education

MSc Electrical Engineering (by dissertation)

Title:3D Reconstruction of Pancake Sea Ice Floes Using LiDAR and Cameras

University of Cape Town
2022–2026

Submitted in February 2026, still awaiting results.

I completed my MSc at the African Robotics Unit (ARU) within the UCT Department of Electrical Engineering, supervised by Robyn Verrinder and James Hepworth. This work formed part of the interdisciplinary Marine and Antarctic Research for Innovation and Sustainability (MARIS) programme.

• Abstract: This project investigated the use of LiDAR and camera systems for the geometric characterisation of pancake sea ice floes in the Antarctic Marginal Ice Zone. Surface roughness and geometric variability influence drag forces and air–ice interactions, impacting floe morphology and drift. A complete processing pipeline was developed and validated using ground truth experiments to extract key geometric parameters from in-situ data collected aboard the SA Agulhas II during the SCALE Winter 2022 expedition. The methodology reconstructed pancake floes with an RMS surface roughness of 8.2 cm and identified three-dimensional sail structures using the Rayleigh criterion. The resulting framework enables realistic geometric reconstruction for CFD simulations and supports improved representation of sea ice morphology in modelling studies.
• Produced a paper published in the IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium (IGARSS) 2023 proceedings. Available here.
• Presented research at multiple academic forums. See my academia page for a full list with accompanying photographs.
• Download a 3D-printable keyring generated from my reconstructed pancake ice model

Leadership and Collaboration

• Collaborated with the University of Melbourne (Alessandro Toffoli, Giulio Passerotti), University of East Anglia (Alberto Alberello) for the LiDAR system procurement and deployment during SCALE Winter 2022 cruise.
• Led a team of undergraduate vacation work students for a three week period for a redesign the imaging hardware rig and the collection of a validation dataset. This included improvements in the mechanical design, a move to a ROS2 system and custom PCB integration.
• Assisted with the supervision of final-year projects: Gregory da Silva (2022) on stereo image analysis of buoy deployments, and Daniel Jones (2023) on LiDAR motion compensation using th device's IMU data.

BSc Eng Electrical and Computer Engineering (with honours)

University of Cape Town
2018–2021

Specialised in

• Computer Science
• Embedded Systems
• Network Engineering

Download transcript

IEB National Senior Certificate

St Mary's DSG Pretoria
2013–2017

Achievements

• 7 distinctions in the IEB National Senior Certificate
• Information Technology subject prize winner

Download certificate