You can’t see it; you can’t even know it exists. But for enabling data communication on the fringes of an internet-enriched globe, wireless communication makes a world of a difference. For groups like the Association for Progressive Communications (APC), it offers untapped power in harnessing wireless technology for social purposes.
APC members and staff have recently been closely looking at some initiatives to take the wireless communication bang into some ICT-for-development initiatives. Some such initiatives, like Air Jaldi, came up from the heart of the most populous region of the planet where literally hundreds of millions are still excluded: South Asia.
In rural, remote North India
In a remote part of India, techies from across the globe came to link up and share ideas to build solutions that could make a big difference to how the non-urban millions communicate.
Based in Dharamsala, in North India’s Himachal Pradesh, the Tibetan Technology Center (TibTec — http://tibtec.org/), a prominent player in wireless mesh network development, hosted the ‘Air Jaldi’ Summit on wireless technologies in end-October 2006.
Laird Brown of Tibtec announced that the group has partnered with the Djursland International Institute of Rural Wireless Broadband (DIIRWB), the European leader in community-based WiFi development.
APC member BytesForAll’s Warren Noronha, whose participation in Air Jaldi was supported by the APC, explained [http://www.bytesforall.net/node/196]: "The AirJaldi [1] mesh network is located in and around Dharamsala. The network can be considered as one of the largest mesh networks in the world. It covers over a hundred kilometres of rough terrain with a number of mountains and hills.
"Most of the network is situated in the foothills of the western Himalayan ranges. The network has already provided internet access to over 2000 computers. The backbone is comprised of 30 nodes," he explained.
Geek and Drupal developer Noronha (22), one of the volunteers of the unfunded South Asian Network that cuts across countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and beyond, noted that the network is built using cheap and off the shelve hardware.
Prominent personalities present included University of Limerick professor Roger Downer; University of Berkeley’s Eric Brewer, and Vic Hayes who is regarded as the father of WiFi.
Wi-Fi, as the Wikipedia points out, was developed to be used for mobile computing devices, such as laptops, in local area networks (LANs), but is now increasingly used for more services, including internet and VoIP phone access, gaming, and basic connectivity of consumer electronics such as televisions and DVD players, or digital cameras.
Free Software Foundation (http://www.fsf.org/) founder Richard Stallman was there, as was Dave Hughes, the man who created the world’s highest cyber-cafe in the Himalayas. Others present were Malcolm Matson of OPLAN Foundation (http://www.oplan.org/), Mahabir Pun, considered as the visionary of Nepali WiFi networks, the geek-lady Elektra of WiFi and radio technologies Fame (http://www.fameforusers.org/), and Cisco pioneering engineer Jim Forster.
Wireless mesh networks
Organisers saw the Air Jaldi Summit coming as a direct response to international interest in the Dharamsala Community Wireless Mesh Network. It was developed in cooperation with the Dharamsala Information Technology Group (DITG), an organisation chaired by the Tibetan Computer Resource Center (TCRC) and some of the region’s leading information technology professionals.
The Tibetan Technology Center (TibTec) is a charitable organisation dedicated to harnessing modern technology and assisting the Tibetan community in India. Its centre is located at the Tibetan Children’s Villages School (TCV) which hosts and supports it. TibTec’s first project is the Dharamsala Community Wireless Mesh Network.
But technology here doesn’t come without a geo-political edge. Decades ago, when the Dalai Lama left Tibet following the Chinese takeover of Tibet, Indian premier Nehru allowed him and his followers to establish a "government-in-exile" in Dharamsala. Since then, several thousand Tibetan exiles have settled in the town, most settled in Upper Dharamsala, or McLeod Ganj, a town sometimes called ‘Little Lhasa’.
This event is tagged on to a larger World Summits on Free Information Infrastructure. The WSFII itself is an ongoing international process of multiple, local-action oriented events for people to meet, share experiences, present practical solutions, to learn and to build all kinds of free information infrastructures.
Greg Walton of the Openflows.org network announced that the summit keynoters and speakers would include social activists, IT opinion leaders, philanthropists, and international technology professionals.
What does the mesh network look like?
Proponents of the technology call the Dharamsala Community Wireless Mesh Network an experiment of "a successful example of a sustainable technology integration model".
With its unique combination of low-cost yet robust technology, community-based implementation, and relatively large scale, the Dharamsala project is being seen by a growing network of techies as "an appropriate model for many rural areas around the world".
The choice of radio technology for wireless mesh networks is crucial. In a traditional wireless network where laptops connect to a single access point, each laptop has to share a fixed pool of bandwidth.
With mesh technology and adaptive radio, devices in a mesh network will only connect with other devices that are in a set range. The advantage is that, like a natural load balancing system, the more devices the more bandwidth becomes available, provided that the number of hops in the average communications path is kept low.
Wireless-for-development, Wi4D
Apart from its presence on the ground in northern India, APC has been working on capacity building for community wireless connectivity in other regions. "We hope to launch similar capacity building projects in Latin America and Asia during 2006/2007," says the network.
So far, the APC has held an East African training workshop in Zanzibar during April 2005, a workshop for southern Africa in September 2005 (South Africa), another for Francophone West Africa was held in Dakar in January 2006, and a variety of presentations were made at the World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis in November 2005, besides one for North Africa in July 2006.
In Amman, Jordan recently, APC’s Karel Novotny lead a two-and-half day training session that ran parallel to the main community radio AMARC 9 global meet. It sought to train participants in building wireless networks, using low cost technology and even some widely available recycled materials.
Other groups also appreciate the importance of wireless in the ICT-for-development field.
Says a recent Panos media toolkit on ICTs: "For many people in the world, communication facilities are unreliable, slow and costly. The use of wireless technology is one way in which this situation could be transformed. So why are some governments restricting its wider use?"
Wireless is credited with having a range of advantages: low cost for setting up and maintenance, its suitability for use in rural areas, speed in deployment, cost-effective in rural areas where population density is low, suitable for ‘last mile’ services, suitability for low-teledensity situations (where there are few fixed-line connections), mobility of service, suited for small-scale and community use, flexibility in use.
Tech ripple effect
Dharamsala triggered off other events. One happened in Pakistan. Commented BytesForAll’s volunteer Fouad Riaz Bajwa: "I am really excited since it’s the night before Pakistan’s first Wireless Rural Connectivity Conference and Hands-on Work (Air Jaldi) November 15-16, Lahore, Pakistan. This conference will mark the first Community Wireless Networking initiative in Pakistan due to (the work of people like) Jehan Ara, President of P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association)."
In Kerala, South India, early December 2006 saw a "hands-on workshop" on community wireless networking at the Technopark. The workshop, upcoming at the time of writing, was scheduled to have a session on building community networks. There were to be people sharing their experiences, current developments, challenges and emerging opportunities in the area of community wireless networking. "The inspiration for this workshop is the Air Jaldi Summit held at Dharamsala, India in October 2006," said organisers.
"I am very happy to know that the Dharamsala event is triggering more events," commented Free Software Foundation India’s spokesperson Dr G Nagarjuna. "Please see if this event can generate good documentation on setting up of mesh networks, and voice based communication using them, maybe by coupling with an Asterix-kind of server. This technology suits Indian conditions eminently. At the end of it, I hope this will create a movement to free the spectrum."
Photo: Warren Noronha for BytesForAll, October 2006, Dharamsala, India
Credit: Frederick "FN" Noronha
