Boniface Mutegi, a technology student at the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) is the brains behind the innovation that seeks to end cheating in exams.
According to Mutegi, the gadget will detect hidden communications such as voice calls, both ways messaging and even search engine activities on mobile phones that students bring into exam rooms.
“During one of our third-year classes, our lecturer Professor Jackton Odote challenged us with many ideas to ignite our imagination as we approached our projects. One of the ideas was the viability of creating a device that could sense mobile phones being used in exam rooms, an idea I grabbed and kept it in my mind for quite some time,” Mutegi says.
Mutegi's idea was one among the many that were up for grabs during one of his classes as he prepared to work on his final project.
“The most interesting bit I developed on the idea is the mobile detector’s interface with computer screens to enhance honesty in examination rooms and also to make supervision of examinations easy,” Mutegi beams and adds: “The devices will be interfaced with computers using a programmed microcontroller to be monitored by exam supervisors from the comfort of their offices.”
The mobile detector will detect mobile phones ranging on 2G, 3G, 4G and even 5G networks that is on its way to the Kenyan market.To work, the mobile detector will be installed strategically in examination rooms that will be divided into smaller cells. According to Mutegi, each cell will be represented by a single student.
He affirms that the strategic positioning of the mobile detectors added to the cells aspect of the invention will help identify the specific source of the mobile signal to be able to point to the actual culprit.
He assures universities on the affordability of the mobile detector, hinting on the superior duty of curbing examinations cheating in universities.