Zulhaj Aliansyah
Name: Muhammad Zulhaj Aliansyah
Department: Graduate School of Engineering, System Cybernetics
Course: Technical Creation Course
Research Field: Wireless Sensing System for Structural Health Monitoring
Supervisor: Professor , Idaku ISHII
Career and Academic Background before TAOYAKA Program
I enrolled in computer engineering in Brawijaya University, where I tinkered with various computer stuff, from POSIX system calls to interior routing protocols setup, from setting up PXE boot environment to interrupt-driven task scheduling on embedded ARM devices. I settled on the implementation of parallel problems on computer cluster to graduate just in time.
At the side, I also worked in Bike to Work Indonesia, a non-profit organization working to encourage workers and students to commute to work and school using bicycles instead of car or motorcycle (motorcycle ownership in Indonesia is so high that it leads to some complex social-economic-environmental problems), as well as educating proper bicycle manner, maintenance, and road safety.
Research Plan in TAOYAKA Program
Sensor is embedded computer system with transducers to measure physical phenomenons in the environment and (optionally) communication link to send measurement data for further processing. Human recognition is pretty limited, while the sensor’s design and implementation are flexible enough to cover broad range of applications.
Some structures which reflect culture, greatness and wealth of community are simply built to last: cultural heritage sites, monuments, and landmarks. Proper and continuous monitoring and maintenance are essential to ensure structural stability and safety, as structural deterioration are imminent. Structural health monitoring sees the applicability of wireless sensors which have less-obtrusive installation and networked sensors to address structural complexity.
As engineering feat, wireless sensor still has to address lots of ground: constrained power supply, network topology, transducers resolution and precision, data rate, embedded processing power, etc. for appropriate on-site implementation.
Career Plan after TAOYAKA Program
After graduating from the Taoyaka program, I would like to apply my education to assess society’s needs and appropriately implement technology related to electrical and computer engineering in response.. I hope that wireless sensors for structural health monitoring can contribute to ensure the safety of structures, especially in an era in which trans-national bridges are (planned to be) constructed and internet of things devices are proliferating, and to preserve aging heritage sites to pass down their values to future generations.
I hope that research will advance beyond lab desks, cease to be esoteric and overly sophisticated for the sake of novelty, and instead move towards functional implementation which actually benefits society.
In addition, I would like to experience cultures on bicycle tours, to ride about from one place to another.