Wireless Mesh Networks for Infrastructure Deficient Areas

International audienceProvision of internet access in infrastructure deficient areas is expected to bring profound economic and humanitarian benefit to developing countries. Notwithstanding, achieving this goal poses an economic and technical challenge. Due to technological and economical reasons cellular networks are regarded to be unable to deliver affordable distribution in the short term. Instead 802.11s wireless mesh networking standard is identified to be a more viable and affordable partial solution to deliver broadband internet in the periphery of developing countries. A general focus is the individual incentive to participate in a mesh network rather than reliance on organisational bodies. This paper designs an architecture and business model for a low cost, low range distribution of internet access. The technical architecture is evaluated using simulation and is found to be viable, but demands optimisation

Connected OFCity Challenge: Addressing the Digital Divide in the Developing World

Over the past 50 years, the development of information and communications technology has provided unprecedented support to the steady economic growth of developed countries. In recent years, some of the largest growth has been reported in emerging economies, which, however, often lack adequate telecommunications infrastructure to further sustain their development. Although a number of service providers and system vendors have started to address the issue, the challenges they encounter are substantially different from those in the developed world, including an unreliable electricity grid, poor fiber infrastructure, low revenue expectations, and often a harsh climate environment. This paper reports use cases and solutions pertinent to the development of the networking infrastructure in emerging economies, provided by organizations directly involved in such activities. After providing some background information on the current state of network infrastructure and the main challenges for Africa and rural China, the paper provides details on two proposed solutions. The first focuses on the provisioning of services and network infrastructure through the development of low-cost data centers, whereas the second proposes cost-effective adaptation of both fiber and hybrid copper-fiber technology to rural areas. The article is concluded with a brief discussion on the complementarity of the two approaches

How 5G wireless (and concomitant technologies) will revolutionize healthcare?

The need to have equitable access to quality healthcare is enshrined in the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which defines the developmental agenda of the UN for the next 15 years. In particular, the third SDG focuses on the need to “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. In this paper, we build the case that 5G wireless technology, along with concomitant emerging technologies (such as IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and machine learning), will transform global healthcare systems in the near future. Our optimism around 5G-enabled healthcare stems from a confluence of significant technical pushes that are already at play: apart from the availability of high-throughput low-latency wireless connectivity, other significant factors include the democratization of computing through cloud computing; the democratization of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive computing (e.g., IBM Watson); and the commoditization of data through crowdsourcing and digital exhaust. These technologies together can finally crack a dysfunctional healthcare system that has largely been impervious to technological innovations. We highlight the persistent deficiencies of the current healthcare system and then demonstrate how the 5G-enabled healthcare revolution can fix these deficiencies. We also highlight open technical research challenges, and potential pitfalls, that may hinder the development of such a 5G-enabled health revolution

Feasibility, Architecture and Cost Considerations of Using TVWS for Rural Internet Access in 5G

The cellular technology is mostly an urban technology that has been unable to serve rural areas well. This is because the traditional cellular models are not economical for areas with low user density and lesser revenues. In 5G cellular networks, the coverage dilemma is likely to remain the same, thus widening the rural-urban digital divide further. It is about time to identify the root cause that has hindered the rural technology growth and analyse the possible options in 5G architecture to address this issue. We advocate that it can only be accomplished in two phases by sequentially addressing economic viability followed by performance progression. We deliberate how various works in literature focus on the later stage of this ‘two-phase’ problem and are not feasible to implement in the first place. We propose the concept of TV band white space (TVWS) dovetailed with 5G infrastructure for rural coverage and show that it can yield cost-effectiveness from a service provider’s perspective