Thanks for the email. The names and network diagram have been provided by them only. So I assume they have taken the necessary precautions. They mention at the bottom of the story that the names have been changed for security reasons. So I assume there is no real place named Pokhara.
Nimesh -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Culpepper Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 11:54 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [smartBridges] Bridging the Digital Divide Do you think that you may be exposing their location to anyone that means them harm? You have given distance and height differential which should be enough to locate them if someone knows the topology near Pokhara. I am a supporter of freedom-lovers everywhere and would not wish them to suffer because of our great list group. Nimesh D. Parikh wrote: > I thought this may be an interesting story to share with the group > here. The impact is quite large. sB had sponsored a group of > volunteers and they have done an outstanding job. A more polished > version of the story will be coming out soon but here is the report > they filed from the field. > > > > Nimesh Parikh > > smartBridges > > > > > > -- > > > > > > Bridging the Digital Divide: > > A smartBridges success story in rural Nepal > > > > A handful of Nepali villagers and foreign friends had a vision. One > year later, the vision has become a reality. > > > > A ragtag team, without much technical experience and without much > money, has been able to create a wireless communications network that > connections five villages and the outside world using wireless data > radios. Two UCLA students, Mark Michalski and Robin Shields, and one > Boston-based carpenter, Sage Radachowsky, helped their Nepali > counterparts to locate the equipment and to implement the network. > > > > Nanda Thapa(*) uses the internet for many things. He communicates with > people around the world to find funding for his village's school. He > also responds to incoming emails from a website that he created to get > volunteers to come to his village. > > > > Nanda used to have to walk for 8 hours and then take a 6 hour bus ride > to check his email. He used to have to walk for two days to have a > meeting with a neighboring village about a joint project. Now he can > do both in seconds, thanks to a new wireless network in rural Nepal. > He used to check his email once a month. Now he checks it daily. > > > > Now, instead of walking for one or two days to deliver a simple > message or to meet with people in neighboring villages, villagers are > able to communicate via voice and text meeting software. Villagers and > volunteers in the villages are able to communicate with people > anywhere in the world by sending email, a facility that was previously > available only by walking one to three days and then taking a 4 hour > bus ride to Pokhara. People are also able to access the wealth of > information on the internet regarding any subject, from learning about > mushroom culture to getting drivers for a printer. > > > > These capabilities have already made a big difference in the lives of > the people living in the villages. The ability to communicate easily > has already worked as a catalyst for future locally-generated > development projects. > > > > However, the future of the network remains uncertain. In the context > of a guerrilla war, the people having the ability to communicate may > be seen as a threat by both the government and the Maoists. Each side > may possibly believe that the other side will use the ability to > communicate against them. For this reason, the network must > unfortunately remain something of a secret within Nepal at the moment. > In a time of peace, the wireless network could be shown off as a model > of local development, to be replicated elsewhere for relatively little > money. > > > > Despite the war, the team that implemented the project would like to > draw upon their experience in creating this network and replicate the > network in other places in Nepal and elsewhere in the Himalayas. > > > > > > Technical Aspects of the Project > > > > Please refer to the attached Network Topology graph. The wireless > network currently employs 12 smartBridges AirPointPro Outdoor radios, > and may soon employ two more to reach additional villages. The longest > link is between the main relay station and a city, where a server is > located to connect to a dialup ISP. This link spans about 34 km > horizontally, and about 3,000 meters vertically. The main relay > station is on a mountaintop at an altitude of about 3,400 meters. > > > > The extreme sensitivity of the smartBridges APPO unit is one key to > bridging this great distance without using a signal amplifier. Using > quality 24 dBi grid dish antennas from Pacific Wireless, and > connecting the dipole directly to the radios with a 0.5 meter pigtail > to minimize cable loss, is another key. > > > > All radios are protected from nearby lightning discharges by lighting > arrestors which are grounded to the earth. > > > > There is a secondary relay station on another ridge at an even higher > altitude. (Part of the Annapurna mountain, one of the ten tallest > mountains in the world. See attached photograph). From these two relay > stations, the five target villages have direct lines of sight of up to > 5 km from the relay stations, and are easily spanned using the > smartBridges APPOs on less-than-maximum power settings. The > Dial-A-Power feature of smartBridges radios has proven to be very > useful, for it saves power at the off-grid stations. > > > > The relay stations are each powered by 70 watt solar panels connected > to deep cycle batteries by a charge controller. Each relay station > also has a wind generator, but so far this has proven to be > unnecessary. There has been little wind, and the solar power has > proven to be sufficient for the radios. > > > > Currently, villagers talk and chat with each other using Microsoft > Netmeeting. However, one member of the team is working to develop > custom VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software, using the > OpenH323 VoIP standard, which will use a Quicknet Internet LineJack at > the server base station to allow voice telephone calls to the PSTN > (Public Switched Telephone Network). This is very important in a > country such as Nepal, where the majority of people even in cities do > not have an email address. > > > > > > [If you would like more information about this project, or if you > would like to contribute to a future project, please email Sage > Radachowsky at [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > > (*) The names of all Nepali persons and all place names have been > changed for security purposes, due to the current civil war in Nepal. > > > > ### > > > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > ----------ANNOUNCEMENT---------- Don't forget to register for WISPCON IV http://www.wispcon.info/us/wispcon-iv/wispcon-iv.htm The PART-15.ORG smartBridges Discussion List To Join: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (in the body type subscribe smartBridges <yournickname> To Remove: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (in the body type unsubscribe smartBridges) Archives: http://archives.part-15.org ----------ANNOUNCEMENT---------- Don't forget to register for WISPCON IV http://www.wispcon.info/us/wispcon-iv/wispcon-iv.htm The PART-15.ORG smartBridges Discussion List To Join: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (in the body type subscribe smartBridges <yournickname> To Remove: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] (in the body type unsubscribe smartBridges) Archives: http://archives.part-15.org
