You are on page 1of 28

The Student

Editor in Chief
EDITORIAL BOARD
Obiko Edward
Obiko Edward
I am indeed hon- which have proven too many to document in
Editor in chief oured to present this issue. Find out what happened at the IEEE
this bonus issue of Engineering Students’ Exhibition in the ESA
Eyinda Samuel
Managing Editor The Student Engi- News round-up and read about some of the
neer. On behalf of Fourth-term tours on Page 22. Do you live the
Angela Hiuhu
Editorial Team
the Engineering Buttefly Lifestyle? Find out on page 12. Still on
Students’ Associa- the lifestyle revolutions through the Telecom’s
Loise Mbaria tion, I would like to industry you can read on Google Earth’s Power
Editor Team
welcome on board of Place in our GeoSpatial Feature.
Ritah Laibuta Nkatha the Engineering
Editorial Team
fraternity the freshman year of 2008/09 and I would like to extend our gratitude to all who
Ochilo David wish them the pleasant scholarly experience contributed to the realization of this second
Editorial Team as we have had thus far. quarterly issue, first of all to the Engineering
David Nyagah Students Association and its Executive. Spe-
Graphic Designer In this issue take a look at the Telecommuni- cial thanks to Eng. A. A. McCorkindale and our
cations industry in Kenya and the morphosis sponsors for their unwavering support. Finally
ESA EXECUTIVE 2007-2008 that has and will continue to affect our lives I would like to congratulate you, the Student
CHAIRMAN first of all as wananchi and it goes without Engineer, for your overwhelming support, en-
Obonyo Cedric mention, as Engineers. Development is futile couragement and feedback that has brought
VICE CHAIRMAN
without guaranteeing its sustainability, thus The Student Engineer to life.
Ismael Bett we also focus on Telecom’s with regard to
this year’s theme which has been renewable As usual we welcome any feedback from our
SECRETARY GENERAL
Mbari Muchiri
sources of energy. readers so that you can participate in improv-
ing this quarterly digest.
TREASURER The July-October holiday has been an event
Lilian Kamanja filled break with engineering students tak- Have an eventful semester.
PUBLICITY SECRETARY ing part in numerous events and activities
Nyakiongora George

ACADEMIC AFFAIRS SEC In this Issue


Njuguna James
PROFILE Interview with Dr. Kai wulff
VICE ACADEMIC AFFAIRS SEC (MD Kenya Data Networks)
Abira Nancy
4
SOCIAL AFFAIRS SEC NEWS Ericsson Innovation Centre
Esther Ndeti De Uitviders - A project by Hugo Vrijdag
6
A journal of the ‘Engineering Students Association’.
C/O the Dean, ESA News - New ESA Team sworn in
School of Engineering. 7
University of Nairobi
P.O Box 30197, Nairobi
FEATURE Telecommunication in Kenya
studentengineer@ymail.com 9 Dr. Kai Uwe Wulff Page 4

+254724517177 EDITORIAL Butterfly Lifestyle


Feedback and correspondence should be 12
addressed to the editorial board. Views ex- PROJECT REVIEW Select Review of IEEE Exhibition
pressed in this journal are those of the writ- 24
ers and do not necessarily reflect those of
the association. REGULARS
©copyright: Reproduction of any article in part or in
Your Say 3 Electrical 14
full is strictly prohibited without written permission Engineering Woman 5 Civil 15
from the Engineering Students’ Association.
Around and About 19 Mechanical 16
Telecommunication Page 9
Entertainment 20 Geospatial 17
Pictorial 25 Environmental 18

“All that was once just science fiction from the


archives of ‘Star Trek’ to the special effects of ‘The
Illusionist’ has come to life through science.”
Are we far too deep in the bowels of this beast, that is, third world? page 9.
De Uitvenders Page 6

The Student Engineer 1


MESSAGES

FROM THE CHAIRMAN


My tenure in office as head of Engineering Students Associations brought with it a
lot of new challenges and hurdles that I will have to steer ESA through in due course.
This I am sure will mean having to step on the toes of many and creating friction
with a few but all for the greater good. Nonetheless, it is abundantly clear in my head
that all actions have consequences-even mine and so every decision I make for ESA
will affect the student engineer directly or indirectly one way or another. This in bold
translates to me being judged to the last degree upon the end of my tenure in office
by the student electorate who put me in office.
Engineering is pivotal to any nation and even the mighty economies of the world
will agree with this. This means Engineering training in our universities should always be geared with full throttle to
producing top notch quality engineer graduates who are capable of oiling the wheels of development more importantly
infrastructure of the nation. We have all heard of shoddy Engineering works all over the country with buildings collapsing
and roads deteriorating in less than half of their intended lifespan during construction. This is a major problem mostly
being experienced by developing nations like Kenya. It will therefore be a major milestone in the Engineering fraternity
to smash this kind of attitude and eventually make such kind of ashaming tales unheard of. This can only be achieved
through increased efforts in industrial and socio-economic training. Attachments & internships as part of industrial train-
ing is most important and socio-economic training to equip the soon to be engineers with a sense of moral responsibil-
ity for the society for them not to willingly do substandard works. All the relevant stakeholders should also incorporate
student Engineers in virtually all national development visions in all aspects like Energy and Telecommunication.
Telecommunication as a utility in Africa is of great importance with all the economic difficulty which most developing
nations face. All these nations face quite a substantial amount of economic strains caused by their own development
endeavors. New technological advancements in communication are recognized everyday all around the globe and more
importantly advancements in telecommunication go a long way in easing the pressure & bringing stability on economies
whilst them carrying out their routine duties in service provision and deliveries to their tax payers.
While keeping all this in mind it is imperative that we appreciate ESA’s mandate and role in providing a formidable and
operational link between the student engineer and the Engineering fraternity. I appreciate immensely the work done by
the editorial team in making this quarterly journal a reality. Great appreciation also goes to Eng McCorkindale and Dr. Eng.
Prof. Aduol the Principal College of Architecture and Engineering for their invaluable support. Last but definitely not least
I’d like to thank the students for giving me an opportunity to serve them. The journey has just begun but nothing to fear
as any journey always stars with a single step.
God bless ESA 2008/2009.
CedricK.Obonyo
Inbox WHERE ARE THE ENGINEERING LADIES?
Most of us will ask this question given that the ladies are hardly 15% of
the total engineering student’s population. Why is it that most engineer-
ing ladies take a back seat in this school? Are we not rightfully here
ENGINEERS RESPONSE having competed with this same men in O-Level examinations?
I would like to disagree with the writer of ‘Engineer’s challenge’ in the Why is it that we do not participate in sports, politics and exhibitions? In
July Issue on various issues. First, it’s true that this country’s development
questions largely lie on the innovative capacity of our engineers. It is the sports day the ladies were no where to be found and those who were,
however misguided to presume that the said capacity is wanting. Both were relegated to being the cheer leaders. In the Engineering political
the safaricom M-pesa service and the money maker water pump have front, don’t we have a strong female who can convince everyone (both
been recognized as some of the best innovative ideas the world over. male and female) that women are better planners, result oriented and
Any attendant of this year’s IEEE engineering students’ exhibition will that they do not give up.
agree with me that the country is overflowing with innovative ideas. I was also saddened by the fact that no lady from our school took part in
These are the very ideas that will drive this country to being a world class the IEEE engineering students’ Exhibition.
economy. This is very obvious, but the question is do we take notice? Let us indulge ourselves in scientific innovation that can be integrated by
We in the engineering fraternity would like to advise the writer and any the corporate world, private sectors and the public at large. The fact that
other like minded person to open their eyes and together we will realize we took up this course that has been over the years a preserve for the
that engineers are just a single department in a collection of many. men is commendable. But that is not enough; we must work to be felt in
Maximum output from this crucial department with no replicate from this school.
other equally crucial departments is similar to wasted effort. Gladys Kangi
Eyinda Samuel Second year, Civil and Construction Engineering.
A Student Engineer.
Send in your feedback to studentengineer@ymail.com
2 The Student Engineer
YOUR SAY

I ENGINEER
have held my tongue (and pen
for that matter) incommunicado
for too long but thank goodness

AND
the “Student Engineer “ is here
to stay. The fact that it has inaugu-
rated a new era in which it garners

THE LANGUAGE
aspectful ideas and views from the
entire student is in itself a resound-
ing come-back. This, therefore, ne-
cessitates me, first and foremost, to
take off my hat to the editorial team “BRAIN AND MOUTH FACTOR”
dreams than because of their programs and projects. We
for such a stunning stunt. Keep it up for the must, as comrade-in-arms, as a country and as a people,
job well done and welcome on board! Un- stop pretending that we do not need people of the mould
fortunately, that is where congratulations end of Titus Naikuni, Mugo Kibati, Prof. Oduol...name them.Re-
and the worries begin. member a big brain and a good mouth are not just tools
of eminence; they perform the bigger function of giving
I am the staunch believer of the truism that if communi- an engineer the desired credibility in the eyes of the global
cating is wrong , then we can’t be write(sic). Whether the community.
doctor or the engineer is the competent party to do so is
certainly open to debate. Perhaps the most worrying is So what should be done? With the help of the hindsight, I
that communication skills is spiralling out of control to its am advancing the view that our inquest is timely. by the
death-bed. But in full view of the grave nature of the mat- time the student is a freshman in college, he is expected
ter and for the intimate interest of the leadership for vision to have a working vocabulary of several thousand words,
2030, may I be exonorated for submitting that we the bud- to be able to organize ideas into coherent pattern, and
ding engineers, are poor in discourse(spoken and written present these ideas either orally or in writing. This is the
language). I know at this point you must be questioning, time for the engineering student to learn by trial and er-
what am I talking about but good people that stands out ror his best ways to communicate. Shun decisive distaste
as a fact (not opinion) according to a recent secret research. for literature books, participate in group discussions or fel-
This mediocrity has been argued for even becoming part lowships for the presentation of concepts and for gaining
of our own wont. Ardous and numeracy, time exacting, vocabulary skills, a knowledge of psychology and training
and intricate and knotty units undertaken are some of the in debate are all helpful. A conscious effort while in college
favourite excuses. Yet for sure this pretty pretexts do not to improve one’s ability to communicate verbally will make
grant engineering students any absolution. transition to work as a practising engineer after graduation
much easier.
Most student enginers like to talk still too few enjoy speak-
ing. Talking is casual, random and unrehearsed, but speak- Let us relegate this esoteric gobbledegook and “O”factor
ing requires a plan, an organization and practice. Speaking, language into the dustbin of idiocy.See this ”...naenda tao,
like writing, is an art of increasing necessity for the success- ni-take breako na luncho then ni-come daro. nitadunga ile
ful engineer; an art that he must perfect if he is to succeed shirtoo yangu ya fao so that you can ona it. I’m not panda-
in his profession and his society. In any case for any emerg- ing bu...are you shangaa-ing?” I am lost if an engineer
ing economy in any country depends heavily upon her communicated like this in a global platform. And I resign.
entreprising engineers with the ability to stiffle intelligent Magati Mophat Alphonce
3rd yr Environmental Engineering
ideas with fearless eloquent elocution. No over-thing, trust
you. “If an engineer cannot express his ideas and the results
of his endeavour to others, even though he may have the
intellect of a genius and the capability of performing the
most creative work, the benefits of his intellect and creative
abilities will be of little use to others,” so says CEng. Hinds
Elliot of Queen’s University Belfast(UK), and we all agree.

A big brain and a good mouth are symbiotically indispen-


sable for great achievement. Prominent personalities and
other men or women of means attain their stature be-
cause of their passionate, eloquent communication of their
The Student Engineer 3
ENGINEER PROFILE

Interview
Dr. Kai Wulff
MD
Kenya Data
Networks
with Edward Obiko e-mails a day) and prepare meetings if any. I try to keep
EO: Please give us a brief background of yourself. my day planned and have time to see what is happening
and keep tabs with all staff personally(at least 3-4 times a
Dr. Wulff: I am German,(chuckles...) that’s why I’m week). I usually don’t have lunch and try to go to the gym
rude... and re-cultivating my German accent. I come from 2-3 times a week.(KDN pays gym membership for all their
a very small town in South West Germany. I did my A-lev- staff). I leave the office at around 8.30pm then go home
els in a Public School in Germany and then went on to join and have dinner with my wife and sometimes my son...
the air-force where I was tasked with strategic planning if he’s awake. I check e-mails once more before going to
and was a special forces trainer for a while until my health bed.
gave in.
EO: And how do you spend your time when not work-
I had the opportunity to study a Masters in Economic Sci- ing?
ence after doing my Bachelor’s in Computer Science. I
studied Computer Science because I worked at a comput- Dr. Wulff: On weekends normally is when I have more
ers company when I was fifteen and took it over but later family time and do no appointments. I however do some
left to join the Military. After Military I went back to my work from home but call it a day at around 2pm. (He is a
company where we set up Novell Networks. (Dr. Wulff also confessed work-a-holic.) Once a year I go on holiday to see
has a commercial pilot license) my mother for about two weeks.

EO: In many forums you would be regarded as one of EO: KDN has is a young company with a rather short but
the ‘New Generation’ CEO’s. How would you describe your impressive history. Tell us something about how it all be-
leadership style? gan and how it has got here.

Dr. Wulff: I lead people to the road of self-exploita- Dr. Wulff: When I came KDN was more or less
tion. The principle of managing a successful company is to a wireless provider to allow ISP’s to connect with
make people happy. I have to make my suppliers happy, the end-user on a small scale. So we began by ask-
I have to make my employees happy, I have to make my ing where we’d want to end up and what the mar-
customers happy. If you are loyal to your suppliers and in- ket requires. This was a real infrastructure rather
volve them in your processes you grow with them. You put than doing quick fixes. So we decided on a fibre network
your employees where they want to be. My job as an em- across the whole continent with a last mile access for all the
ployer is to know my employees potential and challenge users. We found ways to convince the board and came up
them to exploit their potential. with the money to start little by little. An important thing
is to trust your people. This is how we’ve managed so far.
EO: So what is your day like?
EO: Just this morning I was glad to see that the laying of
Dr. Wulff: On a normal business day I get up at Five. Fibre Optic cables at the UoN is back on track. So how soon
I have breakfast and do a few e-mails and watch some are we going to realize the benefits of this? Are we also
CNN. I leave the house latest at 6.30 and I’m at the office going to benefit from your wireless services?
by 6.45. I then check my e-mails (he gets at least 1300
4 The Student Engineer
ENGINEERING
Woman
Dr. Wulff: UoN will get full
Butterfly(read Buttefly article on page).
We’ve been laying the foundation and
communication within the campus will
be free thus you can do Voip and share with Angela Hiuhu
information hopefully across campus-
es.

EO: Are the government and Educa-

W
tional Institutions doing enough to pre- e cannot forget the various women who did Kenya proud in the
pare for the arrival of the undersea fibre Olympics the likes of Jelimo, Lagat, and Ndereba to mention a
optic cables? few. These women toiled and ran endless miles bearing all and
sometimes harsh weather conditions. Njoki Ndungu was the first woman
Dr. Wulff: You have to view your
end-product. Apparently nobody has to aspire to be a speaker for the Kenya Parliament. True she did not make
thought to do the last mile access. it but she paved the way for any other woman aspiring to vie for the same
Where are the Engineers who are going position. These women have established their status in the society and they
to help us make use of it? What is the are respected for this. The Engineering woman should not lag behind. We
business case? The problem is nobody can bear the long hours in libraries and the hard work that comes with the
creates local content. It drives me crazy
that we host our websites abroad. At success in this field.
least we shouldn’t pay to be sold our Engineering and any other technical courses serve as a platform for both
own content. This is what KDN is en- men and women to build a strong foundation for them. Engineering is
couraging kenyans to do and we are mostly based on physics that has a mystique of its own that allows us to
laying the foundation.
do something new under the sun. Hence we have the pleasure of seeing
EO: Kenya Data Networks in collabo- our work imprint where other people will actually use it to their benefit. We
ration with ICTVillage.com and the make a little facet of creation clearer.
Youth Entreprenuership Development As we usher in the first years, the women in the respective departments of
Fund are spearheading the Digital Vil- engineering must step up to the challenge and face the competition with
lage Constituency Cluster which aims
at having a VSAT Base Station in every skins of elephants and forever overcome the ambivalence and the dimin-
constituencey. How can we as students ished self esteem felt amongst those women pursuing any technical based
and The Youth take part in this. degree. The number of men in the classes should not in any way affect our
performances because it has never been a question of brute strength. Of
Dr. Wulff: There’s ample opportu- most importance we have to believe in ourselves be assertive and take ini-
nity on different levels from franchis-
ing down to one laptop. We are trying tiative in our work.
to spread the ICT culture through small We are no longer going to accept to stay in the dark because we cannot
incubators. Everybody should have in change a bulb or be stuck on the road endless hours because we can’t change
walking distance someway to have dig- a tyre. If we do not rise to the occasion and be the best we can be, what then
italised content, access to the internet will the future generation hold to? Recently, three bold Maasai men were fea-
and multiple trading platforms. You can
participate at the end of the distribution tured in the news. These men have ventured and are succeeding in the salo-
chain (with peripheries involved eg so- nists profession something perceived to be a woman stronghold. This leaves
lar panel powering) or on the other side the question pending for engineering women. There is some predisposition
by generating mass-applications to be in the female to be responsive to people, sounds and in total communication
used by these villages and the third an- while the male have an edge on finer differentiation of the physical world.
gle would be to have a moderating role
by franchising and running these cen- Luckily enough the females hence have a command of quicker judgment of
tres. emotional nuance and further possess easier connection between feeling
and their expression in words. Needless to say women engineers place more
EO: And lastly, what is your advice to importance on being able to work with people than the men do.
Student Engineers?
Good food has been argued to be the way to a mans heart. I believe that
Dr. Wulff: Do not assume that at good communication is the way to enflourish engineering.
graduation you know what you want to The road to success is bumpier and has more pot holes than one can relate
do in life. Make maximum use of 70% to. Part of the process is just gritting our teeth when we fail. Ladies, we can
of your time and use 30% to discover shine in engineering one step at a time is all it takes. After all laboratories full
other fields and how you can be of more
use to your family, society and yourself. of men is such a bore!

The Student Engineer 5


NEWS
Ericsson Innovation Center
Ericsson announced it will establish an Innovation Center
39th GRADUATION CEREMONY
The Universoty of Nairobi held its 39th Graduation cere-
in sub-Saharan Africa to develop mobile applications
that will benefit society as a whole, but with a special fo- mony on Friday the 17th of October 2008. The University
cus on meeting the needs of poor and rural populations. of Nairobi Chancellor, Dr. Joe Wanjui,confered a Doctor
The initiative will focus on solutions in health, education,
agriculture and small business development, and is an- of Laws degree on Kofi Annan, Mwai Kibaki and Raila
other important step in Ericsson’s ongoing commitment Odinga
to support the achievement of the UN’s Millennium De-
velopment Goals. Former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
The Ericsson Innovation Center will include three appli- on whose presence and patience Kenyans pegged their
cation development hubs, in Nigeria, South Africa and
Kenya. hopes as the country stepped onto Africa’s well-trodden
The Innovation Center aims to stimulate local entrepre- path of chaos and slide to civil war after the General Elec-
neurship and business development by providing tools
for local developer communities in and around the three tion, last year was awarded this accolade with praise and
new hubs to create their own applications. The innova- gratitude from the Kenyan people.
tion center should also foster a good environment for
the creation of new small businesses throughout Africa. Among other students graduating were over three hun-
Ericsson is the world’s leading provider of technology dred students from the school of Engineering.
and services to telecom operators. The market leader in
2G and 3G mobile technologies, Ericsson supplies com-
munications services and manages networks that serve
more than 195 million subscribers.
The company’s portfolio comprises mobile and fixed
network infrastructure, and broadband and multimedia
solutions for operators, enterprises and developers. The
Sony Ericsson joint venture provides consumers with fea-
ture-rich personal mobile devices.

DE UITVINDERS
The Inventers (De Uitvinders) is a project initiated in the Netherlands
by Hugo Vridag, an Expressive Artist, Film maker. It is one of the initia-
tives through which the Technific Foundation is promoting technologi-
cal thinking among young people. He is in Kenya to pursue the project
under the auspices of ‘The Inventors come to Africa’.
The project is an inter-institutional linkage of educational institutes,
theatrical peformers and the business sector. The aim of the project is
to arouse among young people in primary and continuing education
courses an interest in working with technique(rather technology from
Dutch translation). The children play a leading role in their own adventure film in which the machines and
props they participate in creating are literally brought to life.
He has been talking to groups of interest like the Sarakasi Trust, The Waza Platform and Centurion Systems
to set initial plans for this project. You can have a look at a short clip of the first film made in the Nether-
lands at www.deuitvinders.com and Dr. Kamau Gachigi (Mechanical Engineering) if you or someone you
know would like to take part.

GSMA Launches Renewable Energy Push For


Mobile Networks
The GSM Association (GSMA) is the global trade group representing more than 750 GSM mobile
operators across 218 countries and territories of the world.
The GSMA launched the Green Power for Mobile programme with the goal of helping the mobile
industry use renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, or sustainable biofuels, to power
118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in developing countries by 2012. Achieving that
target would save up to 2.5 billion litres of diesel per annum and cut annual carbon emissions
by up to 6.3 million tonnes.
Up to now, off-grid base stations have primarily been powered by generators running on diesel
fuel, which is increasingly expensive, generates carbon dioxide emissions, and can be difficult to
transport to remote locations.
Safaricom is a leader in the use of renewable energy for networks with 30 base stations powered Safaricom’s Laisamis
by solar and wind energy. wind-powered base station
6 The Student Engineer
NEW ESA EXECUTIVE TAKES OATH OF OFFICE. by over 200 students was held at the CELT.

T he newly elected engineering students’ association offi-


cials were sworn in at the C.E.L.T. on 25th of July 2008.
The event was attended by Engineer McCorkindale the ESA
co-patron and Dr Muturi the chairman of the department of
mechanical and production engineering. The event was run
parallel with the official launch of the first edition (2008-
2009) of the student engineer journal. Also present were the
outgoing officials and members of the editorial board. The Ericsson team was made up of top management offic-
The outgoing chairman Mr. Casper Oluoch congratulated the ers including the regional manager of the sub-Saharan Africa
newly elected officials and advised them to stay alert in their and the group human resources manager. Also with them
service delivery to the students. He thanked the students for was the technical team. Students were educated on the com-
having given him a chance to serve them in the past year say- pany’s core values and informed of its plans for the country.
ing that even though he was satisfied with his performance, One of the plans was a provision of internship programs for
he believes that there is still a lot to be done in making the continuing students. The human resource manager Nadia
association a vibrant one. Cooper informed students that what her company looks out
Dr. Muturi said there was need for students to take charge in a potential employee is the desire to learn new ideas, tricks
of their own future and be responsible of their actions. He and trends. This she said was because Kenyan graduates are
declared his readiness to work with the student fraternity. short of the industry requirements. The company pledged to
He acknowledged the crucial role played by the association recruit 15 students from the graduating class of 2008.
in creating a functional link between the students and the A number of students were awarded Ericsson goodies, in-
corperate world and said the university administration was cluding T-shirts and capes, for correctly answering questions
ready to offer support to the association. posed by the day’s presenters. Josiah Habwe a fifth year stu-
Eng. McCorkindale on his part congratulated the new officials dent gave a vote of thanks on behalf of the students reiterat-
upon their election and said it was now time to prove their ing the need for maintaining a connection between the stu-
worth. He advised on the need to amend the ESA constitu- dents and the industry.
tion to allow for some continuity in the association. The cur-
rent organization he said meant that every new team started THE STUDENT ENGINEER OPENS UP ITS
from scratch neglecting any projects initiated by the outgoing BOUNDARIES.
team. He made a special recognition of the editorial board for The Student engineer editorial board has finally opened its
the wonderful job they had done on the July - September boundaries to all students in East Africa. The board has been
issue of the student engineer journal. considering this for some time and the decision was reached
In his inaugural speech, the new chairman Cedric Obonyo upon after overwhelming response was received from all cor-
pledged to work tirelessly in fulfilling the promises he had ners of the region. The board undertook an intensive distri-
made to the students. He emphasized on the need for team bution exercise of the July – September issue. This included
work and promised to be a ‘good leader’ of a ‘very strong and dropping copies libraries of Kenya’s universities and colleges,
dedicated team’. sending student copies to both Makarere and Dar es Salaam
University and supplying complimentary copies to 23 en-
ERICSSON CAREER TALK gineering /technological firms in Kenya. The board aims at
The ICT and Internet club on Wednesday 30th July 2008 or- making the student engineer the prime student journal of the
ganized a career talk by the Ericsson group for the students region. Following this, the editorial board would like to call
taking electrical & information engineering. The talk attended for articles and feedback from its readers all over east Africa.

ESA TO SUPPORT AND WORK WITH


THE IEEE KENYA STUDENT CHAPTER
Engineering Students’ Association ESA will support in all ways possible and work with the IEEE Kenya Student chapter. ESA
chairman Mr. Cedric Obonyo pledged this during the IEEE engineering students’ exhibition held at the sarit expo on September
12th and 13th. He also promised that the student engineer, starting from the October edition would preview some of the best
projects exhibited at the event. Following his pledge, a number of ESA members have already picked up positions in various
functional units of the student chapter.
The IEEE Kenya student chapter is currently composed of the committee members who in conjunction with the Centurion
Systems successfully organized this years IEEE engineering students exhibition.

The Student Engineer 7


ENGINEERING
STUDENTS’
EXHIBITION.
Abdelkareem Abdelrahman was given a nod by both judges
and the public as having exhibited the best project in the elec-
tronics category in this years IEEE engineering students’ exhi-
bition held at the sarit centre expo. The young lad from Sudan
was also named the best male engineer by way of public voting
at the two day event. Abdelkareem presented an electronics
project that used a micro controller based system to translate
deaf sign language into voice. Dorothy Wanjohi of Mombasa
polytechnic university was named the best female engineer.
This year’s event which was the largest since the first one elev-
en years ago brought together students and lecturers from east
African colleges, leaders and engineers from various companies
in the region and government representatives from the Kenyan From left: Edwin Keverenge, Abdulkareem Abdelrahman and John Ruddy Munda
after receiving their prizes
government. Among those who addressed the students at the
event was Engineer F W Ngokonyo the chairman of the institu-
tion of engineers of Kenya. The government was represented
by three Permanent Secretaries from the Ministries of Youth Af- Irene Berochan of Makarere University In the ICT category,
fairs, Industrialization, and Information and Communication. Steve Mutungi in Mobile Applications category And Dorothy
Speakers at the event emphasized on the need to embrace Wanjohi of Mombasa Polytechnic as the best female engineer.
innovation in order to achieve the millennium development The ceremony was closed after winners were awarded presents
goals and the vision 2030. This years theme was ICT and Alter- from different sponsoring co-operates.
native energy for Rural development.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by Mr. Steve smith at the Jacaranda
by Eyinda Samuel
hotel leaders of various student associations from participating
institutions made a passionate plea to the co-operate world
to aide in commercialization of the students’ innovations. The
student leaders also thanked the events’ sponsors and pleaded
for further support from all other possible quarters.
In one accord the leaders formed a student chapter of IEEE
Kenya. The group under the leadership of Kevin Kiplagat is ex-
pected to carry out a spirited campaign for innovation in uni-
versities and colleges through out the country. It is also set to
establish a trust fund under the hospice of innovator support
fund to among other activities aide in commercialization of
exhibited projects, publish the exhibition journal and secure
internships for participating and engineering students at large.
The PS for information and communication Dr. Bitange Ndemo
addressing the scholars at the event pledged his support in
setting up the trust fund.
At the closing ceremony, Dr. kevit Desai whose centurion sys-
tem was the chief organizer of the event expressed his passion
for innovation and encouraged the students to keep doing it
till they got it right. He said his commitment to the exhibi-
tion was driven by the fact that big breakthroughs are devel-
oped from innovative ideas. He promised an even larger event
in 2009 mentioning the possibility of the exhibition running
concurrent with Africon 2009. The chief guest Mr. Paul kukubo,
the chairman of the Kenya ICT board, recalled that before tak-
ing up his current job his passion was ict and electronics. He
expressed his wish that present presentation would not be the
end of all the nice ideas he had seen. Other winners included
8 The Student Engineer
FEATURE

The changing face of


TELECOMMUNICATION
in Kenya
H aving just had a chance to
watch what is set to be next
great milestone in Telecom-
munications Engineering and to
say the least, I am dumbfounded!
All that was once just science fic-
tion from the archives of ‘Star Trek’
to the special effects of ‘The Illu-
sionist’ has come to life through
science. Cisco Systems Interna-
tional has showcased their intel-
lectual might in a brilliant exposi-
tion of their ’Cisco Telepresence’
magic. This is a technology that
takes video conferencing up one
level where however someone is
able to appear to take part in a
meeting in full 3D. You can catch
the flick on YouTube, that is, if you
are lucky enough to afford the
bandwidth!

S o let’s get back to Earth, TEAMS


cable projects and will connect eight
...ahem I mean, Kenya. countries from Sudan to South Africa,
TEAMS (East Africa Marine System) is a
Are we far too deep in through Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Tan-
joint project between the Kenyan gov-
the bowels of this beast, zania, Madagascar and Mozambique.
ernment and the UAE’s Etisalat which
that is, third world? In my EASSy is a private sector-led project
will link Kenya with the UAE. The inten-
opinion, the recent series of of African operators and international
tion is for the Kenyan government and
events that are beginning carriers supported by several develop-
Etisalat to hold a 20% and 15% share
to shape the future of this ment banks. The twenty-five private
in the cable respectively. Kenya’s gov-
country, as a Technologi- telecom companies that are part of the
ernment invited neighbouring states
cal hub for the region and EASSy consortium are expected to pro-
and private investors to invest in the
indeed the Continent, may vide the rest of the financing. In March
remaining 65%. However, if they fail to
2007, Alcatel-Lucent secured a con-
just spell hope for Kenya. tract for the construction of EASSy. The
take up an offer to buy a stake in the ini-
This feature samples a few commencement of the construction
tiative, the Kenyan government is ready
of these advances in brief. of EASSy was scheduled for December
to fully fund the project. The construc-
tion of the project was also awarded
2007 and the cable should be ready for
Kenyans are eagerly waiting for the ar- to Alcatel-Lucent and its completion
commissioning in June of 2009.
rival of the undersea fibre optic cables is scheduled for the second quarter of
next year, which promise to cut band- 2009.
EASSy’s delay has primarily been caused
width costs greatly. There are four ma-
by the disputes between project par-
jor cables to watch out for.
ticipants over the ownership of the SEACOM
SEACOM is a Mauritius-based initiative
EASSY cable. It was this controversy and un-
certain future of EASSy that led to the
led by the Sithe Global Power develop-
EASSy (the Eastern African Submarine ment company, which itself is based in
emergence of other submarine cable
System) is the most widely known ca- the U.S. The submarine cable network
projects including TEAMS, SEACOM will link East Africa, South Africa, Eu-
ble project in Africa. Conceived in 2003,
and most recently UHURUNET. rope and Asia.
EASSy is the largest of Africa’s undersea
The Student Engineer 9
FEATURE
SEACOM will follow the same route as they land in Mombasa.
the East African Submarine Cable Sys-
tem (EASSY) down the eastern African ACCESS KENYA: WIMAX
seaboard, but it will connect directly Access Kenya, a VoIP and broadband
into Italy or India via VNSL. provider for corporate, SOHO and high-
On capacity, Seacom is planning much end residential customers in Kenya and
higher capacity compared to EASSy. East Africa, is investing USD3.5 million
While EASSy will initially be equipped to build out a WiMAX network in Kenya
with a capacity of 20Gbits per second with Alvarion. With an initial deploy-
and an ultimate capacity of 320 Gbits ment of 35 base stations, the network
per second, Seacom will provide 1280 is being utilised for the operator’s
Gbits per second -- four times faster Access@Home guaranteed high speed
than EASSy. It is due for completion in broadband residential service in Nai-
march 2009. robi and Mombasa. Currently the cus-
tomers are eligible for a special offer of
UHURUNET completely free equipment and a 20%
Nepad’s (New Partnership for Afri- discount on the price of the service, a
ca’s Development) UHURUNET is the rate of KES6,000 a month.
most recent addition to Africa’s fam-
ily of submarine cable projects and WANANCHI GROUP:
emerged after Nepad split from EASSy. THE BIG DISH
UHURUNET is an undersea segment Wananchi group commissioned a Engineers installing The Big Dish
of Nepad’s e-Africa Commission ICT mega satellite dish at the upper hill
Broadband Infrastructure Network. It area next to there offices at the Kenya- Fannell has welcomed the new unified
is intended to encircle the entire con- RE towers. The group is also poised to licensing structure adopted by CCK re-
tinent of Africa and connect it with the become Africa’s first provider of triple cently and says his group is one of the
rest of the world including Europe, Bra- play services. The communications first to take advantage of the friendlier
zil, India and the Middle East. Nepad dish is a 9 meter IS-601 and will enable regulatory environment obtained in
will own 30% (the single largest inves- Wananchi group greatly increase the Kenya.
tor in the company), African investors capacity to provide services to the mar-
and telecoms companies 45%, and ket. It allows the group to land the larg-
other investors 25%. As in the case of est amount of international bandwidth
SAFARICOM: ONECOM
the above projects, UHURUNET should You wouldn’t afford to talk about Ken-
at one point in Kenya – 155 Mbps. The
be available to provide communica- ya’s Telecommunications Industry wot-
company is excited about the poten-
tions for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. hout mention of Safaricom, who have
tial of the dish, with Mr. Euan Fannell,
recently acquired One Communica-
the wananchi group CEO, and Suhayl
tion Limited. One Com, incorporated in
TELECOMMUNICATION Esmailjee the chief operating Officer,
2006, offers Safaricom the technology
COMPANIES GEARING UP emphasizing how revolutionary the
and platform to deliver broader serv-
dish makes the group’s offerings.
KENYA DATA NETWORKS: Wananchi Group, formerly Wananchi
ices including WiMAX access which
TERMINATION POINT Online, becomes the second ISP after
enables internet based video, voice
Kenya Data Networks has once again and data transmission.
AccessKenya to gamble with consoli-
led the way in preparation for the It also provides an interface for man-
dation through silent acquisitions. The
udersea fibre cables due on the Ken- aged services such as data security,
group is now a combination of at least
yan Coast mid next year. It has begun disaster recovery and business con-
five ICT companies – Wananchi Online,
construction of a termination point in tinuity, a segment whose need was
Mitsumi Net, SimbaNet (both in Kenya
Mombasa. painfully brought home by the loss of
and Tanzania) and Trunking Systems.
The company, which has heavily in- enterprise resources during the post
The fifth was Lion Cable Television Net-
vested in TEAMs (The East African Ma- election violence at the beginning of
work Ltd.
rine System) submarine cable, is living the year.
Wananchi has also been busy develop-
up to its promise of being the tel- One Communication provides various
ing new products and there has been
ecommunications solutions provider data communication services includ-
a major relaunch of the internet con-
of choice through the provision of low ing Wimax services— a fixed broad-
nectivity products, aimed both at the
cost bandwidth. band wireless internet service.
home and for the corporate market.
With the infrastructure in place, KDN The acquisition came barely a week af-
The new consumer triple play brand
hopes cheap broadband will improve ter the regulator Communication Com-
is called Zuku. The company is also
education and health care through mission of Kenya CCK issued new guide-
setting up WiMax base stations in Nai-
telecommunication technologies. Af- lines on a unified Licence Framework.
robi and Mombasa, and plans to have
ter completion of the termination With the new licence, the operators
rolled out at least 100 base stations by
point, KDN hopes to carry traffic for will have the ability to offer more serv-
November 2008. Through Zuku TV, the
TEAMs, EASSy (Eastern Africa Subma- ices than they current offer without
group is targeting 300,000 homes in
rine Cable System) and SEACOM once having to pay extra licensing fee.
Nairobi and 100,000 in Mombasa. Mr.
10 The Student Engineer
One Communication has installed five According to the agreement, the val- with Ericsson, which will see the
WiMAX base stations but expects to ue is estimated at Kshs 8.9bn ($148 company make its “first call” later in
expand to other parts of the country. million) and covers equipment as October. The network rollout deal
The company is offering some limited well as supplies under the Build Op- sealed between Ericsson and the
Internet Protocol services including erate Transfer (BOT) arrangement. leading local networks solutions pro-
Internet Access and Private Internet Under the BOT element of the agree- vider sets the stage for the launch of
Protocol. ment, Ericsson will not only deploy the most advanced GSM mobile net-
the network but will train Telkom works in Kenya.
ZAIN: Kenya staff and after 18 months en- The firm’s CEO Michael Foley told a
NETWORK UPGRADE sure a progressive handing over of media briefing in Nairobi that the all-
Mobile phone network operator, Zain key network management functions round strategic partnership between
Kenya, said it was launching a US$ 45 to Telkom Kenya in order to facilitate the two companies is scheduled to
million network upgrade, mainly tar- skills transfer. have Econet launch its commercial
geting improvements in the rural areas services in November once infra-
and places where it has a high concen- In addition to the cheapest on-net structure sharing between Econet
tration of subscribers. rates of Ksh.1 per minute, Telkom and its rivals -- Zain Kenya and Safari-
Zain Kenya’s Managing Director Rene Kenya has launched brand new low com -- is finalized.
Meza said the mobile phone firm cost handsets with special features in Econet is sparing no effort or re-
was looking at improving its national the market retailing at Ksh. 1,499. This source to ensure the rollout of one of
presence in Kenya, which is currently offer is a gesture of ‘togetherness the most technically advanced GSM
available to about 85% of the national with Kenyans’ during this time when networks in this part of the world
population. energy bills and inflation figures have and the agreement with Ericsson is
At least a third of the population has sky-rocketed to unprecedented lev- the clearest sign yet that Kenya will
access to mobile phones. He said the els. definitely be welcoming them be-
mobile phone company was also look- fore Christmas.
ing at ways of increasing its internet ECONET WIRELESS: By retaining Ericsson for the network’s
communication system. LAUNCH roll out function, Econet will be join-
Zain, formerly Celtel, operates in 14 Kenya’s third mobile phone opera- ing a long list of more than 195 lead-
other African countries. In Kenya, Zain tor, Econet Wireless Kenya has signed ing network operators running on
has stepped up its marketing ac- continued partnership agreement Ericsson systems in the world.
tivities following its re-launch and
name-change. FUTURE TELECOMMUNICATION
The competition in Kenya’s radically While we’ve seen all sorts of blazing feats over fiber here lately, it’s not often
changing telecommunication industry that such wide open bandwidth gets piped directly to a home, but a 75-year
is slow ly shifting from the battle over old Swede recently changed all that when she had a 40Gbps connection in-
new subscribers for voice only to a stalled in her domicile. ‘Course, this fine dame is the mum of Swedish inter-
tough industry turf war, fought on the net legend Peter Löthberg, and she’s hoping to
platform of who has the potential to somehow “persuade internet operators to invest
operate a wider data network. in faster connections.” The trick behind the setup
Zain is however yet to challenge Sa- is a “new modulation technique which allows data
faricom on the 3G platform. Although to be transferred directly between two routers up
Safaricom has an upper hand by intro- to 2,000-kilometers apart with no intermediary
ducing this to Nairobi and Mombasa, transponders,” and just in case you’re wondering,
Zain should be in pole position to take she can download a full high-definition DVD in a
over when they upgrade their existent painstaking two seconds.
infrastructure
A submarine communications cable is a cable laid beneath the sea to carry
TELKOM ORANGE: telecommunications between countries.
ROLL OUT A cross-section of a submarine communications cable.
The stage is set for stiff competition
in the mobile telephony sector as Tel- 1. Polyethylene.
kom-Orange, the former sole fixed line 2. “Mylar” tape.
operator, rolls out its Global System for 3. Stranded steel wires.
Mobile communications (GSM) country 4. Aluminum water barrier.
5. Polycarbonate.
wide network, which is currently avail- 6. Copper or aluminum tube.
able in Nairobi and Mombasa. As part 7. Petroleum jelly.
of the preparations for the roll-out, Tel- 8. Optical fibers.
kom Kenya signed an agreement with
Ericsson, the Swedish telecommunica-
tions giant as the sole equipment sup- The optic fiber used in undersea cables is chosen for its exceptional clarity, per-
plier for its ambitious network. mitting runs of more than 100 kilometers between repeaters to minimize the
number of amplifiers and the distortion they cause.
The Student Engineer 11
EDITORIAL

BUTTERFLY
Butterfly is a lifestyle developed by Kenya Data Networks to provide an online Culture that will provide users
with the day-to-day tools to work and play using high speed wireless and fixed line connectivity both to
the internet and a local portal from Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu, Meru, Nakuru and seamlessly throughout
Kenya.
Butterfly offers triple play service (Data, Voice & Video) making it a convenient one stop communication
solution for individuals and organizations alike. KDN is currently building its Butterfly network to cover Busi-
ness, residential and recreational areas in order to provide seamless connectivity to individuals whenever and
wherever they are.
Butterfly using the less Metropolitan Area Networks technology that provides a
wireless extension to cable or last mile (last km) broadband
wireless network access. WiMAX provides up to 50 km (31 miles) of linear serv-
ice area range and allows users connectivity without a direct
Butterfly enables palmtop, Personal Digital Assistants-PDA’s,
line of sight to a base station.
notebook, laptop and stand alone desktop computers with
The technology also provides shared data rates up to 70 Mbps
Wi-Fi capability to remotely connect to the network from an-
(which is over 1250 times faster than your best dial-up link),
ywhere anytime providing users with total freedom to make
according to WiMAX proponents, is enough bandwidth to si-
any place their personal cyber-office. Butterfly’s simplicity
multaneously support more than 60 businesses with connec-
takes out all the hassles and complexities related to setting
tivity and hundreds of homes. WiMAX is referred to as “Wi-Fi
up a fixed network and in its place offers a very flexible life-
on steroids”. It has the potential to enable even more mil-
style where connectivity to the networks is as easy as ‘one
lions to access the internet wirelessly, cheaply and easily. The
click away’ from your independent computer. This service will
WiMAX wireless coverage is in square km (miles) while that
be provided through the WiMAX network when the mobile
of Wi-Fi is in the medium range. A WiMAX base station would
WiMAX is launched.
beam high-speed Internet connections to homes and busi-
Wi-Fi (or Wireless Fidelity) was intended to be used for wire-
nesses in a radius of up 50 km (30 miles); these base stations
less devices and LANs (Local Area Network) like in offices or
will eventually beam to an entire metropolitan area, making
homes, but is now often used for Internet access. It enables a
that area into a WMAN (Wireless Metropolitan Area Network)
person with a wireless-enabled computer or personal digital
and allowing true wireless mobility within it, as opposed to
assistant (PDA) to connect to the Internet when in proximity
hot-spot hopping required by Wi-Fi. The proponents are hop-
of an access point called a hotspot.
ing that the technology will eventually be used in notebook
KDN is now setting up mobile internet/networking products
computers and PDAs.
that end users with Wi-Fi enabled computers and PDAs to link
KDN has over 120 WiMAX base stations in the country and is
to ISPs and other service providers or to their offices in a more
helping in the development of the mobility component.
or less transparent way to take advantage of the systems. KDN
will market this under the Brand name Butterfly Freedom.
The main advantages of Wi-Fi are;
Butterfly VoIP - IzzyTalk
VoIP services convert voice into a digital signal that travels
• Uses an unlicensed bit of the broadcast spectrum, this means
over the butterfly Wi-Fi or fixed line network. When calling a
less regulatory controls.
regular phone number, the signal is converted to a regular tel-
• Many Notebook computers come with inbuilt Wi-Fi devices.
ephone signal before it reaches the destination. VoIP can al-
90% of Laptops produced after 2006.
low you to make a call directly from a computer, a special VoIP
•They are many reliable and inexpensive Wi-Fi products in the
phone, or a traditional phone connected to a special adapter.
market.
In addition, wireless “hot spots” in locations such as airports,
While connected on a Wi-Fi network, it is pos-
parks, and cafes allow you to connect to the Internet and may
sible to move about without breaking the
enable you to use VoIP service wirelessly.
network connection. WiMAX is a wire-

www.butterfly.co.ke
To use this service, register your Softphone on your PDA or This is like the absurd man who talks to his wife in the same
Laptop with the KDN 5 Million numbers (020 5 xxx xxx) pro- house through a cell phone.
vider and TALK within the butterfly network begins…. Calls The Butterfly portal by Kenya Data Networks will provide a
within the Butterfly network will be done for free. You can platform that will provide Kenyans with an avenue to exchange
now use the Butterfly phone from morning till evening at a information store it and develop the local internet market. All
monthly flat fee of Kshs 500. clients connected to the KDN network across the country will
have access to local content at no cost whatsoever.
Butterfly fixed line However, KDN doesn’t want to become a content provider;
KDN is embarking on an exciting venture to offer services to rather, the company is seeking to enter into partnership with
the homes. This will be done through a digital subscriber line content providers interested in expanding their distribution
(DSL) connection. DSL is a very high-speed connection that channels. The Portal will be available to everyone using the
uses the same wires as a regular telephone line. The conver- Butterfly and the Digital Villages across the country.
gence of data, voice and video services (Triple-Play) from the
same line is now a reality in Kenya. BUTTERFLY merchandise
Some advantages of KDN ADSL are; KDN invites Kenyans to experience the butterfly experience.
• You can leave your Internet connection open and still use the The experience goes beyond data, voice and video communi-
phone line for voice calls. cation. Available on the market is a butterfly clothing line and
• The speed is much higher than a regular modem other items that are trendy and used in day-to-day lives. This
• KDN will provide the modem as part of the installation. items are of high quality but affordable and are meant not
only to make Kenyans experience but also to own the but-
Home Office terfly freedom.
The home office solution is an extension of the services we
provide to our corporate clients. We provide clients with a link THE BUTTERFLY PHILOSOPHY
from their homes to the office so that they are able to access BUTTERFLY is a lifestyle, it symbolizes the freedom to chose,
the Internet and the LAN at the comfort of their homes. the freedom to live life in a fashionable way without restric-
• We use either wireless or the fixed line technology i.e But- tions of where, when, what and HOW MUCH. It is a high-class
terfly. in areas where we do have the coverage we will even brand for the sophisticated person who does not have to be
consider installing a WiMAX radio to extend the coverage rich to enjoy BUTTERFLY. In short, it symbolizes not all you
• The service is on an unlimited access basis and therefore no need but ALL YOU WANT and makes it affordable!
limit on the usage time.

KDN’s business concept to provide connectivity at any


place and time in the country will be realized through
these projects which are underway for the year 2008
through the adaptation of new market trends, technol-
ogy and service trends.

BUTTERFLY PORTAL
Kenya has very low internet penetration due to lack of
infrastructure and local content. Due to the lack of lo-
cal content, the users of the Internet have always had
to buy international capacity through satellite to com-
municate.
A good example is the mail being sent by one individ-
ual to another where both are using Yahoo or Hotmail
accounts. These Kenyans will both buy international
capacity to communicate with each other.
ELECTRICAL

ALTERNATIVE tentivity of these battery chemistries


must be high enough to increase the power-on life of
ENERGY SOLUTION
Over relying on fuel energy has left the world in a seri-
the battery. There are four primary chemistries avail-
able in the market currently for these mobile gadgets,
viz:
ous energy crisis. This is despite the fact that burning • Lead acid
fuel is unfriendly to the environment. Kenya is among • Nickel Cadmium
the developing countries that have been hit by the • Nickel Metal Hydride (NMH)
energy crisis. Kenya Association of Manufacturers • Lithium ion
KAM estimates that nearly 80,000 Kenyans risk loosing You must have observed that most chargers for these
their jobs due to the energy battery chemistries are
crisis facing the country. designed to take in AC
KAM chairman Vimal Shah power as the input. A
in an address to the media fundamental presump-
said industries in the country tion is made that every
face closure as power costs consumer of these mo-
escalate and that high-en- bile devices has electric-
ergy costs in the country ity supply. Arguably, this
have made Kenya very un- is not always the case.
competitive in both local What about our rural
and international markets. guy? In a village where
Electricity rates have gone electricity remains a ru-
up 600 percent in the past mor? Statistics show that
one year. Due to this, Ken- despite the in availability
ya risks not only loosing out of electricity in such rural
on new investments but will areas, the use of mobile
also have current industries phones is widespread
relocating to neighboring and thus there is a direct
countries with lower energy problem of charging
costs. Edwin Kivirenge demonstrates his solution to Michael Joseph, Safari- them. It is with this prob-
The undoing is however com CEO(left) and Kinuthia Murugu, PS Youth Affairs Ministry lem in mind and with the
the reluctance in exploration of Green energy. With help of insight that I developed an integrated bat-
all the known advantages of this type of energy be- tery charging system that not only addresses the high
ing not only cheap but environmentally friendly, not reliability and power quality but also the rural mass-
enough efforts have been put in place to harness market appeal for user friendliness. It should not be
natural energy. Industry organization GSM Association lost that despite the fact that conventional chargers
has launched the Green Power for Mobile program, take in a whopping 240volts at 50Hz, a phone battery
which will help operators that want to use renewable only needs a maximum of 5 volts DC to charge. Most
power sources, including solar, wind or sustainable bi- of the power input to such chargers is wasted being
ofuels, to power base stations. The list of supporters in- stepped down to a low voltage. But on the positive
cludes Bharti, Mobinil, Orange, Orascom, Safaricom, side, 5 volts DC can easily be harvested from the ki-
Telefónica, Vodafone and Zain. The goal is to power netic energy of humans in motion.
118,000 new and existing off-grid base stations in de- The main challenge was to design and produce a
veloping countries by 2012, saving up to 2.5 billion lit- battery charger that incorporates mobility and also
ers of diesel per year and cutting carbon emissions concepts of energy harvesting. The final design con-
by up to 6.3 million tons. Currently only 1,500 base sta- sisted of a hand cranked generator that charges a
tions worldwide are powered by at least one form of cell phone-a compact and portable charger that
renewable energy. produces virtually unlimited free and clean energy
Renewable energy solutions for mobile electronic de- that is reusable at the same time. The voltage given
vices out by the generator has to be regulated to be sta-
ble at a safe level suitable for charging the respective
Technology change is driving the electronic industry battery chemistry and also limiting the current going
to an increasingly portable system. The importance to the phone battery in order to charge without caus-
of these portable electronic systems cannot be over- ing undue damage to the phone and it’s circuitry.
emphasized here. They play a very vital role in com- The benefits of such a system include:
munication, entertainment and even performing • Usage of regenerative energy instead of non-re
transactions like banking or money transfer. In fact an generative energy
average technologically savvy youth (an engineer- • Charge while on the move
ing student for instance) ,will have, on average ,at • Environmentally friendly
least three electronic gadgets on him/her to lead a • Simple portable design
“normal” life. The design should be most suitable for rural applica-
This is just to mention but a few. As a direct conse- tion, however with small modifications, it can prove
quence, these portable systems require a reliable important in military applications among others.
power supply of a high quality. This has prompted the
emergence of divergent battery chemistries used to The writer, Edwin Keverenge is a Fifth year student
store the power needed by these portable systems. Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
ekeverenge@yahoo.com
However it must be emphasized that the charge re-
14 The Student Engineer
CIVIL

They
collapse,
why?
Wait until it happens and you can are put into consideration. Different loading condi-
tions anticipated should be factored into the final
count how many belong to this pro- design. Matters get worse when any drawing can be
fession. They are conclusive. They will approved as a structural drawing. This jeopardizes the
prosecute and judge. They will tell efforts of the learned society of engineers.
you it is this and that. But by crossing
Harry Thuku Road we have learned Material quality
As it is known a structure is constructed from materi-
something in life. It is difficult to an- als. The final strength of the structure depends on the
swer correct questions correctly but quality of materials. Concrete as one of the materials
at least we try to get right things right. is so complex in quality assurance than what one can
see being mixed. Good mix can only be achieved by
When buildings collapse, first lives are lost and huge following a mix design produced by an engineer.
sums of money will be lost. It is a catastrophe. Nobody
would like to see this happen. Another characteristic of concrete is how it gains
Historically people have been building and several its strength. Concrete sets after a certain period of
structures have collapsed including famous bridges in time. Conventionally 14-28 days characteristic cube
the world. strength is used
In the ancient past it was a matter of life and death
for the engineer who undertakes a building project. If
it was a bridge one was to be tied under the bridge
before it is used just in case it collapses he/she should
be the first victim. However those were barbaric
measures which were passed with time.

But why should a building collapse?


Geotechnical problem
This is the sunken truth. Few understand it as many
cannot see it and even if they can see they won’t un-
derstand what really goes on. What goes up always
comes from the ground. The substructure determines
to a greater extent the strength of the building sup-
ported. Building foundation is erected from a hard Forces of nature
rock or soil. Soil is neither wholly elastic nor plastic. It This is a category that includes forces due to earth
has unique characteristics which presents a big chal- tremors, waves and tides, floods and other forces. This
lenge in determination of its structural capabilities. It is a category which few have knowledge about and
poses great challenges right from analysis to design they could easily be neglected. In times of such ca-
and construction. It calls for genuine experience tastrophes lots of property is lost. In Kenya most struc-
and comprehensive training in matters geotechni- tures do not have a safety factor to cater for these.
cal. Guesswork and shortcuts which characterize our Minor tremors as experienced in the past can cause
construction industry puts us in a sorry state in matters a lot of destruction due to this design negligence
of structural integrity.
More has to be done other than press conferences
Structural problem and purchase of ambulances. Strict regulations have
Before a building is constructed, structural drawings to be followed in the construction industry. Only pro-
should be approved by the relevant authorities. These fessionally qualified engineers should be allowed to
are not drawings that any Jack or Jane can repro- design.
Masika Hamisi Gabriel
duce using AutoCAD. It goes beyond origin of thought
Final Year student
and structural soundness for an engineer to design a
Department of Civil and Construction Engineering
building. All factors beyond the layman’s knowledge
The Student Engineer 15
MECHANICAL

THE
HYBRID

E
very aspect of engineering and consequently our
life has to come to terms with the realization that
how we spend the next fifty years of life on earth
will determine its continuity or God-forbid demise.
Thus technologies are being phased in-sync with ‘green’
policies drafted chief among them the Kyoto Protocol to
curb human green house gas emmisions.
GM has launched hybrid versions of its full-size GMC Yukon (pictured) and Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs’ for 2008

In motoring, Asia, Europe and the USA have began Continuously outboard recharged battery electric
adopting such policies and hybrid vehicles are one way vehicle (CORBEV) HYBRID VEHICLE EMISSIONS
of achieving these. A hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that Given suitable infrastructure, permissions and vehicles, Hybrid Vehicle emissions today are getting close to or
uses two or more distinct power sources to propel the BEVs can be recharged while the user drives. The BEV
vehicle. even lower than the recommended level set by the EPA
establishes contact with an electrified rail, plate or (Environmental Protection Agency). The recommended
overhead wires on the highway via an attached con- levels they suggest for a typical passenger vehicle
Power sources include: ducting wheel or other similar mechanism (see Conduit should be equated to 5.5 metric tons of carbon dioxide.
- On-board or out-board rechargeable energy current collection). The BEV’s batteries are recharged by The three most popular hybrid vehicles, Honda Civic,
storage system (RESS) this process—on the highway—and can then be used Honda Insight and Toyota Prius, set the standards even
normally on other roads until the battery is discharged. higher by producing 4.1, 3.5, and 3.5 tons showing a
- Gasoline This provides the advantage, in principle, of virtually major improvement in carbon monoxide emissions.
- Hydrogen unrestricted highway range as long as you stay where
- Compressed Air you have BEV infrastructure access. Since many destina- ALTERNATIVE GREEN VEHICLES
- Human powered e.g. pedalling or rowing tions are within 100 km of a major highway, this may Other types of green vehicles include other vehicles that
- Wind reduce the need for expensive battery systems. Unfor- go fully or partly on alternative energy sources than fos-
tunately private use of the existing electrical system is sil fuel. Another option is to use alternative fuel com-
- Compressed or Liquid Natural Gas nearly universally prohibited.
- Solar position (i.e. biofuels) in conventional fossil fuel-based
vehicles, making them go partly on renewable energy
- Coal, wood or other combustibles Hybrid fuel (dual mode) sources.
In addition to vehicles that use two or more different Other approaches include personal rapid transit, a
The term most commonly refers to Hybrid-electric vehi- devices for propulsion, some also consider vehicles that public transportation concept that offers automated
cle (HEV) which includes internal combustion engines use distinct energy sources or input types (“fuels”) us- on-demand non-stop transportation, on a network of
and electric motors. ing the same engine to be hybrids, although to avoid specially-built guideways.
confusion with hybrids as described above and to use
ENGINE TYPE correctly the terms, these are perhaps more correctly Plug-In Hybrid Model
Hybrid electric-petroleum vehicles described as dual mode vehicles:
When the term hybrid vehicle is used, it most often re-
fers to a Hybrid electric vehicle. These encompass such Plug-in Hybrid Electrical Vehicles (PHEV)
vehicles as the AHS2 (Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, The latest hybrid technology is the Plug-in Hybrid Elec-
Chevrolet Silverado, Cadillac Escalade, and the Saturn tric Vehicle (PHEV). The PHEV consists of a gasoline-
Vue), Toyota Prius, Toyota Camry Hybrid, Ford Escape electric hybrid whose battery pack (usually Li-ion) is
Hybrid, Toyota Highlander Hybrid, Honda Insight, upgraded to a larger capacity, which can be recharged
Honda Civic Hybrid and others. A petroleum-electric by either a battery charger hooked into the electrical grid
hybrid most commonly uses internal combustion en- or the gasoline engine (only if required). The car runs on
gines (generally gasoline or Diesel engines, powered by battery power for the first 10 to 60 miles (16–100 km),
a variety of fuels) and electric batteries to power electric with the gasoline engine available for faster accelera-
motors. There are many types of petroleum-electric hy- tion, etc. After the battery is nearly discharged, the car
brid drivetrains, from Full hybrid to Mild hybrid, which reverts to the gasoline engine to recharge the battery
offer varying advantages and disadvantages and/or return the car to the charging station. This may
get around the fundamental obstacle of battery range
that has made nearly all pure electric cars impractical.
16 The Student Engineer
GEOSPATIAL

I
n every area of civil and environmental the public caused a more
than tenfold increase in
engineering, automation tools and tech- media coverage on virtual
niques are being utilized in new and ex- globes between 2006 and
citing ways. Geospatial data collection, 2007, driving public interest in ge-
processing, management, retrieval, com- ospatial technologies and applica-
munication, analysis, and visualization are tions.
becoming increasingly more important as Google Earth displays satellite images of varying
today’s engineering tools. New technologies resolution of the Earth’s surface, allowing users to
visually see things like houses and cars from a bird’s
like wireless sensor networks, geodatabases, eye view. The degree of resolution available is based
and distributed operating, and geoweb serv- somewhat on the points of interest, but most land
ice are substantially contributing to the devel- (except for some islands) is covered in at least 15
meters of resolution. Melbourne, Australia, Las Vegas,
opment in geospatial engineering. Nevada and Cambridge, Massachusetts include ex-
amples of the highest resolution, at 15 cm (6 inches).
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe program that was
Google Earth allows users to search for addresses for
some countries, enter coordinates, or simply use the
originally called Earth Viewer, and was created by mouse to browse to a location.
Keyhole, Inc, a company acquired by Google in 2004. Google Earth also uses digital elevation model (DEM)
It maps the earth by the superimposition of images data collected by NASA’s Shuttle Radar Topography
obtained from satellite imagery, aerial photography Mission (SRTM). This means one can view the Grand
and GIS 3D globe. It is available under three differ- Canyon or Mount Everest in three dimensions, in-
ent licenses: Google Earth, a free version with limited stead of 2D like other map programs/sites. Since
functionality; Google Earth Plus ($20 per year), which November 2006, the 3D views of many mountains,
includes additional features; and Google Earth Pro including Mount Everest, have been improved by
($400 per year), which is intended for commercial the use of supplementary DEM data to fill the gaps
use. in SRTM coverage.
The product, renamed Google Earth in 2006, is cur- Recently, Google added a feature that allow users
rently available for use on personal computers run- to monitor traffic speeds at loops located every 200
ning Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, or Vista, Mac OS X yards in real-time. In version 4.3 released on April 15,
10.3.9 and above, Linux (released on June 12, 2006), 2008, Google Street View was fully integrated into
and FreeBSD. Google Earth is also available as a the program allowing the program to provide an on
browser plugin (released on June 2, 2008) for Firefox, the street level view in many locations.
IE6, or IE7. In addition to releasing an updated Key- Google Earth’s Power of Place
hole based client, Google also added the imagery How has Google Earth managed to achieve what
from the Earth database to their web based mapping few online imagery providers have — bringing spa-
software. The release of Google Earth in mid 2006 to tial data to the masses — and in
record time?
Norfork
Few can dispute that Google Earth
has validated the power of place
for millions of people across the
globe and made them true believ-
Engineering Block
ers in digital mapping. To be fair
however, such geoportals as eMa-
pSite and GlobeXplorer have been
quietly and successfully building
online businesses for more than
six years. And the “wow” factor of
UON Main Campus
Google Earth’s flyovers and stream-
Moi Ave. Primary
ing capabilities have been available
for access for more than five years,
through such services as TerraFly
Safari Club Hotel from Florida International Univer-
sity and Digital Earth from Skyline
Solutions.
University of Nairobi viewed from Google Earth Obiko Edward
The Student Engineer 17
ENVIRONMENTAL

MAU FOREST
THE HEART OF THE COUNTRY

K enya stands to lose a nature-based eco-


nomic asset if the forest of the Mau Complex
continues to be degraded and destroyed,
this is according to UN Environment Programme.
The Mau Complex is not only an asset of national
ha respectively), Trans-Mara (34,400 ha) and Ol Pusimoru
(17,200 ha). A sixth large block, the Maasai Mau (c.46,000
ha) is as yet ungazetted. Over the last decade, the highland
forests of the Mau Complex have been heavily impacted by
new settlements, tree cutting and forest excisions. Mau Forest
importance that supports key economic sectors Complex is referred to as one of the five major water towers
in Rift Valley and western Kenya, including ener- of Kenya. It forms the upper catchment of Kenya’s main riv-
gy, tourism, agriculture and water supply, but it is ers west of the Rift Valley. These rivers include the river Njoro
also the single most important water catchment and Makalia which drain into Lake Nakaru; Sondu, Yala, Nzoia
in the Rift Valley and western Kenya. For the past and Nyando rivers, all flowing into Lake Victoria, as well as
few years UNEP has been documenting for the the Ewaso Ngiro, Kerio and Mara rivers. In addition it supplies
Kenyan Government and the people of Kenya water to many of the lakes of the Rift Valley, from Lake Tur-
the continued destruction and erosion of this vi- kana bordering Ethiopia to Lake Natron in Tanzania, which is
tal ecosystem. It has reached a point where if no the only regular breeding site for the more than two million
measures are taken, Kenya will lose one of its fun- flamingos found on the Rift Valley lakes of Eastern Africa.
damental assets. Excisions and the widespread
encroachments have led to the destruction of HOME FOR BIRDS
nearly a quarter the Mau Complex area over the The Mau generally has a rich highland bird community, char-
last 15 years. acteristic of the Central Kenya highlands but with some west-
ern affinities. A number of regional endemics occur such as
MAU FOREST COMPLEX Tauraco hartlaubi and the restricted-range Cisticola hunteri
Mau Forest Complex is an ecosystem providing homeland to and Francolinus jacksoni. Regionally threatened species in-
many communities and a wide range of biodiversity. This for- clude Hieraaetus ayresii (scarce and local); Stephanoaetus
est complex covers a substantial area of the south-western coronatus (resident in small numbers); Tyto capensis (no re-
highlands of Kenya, and probably represents the largest re- cent records); Bubo capensis; Glaucidium tephronotum (fairly
maining near-continuous block of montane indigenous forest common); Indicator exilis; Sheppardia polioptera (uncom-
in East Africa. The forests cloak the western slopes, and part mon and local); and Campephaga quiscalina (uncommon
of the crest, of the Mau Escarpment, a block of raised land resident). This forest holds one of the richest examples of a
that forms the western wall of the Gregory Rift Valley, rising central East African montane avifauna, and its size means that
steeply from the floor and sloping away more gradually to populations of most species are likely to be viable.
the west. There are five main Forest Reserves: Eastern, West-
ern and South-western Mau (c.66,000, 22,700 and 84,000

18 The Student Engineer


MASSIVE DESTRUCTION destroying the country’s largest water charcoal making in the Mau Complex. It
Since the early 1990s, clear-felling and catchment area. This has a direct effect is hoped that political hurdles will not
burning inside the gazetted forests to on the livelihood of millions of Kenyans falter the government efforts.
make room for cultivation has had a who depend on water from rivers and The world youth parliament plans to
disastrous effect on forest cover. To date, streams flowing from this complex. The carry out an annual reforestation ex-
the clearing of forest continues unabat- tourism sector will also be badly hit by ercise in collaboration with the United
ed. Clearing natural forests for agricul-
destruction of this forest. The forest is a Nation Development Programme. Vari-
ture and charcoal burning, to meet the
home to a number of indigenous bird ous non governmental organizations are
needs for firewood in towns and cities
species and destroying it means de- also carrying out independent measures
like Nakuru, are the main causes of for-
est destruction. Cases have also been stroying the natural habitat for these to cub the destruction.
sited of tree harvesting by paper manu- birds. There is an urgent need to halt the de-
facturing firms without replanting. Vari- struction and protect the catchment
ous communities have also settled on EFFORTS TO CUB DESTRUCTION forests. Deforested and degraded areas
gazetted forest land. After a span of ignorance and neglect, must be urgently restored. Protecting
various stakeholders have realized the and restoring the highland forests of say
EFFECTS OF DESTRUCTION need to restore and conserve the forest. for example in Eastern Mau will not only
Even as different stake holders debate In august the government convened a save the biodiversity of these unique
and argue on the best way forward, the multi-stakeholder forum to collect in- mountains, it will also protect and pro-
effects of deforestation are real and al- formation to determine a way forward mote water supplies for the surrounding
ready being felt. It is a major contributor for protection of the Mau Complex. The lowland areas, including Nakuru and
to the global worming. This brings with forum highlighted the need to restore Masai Mara. This is a matter of life and
it harsh climatic conditions. Among the the forest of the Mau Complex. Based death. The more we continue to alter
biggest losers are the farmers. The aver- on the forum discussions, a high-level with the ecosystem, the more it retali-
age harvest of tea farmers in the Mau task force was established to address ates. We need to realize that protection
escarpment has been dropping due to encroachments into the forests. A new of our natural ecosystems all narrows
the detolorating state of the forest. De- enforcement structure will also be set- down to individual effort.
struction of these forests also means up to tackle rampant illegal logging and Eyinda Samuel

AROUND AND ABOUT by Angela Hiuhu

ENVIRONMENTAL AND BIOSYSTEMS ENGINEERING (EBE) DEPARTMENT


On July 25th 2008 EBE department held a small beautiful dinner whose agenda was to bid farewell to the graduating 5th
years of EBE department. The long awaited graduation ceremony was held on the 17th of October at the graduation square
of Nairobi University. The dinner is intended to be made an annual affair.
During the school break, 2nd and 3rd years were located in Upper Kabete for an eight week fourth term while the 4th years
were out trying to get the feel of working in the various industrial attachments. The cry of the students of EBE department
is now quietened and the bitterness held for ages is now eluding us. Reason being that the department is expected to get
twenty new branded CPUs. Ten of these CPUs are being contributed by Jamii Bora Trust and the rest by Craft Silicon.
Of most importance EBE department under the University of Nairobi recently came up with a memorandum of understand-
ing between the department and World Vision Kenya. We pull our hats off to Professor Biamah as this is his project. The
Memorandum of Understanding mostly entails renewable sources of energy something of vital essence to all people consid-
ering the sky rocketing prices of fuel.
At the previous International Show held at the Nairobi Show Grounds, the department scooped an award for the best project
.Training on EIA took place from 11th to 22th of August the training benefited the department as a whole.
The department owes a lot of thanks to the ever vibrant Professor Biamah for his tireless efforts aimed at making the de-
partment more student friendly. Worth mentioning, Environmental and Biosystems Student Association is releasing its first
newsletter soon. It aims at explaining what EBE as a course entails and what is expected of the continuing and new students
of this department.

The Student Engineer 19


ENTERTAINMENT
Engineers and Lawyers
HUMOR There was once an engineer who found
a magic lamp. When he rubbed it, a
UNGODLY ENGINEERING genie jumped out and said to him, “You
The Misplaced Engineer have three wishes. But there is a catch
An engineer dies and reports to the pearly gates. St. Peter checks - this wish system of mine was designed
his dossier and says, “Ah, you’re an engineer - You’re in the wrong by a lawyer, so whatever you wish for
place.” every lawyer in the world will get double
Pretty soon, the engineer gets dissatisfied with the level of comfort in of!”
hell, and starts designing and building improvements. After a while, The engineer replied, “That’s no prob-
they’ve got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and the lem, I can live with that.” He then said,
engineer is a pretty popular guy. “For my first wish, I wish I had a Ferarri.”
One day God calls Satan up on the phone and says with a sneer,”So, “OK”, said the genie, and a Ferarri ap-
how’s it going down there in hell?” peared in front of the engineer. “But
Satan replies, “Hey, things are going great. We’ve got air condition- remember, every lawyer in the world
ing and flush toilets and escalators, and there’s no telling what this now has 2 Ferarris,” the genie told the
engineer is going to come up with next.” engineer.
God replies, “What? You’ve got an engineer? That’s a mistake - he The engineer remained unperturbed
should never have gotten down there. Send him back up.” and said, “For my second wish, I wish for
Satan says, “No way. I like having an engineer on the staff, and I’m a million bucks.” So a million bucks ap-
keeping him.” peared in front of the engineer and the
God says, “Send him back up here or I’ll sue!” genie said, “remember, every lawyer in
Satan laughs uproariously and answers, “Yeah, right. And just where the world now has 2 million bucks.”
are you going to get a lawyer?” The engineer was non-committal and
then said, “I always wished I could do-
Playing with God nate a kidney!”
One day a group of engineers got together and decided that man had
come a long way and no longer needed God. They picked one
engineer to go and tell Him that they were done with Him. The en-
gineer walked up to God and said, “God, we’ve decided that we
no longer need you. We’re to the point that we can clone people
and do many miraculous things, so why don’t you just go on and
get lost.”
God listened patiently to the man and after the engineer was done
talking, God said, “Very well! How about this? Let’s have a man-
making contest.”
The man replied, “Okay, great!”
But God added, “Now we’re going to do this just like I did back in
the old days with Adam.”
The engineers said, “Sure, no problem.” He bent down and grabbed
himself a handful of dirt.
God just looked at him and said, “No, no, no. Go get your own dirt!

Tech Talk
The long-awaited HTC Dream, the first commercial handset running
Google’s Android operating system, launched under T-Mobile as
the G1 for $US179(KSh. 14,000) on October 22nd. Featuring a 3-inch
touchscreen, internet navigation buttons and a full QWERTY keypad,
the smartphone market has finally broken free of Symbian, Windows
Mobile and the sweet clutches of fruit companies.
Features:
Screen: The G1 sports a 3.17” 65K colour touchscreen that runs in
HVGA (480×320) resolution.
Battery Life: You can talk for 5 hours, or keep the phone in standby for
130 hours.
Camera: 3.1MP, or right around 35mm 4x6 print quality.
Frequency Fun: GSM/GPRS/EDGE/Wi-Fi and UMTS/HSDPA 850/900/
1700/1800/1900/2100Mhz
Dimensions: 11.7 x 5.49 x 1.6 cm; Weight: 159 grams. And available in
white, black and brown.
Storage: 1GB MicroSD card preinstalled. Supports 8GB MicroSD.
GPS: Of course, what would Google Maps be without it?
Google Maps: As we’ve seen in a recent update, the G1’s Maps application will integrate Street View so you can see
where you are going. But in an industry first, a built-in compass orients the map to your position. North is always up!
Android Market: Similar to the iPhone’s mobile App Store, the Android Market will allow downloading of various Android
apps from the phone, to the phone.
Amazon MP3 Store: Amazon’s MP3 store will be preloaded on every G1, allowing the download of 6 million DRM-free
tracks with singles starting at 89 cents. Downloading music requires a Wi-Fi connection, previewing can be done over
T-Mobile’s network.
YouTube: Yup, it’s on there.
Other Apps
ShopSavvy: designed to help people do comparative shopping
Ecorio: developed to help people keep track of their daily travels and view what their carbon footprint looks like
BreadCrumbz: enables people to create a step-by-step visual map using photos; customers can create their own
routes, share them with friends or with the world
20 The Student Engineer
FILM REVIEW

ENGINEERING AN EMPIRE
This 90 minute testament to the oft-repeated maxim “Rome wasn’t
built in a day” provides not only an interesting overview of Rome’s
engineering prowess, but also a nice generalist history of the major
Emperors from Julius Caesar through the fall of Rome several centu-
ries later.
Starting, somewhat arbitrarily, with Caesar’s assassination, the doc-
umentary then moves backward in time to Caesar’s first engineer-
ing triumph, the bridging of the Rhine (in 10 days, no less, as the
hapless German tribes watched in awe from the other side). The
documentary then follows a chronological format through subse-
quent Emperors and their various building projects, including baths,
aquaducts, the Pantheon, and Hadrian’s Wall.
Filled with the History Channel’s usual expert assortment of talk-
ing heads (including, improbably, Robocop’s Peter Weller, now a
Professor at Syracuse University), and featuring copious location
footage, as well as recreations and some good CGI, Rome: Engi-
neering an Empire provides an entertaining assortment of fact and
character that should edify most viewers.
BOOK REVIEW

DREAMS FROM MY FATHER


Do yourself the favor of reading Dreams from My Father: A Story of
Race and Inheritance, a memoir by 2008 United States Presiden-
tial candidate Barack Obama. It was first published in 1995 after
Obama was elected the first African-American president of the
Harvard Law Review, but before his political career began. The
book was re-released in 2004 following Senator Obama’s keynote
address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (DNC); the
2004 edition includes a new introduction by Senator Obama as
well as his DNC keynote address.
The autobiographical narrative tells the story of the future Senator’s
life up to his entry in Harvard Law School. He was born in Honolulu,
Hawaii, to Barack Hussein Obama, Sr. of Kenya, and Ann Dunham
of Wichita, Kansas, both students at that time at the East-West
Center of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Obama’s parents
separated when he was two years old and divorced when he was
four. Obama formed an image of his absent father from stories told
by his mother and her parents.
Before attending Harvard Law School, Obama decided to visit
relatives in Kenya. He uses part of his experience here as the setting
for the book’s final, emotional scene.
Copies are available at the University bookstore.

NOTICE BOARD
ADVERTISEMENTS JULY – SEPTEMBER
To advertise in the student engineer EDITION WINNERS
ARTICLES Masika Gabriel
journal please reach to us via the
emails below:
Send us your articles on the Amenda Astone
Kiplimo Erick
studentengineer@ymail.com e-mail addresses given on Hiuhu Angela
edobie@gmail.com
edsamich@yahoo.com the left. Writers of featured Ongoma Anthony
or give us a call; 0724517177, Obonyo Cedric
articles will receive awards. Gitau Patrick
0735847011, 0720847011, Murunga Albert
0770053910 Olwande Eliud

The Student Engineer 21


ACTIVITIES

4TH TERM ACTIVITIES.


Third year Students from the department of civil Engineering were in session for 8 weeks when all the other
students had gone for their long break after the end of year exams. The purpose of this short extended
commitment was to appreciate the need for practical based learning besides academic training. For this
reason they visited a number of Engineering Organizations and Engineering works sites including Indus-
trial plants to acquaint themselves with the applications of all that is learnt in class.

S.S MEHTA ENGINEERS big learning experience. The factory which mostly produces
Some of the sites visited included S.S MEHTA ENGINEERS clay products like tiles and facing bricks is one of its kinds in
where they witnessed the processing of bitumen and asphalt. East Africa. It stands unrivalled with its 4 massive 700 square
At the site were Engineers who also offered expert advice on foot each kilns which reach a massive 800 degrees Celsius. It
the different methods of applications of the bitumen to road produces clay products on order from all over East Africa with
construction. Some of the other sites visited included Bambu- a daily turnover of about 100 tonnes of finishes clay prod-
ri cement making plant, Pamoja Trust (Kambi ya moto)-Here ucts.
the major interest was the methods they use to very quickly &
cheaply build semi permanent houses that have a good aes- APEC CONSULTING ENGINEERS
thetic value. The materials used are imported but the project Apec Consulting Engineers is the Engineering firm giving
is still in its testing phase in the country. expertise assistance and direction in the 52 km class D road
project in Maragua. The road is being surfaced with bitu-
MULTIMILLION SHILLING men to make it an all weather road. This gave the students a
chance to see firsthand on the technicalities of road construc-
HOTEL IN RUIRU tion a thing they will definitely encounter during practice in
Another interesting site visited was the multimillion shilling a few years.
hotel in Ruiru still under construction but in the finishing
stages. The hotel boast of more than 10 floors of premium
high class business suite rooms with state of the art dual OLKARIA GEOTHERMAL POWER
jacuzis,power showers, temperature controlled steam baths,
a 500 square foot helipad at its top and a 1000 plus exotic de- PLANT, NAIVASHA
sign disco/dance floor at it lower basement. It’s due for com- Olkaria Geothermal Power plant in Naivasha was the last and
pletion in 6-8 months pending the civil works going on. the culmination of the Industrial visits during that period. This
plant (Olkaria IV) is the newest in its kinds in the country and
was commissioned not more that a year ago at the time of
HARLEY TIMBER visit. It uses the energy in the earth which superheats water to
ENGINEERING SERVICES steam that is used to turn turbines which produce electricity.
Harley Timber Engineering services (HTES) was also visited After the power plant visit with a lot of time saved the stu-
during this time. This plant basically deals with processing of dents climbed down hells gate park. A national tourist attrac-
tion point in the rift valley.
timber from raw material to finished fine products. Obonyo Cedric

NDAKAINI DAM, THIKA


Ndakaini dam in Thika-an expansive water source and vital for
the city of Nairobi was also visited. The reservoir has a depth of
a massive 300 feet & is the most important source of water for
Nairobi. It’s an earth reinforced with concrete embankment
dam was built by the Germans in the early and mid 90’s.

KENYA CLAY PRODUCTS,


KAHAWA
Kenya Clay Products at kahawa along Thika road also gave a Students tour Olkaria Geothermal Power plant

22 The Student Engineer


FYI

CAE - Your College of Choice


The College of Architecture and Engineering(CAE) offers the most diverse range of aca-
demic programmes in the University and has played a key role in the development of the
Nation. The college consists of three schools, one institute and two consultancy units. These
include the Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, School of the Arts and Design,
School of Engineering and the School of the Built Environment.
VISION
To be a leading center for the development of knowledge in the disciplines of engineering
and those concerned with the built environment and to inspire through activities and rela-
tionships, quality designed solutions to the built environment in order to raise the standards
of life of the people of Kenya and Africa as a whole.
MISSION
To advance the knowledge and practice of the disciplines that constitute engineering and
those that deal with the built environment and to foster the intellectual and economic vital-
ity of the Kenyan people through teaching, research and outreach.
SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING
The school of engineering is divided into five departments namely; Civil and Construction,
Environmental & Bio-systems, Electrical & Information, Geospatial and Space Technology
and Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering. The school has various departmental stu-
dent associations and an overall Engineering Students’ Association (ESA). The departmental
associations are SAME for Mechanical and Manufacturing students, GESA for Geospatial
Engineering students, EBESA for Environmental and Bio-systems Engineering students, CESA
for Civil Engineering students and two Associations for Electrical and Information Engineer-
ing namely; ICT & INTERNET CLUB and Association of Students in Electrical and Electron-
ics Engineering(ASEEE). The school is represented at the students organization of Nairobi
university(SONU) by a faculty representative.

The Student Engineer 23


IEEE PROJECT REVIEW

REMOTE CONTROLLED SWITCH VIA SMS;


INTELLIGENT SECURITY SYSTEM. by EDEMBA MOSES (UON)
control several equipments at a go. This is situated by blinking the security lights
minimizes the cost of operation. where the intruder is as long as (s)he is
The second one can control each equip- still there. Practical application would
ment separately by specific sms. This be the banking strong rooms whereby
gives the independent handling of the if there is a break into the strong room
(Caption) various equipments. without disabling the system first the
The Intelligent Security system when police or security firm are called auto-

T he Remote controlled switch ena-


bles one to control any electrical
equipment remotely by sms. The sys-
enabled alerts the owner (or relevant
person e.g. police) by calling the spe-
cific numbers whenever there is an in-
matically. Apart from this the system is
affordable to those who may not have
the capacity to hire services from secu-
tem has two predefined sms formats. truder. For a big compound, the system rity firms.
The first one can send a single sms to will help in locating where the intruder

THE I-LOCATOR by IRENE BEROCHAN AND TEAM. (MAKERERE UNIVERSITY)

T he i-Locator is an interactive virtual


campus map that was designed and
developed as a final year project by a
i-Locator links up (administrative, rec-
reational religious and accommodation)
centres and faculties within Makerere
The i-Locator has a wide application in
that interactive maps of other universi-
ties as well as towns can be developed
team of 8 students from the Faculty of University and the surrounding hostels on the same basis to save people’s valu-
Computing and Information Technol- for the purpose of direction, naviga- able time and energy which they would
ogy, Makerere University. tion and orientation for students and all have otherwise spent reading paper
beneficiaries such that they avoid losing maps and making inquiries so as not to
The main objective of the i-Locator was their way each time they find them- lose their way.
to develop an electronic geographical selves in and out of campus.
infrastructure referencing system. The

INTELLIGENT TRAFFIC CONTROL by RICHARD OCHIENG (MOMBASA POLYTECHNIC)

T his system automatically keeps on


monitoring all the roads at a par-
ticular junction and subsequently gives
of which is proportional to how busy
a road is. The current traffic lights on
our roads sequence the lights equally
This system achieves this intelligence
by use of sensors that are mounted
along each road to detect the number
Green light to each road for a duration to all roads regardless of its condition. of cars on a particular road.

SECURITY LIGHTS CONTROL


by WANJOHI DOROTHY(MOMBASA POLYTECHNIC)

A s the
cost
of energy
This project aims at eradicating this. the overall voltage Vout. This is done
The project uses a light dependent resis- to a threshold that keeps the lights off.
tor in a voltage divider circuit. The light During he night, when the light inten-
esca- dependent resistor is part of the volt- sity is low, the LDR value also goes very
lates, so age divider circuit that determines the low(almost 0) hence increasing the
does the output voltage of the overall circuit. The voltage Vout to a threshold that turns
need of economic use available energy resistance of the light depended resistor the security lights on.
resources. Security lights are needed are varies with the amount of light intensity This projects aims at promoting eco-
needed during night hours particularly that is reaching it. An average light in- nomical use of energy without compro-
in places where the 24 hour work sys- tensity that will normally be available mising on the security of the places in
tem is to succeed. They can however be between 7am to 6pm will increase the mind.
wasteful if left working during daytime. resistance of the LDR hence lowering
24 The Student Engineer
PICTORIAL

5 4 3

7 8 9

10

11 12

13 14

1. John R. Munda explains his project at IEEE Exhibition.


2. Best Male and Best Female Engineers,
Abdelkareem Abdelrahman and Dorothy Wanjohi
3. IEEE University of Nairobi Team
4. Engineering Women
5. Creating a culture of Innovation
6. UON Participants chat at Exhibition
7. Dr. Dharmadikary at the exhibition
8. Janet of Mombasa Polytechnic displays project at Trade Fair
9. Abdulkareem demonstrates Sign-to-Speech Translator
10. Swaleh Hassan with a friend at IEEE Dinner
11. Engineering Students at Hell’s Gate
12. Edward and Dr. Wulff after Interview
13. Simon Miyare of Kenyatta University displays Ray’s Gasifier
at National Energy Conference
14. Euan Fanell, Wananchi Goup’s CEO at Zuku Launch
15 15. Samuel Eyinda follows procedings at Zuku Media Launch

You might also like