Last updated 2025-03-11
I work for the CSIR, the South African government's research organisation. I'm presently working in the Spectrum Access and Management Innovation (SAMI) group, looking mostly at wideband access in rural areas and in energy efficiency of mobile networks.
I am also a director of a state-owned company and of two small companies in the aviation industry. I've always been a salaried employee, but I've founded or co-founded four companies. One of these was a flying school which I operated from Kitty Hawk airfield, just east of Pretoria, for about 13 years. I flew as a volunteer pilot for the South African Air Force for almost two decades, where I was the squadron's Training Officer on a mixed fleet including a dozen large jets.
My first eight years after school were spent studying and completing my compulsory military service, as well as doing a bit of professional flying. I completed my BEng degree in electronic engineering and Commercial Pilot Licences on aeroplanes and helicopters.
The next year was spent as a teacher, teaching an experimental project on behalf of Eskom, South Africa's prime electricity provider.
My first real job was with Nanoteq, a provider of information security systems. I started off on KeeLoq®, a range of ICs for secure remote control applications. In 1994, I spent around a quarter of my time in Europe and Asia, finding applications and customers for the new technology. However, when the product line was sold to Microchip in Arizona, USA around 1996, I stayed behind and started learning about new technologies.
My career has subsequently meandered through Internet firewall technologies and Virtual Private Networks, voice and data encryption equipment for telecommunications networks, secure pre-paid card phone systems, electronic cash and large-scale secure mainframe-to-mainframe communications systems. Apart from strategic planning, I was also involved in writing product specifications and ensuring that the final product was developed to meet those specifications. I enjoyed the combination of hands-on technical exposure and global perspective that my job provided.
Nanoteq eventually sold our product group to Prism. The arrangement was short-lived, and most of us eventually ended up on the street.
I then spent a year as a freelance consultant, working mainly for the University of Pretoria and SensePost, while doing a fair amount of flying.
My first job with the CSIR involved trying to promote Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) in the South African transport industry. ITS involves the use of information technology to improve traffic flow and safety, making it unnecessary to invest in new roads by using existing capacity optimally. The industry's growth is painfully slow, but foreign experience indicates that ITS can provide major benefits.
My efforts to optimise traffic light algorithms led me into Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications. To help me find my feet in this new field, I engaged in PhD studies in 2007. After some years, my emphasis changed again. With the new focus came a new PhD attempt, which was terminated by a serious accident. I had to abandon almost all my activities for more than five years to focus on regaining my mobility.
My work in SAMI started off promisingly, but due to the CSIR's safety policies I no longer have a workshop and am now mostly relegated to typing.
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