From Training to Projects: Wireless Sensor Networks in Africa

Wireless Sensor Networks have a great role to play in Developing Countries. This paper reports on training workshops jointly organized by the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics and the University of Cape Town in South Africa (March 2010), Kenya (June 2011) and Ghana (December 2011) on Wireless Sensor Networks. The trainings were 4 days long and targeted 20 participants, composed of researchers, professionals and students from both computer science and other scientific faculties. The training activities were regional ones and used open wireless sensors for the advantages they present. The lectures were organized with theoretical lectures in the morning and laboratory sessions in the afternoon. Participants from the workshops have deployed wireless sensor networks in their own countries and have come up with some interesting applications. We will describe an application deployed in Malawi