smartBridges Solutions

Progress has been slow for people in Bhimaravam and the surrounding villages in Andhra Pradesh, India. With limited opportunities for education and employment and a general lack of access to services, such rural areas are facing depopulation as people leave to find better opportunities in the swelling urban cities of India.

Byrraju Foundation, a non-profit organization is transforming such villages through sustainable rural development using wireless connectivity to bring critical services and create employment by opening the huge potential of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) to rural India. In a project (Project Ashwini) that has attracted the attention of the President of India, His Excellency, Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, they have created a wireless network to connect 32 villages, including Bhimavaram, to the information age.

 

                                      

                                                     Bhimavaram in Andhra Pradesh, India

The President, after having seen the success of Project Ashwini, has designated it as Byrraju PURA (Providing Urban in Rural areas) which is an ongoing project of the President of India. His Excellency plans to establish 100 such PURAs in India with each PURA covering about 30 villages. Wireless connectivity will form a key part of each project.

                                       
                                                                         Ashwini Center

Background

The Byrraju Foundation is a non-profit organization set up to build progressive, self-reliant rural communities by bridging the gap in services provided to the villages.It recognizes the power of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to make a significant impact on rural populations. Wireless broadband makes access to services and information otherwise unavailable in rural areas possible. In a pilot project, the wireless network created using smartBridges radios currently connects 12 villages. The Bhimavaram network potentially impacts 500,000 lives in 32 villages in the Bhimavaram district.

The Ashwini Centers established in each village provide video-conferencing and Internet access for all the villagers. Through this network, they have enabled activities such as in:

• Education:
  Video conferencing allows the qualified teachers based in towns or cities to teach several classrooms simultaneously, thereby bringing quality higher education to the village level.
• Agriculture:
  Access to information on markets, products and latest farming techniques allows farmers to improve their yields and obtain better prices for them.
• Healthcare (Telemedicine):
  Direct access to specialist doctors in cities is made possible through video conference, VoIP and email in areas without even a phone line

• Employment:
  The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) creates employment by allowing rural citizens to participate in the economic growth brought by outsourcing of manufacturing and back-office functions to low cost regions which is currently driving the economy of India.

 

Bhimavaram, the main village and hub, has a leased line Internet connection to the state capital, Hyderabad, about 285 miles (450 km) away and is named as Base Station 1. From Bhimaravam, smartBridges access points, the airPoint Nexus, provides coverage to various sectors of villages. Two other base stations were established as repeaters at two different villages, each covering a sector. They are connected via wireless backhaul links using the airHaul Nexus to Bhimavaram. The backhaul link distances span about 11 miles (18 km).

                                                      

                                       Part of the Bhimavaram network which connects villages for e-Learning and telemedicine

Each of the villages uses the airClient Nexus as a client device which is installed in the local Ashwini Center. They are able to obtain the full 6 Mbps on the links which span on average between 3-5 miles (6-8 km) with one link as long as 12.6 miles (20 km) and still able to obtain 1 Mbps of throughput.

“For deployments in rural development projects and e-Governance initiatives, you need high performance but also low investment and operating costs," said Dr. Y.R Rao, Managing Director of smartBridges India. "And for the long term success of such projects, extremely simple systems that are easy to configure and maintain are needed. smartBridges outdoors networking products are perfect solutions for bringing broadband connectivity to those often overlooked by others.”