An integrated research programme in AI applied to telecommunications at M L SULTAN Technikon

Abstract

With the introduction of the degree programs in technikons the call for research outputs sounds increasingly urgent. Technikons have now realised that they are well positioned to also undertake applied and experimental research. The need for a sustainable research programme in the area of Al and telecommunications was identified at M L Sultan Technikon about three years ago. Positive spin-offs of such a programme include improved co-operation in research among the staff and students in the departments of Electronic Engineering and Computer Studies, partnerships with academic institutions such as University of Durban Westville, University of Natal and other research organisations. This provides also an opportunity for staff to continually update their skills and knowledge base in terms of rapidly changing technology, and an improved ability for the Technikon to continue to offer relevant and appropriate qualifications. The paper will present the Technikon's focus areas of research in Al and its application to Telecommunications. It is funded by the Foundation of Research and Development, Telkom and Ericson. Its outputs are envisaged to be in the form of practical and theoretical results, useful to both the of IT field and to the telecommunications industry. The results of the research will have implications for the local, regional and international communities. Another effect is improving the qualifications of least one third of the staff members within the departments of Computer Studies and Electronic Engineering, Development of telecommunications infrastructure and in particular rural telecommunications is a complex process that involves both technical and socio-economic factors. It requires the building the technical base for rural telecommunications, assessment procedures for the evaluation of opportunities and strategic planning, improvement of maintenance and repair activities. A crucial element in all these activities is the need for improvement of decision support. The latter is provided at different levels depending on the nature of the tasks. Thus a service engineer needs a decision support system for better identification of technical faults that affects mainly the work of a single person at a time. On the other hand decisions that need to be taken on the development of telecommunications infrastructure in larger rural areas are not only technical decisions but also socio-economic decisions involving groups of many stakeholders. This paper examines various· research topics undertaken at ML Sultan Technikon related to the following aspects of decision making or technological issues associated with the development of rural telecommunications: • Investigation of Problem Structuring in the Analytic Hierarchy Process and Soft Systems Methodology for the Evaluation of the Socio Economic Impact of Telecommunications Services in Rural Areas. • Investigation of the Role of Different Measurement Scales in the Analytic Hierarchy Process when applied to the evaluation of research projects in the area of telecommunications. • Handling of Uncertainty in Judgements in the Analytic Hierarchy Process when applied to the selection of equipment for rural telecommunications development. • Investigation into Case Based Reasoning for fault identification and repairs in telecommunications. • Expert systems approach to equipment maintenance for the telecommunications industry. • The application of Artificial Intelligence in Digital Signal Processing. This project focuses on speaker identification using Artificial Neural Networks. The above topics are initiated at the Centre of Excellence in Rural Telecommunications uniting the human resources of the departments of Computer Studies and Electronic Engineering. The projects are varied but at the same time sufficiently coherent. This will ensure that the Technikon will build a critical mass in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Telecommunications and will be able to offer the local industry wider expertise and assistance.