Dack Net1

DAKNET

1. 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, 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 café or post office

provides.

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2. 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 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

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messaging , providers can use asynchronous modes of

communication to create local information

repositories that community members can add to and

query.

2.1WIRELESS 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.

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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.

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.

3. 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 Wi-Fi

capable device, like a laptop or PDA, to connect

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anywhere there is a Wi-Fi access point that is

available. The three standards that are referred 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 operates in the 2.4GHz

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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 Aspect

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

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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.

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

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Potential user - Entry level and home

networks

3.1 ADVANTAGES OF WIFI

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

3.2 DISADVANTAGES OF WIFI

The 802.11b and 802.11g flavors of Wi-Fi use the

2.4 GHz spectrum, which is crowded with other

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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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3.3 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

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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.

4. DAKNET NETWORK

ARCHITECTURE

The main parts of daknet architecture are

Mobile access point

Hub

Kiosk

4.1 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

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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.

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.

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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 bi-

directionally per session. The average good put or

actual throughput for a session, 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.

4.2 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-

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it synchronizes all the data from different kiosks

using the internet.

4.3 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.

5. 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.

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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

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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. 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.

Daknet network architecture

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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.

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.

6. 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 e-

mail and voice mail available to residents in rural villages.

One of the Daknet’s early deployments was as an

affordable rural connectivity solution for the Bhoomi

e-governance project. DakNet is also implemented in a

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remote province of Cambodia for 15 solar-powered village

schools, telemedicine clinics, and a governor’s 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 6.1 BHOOMI

INITIATIVE IN INDIA Bhoomi, an initiative to

computerize the land records of villagers is the first e-

governance project in India. Bhoomi has been

successfully implemented at district headquarters

across the state to completely replace the physical

land records system. Daknet makes Bhoomi’s land

records database available to villagers’ 40km 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

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equipment used to make a village kiosk or hub

DakNet-ready 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. 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.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

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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.

8. 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

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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.

9. CONCLUSION

Daknet’s 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

Government’s 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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10. REFERENCES

IEEE Computer, January 2004

Electronics For You, April 2004

www.daknet.net

www.medialabasia.org

www.firstmilesolutions.com

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