Study on technologies for

communication in rural areas

Janak Chandarana (05329R04)
Sravana Kumar K (05329034)

Guide: Prof. Sridhar Iyer

KReSIT, IIT-Bombay

Problem Definition
One communication line which is shared
by large number of people within small
range of geographical area.
Communication line can be PSTN
telephone line, GSM or CDMA.
We need to use this Single line across
whole area for better utilisation of
communication.

Problem Definition (cont.)

We need to have intranet, which will goes
everywhere in the village.
The Intranet can be wired or wireless.
Once we have the intranet and
communication line, then we need to
extend this line to entire intranet.

 Motivation
Real Life problem
Urgent necessity
Convergence of VoIP, WiFi, PSTN and PBX

Contribution
Feasible and affordable solution
Solution is applicable to many Indian villages
Working solution
People are using it !!

Existing Solution for given problem

Conventional PBX
Expensive
Cables are not so good communication
medium for a given problem
Complex
Lot of manual work

GMRS
Can not interface with outside world

Study of various deployment Option

Selection of communication medium to
communicate with world
Selection of medium for intranet through
which Internal communication can be
established
Interfacing communication line with
intranet

Available Communication medium

Telephone Line
Advantages
Easy to deploy
Telephone Instruments are cheap and easily
available.
Conversion from telephone signal to any other
signal is relatively easy than any other medium.
Ease of setup and use

Disadvantages
No mobility for fixed telephone landline.
Re-configuration is really hard once installed

Communication medium (cont)

GSM
Advantages

Mobility within village

Roaming for outside use also.
Easy to deploy (no landline installation)
We can move entire setup for any other village

Disadvantages
power consumption is high (need to recharge
batteries.)
Recurring cost of billing is high
Not so easy to convert to any other format (for
example GSM to VoIP)

Communication medium (cont)

CDMA
Advantages
Mobility within village
Signal can be transmitted over greater distances, it
may give reception in more remote or rural areas
where a GSM phone does not pick up a signal
Roaming with soft-handoff
Easy to deploy

Disadvantages
Hard to convert to any other format (for example
CDMA to VoIP)
Mobile handset cant be used for GSM providers.
Higher cost

Available option for intranet

Wireless LAN
Advantages:
Deployed without cabling, potentially reducing Installation
effort
Supports mobility
WiFi is a global set of standards. Unlike cellular carriers, the
same WiFi client works in different countries around the world.

Disadvantages:
Power consumption is fairly high compared to some other
standards
Battery life and heat is a concern.
limited range.
Interoperability issues between brands or deviations in the
standard can cause limited connection or lower throughput
and speeds.

Available option for intranet (cont)

802.3 based Ethernet
Advantages:
It strikes a good balance between speed, cost and
ease of installation.
Wide acceptance in the computer marketplace and
the ability to support virtually all popular network
protocols.
Almost no packet drop.
Cheap devices and media.
Disadvantages:
Its fixed Installation. Once setup, Its really hard to
re-configure.
If wire gets disrupted, we need to replace cable.

Available option for intranet (cont)

corDECT
Advantages
The capital and operational costs for running the
corDECT system is low.
The system's components are designed to work in
harsh environment
As the power consumption of the corDECT
exchange is very low, investments on UPS would
also be low.

Disadvantages
It is yet to be commercially introduced in India by
the DoT

Available option for Intranet (cont)

GMRS
Advantages;
There is no cell site, no telephone operator and no
roaming charges.
Two-way radio communication is practical and fun.
No centralized AP needed.
P-2-P kind of communication.
Disadvantages:
Not compatible with other Networking standard.
Can not interface with computer.
Problems of licensing with government.

Requirements
Our Solution for a given problem has
following requirements.
Hardware Requirements:

Access Points
Antennas
Adapters
Gateways
PCI cards
Switches
Ethernet Cables

Requirements (cont.)
-VoIP Clients

WiFi VoIP Phones

Laptops
Desktop PCs
Simputers

Software Requirements
Asterisk Server
Softphones
SJ Phone
X-lite Phone

Access Point
Requirements:
802.11
Potentially excellent LAN performance, especially with
careful configuration and placement
Easy to configure (GUI support)
Should Support external Antenna
Can afford one time higher CAPEX cost
least OPEX cost
Low power consumption

Access Point
Suggested Solution:
Model: The D-Link DWL-2100AP Access Point
Wireless Frequency Range: 2.4GHz to 2.4835GHz
Wireless Signal Range
Indoors: Up to 100 meters
Outdoors: Up to 400 meters

Wireless Transmit Power: 15dBm

Power Input: Ext. Power Supply DC 5V, 2.0A
Dimensions: 142mm X 109mm X 31mm
Weight : 200g
cost: Rs. 7,000

D-link Access Point

Antenna
Requirements:
Signal Range:- 200 mts or more
Should work in partially Line of sight also
Less CAPEX cost
Minimum OPEX cost
Antennas should give excellent throughput
over large areas.
Effect of direction on Signal strength

Antenna
Solution
Model: D-Link ANT24-0801 8.5 dBi Directional
Wireless Antenna
Frequency Range: 2300MHz to 2500MHz
Power Handling: 50W
Antenna Range: Up to 150 meter
Dimensions: 120mm X 120 mm X 43mm
Weight: 300g
Cost: Rs. 9,500

D-link external antenna

VoIP Gateway
Requirements
It should convert analog telephone signal to
VoIP
Compatible with asterisk server.
should supports SIP
Telephone line should work even when
gateway is switched off.
Should consume less power

VoIP Gateway
Solution
Model: Sipura VoIP Gateway SPA-3000
One RJ-45 port and One RJ-11 port
Power Consumption: 50 watts
Box dimensions: 183mm X 152mm X 64mm
Weight: 490g
Cost: Rs. 6,500

Sipura SPA-3000 VoIP gateway

VoIP-PSTN Adapter
Requirements
It should have at least one RJ-45 pin as well
as one RJ-11 pin
It should support multiple telephone
instruments
Support for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
Lower CAPEX and OPEX cost
Compatible with asterisk server

VoIP-PSTN Adapter
Solution:
Model : LinkSys PAP2-NA 2-Port VoIP
Gateway SIP FXS Adapter
One RJ-45 Port , two RJ-11 port
Supports both DHCP and SIP
Power Supply: 5V DC 2.0A
Dimensions: 101mm X 101mm X 15mm
Weight: 140g
Cost: Rs. 4,500

LinkSys PAP2 Adapter

PCI VoIP cards

Requirements
It should converts the analog telephone signal
to VoIP
It should have one RJ-11 FXO port (and/or one
FXS port)
Easy to configure (Preferably Plug and play
feature)
Compatible with Desktop PCs motherboard
Support Asterisk PBX

PCI VoIP cards

Solution
Model: Digium X100P FXO clone PCI card
Supports Asterisk PBX
One FXO pin and One FXS pin
Cost: Rs. 2600

Digium X100P clone PCI card

Client Side Devices

Requirements
Less power consumption
Higher portability
Easy to install
Low price
High Tx-Rx antenna

Client Side Devices

WiFi Phones:
Model: Linksys WIP300 Wireless-G
IP Phone
Operates in the 2.4GHz band
Supports 802.11g and the VoIP SIP
protocols
High Resolution Color LCD screen
USB Charger Interface
Cost: Rs. 6000

Client Side Devices (cont.)

Simputer

Model: Amida 2200 Simputer

It supports SIP
Less Power consumption
Nice VoIP client software .
More Portability
Multi purpose device
can be used in education
Cost: Rs. 15,000

Client Side Devices

Soft phones:
should allows voice
transmission on LAN
support SIP
Easy to configure
Examples:
SJ Phone
X-Lite Phone

Asterisk soft PBX

Asterisk is open source software PBX

It runs on Linux
It supports SIP
Runs on almost all hardware
All the functionality of conventional PBX
Fast, robust and free!

Case Study
Timbaktu Collectives
Timbaktu Collective is a registered voluntary
organization that was initiated in 1990
Timbaktu is surrounded by hills and is far from any urban
area in Andhra Pradesh, India.
They don't have any GSM or CDMA coverage.
Telephone department had provided one telephone line
to Timbaktu.
They don't have Electricity supply.
They are using solar power.
Timbaktu has lot of trees in between which may become
obstacle for wireless communication.

VoIP based Solution

Phase 1(dec-05):
We had identified 802.11 WiFi as Intranet solution for
communication.
We had deployed Asterisk Server over Linux machine
and It was connected with Access Point over WiFi.
All other clients like simputer, soft-phones and
LinkSys Adapters were communicating with Asterisk.

note: Trees which comes in between antenna and client attenuate signals greatly.

VoIP based Solution

Phase 2(feb-06):
We had thought of Ethernet cables as medium for
some part of village which are nearer to
communication line.
Wireless had very higher rate of packet drop which
was bigger constrain for voice communication.
VoIP asterisk server was also connected through
access point which provides connectivity to wireless
VoIP clients such as simputer.
We had VoIP gateway which can serve
incoming/outgoing calls.

VoIP based Solution

Phase-3 (future plan)
Deployment of hybrid solution which use
Wireless as well as Ethernet based solution
Stand alone hardware(3 in 1) which has VoIP
gateway, asterisk PBX and VoIP adapter in a
single box.
Low cost wireless VoIP client (like GMRS)
which can work with 802.11

Conclusion
Every time we dont need best technical
solution.
But we need affordable, feasible, working
and quickly available solution which is
easily acceptable.
VoIP has great potential for Indian rural
development.
Proposed 3-in-1 box can change telecom
market in India largely.