The University of Cape town has launched South Africa’s first Master of Engineering (MEng) degree in radar and electronic defence, in conjunction with the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and several international partners.

This week the University of Cape Town (UCT) welcomed the first intake of students, consisting of six full-time and 14 part-time students, in an effort to address the growing need for skilled engineers and scientists in the fields of radar and electronic defence.

The industry has been absorbing and training many young graduates just out of university as there is no solid training in radar engineering or electronic defence in South Africa, according to CSIR principal researcher for radar and electronic competence Leon Staphorst. The CSIR has been mentoring, coaching and teaching graduates. In the future, both the public and private sectors will benefit from the influx of the 15 to 20 newly trained radar engineers expected to emerge from UCT every year.

The two-year degree will require around 1 800 hours of notional learning, including 450 hours of recommended coursework, 750 hours of elective coursework and a research project amounting to 600 hours of work. Each course will typically contain a lecture component of five full days, as well as assignments, weekly seminars and a written exam every five weeks.

The course will begin with an introduction to radar and then cover radar and signal data processing; electronic defence; antenna theory; radar and electronic defence maths; target tracking; clutter and detection in clutter; and high resolution and imaging radar. Next year the CSIR intends to expand the programme to include, amongst other things, a module on radar applications in space sensors.

Some of the lecturers will be from overseas, including four from the University of Pisa in Italy. One will be from software development house Igence in the United Kingdom while the remaining three will be from UCT, the University of Stellenbosch and the CSIR DPSS (CSIR Defence, Peace, Safety and Security).

“The aim is to obtain international standing for the degree and encourage foreign students to study here by enlisting international lecturers to teach this programme,” Staphorst told Engineering News. Indeed, four of the students this year are foreigners.

The course was developed by CSIR DPSS principal researcher for radar and electronic competence Willie Nel, together with Staphorst and professor Michael Inggs at UCT. “The programme was subdivided into specific degree courses, one focusing on the electronics field and the other on radar. However, expansion of the electronic defence programmes is under way and will be introduced next year,” Nel said.