PAN ASIA ICT R&D Grants Programme - UTM

services at the wireless relay stations
provided there is an adequate Internet
connection. This allows the project to
scale: one can envision the wireless
relay stations offering Internet browsing
functions.
Project Method
The first Wireless Internet Post Office
(WIPO) component is the Internet
Gateway station or Base Station. This
station is a PC Server and e-mail relay
connected to the Internet and is the
gateway between the Internet and the
roaming PDAs. Since text messages do
not consume much bandwidth or
storage, a single PC can serve thousands
of PDAs.
While setting up these stations, the
project team investigated various
forms of information: from how to
setup and maintain e-mail accounts and
services to cost and kinds of Internet
access in the Asia-Pacific region.
The second WIPO component is the
Wireless Networking Architecture.
The architecture uses a multi-point-tomultipoint
mesh to network the
wireless relay stations. The Internet
Wireless network architecture being
tested
Wireless Internet Post Office
One of the Internet Gateway stations
uses this robust architecture so a
message is delivered even if parts of
the network nodes are down or out of
range of the PC server. Since asynchronous
text messages are tolerant of large
lag times, many wireless relay stations
may be used, spanning large distances
between PDA synchronization stations
and the base station Internet connection.
Network reliability is important to
insure the message gets though. The
project team found that providing
several redundant paths greatly
increases the reliability of the communication
system. The project team also
investigated: wireless network
protocols - including packet size, error
correction and detection; topology
performance, scalability, “hiddennode”
problems, robustness; communication
security; tradeoff of radios to get
better performance; and power
management.
The third WIPO component is the
Wireless Relay Station. These stations
bring text messaging out to the remote
villages and synchronize local PDAs.
These stations can be backed up with
batteries, so they can be placed
anywhere using line-of-sight directional
antennas for long range. Any
number of these relay stations can be
placed in a series to cover vast distances.
While setting up the relay stations,
the project team researched: radio
operation, station installation and
software monitoring; antenna performance,
tolerance to realignment and
tower interference; PDA synchronization
software; hardware design and
requirements (processor speed, DRAM
and FLASH memory); mechanical
(weatherproofing, ergonomics of
installation and maintenance); remote
firmware update mechanism; security;
and the links from PDAs to wireless
relay stations (cable, optical, RF).
The last WIPO component is the
Wireless Station Power Plant. This
power plant provides all the power for
the wireless relay station, making it
self-sufficient for remote locations (e.g.
mounted on a mountain ridge to bring
connectivity to a village located in a
valley).
Lasting Impacts
The project team solved the multitude
of technical and system design issues
inherent in a Wireless Internet Post
Office (WIPO), and made it provide
digital access to the widest possible
population at the lowest usage and
capital cost. The design provides a
viable and effective means of bridging
the digital divide and bring low cost
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