Electrical & Electronic Engineering - Stellenbosch University

11/06/2026

A final-year engineering project at Stellenbosch University explored how a locally hosted Home Energy Management System can help households make better use of solar, battery storage, and outage planning.

Built by Aldrich Opperman, under the supervision of Dr Arnold Rix, the system runs on a Raspberry Pi with a touchscreen dashboard that brings together inverter data, weather forecasts, load-shedding schedules, and smart-switch control.

The project moves past simple monitoring. It predicts household demand, estimates solar generation, and adjusts battery charging and selected loads ahead of outages.

It’s a practical piece of engineering shaped by South Africa’s energy context, and by the day-to-day decisions households face when grid supply is uncertain.

Read the full post: https://www.su.ac.za/en/faculties/engineering/departments/electrical-electronic-engineering/news/smarter-way-manage-home-energy-during-load-shedding

26/05/2026

📢 Join Stellenbosch University's research team

The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship focused on Radio Astronomy Instrumentation within the EMACS group.

This opportunity is ideal for researchers passionate about RF systems, antennas, radio astronomy and advanced instrumentation research.

📅 Closing date: Open until position is filled

Find out more and apply: https://padlet.com/su_research/postdoctoral-fellowship-opportunities-globq2v84ww0cm8/wish/Xb8YaLpg255vayn1

📧 Send applications to: [email protected]

11/05/2026

How do you stay in touch when mobile networks are overloaded or unavailable?

A final-year engineering project at Stellenbosch University explored that question by developing a two-part off-grid communication system that pairs a smartphone app with a compact LoRa device.

Built by Gerhard Arnold Hattingh under the supervision of Professor Rensu Theart, the system supports text messaging, location sharing, friend-finding, and low-resolution image transfer without relying on cellular service or Wi-Fi.

Field tests showed reliable two-way communication over roughly 2 km in open terrain, with setup from app launch to first message taking about 39 seconds.

It’s a thoughtful piece of engineering that brings together hardware, software, security, and user-focused design into a single practical system.

Read the full post: https://www.su.ac.za/en/faculties/engineering/departments/electrical-electronic-engineering/news/when-mobile-networks-fail-phone-can-still-reach-your-group

17/04/2026

Thinking about studying Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University?

Join us at the Faculty of Engineering’s on-campus Open Day on Saturday, 18 April 2026, from 08:00 to 15:00.

It’s a good chance to get a feel for the department, speak to staff and students, and see where this degree can take you. From lab tours and demos to practical information about the programme, admission, and student life, the day is designed to help you make a more informed choice about your next step.

Our undergraduate offering opens into fields such as robotics, telecommunications, energy, informatics, and data engineering.

We look forward to welcoming prospective students and showing you what Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch is about.

17/04/2026

Thinking about studying Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch University?

Join us at the Faculty of Engineering’s on-campus Open Day on Saturday, 18 April 2026, from 08:00 to 15:00.

It’s a good chance to get a feel for the department, speak to staff and students, and see where this degree can take you. From lab tours and demos to practical information about the programme, admission, and student life, the day is designed to help you make a more informed choice about your next step.

Our undergraduate offering opens into fields such as robotics, telecommunications, energy, informatics, and data engineering.

We look forward to welcoming prospective students and showing you what Electrical & Electronic Engineering at Stellenbosch is about.

02/04/2026

A final-year electrical and electronic engineering project in the Faculty of Engineering at Stellenbosch University examined how reinforcement learning can improve cooling efficiency at mobile network sites.

Rynhardt du Plessis, under the supervision of Professor Riaan Wolhuter and Dr Jaco du Toit, developed a simulation-based thermal control system for telecom containers. The project combined a fitted heat-transfer model with a Deep Q-Network agent that learned when to switch between off, fan, air conditioner, and combined cooling modes.

At the measured site, cooling accounted for about 41% of total energy use when one air conditioner was running. In the project’s test environments, the learned controller reduced energy use and sharply cut temperature alarms compared with the current automatic strategy, while also generalising from a humid setting to a much hotter, drier one without retraining.

Read the full article: https://www.su.ac.za/en/faculties/engineering/departments/electrical-electronic-engineering/news/smarter-cooling-mobile-network-sites-reinforcement-learning-energy-efficient-thermal

30/12/2025

Reliable electricity is not an accident. It is a calculated result

"Will loadshedding return? Does the grid effectively subsidise your rooftop solar system?"

These are not theoretical questions. They are practical, economic realities that shape national policy and household budgets. In a modern energy grid, however, simple answers no longer exist.

In his inaugural lecture, Professor Bernard Bekker argues that the answer to South Africa’s energy questions is almost always: “It depends.”

Planning for the future is inherently difficult. It becomes even harder when integrating variable renewable energy, battery storage, and shifting market rules. To navigate this, Prof Bekker uses advanced modeling to simulate possible futures. These simulations allow decision-makers to stress-test policies and infrastructure choices before concrete is poured or cables are laid.

28/12/2025

28/12/2025

09/12/2025

Abundant sun and wind do not automatically equal a reliable power supply. In fact, the variability of renewables places immense pressure on grids historically built for centralised generation.

In his inaugural lecture, Prof Arnold Rix addressed the critical engineering reality of “low-inertia grids.”

As traditional power stations go offline, Prof Rix argues that renewable sources must do more than generate power—they must actively support the system stability. Through the Scatec Chair in Renewable Systems, he is bridging academic modeling with industrial application to make this low-carbon transition a reality.

Read the full write-up: https://ee.sun.ac.za/inaugural-lecture-prof-arnold-rixs-vision-for-engineering-a-stable-low-carbon-future/