If it were only so............. (you know the saying about assuming?)

Heres a link to the Pokhara Chamber of Commerce and Industry--- Pokhara,
Nepal
http://www.pokharachamber.org.np/

Eric Walter
Facspro.Net



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Nimesh D. Parikh" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2003 11:53 PM
Subject: RE: [smartBridges] Bridging the Digital Divide


>
> Thanks for the email. The names and network diagram have been provided
> by them only. So I assume they have taken the necessary precautions.
> They mention at the bottom of the story that the names have been changed
> for security reasons. So I assume there is no real place named Pokhara.
>
> Nimesh
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Bill Culpepper
> Sent: Monday, October 06, 2003 11:54 AM
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: Re: [smartBridges] Bridging the Digital Divide
>
> Do you think that you may be exposing their location to anyone that
> means them harm?  You have given distance and height differential which
> should be enough to locate them if  someone knows the topology near
> Pokhara.  I am a supporter of freedom-lovers everywhere and would not
> wish them to suffer because of our great list group.
>
>
> Nimesh D. Parikh wrote:
>
> > I thought this may be an interesting story to share with the group
> > here. The impact is quite large. sB had sponsored a group of
> > volunteers and they have done an outstanding job. A more polished
> > version of the story will be coming out soon but here is the report
> > they filed from the field.
> >
> >
> >
> > Nimesh Parikh
> >
> > smartBridges
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Bridging the Digital Divide:
> >
> > A smartBridges success story in rural Nepal
> >
> >
> >
> > A handful of Nepali villagers and foreign friends had a vision. One
> > year later, the vision has become a reality.
> >
> >
> >
> > A ragtag team, without much technical experience and without much
> > money, has been able to create a wireless communications network that
> > connections five villages and the outside world using wireless data
> > radios. Two UCLA students, Mark Michalski and Robin Shields, and one
> > Boston-based carpenter, Sage Radachowsky, helped their Nepali
> > counterparts to locate the equipment and to implement the network.
> >
> >
> >
> > Nanda Thapa(*) uses the internet for many things. He communicates with
>
> > people around the world to find funding for his village's school. He
> > also responds to incoming emails from a website that he created to get
>
> > volunteers to come to his village.
> >
> >
> >
> > Nanda used to have to walk for 8 hours and then take a 6 hour bus ride
>
> > to check his email. He used to have to walk for two days to have a
> > meeting with a neighboring village about a joint project. Now he can
> > do both in seconds, thanks to a new wireless network in rural Nepal.
> > He used to check his email once a month. Now he checks it daily.
> >
> >
> >
> > Now, instead of walking for one or two days to deliver a simple
> > message or to meet with people in neighboring villages, villagers are
> > able to communicate via voice and text meeting software. Villagers and
>
> > volunteers in the villages are able to communicate with people
> > anywhere in the world by sending email, a facility that was previously
>
> > available only by walking one to three days and then taking a 4 hour
> > bus ride to Pokhara. People are also able to access the wealth of
> > information on the internet regarding any subject, from learning about
>
> > mushroom culture to getting drivers for a printer.
> >
> >
> >
> > These capabilities have already made a big difference in the lives of
> > the people living in the villages. The ability to communicate easily
> > has already worked as a catalyst for future locally-generated
> > development projects.
> >
> >
> >
> > However, the future of the network remains uncertain. In the context
> > of a guerrilla war, the people having the ability to communicate may
> > be seen as a threat by both the government and the Maoists. Each side
> > may possibly believe that the other side will use the ability to
> > communicate against them. For this reason, the network must
> > unfortunately remain something of a secret within Nepal at the moment.
>
> > In a time of peace, the wireless network could be shown off as a model
>
> > of local development, to be replicated elsewhere for relatively little
>
> > money.
> >
> >
> >
> > Despite the war, the team that implemented the project would like to
> > draw upon their experience in creating this network and replicate the
> > network in other places in Nepal and elsewhere in the Himalayas.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Technical Aspects of the Project
> >
> >
> >
> > Please refer to the attached Network Topology graph. The wireless
> > network currently employs 12 smartBridges AirPointPro Outdoor radios,
> > and may soon employ two more to reach additional villages. The longest
>
> > link is between the main relay station and a city, where a server is
> > located to connect to a dialup ISP. This link spans about 34 km
> > horizontally, and about 3,000 meters vertically. The main relay
> > station is on a mountaintop at an altitude of about 3,400 meters.
> >
> >
> >
> > The extreme sensitivity of the smartBridges APPO unit is one key to
> > bridging this great distance without using a signal amplifier. Using
> > quality 24 dBi grid dish antennas from Pacific Wireless, and
> > connecting the dipole directly to the radios with a 0.5 meter pigtail
> > to minimize cable loss, is another key.
> >
> >
> >
> > All radios are protected from nearby lightning discharges by lighting
> > arrestors which are grounded to the earth.
> >
> >
> >
> > There is a secondary relay station on another ridge at an even higher
> > altitude. (Part of the Annapurna mountain, one of the ten tallest
> > mountains in the world. See attached photograph). From these two relay
>
> > stations, the five target villages have direct lines of sight of up to
>
> > 5 km from the relay stations, and are easily spanned using the
> > smartBridges APPOs on less-than-maximum power settings. The
> > Dial-A-Power feature of smartBridges radios has proven to be very
> > useful, for it saves power at the off-grid stations.
> >
> >
> >
> > The relay stations are each powered by 70 watt solar panels connected
> > to deep cycle batteries by a charge controller. Each relay station
> > also has a wind generator, but so far this has proven to be
> > unnecessary. There has been little wind, and the solar power has
> > proven to be sufficient for the radios.
> >
> >
> >
> > Currently, villagers talk and chat with each other using Microsoft
> > Netmeeting. However, one member of the team is working to develop
> > custom VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software, using the
> > OpenH323 VoIP standard, which will use a Quicknet Internet LineJack at
>
> > the server base station to allow voice telephone calls to the PSTN
> > (Public Switched Telephone Network). This is very important in a
> > country such as Nepal, where the majority of people even in cities do
> > not have an email address.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [If you would like more information about this project, or if you
> > would like to contribute to a future project, please email Sage
> > Radachowsky at [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> >
> >
> >
> > (*) The names of all Nepali persons and all place names have been
> > changed for security purposes, due to the current civil war in Nepal.
> >
> >
> >
> > ###
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
>
>
>
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