The University of Cape Town’s (UCT’s) master’s degree in radar engineering, launched in 2011, is proving to be a success, with a healthy annual intake of about ten full-time postgraduate students. Furthermore, other students are pursuing the degree through distance education, taking the total currently studying for the qualification to about 30. The whole radar and remote sensing programme at UCT now has about 60 students, including 15 PhD students.

“The degree was started as a joint initiative between UCT and the CSIR [Council for Scientific and Industrial Research],” explains UCT Department of Electrical Engineering Associate Professor (radar) Daniel O’Hagan. “The CSIR is our main and best supporter and backer on this course and we work very closely with them. We value their technical expertise to keep the course current. We also had support from the King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, who funded the course, with the CSIR acting as brokers.”

The reason it was started was to meet the need – not only in South Africa but around the world – for people who are thoroughly competent in radar (both civil and defence) and electronic warfare (EW). The radar master’s addresses the global skills deficit in science and engineering. Many government White Papers and equivalent documents from Australia, the UK, US and other countries as well as South Africa have all identified skills shortages, in particular in radar and EW, as being a problem. “We are addressing a need,” he observed.

“Another important point to stress is that radar engineering is inherently systems engineering,” he highlights. “If you study radar, you have skills that are readily transferable to many other disciplines. Our master’s programme is a fantastic primer for a student who wants to progress on to a more advanced degree such as a PhD.”

UCT’s radar group maintains a very extensive network of international collaborations with institutes in European Union and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries, with the result that the South African team is “very well aware” of international developments. Moreover, it also means that UCT can and does invite world- leading radar experts to come and contribute to the radar master’s programme, including giving lectures and hosting seminars. “We’ve been very successful in this regard,” reports O’Hagan. “We’ve had renowned experts come from the US, UK, Italy and Australia.

“We’re well supported by the local industry as well,” he adds. “We belong to all the radar interest groups in South Africa, including the South African Radar Interest group. We are very close to Reutech Radar Systems and Peralex and we have good contacts with Denel Dynamics and many others. We’re extremely well supported with domestic radar experience.”

UCT’s radar master’s programme is divided into a number of courses. In 2015, these will be: High Frequency Radar, Introduction to Radar Systems, Advanced Engineering Mathematics, Introduction to Electronic Defence/Warfare, Signal Processing, Clutter and Detection in Clutter, and finally Microwave Components and Antennas. Typically, each course will involve a five day period devoted to lectures, with weekly seminars and tasks over the subsequent five weeks, culminating in a written exam. Although all students have to be present in Cape Town for the week-long lecture periods, a distance learning system is available for those students who cannot attend UCT full time.

There are, in fact, three options for students wishing to earn the radar master’s degree. There is the Professional Taught master’s degree, which requires the student to do six of the above-listed courses, two of which are compulsory (Introduction to Radar Systems and Advanced Engineering Mathematics). The student must also complete a mini-dissertation. This results in the qualification MEng Radar. Then there is the Research master’s degree with coursework. This requires the student to do the two compulsory courses plus a third, in addition to completing a dissertation. Finally, there is the Research master’s degree by dissertation, for which the student must complete a major dissertation. Both the latter two options result in the qualification MScEng Electrical Engineering Specialising in Radar.

This educational programme is underpinned by active research, carried out by UCT’s Radar Remote Sensing Group (RRSG). “We are also heavily involved in organising the 2015 IEEE [Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers] Radar Conference,” reports O’Hagan. This will be the first time that the international radar conference comes to South Africa. It will take place in October in Johannesburg. The main organisers of the event are UCT, CSIR and members of the South African Radar Interest Group. “We expect there will be many presentations by students from the UCT RRSG,” asserts O’Hagan.