What is the project about?
Our technological solution combines broadcast and bi-directional network architectures, which is defined by the ITU as "Integrated broadcast-broadband - IBB" (see ITU Rep. BT.2267-8, 10/2018), but with the difference that our broadcast system is radio and not TV, and our connectivity is not really broadband, but narrowband, done over high frequency (HF) skywave links. However, all the advantages listed by the ITU for IBB systems also apply to our digital radio broadcast/HF digital bi-directional links, but with more constrained bit-rate limits, and on the other hand, hundreds of kilometres of range possible between each endpoint of the network.
This approach can be reusable and replicable for communities, for example, in isolated Pacific islands, high latitude Arctic and Antarctic regions and in tropical forests of South America and Central Africa. By upgrading the current HF community network with reliable digital communication, this project aims to develop and implement a wireless communication system with hundreds of kilometres of coverage and to provide access to information and knowledge for the local and indigenous communities living in the Terra do Meio region, inside the Brazilian Amazon forest in Pará state, Brazil.
Also, DRM digital radio receivers will be distributed in a way to complement the information and knowledge distribution through the reception of the HF DRM broadcast Rádio Nacional da Amazônia (an EBC station), carrying high quality audio and multimedia content. Together with forest communities they will address their needs for information and knowledge by elaborating how we can enable a communication process and information exchange that will help them to receive information they need. They will facilitate a process of creating content and services adapted to the needs of the local population and fitting the local context, focusing on economic, environmental and communal aspects.
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