Browsing by Author "Nsabagwa, Mary"
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Item An Assessment of the Effectiveness ofWeather Information Dissemination among Farmers and Policy Makers(Sustainability, 2022) Sansa-Otim, Julianne; Nsabagwa, Mary; Mwesigwa, Andrew; Faith, Becky; Owoseni, Mojisola; Osuolale, Olayinka; Mboma, Daudi; Khemis, Ben; Albino, Peter; Owusu Ansah, Samuel; Abla Ahiataku, Maureen; Owusu-Tawia, Victoria; Bashiru, Yahaya; Mugume, Isaac; Akol, Roseline; Kunya, Nathern; Inguula Odongo, RonaldThe changing environment, climate, and the increasing manifestation of disasters, has generated an increased demand for accurate and timely weather information. This information is provided by the National meteorological authorities (NMAs) through different dissemination channels e.g., using radios, Televisions, emails among others. The use of ICTs to provide weather information is recently gaining popularity. A study was conducted in three countries, namely Nigeria, Uganda, and South Sudan to assess the efficiency of an ICT tool, known as “Weather Information Dissemination System”. The study involved 254 participants (Uganda: 71; South Sudan: 133; and Nigeria: 50). The collected primary data were first quality controlled and organized thematically for detailed analysis. Descriptive statistics was used to provide quantitative analysis as well as content scrutinized for qualitative analysis. The results showed that there is a need for timely weather information to plan farming activities such as planting and application of fertilizers and pesticides as well as to manage flood and drought by the water sector and disaster management. Results further showed that the majority of the respondents have access to the technology needed to access weather and climate information. The respondents who received weather information from NMAs noted that the forecast was good. However, they further noted that there is more room for improvement especially with making the forecasts location-specific, ensuring mobile access is adequate in all regions, provision of weather information by SMS (in countries where this service is currently unavailable) and improved timing of the weather information. Finally, uncertainty about the accuracy of weather information and the weather information not meeting specific needs are key barriers to people’s willingness to pay for it (Uganda: 33.3%; South Sudan: 46.1%; and Nigeria: 33.3%). Improved collaborations between the NMAs, ICT service providers, policymakers and farmers will facilitate an effective approach to weather information access and dissemination. Innovative sensitization approaches through the media houses will enable better understanding of weather products and utilization, and access to enabling ICTs would increase access to weather forecastsItem Leveraging Inter-Institutional Connectivity to Facilitate Weather Data Transmission from Automatic Weather Stations in Uganda(School of Engineering, Makerere University, 2016) Byamukama1, ,Maximus; Nsabagwa, Mary; Sansa-Otim, JulianneThe use of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) for Environment monitoring by the Uganda National Meteorological Authority has increased massively over the past 15 years. This increase is mainly due to the savings in time, energy and money that are usually accompanied by the use of Information Technology to replace manual organizational processes. These stations collect various weather data and automatically transmit this data to a central repository, usually a physical server in a relatively remote location. The transmission of this data, in Uganda, is achieved primary by GSM/GPRS over the backbone of one of the national service provider. While GPRS speeds are probably sufficient for the small amounts of data from these AWS, the consequence of this is a regular cost to the authority, not only in financial terms but also poor connectivity in remote areas, downtime and high power consumption. Since universities in Uganda are spread across the country with considerable spatial separation, it is possible that the UNMA (Uganda National Meteorological Authority) could place a number of AWSs at these campuses and still cover many climatological zones and, equally importantly, benefit from transmitting the AWS data through the networks at these universities that have been set-up by the national NREN, RENU. Because this data volume is very low, the cost of such transmission would be almost zero and other advantages would be manifested, such as the very limited involvement in communication channel maintenance and a higher availability of power. In this paper, we investigate the practical consequences that leveraging inter-institutional NREN connectivity would bring to a government authority like UNMA. We analyze the impact that this would have on the cost, operation and reliability of the whole AWS.Item Minimal Idle-Listen Centralized Scheduling in TSCH Wireless Sensor Networks(IEEE, 2018) Nsabagwa, Mary; Muhumuza, Joshua; Kasumba, Robert; Otim, Julianne Sansa; Akol, RoselineCentralized scheduling in IEEE 802.15.4e Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH), uses a centralized entity to perform scheduling of nodes in cells to generate collision-free communication amongst neighboring nodes. Although many centralized scheduling algorithms have been proposed, they still suffer from idle-listening, a state in which nodes stay awake without transmitting or receiving data, which causes wastage of the limited sensor node energy. This paper proposes a minimalidle-listen centralized 6TiSCH scheduling algorithm (MILS) with the aim of minimizing idle listening amongst sender nodes. MILS is formulated as a Constraint Satisfaction Problem (CSP) problem, which schedules relay links in parallel with leaf links while maximizing the channels available in order to minimize waiting at bottleneck regions. Minimizing the number of packets in nodes close to the sink reduced delays by approximately 19% and idle-listening by 50% in MILS compared to OTF.Item Network Densification Strategies for Automatic Weather Stations: Challenges and Opportunities for Uganda(IST-Africa, 2016) Nsabagwa, Mary; Byamukama, Maximus; Otim, Julianne Sansa; Okou, RichardAccess to quality, accurate and timely weather information is important. In order to improve weather information quality and quantity, increasing the number of operational Automatic Weather Stations, also referred to in this document as densification should be prioritized. In this paper, we provide research findings of a survey conducted from November 2014 to January 2015 to ascertain the status of weather stations in Uganda. Weather station density was found to be sparse and yet many of the available weather stations were non-functional. Based on the distribution of available operational weather stations, we are proposing densification strategies including climatological zones, security and land policies. To achieve sustainability of the weather stations, we commend improving human resources aspects among other thingsItem Towards a robust and affordable Automatic Weather Station(Development Engineering, 2019) Nsabagwa, Mary; Byamukama, Maximus; Kondela, Emmanuel; Sansa Otima, JulianneThe frequency and severity of extreme weather events have increased over the last 30 years, making predictability of weather a challenge. Weather extreme events often cause adverse impacts to lives and property. Thus, accurate and timely provision of weather data is becoming crucial to improve the skill of weather prediction and to strengthen resilience to the impacts of the adverse weather conditions. Uganda and many developing countries have challenges in acquiring accurate and timely weather data due to their sparse weather observation networks. The sparse weather observation networks are in part attributed to the high cost of acquiring an Automatic Weather Station (AWS) and limited funding to national meteorological services of the respective countries. The inability of developing countries to manufacture their own AWSs leads to high recurring costs accruing from importation and maintenance. In this study, we propose an AWS based on Wireless Sensor Networks. We plan to design three generations of the AWS prototype, the first being the subject of this paper. The purpose of this paper is therefore to evaluate the first-generation AWS prototype and to propose improvements for the second-generation, based on needs and requirements. Results from the AWS prototype data suggest improving non-functional requirements such as reliability, data accuracy, power consumption and data transmission in order to have an operational AWS. The non-functional requirements combined with cost reduction produces a robust and affordable AWS. Therefore, developing countries like Uganda will be able to acquire the AWSs in reasonable quantities, hence improvement in weather forecasts.