A SEMINAR REPORT ON

DAKNET
Submitted by:
VIJAY MUNDRA
B.E. (Information Technology) 2008 -2009

Department of Information Technology

Maharishi Arvind
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

JAIPUR

Maharishi Arvind
INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

JAIPUR

Department of Information Technology

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that the Seminar Report titled DAKNET is a bonafide work carried out by following final year student:

Name of the student: VIJAY MUNDRA

Under our guidance towards the partial accomplishment for the award of the degree of Bachelor of Engineering (Information Technology) by UNIVERSITY OF RAJASTHAN during the academic standard.
GUIDE
[Mr. Azad Bhagat Singh]

Year

of

2008

2009,

of

required

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT

[Mr. Dilip Gupta]

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PREFACE

Excellence is an attitude that the whole of the human race is born with. It is the environment that makes sure that whether the result of this attitude is visible or otherwise. The well planned, properly executed and evaluated industrial training help a lot in including the good work culture. It provides linkage between student and industry in order to develop the awareness of industrial approach to problem solving based on broad understanding of process and mode of operation of an organization. During this period, the students get there real firsthand experience on working in the actual environment. Most of the theoretical knowledge that they have gained during the course of there studies is put to test here. Apart from this, the students get opportunity to learn the latest technologies, which immensely help them in their career. This also benefits the organizations as many students doing their projects perform very well. I had the opportunity to have the real practical experience, which has increased my sphere of knowledge to a great extent. Now I am better equipped to handle the real things than anyone else that has not undergone any such training. I learnt how an actual project progresses, what sort of problems actually occurs, how to produce quality products and so on. And being in such a reputed organization I had the best of experience.

Acknowledgement

One of the most quoted shloaka from the Geeta, a holy script, alludes to the importance of the guide, in terms of the Geeta called guru. It says that it is impossible to attain knowledge without a guru, showing the way. It is for the student, that shishya; to work toward attain his goal, the guide only showing the way. Time has not been able to dilute the importance of this and one can not overemphasize the importance of a guiding force in general life also.

I express my heartiest thanks to Principal Mr. A.K. Arora and H.O.D of Information Technology Department Mr.Dilip Gupta & faculty member of college, M.A.I.E.T., JAIPUR for allowing me to take this training.

I also express my sincere thanks and deep regards to Mr. Azad Bhagat SIngh for his guidance, inspiration and constructive suggestions, which helped me in the preparation and completion of the project training work. His encouraging remarks from time to time greatly helped me in improving my skills.

Vijay Mundra

TABLE OF CONTENTS

y Introduction y Why Daknet y Myths & Truths y First Mile Solutions y Wireless Catalyst y AD-HOC Network y Daknet Architecture y How Daknet Works y A Real World Example Of Daknet y Daknet In Action y Application & Local Partnership y Challenges & Lessons Learned y Features Of Daknet y Strategy Of Daknet y Future Development in Daknet y Conclusion y References

INTRODUCTION
Now a day it is very easy to establish communication from one part of the world to other. Despite this even now in remote areas villagers travel to talk to family members or to get forms which citizens in-developed countries an call up on a computer in a matter of seconds. The government tries to give telephone connection in very village in the mistaken belief that ordinary telephone is the cheapest way to provide connectivity. But the recent advancements in wireless technology make running a copper wire to an analog telephone much more expensive than the broadband wireless Internet connectivity.

DakNet is an internet service based on the technology from First Mile Solutions (FMS), which was spun-off from an idea, known as DonkeyNet. This idea was featured in the MIT Entrepreneurship Competition in 2002. DakNet offers affordable, asynchronous internet access to rural areas. FMS is based in Cambridge, MA and offers its Wi-Fi based technology to the rural population in developing countries such as India and Cambodia. It uses a store and forward technique through Wi-Fi, which the company describes as "Cached Wi-Fi Intelligence".

Daknet, an ad hoc network uses wireless technology to provide digital connectivity. Daknet takes advantages of the existing transportation and communication infrastructure to provide digital connectivity. Daknet whose name derives from the Hindi word Dak for postal combines a physical means of transportation with wireless data transfer to extend the internet connectivity that a uplink, a cyber caf or post office provides.

Real time communications need large capital investment and hence high level of user adoption to receiver costs. The average villager cannot even afford a personnel communications device such as a telephone or computer. To recover
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cost, users must share the communication infrastructure. Real time aspect of telephony can also be a disadvantage. Studies show that the current market for successful rural Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services does not appear to rely on real-time connectivity, but rather on affordability and basic interactivity.

The poor not only need digital services, but they are willing and able to pay for them to offset the much higher costs of poor transportation, unfair pricing, and corruption. It is useful to consider non real-time infrastructures and applications such as voice mail, e-mail, and electronic bulletin boards. Technologies like store- and forward or asynchronous modes of communication can be significantly lower in cost and do not necessarily sacrifice the functionality required to deliver valuable user services. In addition to non real-time applications such as e-mail and voice messaging , providers can use asynchronous modes of communication to create local information repositories that community members can add to and query. To mobilize end-user market creation, a separate organization, known as United Villages (UV), was created by the founders of FMS. The purpose behind the creation of UV was to develop for-profit rural internet service providers using FMS technology. FMS and United Villages merged in 2003 and an operating company, known as United Villages Network Private Limited, has been established in India in 2005.

WHY DAKNET??
Real time communications need large capital investment and hence high level of user adoption to receiver costs. The average villager cannot even afford a personnel communications device such as a telephone or computer. To recover cost, users must share the communication infrastructure. Real time aspect of telephony can also be a disadvantage. Studies show that the current market for successful rural Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services does not appear to rely on real-time connectivity, but rather on affordability and basic interactivity. The poor not only need digital services, but they are willing and able to pay for them to offset the much higher costs of poor transportation, unfair pricing, and corruption.

It is useful to consider non real-time infrastructures and applications such as voice mail, e-mail, and electronic bulletin boards. Technologies like storeand forward or asynchronous modes of communication can be significantly lower in cost and do not necessarily sacrifice the functionality required to deliver valuable user services. In addition to non real-time applications such as e-mail and voice messaging , providers can use asynchronous modes of communication to create local information repositories that community members can add to and query.

Myths And Truths

Myth: The village telephone is the best model for poor communities.

Truth: Giving everyone access to digital messagingvoice mail, digital documents, e-mail, and so onis better than installing a community telephone. Rural information and communication technology (ICT) is typically introduced as a communications channel that the community shares. Whether through a pulic call office (PCO) or a public computer kiosk, users are introduced to ICT as shared utilities with a technically literate operator acting as an intermediary. In this shared-use model, much ICT has relied on real-time communications, such as landline telephone, cellular phone, or satellite radio links. These real-time technologies can be useful forimmediate interactivity and accessing highly timesensitive information.

Successful examples include Indias PCOs and the Grameen Phone initiative (www.grameenphone.com) While successful at providing basic services, the strategy of deploying shared, real-time communications also has serious drawbacks. One is the large capital investment in a real-time infrastructure, which requires a high level of user adoption torecover costs. The average villager cannot even afford a personal communications device such as a telephone or computer, let alone a subscription fee for access to the communications infrastructure.

Hence, to recover cost, users must share the communications infrastructure. This limits the all-important value added from network effects. A villager who finds no use for a phone is typical, and this is perhaps why so few of the worlds poor have used a telephone. The real-time aspect of telephony can also be a disadvantage: Both intended parties must be present at each terminal to capture the infrastructures full value. If a caller wishes to contact someone who does not own (or is not present at) a telephone, the communication is asynchronous despite the

real-time infrastructure. Some kind of additional messaging mechanism is required to deliver the callers message to its destination.

As a consequence, real-time telephony can reinforce gaps among rural populations since it encourages users to communicate mainly with people who have private phone lines, typically those of higher economic status located in more urban areas. In the Grameen- Phone initiative, women were chosen as the community operators to help reduce this effect, since it was socially acceptable for women to deliver messages to everyone in the village.

Until widespread private ownership of ICT devices becomes economically feasible for end users, it may be useful to consider non-real-time infrastructures and applications such as voice mail, e-mail, and electronic bulletin boards. Also known as store-and forward or asynchronous modes of communication, these technologies can be significantly lower in cost and do not necessarily sacrifice the functionality required to deliver valuable user services. They might also be more practical and socially appropriate for users than a shared real-time

communications infrastructure.

Myth: Poor people dont need computers.

Truth: The poor not only need digital services, but they are willing and able to pay for them to offset the much higher costs of poor transportation, unfair pricing, and corruption. Some rural service providers (RSPs) have achieved profitability by offering lower-cost substitutes for a villagers existing information, communication, and transportation expenses. For instance, Drishtee

(www.drishtee.com) provides an e-government platform that lets villagers interact with local government offices remotely from a kiosk in their village that is managed by a trained operator. A variety of services such as filing a complaint, applying for a loan, and requesting a drivers license are generating up to $2,000 per year per kiosk for Drishtee.
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The significant demand for these services results from a sound value proposition: Save villagers time and money. According to a villager who filed a complaint using a Drishtee kiosk, A visit to Sirsa costs Rs 50 [for travel], plus I waste a day. I will happily give Rs 10, even Rs 30 at the telecenter [kiosk] if I can save this. Drishtees success suggests that the introduction of ICT in Even a single vehicle passing by a village once per day is sufficient to provide daily information services. The connection quality is also high.

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FIRST MILE SOLUTIONS

First Mile Solutions (FMS) specifically tackles the problems of high cost and limited access through its Village Area Network technology which includes DakNet, a novel, low- cost technology.1 0 DakNet integrates inexpensive Customer Off- The- Shelf (COTS) hardware components, open- source software, and FMSs proprietary software to create an asynchronous Internet hub and spoke system. Computers at the hub are connected to the Internet in real time, while computers at the end of the spoke are connected asynchronously. Traditional transport mechanisms such as cars, motorbikes, buses, or even donkeys transport data between the hub and spoke.1 1
COMPANY BACKGROUND

FMS co- founders Richard Fletcher and Amir Alexander Hasson first met in 2001 when they were taking Professor Sandy Pentlands class on Developmental Entrepreneurship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). 12 Inspired by the possibilities of new and affordable wireless

technologies, they began to formulate a vision for DakNet as a class project. At the time, available technologies providing Internet access in rural areas were all either too expensive or too risky for telecommunication operators to implement. Traditional wireline infrastructures were too expensive to install and maintain and new technologies such as WIMAX- type systems were too risky to immediately launch on a wide scale. DakNet, they believed, could overcome these deficiencies and provide a glimpse into the market opportunities that exist in serving people living in rural and remote areas. Fletcher and Hasson were inspired by the idea that profits could be made by catering to the poor as customers. This concept, known as the bottom of the pyramid (BOP) business model, was popularized by C.K. Prahalad, Al Hammond (Prahalad, Hammond, 2004), and Stuart Hart.

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They believed that low- cost, innovative solutions can profitably address the unique needs of the low- income market. The official mission of FMS is to help public and private organizations in developing nations bridge the digital divide by providing affordable, scalable communications infrastructure and by building internal capacity in wireless networking. 1 5 As of January 2005, FMS had four full- time staff, including the founders, and had deployed their technology in four countries: India, Cambodia, Costa Rica and Rwanda. A rough calculation shows that their technology has connected 30,000 villagers which, based on the bottom of the pyramid concept, leaves them 3.9 billion more as potential customers. Fletcher and Hassons ambitions and aspirations led them to take their class project to the next stage and enter MITs Annual 50K Entrepreneurial Challenge.1 3 To support their entry, they deployed a successful proof- of-

concept system in rural India. Their idea and pilot brought them to the semi- finals and an opportunity to incubate it at MITs Media Lab Asia. 14 Hasson moved to India to work with

Media Lab Asia for nine months to manage rural WiFi pilots including DakNet. The primary DakNet pilot in India was with Bhoomi, an eGovernance initiative established by the Indian State Government of Karnataka to computerize all land records in Karnataka. Armed with these initial proofs of concept, Hasson returned to Boston and was contacted by Bernie Krisher from American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief Fund (AAfC/JRF) to deploy their solution for rural schools in Cambodia. FMS first commercial deployment followed shortly thereafter and was launched September 1, 2003. Because FMS was first incubated at the MIT lab and quickly captured AAfC/JRF as its first client, it was able to generate revenue and breakeven right from the start, according to Hasson.

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WIRELESS CATALYST
Advances in the IEEE 802 standards have led to huge commercial success and low pricing for broadband networks. These techniques can provide broadband access to even the most remote areas at low price. Important considerations in a WLAN are

Security: In a WLAN, access is not limited to the wired PCs but it is also open to all the wireless network devices, making it for a hacker to easily breach the security of that network.

Reach: WLAN should have optimum coverage and performance for mobile users to seamlessly roam in the wireless network

Interference: Minimize the interference and obstruction by designing the wireless network with proper placement of wireless devices.

Interoperability: Choose a wireless technology standard that would make the WLAN a truly interoperable network with devices from different vendors integrated into the same.

Reliability: WLAN should provide reliable network connection in the enterprise network.

Manageability: A manageable WLAN allows network administrators to manage, make changes and troubleshoot problems with fewer hassles. Wireless data networks based on the IEEE 802.11 or wifi standard are perhaps the most promising of the wireless technologies. Features of wifi include ease of setup, use and maintenance, relatively high bandwidth; and relatively low cost for both users and providers.

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Daknet combines physical means of transportation with wireless data transfer to extend the internet connectivity. In this innovative vehicle mounted access points using 802.11b based technology to provide broadband, asynchronous, store and forward connectivity in rural areas.

WIFI:-

Wi-Fi refers to a set of high frequency wireless local area network (WLAN) technologies more specifically referred to as 802.11a 802.11b and 802.11g. These standards are universally in use around the globe, and allow users that have a WiFi capable device, like a laptop or PDA, to connect anywhere there is a Wi-Fi access point that is available. The three standards that are refered to signify the speed of the connection they are capable of producing. 802.11b ( which transmits at 11 Megabits per Second ) is the most common, although the faster Wi-Fi standards are quickly replacing it. Across the board, all of these Wi-Fi standards are fast enough to generally allow a broadband connection. Wi-Fi is an emerging technology that will likely be as common as electrical outlets and phone lines within a few years. Wi-Fi adds tremendous levels of convenience and increased productivity for workers whose offices are equipped with Wi-Fi, as well as travelers that can increasingly access Wi-Fi in airports, coffee shops, and hotels around world.

A Wi-Fi network operates just like a wired network , without the restrictions imposed by wires. Not only does it enable users to move around and be mobile at home and at work, it also Provides easy connections to the Internet and business networks while traveling. Wireless Fidelity, which is also known, as 802.11b is the corporate choice and has a suitably wide range for use in big office spaces. Wi-Fi is currently the most popular and least expensive wireless LAN specification. It

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operates in the 2.4GHz radio spectrum and can transmit data at speeds up to 11Mbps within 30m ranges. It can affect by interference from mobile phones and Bluetooth devices, which can reduce the transmission speeds. Wi-Fi is an emerging technology that will likely be as common as electrical outlets and phone lines within a few years. Wi-Fi adds tremendous levels of convenience and increased productivity for workers whose offices are equipped with Wi-Fi, as well as travelers that can increasingly access Wi-Fi in airports, coffee shops, and hotels around. It is the standard fitment to many wireless laptops including the new Centrino based models.

SECURITY ASPECTS-: In Wi-Fi technology, data is broadcast over the air using radio waves. This means that any WLAN enabled computing device within reach of a wireless access point can reach of a wireless access point can receive data transmitted to or from the access point. Because radio waves travel through ceilings, floors and walls, the transmitted data can reach the wrong recipients on different floors or even outside the building. Intruders can use unsecured access points to get into corporate resources and launch denial-of-service attacks that can bog down servers with bogus requests and prevent user access to data and applications. To ensure security, 802.11 wireless communications have a function called wired-equivalent privacy (WEP), a form of encryption, which provides privacy comparable to that of a traditional wired network. If the wireless network has some information that must be secured, WEP should be used to ensure data protection at traditional wired network levels. But as we know, there is never 100 percent security, and the WEP standard was itself breached. Of late, WPA (Wi-Fi protected Access) has over broken WEP as the de facto security standard for Wi_Fi alliance certification. WPA offers higher levels of wireless data security than WEP. It is a subset of the proposed 802.11i security standard from IEEE.

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SPECIFICATIONS:-

Max speed - 11 MBPS

Max Encryption - 128 bit WEP

Discrete channels - 3

Max range @full throughput - ~30 ft

Natively compatible - 802.11b, 802.11g

Potential user - Entry level and home networks

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ADVANTAGES OF WI-FI:-

 Uses an unlicensed part of the radio spectrum. This means less regularly controls in many countries.

 Frees network devices from cables, allows for a more dynamic network to be grown.

 Many reliable and bug-free Wi-Fi products on the market.  Competition amongst vendors has lowered prices considerably since their inception.

 While connected on a Wi-Fi network, it is possible to move about without breaking the network connection.

 Moderns Access Points and Client Cards have excellent in-built security and encryption.

 Enterprise and Carrier Grade Access Points can be easily accesed.

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DISADVANTAGES OF WIFI:-

 The 802.11b and 802.11g flavors of Wi-Fi use the 2.4 GHz spectrum, which is crowded with other devices such as Bluetooth, microwave ovens, cordless phones (900MHz or 5.8 GHz are therefore, alternative phone frequencies one can use if one has a Wi-Fi network), video sender devices, among many others. This may cause degradation in performance. Other devices, which use microwave frequencies such as certain types of cell phones, can also cause degradation in performance.

 Power consumption is fairly high compared to other standards, making battery life and heat a concern.

 Users do not always configure it properly. In addition, Wi-Fi commonly uses Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) protocol for protection, which has been shown to be easily breakable even when properly configured. Newer wireless solutions are slowly providing support for the superior Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA) protocol, though many systems still employ WEP.

 Wi-Fi networks have limited range. A typical Wi-Fi home router using 802.11b might have a range of 150 ft (46 m) indoor and 300 ft (92 m) outdoors.But about 10 US$ and an hour of building will get you an antenna that can go much further.

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AD-HOC NETWORK
An ad-hoc wireless network is a collection of wireless mobile hosts forming a temporary network without the aid of any established infrastructure or centralized control. Ad-hoc networks require a peer-to-peer architecture, and the topology of the network depends on the location of the different users, which changes over time.

In addition, since the propagation range of a given mobile is limited, the mobile may need to enlist the aid of other mobiles in forwarding a packet to its final destination. Thus the end-to-end connection between any two mobile hosts may consist of multiple wireless hops. It is a significant technical challenge to provide reliable high speed end-to-end communications in ad-hoc wireless networks

given their dynamic network topology, decentralized control and multihop connections.

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In the ad-hoc network, computers are brought together to form a network "on the fly." As shown in Figure, there is no structure to the network; there are no fixed points; and usually every node is able to communicate with every other node. An algorithm in ad-hoc network architectures uses a broadcast and flooding method to all other nodes to establish who's who. Current research in ad-hoc wireless network design is focused on distributed routing.

Every mobile host in a wireless ad-hoc network must operate as a router in order to maintain connectivity information and forward packets from other mobiles. Routing protocols designed for wired networks are not appropriate for this task, since they either lack the ability to quickly reflect the changing topology or may require excessive overhead. Proposed approaches to distribute routing that quickly adapt to changing topology without excessive overhead include dynamic source and associativity based routing.

Other protocols that address some of the difficulties in supporting multimedia applications over ad-hoc wireless networks include rate-adaptive compression, power control, and resource allocation through radio clustering.

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DAKNET NETWORK ARCHITECTURE

The main parts of daknet architecture are

Mobile access point

Hub

Kiosk

MOBILE ACCESS POINT

Daknet offers data to be transmitted over short point-to-point links. It combines physical and wireless data transport to enable high-bandwidth intranet and internet connectivity among kiosks (public computers) and between kiosks and hubs (places with reliable Internet connection).

Data is transported by means of a mobile access point, which automatically and wirelessly collects and delivers data from/to each kiosk on the network.

Low cost WIFI radio transceivers automatically transfer the data stored in the MAP at high bandwidth for each point- to- point connection.

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Mobile Access Point is mounted on and powered by a bus or motorcycle, or even a bicycle with a small generator. MAPs are installed on vehicles that normally pass by each village to provide store-and-forward connectivity.

MAP equipment used on the bus includes, a custom embedded PC running Linux with 802.11b wireless card and 512 Mbytes of compact flash memory. A 100-mW amplifier, cabling, mounting equipment, and a 14-in omni directional antenna. an uninterruptible power supply powered by the bus battery.

The total cost of the Daknet MAP equipment used on the bus is $580.A session occurs each time the bus comes within range of a kiosk and MAP transfers data. The speed of the connection between the access point and the kiosk or hub varies in each case. But on average, they can move about 21Mb or 42 Mb bidirectionally per session.

The average good put or actual throughput for asession, during which the MAP and kiosk go in and out of connection because of mobility and obstructions, is 2.3Mbps. Omni directional antennas are uses on the bus and either directional or omni directional antennas are located at each of the kiosks or hubs. The actual throughput depends on gain of antenna and orientation of each kiosk with the road.

HUB

It is a common connection point for devices in a network. It is used to connect segments of a LAN. It contains multiple ports. Packet at one port copied to all other ports-all segments see all packets. When the vehicle passes near an internet access point the hub- it synchronizes all the data from different kiosks using the internet.

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KIOSK

It is a booth providing a computer related service such as ATM. In each village there is kiosk. It requires a user interface that can be used without training. It enable user to enter and display information on the same device. Either directional or omni directional antennas are located at each of the kiosks or hubs. Amplifiers are used to boost the signal and range for higher.

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The above figure illustrates the Daknet concept that has been applied in real time. Instead of relaying information over long distances which would be expensive and consume more power, Daknet makes use of short point -to-point links to transmit data between the Kiosks in each village and portable storage devices call Mobile Access Points (MAP). Mounted on and powered by a bus, a motorcycle, or even a bicycle with a small generator, a MAP physically transports data among public kiosks and private communications devices (as an intranet) and between kiosks and a hub (for nonreal- time Internet access). Low-cost WiFi radio transceivers automatically transfer the data stored in the MAP at high bandwidth for each point-topoint connection.

1) As the MAP-equipped vehicle comes within range of a village WiFienabled kiosk, it automatically senses the wireless connection and then uploads and downloads tens of megabytes of data.

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2) When a MAP-equipped vehicle comes within range of an Internet access point (the hub), it automatically synchronizes the data from all the rural kiosks, using the Internet.

These steps are repeated each time a MAP equipped vehicle passes through the village which enables low cost wireless network and seamless connectivity. Even a single vehicle passing by a village once per day is sufficient to provide daily information services and the connection quality is also high. Daknet also incorporates means for seamless scalability in future when the village's ecconomy grows and people can afford to spend more and they will also be able to obtain real time communication services.

Even local entrepreneurs currently are using DakNet connections to make eservices like e-mail and voice mail available to residents in rural villages. Daknet concept has helped many more initiatives in India like the Bhoomi initiative. Bhoomi, an initiative to computerize land records. Daknet helps on this a lot. A detailed article on Daknet and other initiatives which has enabled digital connectivity in remote areas through wireless networks is available here.

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HOW DAKNET WORKS

A simple store-and-forward WiFi system, using a government bus as a central linkage. The bus contains a simple WiFi installation and server, and when in range of one of the outlying information kiosks it synchronizes data for later processing.

DakNet is a patented wireless package that does away with base stations. DakNet offers a cost-effective network for data connectivity in regions lacking communications infrastructure. Instead of trying to relay data over long distances, which can be expensive, Daknet transmits data over short point-to point links between kiosks and portable storage devices called Mobile Access Points (MAP). Mounted and powered on a bus or motorcycle with a small generator MAP physically transports data between public kiosks and private communications devices and between kiosks and a hub (for non real time internet access). Low cost Wi-Fi radio transceivers transfer data stored in MAP at high bandwidth for each point-to-point connection.

Daknet has thus two functions:

As the MAP equipped vehicle comes within the range of a village Wi-Fi enabled kiosk it automatically senses the wireless connection and uploads and downloads tens of mega bytes of data.

As it comes in the range of Internet access points (the hub) it automatically synchronizes the data from kiosks using the Internet.

These steps repeat or all the vehicles carrying MAP, thus providing a low cost wireless network and seamless communication infrastructure. Even a single vehicle passing by a village is sufficient to carry the entire daily information. The connection quality is also high.
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Although Daknet does not provide real time data transport, a significant amount of data can move at once-typically 20MB in one direction.

Thus asynchronous broadband connectivity offers a stepping-stone to always on broadband infrastructure and end user applications. Daknet makes it possible for individual households and private users to get connected.

Figure: (Daknet Network Architecture)

The average cost to make a village kiosk ready is $185. Assuming each bus serves 10 villages the average cost for enabling each village is $243.

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DakNet offers an affordable and complete connectivity package, including:

Wireless Hardware (wireless transceiver and antennas),

Networking Software,

Server and cache Software.

Custom applications, including email, audio/video messaging, and asynchronous Internet searching and browsing

API enabling organizations to easily integrate DakNet with their existing applications.

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DAKNETS COST ADVANTAGE: A REAL EXAMPLE

FMS first major client was American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief Fund (AAfC/JRF), an NGO based in Cambodia that has built over 250 schools. AAfC/JRF first approached First Mile Solutions in 2001 to connect its schools to the Internet. Many schools were already equipped with computers and printers powered by solar panels. However, only one school,37 using a donated satellite, was connected to the Internet. Satellite technology was the only way to connect schools without telephone lines. Needless to say, it was too expensive to purchase a satellite for every school. DakNet infrastructure was also more difficult to steal and vandalize than satellites and wireless base stations. If all fifteen schools had been connected to the Internet via satellite, it would have cost38 USD 260,376 for the first year.39 Using FMS only cost USD 39,979 (at that time, FMS did not charge for its software). FMS used the school that was already connected to the Internet as a central hub. The other fourteen schools were divided into five routes, each of them serviced by a motorman. Motormen are the epostmen hired locally that ride their motorbikes between the central hub and surrounding schools.

Information from the schools would automatically be downloaded from the FAP to the MAP when the motorman passed by, and uploaded to the hub when the motorcycle returned. A hub operator trained by FMS managed the hub. Altogether, the DakNet solution was cost effective. As of December 2004, AAfC/JRF had purchased equipment for 3 HAPs, 7 MAPs, and 33 FAPs. AAfC was so pleased with the results that they had already made plans to connect 10 schools in Robib, 9 schools in Koh Kong, and 10 schools in Preah Vihear in the near future. The introduction of basic telecommunications services in these places has been revolutionary, as many of these places did not even have a regular postman. This successful deployment of DakNet technology proved that it can function under difficult conditions, be it poor infrastructure, challenging climate conditions, or limited capacity of local staff. This proof-of- concept has paved the way to more opportunities.

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DAKNET IN ACTION
Villagers in India and Cambodia are using Daknet with good results. Local entrepreneurs currently are using DakNet connections to make e-services like email and voice mail available to residents in rural villages. One of the Daknets early deployments was as an affordable rural connectivity solution for the Bhoomi e-governance project.

DakNet is also implemented in a remote province of Cambodia for 15 solarpowered village schools, telemedicine clinics, and a governors office.

Daknet is currently in action in many places. They are,

 Bhoomi initiative in Karnataka  SARI (Sustainable Access for Rural India) project of Tamilnadu  Ratnakiri project in Cambodia

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BHOOMI INITIATIVE IN INDIA Bhoomi, an initiative to computerize the land records of villagers is the first egovernance project in India. Bhoomi has been successfully implemented at district headquarters across the state to completely replace the physical land records system.

Daknet makes Bhoomis land records database available to villagers40km away from the district headquarters. In this deployment a public bus is outfitted with a Daknet MAP, which carries the land record requests from each village kiosk to the taluka server. The server then processes the requests and outputs land records. The bus then delivers the records to each village kiosk and the kiosk manager prints the records and collects Rs 15 per record.

Villagers along the bus route have enthusiastically welcomed the system. They are grateful in avoiding the long trip to the main city to collect the records. The average total cost of the equipment used to make a village kiosk or hub DakNetready was $185. Assuming that each bus can provide connectivity to approximately 10 villages, the average cost of enabling each village was $243 ($185 at each village plus $580 MAP cost for 10 villages).

It has also been successfully employed in the villages of Cambodia. Next steps involve combining DakNet and Bhoomi with a package of applications to provide a sustainable model for rural entrepreneurship.

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(Bhoomi Pujan Initiatives)

The Government of Karnataka plans to use Bhoomi as the backbone for providing other kinds of information of relevance to rural areas. This includes commodity prices, information on agricultural inputs, social assistance like old age, widow and physically handicapped pensions etc. There are also plans to extend these kiosks to the village level by involving private sector entrepreneurs and gram panchayats (local governance units) on a revenue-sharing basis.

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DAKNET: STORE & FORWARD WIRELESS Daknet allows rural villages to exchange messages and video through a mobile ISP. By mounting a wireless card on a vehicle that travels around to remote villages and exchanges updated information with each kiosk it encounters through WiFi. Villagers are able to send message and record videos through these kiosks. That data is stored in the outbox of the kiosk. When the mobile vehicle comes around it exchanges the data in the outbox and the inbox.

Those awaiting messages are able to check the inbox for any messages or videos. All information is downloaded to the central system at the office station.

(DAKNET:-STORE AND FORWARD)

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Using WiFi allows for cheap reliable Internet service to those rural communication Infrastructures. The telephone lines in the remote and rural areas are frequently dysfunctional and unreliable for Internet connectivity. (Baatchit) Thus WiFi creates better access to bandwidth from the large data lines that run throughout the world (BELOW: Titanic backbone through Asia. (Titanic)

The latest installation to DakNet has been adding the remote region of Ratanakiri, Cambodia. A collection of 13 villages that are only accessible by motorcycle and oxcart. The per capita income is roughly under $40 US dollars. The area school is equipped with solar panels that run the computer for six hours a day. Providing them now with email and video messaging.

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MOTO-BIKE INNOVATION Early every morning, five Honda motorcycles leave the hub in the provincial capitol of Banlung where a satellite dish, donated by Shin Satellite, links the provincial hospital and a special skills school to the Internet for telemedicine and computer training. The moto drivers equipped with a small box and antenna at the rear of their vehicle, that downloads and delivers e-mail through a wi-fi (wireless) card, begin the day by collecting the e-mail from the hub's dish, which takes just a few seconds.

(DAKNET MOTO BIKE INNOVATION) Through the donations from various organizations the developing world is given an opportunity to participate in the technological revolution. After many pilot projects there are still investigations to understanding how to increase the projects through various solutions such as DakNet.

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UNITED VILLAGES: FMS aimed to occupy the market niche between more expensive real-time Internet technologies and cheaper asynchronous alternatives such as transferring data using USB keys or CDs. Although its clients included both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations, some for-profits were skeptical about the possibility of profitably targeting the rural communities. This challenge led the founders of FMS to start a new venture, United Villages; an enterprise and business model for delivering products and services in at the rural level. United Villages Networks Private Limited has operated in India since September 2005 and is currently working in two Indian states: Orissa and Rajasthan. Recently, the company has opted out of being an Internet Service Provider in favor of providing information technology enabled services (ITES) to rural communities via village-level franchises. Specifically, United Villages has developed a low-cost Internet access model called DakNet (lit. Post Network), using proprietary Mobile Access Points technology. Villagebased franchisees known as DakNet Service Providers (DSP) sell subscriptions for users to access a range of services on the DSPs laptop (subscriptions are also sold by the United Villages sales team). This data is uploaded periodically to a roadside access point. Wifi transceivers mounted on local buses send and receive data from the roadside access points, for later transfer to/from the Internet via wireless protocols. This store-and-forward system allows DakNet to offer an asynchronous network communication model to users at low cost. In Orissa, the DakNet store-and-forward system operates in four steps: 1 .A village-based DakNet Service Provider (DSP) is equipped with a laptop. Villagers can sign up for a DakNet prepaid account and use the DSPs laptop to order shopping items, request job information etc. offline.

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2. Generally, all the DSPs are located next to a motorable road. User data (such as email, e-shopping orders etc.) are transferred to the fixed access point (FAP) at a kiosk or DSP center. From the FAP, the data are then transferred to a bus fitted with a wireless transceiver that stops outside the DSP center.

Figure: DakNet store-and-forward drive-by wifi model 3. When the bus arrives at the main bus station in the city of Bhubaneswar, stored user data are forwarded via a wireless node to the main office of United Villages also in Bhubaneswar and thence onto real-time Internet.

4. The system also works in reverse: the buses deliver information from the Internet to user accounts at the same time as they are receiving user data.

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United Villages is working with leading mobile service providers to use roadside mobile towers as real-time Internet access points. This means that buses will be able to store-and forward data as they travel, rather than wait until they return to Bhubaneswars main bus station. Currently, there are over 60 DSP franchises in Orissa which are granted in general to existing rural entrepreneurs already running a local business such as a photo studio, public telephone booth, electrical equipment shop, TV/radio repair shop etc. Less frequently, an individual running a village school or a rural NGO might take on a franchise. The DakNet system supports a suite of e-services designed for users with limited or zero digital literacy . Comparable services accessed via mobile phone are usually priced too high for rural users, and not otherwise available in the villages of Orissa (cyber cafes are only located in urban centres). Through DakNet, such users can get access via an individual subscription similar to prepaid cellular mobile phone connection and recharge service. The DakNet subscriber is provided with a unique number that serves as account login, and recharge coupons are offered to the users to make use of the eservices over time.

(DAKNET CELLULAR CARDs)

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APPLICATIONS AND LOCAL PARTNERSHIP

AAfC supplements the government- mandated curriculum with additional teachers that teach English and computer classes to the most gifted students. AAfC/JRF was FMSfirst client to experiment with the innovative applications of the DakNet technology. The followingapplications and analysis of DakNets potential social benefits reflect AAfC/JRFs experience. While Internet access has been reliable, each application must overcome specific challenges. Since applications complement the technology, these challenges directly affect demand for DakNet.

EDUCATION
Use of DakNet

DakNet infrastructure was used to connect rural schools to the Internet. One school is connected to the Internet through a satellite, and 14 others schools are connected through the e-postman system. Data is transported by five motormen, each of whom covers a different route.

Application Context Internet accessibility complements the computer classes students were already taking. Originally, students only learned how to type and use Microsoft Word and Excel. Connecting schools to the Internet allows students to learn how to use email and conduct web searches. Many schools have established a pen-pal system with other schools, which motivates students to practice writing and e-mailing in English. Many donors also communicate to the students through e-mail.

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Challenges The schools have experienced few technical problems with the hardware. hands-on time to explore and practice is limited.

Social Benefit Providing rural communities with Internet access is a baby step in bridging the digital divide. Learning how to use the Internet at the primary school level helps students to overcome the intimidation of using new technology. It also decreases the negative impacts of physical isolation, as they are now able to receive daily news and explore the world outside their village through web searches.

TELEMEDICINE
Use of DakNet DakNet infrastructure established through the rural schools to implement telemedicine. Villagers can ask the computer teacher to e-mail their symptoms to a medical clinic instead of paying an actual visit. Doctors at the clinic then choose the most urgent cases to treat. Close to seventy percent of the patients that are referred to the telemedicine clinic utilize DakNet.

Application Context When patients arrive at the telemedicine clinic, local doctors provide foreign doctors with precise descriptions of patients illnesses. These descriptions contain written explanations, digital pictures, or even digitized X-rays. Any useful information that can be transferred electronically is added to a patients profile .

Challenges The main challenge is to have doctors commited to the project due to lower pay scale. There are also the challenges of properly writing up the symptoms, translating technical jargon between languages, and overcoming cultural barriersrelated to medical treatment.
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Social Benefit Many patients had long-term illnesses that were successfully treated through this way.

E-GOVERNMENT

Use of DakNet Villagers who live near connected rural schools can Use Daknet computer to write e-mails on their behalf directly to the Governor to voice their needs and concerns.

Application Context To Solve Out Any Type of Dispute Or Degradation In Service.

Challenges Due To Lack Of Knowledge Only Few People Can Use These Feature As a X Factor.

Social Benefit Both the governor and villagers liked the new method of communication. Many of these villages are so remote that in the past, the Governor seldom visited them and had little idea of their needs. E-mail brought their needs to the Governors attention for the first time. Even this basic form of e-government was empowering, democratizing, and led to increased accountability. NiDA can use FMS technology to roll out nationwide egovernment applications, especially in rural areas.

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E-COMMERCE
Use of DakNet AAfC/JRF uses the DakNet hub as a communications center to run two ecommerce pilots that sell traditional Cambodian handicrafts.Two workshops were set up to produce traditional Cambodian scarves and blankets. The project aims to stimulate the local economy by bringing in extra revenue and preserve Khmer hill- tribe culture and art.

Application Context The project has not been profitable for AAfC/JRF so far because the raw materials are expensive and the client base is mainly limited by word-ofmouth advertisement and those affiliated with AAfC/JRF. The project can only reach sustainability if AAfC/JRF can expand the client base.

Challenges

This project had a positive impact on the weavers lives, all of whom were women, because it enabled them to generate more income for their family. Prior to the project, the women did not generate any income. Depending on customer demand, they now can earn on average an extra USD 14 per month.

Social Benefit The pilot has the potential to expand but will need to overcome obstacles, including transporting the raw materials and final products to and from the villages. The founder of AAfC/JRF hopes to have profitable pilots in order to make Internet connectivity self-sustainable instead of dependant on donor funds. Local people are more likely to engage in the new technologyif they see the commercial advantages of doing so.
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CHALLENGES AND LESSONS LEARNED

FMS initial deployments have revealed many challenges, from actual deployment of the technologyto penetrating the BOP market. The following section highlights several of those challenges.

Determining actual ICT demand from the end-user market

Entering the BOP market is risky because very little is known about this market segment. Even if it is true that, as some studies suggest, people in rural areas spend three to five percent of their income on communications, FMS will still need to take market share away from traditional incumbents such as personal visits, radio, phone communications, television, and newspapers. This transition in spending patterns will not occur overnight. In addition, it is difficult to determine the optimal pricing strategy and - more fundamentally - whether the trend showing the rural poor as a potential market for telecom is reliable.

Developing locally relevant applications to generate demand for DakNet

End-users do not have the disposable income to use the Internet for non- essential activities. The clients willingness to pay for DakNet services is directly related to whether the applications replace an existing activity or satisfy an important need. Merely having Internet access is not enough. Application drives the demand for the technology.

Building a strong ecosystem of partnerships

FMS positions itself as a provider of infrastructure and standard services such as e-mail, asynchronous web-surfing, and Voice Message over IP. Since it does not
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directly interact with the end-user market, it needs to build local partners. Successful bottom of the pyramid ecosystems are typically decentralized and leverage the expertise and entrepreneurial spirit at the local level. Local partners have both a deeper knowledge of the populations needs and the capacity to manage local operations. In addition to running access points, local partners must also make sure that MAPs are treated with care and reach all access points in a timely manner. This can be a significant challenge.

Managing relationships with clients and partners

A major risk to revenues is that rogue clients and partners will cut FMS and UV out of the loop. For example, FMS could be cheated out of maintenance fees and UVs agreements with local rural ISPs could be violated. The technology is designed to make clients and partners dependent on FMS and UV. If they cease to cooperate, FMS and UV have the capacity to bring the network down. In addition to this technical solution, UV needs to detail carefully the agreements it makes with its partners. This is an extremely complex task, especially when dealing with non- US partners.

Infrastructure, transportation, and weather- related barriers

Ideally, FMS installs the MAP onto an existing transportation method, such as the public bus in India or the coffee delivery truck in Costa Rica. Doing so keeps costs to a minimum.42 Unfortunately, buses and even ordinary postmen are not always present in remote areas and hiring dedicated e-postmen is an additional cost the client would have to bear. This was the case for AAfC/JRC, which had to subsidize the cost of local motor-taxi men to transport the data daily. In either case, the transport mechanism needs to be able to endure difficult climates. In Cambodia, for example, the motormen have a difficult time during the rainy season. Motormen have taken falls and broken antennas, an covering the same routes can take two to three times longer, raising the price of gas by 150%.
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 Limited demand from institutional clients

All of FMS clients have been institutions such as NGOs and governments. Since these clients do not use FMS equipment for profitable ventures, their demand does not depend on the poor peoples ability to pay for the service. Rather, they are at the mercy of donor funding.

End-users having limited ICT literacy

Demand for the Internet is dependent on having basic computer skills and, in many cases, the ability to speak and understand English. Many rural areas use languages that software companies do not support and websites in cyberspace are mostly in English. In Cambodia for example, only 86,400 hits show up under the .kh domain on Google, and not all are actually in Khmer, the principal Cambodian language.43 Part of the challenge is that a Khmer font has not yet been standardized in Unicode, so users must download a separate program for characters to be properly displayed. This creates a huge obstacle for most people in rural areas who do not have basic English and computer skills. This obstacle may lead to a slower adoption of the Internet, thus decreasing demand for FMS technology.

Regulatory restrictions for certain Internet applications

ICT in most countries is highly regulated industry. The use of the VoIP protocol, for example, is restricted in many countries. FMS Voice-Message- over-IP technology was not adopted in Cambodia partly because of potential conflict with government regulations. To overcome the regulatory hurdle in Costa Rica, FMS had to package its product very carefully, as a UPS for data so that at least on the surface, it did not compete with traditional telecom companies. The payment system UV hopes to launch shortly will also undoubtedly come under legal

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scrutiny. Legal expertise will be needed to design the system carefully to avoid infringing on local and international laws.

Achieving scale is crucial in a lower margin market

For FMS, and even more importantly for UV, penetrating large markets is a key to generating profit. FMS will need to amortize its fixed costs over more sales. This could create a virtuous cycle by lowering costs and increasing demand. However, it has not been able to deploy its technology at a large scale yet. Only its partnership with AAfC/JRF has expanded beyond the initial pilot stage.

Competitive advantage will diminish as other technologies emerge

As cheaper and more powerful technologies emerge, DakNets competitive advantage will undoubtedly diminish. While FMS can enjoy a first-mover advantage, FMS will need to adapt and propose new technologies if it is to stay relevant.

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FEATURES OF DAKNET
Since it avoids using phone lines or expensive equipment, Daknet provides one of the lowest-cost accessibility solutions in the world.In addition to low cost the other feature of Daknet is its ability for upgrading the always-on broadband connectivity.

As the village increases its economic means the villagers can use the same hardware, software and user interface to enjoy real-time information access. The only change is the addition of fixed location wireless antennas and towers, a change that is entirely transparent to end users, because they need not learn new skills or buy new hardware and software.

With multiple MAP buses, a low cost wireless network and seamless communication infrastructure gets created.

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STRATEGY FOR THE FUTURE

Adoption of DakNet technology will depend heavily on the usefulness and relevance of related applications and the villagers ability to use them despite low levels of education and literacy. Since FMS and UV have made a conscious decision to focus on creating a small set of core tools instead of creating many different applications, they must indirectly support application developers or form strategic partnerships with existing application developers that have an interest in entering the market.

Securing locally relevant applications will be important because different countries have different needs and use different languages. In their initial stages, FMS and UV are considering running pilot projects with established e- kiosk operators running successful applications.

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FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Daknet provide seamless method of upgrading to always on broadband connectivity. As a village increases its economic means, its inhabitants can use the same hardware, software, and user interface to enjoy real time information access. The only change is the addition of fixes location wireless antennas and towers.

If the mobile access points are replaced with fixed transceivers real-time connectivity is possible. Thus more sophisticated services, such as voice over internet protocol (VoIP) is enabled which allows normal real time telephony. Instead of using wifi, wi-max or e-video can be used. Wifi can affected by interference from mobile phones and Bluetooth devices which will reduce the transmission speeds.

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CONCLUSION
Daknets low deployment cost and enthusiastic reception by rural users has motivated dozens of inquiries for further deployments. This provides millions of people their first possibility for digital connectivity. Increasing connectivity is the most reliable way to encourage economic growth.

The larger goal is to shift the policy focus of the Governments universal service obligation funds from wireless village telephones to wireless ad-hoc networking.

The shift will probable require formal assessment for user satisfaction, resulting economic growth and system reliability.

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REFERENCES

IEEE Computer, January 2004

Electronics For You, April 2004

www.daknet.net

www.medialabasia.org

www.firstmilesolutions.com

www.google.com

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