Michael L. Best Leandro Burnes Marco Escobedo Hani Shakeel

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Michael L. BestLeandro BurnesMarco
EscobedoHani Shakeel
eDevelopment
Technologies to empower, enrich and interconnect
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Sustainable Access for Rural IndiaVillage Area
NetworkAgricultural Information
SystemCommunity Knowledge SharingTelecenter
Cost Estimator
Projects
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SARI
Sustainable Access in Rural India

Connecting thousands of rural poor villages with
innovative technologies, applications, and
business models, and rigorously evaluating the
impact on social and economic development.
With Harvard CID, IIT Madras, IBCC
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Village Area Network
Mobile wireless network for rural communities
that provides information and communication
services to an entire community
Implemented in Bohechio, Dominican Republic
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Connecting farmers from rural communities to
markets, to knowledge, and to each other
AgI
Agricultural Information System
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AgI
Agricultural Information System

• Access to market price information
• Voice communication with farmers from other
  rural communities
• Supports range of written literacy levels

• Text representations and machine generated
  spoken audio

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Community Knowledge Sharing
A multi-literate environment for communities to
interact, share and learn from each other.
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Community Knowledge Sharing

• Multi-literate bulletin board system
• Integrates novel technologies to increase
  accessibility
• Customizable to local preferences
• Evaluation conducted in the Dominican Republic

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Telecenter Cost Estimator
Explore the impact of alternative telecenter
configurations on capital and ongoing costs
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Michael L. BestLeandro BurnesMarco
EscobedoHani Shakeel
eDevelopment
Technologies to empower, enrich and interconnect
Pilot Project - Bohechio Village Area Network

• March of 2001

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Agenda

• Bohechio, Dominican Republic
• Village Area Network
• Equipment
• Network Coverage
• Results of Deployment
• Immediate Applications
• Future Applications
• Whats Next
• Pictures
• Q A

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Bohechio, Dominican Republic

• Located in the center of the
• Dominican Republic.
• Population is approximately
• 10,000 people.
• Main economic activities are
• agriculture and livestock.
• Prior to Wireless Village Area
• Network, only 5 telephone lines.

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Village Area Network

• Omni-directional antennas placed at Base
  Station.
• Point to Point link to Lincos.

• 256 kps VSAT connection at Lincos Container.
• Point to Point Link between Lincos and Base
  Station.

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Results of Deployment

• Tests conducted with
• 5dbi and 14dbi Antennas
• Orinoco Client Manager - Link Test Software

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Results of Deployment

• Coverage
• PC Cards 2dbi Antenna
• 5dbi Antenna
• 14dbi Yagi Antenna

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Immediate Applications

• Lincos, School, Clinic and Municipal Building

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Immediate Applications

• IP Telephony

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Future Applications

• Mobile VoIP and Radio Bohechio

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Whats Next

• School Connectivity - April 2001
• Telecenters
• Better and cheaper antennas - wearable?
• Expand mobility based applications

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Pictures
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Question and Answer

• Contact Information
• Edevelopment Group
• The Media Laboratory
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Room E15-309
• 20 Ames Street
• Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
• http//edevelopment.media.mit.edu/

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Michael L. BestLeandro BurnesMarco Escobedo
SARI - eDevelopment
SARI - Sustainable Access in Rural India
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Agenda

• Objectives
• Pilot Phase
• Monitoring and
• Assessment
• Applications
• Telekiosks
• Network
• Pilot Locations
• Whats Next
• Q A

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Objectives
1.Inventing and deploying innovative
technologies, applications, and highly
localized content that lead to economic, medical,
learning and social development. 2.Conducting
social and economic impact assessment research of
these technologies. 3.Testing and generating
business models that lead to profit generation
and allow the services and technologies to be
self-sustaining. 4.Benefiting from the Network
Effect that comes from connecting up a large
number of communities and user, aggregating
demand, and integrating markets. SARI is a
project of the MIT Media Lab, Harvard's Center
for International Development, IIT-Madras, and
the I-Gyan Foundation.
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Pilot Phase

• Internet access and applications
• 1000 connections
• 350 villages in Madurai District in
• Indian State of Tamil Nadu.

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Applications

• Localized content in local languages
• Agricultural information systems
• Online spot labor and market applications
• Micro-finance systems
• Health systems
• Education applications
• Email and Internet browsing
• Online government forms
• Voice/Video/Data Services
• Integrated communication suites
• Community newsmagazines
• Text to speech tools
• Cricket resource center

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Telekiosks

• Telekiosks will contain
• SARI Application Suite
• Desktop PC
• Monitor
• Battery-backup power supply
• Telephone wall unit
• Wireless internet (70 kbps) and phone connection
• Suite is priced at 1000 USD per kiosk

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Network
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Network

• corDECT WLL Access Centre
• Rural Group Direct Inward Dialing EPABX)
• Interfaces to the network on E1 (2.048 Mbps)
• DIU (DECT Interface Unit)
• Modems, routers, hubs
• Relay Base Stations (RBS)

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Whats Next

• 1000 connections
• Northern India
• Continuing research

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Questions and Answers

• Contact Information
• Edevelopment Group
• The Media Laboratory
• MIT
• E15-309
• 20 Ames Street
• Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
• http//edevelopment.media.mit.edu/