IIT-K grads plan to revolutionise rural telecom
The initiative aims at providing cheap, asynchronous and hybrid internet to Indian villagers.
By Mahima Puri, TNN |
NEW DELHI: Two students from IIT Kharagpur have developed a network for telecommunication infrastructure which can connect remote parts of the country effectively. Titled KRANTI (Kiosks in Rural Areas Network and Telecommunication Infrastructure), the initiative aims to provide cheap, asynchronous and hybrid Internet (internet having delay) to the Indian villagers.
The two students-Rajat Sethi and Manoj Payardha- have improvised on Soekris net4801, a small box equipped with a single board, low-power embedded processor, specifically meant for network deployments. It acts as a kiosk-controller and is a proprietary product of US based Soekris Inc. The students have used buses and rail (as the bus-kiosk-gateway model), which pass through rural parts of the country and can be used as ferries to carry information. One of the kiosk controller (Soekris) can be planted in the bus, the other placed inside the kiosk. When the bus/train stops at a certain location, these two devices, loaded with relevant softwares will catch signals from each other.
Thus, e-mails, web information, structured data, analysis and news can all be transferred to the PC at kiosk and vice-versa. The only delay can be caused by less frequency of buses/train in that region. "When the bus/train stops, data will be automatically transferred. 100 Mbs of data can be shared in 5-10 minutes. The range of connectivity is usually at 50 meters by using an antenna, but it can be increased or decreased,'' say Sethi. The model will enable the kiosk controller to render various Internet facilities in the villages of India, at the capital expenditure of Rs 13.5 per person, and operating expenses of Rs 1.10/month/person.
"Our government has already set up hundreds of Internet kiosks in the villages to facilitate e-governance, which act as information gatherers. But because of various issues, Internet is yet to reach the remote parts of the country. Our controller will facilitate the transfer tens of Mbs of data from cities to villages, at low costs and within a few minutes," says Sethi. The team has tested and implemented the project in a village near Visakhapatnam last year, and recently in Kharagpur. To cut costs, they have used recycled PCs, solar power and ready-infrastructure available in rural India. Both the students were mentored by Prof AK Ray of IIT Kharagpur and Prof S Keshav of University of Waterloo, Canada.
"The Indian villages have begun to see a telecom revolution, but affordability is still a concern. Technologies like Dial Up, VSAT and Wi-fi have their drawbacks. Early adopters of such similar technologies like N-Logue and Drishti have faced problems like inadequate power and long-range linking hassles. Soekris aims to solve all that," says Payardha.
The two students-Rajat Sethi and Manoj Payardha- have improvised on Soekris net4801, a small box equipped with a single board, low-power embedded processor, specifically meant for network deployments. It acts as a kiosk-controller and is a proprietary product of US based Soekris Inc. The students have used buses and rail (as the bus-kiosk-gateway model), which pass through rural parts of the country and can be used as ferries to carry information. One of the kiosk controller (Soekris) can be planted in the bus, the other placed inside the kiosk. When the bus/train stops at a certain location, these two devices, loaded with relevant softwares will catch signals from each other.
Thus, e-mails, web information, structured data, analysis and news can all be transferred to the PC at kiosk and vice-versa. The only delay can be caused by less frequency of buses/train in that region. "When the bus/train stops, data will be automatically transferred. 100 Mbs of data can be shared in 5-10 minutes. The range of connectivity is usually at 50 meters by using an antenna, but it can be increased or decreased,'' say Sethi. The model will enable the kiosk controller to render various Internet facilities in the villages of India, at the capital expenditure of Rs 13.5 per person, and operating expenses of Rs 1.10/month/person.
"Our government has already set up hundreds of Internet kiosks in the villages to facilitate e-governance, which act as information gatherers. But because of various issues, Internet is yet to reach the remote parts of the country. Our controller will facilitate the transfer tens of Mbs of data from cities to villages, at low costs and within a few minutes," says Sethi. The team has tested and implemented the project in a village near Visakhapatnam last year, and recently in Kharagpur. To cut costs, they have used recycled PCs, solar power and ready-infrastructure available in rural India. Both the students were mentored by Prof AK Ray of IIT Kharagpur and Prof S Keshav of University of Waterloo, Canada.
"The Indian villages have begun to see a telecom revolution, but affordability is still a concern. Technologies like Dial Up, VSAT and Wi-fi have their drawbacks. Early adopters of such similar technologies like N-Logue and Drishti have faced problems like inadequate power and long-range linking hassles. Soekris aims to solve all that," says Payardha.
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