Establishment of the Top Quality Centralized Instrumentation Center:
a Model for Developing Countries
B S Chowdhry1,2, A Q K Rajput1, Q Gee2, M F Panhwar3
1
Mehran University of Engineering & Technology, Jamshoro, Pakistan
c.bhawani@ieee.org, bsc06v@ecs.soton.ac.uk
2
School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, UK
qg2@ecs.soton.ac.uk
3
Quaid-e-Awam University of Engineering, Science & Technology, Nawabshah, Pakistan
mfawad123@gmail.com
Abstract
To take part in the global technological advance, it has become imperative, especially for developing
countries, to keep pace with the progress being achieved elsewhere, by renewing their research
laboratories and by establishing centers of research and development. Developing countries need to
advance the fields of engineering, science and technology, which have become essential factors for
their economies. The importance of Research and Development especially in the field of Engineering,
Science and Technology, in the academic and industrial sectors, is recognized by the Government of
Pakistan. In pursuit of such policies, it has established the Top Quality Centralized Instrumentation
Center (TQCIC) at Mehran University. This center establishes a major two-way conduit between
industry and academia, thus providing cost-effective high-tech solutions. This paper presents the
TQCIC as a role model for developing countries. We focus on the importance of achieving selfreliance, developing state-of-the-art equipment training and facilities, and bridging the gap between
industries and academic institutions through programs linking them both. Pakistani universities have
only produced a few PhDs in Engineering in their first 50 years. As research culture is vital for the
acquisition of new knowledge and health of universities, the TQCIC has resulted in the improvement of
infrastructure for better training and research. A large number of highly advanced instruments and
equipment have been acquired and installed. Research students, faculty members, research scientists,
and industries are all benefiting from these facilities. The paper also covers the procedure for selecting
the right equipment, development of infrastructure, and technical staff requirements. We demonstrate
the benefits of the TQCIC project in terms of financial, economic, technical, and social aspects.
Keywords: self-reliance, university-industry interaction, technological progress, cost-effective hightech solution, sustainable development, R&D in universities
1. Introduction
In order to meet the current market requirements and compete at an international level in this era of
technological revolution, it is essential for developing countries to encourage research and development,
and foster interaction between industry and academia. This fact has been recognized as being of crucial
importance by many Governments, who believe that the most important mission of a technical university is
the advancement of science and technology for the benefit of humanity. The quality of the contributions to
society depends upon how efficiently the instruments of education and research are utilized and on the
involvement of every university member (staff and students) in the university’s affairs [1]. We believe that
the survival and prosperity of a nation depend on the adoption of the true spirit of research and
development, and on the desire to serve the nation through expertise already available in developing
countries.
Birand makes the point that, given the speed of technological change, “it is essential that the education
system prepares students to function productively as engineers (whether in industry, government, or
academe) over the full course of a career” [2].
Attaining sustainable development is another essential requirement for any developing country. In fact,
preparing for technological change will improve the socio-economic condition of any such country. As
Pister wrote, “a country weak in technological literacy will have increasing difficulty competing in the
technology-driven global economy of the twenty-first century” [3]. Therefore, the sustainable development
of any country depends directly upon the degree of research and development being carried out by its
scientists and engineers.
How can developing countries compete with the developed world? Clough answers this by requiring
“drastic, radical, improvements in technical education and through the replacement of teaching systems that
… produce graduates who cannot make decisions, cannot innovate, and cannot think for themselves” [4]. A
very important aspect of improving technical education is through consistency in imparting quality
education that encourages innovation and creativity rather than a derivative form of contributions. For any
developing country, it is therefore imperative that the industry-academia linkage associated with our
technical universities provides indigenous cost-effective high-tech solutions achieved through sincere effort
and dedication towards the economic well-being of the country.
Pakistan had lagged behind other developing countries in producing PhDs in the field of Engineering.
Thus, the first PhD in Electronic Engineering was only achieved in 2002, being constrained mainly by
technical resources. To address this lack of resources, the Government of Pakistan’s Higher Education
Commission (HEC) took on the major task of facilitating the development of indigenous universities as
world-class centers of education, research and development.
Keeping in view the intention to develop industrial interaction, promote research, and spur development,
the HEC approved the establishment of a Top Quality Centralized Instrumentation Center (TQCIC), and
has located it in the Department of Electronic & Bio-Medical Engineering, Mehran University of
Engineering & Technology, at Jamshoro in Pakistan.
The TQCIC project envisaged a suite of modern research laboratories provided with the latest
equipment, with the three aims of carrying out research at postgraduate level, providing consultancy to
industry, and producing trained manpower. It is hoped that this will boost the economy of country in the
long term. At a local level, the TQCIC provides a research and development infrastructure for students,
research fellows, faculty members, and for neighboring industry.
2. Objectives of the TQCIC
With the establishment of the TQCIC, the university has aimed to enhance existing research and
development activities through the provision of advanced instruments and laboratory facilities for
fabrication, analysis, testing, measurement, calibration, and training.
2.1. Implementation of Research
The center provides modern research facilities to Masters, MPhil, and PhD students in chosen areas. It
cooperates with local industry to define requirements that enable the center to provide better and costeffective local solutions to their problems, through which university faculty skills can be developed, while
enhancing the center’s position as a solution provider. The center helps in narrowing the gap between
theory and practice, by implementing the results acquired through research.
2.2. Indigenous Development and Design
One important aim of the center is to develop and design instrumentation that is both cost-effective and
meets the needs of local industry, which is easy to service and saves foreign exchange by moving towards
self-reliance. As a recent report states, “Developing countries need more home-grown inventors who are
committed to tackling poverty through the application of new technologies. … Implementing socially and
environmentally sound technologies could allow developing countries to ‘leap frog’ inappropriate or
outdated technologies, instead inventing and adopting more sustainable solutions” [5].
2.3. Development of Technical Skills
The center imparts both basic and advanced hands-on training in the field of Instrumentation and Process
Control, as required by industry due to growing complexity of manufacturing processes. At the center,
various short technical training courses are developed as required by individual clients and by industry,
since the country is facing great shortages of highly qualified technicians. Additional refresher courses
bring up-to-date trained technicians who undertake maintenance and operation of sophisticated equipment
and complicated new technical processes.
2.4. Modernization of old Systems, and Consultancy
There are about 100 industrial enterprises within 30 km of the TQCIC and more than 500 industrial
enterprises within 180 km vicinity of the TQCIC. Some of their installed equipment is obsolete, and both
industry and academic institutions are looking for solutions that avoid the expense of replacing whole
control systems with new ones. The center offers Consultancy Services in instrumentation to industry,
works according to their requirements, and provides cost-effective solutions within the limitations and
constraints relating to their needs. Various industrial research projects are undertaken to find cost-effective,
high-tech, solutions to the development of, and modernization of, existing instrumentation in industry.
3. Infrastructure of TQCIC
We list here some extracts of the current census of equipment that has been provided by Government
funding, and by specialized industries, both local and overseas.
3.1 Equipment for Training
Light Measuring Unit (Elettronica Veneta), DC Motor Unit (Elettronica Veneta), Pressure Transducer
(Elettronica Veneta), Pressure Process Control (Elettronica Veneta), Light Transducer & Control
(Elettronica Veneta), DC Motor Speed Unit (Elettronica Veneta), Pressure Transducer & Signal
Conditioner (Elettronica Veneta) Pressure Control (Elettronica Veneta), Process Control Simulator
(Elettronica Veneta), Process Control Units (EDIBON), etc.
3.2 Testing and Measurement Facilities
Universal Testing Machine (DC-D500), Friction & Wear Testing Machine, Integrated Harness Tester,
Universal Friction & Wear Testing Machine, Digital Storage Scope, Electronic Force Microscope/
Scanning Probe Microscope, etc. Some additional testing and measurement facilities of calibration
laboratory and telecommunication engineering department of the university are also being utilized.
3.3 State-of-the-Art Technology Designing Equipment
Wireless Sensor Network Motes (Crossbow), Programmable Logic Controllers (Siemens S7-300), PID
Controllers (ASCON), Computer Interfaced PCB Prototype Machines, CNC Machine (Lathe & Milling
Machine), etc.
3.4 Advanced Simulation Software
Matlab, OrCAD, Labview, Multisim, Verilogger, Logosoft, EasyCAD (PCB Design), Boxford CAD/CAM,
ANSYS, NS2, etc.
3.5 Coordinating Platform
The TQCIC also provides a platform for coordinating the use of resources of other departments, such as
calibrating equipment in the Calibration Laboratory, the electronic microscope and XRD System (Bruker)
in Mining Engineering, network analyzers in Telecommunication Engineering, and the optical fiber and
telematics equipment in Electronic Engineering.
This has a number of advantages.
 Money is saved, as duplication of the equipment at the same institute is avoided
 Duplication of the facility is also avoided at other institutes, which saves a huge amount of
foreign exchange and promotes research collaboration
 Utilization of equipment is improved
 Maintenance costs are reduced, since such equipment is being maintained by the experts within
the Centre.
4. Equipment Selection
This was tackled in various ways. First, a circular was issued to postgraduate supervisors in the university
to get their feedback on the type of research facilities they needed for their doctoral students.
A team of experts surveyed training and modernization requirements of nearby industries, through Kotri
Associates of Trade & Industry (KATI), and the Hyderabad Chamber of Commerce and Industries (HCCI).
These industries include power generation, textile, cement, telecommunications, plastics, oil, beverages,
agricultural/horticultural machinery, air-conditioning and refrigeration, electronic machinery, and food
processing machinery.
Using the data collected from these sources, a team of experts made up of faculty members and
engineering specialists from industry, proposed the equipment required.
5. Quantifiable Benefits of the Project
5.1. Financial
The TQCIC was not meant to achieve any direct financial benefits, since its aim was to provide the
enhancement of R&D facilities in all fields of engineering, technology, science and the design of
instrumentation.
5.2. Economic
The university, by helping to satisfy local industrial requirements, will ultimately offer better and costeffective local solutions to the design of instruments in the field of Instrumentation & Control, thus
promoting the move towards self-reliance. The placement of highly trained engineers in various sectors will
ultimately bring good results in the socio-economic condition of the country.
5.3. Social
Great opportunities have been created for collaboration between Pakistan’s fast growing engineering
industry and academia. Such university-industry interaction that has already started has resulted in solving
industrial problems indigenously, through the research facilities established in the Department of
Electronics & Telecommunication, by students who are doing MPhil/PhDs under the indigenous program.
5.4. Employment generated
In view of the tremendous growth in the engineering sector and the low population density of the country,
there is a great scope for, and continuous consumption of, highly trained engineers, experts, technicians and
solution providers for indigenous industries.
5.5. Impact of the Project on target groups
The benefits against the project objectives:
 The major objective of modern research facilities has largely been achieved, since state-of-theart equipment has been purchased, installed, and is being fully utilized.
 A number of faculty members embarked upon research projects utilizing the above-mentioned
precision lab equipment, which is helping them in their MPhil/PhD research work.
 The TQCIC is providing a training facility for researchers, faculty members, industry and other
institutes for the enhancement of skills in state-of-the-art technology.
6. Technical Staff
One problem common to all developing countries is that all good graduate engineers mostly go to Western
and Middle Eastern countries where they find lucrative jobs. Likewise, getting good technician to maintain
the equipment is equally difficult. Such shortages have been widely publicized at various forums. The need
for technical manpower will increase at a startling rate with the modernization of our economy and the
ever-increasing demand of industry. Not only will the economy require greater numbers of technicallytrained people, but also the problems the engineer must solve to meet future demand for new technologies
will require far more scientific knowledge. To overcome this situation, a special staff grade for engineers
and technicians was created in the TQCIC in order to attract qualified and experienced people. In addition,
faculty members who were present during installation and commissioning of the equipment, were given the
additional challenge of arranging short courses to provide further training to technical staff.
7. Workshops and Hands-on Training
In order to share expertise with industry and to localize solutions to their problems, the TQCIC organizes
various workshops in collaboration with industry to impart practical training to engineers, technicians, and
students. It also runs training programs in technical skills for the benefit of the scientific community and
their associated laboratory staff from different departments and institutions. Some of the workshops that
have already been conducted are:
 PCB Design
 PLC Programming for Process Control
 MATLAB for Control Design
 MATLAB for Data Acquisition and Instrument Control
 Wireless Sensor Networks
 Intelligent Instrumentation
 LABVIEW operation
 Materials Testing
 MATLAB for Signal Processing
 FPGA programming
 SPM Applications in Biology and Medicine
 Calibration of Lab Equipment
 CAD/CAM operation
 PID Process Controllers
8. Major Impact of the TQCIC
One of the major objectives of establishing the center was to provide advanced instrumentation facilities to
postgraduate students. As the TQCIC comprises state-of-the-art equipment and skilled support personnel to
assure successful operation of the equipment, many researchers showed interest in undertaking their PhD
under HEC’s indigenous program. Some of the recent research projects approved by the university’s
Advanced Studies and Research Board are given below.
 Decision Support System for removing faults at Thermal Power Station, Jamshoro
 Platform-Independent Image Manipulation Program
 Modeling of Charge Injection into Organic Semiconductors
 Security Model of Wireless Sensor Networks
 Modeling and Simulation of Wireless Network Embedded Systems for smart civil structures
 Failure Analysis and Fabrication of grate cooler plates used in the Cement Industry
 Vibration Control of Rotor bearing using Individual Channel Analysis and Design Method
 Design of Intelligent Controllers for Marine Vehicle
 Experimental Study of Fly Ash of Lakhra Coal Power plant in R.C.C. Beams
 Design of Structural Vibration Control System
 Finite Element Modeling of blood flow relevance to Atherosclerosis
 Industrial Noise Pollution and its impact in textile cottage industry in Tando Adam
 Design of Hospital Waste Management at Nawabshah Medical College Hospital
and Performance Evaluation of in-place incinerator
 Environmental Consequences of the outfall structure of Ghorabari Drain
 Performance Evaluation of Environmental Management System of National Refinery Limited
 Environmental impact of pollutants generated from the emission of Lakhra Thermal Power
Station
 Removal/Recovery of Chromium from dyeing textile industry effluent of Kotri
 Critical study of Road Traffic Noise and land use in Larkana City
 Upgrading indigenous China Clay for environmentally-friendly products
 Removal of hazardous elements from Lakhra Lignite through Stub-Cone Hydrocycloning
The wide interest of research students and approval of their projects truly reflects the strength and
utilization of the TQCIC. All the research topics approved by ASRB are clearly related to indigenous
problems.
9. Economic Impact of Establishing such Centers
In developing countries, conditions, constraints, and resources differ sharply from industrialized nations,
creating special challenges pertaining to technical and educational research-related issues. The
establishment of a TQCIC ensures that the universities and industry interact by regularly organizing
workshops and training for faculty, fresh graduates and practicing professionals from local industry.
Therefore, specialist technical personnel find better job opportunities in universities and R&D
organizations. In addition, highly qualified engineers will be very useful in industry in solving technical
problems in their specified fields.
Establishing centers promoting sustainable development in universities helps in boosting research in all
fields of engineering, science and technology and, it is hoped, will result in the overall technological
progress of the country.
If we follow Ramos’s model of science research being the primary activity of a technical university, “the
source of new knowledge, the creation of models and standards of engineering and technological
knowledge” [6], then the TQCIC and such R&D centers have a vital role to play in the developing
economies of their region.
10. Discussion and Recommendations
Most of the developing countries in South Asia and Africa suffer from a lack in skills development and
carrying out indigenous research. The university-industry interaction is often missing because very few
talented graduates come forward to undertake higher degrees in research. In order to motivate highly
talented graduates to carry out indigenous research, we suggest that they must be given financial incentives,
and provided with facilities such as a TQCIC. Once research has started providing cost-effective high-tech
solutions, it will definitely lead sustainable economic development of that developing country. In a recent
interview, for example, the Chairman of the HEC said that Pakistan has been facing a shortage of qualified
university faculty such that out of 16 000 academic staff, there are only 3 500 teachers qualified to PhD
level [7]. Since universities at international level are judged by their creation of new knowledge, more
weight must be put on this, promoting PhDs, and the output of research projects, and for those purposes
universities should follow the international norm. Therefore, developing quality learning and innovation in
our educational institutions is of prime importance for growing economies and producing quality
indigenous PhDs.
The TQCIC liaises with local industry and finds out their requirements. This brings industrial problems
to the center. The TQCIC provides modern research facilities for Master, MPhil and PhD scholars. Such
indigenous research work eventually offers better and cost-effective local solutions to the design of
instruments in the field of Instrumentation & Control as required by local industry and promotes a move
towards self-reliance. The center has done a magnificent job in training manpower in the broader viewpoint
in technological and industry needs. Among other achievements, the TQCIC project has been the focal
point in
 Developing interaction between industry and the university
 Designing and developing cost-effective instruments
 Providing cost-effective high-tech solutions and modernizing existing instrumentation in
industry and in educational institutions
 Consultancy in the areas of industrial automation and control, communication and electronics
 Providing training in the areas of instrumentation, PLCs, PID Controllers, PCB design and
fabrication, and advanced simulation software
 Providing consultancy services and solutions in the field of industrial electronics equipment
 Provide facilities to MS/MPhil/PhD students satisfying their requirements for fabrication,
analysis, testing, measurements, and calibration so that they can serve research and industry
needs
 Undertaking the design, fabrication and repair of electronic instruments required by students and
teachers from the university and industry
 Offering Masters’ programs in various technologies such as Instrumentation & Control,
Embedded Systems, Biomedical Engineering, Structural Engineering
In order to overcome the dearth of PhD faculty, such centers in our educational institutions play an
important part in developing the qualified, trained and competent human resources who are proficient with
the latest available tools and adequate knowledge of current technologies. In the words of Zhurakovasky,
et al., “Unlocking the potential of individual people by giving them the chance to acquire skills and
qualifications will be of greatest importance in the years ahead. It will not only determine success and selffulfillment for individuals themselves, but will also be essential to sustain a successful national economy in
an increasingly competitive world” [8].
Acknowledgements
The Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET) Jamshoro is grateful to the Higher Education
Commission, Islamabad for approving the scheme for the placement of the TQCIC at Jamshoro. We are also thankful
Engr. Ghulam Sarwar Kandhir, Project Director-in-Chief, Engineer Munir A Shaikh, Director Finance, and Qazi Abdul
Razak, Director Planning & Development, MUET for their help and coordination in the establishment of the center and
procurement of its equipment. One of us (Prof. Bhawani Shankar Chowdhry) is grateful to the Higher Education
Commission (HEC), Islamabad, for sponsoring his postdoctoral fellowship at the School of ECS, University of
Southampton.
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