Browsing by Author "Simo-Reigadas, Javier"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Experiences, challenges and lessons from rolling out a rural WiFi mesh network
    (ACM, 2013) Rey-Moreno, Carlos; Tucker, William David; Bidwell, Nicola J.; Roro, Zukile; Siya, Masbulele Jay; Simo-Reigadas, Javier
    The DEV community knows that technology interventions involve consideration of social and environmental factors as much as technical ones. This is particularly true for the introduction of communications infrastructure in rural im- poverished areas. Research into WiFi solutions has fallen o as ubiquitous mobile solutions penetrate even the deepest rural communities worldwide. This paper argues that mo- bile penetration su ers from two signi cant problems such that the latest wave of WiFi mesh networks o ers bene- ts that traditional top-down WiFi, and mobile, networks do not. In addition, we propose ethnographic and partici- patory methods to aid the e ective rollout of mesh inverse infrastructure with and for a given community. This paper describes and then analyzes a mesh for voice rollout within a situated context. We explain how to conduct informed com- munity co-design and how to factor in local socio-political concerns that can strongly impact on the design, rollout and subsequent maintenance of community-based wireless mesh networks. While we have not yet analyzed baseline and ini- tial usage data, as the mesh rollout is still very fresh, we do have new lessons to o er the DEV community that we have learned while establishing this baseline study.
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    Optimisation of SlotTime for a single-radio Mid-Range Multi-hop Wireless Mesh Network
    (Telkom SA, 2014) Rey-Moreno, Carlos; Tucker, William David; Simo-Reigadas, Javier
    This paper presents the business context and results of an optimisation exercise for a single-radio mid-range multi-hop wireless mesh network for the provision of VoIP services. This WiFi mesh network physically covers 30 square kilometres in rural South Africa with a dozen solar-powered nodes. The firmware multiplexes the single radios in adhoc and infrastructure modes, essentially providing a distributed hotspot that can be used for WiFi-based Asterisk attachment in addition to POTS handsets via an ATA adapter in a node. We argue that this architecture is comparable yet cheaper and easier to install and maintain than multi-radio systems with directive antennas. Measurement of a range of values revealed a SlotTime setting that maximises throughput by 115%. We leverage this finding to argue a business case for a ground up community-based mesh network like this one; to provide a win-win situation for local residents and operators with free internal calls backed up by revenues from low cost voice breakout, Internet services and solar-based mobile phone charging. Our novel approach offers an accessible and affordable business model based on increased traffic volume from residents in a rural area that have mobile connectivity yet cannot afford to use it. The optimised architecture described herein offers an attractive and complementary alternative.
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    Towards a sustainable business model for rural telephony
    (Telkom, 2012) Rey-Moreno, Carlos; Roro, Zukile; Siya, Masbulele Jay; Simo-Reigadas, Javier; Bidwell, Nicola J.; Tucker, William David
    This paper presents the work done thus far towards designing a sustainable business model for rural telephony in the community of Mankosi, located in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The pillars of the model are sustainability and community ownership to design both the wireless mesh network providing the telephony service and its business model. Given the airtime consumption pattern in the community, the model is based only on the provision of calls inside the community and for using solar power to charge mobile phones. Some scenarios with different usage of the telephony services and different pricing rates are explored in order to find the break even point of the network, or in case the CAPEX was provided externally, to calculate the revenues expected. These revenues could be used for projects that benefit the community at large. Although the project is in its initial phase and the community has some particularities that make it unique, the sustainable business model presented here is intended to showcase innovative ideas that could serve similar projects in other parts of the world.
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    Tuning a mid-range rural WiFi-based mesh network
    (ACM, 2013) Rey-Moreno, Carlos; Tucker, William David; Simo-Reigadas, Javier
    Little is known about how mid-range, or several km, dis- tances a ect multipoint-to-multipoint links when single ra- dio nodes with omnidirectional antennas are used. In this poster, a real network with these characteristics is described and empirical results of its performance are presented. In particular, the e ect of increasing the SlotTime value for optimizing the aggregated throughput has been analyzed. Results show the need to increase the SlotTime to consider- ably bigger values than those oberved for point-to-point and point-to-multipoint long-range links. With the new value of SlotTime, an increase of 115% in aggregated throughput was obtained over the standard Slottime value.