"WindFi" - a renewable powered base station for rural broadband

The HopScotch rural wireless broadband access test bed uses a network of low power base stations, powered by renewable energy sources to provide a low-cost rural broadband solution. In this paper we discuss the low power design aspects of the HopScotch base station and the impact on the required generation potential of renewable sources, battery bank sizing and the use of tracking PV arrays

HopScotch - a low-power renewable energy base station network for rural broadband access

The provision of adequate broadband access to communities in sparsely populated rural areas has in the past been severely restricted. In this paper, we present a wireless broadband access test bed running in the Scottish Highlands and Islands which is based on a relay network of low-power base stations. Base stations are powered by a combination of renewable sources creating a low cost and scalable solution suitable for community ownership. The use of the 5~GHz bands allows the network to offer large data rates and the testing of ultra high frequency ``white space'' bands allow expansive coverage whilst reducing the number of base stations or required transmission power. We argue that the reliance on renewable power and the intelligent use of frequency bands makes this approach an economic green radio technology which can address the problem of rural broadband access

A WiFi-based Reliable Network Architecture for Rural Regions

WiFi is being considered as an attractive option in providing low cost Internet connectivity to rural areas, and thereby reducing Digital Divide with urban areas. Most of the WiFi-based Long Distance network architectures extend Internet to rural regions through a single gateway node which is connected to high speed Internet. If the gateway node fails in such single gateway-based rural networks, the entire network gets collapsed. In this paper, we propose a reliable and low-cost WiFi based rural network architecture using multi-gateway concept. The proposed network architecture also allows load balancing among the available gateways. In such multi-gateway architecture, the network recovers from gateway failure and reestablishes the ongoing communication within 2-4 seconds time. The simulation results in NS-2 validate the claims of the paperKeywords—Digital Divide, WiFi, WiFi based Long Distance Network

Using UNII-3 (Wi-Fi) Frequencies to Establish Long Distance Point-to-Point Links Capable of Providing Broadband Internet Access to Rural Areas: Experimental Validation

This paper demonstrates use of UNII-3 (Wi-Fi) frequencies, 5.725 - 5.825GHz in setting up long distance point-to-point links, capable of providing broadband internet in rural areas. Although this frequency band was intended for indoor wireless local area networks, its lack of licensing and inexpensive off-shelf networking devices has prompted many researchers and technology enthusiasts to extend its use to outdoor settings. This paper presents a long distance point-to-point test-bed model that uses high-gain directional antennas that may be replicated to provide broadband internet access in rural areas particularly in developing countries. Six long-distance point-to-point links have been set up. A link distance of 24.3kilometers, the longest so far, has been achieved. A peak throughput of 98.4Mbps has been observed on all of the links set up, irrespective of their link lengths. This test-bed model is easy and inexpensive to implement and it may be replicated to provide broadband internet access in the rural areas. This paper validates the use of these unlicensed frequencies and proves that as long as a clear line of sight between the nodes is achievable, high bandwidth link may be achieved capable of serving 1000+ simultaneous users each utilizing at least 100kbps. Keywords: Point-to-point links, long distance Wi-Fi, broadband for rural areas, directional antenna

Wireless Mesh Networks to Support Video Surveillance: Architecture, Protocol, and Implementation Issues

Current video-surveillance systems typically consist of many video sources distributed over a wide area, transmitting live video streams to a central location for processing and monitoring. The target of this paper is to present an experience of implementation of a large-scale video-surveillance system based on a wireless mesh network infrastructure, discussing architecture, protocol, and implementation issues. More specifically, the paper proposes an architecture for a video-surveillance system, and mainly centers its focus on the routing protocol to be used in the wireless mesh network, evaluating its impact on performance at the receiver side. A wireless mesh network was chosen to support a video-surveillance application in order to reduce the overall system costs and increase scalability and performance. The paper analyzes the performance of the network in order to choose design parameters that will achieve the best trade-off between video encoding quality and the network traffic generated

Socio-economic aspects of voice-over-IP technology in rural SA

This paper describes work in progress towards developing a business case and preliminary design for an 802.11-based mesh network in the remote rural community of Mankosi in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Aside from the technical challenges to building the network to be sustainable in the long term, this network needs to generate some revenue. Hence, there needs to be a business model that has revenue generation potential. This study will explore the economical and social aspects of voice over Internet- Protocol as a service for this community. After talking to the village leaders, we learned that there is a demand for telecommunication services and that most of them were interested only in telephony service. Very few villagers were interested in or had any knowledge about the Internet. We also learned that most of their cellular phone calls are local within the Mankosi community. This allows us to deploy an experimental local telephony service; a perfect opportunity for a low-cost and lowcosting inverse mesh infrastructure that can easily be connected to breakout and Internet services in the future.Telkom, Cisco, Aria Technologies, THRIP, NRFDepartment of HE and Training approved lis