deliver to its consumer electrical energy at an expected level of reliability is correlated with the economic development of a country. The Nigerian power system faces many challenges, varying from overdue infrastructure maintenance, obsolete tools and appliances, insufficient electricity supply, corruption, etc. A gradual shift from manual to smart digital technologies include; smart metering, distributed generation (renewable energy and microgrid), and management using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools. In response, research, investments, and upgrade to the power sector are fundamental. This paper discusses and analyses the various smart grid technologies utilised in the Nigerian power system with their effects, impacts, deployment, and integration into the traditional Nigerian power grid. Also discussed are issues and challenges of smart grid deployment and ways of mitigating these challenges

Heterogeneous LoRaWan Deployment for Application Dependent IOT Networks

In this study, we present an application-dependent heterogeneous LoRa network. Previous studies on LoRaWAN and particularly studies that rely on the use of adaptive data rate to optimize the performance of the network are based purely on the path loss of the nodes in the network with the assumption that all nodes in the network have similar requirements in terms of data rate and latency. In a real-life full-scale deployment, this is unlikely to be the case as the current LoRaWAN deployment trend shows that practical implementations are service-based. This approach means that critical applications will suffer reliability issues since they will have to compete with non-critical services for the same resources. To address this problem, we propose a heterogeneous LoRaWAN that is capable of providing support for applications ranging from delay-tolerant to delay intolerant with improved reliability through preferential transmission parameter allocation. Our study shows that this approach can increase the probability of successful uplink transmission of the critical applications by up to 44 percent and for transmitting nodes within a 3 km radius of the gateway, heterogeneous LoRaWAN possesses a 20 percent higher uplink packet delivery rate in comparison with the homogeneous network at the cost of slightly higher energy consumption

Temperature Variation Effect on a Rectangular Microstrip Patch Antenna

A novel hypothesis is proposed for the radiation pattern of a Rec-tangular Microstrip Patch Antenna sensitive to temperature variations from the ideal room temperature tolerance under which it was manufactured. In order to validate this hypothetical model, equations relating the resonating frequency, patch length and dielectric constant of the antenna to variations from the room temperature were improved. Simulations were carried out to validate the hypoth-esis in the drifts in ambient temperature effects on dimensions of the patch an-tenna and its field radiation patterns; including its directivity, power pattern, max-imum radiation in the electric-field plane