A locally-fabricated electrical power device to charge cell phones by the management of heat generated from cooking gas has been developed.
The device was presented at the two-day Regional Roundtable with Academia, Industry and other Stakeholders, organised by the Nigerian Communications Commission in Kano, by the Dr Cyprian Mgbachi of the Enugu State University of Technology.
Mgbachi, who practically demonstrated the device before participants at the roundtable, said the objective of the project is to design and develop a device that has the capacity of harvesting and converting cooking heat into electrical energy to charge cell phones.
The Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, during an interview with newsmen on Friday disclosed that the Commission was in the process of commercializing the research prototypes, towards achieving high quality and effective telecommunications service delivery.
Already, he disclosed that the Commission has begun the screening and evaluation of 10 prototypes toward adopting some of the viable ones, so as to add more value to the Telecommunications industry toward the provision of high quality services.
In his remarks at the Regional Round table with Academia, Industry and other Stakeholders, with the theme: ‘The path from innovative Research to Commercialization of viable Prototypes’, Danbatta explained that the round table engagement, with the Academia, telecommunications industry stakeholders and other critical stakeholders, including consumers, was ostensibly aimed at charting the way forward for the commercialization of research output, sponsored by the NCC in the Nigeria University system.
According to him, the idea of the project, which the commission has already invested N500 million, is on how to commercialize the prototypes, 10 of them, so as to be deployed upon commercialization to improve the delivery of quality Telecommunications services.
Other research prototypes displayed on the occasion, include, seamless data and voice connection, using multiple operators’ enabled sim cards.
The lead researcher, Professor Abiodun Musa Aibinu, listed challenges of the project to include the increasing poor end-users quality of experience, which has continuously been raising a lot of worries and uncertainty among the populace, the mobile Network operators (MNOs) and the regulator.
To this end he proposed a solution, which includes, the development of an artificial intelligence-based portable device, capable of providing seamless data and voice connections over the existing MNOs, which is envisioned as the solution to the QiE-induced problems, which are experienced by mobile communication subscribers in Nogeria.
“To date, from the beginning of the establishment of the Research and Telecommunications Development Department of the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), we have invested N500 million on funding of various research projects within the Nigerian University system and we are going to sustain the momentum by funding more researches, as well as the provision of endowment funds for professorial chairs in the Nigerian University system.”
“We developed the prototypes because technology is an ongoing process, it keeps changing, it keeps developing in technology, as new ideas are emerging, culminating in improvement in the national system of innovation in the country.
“So. You cannot just sit down and continue doing things the same way and expect different results. If you want better results, more efficient ways of doing things, more effective ways of doing them, then you must explore such opportunities in research and development. That is exactly what we are doing.”