DAKNET - SEMINAR
CHAPTER1: INTRODUCTION
As a government
representative enthusiastically talks about the new telephone for a village in
remote rural
In short, the goal of “broadband connectivity for everyone” has been shelved in favor of cutting back to the minimum possible standard telephone service in the mistaken belief that this is the cheapest way to provide connectivity. This compromise is particularly tragic given recent advances in wireless technology, which make running a copper line to an analog telephone far more expensive than broadband wireless Internet connectivity. Rather than backpedal on the goal of connecting everyone, society should be thinking, How can we establish the kernel of a user network that will grow seamlessly as the village’s economics develop? In other words, what is the basis for a progressive, market-driven migration from government seed services- e-governance -to universal broadband connectivity that local users will pay for?
DakNet, whose name derives from the Hindi word for “post” or “postal,” combines a physical means of transportation with wireless data transfer to extend the internet connectivity that a central uplink or hub, such as a cybercafé, VSAT system, or post office provides.
DakNet,
an ad hoc network that uses wireless technology to provide asynchronous digital
connectivity, is evidence that the marriage of wireless and asynchronous
service may indeed be that kernel—the beginning of a road to universal
broadband connectivity. Developed by MIT media lab researchers, DakNet has been
successfully deployed in remote parts of both
CHAPTER2: LITERATURE SURVEY
Mobile Ad hoc connectivity[1] Alex Pentland, Richard
Fletcher, Amir Hasson. The DakNet wireless network takes advantage of the
existing communications and transportation infrastructure to distribute digital
connectivity to outlying villages lacking a digital communications
infrastructure.
Bhoomi initiative in
Real-time aspect of telephony [2]Boston Consulting Group. It encourages users to communicate mainly with people who
have private phone lines, typically those of higher economic status located in
more urban areas.
SARI project
[3]C. Blattman, R. Jensen, and R.
Roman. The current market for successful rural
ICT services does not appear to rely on real-time connectivity, but rather on
affordability and basic interactivity.
Broadband connectivity[4]A.Pentland, R. Fletcher, and A.A. Hasson. Wireless technology to provide asynchronous digital connectivity
CHAPTER3:
The DakNet wireless network
takes advantage of the existing communications and transportation infrastructure
to distribute digital connectivity to outlying villages lacking a digital
communications infrastructure. DakNet, whose name derives from the Hindi word
for “post” or “postal,” combines a physical means of transportation with
wireless data transfer to extend the Internet connectivity that a central
uplink or hub, such as a cybercafé , VSAT system, or post office provides. As
Figure 2 shows, instead of trying to relay data over a long distance, which can
be expensive and power-hungry, DakNet transmits data over short point-to-point
links between kiosks and portable storage devices, called mobile access points (MAPs).
Mounted on and powered by a bus, a motorcycle,
or even a bicycle with a small generator, a MAP physically transports data
among public kiosks and private communications devices (as an intranet) and
between kiosks and a hub (for nonreal-time Internet access). Low-cost WiFi
radio transceivers automatically transfer the data stored in the MAP at high bandwidth for each point-to-point
connection.
DakNet operation thus has two
steps:
·
As the MAP-equipped
vehicle comes within range of a village WiFi-enabled kiosk, it automatically senses
the wireless connection and then uploads and downloads tens of megabytes of
data.
·
When a MAP-equipped
vehicle comes within range of an Internet access point (the hub), it automatically
synchronizes the data from all the rural kiosks, using the Internet. The steps
repeat for every vehicle carrying a MAP unit, thereby creating a low-cost
wireless network and seamless communications infrastructure.
Fig. 3.1: Daknet concepts. Physical transport, in this
case a public bus, carries a mobile access point (MAP) between village kiosks
and a hub with internet access. Data automatically uploads and downloads when
the bus is in range of a kiosk or the hub.
Giving everyone access to
digital messaging-voice mail, digital documents, e-mail, and so on-is better
than installing a community telephone. Rural
information and communication technology (ICT) is typically introduced as a
communications channel that the community shares. Whether through a public call
office (PCO) or a public computer kiosk, users are introduced to ICT as shared
utilities with a technically literate operator acting as an intermediary.
In this shared-use model, much ICT has relied
on real-time communications, such as landline telephone, cellular phone, or
satellite radio links. These real-time technologies can be useful for immediate
interactivity and accessing highly time-sensitive information.
Successful examples include
3.1: The
real-time aspect of telephony can also be a disadvantage:
Both intended parties must be
present at each terminal to capture the infrastructure’s full value. If a
caller wishes to contact someone who does not own (or is not present at) a
telephone, the communication is asynchronous despite the real-time infrastructure.
Some kind of additional messaging mechanism (be it a messenger or an answering
machine) is required to deliver the caller’s message to its destination.
As a consequence, real-time
telephony can reinforce gaps among rural populations since it encourages users
to communicate mainly with people who have private phone lines, typically those
of higher economic status located in more urban areas. In the Grameen-Phone
initiative, women were chosen as the community operators to help reduce this
effect, since it was socially acceptable for women to deliver messages to
everyone in the village.
The poor not only need digital services, but
they are willing and able to pay for them to offset the much higher costs of
poor transportation, unfair pricing, and corruption. Some rural service providers (RSPs) have achieved profitability
by offering lower-cost substitutes for a villager’s existing information,
communication, and transportation expenses. For instance, Drishtee provides an
e-government platform that lets villagers interact with local government
offices remotely from a kiosk in their village that is managed by a trained
operator. The significant demand for these services results from a sound value
proposition: Save villagers time and money. Drishtee’s success suggests that
the introduction of ICT in rural areas might not have anything to do with
technology. A better strategy might be to start with a basic service—in
Drishtee’s case, aggregating demand and brokering information exchange between
the villager and the government—and then see how technology can support and
streamline that service. Drishtee determined that computers and available
connectivity were enough to capture, send, and receive information electronically.
Many
of the villages that Drishtee operates in lack working phone lines because of
poor line maintenance and delayed installations. As a result, Drishtee has
resorted to “sneaker net,” an asynchronous approach to connectivity that
involves transporting and swapping floppy disks from the village to the
government center and back again. Despite this labor-intensive approach,
sneaker net is successful because Drishtee’s applications that generate the
most revenue require only intermittent connectivity.
Asynchronous ICT services are
sufficient to meet most rural community needs. The
Sustainable Access for Rural India (SARI) project in Tamil Nadu, India—a joint
endeavor by the MIT Media Lab, the Harvard Center for International
Development, and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras—recently collected
data about the communications needs, habits, and costs in hundreds of rural
Indian households to gauge the desire for and perceived affordability of
household communications.
Another SARI analysis done by
McKinsey Consulting indicates that although the universe of potential
applications is large, “in the short-term only e-mail, scan-mail,
voice-over-e-mail and chat are likely to be revenue-generating applications.
Even
a single vehicle passing by a village once per day is sufficient to provide
daily information services.The connection quality is also high. Although DakNet
does not provide real-time data transport, a significant amount of data can
move at once-typically 20 Mbytes in each direction.
Indeed,
physically transporting data from village to village by this means generally
provides a higher data throughput than is typical with other low-bandwidth
technologies such as a telephone modem.
3.2
Seamless scalability
In
addition to its tremendous cost reduction, a critical feature of DakNet is its
ability to provide a seamless method of upgrading to always-on broadband
connectivity. As a village increases its economic means, its inhabitants can
use the same hardware, software and user interface to enjoy real-time information
access.
The
only change is the addition of fixed-location wireless antennas and towers—a
change that is entirely transparent to end users because they need not learn
any new skills or buy any new hardware or software. The addition of fixed
transceivers would provide real-time connectivity, thus enabling new, more
sophisticated services, such as voice over IP, which allows “normal” real-time
telephony. Thus, as the “Some Common Myths about Rural Information and
Communication Technology” sidebar describes , asynchronous broadband wireless
Connectivity offers a practical stepping-stone and migration path to always-on,
broadband infrastructure and end-user applications. Together with the
development of two other key rural communication components—robust, low-cost
terminals and local user-interface design and applications - DakNet makes it
practical for individual households and private users to get connected.
3.3
Economics
A back-of-the-envelope
calculation for DakNet suggests that a capital investment of $15 million could
equip each of
CHAPTER4: DAKNET IN ACTION
Villages in
One of DakNet’s
earliest deployments was as an affordable rural connectivity solution for the
Bhoomi e-governance project. In September 2003, we also implemented DakNet in a
remote
4.1
Bhoomi initiative in India
Fig 4.1: Daknet
support of the Bhoomi e-governance project. Map shows route between Bhoomi
database and village kiosks.
Bhoomi,
an initiative to computerize land records, is recognized as the first national
e-governance initiative in
The average “goodput” (actual
data throughput)for a session, during which the MAP and kiosk go in and out of
connection because of mobility and obstructions, is 2.47 Mbps. These averages
are based on repetitive testing in a sample group of villages that reflect the
range of different antenna configurations. The team used both omnidirectional and
directional antennas with differing gains according to the orientation of each
kiosk with the road and the bus stop.
The total cost of the DakNet MAP
equipment used on the bus is $580, which includes
·
a custom embedded PC
running Linux with 802.11b wireless card and 512 Mbytes of compact flash
memory;
·
a 100-mW amplifier,
cabling, mounting equipment, and a 14-in omnidirectional antenna; and an uninterruptible power supply powered by the
bus battery.
The average total cost of the equipment used to make a village kiosk or
hub DakNet-ready was $185. Assuming that each bus can provide connectivity to
approximately 10 villages, the average cost of enabling each village was $243 ($185
at each village plus $580 MAP cost for 10 villages).Villagers along the bus
route have enthusiastically received the DakNet-Bhoomi system. They are
grateful to avoid making the long, expensive trip into the main city to obtain
land records.
4.2 DakNet: A Last Mile Solution
The
Internet is the nervous system of our planet and the billions of people who lack the proper telecommunications
infrastructure are seen as the "last mile problem"–First Mile
Solutions
Many technologies have been introduced to the world with in the last 30
years. Through them we have sent men to the moon and are able to communicate
with individuals face to face from half way around the world. These advances
have brought progress to the
·
Poor telecommunication lines
·
Lack of local economy for development of infrastructure
·
Awareness about the technological advantages
The firm First Mile Solutions has
taken it upon themselves to start introducing the information technologies to
rural areas in the developing world. Their projects use existing
infrastructures to introduce technologies to villages through unique solutions,
such as “Daknet”. Dak means, “post” in Hindi. Creating an electronic postal network,
complete with electronic “Postmen” (Boyd,
Clark).
DakNet Mobile Access Point (MAP) Networks require:
·
Appropriate Environment: computers in remote villages that can be accessed by road transport.
·
Approach: MAPs are
installed on vehicles that normally pass by each village to provide
store-and-forward connectivity
Fig. 4.2: Daknet:
Store-and-Forward Wireless
“Daknet” allows rural villages to
exchange messages and video through a mobile ISP. By mounting a wireless card
on a vehicle that travels around to remote villages and exchanges updated
information with each kiosk it encounters through WiFi.
Villagers are able to send message and record videos
through these kiosks. That data is stored in the outbox of the kiosk. When the
mobile vehicle comes around it exchanges the data in the outbox and the inbox.
Those awaiting messages are able to check the inbox for any messages or videos.
All information is downloaded to the central system at the office station.
Using WiFi allows for cheap reliable
Internet service to those rural communication Infrastructures. The telephone
lines in the remote and rural areas are frequently dysfunctional and unreliable
for Internet connectivity. (Baatchit) Thus WiFi creates better access to bandwidth
from the large data lines that run throughout the world (BELOW: Titanic
backbone through
Fig. 4.3: Titanic backbone
through
The latest installation to DakNet
has been adding the remote region of
“Early every morning, five Honda
motorcycles leave the hub in the provincial capitol of Banlung where a
satellite dish, donated by Shin Satellite, links the provincial hospital and a
special skills school to the Internet for telemedicine and computer training.
The moto drivers equipped with a small box and antenna at the rear of their vehicle
that downloads and delivers e-mail through a wi-fi (wireless) card, begin the
day by collecting the e-mail from the hub's dish, which takes just a few
seconds.”
4.3 First Mile Solutions: DakNet Takes Rural Communities
Online
Many developing
countries continue to face the challenge of how to increase access to
information communication technologies (ICTs) in rural and remote areas.
Telecommunication companies are usually reluctant to extend their network due
to high infrastructure costs, low population density, and limited ability to
pay for the services. First Mile Solutions (FMS) counters this problem by
providing telecommunications equipment that can cheaply connect rural and
remote populations to the Internet through an innovative technology: DakNet.
DakNet leverages short- range wireless technology in tandem with traditional
telecommunication and physical transportation infrastructures. Local
transportation— e.g., public buses, motorcycles, and supply trucks— facilitates
data exchanges between rural villages and Internet hubs. This unconventional
communication network provides end users with asynchronous access to e- mail,
voice messages, and Internet browsing.
Activity Description: Villagers in
Activity Update: FMS now reaches 40,000 villagers
through its various projects and is unrolling its first local branch in
FMS has three major future projects in the pipeline. They plan to utilize cellular networks to transfer data to their customers, eliminating the need for most Fixed Access Points. The company also plans to begin offering a private internet currency service whereby users may purchase goods using credit from their prepaid United Villages accounts. Finally, FMS is in preliminary talks with major search engine providers to create innovative new caching technology that would essentially offer many internet services in an offline format.
According to First Mile
Solutions founder Amir Alexander Hasson, who helped initiate the two DakNet
Wi-Fi pilot projects in Tikawali, a village near
Giving the project details, Mr. Hasson said, “Essentially, a van roam roams around the Dodabalapur district in Karnataka, stopping at different villages long enough for the local computer to connect to it wirelessly and transfer the data stored in it. From the van to the central database is also a Wi-Fi hop, thus resulting in a wireless end-to-end transfer of information - which is what Wi-Fi is all about. The project involves creating an online database of land records.”
Essentially, the
DakNet-enabled vehicle drives past a kiosk where it picks up and drops off land
record queries and responses. Each day, this is synchronised with a central
database. Data is transported through the access point, which automatically and
wirelessly collects and delivers data from each kiosk on the network. The
transfer of data can take place up to a radius of
Mr Hasson said, “The benefits of using this low-cost wireless network which is easy to set up and maintain are already emerging.“
DakNet offers a cost-effective network for data connectivity in regions lacking communications infrastructure. The patent-pending hybrid network architecture combines physical and wireless data transport to enable high-bandwidth intranet and Internet connectivity among kiosks (public computers) and between kiosks and hubs (places with a reliable Internet connection).
Data is transported by means of a mobile access point, which automatically and wirelessly collects and delivers data from/to each kiosk on the network. Daknet focuses on bridging the digital divide by extending the advantages of 802.11x technologies and solutions to the remote areas.
CHAPTER5: WI-FI-
DAKNET’S WAY
Short for wireless fidelity and is meant to be used
generically when referring of any type of 802.11 network, whether
802.11b, 802.11a, dual-band, etc. The term is promulgated by the Wi-Fi Alliance.
Formerly, the term "Wi-Fi" was used only in place of the 2.4GHz
802.11b standard, in the same way that "Ethernet" is used
in place of IEEE 802.3.
The
Wireless data networks (Wide Area Networks and Local Area Networks) based on the IEEE 802.11 or “WiFi” standard are perhaps the most promising wireless technology. Given its popularity in developed nations, it is reasonable to consider the use of WiFi in developing countries as well. The forces driving the standardization and proliferation of WiFi in the developed world could also stimulate the communications market dynamic in the developing world. These features include: its ease of set-up, use, and maintenance; its relatively high bandwidth; and, most importantly, its relatively low cost for both users and providers.
Standard WiFi connectivity
(IEEE 802.11b) provides up to 11Mb/sec data rates, and operates in a band near
2.4 GHz that is generally unlicensed in Europe and the
Our vision is that, provided a conducive regulatory environment, local entrepreneurs within developing countries will leverage WiFi-based technology to: (a) solve the chicken-and-the-egg problem of the simultaneous need for both a market and an infrastructure.
Testing
Wi-Fi with data store-and-forward solutions in rural
“The pilot projects have proved their ability to wirelessly and automatically collect, transport and deliver data at high speeds to and from kiosk-based computers with Wi-Fi cards,” he told eFE on the sidelines of the fourth India-EU business summit here. He, however, refused to reveal the project details as well as the time frame as to when the project will be rolled out.
“Pilot projects such as the one currently on in Karnataka, are fast proving that Wi-Fi technologies can actually bring connectivity to underserved populations at a fraction, with the rural communications market, ultimately scaling up to universal broadband connectivity.
According
to First Mile Solutions founder Amir Alexander Hasson, who helped initiate the
two DakNet Wi-Fi pilot projects in Tikawali, a village near
Giving the project details, Mr Hasson said, “Essentially, a van roam roams around the Dodabalapur district in Karnataka, stopping at different villages long enough for the local computer to connect to it wirelessly and transfer the data stored in it. From the van to the central database is also a Wi-Fi hop, thus resulting in a wireless end-to-end transfer of information - which is what Wi-Fi is all about. The project involves creating an online database of land.
Specifications
Max speed - 11 MBPS
Max encryption - 128 bit WEP
Discrete channels - 3
Max range @ full throughput - 30ft
Natively compatible - 802.11b, 802.11g
Potential user - Entry level and home networks
Essentially,
the DakNet-enabled vehicle drives past a kiosk where it picks up and drops off
land record queries and responses. Each day, this is synchronised with a
central database. Data is transported through the access point, which
automatically and wirelessly collects and delivers data from each kiosk on the
network. The transfer of data can take place up to a radius of
5.1 ADVANTAGES
OF WIFI
Uses an unlicensed part of the radio spectrum. This means less regularly controls in many countries. Frees network devices from cables, allows for a more dynamic network to be grown. Many reliable and bug-free Wi-Fi products on the market.
Competition amongst vendors has lowered prices considerably since their inception. While connected on a Wi-Fi network, it is possible to move about without breaking the internet connection. Modern Access points and Client Cards have excellent in-built security and encryption.
5.2 DISADVANTAGES
OF WIFI
The 802.11b and 802.11g flavours of Wi-Fi use the 2.4GHz spectrum which is crowded with other devices such as Bluetooth, microwave ovens, cordless phones(900MHz or 5.8GHz ), video sender devices among many others. This may cause degradation in performance. Other devices which use microwave frequencies such as certain types of cell phones , can also cause degradation in performance. Power consumption is fairly high compared to other standards, making battery life and heat a concern.
Users do not always configure it properly. In addition, Wi-Fi commonly uses Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol for protection, which has been shown to be easily breakable even when properly configured. Newer wireless solutions are slowly providing support for the superior Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol, though many systems still employ WEP.
Wi-Fi networks have limited range.
A typical Wi-Fi home router using 802.11b might have a range of
CHAPTER6: DAKNET NETWORK ARCHITECTURE
The main parts of Daknet architecture are:
· Mobile access point
· Hub
· Kiosk
MAP (Mobile
Access Point):
Fig. 6.1: MAP
Installed Vehicle moving between hub and kiosk
A movable transceiver, which may periodically receive and/or transmit digitized information to and from kiosk and periodically received and/or transmit, digitized information to and from a server acting as the gateway to the internet and/or telephony network(s).
Kiosk:
Fig. 6.2: Computer Kiosk in a village
The facilities at a physically location where a client computer may be available for customer access or the physical locations where a physically movable device may be made available for customer access. A client computer kiosk may be sited to enable effective transmission to and from a Mobile Access Point.
Hub (Internet
Access Point):
Fig. 6.3: The Hub
A Computer device with direct, real-time connection to the Internet and/or other national and/or international communications infrastructure or a common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports.
6.1 How it
works:
A simple store-and-forward WiFi system, using a government bus as a central linkage. The bus contains a simple WiFi installation and server, and when in range of one of the outlying information kiosks it synchronizes data for later processing.
DakNet is a patented wireless package that does away with base stations. DakNet offers a cost-effective network for data connectivity in regions lacking communications infrastructure. Instead of trying to relay data over long distances, which can be expensive, Daknet transmits data over short point-to-point links between kiosks and portable storage devices called Mobile Access Points (MAP).
Mounted and powered on a bus or motorcycle with a small generator MAP physically transports data between public kiosks and private communications devices and between kiosks and a hub (for non real time internet access). Low cost Wi-Fi radio transceivers transfer data stored in MAP at high bandwidth for each point-to-point connection.
Daknet has thus two functions:
As the MAP equipped vehicle comes within the range of a village Wi-Fi enabled kiosk it automatically senses the wireless connection and uploads and downloads tens of mega bytes of data. As it comes in the range of Internet access points (the hub) it automatically synchronizes the data from kiosks using the Internet.
These steps repeat or all the vehicles carrying MAP, thus providing a low cost wireless network and seamless communication infrastructure. Even a single vehicle passing by a village is sufficient to carry the entire daily information. The connection quality is also high. Although Daknet does not provide real time data transport, a significant amount of data can move at once-typically 20MB in one direction.
Thus asynchronous broadband connectivity offers a stepping-stone to always on broadband infrastructure and end user applications. Daknet makes it possible for individual households and private users to get connected.
Fig. 6.4: Daknet’s Network Architecture
The average cost to make a village kiosk ready is $185. Assuming each bus serves 10 villages the average cost for enabling each village is $243.
DakNet offers an affordable and complete connectivity package, including:
· Wireless hardware (wireless transceiver and antennas)
· Networking software
· Server and cache software
·
Custom applications, including email,
audio/video messaging, and asynchronous Internet searching and browsing
· API enabling organizations to easily integrate DakNet with their existing applications.
CHAPTER7: consequences
7.1
Advantages:
The primary advantages of a VAN are its low cost and ease of set up. Instead of laying copper or fiber to each village or trying to establish costly long-distance wireless links or satellite uplinks, a VAN takes advantage of existing transportation infrastructure to create an affordable broadband network. Although the latency or delay of this network is higher than other networks it is cable of providing a higher per day data throughput than other low-bandwidth technologies such as telephone modems.
· Real-time communications not required for public kiosks
1. Communications tend to be asynchronous
2. Villager’s trade –off latency for affordability
· Leverages two major trends
1. Cost of wireless BroadBand (WiFi)
2. Cost of digital storage
· Easy to implement on widespread basis
· Lower uplink costs and maintenance requirements
· Bandwidth does not decrease with distance
· Seed infrastructure that is scalable with demand
· Reduced regulatory challenges and licensing fees
7.2 Disadvantages:
· Token ring constraint if a lower tier goes down, all higher tier goes down
· Experience and Expertise person can only handled kiosk
· Efficiency of bandwidth reduced for each tier
CHAPTER8: CONCLUSION DakNet will enlighten rural India to the Internet
The government has proposed to
roll out the DakNet Wi-Fi project - involving the linking up of computers to
networks without using wires - as a connectivity medium aimed at the rural
masses.
According to First Mile Solutions founder Amir
Alexander Hasson, who helped initiate the two DakNet Wi-Fi pilot projects in
Tikawali, a village near
Giving the project details, Mr Hasson said,
"Essentially, a van roam roams around the Dodabalapur district in
Karnataka, stopping at different villages long enough for the local computer to
connect to it wirelessly and transfer the data stored in it. From the van to
the central database is also a Wi-Fi hop, thus resulting in a wireless
end-to-end transfer of information - which is what Wi-Fi is all about. The
project involves creating an online database of land records."
Essentially, the
DakNet-enabled vehicle drives past a kiosk where it picks up and drops off land
record queries and responses. Each day, this is synchronized with a central
database. Data is transported through the access point, which automatically and
wirelessly collects and delivers data from each kiosk on the network. The
transfer of data can take place up to a radius of
REFERENCES
1. Alex Pentland, Richard Fletcher, Amir Hasson,”DakNet: Rethinking Connectivity in Developing Nations”, Published by the IEEE Computer Society, pp78-83,Jan.2004
2.
3.
C. Blattman, R. Jensen, and R. Roman, “Assessing the
Need and Potential of Community Networking for Developing
Countries: A Case Study from
4.
Pentland, R. Fletcher, and A.A. Hasson, “
5. http://www.seminarprojects.com
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