Centre of Excellence in Mobile e-Services

HoD

Professor Matthew O. Adigun

Matthew O Adigun is currently a Senior Professor of Computer Science at the University of Zululand, He obtained his doctorate degree in 1989 from Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria; having previously received both Masters in Computer Science (1984) and a Combined Honours degree in Computer Science and Economics (1979) from the same University (when it was known as University of Ife, Nigeria). A very active researcher in Software Engineering of the Wireless Internet, he has published widely in the specialised areas of reusability, software product lines, and the engineering of on-demand grid computing-based applications in Mobile Computing, Mobile Internet and ad hoc Mobile Clouds. Recently, his interest in the Wireless Internet has extended to Wireless Mesh Networking resources and node placements issues, as well as Software Defined Networking issues which covered performance and scalability aspects arising from Software Defined Data Centres and Cloud/Fog/Edge Computing milieu. Since 2004, he has been the Project Leader and Principal researcher attracting various research grants from South African NRF starting from HBU-specific Niche Areas (2006-2010) and THRIP programmes (2004-2016. Under his research leadership, the Centre for Mobile e-Services for Development- hosted by the University of Zululand and sponsored by Telkom and Huawei as industry partners -has graduated men and especially women who have turned out to be ICT heavy weights both nationally and internationally.

Senior Researcher

Dr Pragasen Mudali

Dr Pragason Mudali is Senior lecturer of the Department of Computer Science at University of Zululand. He hold  BSc (Data Communications Technology), BSc Honours (Computer Science) , a MSc (Computer Science)  and PhD (Computer Science) was awarded in 2017.

He lectured a various courses, the Introductory Software Engineering, Systems Programming, Wireless Communications and Networks and Software Defined Networks courses. Pragason has participated is a number of externally-funded research projects of the Department of Computer Science  since 2006 and he has also led the Wireless Mesh Networks research group in the Department since 2009. His group has produced more than 5 MSc dissertations and 2 PhD thesis since its inception. His research group has also published more 30 articles and conference papers in accredited outlets.

He has received a provisional SA patent in 2015 for work done by his 2^nd year students to prevent distracted driving. Mudali also currently a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) and the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists (SAICSIT).

His research interests revolve around energy-efficient Wireless Ad-hoc Networks for rural usage scenarios. He has focused on Wireless Mesh Networks in the past and now he is applying the expertise gained to MANETs and Sensor Networks. The research group that he is leads has previously investigated Routing Protocol performance and energy-efficiency, Transport Protocol performance and energy-efficiency, Gateway selection in rural settings, the selection of Mesh Key Distributors, the energy-efficiency of combinations of Routing and Transport protocols, Autoconfiguration and the influence of distance from the Gateway on node performance in Wireless Mesh Networks.

Both his MSc and PhD research was based on the application of Topology Control to minimise the cumulative transceiver power consumed whilst maintaining network connectivity in Wireless Mesh Networks. He studied the behaviour of Topology Control prototypes and the performance of the resultant network topologies created.

The research group that he lead is currently investigating the potential for Software-defined wireless ad hoc networks in resource-constrained scenarios such as rural areas and the tactical military environment.In both scenarios force the group to consider the energy-efficiency of the software-defined network and autoconfiguration with the second scenario also forcing them to consider the effect of mobility.The current research focus is thus an evolution from their previous research efforts.

Postdoctoral

Dr Oki Olukayode

Dr Oki Olukayode is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science.

Researcher

Mr Paul Tarwireyi

Paul Tarwireyi is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science. He holds a Bachelor of Science, MSc  from University of Fort Hare and his B.Sc. Honours Degree from Rhodes University.

His research interests are in Information security, computer networks and Service Oriented Computing.

Researcher

Ms Ijeoma Mba

Ms Ijeoma Mba is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science. She holds an MSc Computer Science degree from the University of Zululand and is currently working towards her PHD. She co-ordinates the honours Computer science programme as well she is the leader of the Context Awareness and Personalizetion research group.

She currently lecturers Data Structures and Algorithms course and as well Distributed Systems Development in undergraduate.

Ms Mba is a member of the Telkom Centre of Excellence for mobile e-services and her research interests are on Cloud Computing with special interest on Mobile Cloud Computing, the cloudlet and small data.

List of  Recent Publications

• Sphelele C. Fakude, Ijeoma Noella Mba, Alaba Akingbesote,and Matthew Adigun (2016). “Cache Pre-fetching Mechanism For Data Availability Provisioning In Ad-Hoc Mobile Cloud” Proceedings of Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) 2016: 4-7 September 2016, Fancourt, George.
• Siphelele C. Fakude, Ijeoma Mba, Olukayode Oki, Matthew O. Adigun (2015) “On Supporting Disconnected Operation in Ad hoc Mobile Cloud Computing” Proceedings of Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) 2015: 6 – 9 September 2015, Arabella, Hermanus, Western Cape, South Africa.
• Ayotuyi T. Akinola, Matthew O. Adigun, Alaba O. Akingbesote and Ijeoma N. Mba (2015) “Optimal service selection in Ad-Hoc mobile market based on multi-dynamic decision algorithms” 2015 World Symposium on Computer Networks and Information Security (WSCNIS) Pages: 1 – 6, DOI: 10.1109/WSCNIS.2015.7368303
• Ijeoma Noella Mba and Matthew O Adigun (2011). “Comparative Study of Web Services Platforms in a GUISET environment” Proceedings of Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) 2011: 4-7 September 2011, East London Convention Centre, East London

Researcher

Ms Sizakele Mathaba

Sizakele Mathaba is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science. She holds a Bachelor of Science Info Systems Degree (2007), B.Sc. Honours Degree in Computer Science (2008) and MSc in Computer Science (2014) at University of Zululand.

In 2009, she joined CSIR Meraka Institute in Pretoria as an intern student and was appointed a candidate Researcher in Computer Studies (2010 until 2012. She worked at Accenture (SA) as a Business Analyst in April 2012 until November 2013. Later she joined IBM (SA) as a Database Administrator (DB2) till April (2016).

She is currently a PhD student and her research interest includes Internet of Things(IoT) in Retail and is now expanding her research to Network Function Virtualization-Infrastructure (NFV-I) and Cloud.

List of Publications

• Mathaba S., Adigun M., Kayode O., Oladosu J. “On the use of Internet Of Things and web 2.0 in Inventory Management,” Journal of Intelligent and Fuzzy Systems, 2016.
•  Mathaba, S, Dlodlo,N, Smith, A and Adigun, M. “The use of RFID and Web 2.0 Technologies to Improve Inventory Management in South African Enterprises” The Electronic Journal Information Systems Evaluation Volume 14 Issue 2 , 2011, (pp228-241), UK, available online at www.ejise.com
•   . Mathaba, S.U., Dlodlo, N., Williams, Q., Adigun, M.O., The use of RFID and web 2.0 tools to enhance inventory management systems in enterprises, International Conference on  Information Management and Evaluation(ICIME) 2011, Ryerson University, Canada, 27-28 April 2011.
•  Mathaba S., Dlodlo N., Smith A., Makitla I., Sibiya G. and Adigun M. (2012). “Interfacing internet of things technologies of RFID, XMPP and Twitter to reduce inaccuracies in inventory management”. IST Africa, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
• Mvelase, H. Sithole, T. Modipa, S. Mathaba .The Economics of Cloud Computing: A Review. Proceedings of 3rd IEEE International Conference on Advances on Computing, Communications and Engineering. Durban, South Africa, 28-29 November, 2016
•  Dlodlo, N., Krause, C., Mathaba, S.U., Mvelase, P.S., Kabanda, S.K., Preparedness of South African deep rural SMMEs to deliver e-government services to local communities, International development Informatics Association IDIA 2009, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 28-30 October 2009.
•  Mvelase, P.S., Dlodlo, N., Mathaba, S.U., Kabanda, S.K., Krause, C., A theoretical framework for government information service delivery to deep rural communities, International development Informatics Association IDIA 2009, Kruger National Park, South Africa, 28-30 October 2009.
•  Cleophas Dzinotyiweyi, Segoposto Moshapo, Sizakele Mathaba,Xolani Nkosi,The usage of low cost information access devices(laptop, palmtops, net books, mobiles etc) in fostering social and economic development in the world, FP7 Digital World forum, Belgium, 2009.For more information please follow this link: http://www.digitalworldforum.eu/wp2.
•  Dlodlo N., Tolmay JP., Mathaba S.U., Mix and Match  Content Architecture  for Themes of the Day, ZA-WWW  annual conference on  World Wide Web Applications, University of Witwatersrand 14- 16 September 2011.

Researcher

Ms Nombuso Sibeko

Nombuso Sibeko ​ is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science. She holds a Bachelor of Science   Degree, B.Sc. Honours Degree in Computer Science and MSc in Computer Science at University of Zululand.

Researcher

Ms Sbongile Zulu

Sbongile Zulu is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science. She holds a Bachelor of Science  and B.Sc. Honours Degree in Computer Science (2008) both from University of Zululand.

Researcher

Mr Thami Ndlovu

Thami Ndlovu is a lecturer at the department of Computer Science. She holds a Bachelor of Science  and B.Sc. Honours Degree in Computer Science (2008) both from University of Zululand.