Dr. Indah Kurniawati ST MT when presenting her dissertation topic entitled Modeling of HF Radio Channel Skywave Multipath Multimode in Low Latitude Area

ITS Campus, ITS News – the Department of Electrical Engineering of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) produced a new doctorate. It was Dr. Indah Kurniawati ST MT who was declared a graduate in an open session of doctoral promotion with a dissertation Modeling of HF Radio Channel Skywave Multipath Multimode in Low Latitude Area, Thursday (15/8).

In her dissertation, the 124th doctorate from the Department of Electrical Engineering, who graduated with a very satisfying predicate, described various interesting things that still escaped the public’s attention in her dissertation.

Indah, who is also a lecturer at the University Muhammadiyah Surabaya, admitted she felt relieved after completing her session. Moreover, she underwent this doctoral program for 12 semesters (six years). The time is quite long and full of struggle for women who took all her bachelor, master, and doctoral degrees at ITS.

Indah said she gained her inspiration after observing many destructive natural disaster events that have arisen in recent times. In such cases, high frequency (HF) amateur Radio is considered by this alumnus of ITS Electrical Engineering has a very important role.

Dr. Indah Kurniawati ST MT listened with enthusiasm to the participant’s questions of the session

According to her, it is caused by the propagation media (signal distribution from one place to another, red) of the HF radio channel is the ionosphere layer. “Which do we know that this layer is not affected by the Earth’s surface disasters,” explained by the woman who born in Tulungagung.

She revealed that the topics she took in the dissertation was interesting and had benefits for many people. Furthermore, the HF radio is often used as an emergency communication when a disaster occurs. Besides being easy to use, HF radio is also very fitting if used as an information conduit on various complex fields, such as in fishing boats, disaster zones, and several other places.

Indah hopes that the dissertation topic she has tested in Ternate and Merauke will able to be developed to the HF digital communication design. Because the communities, especially in the Frontier, Outermost, and Lagging areas (3T), really need communication assistance with this tool. “Moreover, I took data in Papua, where it is really difficult to communicate with outsiders,” she said concerned.

All this time, the doctor who had two Scopus indexed scientific journal publications is admitted that HF is only used to distribute sound. So when it can send simple messages inter-island, the surrounding community will certainly enjoy the benefits of communication. Indah considers Indonesia is unique, as it is located in the geomagnetical low latitude area. “So it has complicated variations if it used to communicate widely, that is where the challenge for us all,” she said steadily.

Dr. Indah Kurniawati ST MT (center), after completing her doctoral session with a very satisfying predicate from ITS Electrical Engineering

Able to minimize Illegal Fishing?

As we know, the 3T area is more prone than other areas. This is due to various things such as difficult access, unfamiliar field, lack of supervision, and so on. So it is not uncommon to be a favorite location for illegal fishing. When Indah and her colleagues took data in the Ternate and Merauke which included as 3T area, they found a dense radio-use activity.

According to the student guidance of Prof. Ir. Gamantyo Hendrantoro MEng Ph.D., if it is developed further, her dissertation topic is considered capable to minimize the number of illegal fishing. Of course, also preserve the territory of the NKRI and the integrity of the marine ecosystems in the 3T area. This was also not denied by the chairperson of the session, the promoter lecturer, as well as the examiners who assess this open session. Precisely the participants in attendance seemed to be more enthusiastic to pay attention to the explanation conveyed by Indah. (dik/gayatri/ITS Public Relation)