VITAsat

1
VITAsat
2
What is VITAsat?

• a simple, low-cost and reliable satellite-based
  communications network
  
• provides connectivity and information services to
  remote areas
  
• currently uses two low earth orbiting satellites
  (LEOS)
  
• provides store-and-forward e-mail communication
• capable of picking up and dropping off messages 4
  to 8 times a day, anywhere in the world
  
• currently capable of providing up to 2,500 ground
  stations with roughly 50 pages of text throughput
  per day
  

3
VITAsat more than just technology

• includes access to
• VITAs growing library of technical resources,
• connection to VITAs network of volunteer
  experts, and
  
• links to peers throughout the developing world

4
History of VITAsat

• VITAsat evolved from VITAs pioneering work in
  applying low-cost microelectronics and space
  technology to the dissemination of technical
  information for development and humanitarian
  purposes
• VITA is the only international non-profit
  organization granted a pioneer-preference
  satellite communication license by the FCC

5
For additional technical specifications

• http//www.vita.org/leo/specs.htm

VITAsat tracking station in Arlington, VA
6
Why VITAsat? Poor Connectivity

• One third to one half of humanity is excluded
  from the information revolution due to a lack of
  accessible, affordable telecommunications
  infrastructure and computer technology
• The majority live in rural areas where
  connectivity is unlikely to dramatically improve
  in the short to medium term (5 to 10 years)

7
VITAsat

• What is it?
• Why VITAsat?
• What can it do?
• Is it really sustainable?
• What difference can it make?

8
Why VITAsat? Poor content

• Even where access to connectivity has begun to
  expand, information resources targeted to the
  development needs, skills, and context of the
  poor are severely lacking

9
Why VITAsat?

• VITAsat is the lowest-cost, most reliable, most
  user-friendly solution for providing connectivity
  and targeted information resources to remote
  rural areas
• VITAsat complements other communication systems,
  expanding their reach to the frontiers of the
  digital divide

10
Why VITAsat?

• Through VITAsat poor, remote communities dont
  have to wait for the roll-out of the information
  highway. They can be connected TODAY!
  
• VITAsat provides the poor with opportunity to
  participate in the information economy, to gain
  skills and to be ready to take full advantage of
  full Internet access when it arrives

11
Why VITAsat?
VITAsat combines simple, affordable and reliable
connectivity with practical, hands-on information
resources developed with and for small
businesses, producers, local NGOs, educators,
health workers, administrators, agricultural
extensionists, natural resource managers and
other relief and development workers serving the
rural poor.
12
What can it do?

• Messaging
• Webmail
• Group Discussion
• Other email-based services

13
Messaging

• Email is the "killer application." Access to
  email is the starting place for participation in
  the "digital revolution."
  
• Email provides low-cost connection and fosters
  dialogue within organizations and between
  professional colleagues. It links families and
  friends as well as purchasers with vendors of
  goods and services

14
Success in Tanzania
I am kicking myself for not having a camera
ready when VITA got back on the air. Everybody
was whooping and hollering and devouring their
messages like starved animals. I just want all
you guys at VITA to know how much you are
appreciated. VITA is the link that allows us to
maintain our sanity and remain out here in the
bush year after year. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK
YOU!!!!!! Bonnie Norton - KFI Tanzania
15
Webmail
VITAsat electronic mail can return the text cont
ent of web pages. For example, by sending an em
ail message to VITAs webmail server using
'get http//www.vita.org Will return the ful
l text of VITAs homepage
16
Group Discussion

• Email discussion software ('listserve') is an
  extremely valuable service. A message sent to a
  list address is re-transmitted to all subscribers
  to the list. Thousands of lists exist on topics
  of interest to development workers.

17
Success Satellife Discussions

• One of VITA's partners, SATELLIFE, uses VITAsat
  technology and group discussions to share
  information on various health topics including
  
• ProCAARE-Family/Pediatric AIDS - dialogue on
  critical HIV/AIDS issues affecting children and
  families
  
• E-Drug - Discuss current information on essential
  drugs, including national policies and treatment
  guidelines
  
• ProCor - Addresses the emerging epidemic of
  cardiovascular disease in the developing world
  

18
Other Email-based Services

• ftp (file transfers)
• archie (file indexes)
• gopher (menu-organized text)
• email-to-fax services
• dictionary lookups
• virus protection software
• "email-to-snailmail" courier services

19
Is VITAsat really sustainable?

• VITAs unique agreement with its private and
  non-profit sector partners provides a base of
  financial security and ensures high quality
  system management and technical support.
• The VITAsat partnership also means that
  communications and information services can be
  offered to users at a cost that is affordable and
  locally sustainable.

20
User Costs

• Other than a low cost computer and power source
  (local power grid, generator or solar panels)
  VITAsat requires only a terminal and simple
  antenna, costing approximately 3,400.
• Unlimited use of each terminals daily capacity
  is provided for a modest annual fee - currently
  set at under 500.

21
Is it really sustainable?

• Fees are used by VITA to further expand and
  upgrade the information services provided through
  the VITAsat network
  
• Low initial investment and modest annual fees
  mean that local organizations, community
  associations, schools, clinics, etc. can easily
  re-cover their costs by in turn providing
  low-cost communication services to their
  communities on a fee-for-service basis

22
Success Saving Lives
Using VITAsat technology loaned to the American
Hospital in Vanga, Zaire (Congo) in 1995 during
the Ebola outbreak, Medical Director Dr. Daniel
Fountain was able to get reports of the local
situation to supporting organizations in the US
and to the media. This significantly cut the time
needed to get funds and supplies and saved lives.
23
Success Saving Lives II

• VITA partner SATELLIFE is an NGO headquartered in
  the Boston area with substantial experience in
  communicating health information via low earth
  orbiting email satellites using VITAsat
  technology. More information on SATELLIFE is
  available at http//www.satellife.org

24
Success Sharing Knowledge

• When VITAsat technology was installed at the
  Visayas State College of Agriculture (ViSCA) on
  the island of Leyte in the Philippines in 1993 it
  was only external link for students and faculty
  to the outside world. As a result they
• established linkages with universities and
  funding agencies in Europe, US and Asia.
  
• Project agreements, proposals, reports and other
  documents were retrieved, shared, developed, and
  finalized.
  
• Students and staff abroad sent messages to their
  families at ViSCA
  
• National and international meetings, conferences
  and workshops were announced, arranged, and
  confirmed
  

25

• Sharing Knowledge
• ViSCA established linkages with universities
  and funding agencies in Europe, US and Asia.
  People submitted research proposals and got
  supports using the VITAsat E-mail system.
  Students and staff abroad sent messages to their
  families at ViSCA and students and staff at ViSCA
  sent study and research applications abroad using
  the E-mail. Several project agreements,
  proposals, reports and other documents were made
  and finalized using the E-mail. A number of staff
  were able to download literatures from abroad.
  National and international meeting, conferences
  and workshops were announced, arranged, and
  confirmed using VITAsat E-mail."

26
Partnerships Sharing Knowledge

• VITAs partnership with the WorldSpace Foundation
  offers the potential for dramatically increasing
  the impact of both programs in Africa. WorldSpace
  provides information and educational programs on
  health, agriculture, conservation and small
  business development through specially designed
  satellite digital radio receivers.
• adding a VITAsat ground terminal will give
  WorldSpace a 'back-channel' link for feedback to
  the producers of educational programs, thus
  adding an interactive element to WorldSpace
  programming
• while significantly expanding the amount of
  digital information available to VITAsat
  subscribers.

27
More Effective Organizations

• The Kibidula Farm Institute in rural Tanzania,
  serving a population of 25,000 people, is the
  longest user of VITAsat technology (since 1992).
  KFI serves as a training center and base for a
  broad range of development activities including
  health care and training in agriculture, basic
  health, nutrition, clean water and appropriate
  construction technologies. The most notable
  accomplishment using the VITAsat system was to
  provide help for the local construction of two
  airplanes to bring KFI services to localities
  even deeper in the bush (http//www.cyber24.com/ht
  m2/5_2.htm).

28
Success More Effective Organizations II

• "Before our email link to the the world through
  VITA's satellite system communication was
  extremely difficult. Mail would take 2 weeks to a
  month one way with letters often getting lost.
  Phone calls were very expensive and fraught with
  their own special frustrations. Often reports to
  donor agencies were late and communications for
  coordination of administrative activities and
  personnel were sadly lacking. We felt very
  isolated from family and friends. Overnight it
  seemed, our lives completely changed. It was
  like walking out of the dark into the blazing
  light of the noonday sun. The feelings of
  isolation have disappeared. This communication
  link is so vital and such an integral part of our
  daily lives and work here that none of us can
  imagine ever living again without it! We are
  deeply grateful and appreciative to VITA for
  making this possible.
• Bill Norton, KFI

29
Remote monitoring of the earths resources

• VITAsat terminals provide a low-cost
  communication and data transmission alternative
  for remote research stations. They can be used
  in transects and other mobile data collection
  applications. The two-way capability of the
  VITAsat system permits users to performing such
  tasks as programming remote data loggers,
  resetting clocks, 'waking up' the loggers or
  'putting them to sleep' as well as reviewing
  readings and collecting data, thus reducing the
  need for costly and time-consuming periodic site
  visits.

30
Success Remote monitoring of the earths
resources

• In 1993 VITAsat technology was used to remotely
  monitor the operation of hybrid (solar, wind,
  diesel) power systems on the Indonesian islands
  of Nusa Penida and Sumbawa. Telemetry data was
  collected by subsystem electronic controllers,
  converted into files, and subsequently
  automatically transmitted by ground stations to
  VITAsat satellites and downloaded where engineers
  in Jakarta and the United States could keep track
  of system operation.

31
Success Remote monitoring of the earths
resources II

• In 1998 VITAsat system technology was
  successfully used as support communications for a
  team of Australian astronomers and physicists
  operating a modified US "Automated Geophysical
  Observatory" from the Antarctic South Pole.