James Katende

Wind profile characteristics and turbine performance analysis in Kano, north-western Nigeria

This study analyzed the electricity generation potential from wind at Kano, Nigeria (12.05°N; 08.2°E; altitude 472.5 m; air density 1.1705 kg/m3). Twenty one years (1987 to 2007) monthly mean wind speed data at a height of 10 m were assessed from the Nigeria Meteorological Department, Oshodi. The data were subjected to different statistical tests and also compared with the two-parameter Weibull probability density function. The outcome shows that the average monthly wind speed ranged from 6.6 to 9.5 m/s. Seasonally, average wind speeds ranged between 6.6 to 8.5 m/s and 7.4 to 9.5 m/s for dry (October to March) and wet (April to September) seasons, respectively. Also, estimated monthly wind power ranged between 3.6 and 12.5 MWh/m2. The most probable and maximum energy carrying wind speeds were also determined and the two parameters of the Weibull statistics were found to lie between 2.1 ≤ k ≤ 4.9 and 7.3 ≤ c ≤ 10.7, respectively. These results indicate that wind speeds at Kano may be economically viable for wind-to-electricity at and above the height of 10 m. In addition, five practical turbine models were assessed for the site’s wind profile, with results suggesting strong economic viability.

Pulsed power system for wireless underground sensor networks

In wireless underground sensor networks (WUSNs), electronic magnetic waves undergo severe fading due to the underground environment, which is a challenging environment. Magnetic-induction (MI) communication is been used as an optional technique in the communications of WUSNs, which is not so suitable for information transfer in the underground domain due to high path loss, and the need for large antenna size to increase transmission range. There is a high path loss in magnetic induction technique, and as a result, limiting its transmission range. In order to increase the transmission range, an option is to raise the transmitting power level. However, in the underground environment, the power supply level must not be too high because of the limited size of apparatus. This paper proposed a novel method termed Pulse Power Magnetic Induction (PPMI) to solve the problem of high path loss in underground wireless communication so as to increase the transmission range in the environment. Comparative analysis results of the path loss and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with varying distance and operating frequency of our proposed PPMI system in the underground communication to the ordinary MI system showed an improvement in the transmission range of the underground network.